Carrot Cookies

This is an interesting cookie. It sort of tastes like a pumpkin cookie but fresher or something, not sure. It is definitely a good cookie. If you want to be really elegant, you can glaze the warm cookies with some powdered sugar thinned with lemon juice.

Carrot Cookies

1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cloves
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup raisin or dried cranberries
1 cup grated, raw carrot
1 cup chopped nuts

Cream butter or margaine and sugars well. Add eggs, beating until well combined. Combine the dry ingredients and stir into the butter mixture. Add the raisins, carrots, and nuts.

Drop on lightly grea sed baking sheets, about an inche apart. Flatten slightly. Bake at 350 degrees ten to fifteen minutes or until golden. Watch them carefully! Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Jump start to Christmas baking . . .

I seem to find comfort in spiral notebooks and making notes about what I want to bake or cook for Christmas. Nothing put down in my notebook is ever considered etched in stone . . . because I always find something newer, better, or more interesting to try. It does help me to get my thoughts into order. Cookies are the gift we give to our friends for Christmas. They look forward to their cookie plate and area always watching for interesting or different cookies to show up there.

I was browsing through the Internet and came across this site and it looks to have a great variety to suit just about any need. Check it out! http://www.christmas-cookies.com/recipes/top25.php

Cream Cheese Drops

There is something about the additon of cream cheese to any recipe that seems to take it to a higher level. When you add it to cakes or cookies, the result is usually more tender and tasty. This is a simple cookie that isn't overly sweet but would be great with a cup of coffee and a well-deserved break from chores.

Cream Cheese Drops

¾ cup margarine or butter, softened

1 3 oz. package cream cheese, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour

½ cup finely chopped walnuts

3 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

About ¾ cup chocolate chips.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, with mixer at high speed, beat butter, cream cheese and sugar until fluffy. Reduce speed to low, add flour, walnuts, milk and vanilla. Beat well.

Grease large cookie sheets. Drop dough by heaping teaspoons 2 inches apart. Press one chocolate chip firmly in the center of each cookie. Bake 10 minutes or until lightly browned.

Makes 5 dozen cookies.

A Prayer for Mothers - author unknown

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for me that God will fill me with the grace I need to be the best mother for all my children. From the youngest babe to the oldest, who someday may be parents themselves, help me always to be a comfort and a guiding light, a means of support and an imbuer of independence.

Let me be fulfilled with my motherhood so I will grow in it and through it. Help me pass on to my children the love they will need to seek their salvation in your Holy Child. Amen.

The first quote, especially!

"Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before... He is full of murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without having come by their ignorance the hard way."
-- Kurt Vonnegut

"To my embarrassment I was born in bed with a lady."
-- Wilson Mizner