Friday, December 26, 2008

Too Many Christmas Cookies. . .

So I have been wanting to make these Neiman Marcus/Mrs. Fields cookies for a while now, so I figured I would make them for Santa. 
The Recipe is quite Large it makes 112 cookies. So I started to read the recipe 2 Cups of Butter. Ok so thats 8 Sticks of butter? Who knows What I was thinking I don't know. So I doubled the butter but not everything else. When I was done mixing it all together the dough looked a little wet I read the recipe more closely and then thought about what I had done. The Word C R A P passed my lips, With Savannah following it will "We don't say Crap  mommy, We don't say Crap mommy, We don't say crap mommy!" She thinks because she is telling me that we don't say it, that's it ok for her to say it over and over and over again. At least 10 times. 
Back to the cookies. So I then proceeded to double the rest of the recipe.  Much to my dismay the doubled batch did not fit in my kitchenaid 6 quart mixer. Who knew I would ever need one of those restaurant style mixers. 
So I finished it by hand and then proceed to roll and bake all 224 cookies. That is a lot of cookies.  I just wish we had taken a picture of the pile before we started to give them away.  If you are interested here is the recipe. . . 

(Recipe may be halved): 

2 cups butter 
4 cups flour 
2 tsp. baking soda 
2 cups granulated sugar 
2 cups brown sugar 
5 cups blended oatmeal (measure oatmeal and blend in blender to a fine powder) 
24 oz. chocolate chips 
1 tsp. salt 
1 8 oz. Hershey bar (grated) 
4 eggs 
2 tsp. baking powder 
3 cups chopped nuts (your choice) 
2 tsp. vanilla 

Cream the butter and both sugars. Add eggs and vanilla; mix together with flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder, and soda. Add chocolate chips, Hershey bar and nuts. Roll into balls and place two inches apart on a cookie sheet..Bake for 10 minutes at 375 degrees. Makes 112 cookies.. Have Fun!!!

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Christmas time is here . . .



Just in case I don't have your address for  Christmas letters here is ours for this year!


2008 has brought a lot of joy and happiness.

We moved into the house on Christmas Eve last year and are still working on it. What’s the saying? “A carpenter’s house is never finished.” We hope that we can get the final details finished in 2009. For Thanksgiving we traveled to Cedar City, Utah and spent a few days at the Petersen family reunion. It was great to catch up with the family and meet all the new additions.

Savannah turned 2 in October and can spell her name, identify her colors, count to 20 and recite the alphabet. She loves to sing “Once There was a Snowman,” “Happy Birthday” and “The Wheels on the Bus.” She talks non-stop identifying landmarks on drives in the car, asking where friends and relatives are and what they are doing, requests her favorite TV shows by name and is into cars, animals, princesses, makeup and Christmas. A few of her favorite phrases are: ”I don’t think so” at bedtime, “We just look, we don’t touch decorations” and “How ‘bout....” to negotiate for what she really wants. Savannah loves to spend time with her grandparents, and cousins. Cousin “Mal Mal” (Mallory who is six weeks younger) is her absolute favorite to play with.

Shaleah continues to work 3 days a week for Dr. Sylvester’s dental office. The other days are full of household chores, shopping and playing with Savannah. She also finds time to make bows and is starting her own website: MommyMakesBows.com

Scott took a test for the Stationary Engineers Union and placed 13th on their 1300 person waiting list. If the economy ever turns around they will start hiring again. For now he remodels bathrooms and maintains restaurants.

We hope that this Christmas Season finds you happy and healthy. To keep in touch the other 11 months of the year, email us at: sssimpson@hotmail.com. We have also started a family blog at: ssssimpson@blogspot.com. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Scott, Shaleah and Savannah Simpson