Sugar Cookies are traditional and classic.  They are the softest and chewy cookie.  Ever. Sugar cookies have been around for a long time. July 9th is National Sugar Cookie Day. I imagine they have because it is a simple recipe with simple ingredients




You can dress up or down a sugar cookie, depending on your liking.  My mom has always added a simple powdered sugar icing on the top. This time I did the icing, kept some plain and rolled some dough in sprinkles.  




It was hard to keep the kids away when I was making the cookies!  

Nana's Sugar Cookies

PRINT RECIPE HERE

1. Mix powdered sugar, white sugar, oil, margarine, eggs, and vanilla together. 
2. Mix flour, salt, cream of tartar and baking soda.  Add to mixture, a little bit at a time, and mix well.  
3. Cool dough in the refrigerator.
4. Drop by spoonfuls on cookie sheet.
5. Mash with a glass bottom that has sugar greased and dipped on it
6. Bake at 350 8-10 minutes
7. Ice or leave plain

Apple desserts are a favorite of ours.  Fall is the perfect time to think about apple recipes. Apple dumplings are an old fashion dessert that can never go wrong.  The flaky crust that wraps the sweet apple and the sauce that covers the dumpling brings you back to grandma's kitchen.  



I searched for my grandma's recipe in the cookbook my sister created.  It is a collaborative arrangement of all of her popular desserts in a spiral notebook.  It is great to have to be able to grab is and search for a recipe that reminds me of her.  I found an apple dumpling recipe, it listed the ingredients, but no directions.  We know Grandma Patty made her own crust, but I need to keep it simple. I decided I needed to create a new recipe.





Picking a great baking apple is very important.  My favorite apples are Honey Crisp, and I always grab those first in the produce section.  The best type of baking apples is probably a matter of opinion from baker to baker.  You could try Honeycrisp, Granny Smith, Jonagolds,  or Braeburn. 


Mix 2 cups sugar and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon in a bowl.  Using a stick of butter, cut six 1 teaspoon pats of butter.  To prepare, assemble the dumplings.  

Preparing your apples will take some time to peel, core, and you could quarter if you like. It would help speed up the cooking time. 
This is the step where I wished I had an apple corer!

Keep pie dough in the refrigerator until you need it. Take out one pie crust and remove from wrapper.   Cut the crust in half and roll into a ball. Roll the ball out on the floured surface.  Roll the dough into a square large enough to fit around the apple.  Medium size apples work the best.  Of course, I picked out very large apples! Six apples fit the best in a 9x13 pan, so I used 3 pie crusts.




Place apple in center of the dough.  Spoon 4 teaspoons of the sugar/cinnamon mixture and one pat of butter in the center of the apple.  Using your fingers, dip in the water, and run fingers along the edges.  Bring up all four corners of the dough and seal the dough on the top of the apple.




Place dumpling in 9x13 pan after dumplings are prepared, put the saucepan over medium heat and add cinnamon, water, 




Place in 375-degree oven for 45 minutes.  

1. Preheat oven 375
2. Prepare syrup, combine 1 cup syrup, 2 cups water, 3 tablespoons butter, and ½ teaspoon cinnamon in a saucepan, bring to a boil. Boil 3 minutes.  
3. Mix 1 cup sugar and ½ teaspoon cinnamon in a separate bowl, set aside.
4. On a lightly floured surface, take one crust, cut in half, roll into a ball and roll out to a square. 
5. Place one apple on each square and fill each center with 4 teaspoons of sugar mixture and ½ teaspoon butter
6. Moisten edges of crust with water, bring up corners over apples, pinching edges to seal.
7. Place in ungreased 13x9 dish
8. Pour syrup over apples. 
9. Bake until golden brown for 45 minutes.

Every Thanksgiving meal we know someone will bring a pumpkin pie.  It's a tradition, and topped with whipped cream, is my favorite.






Over 1.5 billion pounds of pumpkin are produced each year in the United State.  The top pumpkin-producing states are Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and California. Morton, IL declare their city, The Pumpkin Capital of the World.   If fall festivals are your thing, check out the 20 Best Fall Harvest Festivals and Events Across America. 






Not only are pumpkins great for fall decorations, but the real pumpkins are also healthy and rich in Vitamin A. Pumpkins are also a good source of fiber, and helps with digestion.  Eating pumpkin pie around the holidays is great to treat yourself to a delicious dessert. 






1. Prepare 15 x 10 jelly pan and Preheat oven 400 degrees
2. Place 1 rectangle pie crust on a floured surface
3. Roll into 12x10 rectangle place over one edge of the pan, with 3 inch overhang, repeat with the other crust
4. Press seams together to seal
5. Trim dough around the pan, leave ½” overhang, and crimp the edges of the pie dough
6. Cover dough with large sheet of parchment paper and pie weights
7. Bake 14 minutes on 400 degrees
8. Remove paper and weights, Bake 8-10 minutes
9. In saucepan, cook pumpkin on high for 10 minutes, stirring often.  Remove from heat and let cool
10. In a bowl, whisk cream, milk, eggs, brown sugar, white sugar, pumpkin pie spice, and salt until smooth.
11. Add pumpkin mixture, whisk until smooth.
12. Pour mixture into the pre baked pie crust 
13. Bake 25-35 minutes
14. Cool and cut, serve with whipped cream.

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This post is sponsored by the Glass Barn, Indiana Soybean and Corn Farmers but all thoughts and opinions are my own.

This famous cookie was selected among more than 34,000 recipes in the Taste of Home recipe contest.  When the winner found out her recipe would be shared in the Best of the County Cookies cookbook, she did not share the recipe.  The picture of the winning cookies was on the cover of the cookbook, but cookbook owners soon found out the featured recipe was kept a secret. 


On a trip a few years ago, we toured the Taste of Home test kitchen in Wisconsin. This was the recipe they made in their test kitchen when we were there.  




We did receive the secret recipe for The Cookie of All Cookies, it was not in the cookbook.  They included the recipe on an extra recipe card.

THE COOKIE OF ALL COOKIESPRINT RECIPE

INGREDIENTS FOR THE COOKIE OF ALL COOKIES

HOW TO MAKE THE COOKIE OF ALL COOKIES

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Cream the butter and the sugar.
3. Beat in eggs and vanilla
4. Combine flour, baking soda and salt.
5. Gradually add the creamed mixture.
6. Stir in chocolate chips and toffee bits.
7. Drop by heaping tablespoons 2 inches apart onto greased baking sheets.
8. Bake at 350 for 8-10  minutes.

NOTES ON THE COOKIE OF ALL COOKIES

• I added more chocolate chips because we do not add chopped pecans
• Use  1 1/2 cups chocolate chips and 1 cups of toffee bits if you add the chopped pecans
• Pack down the brown sugar
• Original recipe suggest oven temperature set to 375, and you will have to adjust to your own oven.