Cookie making

We are taking a break from the building to rest and save up more money so I thought I'd bake more cookies for our next round of building.
I am not a 'real good' cook.  Now and then I come up with something different or special. But mostly, I cook just to get by and feed us. I like the sign I saw recently that said, "I only have a kitchen because it came with the house'. Well, I'm not that bad, but .... Being we eat 'diffferent' and I cook for 2 meals at a time and freeze half, it is not that hard to cook for us.
Today, I made cookies. Most times, they don't turn out just right, but are a little hard, not sweet enough, or crumbly. Today, was a 'just right' day! I had to make myself stop eating them, they were so good. The trouble is we still have some left from the last batch, we need to eat, also. I guess we'll have one of each until the old ones are gone.
About a month or more ago, I baked a 4x batch so while we were building on our new room, I would not have to bake. When they did not turn out just right, I was disappointed with all those cookies, but they were good enough to eat. :)

Cinnamon Rolls

An Adams' family tradition, for this Adams family, at least, is cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning. I started that so we could eat them while opening gifts and have breakfast later. If we got around to having breakfast. Usually, Christmas dinner was ready early because I put the turkey in too soon.
Sometimes, they were home made and sometimes 'pop-can' ones, but we had them each Christmas morning. I am glad our daughters try to carry on the tradition. Traditions have to start somewhere, right?
... home made ones are rising right now. This year, we are spending Christmas Eve with my mom and Christmas Day with his family, so I made them today, so we can enjoy them and save some for Christmas morning, also.

Wow, I actually got ambitious to get them done! What are some traditions your family does for Christmas?

Biscuits

I make biscuits from the Betty Crocker recipe in her cookbook. But, being it is just the 2 of us, I half the recipe and come up with 4 biscuits. Today, I could not decide on biscuits or cornbread, so I made them with half of each meal! A little grainy for biscuits, but good, all the same ... especially with that veggie soup. :)

How I bake cookies the healthy way

Keep in mind that when I say 'healthy', it only means how they say what is healthy at the present. I have been a half-health-food nut for more than 30 years and just when I get something a point of habit to help us be healthy, we read or hear how that has changed. So, I keep plugging along trying to do my best to do right by us. These are ways I do things, it does not mean it is the best way. It is up to you to determine what your family needs.

So ... when I bake cookies these are some of the things I do:

Cookie recipes usually call for 1 t. vanilla added in with the liquid ingredients. I have nothing against it, but the price. I won’t buy imitation vanilla and the other cost too much. I did not have it once, and found out the cookies taste just as well. So, unless I have it on hand, I don’t bother using it.

I use half the amount of sugar a recipe calls for in all my cookies. I figure all the other items I add in add sweetening to the recipe and it helps us stay healthier by not eating so much sugar. Less weight gain. Less money spent, also! I tried honey and other substitutes, but half the sugar is easiest.

When not using egg yolks, I use one more egg white than the eggs the recipe calls for. I throw the yolks away. It bothered me at first. But, I also throw peach pits away because they are not good to eat.

I use 2/3 unbleached flour and 1/3 whole wheat flour that I mix baking powder in to make my own self-rising flour.

I use one of those cookie dough scoopers. We like a little larger cookie.