Hamburger Cookies

When I was a kid we made Hamburger Cookies. It's been awhile since we made them, but over the weekend I went to a BBQ to celebrate a friend's birthday and wanted to take something fun to share. Since it has been ridiculously warm lately (and I'm NOT complaining!), I wanted to make something that did not involve turning on the oven. Enter Hamburger Cookies. They got many compliments at the BBQ and since they are so easy to make I wanted to share "recipe" with you!

What You Will Need:
Vanilla Wafers
Grasshopper Cookies
Vanilla Frosting
Coconut
Green Food Coloring
Yellow Food Coloring
Sugar Water
Sesame Seeds

What You Do:
Tint coconut green using the green food dye. This becomes your "lettuce." Also tint some of your frosting yellow with the yellow food dye. This becomes your "mustard."

Spread yellow frosting on the bottom of a vanilla wafer. Top with a grasshopper cookie (your "meat patty"). Spread white frosting on the bottom of another vanilla wafer. Add some "lettuce" and place on top of the "meat patty." Repeat with the remaining cookies/frosting/coconut. Brush the tops of each cookie with sugar water and top with sesame seeds.

If you let the cookies sit for a couple of hours before serving, the vanilla wafers will become slightly soft, just like hamburger buns!

It's just that easy and these cookies are guaranteed to be a crowd pleaser at your next party! Enjoy!

Acorn Cookies!

Acorn Cookies
as seen on Pinterest

Melt chocolate chips and use them to stick Hershey's Kisses to Nutter Butter cookies. Use more chocolate to stick mini chocolate chips to the top. Presto - acorns!

These are super easy to make, were super cute and were a huge success at my Bible Study and also with my co-workers. Make sure you buy the round Nutter Butters, not the ones that are shaped like peanuts. :)

Fair 2010: Snickerdoodles

SNICKERDOODLES

1st Place, Snickerdoodles Category

North Idaho Fair & Rodeo 2010

1-1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
2-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon

(1) Heat oven to 400-degrees. In large bowl, combine 1-1/2 cups sugar and butter; beat until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and eggs; blend well. Add flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt; mix well.

(2) In small bowl, combine 2 tablespoons sugar and cinnamon. Shape dough into 1-inch balls; roll in sugar-cinnamon mixture. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

(3) Bake at 400-degrees for 8-10 minutes, or until set. Immediately remove from cookie sheets.
I found that baking the cookies for 9 minutes was just about perfect. At least in our oven. :)

Fair 2010: Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

OATMEAL RAISIN COOKIES

2nd Place, Oatmeal Cookie Category

North Idaho Fair & Rodeo 2010

1-1/2 cups raisins
2 eggs
2 tablespoons water
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup butter
3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
1-1/3 cups brown sugar, packed
2 cups flour
1-1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2-1/8 teaspoon baking powder
3-3/4 cups oatmeal

(1) Cover raisins with warm water and soak for 10 minutes. Drain thoroughly and set aside.

(2) Combine eggs, water, vanilla, butter and sugars in mixing bowl. Sift together flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Add to egg mixture and beat at low speed 2-3 minutes or until smooth. Add oatmeal and raisins, and mix until blended. Chill. (I chilled overnight, but probably did not need to leave it that long)

(3) Roll into balls about 1" diameter and place on baking pan. Flatten to about 1/4".

(4) Bake at 375-degrees for 10-12 minutes.

Fair 2010: Uncle Tom's Peanut Butter Cookies

UNCLE TOM'S PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

2nd Place, Peanut Butter Cookie Category

North Idaho Fair & Rodeo 2010

2-1/2 cups flour

1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup butter

1 cup peanut butter

1 cup sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

(1) Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside. In a mixing bowl, beat shortening and butter for 30 seconds. Add peanut butter and sugars. Beat until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Add dry ingredients and beat until well blended.

(2) Shape dough into 1" balls. Place 2" apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Crisscross with the tines of a fork.

(3) Bake about 10 minutes in a 375-degree oven. Remove to a wire rack to cool.

Prepare For The Fair!

One of my very favorite parts of summer is the fair. Of course, with the fair means the dawning of the end of summer/fall, but it is still one of my favorite parts of the season we call Summer.


My mom and I both love to enter things in the fair. At least one of us usually enters baked goods, and I have entered photography once or twice. I did not have my act together to get any photography entered this year, but I did go on a baking spree last weekend so I would have some baked goods to enter.


I will share pictures from the fair later, but for now let me share what I entered. 

Yep, that is three batches of tasty cookies. We still have some, because, well, it takes a bit of time to eat through 3 batches of cookies when you don't eat very many at a time. I made three different kinds of cookies: Peanut Butter, Oatmeal and Snickerdoodles.


I will post the recipes in three separate posts, along with their results. Stay tuned!