Cookies, Cookies and More Cookies!

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Within the past week, I joined the committee in our church that is in charge of planning potlucks, showers, etc.  And within days of saying I'd join, I was requested to help with a funeral.  Just to provide cookies and help set-up and whatnot.  Hello, cookies?  That's right up my alley!  So, I made a couple of new recipes that I'd been dying to try.  Both turned out delish, though I will say that my preference (of these two) is the lemon.

First up...

Loaded Oatmeal Cookies
adapted from...ummm, I'm not sure.  I think I got this from a Food Network Magazine around 2009ish.

1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 quick oats
1/4 cup flax seed meal
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cups dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large mixing bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds.  Add brown sugar, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.  Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally.  Beat in egg and vanilla until combined.  Beat in flour.  Stir in oats, flax seed meal, wheat germ, chocolate and cranberries (dough will be crumbly).

Drop dough by rounded teaspoons two inches apart on ungreased (or Silpat covered) cookie sheets. 

Bake for 9-11 minutes or until the tops are lightly browned.  Let cookies cool on cookie sheet for one minute, then transfer to wire rack to cool fully.

Makes approximately 30 cookies.

I just wanna say, this is the first time I've ever used flax seed meal and wheat germ.  In case you're wondering, they don't taste weird or health-nutty.  Just good, yummy, delicious cookies.  I thought the chocolate chips and cranberries might not mesh well...I was wrong.  Try these!

Next,

Lemon-on-Lemon Iced Cookies
adapted from Taste of Home Magazine, September 2012 issue

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp grated lemon peel
1 cup cold butter, cubed (plus more if necessary)

Icing
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 tsp grated lemon peel
4-6 tsp lemon juice

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar and lemon peel.  Cut in the butter until crumbly.  Transfer to a clean work surface; knead gently until mixture forms a smooth dough, about 2 minutes.  I had to add extra butter at this point because the dough was too crumbly. 

On a lightly floured surface, roll dough out and begin cutting cookies using cookie cutter of your choice.  Obviously, I chose stars.

Bake at 325 degrees for 15-18 minutes, or until lightly browned.  You can remove to wire racks to cool completely, but I left mine on the sheets so I could simply clean up my Silpat pads after icing the cookies.

In a small bowl, mix confectioners' sugar, lemon peel and enough lemon juice to achieve desired consistency.  Drizzle over cookies, let stand until set.

Nom, nom, these were fantastic!  And they were, definitely, the more popular of the two types of cookies.  They taste like an iced shortbread cookie with a nice lemony kick.

Now, David does not like cranberries or lemon.  So, when he had complained enough (it didn't take much), I made him a batch of good, ol' fashioned, chocolate chip cookies.  I simply used the recipe on the back of my Hershey's chocolate chips bag.  You can see that recipe here.  If you follow me on Instagram you might already know, but on the second night after I made these cookies...on a lark, I decided to make myself a homemade ice cream sandwich.  Wise choice...delicious! 

There is, seriously, an unreal amount of cookies in my house right now.  What number do I call for the Cookie Monster to make a house call?  Speaking of which, has anyone else seen this Family Guy episode where Cookie Monster goes to rehab?  David was crying with laughter when he first saw it, rewinding it and then re-watching it several times.