12.15.2013

Baking, dancing, & raising money for a good cause!

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Yesterday morning I woke up to get all things in order for the Athens Area Humane Society benefit. I started by getting all the farm stuff out of the way - it was the nastiest of days, raining like crazy, so I just let all the animals stay in, and gave them plenty of food and water til I let them out this morning.. After that was done it was time for cookie baking! I had gluten free peanut butter and ginger snaps on the agenda and the clock was ticking.... I started to get myself in the mood by playing some old Christmas records and cooking up some homemade potpourri made fromm some leftover orange and tangerine peels and threw in some cinnamon sticks and cloves and put some water in a pot on low....
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Christian offered to be my record changing elf (it's funny how short of a period one side of a record is... we get so used to nonstop music in mp3 format these days!) and also my own personal kitchen cookie concert - I was able to snap a picture before he caught me... :)IMG_4897
...and he said, "You better not put these on Facebook." so I didn't.  This blog is different, right?
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So here is the recipe for the peanut butter cookies. (Again these are gluten free, but if you want them to be plain ol' regular PB cookies, just use self-rising flour instead of the 'Cup 4 Cup' flour and omit the 2 tsp of baking soda.)
What you will need:
2 mixing bowls, mixer, cookie sheet(s)
Preheat oven to 400
Ingredients:
1 Cup salted butter (let it get softened a bit)
1 Cup brown sugar
1 Cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
3 Cups "Cup 4 Cup" GF flour (this brand is the absolute best fool-proof flour - it is expensive, but well worth the price for the consistency and taste of REAL wheat flour)
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 Cup peanut butter
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Put your butter in your bowl and cream it with the mixer for about 45 seconds, then add your granulated sugar and your brown sugar and mix all together for about a minute or until well blended.
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Then mix in the eggs, vanilla extract, and then add the peanut butter and mix for a good minute on high. In a separate bowl, measure out your 3 Cups flour substitute (Cup 4 Cup brand preferably) and add your 2 tsp of baking soda and mix well before adding mixture to your peanut butter/sugar/butter mixture. Add about half of your flour and mix well, then add the rest a little at a time until all your flour is in the mix (it will get harder and harder to mix as it thickens, but DO NOT ADD ANY LIQUID!! It is supposed to be like this!
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This should be what your dough looks like when all the flour has been mixed in.....looks crumbly, but it will stick together easily when rolled into balls....
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Now, roll into small balls (about the size of a large marble) and place on an ungreased cookie sheet or on parchment paper on cookie sheet about 3 inches apart...
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after all your balls are on the cookie sheet, make a criss cross on the top of each one with a fork - to keep the fork from getting sticky, I dip it in water after every 4th cookie or so...
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Bake at 400 degrees for ONLY 5 or 6 minutes - they can easily burn, they do not need to brown on the top, so keep a close eye on the first batch and then make any adjustments after that first batch has cooled enough to taste. Baby offered to be my cookie tester and helped me get them just right which ended up being cooked at 5 min, 30 sec.....
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The recipe for the soft baked ginger snaps can be found HERE.....
After the cookies were baked, I started to get ready for the 8th annual benefit I had planned for the Athens Area Humane Society's 'Food Bowl' program. My original costume was to be the Christmas Queen (the fabulous thing I was making in the post HERE ), but due to me catching the Flu on the plane from Las Vegas back to Atlanta, I got waaaaaaay behind and ended up recycling different parts from previous years costumes....
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The night went off without a hitch, the cookies were devoured, and lots of money and food collected!! I always forget to bring my camera to these things while I am packing everything into the car in a frenzy, but several people had smartphone cameras and here are some that others took at the event:
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