Sunday Baking

 We haven't been home much and my 7 day dirt road vacation did not materialize. We were home on Sunday and I was planning to sew some, but I spent most of my time in the kitchen.

We're pretty remote and it takes 45 minutes to get to the closest little village and an hour the other direction to get to an actual town so we don't just run in for 1 or 2 things and when we DO go, it takes a while and we've been going more than I like.

We went to another bull sale on Saturday and the sale barn owner is a rancher and a friend of ours. He has bought our calves in the past. He walked up to me and the first thing he said wasn't "Hi.". He hugged me and said, "Did you bring me some of those cookies?" 😂

'Those' cookies must have made an impression because he bought those calves 5 or 6 years ago.

I swear that will be carved onto my headstone:

She baked cookies. 😂

That sale barn room was crowded and heads swiveled and several perked up, "Cookies?" Whoo, boy. Please don't advertise. 

So Sunday, I made a double batch. For the record, 'those' cookies are my Cowboy Cookies that I've been making for almost 40 years.

 It'll have to do. Monday was another bull sale. 'Tis the season. We also stopped in at the local nusery to drop off a plate of cookies for the manager. He's been incredibly kind and helpful. We are out of room, but DH couldn't help but browse. I about had to rope him and drag him out of there.

I also made another batch of this granola...that DH got into before it had cooled off and before I added the cranberries

When I walked through the kitchen the other day, DH shook the empty jar at me with a hopeful grin...hint taken. 

And I made Dirt Road Granola Bars.

I also wrapped up and delivered my most recent quilt finish, because J (the owner of the sale barn) and his wife just became grandparents last week and that new baby needs a quilt.

 I guess cookies and quilts are my love language 😉

Maybe I can sew tomorrow 🙃

C is for Cookie

 I bake a lot of cookies. They're so portable and it's easy for DH to grab a few when he walks in to fill his coffee tumbler before heading back out to fix fence, or check waters, or feed cows, or gather a pasture. When the chiddlers were still home, they would often wander in from their dirt road capers, barn expeditions, and pasture explorations in need of portable edibles in order to continue their adventures because one simply cannot capture cattle rustlers, navigate a pirate ship across the desert, or conquer the world on an empty stomach. Cookies played an important part in fueling their childhood between meals.

I shared in an earlier post that it also seems a lot of people end up at the end of our dirt road.  County road maintainers, UPS and Fed-ex drivers, brand inspectors, cow buyers, neighboring ranchers, vets, feed and hay delivery drivers, propane and fuel delivery men, the crew when we work and people who are lost or who DH rescues when they have tire trouble on the side of the road and a baggy of cookies is my way wishing them a nice day. It didn't start out that way, but it has taken on a life of it's own. It's gone from DH telling me, "You don't have to do that", to "Hey, I noticed the county parked their equipment at the end of the road..." ie: I bet they'd appreciate cookies. 😉

Through the years, I've shared a lot of them here and I thought it may be helpful to write a post with links to all the cookie recipes we love that I've posted through the years. I'll update this post as I share more because yes, there are more. 😊

 1.Cowboy Cookies  (these are kind of my signature cookie and the first one I shared way back in 2007)

2. Gingersnaps

3. Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

4. Special K Cookies

5. Lemon Cowboy Cookies

6. Sugar Cookies

7. Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies

8. Pumpkin Pie Spice Snickerdoodles

9. Brown Sugar Chocolate Chip Cookies

10. M & M Cookies

11. Loaded Butterscotch Toffee Pecan Cookies

12. Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies

13. Texas Ranger Cookies

14. Gingerbread Cowboys

15. Oatmeal Scotchies

16. Snickerdoodles

17. Dirt Road Granola Bars

P.S. We like a cookie with a tender crunch. Is that a contradiction in terms? We like a little crunch when we bite into it, but then it's got a tender texture after the crunch. So your baking time will depend on how soft or crunchy you like your cookie. I just keep an eye on them. Ovens vary so much so you'll just have to experiment to get the right consistency. I've baked so many cookies over the years that I don't pay much attention to the minutes in the oven and I just take them out when they look right. DH usually tells me they're not done enough and I still try to convince him that they will be just right once they cool off, but a warm cookie is pretty hard to resist.

I've often had requests for printing capabilities and I'm sorry - I don't know how to add that. This is just a simple little blog written by a non-tech ranch wife. I do like that option though as I use it when I discover new recipes online. On the sunny side - there are no ads and I'm not trying to sell you anything. I'm simply trying to spread the cookie love. 😉