It's Cookie Time!
The scent of freshly baked cookies wafting out of the kitchen is a force too powerful to resist.  When a home is for sale & an open house is scheduled, it is recommended to pop a fresh batch in the oven to lure in unsuspecting home-buyers.  (I also find that the cookie-scented candles placed strategically throughout the house work well also!)  Yes, vanilla & cinnamon are so wonderful that men have been known to be attracted to women that smell like them!  (Rather than rub yourself all over with the ingredients, try a vanilla-brown sugar body scrub!)  But the best part about cookies, no doubt, is the way they taste!  I find them to be the perfect food, and if stranded on a deserted island with the option of a couple rations, I would choose a barrel of coffee & a tub of cookies, hands-down!  They keep forever, especially if sealed well, and you can even sneak in healthy ingredients without anyone in the family knowing!  A bit of wheat germ added to the flour boosts protein, vitamins, and fiber while adding a very subtle texture that is rarely detected by my ravenous tribe.  Oatmeal lowers cholesterol, & when you put it into cookies they warp into these healthy cereal-breakfast bites that no one feels guilty about eating at eight o'clock in the morning!  So once all of the healthy ingredients have been added, sure there is room for some sugar!  Whenever I bake cookies with my children they ask for a lump of brown sugar, but they have to close their eyes as I place it on their little tongues & tell them, "This is what the raindrops in heaven taste like!"  (Imagine the line-up that would happen during Sunday Service if the pastor substituted that during communion!  No one could leave without a smile on their face, & they would all say, "My God is a good God!")  Yes, cookies smell amazing & taste terrific!  In the right proportions, they can even be a complete food group all their own...(I call it breakfast).  Following is a recipe that my mom started making when I was in middle school.  I had not had these in over a decade, when my sister-in-law made them one day.  I about flipped, because I had completely forgotten about them, so now I bake them quite often.  I love the holiday colored MnM's that you can add at different times of the year, because then they're just festive, too.  I hope that you bake up a big huge batch, and take them to your friends!  When you seal them up tight in those reusable-yet-disposable zip lock containers, they just get chewier with time...oh yea!  Oh, I almost forgot to tell you that they're called Monster Cookies because they are baked up so huge that they're bigger than your hand!  So go ahead, & make that milk happy!

-CHEERS


MARILYN'S MONSTER COOKIES:

400* oven

1 CUP SHORTENING
1 1/2 CUPS BROWN SUGAR
2 EGGS
1 tsp VANILLA
1/2 CUP BUTTERMILK (or vanilla soy milk)
1 3/4 CUPS FLOUR
1 tsp BAKING SODA
1 tsp BAKING POWDER
1 tsp SALT
DASH CINNAMON
3 CUPS QUICK OATS
1 BAG PEANUT MnM'S
1/2 BAG CHOCOLATE CHIPS

   Cream shortening, sugar, eggs & vanilla until light & fluffy.  Stir in milk.  Mix dry ingredients, then add to bowl, mixing well.  Stir oats in completely, then add the MnM's and chocolate chips. 
Drop by huge globs onto the biggest cookie sheet that you have, about 10 at a time.  Bake in a hot 400* oven for about 10 minutes, then let rest a few minutes on the cookie sheet before removing to cool on wax paper on the counter.  Once completely cool, seal in an airtight container...if they last that long!

This set of two cookies sheets from NordicWare comes with lids for easy transportation & storage-www.chefscatalog.com



Try lighting these wonderful Oatmeal Raisin Scented Candles from Illuminations, & watch the neighbors stop by for a visit!  www.illuminations.com