Cinnadoodles a GREAT NEW COOKIE!

Cinnadoodles are what I call this cookie.

Yup. I made them and yes they are a big hit!! I am so happy.

We all love cinnamon and sugar around here and if you do too these are a great cookie for you. By far the cinnamon chips from King Arthur are the very best that I know of and would encourage you to give them a try.

Here is the ingredient list:

1/2 C. softened butter
1/2 C. coconut oil* (or other solid shortening,  example Crisco)
1 1/2 C. sugar
2 large eggs
2 3/4 C. all purpose flour (I use King Arthur)
2 t. cream of tarter
1 t. soda
1/4 t. salt
16 Oz. cinnamon chips

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. and prepare the baking pans with silpat mats or parchment paper.

Combine in a large mixing bowl the butter, coconut oil, sugar and eggs beating until light and fluffy with an electric mixer. Turn the mixer to the lowest speed and gradually blend in the flour, cream of tarter, soda, and salt. Fold in the cinnamon chips.

Drop by teaspoons full onto the prepared pans. Use your fingers to push them into semi-uniform mounds. Bake for 9 minutes on the center rack of the oven. Let them sit a minute or two after you remove them from the oven before removing them from the pans to finish cooling.

Yield about 6 dozen cinnamon chip laced cookies that melt in your mouth!! They are for sure "do agains!!"

*Coconut oil is solid until 76 degrees so it looks just like regular shortening.  I selected the coconut oil because it has a different (medium chain) molecule and is supposed to increase your metabolism and it is supposed to NOT be stored in the body as fat, but burns as fuel readily.  As you may recall I am still on the diet.  These were for my binge day and boy are they good!!

Just a tease but I am thinking of a NEW COOKIE!!

It is obvious from the number of cookies I bake that I AM A COOKIE MONSTER!!!

Further, Sunday, the BINGE DAY for my diet is just around the corner soooooo.........

I am thinking cookies. I intend to get them done and here on the blog sometime on Saturday 9/17/11!!

Actually I have an idea to use King Arthur's Cinnamon chips (*They are by far the very best Cinnamon Chip I have ever eaten.) in a Snicker doodle type cookie. I want to call them Cinnadoodles and have the butter on the counter warming up for the making of the batter.

So now you know what I've been dreaming up!! Cookies and pictures to follow. Of course I cannot taste them until Sunday but am sure test tasters will be found.

Katie and Emily my Granddaughters, Grandpa, and my son Mike and his wife Julie are all handy and are always willing to sample cookies!!

*King Arthur products can be ordered on line or they also have a lovely catalog you can order to enjoy.

Ham and Split Pea Soup takes the chill off our first really cool evening.

Ham and Split Pea Soup with Carrots and Turnips.

A few minutes ago I noticed the bright orange leaves of autumn have started appearing on the big old tree in front of the picture window in my living room. That tree turns early but it is indeed an omen of things to come. A chilly breeze hit me as I sat with my husband watching the evening news. i closed the front door and the kitchen window and thought how pleased I was that I had started a pot of hearty pea soup for this evenings dinner.

It had occurred to me that I cannot have potatoes as are commonly added to this soup because of my diet. I remembered that a long time ago turnips and peas were cooked together as commonly as are peas and carrots today. I thought it a pleasing idea to substitute the turnips and see how that would work out. Actually it was terrific and I will probably fix them together again.

Here are the ingredients I used;

2 qt. chicken stock
1 lb. green dried split peas
1 C. diced ham
1 smoked ham hock
3 peeled and diced turnips
4 peeled and diced carrots
3 ribs of celery diced
2 cloves of garlic chopped
1 whole red chili pepper
salt to taste
2 T. oil
freshly ground black pepper to taste

Simmer the ham hock in 1 quart of chicken stock for 1 1/2 hours early in the day. Remove the hock and retrieve any ham on it and save it to add back to the soup. Discard the bones and rind.

Add the oil to the bottom of a large soup kettle with a heavy bottom and cook the onions, carrots, celery, garlic, and turnips for about 3-4 minutes over medium-high heat. Add the stock from the hock and the additional quart and simmer the vegetables over low heat.

Add the rinsed and clean split peas, the ham, the whole chili pepper and the salt and pepper to taste.

Cook over low heat for about an hour and fifteen minutes stirring occasionally.

Serve pipping hot in soup mugs. Serve with crisp crackers or crusty bread if desired.  Yield 3 quarts.