Category Archives: HD66B

HD66B, Recipes

Convention Cookie Recipes

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Initially when I started posting recipes here it was to help people turn down the stress level they were facing. A high stress level will actually weaken one’s immune system.

Here are the recipes I’ve posted so far and the links are here so you don’t have to rummage through the posts to find them.

Have a Happy Convention!

–Tom Polachek HD 66B Republicans Chair

(Click on the title for the recipe link)

Double Chocolate Chip Snack Cake

Healthified Chocolate Chip Cookies

Oatmeal Raisin with Molasses Cookies

Chewy Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Peanut Butter with Reese’s Peanut Butter Chip Cookies

HD66B, Recipes

Shared Recipes: Peanut Butter & Reese’s Peanut Butter Chip Cookies

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Our Chair, Tom Polachek, has an older brother who is allergic to peanuts. His brother carries a shot to save his life if he should ever eat something with peanuts in it. So growing up Tom never really had anything with peanut butter in it until his brother went off to college when Tom started 7th grade.

This recipe seems to have a lot less peanut butter in it than others. The Reese’s Peanut Butter Chips are great. One thing I don’t do from the recipe is I don’t roll the sugar on the dough as the instructions say to do.

Ingredients

A. 1 cup packed brown sugar

B. 1/2 cup peanut butter

C. 1/2 cup butter softened

D. 1 egg

E. 1 1/4 cups Gold Medal® all-purpose flour

F. 3/4 teaspoon baking soda

G. 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

H. 1/4 teaspoon salt

J. 1 cup peanut butter chips

K. Granulated sugar (optional)

Directions

1. In a large bowl, beat A, B, C, and D with electric mixer on medium speed until creamy, or mix with spoon.

2. Stir in E, F*, G*, and H.

3. Stir in with mixing spoon J.

4. Heat oven to 375°F and prepare cookie sheets. Roll 1 1/2 inch dough into white sugar and drop on ungreased cookie sheet.

5. Bake cookies 9 to 10 minutes or until light brown.

6. Cool 5 minutes; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.

* Many Recipes have either Baking Soda or Baking Powder in them, not both. You might wonder what is the difference and what do they do separately and together. It may be a good separate post. Briefly they are used as leavening agents and they deal with acid in the recipe. For now Click on the highlighted link Baking Soda & Baking Powder together.

Directions with Photos

1. In a large bowl, beat together A-D.

Add Peanut Butter (B)

Add Softened Butter (C)

Beat together add 1 egg (D)

2. Stir in E, F*, G*, and H. (You can sift these ingredients together before adding to the mixture)

Stir Flour in (E). I keep my flour in an old Nesquick Canister.

Add Baking Soda (F)

Add Baking Powder (G)

Add Salt (H)

3. Stir in with mixing spoon J.

Sampling some chips

I snapped my old mixing spatula so I had to use “Woody” to finish

4. Heat oven to 375°F and prepare cookie sheets.

I like using the SILPAT Baking Mat on the right. The one on the left, the blue one I got to test for Cooking Club of America. It’s okay, but I like the SILPAT better.

5. Bake cookies 9 to 10 minutes or until light brown.

6. Cool 5 minutes; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.

ENJOY!

HD66B, Recipes

Sharing Recipes: Chewy Chocolate Chocolate Cookies

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When the MNGOP HQ was in St Paul our Chair Tom Polachek used to volunteer upon the request of the office manager Barb Linert. Whether it was for phone-banking for candidates, or doing Precinct Caucus Data Entry after a Caucus Tom said the party didn’t always provide something to snack on so he would make cookies and bring them to share with others who were volunteering.

At the 2018 State Convention in Duluth Minnesota, Tom brought cookies for each Delegate & Alternate attending the convention.

Since we’re “Social Distancing,” and doing  remote conventions, Tom can’t bring cookies to those who attend.  Instead he is providing the recipe for you to make and share at home.

This is a recipe called Chewy Chocolate Chocolate Chip cookies by Debby from Allrecipes.com.

Ingredients

A. 1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) softened

B. 2 cups sugar

C. 2 eggs

D. 2 tsp vanilla

E. 2 cups flour

F. 3/4 cups unsweetened cocoa

G. 1 tsp baking soda

H. 1/2 tsp salt

J. 2 cups mini chocolate chips

Directions

1. In large mixing bowl cream A & B together.

2. Add into A&B mixture C & D.

3. Sift E, F, G, and H together into into ABCD mixture blend using low speed on mixer.

4. Stir into mixture J with wooden spoon.

5. Preheat oven 350 F

6. Drop by teaspoonsful onto ungreased cookie sheets.

7. Bake 6-9 minutes (do not overbake cookies will be soft. They will puff while baking and flatten while cooking).

8. Cool slightly on cookie sheet remove from sheet to cool completely on wire rack.

Directions with Photos

1. In large mixing bowl cream A & B together.

Normally I like to add a little bit of the sugar at a time but the butter was super soft.

2. Add into A&B mixture C & D.

Add Vanilla.

Add two large eggs

Blend well.

3. Sift E, F, G, and H together into into ABCD mixture blend using low speed on mixer.

It is wise to have a catch bowl when adding the dry ingredients to the sifter.

Although out of order Baking soda and salt it’s not a big deal as you’re sifting them together

Add Salt

Add cocoa. All dry ingredients in the sifter. Start to add a little bit at a time while blending.

4. Stir into mixture Mini Chocolate Chips with wooden spoon.

5. Preheat oven 350 F

6. Drop by teaspoonsful onto ungreased cookie sheets.

(I went with smaller sized cookies as chewy cookies are easier to handle)

I like the Silpat baking mat as the cookies do not stick, cool faster and clean up is a snap.

7. Bake 6-9 minutes (do not overbake cookies will be soft. They will puff while baking and flatten while cooking).

With the bake mat and Airbake cookie sheets I set the timer for 8 minutes.

8. Cool slightly on cookie sheet remove from sheet to cool completely on wire rack.

While the cookies were baking I did some clean up. It’s too bad I didn’t have a helper due to social distancing. I had to clean off both of these.

Enjoy!

HD66B, Recipes

Sharing Recipes: Healthified Chocolate Chip Cookies

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In the days when the Republican Party of Minnesota Headquarters was located within walking distance of the MN State Capitol in St Paul, I, Tom Polachek, used to volunteer frequently there.  One thing about volunteering at the HQ, was they rarely had snacks for volunteers.  So I had to brown bag it when I did Precinct Caucus Data Entry and do phone-banking there.  Occasionally there was Pizza but that was rare.  So I started to bring made-from-scratch cookies to share with some of the staff and the other volunteers.

When the HQ was moved out of St Paul to the Seward neighborhood of Minneapolis I stopped volunteering at the HQ.

At the 2018 Republican Party of Minnesota State Convention in Duluth as the Chair I brought two kinds of cookies to share with the Delegates and the Alternates.  I brought out Chewy Double Chocolate Chip, and Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies.  I didn’t have enough time to make another batch of cookies which I’m sharing here, Healthified Chocolate Chip aka Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies.

So being that we won’t be able to be together in person at the CD4 Republican Convention nor the State Convention, I thought I’d share the recipes so you can make them yourself to share with your family.

The Betty Crocker App I have on my ancient 3rd Generation iPod Touch lists these cookies having “21% fewer calories • 42% less sat fat • 14% less fat than the original recipe. Simple changes help ease the guilt without losing an ounce of deliciousness!”

It is a simple recipe though when I first made it I thought I did something wrong as it was so soupy prior adding the dry ingredients. I made small cookies as I was unsure if a large cookie would stay together. The cookie sheets and silicone mats I was using I set the oven for 8 minutes.

Ingredients

A. 3/4 cup granulated sugar

B. 3/4 cup packed brown sugar (If your brown sugar has turned hard, you can soften it up by heating it in 10-15 second bursts in the microwave on high. Check it each time until soft).

C. 1/2 cup butter, softened

D. 1/2 cup canola oil

E. 1 teaspoon vanilla

F. 1 egg

G. 2 cups Gold Medal® whole wheat flour

H. 1 teaspoon baking soda

J. 1/4 teaspoon salt

K. 3/4 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

*There is no letter “I” as it might confuse the reader.

**I used the North Dakota Mill “Dakota Maid” Brand Whole Wheat Flour. Believe me, you won’t know it is a whole wheat cookie.

Directions

It goes without saying your kitchen needs to be super clean before starting. Wash your hands, and keep your hair in place with a bandana or baseball hat (I started to collect baseball hats because of my single guy cooking-baking). You might have to handle the dough when you put it on the cookie sheets, so wash your hands again.

1. In a large bowl, beat A thru F with an electric mixer on low speed until blended.

2. Beat in G thru J until well blended.

3. Stir in K with a mixing spoon. (I like to use mini chips as there is a more even distribution of chips per bite).

4. Heat oven to 375°F (I like to not rush the mixing as the oven preheats. I like to prepare my cookies on the sheets while it preheats).

5. On an ungreased cookie sheet, drop dough by rounded measuring tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart. (I use a silicon baking mat on a metal cookie sheet on either an air bake or a one ply raised sided metal sheet)

6. Bake 7 to 9 minutes or until very light golden brown (centers will be soft).

7. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack.

Makes about 3 1/2 dozen cookies.

ENJOY

 

Directions with Photos

1. Mix A-F

Sugars

Add Canola Oil

Add a Large Egg

2. Add Whole Wheat Flour, baking soda and salt (G thru J)

 

3. Add mini chips and mix with mixing spoon or rubber mixing spatula

 

4. Preheat oven to 375 F

5. Prepare your baking sheets.

The silicone mat on the right SILPAT made in France is my favorite baking mat. To determine what is a good silicone baking tool pinch some of the material together. If a white line appears between your fingers it is a poor quality baking tool.

The Best oven mitt I’ve ever used is the “Ove Glove.” It’s reversible and worth whatever you or your gift giver paid for it.

Use upside down spatula to get the cookie off the sheet.

 

Cool cookies on a wire rack. Then transfer to a plate to put in the fridge.

ENJOY 

Nutrition Facts Calories 110, Calories from Fat 50, Total Fat 6g (9% DV), Saturated Fat 2g (11% DV), Trans Fat 0g, Cholesterol 10mg (4% DV), Sodium 65mg (3% DV), Total Carbohydrate 13g (4% DV), Dietary Fiber 1g (4% DV), Sugars 9g, Protein 1g, Calcium 0%. Percent Daily Values (DV) are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.