Question of the Day, Sunday, November 6, 2016

[micknsnicks2mom]

 
Oatmeal Raisin

Snickerdoodle

Chocolate chip, with raisins

Chocolate/peanut (or butterscotch) chip

Peanut Butter (but I don't make them anymore because one of my kids tested positive for a mild peanut allergy)

These are my "must bakes" for Christmas:

Italian Chocolate Chip

Tea Tassies

Spiced sugar cookies (a soft, dark cookie made with molasses and spices)

Italian White Cookies

Italian Chocolate Cookies

Pizzelles

Store bought:

Oreos

Nutterbutters (which I occasionally get and hide and eat when the kids aren't around)

Cocoanut Dreams (the ones like the girl scouts Samoa cookies)

Fudge Stripes

I don't bake or buy cookies too often. They are too easy to get carried away with.  

wow!!! your list reads like a (very tasty) cornucopia of cookies! 

well done! 

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

very nice! 

i think i understand that! when i was a kid, my favorite around Christmas time were the candy canes. these days, my favorite are the clementine oranges. i swear i could go through 3 or 4 (small) crates of clementines during the holiday season! 

 

[Winchester]

You know, I would like those storebought cookies in a tin or in a box. I remember that, even though my Grandma would bake tons of cookies for the holidays, she also would get those tins of cookies and I enjoyed them. Rick is a bit of a storebought cookie snob (Oreos only) and when I've mentioned buying something like that, he kind of wrinkles his nose and says, "Well, I suppose." So I don't buy them. But they take me back to my Grandma and I would enjoy them. I did when I was a kid.

I found a recipe online for Lofthouse Sugar Cookies and I'm tempted to try them. They're a sugar cookie, but kind of a cross between a cookie and a very small cake. You can roll the dough our or you can just shape them into balls then flatten them with the wet bottom of a glass. Frosted with lots of frosting and then sprinkled with sprinkles. I don't know, they kind of remind me of the cookies found in tins or packages at the store and I'm really tempted to make some, just to see what they're like.

 

[bbdoll22]

I love those sugar cookies in a blue tin that are only out around Christmas time. Mmm

 

[Primula]

Mom never used butter; she always used Blue Bonnet sticks.

Me too. I have never used anything else for my cooking & baking.

 

[Winchester]

 
I found a recipe online for Lofthouse Sugar Cookies and I'm tempted to try them. They're a sugar cookie, but kind of a cross between a cookie and a very small cake. You can roll the dough our or you can just shape them into balls then flatten them with the wet bottom of a glass. Frosted with lots of frosting and then sprinkled with sprinkles. I don't know, they kind of remind me of the cookies found in tins or packages at the store and I'm really tempted to make some, just to see what they're like.

Turns out that our Giant store sells Lofthouse Sugar Cookies. I put a package in the cart tonight to try them out, saw the price, $11.99 for a dozen or so), and immediately put them back on the display. I'm making these cookies this weekend to see what they're like. Now I'm intrigued.

@Primula, that's all Mom used and, for years, that's what I used, too. And then about 15 years or so ago, I switched over to all butter (unless a recipe specifically calls for shortening). A lot of people would rather die than use shortening, but it has its place in my kitchen. We don't use it often, but there are cookies (like Rick's snickerdoodles) that call for half shortening, half butter. I've no problem with shortening (but only if it's Crisco).

 

[Primula]

@Primula
, that's all Mom used and, for years, that's what I used, too. And then about 15 years or so ago, I switched over to all butter (unless a recipe specifically calls for shortening). A lot of people would rather die than use shortening, but it has its place in my kitchen. We don't use it often, but there are cookies (like Rick's snickerdoodles) that call for half shortening, half butter. I've no problem with shortening (but only if it's Crisco).

I have only recently gotten into Crisco. I like it for occasional use. Let me ask you this: butter sticks always seem so hard. How do you work with them to soften them? With margarine there is never that problem.

 

[Willowy]

You leave the butter out at room temp for a while .

 

[Winchester]

I have only recently gotten into Crisco. I like it for occasional use. Let me ask you this: butter sticks always seem so hard. How do you work with them to soften them? With margarine there is never that problem.

You leave the butter out at room temp for a while

.

Yepper. If I'm going to do any baking that calls for softened butter, I always leave the butter out for a while. If I'm going to bake in the morning, the butter stays out all night on a dish in the microwave. If I'm going to bake when I come home from work, I take the butter out of the fridge in the morning and let it go in the microwave all day while I'm at work. It won't go bad, it won't spoil or anything like that. (Same with cream cheese, but only for an hour or so; that I don't keep out overnight.)

Notice I said I keep it in the microwave? That's because our cats love butter; they dearly love butter. And they'll go after it every chance they get. I keep it in the microwave for its own protection! 

 

If I plan on baking, but forgot to put the butter out, I will soften it in the microwave. Same with cream cheese. But I prefer to let it soften on its own.

 

[ginny]

I know some people who leave their butter out all the time.  That doesn't seem right.  

Back in the 80's, when I unwittingly became the Toll House Cookie Queen at work because I lucked up and got it right the first time I made them, I learned a big lesson.  Always use BUTTER in cookies.  Not margarine.  The texture is so much better that it's not worth comparing.  

Incidentally, while growing up we always referred to margarine as butter.  I don't know why but we did.  Pass the butter please (yet the only thing we ever had were those awful margarine sticks.)  Then came the tubs of margarine, yet I still referred to it as butter.  Real Butter FTW!

 

[Kat0121]

 
I know some people who leave their butter out all the time.  That doesn't seem right.  

Back in the 80's, when I unwittingly became the Toll House Cookie Queen at work because I lucked up and got it right the first time I made them, I learned a big lesson.  Always use BUTTER in cookies.  Not margarine.  The texture is so much better that it's not worth comparing.  

Incidentally, while growing up we always referred to margarine as butter.  I don't know why but we did.  Pass the butter please (yet the only thing we ever had were those awful margarine sticks.)  Then came the tubs of margarine, yet I still referred to it as butter.  Real Butter FTW!

I refuse to use anything but butter in baking. I have tried the butter flavored Crisco. Nope. Margarine? Sorry but YES, I CAN believe it's not butter. I know plenty of people who refer to margarine as butter. It's one of my pet peeves. 

 

[Winchester]

 
I know some people who leave their butter out all the time.  That doesn't seem right.  

Back in the 80's, when I unwittingly became the Toll House Cookie Queen at work because I lucked up and got it right the first time I made them, I learned a big lesson.  Always use BUTTER in cookies.  Not margarine.  The texture is so much better that it's not worth comparing.  

Incidentally, while growing up we always referred to margarine as butter.  I don't know why but we did.  Pass the butter please (yet the only thing we ever had were those awful margarine sticks.)  Then came the tubs of margarine, yet I still referred to it as butter.  Real Butter FTW!

My mother and grandmother always called it "oleo". I think that it used to be referred to as "oleomargarine" so maybe that's why they called it that. They also called chocolate chips "toll house" chips.....your Toll House reference brought back a good memory for me, Ginny. Thank you. 

I know you can get butter keepers that will let you keep your butter out at room temperature all the time. I can't. I'm sure it's fine to do so, but I just can't. 

Oh, I can definitely believe it's not butter! My sister still uses Blue Bonnet (which is what Mom used for years) and she was shocked when she came over to our house one time and I asked her to get the butter out of the fridge and she saw that it was really butter. She just looked at me. (But then again, the first time I asked her to please grate some Parm for me and she got out a block of Parm-Reg, she had that same look on her face. 

 And she said, "So what the **** is wrong with Kraft??") Everybody cooks differently.

 

[DreamerRose]

I hate hard butter, and I leave mine out on the counter all the time. I have a covered butter dish so the kitties can't get to it. It doesn't go bad and I always have soft butter at hand. It's never enough for a recipe (I have two that call for three sticks of butter), so I have to leave those out in addition if I'm baking.

To me, there's a huge difference in the way butter and margarine cook. Butter melts at a lower temperature, so it leaves cookies crisper. Margarine is oily and leaves whatever it is cooked in oily instead of crisp.

 

[Primula]

Oh, I can definitely believe it's not butter! My sister still uses Blue Bonnet (which is what Mom used for years) and she was shocked when she came over to our house one time and I asked her to get the butter out of the fridge and she saw that it was really butter. She just looked at me. (But then again, the first time I asked her to please grate some Parm for me and she got out a block of Parm-Reg, she had that same look on her face. :lol3:  And she said, "So what the **** is wrong with Kraft??") Everybody cooks differently.

My SIL in England cooks very well & has loads of cookbooks. Yet she always uses that horrid minute rice - the stuff that comes in a box. I love rice of all kinds & how hard is it to cook it from scratch?

 

[Kat0121]

My SIL in England cooks very well & has loads of cookbooks. Yet she always uses that horrid minute rice - the stuff that comes in a box. I love rice of all kinds & how hard is it to cook it from scratch?

That stuff is awful. 

I have a rice cooker that I use. It's foolproof. 

 

[Primula]

That stuff is awful. :uuh:

I have a rice cooker that I use. It's foolproof. :bigthumb:

I've never wanted a rice cooker. I like the way I cook rice stove-top. Heck, I don't even have a microwave.

 

[bbdoll22]

I agree no minute rice and I always make my rice in the stove top.

 

[ginny]

 
My mother and grandmother always called it "oleo". I think that it used to be referred to as "oleomargarine" so maybe that's why they called it that. They also called chocolate chips "toll house" chips.....your Toll House reference brought back a good memory for me, Ginny. Thank you. 

I know you can get butter keepers that will let you keep your butter out at room temperature all the time. I can't. I'm sure it's fine to do so, but I just can't. 

Oh, I can definitely believe it's not butter! My sister still uses Blue Bonnet (which is what Mom used for years) and she was shocked when she came over to our house one time and I asked her to get the butter out of the fridge and she saw that it was really butter. She just looked at me. (But then again, the first time I asked her to please grate some Parm for me and she got out a block of Parm-Reg, she had that same look on her face. 

 And she said, "So what the **** is wrong with Kraft??") Everybody cooks differently.

I recall that my mom used the term oleo, and she would use both oleo and butter interchangeably!  Also, we had a neighbor who had a cat named Oleo!  So it was a well used term back in the 60's and 70's.  Maybe the 50's too but i wasn't born until the very end of '59.  My mom would always call it "Buttah" because she was a native of Atlanta.  Never any hard R's for her, unless there was no R in the word, as in the automobile called Nova - she would call it Nover, lol.  Daddy talked the same way. 

We never used anything but the Toll House chips.  Mom even used it to make Fantasy Fudge at Christmas.  We used the Toll House chocolate and butterscotch chips in 7-layer cookies too.  It was our go-to chip!  

I LOVE pram-reg!  Thanks to Rachael Ray always using it in her cooking.  I eat a little piece with fruit as a snack.  LOVE it!  I used to use the easy already grated kind but the block kind is so much tastier.  

 

[ginny]

I only like basmati rice.  All the others have no taste to me.  

 

[Winchester]

I don't use Minute Rice either....we don't care for it. I do like Trader Joe's rice mixtures; they are excellent. We use basmati and jasmine, too. I keep a container of brown rice in the fridge as well. (We keep all rices in the fridge for longer storage.) Oh, and wild rice; my friend in Minnesota likes to send me bags of a wild rice that is grown there (around the Bemidji area) and boy, that stuff is tasty!

Years ago, we used Uncle Ben's rice mixtures, but we got away from them. I don't know why; as I recall they didn't taste bad or anything. 

@Primula  I have a GF who has never owned a microwave. She refuses to have one in her house. She won't use a dryer either. Or a computer.