There was some discussion in my kitchen as to what would constitute a “Children’s Delight ” cookie. My old-style version met with derision. “Children won’t like the cloves and raisins,” my daughter-in-law Vania, cookie maker extraordinaire, said. Then she set herself the challenge to come up with something better. And it is good. Peanut butter and chocolate? How can you go wrong? But I had to put my old fashioned recipe here too, at the end.
VANIA HUDSON’S CHILDREN’S DELIGHT COOKIES
Cream:
1 c. butter
1 ¼ c. natural peanut butter
Add:
¾ c. granulated sugar
1 1/3 c. brown sugar
Beat in:
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
Mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl:
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. nutmeg
2 ¼ c. all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt (if you use unsalted butter use more salt)
¾ c. quick oats
Mix dry ingredients into egg and butter mixture, and add chocolate chips.
(No chocolate chips in the old version!)
¾ c. chocolate chips
Bake at 375° for 10 minutes.
Now, Vania says it is better to bake one pan at a time, and to form the cookies into little towers, so they spread into perfect circles with a nice crackle pattern on top. And hers do look lovely. I shaped mine with a fork and they tasted just as good. Your choice.
And here’s the original version for those who prefer a cookie with more spice and less sweetness.
Can’t read it? LOL That’s my mother’s scrawl.
I’ll interpret:
Children’s Delight Cookies (from Raylene Ewing)
Cook 1 cup of raisins in 1/2 cup of water for 5 minutes. DRAIN.
Cream 1/2 cup (or more) butter,1/2 cup each brown and white sugar, and 1 large egg.
Add 1/2 tsp. vanilla.
Mix dry ingredients: 2 cups all purpose flour, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp each baking powder, baking soda, cloves (more?) and cinnamon.
Add half the flour mixture to the egg mixture.
Stir drained raisins into remaining flour mixture, then all into egg mixture, mixing only with spoon or with hands.
Bake on ungreased pan for 15 minutes at 350°.
Your choice.
Thanks for sharing my book launch cookie celebration!
Judith Hudson