Summertime Cookin'

When we were down visiting Bobby and Amy, they made us these AMAZING shish kebabs that we couldn't get enough of them. After we came home we were dying for some more. So when we saw a sale for pork we bought it, invited some friends over and called it a Shish Kebab Shindig. I wish I had a picture of all the kebabs made...there were so many. They were a hit! 

Jeremy obviously enjoyed them very much!

But it wasn't just Jeremy doing the cooking. The following two pictures represent two things that I am very proud of. The first is my new cooling rack. Seriously best invention ever. So most people have these normal one layered racks which work great. But then what do you do when you have very little counter space and still need to cool your cookies?

Introducing the three level cooling rack. (I feel like this needs a more fitting name...I will think on this.) These babies stack on top of each other so after filling up one you can stack another one and keep busting out cookies. Awesome! This worked especially great for this day in particular when I got a little excited about all the cookie recipes stacking up on my "desserts" board on my Pinterest. I picked about five recipes to try but Jeremy made me narrow it down to two. I was pretty proud of how these babies turned out. My first time making Snickerdoodles and a new creation "Cake Batter Cookies". Delicious!

I thought I would add these recipes if anyone reading this is feeling inclined to have a cooking day. :)

Mrs. Fields Snickerdoodles

1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

For rolling:2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugars with an electric mixer on high speed. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until smooth.

2. In another bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking soda, and cream of tartar.

3. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix well.

4. Preheat oven to 300 degrees while you let the dough rest for 30 to 60 minutes in the refrigerator.

5. In a small bowl, combine the sugar with the cinnamon for the topping.

6. Take about 2 1/2 tablespoons of the dough and roll it into a ball. Roll this dough in the cinnamon/sugar mixture and press it onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Repeat for the remaining cookies.

7. Bake the cookies for 12 to 14 minutes and no more. The cookies may seem undercooked, but will continue to develop after they are removed from the oven. When the cookies have cooled they should be soft and chewy in the middle.

Makes 16 to 18 cookies.

Cake Batter Cookies

Ingredients:

1 (18.25 oz.) box cake mix

1 tsp. baking powder

2 eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. In a medium bowl, stir together the cake mix and baking powder. Add eggs and oil, then mix until well blended. (It was a bit crumbly for me so I used my hands to really mix it well- it's not as smooth as typical dough.)

 3. Stir in chocolate chips, or your choice of additions. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto cookie sheets.

4. Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven.  Allow cookies to cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.