Carrot Cake Cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained (little can at the store)
3/4 cup shredded carrots (2 carrots through food processor)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

1 cup raisins (optional)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, stir in the crushed pineapple, carrots and raisins. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon; stir into the carrot mixture. Mix in the walnuts if desired. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, until bottoms begin to brown and cookies are set. Allow cookies to cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheets before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

Notes: 

This made 2 dozen for me. 

PB&J Cookies

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. 

In a medium bowl, combine:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine:
1/2 cup butter-flavored shortening
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Stolen from: http://www.pipandebby.com/pip-ebby/2012/2/3/peanut-butter-jelly-cookies.html

I liked the picture

With a hand-held mixer, beat the mixture on medium speed until just combined. Add 1 egg and beat until incorporated. Gradually add the flour mixture and mix until combined.

Roll heaping tablespoons of dough into balls with your hands. Place them onto ungreased baking sheets and press into the center of each cookie with your thumb to create a divot. 

In each divot, place 1/2 teaspoon of jelly and 1/2 teaspoon of creamy peanut butter.

Bake in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes. Let cool.

Notes:
Make sure the jelly is actually in the divot or when it gets warm it will slide off the cookie and burn on the baking sheet. Next time I would only use jelly instead of more peanut butter because the cookies are pretty peanut butter-y already. 

Cowboy Cookies

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 sticks butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon espresso powder
1 egg
2 cups quick-cooking oats
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup chocolate chips or chopped semi-sweet chocolate
1 cup broken-up pretzels*

Note: to break up the pretzels, but a handful in a sealed plastic bag. Use your hand or a heavy kitchen utensil (like a potato masher) to make chocolate chip-sized pieces. Don’t pulverize them. Measure after you break them up, and then add more if necessary.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a couple baking sheets with parchment paper.

In the bowl of an electric mixer if you have one (otherwise, use a large bowl and a handheld mixer, or your really strong arm), cream the butter and brown sugar until blended and creamy. Add the vanilla, the espresso powder, and the egg and beat until light and fluffy. Stir in the oats, flour, baking soda and salt, mixing just until the dry ingredients are incorporated. Then add the chocolate chips and the pretzel and stir to distribute.

Make balls the size of golf balls and place them at least 2 inches apart on the cookie sheet.

Bake for about 9 minutes, just until the tops of the cookies are firm. Let cool 2-3 minutes on the cookie sheets, then slide the parchment straight onto the counter or a wire rack and cool completely.

(Picture taken before I knew it would be immortalized on the internet. I will try to take prettier pictures of the food in the future)

Notes:
I really liked these cookies and they were fairly easy to make. I used pretzel nubs because those are my favorite way to eat pretzels but weren't the best shape for the cookie.