Category Archives: Recipes

Recipes

Shared Recipes: Ghiradelli Clementine’s Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Have you ever made a recipe on the side of a bag of chocolate chips? This recipe is one of those and at first when you consider it the only ingredient you might not have is Nutmeg, and maybe chocolate chips, unless you buy a bag to sneak a snack handful here and there.

It was from a Ghiradelli bag of Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips.

At the 2025 BPOU Convention on February 22, 2025, someone asked me why I didn’t make these.  I had made the Chewy Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies, and the Healthified Chocolate Chip Cookies and it didn’t occur to me to make another recipe batch. 8 Dozen cookies should cover a convention right?

Ingredients:

A 1 1/4 Cup Butter Softened (2 1/2 sticks of butter)

B. 3/4 Cup Packed Brown Sugar

C. 1/2 Cup Sugar

D. 1 Egg

E. 1 Tsp Vanilla

F. 1 1/2 Cups Flour

G. 1 Tsp Baking Soda

H. 1/2 Tsp Salt

J. 1 Tsp Cinnamon

K. 1/8 Tsp Nutmeg

L. 3 Cups Oats (Old Fashioned)

M. 12 oz semi sweet chocolate chips (2 cups)

N. 1 Cup Nuts or Krispies (Optional)

Directions:

  1. Cream A, B, C until light and fluffy
  2. Beat in D & E
  3. Sift in F, G, H, J, and K
  4. Add L and mix by hand
  5. Add M to the mixture
  6. Add N (optional)
  7. Drop by small spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet
  8. Preheat Oven to 375 F
  9. Bake 8-9 minutes for chewy, 10-11 minutes for crisp cookies
  10. Cool on wire rack.

Makes about 5 dozen 2 inch cookies.

Visual Ingredients & Directions

A.1 1/4 Cup Butter Softened (2 1/2 sticks of butter)

B. 3/4 Cup Packed Brown Sugar

C. 1/2 Cup Sugar

D. 1 Egg

E. 1 Tsp Vanilla

F. 1 1/2 Cup Flour

Often I will put the measuring cup in the first level of my cupboard so I don’t have to bend down to determine the level.

G. 1 Tsp Baking Soda

H. 1/2 Tsp Salt

J. 1 Tsp Cinnamon

K. 1/8 Tsp Nutmeg (I had bought a bag of nutmeg once and I thought it would be easier to put it into a bottle. So when I had emptied out a Cinnamon bottle I used that to keep the nutmeg in)

L. 3 Cups Oats (Old Fashioned)

M. 12 oz semi sweet chocolate chips (2 cups) I use Mini chips as there’s a better chocolate distribution, but use your favorite kind.

N. 1 Cup Nuts or Krispies (Optional) not shown as I don’t like nuts in cookies (my brother is allergic to peanuts so we never had them in the house)

Visual Directions

1 Cream A, B, C until light and fluffy (Butter & Sugars)

2. Beat in D & E (Egg & Vanilla).  Years ago I did a survey for McCormick Vanilla and I found that more vanilla in cookies is better than what regular recipes call for. So I eyeball the amount to add.

3. Sift F, G, H, J, and K (Flour, Salt, Baking Soda, Cinnamon, Nutmeg)

Sift and stir in the FGHJK dry ingredients

Add L and mix by hand. Mix in oats a little at a time.

Add M to the mixture. I use mini chips so that every cookie has a good amount of chips in them.

Add N (optional)

Drop by small spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet

Preheat Oven to 375 F

Bake 8-9 minutes for chewy, 10-11 minutes for crisp cookies

I use the French Silpat Silicon Baking Mats. They allow for even baking, quick cooling, no stick cookies, and it’s a snap to clean up. They are worth every penny you spend on them.

Cool on wire rack.

Enjoy

— Tom Polachek, HD 66B Republicans Chair 2017-2023

Our former Chair brings homemade cookies to share to our conventions. In 2020 our Convention was via Zoom, so he posted the cookie recipes for our delegates to make at home.  — admin

Faith, Recipes

Happy Varfrudagen (sounds like Vaffeldagen or Waffle Day) March 25th

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Waffle Day is a tradition that is celebrated in Sweden, and to a lesser extent elsewhere, on March 25.  Waffles are usually eaten on this day. The name comes from Vårfrudagen (“Our Lady’s Day“), which in vernacular Swedish sounds almost like Våffeldagen (waffle day).

Our Lady’s Day is celebrated on March 25 (nine months before Christmas), the Christian holiday of Annunciation.  It is the day that the Virgin Mary found out that she was to be Jesus’ mother.  The Archangel Gabriel told her this.  We believe that Jesus was not born in December due to a number of factors like how the shepherds were herding their flock, and that there was no mention of Hanukkah, which had been practiced for about 150 years or so.  Until the actual day is determined we err on the day as being December 25 as Jesus’ birthday, and the Immaculate Conception on March 25th.

Here is the American Swedish Institute’s Recipe for some great waffles.

Try their recipe to make your waffles extra crispy and delicious. Serve with jam in lightly whipped cream.

Recipe for Waffles

  • 1.25 cups cold water
  • 1.5 cups flour
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • 2 cups of whipping cream
  • butter for the waffle iron
  • whipping cream
  • jam

Mix water, flour and salt until smooth. Whip cream until stiff and fold together with batter. Bake with butter in a waffle iron at full power and put them on a grid to cool. If you don’t have a waffle iron or sandwich press, cook them as you would pancakes. Beat the cream and place on waffles with raspberry, strawberry or cloudberry jam.

Wikipedia was used and the SC Times, and American Swedish Institute websites for this article. I am half Swedish and I enjoy this holiday. ~~ Publius Jr.

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!