Winter Break

Winter break has officially begun. The kids at school have been so excited these last few days. It has been almost impossible to get them to sit in their seats long enough to get anything done. It is so nice to have this time off. Tomorrow we will be going to visit my nephews and help them make cookies for Santa and give them their gifts.

Oh yeah, did I mention the cabinets are in? Ryan, his dad, and his brother installed them this weekend. We still have some work to do, like the molding and kick plate. We will be ordering our counter top on the day after Christmas because they are running a sale.

We are getting there. I tried another cookie recipe that went over well. I tried two actually, but Ryan said the other ones tasted like dog treats!:) I think I used too much flour. I didn't realize until after that the recipe said to spoon the flour into the measuring cup rather than pack it in. Oh well, they looked cute.

The other cookies turned out delicious. They are Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies from Cooking Light. They are not too peanut buttery, which I like. Ryan liked them a lot too. The favorite so far is still the Molasses cookies though. I'm making more tomorrow.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies:

Yield

3 dozen (serving size: 1 cookie)

Ingredients

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 large egg whites
• 1 large egg
• 12 ounces all-purpose flour (about 2 2/3 cups)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup semisweet chocolate mini chips

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. Combine first 8 ingredients in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until smooth.

3. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl; stir with a whisk. Add flour mixture to peanut butter mixture, stirring just until combined. Stir in mini chips. Drop dough by tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart on 2 baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 12 minutes or until golden. Cool on a wire rack.

Nutritional Information

Calories:

128 (32% from fat)

Fat:

4.5g (sat 1.1g,mono 2.2g,poly 1g)

Protein:

2.3g

Carbohydrate:

20.5g

Fiber:

0.6g

Cholesterol:

6mg

Iron:

0.8mg

Sodium:

106mg

Calcium:

16mg

Kathy Farrell-Kingsley, Cooking Light, DECEMBER 2008