First off, Happy December!!
Second off, I think I am going to get rid of my TV service. WHAT?!? It’ll be OK. I think. I am not going to usher TV out of my life completely, but I am ushering out cable. Why may you ask? Because I might be crazy.
No, in all seriousness, I no longer want to pay ( too much!) for a service that I try not to use. I try not to watch TV on most days. I am not one of those people who can have the TV on in the background and go about my business. I have tried. I have failed. TV sucks me in and before I know it I have spent an entire afternoon watching reruns or cleaning out my DVR. And that DVR. It is awesome, but it is one more thing in my life that I fall behind with. It becomes another task on my to do list. It doesn’t free up my life, it just makes it more cluttered.
So, heads up if you are visiting. Bring movies, TV series, a board game, or maybe a book. It’ll be OK. Promise.
If you come to visit, I promise I’ll bake you these cookies. You will forget that I don’t have cable.
They are another oatmeal cookie. Looking over my cookie recipes…oatmeal is popular in my life. What can I say, it makes for a great cookie. These are chewy. Oh so chewy. Jaw tiring chewy. OK, your jaw may only tire after eating your body weight in them, and at that time, I would recommend stepping away from the cookies. It is for the best. Trust me.
I must give credit where credit is due and this recipe is from my aunt. Is she still considered my aunt if she is no longer and has not been married to my uncle for some time? I don’t know the proper etiquette here, but she is still my cousins mother and therefore she is still my aunt. These are her cookies. She is quite the baker/cook herself and she graciously passed along the recipe for these to me last spring. Thank you! I just wish the recipe had come with some will power…ahhh cookies! The only alteration I made was the addition of pecans … Which is totally an optional ingredient. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!
Pecan Craisin Cookies
Makes 3 to 4 dozen
Ingredients
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1 Stick Butter – room temperature
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1 Stick Margarine
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1 Cup Brown Sugar, packed
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1 Cup White Sugar
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2 Eggs
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1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
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1 +1/4 Cup All Purpose Flour
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1 teaspoon salt
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1 teaspoon Baking Soda
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3 Cups OLD FASHIONED ROLLED OATS
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1 Cup Craisins
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3/4 Toasted Pecans, roughly chopped (optional)
Preheat oven to 350ºF.
In a large bowl, beat together margarine, butter, brown, and white sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until combined. Set aside.
In a smaller bowl, stir together flour, salt, and baking soda. With mixer on low, slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and beat until combined. Remember to scrape down the side and bottom of bowl to get and even mixture.
With a wooden spoon or spatula, stir in the old fashioned oats, craisins, and chopped pecans, by hand. ( didn’t know you scheduled an arm workout today, did ya?…my aunt says this is the key step!!! 🙂 Continue to cream together ingredients until all ingredients are evenly mixed in. This takes some elbow grease, but totally worth it!
Scoop cookie dough out onto a ungreased (or parchment paper lined) cookie sheet – these do spread a touch so leave a few inches between each cookie. Bake in preheated oven for 13 minutes to be exact. Remove from oven and let sit on cookie sheet for 3 to 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.
These can be enjoyed right away or stored in an airtight container or frozen. They freeze very well.
Fork Vs Spoon 