"Instant" Cookies (Part 2)

This is my second installment of "Instant" cookies.  I love doing these types of recipes because I feel like it's a dual purpose.  I'm cleaning stuff out of my overfilled pantry AND making friends and family happy!

These cookies are made with instant apple cider.   I love apple cider...good steamed high quality apple cider.  NOT the instant stuff.  Yet I buy a box every season thinking I'm going to make it and it will be yummy! After the first cup I realize that it's just plain NOT good.  So it sits in my pantry until February when I clean out the cabinets and the pantry.

This time I figured I could use it for something delicious!  Voila!  Snickerdoodles with Instant Apple Cider!  Holy moly they are fantastic.  Pretty sweet but certainly tasty, especially with a homemade caramel glaze.

Here is the recipe: Caramel Apple Cider Snickerdoodle

The recipe makes them with caramel in the center but I didn't have any caramels so I figured what the heck.  When I make them again I will certainly make sure I have some caramels on hand!  I think the caramel center might cut the sweetness a bit.

Little happy balls of deliciousness!

And now with a caramel glaze!

I decided to make the caramel glaze since I didn't have any caramel to put into the center.  The glaze was so fun to make!  I felt like a real cook!  Muwahaha! I'm going to take over the cooking world!  Next thing you know I'll be hosting my own cooking show...  doubtful, I have a face for radio!  

So here is the recipe for the homemade caramel: Caramel Sauce.  Keep in mind that the recipe might have a type.  I think it was supposed to be 1 TEASPOON of vanilla and not 1 TABLESPOON of vanilla.  I read the reviews that informed of this possible typo after I had already made the stuff.  However, I was at the end of my bottle of vanilla so it ended up being close to a half a tablespoon.  I still have a jar of it left in my fridge that I put in my coffee in the morning.  

I liked the caramel recipe so much I might make homemade caramel sauce for family and friends for Christmas gifts in little baby food jars.  We shall see right?  

On another note this recipe calls for "Cream of Tartar" which has always stumped me.  Turns out that according to Wikipedia "Potassium bitartrate, also known as potassium hydrogen tartrate, with formula KC₄H₅O₆, is a byproduct of winemaking."  So technically these cookies are a relative of wine.  

Speaking of wine, you really must visit my sister in law's blog called, "Confessions of a Wineaux"  .  Very well written and really helps you understand the wines that she's drinking at the time.  It's helped me wander away from the "4 buck Chuck."

What recipes have you used that had a weird ingredient?

Love,

Lisa

"Instant" Cookies (Part 1)

When I was trying to nurse Evelyn I tried all kinds of different supplements.  One of them that actually seemed to work made me smell like I'd bathed in maple syrup.  All day.  For 4 months.  There are worse things a person can smell like but after a while it was annoying.  And to this day, 8 months later, I can't stand the taste of maple syrup unless it's mixed in with something like oh, waffles.  Yum.

I bought a box of Quaker High Fiber instant oatmeal hoping to help with the baby weight and to have a filling breakfast.  They only had one flavor.  Maple and Brown Sugar.  After the first packet I couldn't do it.  I had flashbacks to that horrible bitter tasting liquid supplement.  Yuck. But of course I couldn't throw away perfectly good food so there it sat on the top shelf of the pantry until a few weekends ago I was thinking it would be nice to have some oatmeal cookies, and what an easy way to get rid of those oatmeal packets!

So I looked online for "instant oatmeal cookies" and I came across this recipe.  Instant Oatmeal Packet Cookies

Holy oatmeal batman!  They were a little flatish but so chewy and yummy.  I could tolerate the maple flavor because it was mixed with cookie goodness.  They were of course handed out to friends and family and we ate quite a few ourselves!  Hubster liked them and was sad when I told him I probably won't make them again since I don't intend to buy that type of oatmeal.  I'm sure the other box of oatmeal that I bought will end up in a cookie though.  I just don't have the desire to eat oatmeal for breakfast.  I'm a protein in the morning kind of gal!

A little flat but really yummy!

What is your favorite kind of oatmeal cookie?  Traditional?  With nuts or raisins?