30 Minute Oatmeal Pecan Squares

Growing up, I thought my mom was one of the best cooks on earth, and I still do think that.  What I have found out over the years that she has lots of tried and true recipes that she loves.  Most of them come from little paperback church and 4-H cookbooks.  Most were published several years back when almost everyone actually cooked and only went out to eat for special occasions.

Growing up we called these cookies Mary Charlton Cookies, because that is who made them for the church dinners and who entered the recipe in the Presbyterian Church Cookbook back in the 1970's.  My mom still remembers helping to type the cookbook.  There was no fancy company to typeset everything and make it look pretty.  Nope just farm moms and hard working volunteers who took on the labor of love.

My mom loves this recipe.  She usually make a double batch in a 9x13 inch pan.  She tells everyone she can walk in the house make these bars, take a shower, change clothes and be ready to go to a potluck dinner in 30 minutes!  My mom is amazing.

We loved these cookies growing up and I hope you do, too.

Oatmeal Pecan Squares

1 stick butter

1 egg

¾ cup sugar

¼ cup flour

¼ t. baking powder

½ t. salt

¾ cup oatmeal

¼ cup shredded coconut

¾ cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 400*.  Place stick of butter in 7x11 inch baking dish and place in oven. 

Combine egg and sugar.  Add flour, baking powder, salt and oatmeal.  Pour in melted butter and mix well.  Add coconut and pecans and mix.

Pour batter back into baking dish you melted the butter in.

Bake 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

-A Kansas Farm Mom

W4DW- Hello Dolly Bars

What's for Dinner Wednesday?  A recipe my kids can make all by themselves!  My boys love to help out in the kitchen.  They like it even better if I sit on the other side of the counter and stay out of the way!  These bar cookies have lots of names that I have heard over the years

• Magic Cookies
• 7 Layer Bars
• Hello Dolly Bars

We like to call them Hello Dolly Bars just because we made them for a 4-H demonstration and it made for a cute talk.  :)

Hello Dolly Bars

2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup butter
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch or peanut butter chips
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
1 can sweetened condensed milk

I like to make them in a 9x13 inch baking dish.  Most recipes call for 1 cup of graham crackers, but we prefer to make them with 2 cups mixed with 1/2 cup butter.  Press this mixture into the bottom of the baking dish.   Layer the other ingredients in order and pour sweetened condensed milk over the top.  DO NOT STIR.  Bake at 350*F for 25 minutes.  Cool and cut into bars. 

The next time the kids say we need cookies for school don't say "Oh No!"  instead say "Hello Dolly!!"

-A Kansas Farm Mom

W4DW- Nut Free No Bake Cookies

It's not Wednesday, but I have another recipe to share with you this week.   I hope you enjoy this one as much as my kids do.  They can even make them by themselves.

The holidays are upon us and that means almost everyone is looking for yummy cookies and candies to make.  My oldest son made this recipe for the county fair this last year.  One of his cousins had made it before and won Grand Champion, so he really wanted to try it out.  I kept asking what was so special about THIS no bake cookie that it could beat muffins and baked cookies.  Her dad would say, “It’s like eating a candy bar.”  After trying it myself, I agree it IS like eating a candy bar.

My youngest son is in a school that has a student with a severe nut allergy.  Nothing is allowed in the school that has nuts or has what I call the nut allergy statement on the packaging.  We used to grow sunflowers on our farm and learned about Sunbutter.  It is a peanut butter substitute made from sunflowers and therefore contains no nuts.  My kids really like it, so I thought we would try this cookies with the Sunbutter.  Turns out my boys really liked them.  Our local drug store, Porter Drugs, carries Sunbutter in their gift section.  Everyone always seems to want to try it before they buy it.  If you are in town this weekend for the Christmas parade, be sure to stop by and try one of these cookies made with Sunbutter and if you did stop by and are visiting my blog for the first time to get the recipe-THANK YOU!  I hope you will come back again and see what we are doing on the farm.

Chocolate Yummies

1 cup sugar

1 cup white corn syrup

1 cup chocolate chips

1 ½ cups Sunbutter or peanut butter

3 cups crisp rice cereal

1 cup mini marshmallows

Heat sugar and corn syrup and boil 1 minute.  Remove from heat.  Add chocolate chips, peanut butter and cereal.  Stir until well mixed.  Add marshmallows and mix well, but do not over stir.  Drop by teaspoonfuls onto wax paper.

-A Kansas Farm Mom

Linked to:
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Melt In Your Mouth Monday 
Thursday's Treasures

W4DW-Cream Cheese Christmas Snickerdoodles

I have been so lucky to make friends over the years of my married life that are amazing cooks.  This weeks recipe is a combination of 2 of those friends.

1.  Almost 9 years ago, The Farmer was injured by a cow and earned an ambulance ride to Wichita to see a spine specialist.  When we came back, it was up to me to do all the heavy lifting with the help of a couple of amazing friends.  I found that we had a neighbor that loved watching my then one year old.  I tried to pay her and she refused.  Her daughter and friend had so much fun with him that she felt she should pay me!  I have continued to use this family for baby sitting especially when our long hours in the field wear on me and we have pretty much became family.  One perk of having her watch the boys...she loves to bake.  I can't tell you how many times I came home during wheat harvest after the boys had ate supper with their family and I had half a cake in my hands or a plate of cookies.  We were glad to be her taste testers for many new recipes.

2.  We got married shortly after Christmas.  Being new to this community, I was overwhelmed with the support of many of The Farmer family's friends.  One of these sweet ladies hosted a shower for me not just for the wedding, but also our first born.  (That second shower is a whole story of its own that I will have to share another time.)  We are always expected for Halloween, even though she gets over 200 Trick or Treaters at her house.  If I don't bring the boys by, I get a phone call to see where we are.  :)  Small towns are great that way. 

I can't take credit for this recipe, because you see Friend #1 shared this recipe with me (I think it was out of the recipes she made in 4-H).  Friend #2 always has the prettiest Christmas Snickerdoodle cookies.  I never would have thought to roll them in colored sugar.  My baker in the making (our 9 year old) mixed and baked the cookies for us.  Oh, and our youngest son was in charge of arranging the cookies in a pretty way on the plate.

Here is the recipe that my boys told me, "Mom, these are the best cookies ever.  You don't have to make any other cookies ever again."  Who can argue with Snickerdoodles made with cream cheese?

Cream Cheese Christmas Snickerdoodles

1 c. butter                                                                                           5 ½ c. flour

1 c. cream cheese                                                                              4 t. cream of tarter

3 c. sugar                                                                                           2 t. baking soda

4 eggs                                                                                                 ½ t. salt

Cream butter, cream cheese, sugar and eggs until smooth.    Set aside.  Sift remaining ingredients together.  Stir both mixtures together.  Chill dough.  Roll chilled dough into small balls.  Toll balls to coat in mixture of 4 T colored sugar and 4 t. cinnamon.  Place 2 inches apart on greased cookie sheet.  Bake at 400 for 8-10 minutes until lightly browned, but still soft.  Remove from cookie sheet and cool.

What is your favorite type of Christmas treat?

-A Kansas Farm Mom

You might also enjoy:

Gift Guide from a Farm Mom

Shared with:
Thursdays Treasures 
Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop  
Foodie Friends Friday 
Pink Hippo Party
Melt in Your Mouth Monday

 

W4DW- Whole Wheat Sugar Cookies

Corn harvest is in full swing here in Southeast Kansas-about one month ahead of normal due to the drought.  I haven’t been in the kitchen much for the last couple of weeks.  We spent a lot of time at the county fair, then we went on vacation for 3 days only to come home and go straight to the corn field.  My house looks like a tornado went through the middle of it.  Oh well, I guess I can clean house after corn harvest and when the boys are in school. 

Here is one of our favorite cookie recipes that my little 4-H member made for the county fair.  These have a very different taste than most cookies, but we really like them.  They are a great way to sneak whole grains to your kids.  This recipe uses grated orange peel for flavoring and we found the best way to “grate” orange peel is to use a lemon zester.  This is a recipe that I even made when I was in 4-H that I found from the Kansas Wheat Commission.

Whole Wheat Cookies

      1 cup sugar                                                     ½ teaspoon baking soda

      ½ cup butter, softened                                  ½ teaspoon salt

      1 large egg                                                     ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

      2 tablespoons 1% milk                                 1 tablespoon grated orange peel

      1 teaspoon vanilla extract                            Cinnamon-Sugar Mixture:

      2 cups whole wheat flour                             ¼ teaspoon cinnamon

      1 teaspoon baking powder                          2 tablespoons sugar

Preheat oven to 375^o F. In a large bowl, beat together sugar and butter until

    light and fluffy. Add egg, milk and vanilla extract; beat well.

Combine whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and

    orange peel. Gradually add to creamed mixture, mixing until blended.

In a small bowl, combine cinnamon and sugar. Shape dough into 1-inch balls.

    Place balls 2 inches apart on greased baking sheets. Flatten each dough ball with the

    bottom of a dampened glass dipped in the cinnamon-sugar mixture.

Bake 9-10 minutes or until golden. Remove from pan and cool on wire racks.

    Makes 3 dozen cookies.

        Nutritional Analysis: One cookie provides 73 calories, 1 g protein, 11 g carbohydrates, 3 g fat, 13 mg cholesterol,

        1 g dietary fiber, 13 mg calcium 32 mg potassium and 66 mg sodium.

-A Kansas Farm Mom

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