Best Oatmeal Cookies

Make your Valentine happy with these tasty super thin and crispy cookies.

Other delicious treats are Almond Crunch cookies on page 171 or Great Pumpkin Cookies on page 162 of Tastes & Treasures cookbook.



Best Oatmeal Cookies
3 1/2 sticks butter (preferably salted)
1 1/2 cups brown sugar (Dark or light )
1 cup granulated sugar
1 Large Egg
1 1/2 teaspoons Vanilla  extract

3 cups rolled oats (not instant)
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 cups raisins or dried cranberries

Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Cream the butter and sugars until fluffy, mix in egg and vanilla.  Mix well.

In a separate bowl, mix the oats, salt, flour, and baking soda to evenly distribute.

Slowly add the dry ingredients to the sugar mixture and mix together slowly.
Try to mix as little as possible so as to not break up the oats. Add dried fruit and mix in.

Place a small ball (about one teaspoon) onto a baking sheet. Leave plenty of space between the cookies, they spread out.
Bake for 8 to 10 Min. Rotate the sheet halfway through.
Cool 5 min., then move to cooling rack.
Store in air tight container

Makes 35 to 40 small cookies.

Donations to Libraries of Arizona Recollections and Reflections

Wonderful thank you letters are coming in from the libraries around the state. The Historical League has sponsors to donate a copy of Arizona Recollections and Reflections an Arizona Centennial Historymakers Commemoration to public and school libraries. After former Mayor of Tempe, Hugh Hallman spoke at one of our tours, we gave him two Centennial books for his schools, Tempe Prep Academy and Tempe Prep Jr Academy. He is Headmaster at Tempe Prep Academy. They sent a gracious letter thanking us for the donation of this Centennial book.

Hugh Hallman has just thrown his "political" hat in the ring for Governor of Arizona. We know he is a supporter of history and the Historical League.

Centennial book in Braille Library

Wanting to have Arizona Recollections and Reflections An Arizona Centennial Historymakers Commemoration available to everyone, the Historical League is pleased that the book is now in the Braille Library. Fascinating reading about Arizona Historymakers. 

More information below.

 

A Regional Library of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress

Linda A. Montgomery
Braille and Talking Book Library Director

1030 N. 32nd Street • Phoenix, Arizona 85008 • 602-255-5578 • Fax 602-286-0444

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

Traveling by car for 4 hours, then golfing for 4 days with the "guys" meant I had to send something easy for my husband to take to the college reunion golf tournament. This recipe from page 165 of Tastes & Treasures cookbook was perfect with a Crockpot to the rescue.

Note: the photo of the empty crockpot was taken after all the meatballs were consumed. Apparently they were a big hit.

SWEET & SOUR MEATBALLS

Ingredients:
2 cups undrained sauerkraut
1 16oz can whole cranberry sauce
1¼ cups chili sauce
1¼ cups water
1 cup packed brown sugar
3 pounds frozen cooked meatballs

Directions:
Allow meatballs to defrost in refrigerator overnight.
Combine sauerkraut, cranberry sauce, chili sauce, water and brown sugar in a slow cooker and mix well.
Add the meatballs and cook on low for 2-3 hours or longer.

Banana Split Bites for Your Valentine

Something fun to make for Valentine's Day. The kids will love it. Tastes & Treasures cookbook also has a delicious dessert - Chocolate Peanut Treats page 162. Yummmm.

Chocolate Covered Banana Split Bites
Makes about 24

• 24 – 1″ pieces from about 1/2 small pineapple
• 2 large bananas, sliced into 24 bite sized pieces
• 12 small to medium sized strawberries sliced in half

• 150g(5oz) good quality dark chocolate (I used 72%) (this is between 3/4 – 1C if using a cup measurement for chocolate chips)
• 2 tsp coconut oil
• chopped nuts or coconut for rolling in (optional)

Chop fruit and assemble into stacks.  Press a popsicle stick through the fruit and freeze until solid.
Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper, wax paper or a silicone mat.  Melt the chocolate along with the coconut oil either in a double boiler or in the microwave using short intervals and stirring frequently to prevent burning.  Once completely melted, remove the frozen fruit from the freezer.  Dip the fruit in the chocolate, let the excess drip off for a minute and then place on the sheet to harden.  If desired, dip the chocolate covered side immediately in chopped nuts or coconut before placing on the sheet to harden.  Once the chocolate is completely hardened (you may need to place in the freezer for it to harden completely), remove from the sheet and place in an airtight container to store in the freezer until ready to serve.
When ready to serve, remove them from the freezer and let sit at room temperature for a couple minutes before serving – if you can wait that long. 
I don’t recommend letting these sit for any length of time at room temperature though as they will thaw and the fruit – especially the banana – will not be pleasant.  Please enjoy these within a few minutes of removing from the freezer.

Cookbook author Donna Roe

Zona Lorig and I met Donna Roe for lunch at her new home with her new hair style. We almost didn't recognize her! She is up and walking and doing very well.

Donna continues to promote Tastes & Treasures cookbook, buying 5 more to give to friends. She did a fantastic job co-authoring the cookbook. Zona was also very involved with the editing and the two ladies worked very closely to create this lovely book filled with history, photos and recipes from early Arizona.

Red Velvet Birthday Cake

Good friends getting together over lunch at Chelsea's Kitchen with Red Velvet Cake - It was so rich we shared it. But Zona Lorig and Joan Robinson and myself agreed it was worth it until I found out it may have 1700 calories!!!! must be the tons of frosting they used.
Celebrating Birthdays can be so decadent!

Red Velvet Cake
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:

    * 1/2 cup shortening
    * 1 1/2 cups sugar
    * 2 eggs
    * 2 tablespoons cocoa
    * 1 1/2 oz red food coloring
    * 1 teaspoon salt
    * 2 1/2 cups flour
    * 1 teaspoon vanilla
    * 1 cup buttermilk
    * 1 teaspoon soda
    * 1 tablespoons vinegar

Preparation:
Cream shortening; beat in sugar gradually. Add eggs, one at a time; beat well after each addition. Make paste of cocoa and food coloring; add to creamed mixture. Add salt, flour and vanilla alternately with buttermilk, beating well after each addition. Sprinkle soda over vinegar; pour vinegar over batter. Stir until thoroughly mixed. Bake in 3 8-inch pans or 2 9-inch pans for 30 minutes at 350°.

History:
Although the details are sketchy at best, red velvet cake is not as Southern as many like to think. The story, which began circulating some time in the 1940s, claimed that Manhattan's elegant Waldorf-Astoria granted a diner's request for the recipe, then a short time later sent her a bill in the amount of $100. The angry woman, apparently with revenge in mind, then began circulating the recipe along with the story. Another "baked" legend with the same storyline is the $250 Chocolate Chip Cookie, also known as the Neiman-Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe.