Two new “keeper” recipes

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Recently, we have been taking pictures from the wall, emptying Susie’s china cabinet to get some weight out of it, putting assorted everything on the counter tops and tables, and moving furniture to the center of every room.

We finally got the inside of our house painted.

Thankfully, we didn’t do it ourselves, but had a contractor do it.

Now, we are putting things back on the wall, shelves and into the two extra bedrooms, because as soon as our contractor gets home from a Canada bear hunt, he will be pulling our old carpet and replacing it with laminate flooring.

Of course, the first room I began returning to normal was my kitchen.

I can only stand and look out the window watching my garden grow for so long before I have to bake something.

I had picked up several new recipes and was anxious to try them.

The first one was going to be a large-size cookie with lots of oats, coconut, raisins, chocolate chips and some other ingredients to hold it all together.

I mixed the items, placed them on a cookie sheet and baked them according to the directions. They looked decent when they came out of the oven. I waited a couple minutes to remove them from the pan and set them out to cool.

Several of the batch fell apart as I lifted them off the cookie sheet. I nibbled a small piece and it tasted fine. Maybe they would firm up after cooling.

I waited several hours and then broke off a corner of a cookie. It basically disintegrated. It ended up in about five pieces. A small sample confirmed it still tasted good, but I hate when my cookies fall apart. It was also very dry throughout. That recipe went into the trash can, and the cookies went to the neighbor.

After cleaning all my bowls, measuring cups and spoons, I was ready to start again. This was another cookie, but the ingredients were more to my liking. Fruit and spices.

I followed the directions as I usually do on the first try. They came out of the oven looking golden brown and ready to be eaten. Once again, I broke off a corner of the warm cookie and tasted it. Delicious!

Being a diabetic, I know I shouldn’t, but I ate the rest of it.

I baked another batch and shared these with my friends at CVS in Pendleton and Hacienda Vieja. They are always my taste testers for a new dessert.

The recipe for this “keeper” follows.

Peach Spice Cookies

1 cup softened butter

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 large egg, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon almond extract

3 cups flour

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 cup peeled chopped peaches—that’s about one large peach

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, cream butter and both sugars together until mixed well. Beat in egg and both extracts. In another medium bowl, mix flour, cinnamon, cream of tartar, baking soda, salt and nutmeg. Gradually beat these dry ingredients into butter mixture until well mixed. Gently fold in peaches.

Drop dough by tablespoonsful about 2 inches apart onto parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake until firm, about 13 to 15 minutes. Cool on pan 2 minutes before removing to cool. Store cookies in airtight container.

My neighbor mentioned he really likes lemon.

As it happened, I had a new quick bread recipe, that called for lemons and blueberries. I didn’t have any blueberries in the house, so I thought I would substitute pineapple. I had no idea what this would do to the taste, but since it made only one loaf, I was going to try it. It turned out so good, I may never get to try it with blueberries.

Lemon Pineapple Bread

1/3 cup butter, melted

1 cup sugar

3 tablespoons lemon juice

2 large eggs, room temperature

1½ cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup milk

1 cup (20-oz. can) crushed pineapple, well drained

GLAZE

2 tablespoons lemon juice

¼ cup sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, beat the butter, sugar, lemon juice and eggs. In a small bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and salt. Mix the dry ingredients into butter and sugar alternately with the milk, beating well after each addition. Fold the pineapple into mix.

Pour into greased 8×4-inch loaf pan. Bake 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan. Combine glaze ingredients and drizzle over warm bread.

Since this recipe makes only one loaf, I recommend doubling to make two. One loaf doesn’t last long.

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