Category Archives: Cookies

October 19, 2009 · 8:47 pm

Park Avenue Bars

Park Avenue Bars - Wonderful!If you are watching your weight DO NOT make these bars!!   They are so good you cannot stop yourself. 

This recipe is from my friend Debbie.   She is a great cook and is always bringing something good to school.  I e-mailed her and said, ” I want that recipe for whatever  you brought to school last Christmas.  I cannot remember what’s  in it .  I just remember  that it was delicious.”  That gave her alot to go on.  We are  lucky to get this with that kind of information. In spite of my memory Debbie came through for me.   

All right so I am baking these bars with very limited time.  It is 10:00 and I have to take them to my tennis match by 2:00.  Everything that could go wrong does.   I pulled out the cake mix and the use by date had expired by 2 weeks.  Just for me I would have used it, but with my luck no telling what would have happened!! Now a  trip to the grocery.  Thanks goodness I pulled out everything else that I would need including the pan.  Oh, wait there is  NO PAN.   Forgot I had thrown it away.  Just for your information don’t make lasagna in an aluminum pan because after so many years the tomato sauce will eat holes in it.  So GI Joe is off to the store to buy a pan and a cake mix.   He does not shop.  He knows nothing about baking pans.   After 15 minutes on the phone we settle for the heavy duty Wilton pan.   Just remember that when you are baking in a dark pan to turn the oven down 25 degrees.  I didn’t!!  Almost burned!  I did make it to my match on time with the bars and they were enjoyed.

 Thanks to Debbie for the recipe .  Here it is for you to enjoy, too.

 

1 stick of melted butter

1 stick of melted butter

Butter Recipe Cake Mix

Butter Recipe Cake Mix

1 egg

1 egg

1 cup chopped Pecans

1 cup chopped Pecans

Mix with wooden spoon

Mix with wooden spoon

Place in a 9 x 13 in. pan

Place in a 9 x 13 in. pan

Spread in the pan

Spread in the pan

1 box powdered sugar, 2 eggs, 8 oz cream cheese

1 box powdered sugar, 2 eggs, 8 oz cream cheese

Mix with mixer

Mix with mixer

Pour on top of cake mixture

Pour on top of cake mixture

When using a dark pan like this one make sure that you lower your oven temperature by 25 degrees.  I failed to do this and they were very nearly burned!!!

Park Avenue Bars - Wonderful !

Park Avenue Bars - Wonderful !

Here is the recipe.  Enjoy!

Park Avenue Bars

  • 1 Duncan Hines Butter Yellow cake mix
  • 1 stick butter melted
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup chopped nuts
  • 1 box  powdered sugar
  • 8 oz. cream cheese softened

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease 9 x 13 in. baking dish.  Mix by hand the cake mix, 1 egg, melted butter and chopped pecans.  Press down into bottom of greased baking dish.  Set aside.  Mix well in mixer powdered sugar, 2 eggs, and cream cheese.  Pour on top of crust .  Bake about 40 min. (until the top is golden brown).  Cool before cutting.

Happy Cooking,

The Teacher Cooks

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October 10, 2009 · 8:59 pm

Cookies – Wedding, Lady Fingers, Nutty Fingers

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These nutty fingers hold a lot of memories for me.  The first road trip that I ever took with GI Joe to Dallas, Texas  I made these little sweet things to eat on the way.  That was the start of a real romance!   Almost every vacation, tennis tournament or TDY it was a given for me to make them.These little morsels of butter, flour and nuts just melt in your mouth and I am not exaggerating at all.  So  easy to make you can do it blindfolded and with one hand tied behind you. So get in the kitchen right now and put these little babies together.  Here’s  how you do it.

 

Nutty Fingers

  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 5 Tablespoons of  powdered sugar
  • 2 cups plain flour
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 1/2 – 1 cup chopped pecans

Mix all the ingredients together.  Shape into small balls or fingers.  Place on a cookie sheet with parchment paper.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until lightly browned.  Roll in powdered sugar.  After cooled roll in sugar again.

I can tell you these are not going to last very long on the cooling rack.  I cannot control myself and end up popping them in my mouth as I roll them in the sugar.  They are so good!!!

I took these to serve at my tennis match in these cute little foil papers, but the picture is blurry so I will not embarass myself.  Just use your imagination and think about how cute they were in those little foil papers.

Happy Cooking,

The Teacher Cooks  

Here are the pictures to guide you along:

 

Soften butter and plain flour in a mixing bowl

Soften butter and plain flour in a mixing bowl

  

Add 5 Tablespoons of powdered sugar

Add 5 Tablespoons of powdered sugar

                                                                                                                     

Add 1/2 to 1 cup of chopped pecans

Add 1/2 to 1 cup of chopped pecans

 

Mix together with wooded spoon

Mix together with wooded spoon

Shape and ready to bake

Shape and ready to bake

Out of the oven

Out of the oven

Roll in powdered sugar - TWICE

Roll in powdered sugar - TWICE

Cool on cooling rack

Cool on cooling rack

 

 

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September 28, 2009 · 3:18 pm

Oatmeal Cookies

 

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I have been baking as long as my mother would let me in the kitchen.  Which was always.  She was great about cooking as long as I would clean the kitchen.  But, I only could bake.  No main dishes or vegetables or anything like that.  Why?  I guess it was because baking to an extent is very cheap.  Flour, sugar, eggs, milk and butter that’s about all you need.  We were on a very tight budget.  Sooo I have been baking for a long time. And you know I don’t even care for sweets that much.  I just love to bake.  Here is another recipe back in the day of the first few years of teaching.  It is from Quaker Oats website.  It no longer appears on the box.

First a few tips about baking cookies:

  • Make sure that you use butter which I prefer or margarine for baking.  Do not use whipped or low-fat margarine.
  • Ingredients should be at room temperature.
  • Butter should be soft, but not too soft or the cookies will flatten as they bake
  • Use parchment paper on your cookie sheets. This saves time in washing cookie sheets.
  • Find a good cookie sheet.  Expensive is not always the best.  A shiny cookie sheet is better than dull.
  • Do not use your cookie sheet for any other food for example to make cheese toast .
  • Be careful about the cooking time.  You should know your oven.  Does it cook quicker or slower than the recipe recommends?
  • Just 1 minute more cooking time for cookies is a lot.  Remember these are small little things!

    Measure all ingredients separately

    Measure all ingredients separately

Softened Butter and Sugars
Softened Butter and Sugars
Cream butter and sugar

Cream butter and sugar

Add egg and vanilla

Add egg and vanilla

Add dry ingredients except oats

Add dry ingredients except oats

Mix well

Mix well

Stir in oats

Stir in oats

Place on baking sheet with parchment paper

Place on baking sheet with parchment paper

Quaker’s Best Oatmeal Cookies

  • 11/4 cups butter, softened
  • 3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 11/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 3 cups Quakers Oats old fashioned

Heat oven to 375 degrees.  Beat together margarine and sugars until creamy.  Add egg and vanilla: beat well.  Add combined flour, baking soda, salt and spices: mix well. Stir in oats: mix well.  Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake 8 to 9 minutes for a chewy cookie or 10 to 11 minutes for a crisp cookie.  Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet: remove to wire rack.  Cool completely.  Store in a tightly covered container.

Makes about  4 1/2 dozen

ENJOY!

The Teacher Cooks

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