Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies

Normally I try to find my own twist on a recipe or come up with something from scratch.  But here is a recipe that Pam and I simply love.  Given the fact that we are spending a good deal of time in home, we need a recipe that will make the time feel better.  So this is one of our favorite recipes.  It is not exactly health food - but it is really, really good!  It is really just this recipe: Craisins Dried Cranberries Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies.  Ocean Spray has a really nice collection of recipes that are freely available and will be a great addition to everyone's recipe list.  Long story short - we always have the ingredients to make these in a pinch.  They often save the day!

Ingredients (Makes around 20 large cookies)

2/3 cup Butter, softened
2/3 cup Brown sugar
2 large Eggs
1 1/2 cups Old-fashioned oats
1 1/2 cups All-purpose flour
1 tsp Baking soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1 cup Ocean Spray® Craisins® Original Dried Cranberries (or any kind of dried cranberries or raisins)
1/2 cup Baking chips - white (vanilla) or chocolate or whatever!  Adjust to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375ºF.
2. Using an electric mixer (ideally), beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add eggs, mixing well. 
3. In a separate bowl, combine oats, flour, baking soda and salt. Add to butter mixture in several additions, mixing well after each addition. 
4. Stir in dried cranberries and baking (vanilla or chocolate) chunks.
5. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets with parchment paper. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. 
6. Cool on wire rack.

Enjoy & repeat!

Hungry Girl Brownies

We have started making these incredibly easy brownies that are a bit better for you. So maybe it is not like eating carrots and celery - but if you need a treat - this is definitely a great way to go.  We have taken the basic recipe from the Hungry Girl website.  We have played with the add-ins that we like and think that we have a good basic recipe here to match our tastes.  This is super easy and very delicious!  It is more 'cakey' than we normally like - but with fewer calories - it is a good trade off.  

Ingredients

Cooking Spray
1 box moist Devil's Food Cake
15 oz can, Pumpkin puree (do not use pie mix)

1/2 cup-3/4 cup Semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup-3/4 cup Pecans or walnuts, loosely crushed

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2. Spray the bottom of a 9"x13" plan with cooking spray.

3. Add the mix to a large mixing bowl.  Add the pumpkin and slowly blend both ingredients.

4. Fold in the chocolate chips and pecans and mix thoroughly.

5. Bake 25-27 minutes.  Be sure to check that a knife inserted comes out clean.

6. Let cool 1-2 hours then serve.

Enjoy!