Simple Healthy Fries

6 potatoes, peeled and sliced vertically

3 egg whites

1 c. flour

1 tbsp. garlic powder, onion salt, ground mustard, black pepper and salad supreme

1 c. bread crumbs - any variety

1/2 c. parmesan cheese

Beat the egg whites in a bowl until frothy. Mix all the dry ingredients together. Dip the potato wedges into the egg whites and then into the dry ingredients. Place on a greased baking sheet and bake at 375* for 40 minutes, or until browned. Enjoy!

1/4 C. lite corn syrup

2 tbsp. brown sugar

1 tbsp. white sugar

1/4 C. creamy peanut butter

1 1/2 C. corn flakes

1/4 C. spanish peanuts

1/2 C. melted chocolate

Bring the corn syrup and sugars to a boil. Remove them from the heat as soon as it boils and stir in the peanut butter. Fold in the corn flakes and peanuts. Press the mixture into a pan and spread the melted chocolate over top. (I use a small, square dish for thicker bars.) Chill until firm. Wrap in plastic wrap and pack in an insulated lunchbox. Enjoy!

Christmas Mice

1 container of chocolate icing

1 to 2 cups of flour

slivered almonds

Red sprinkle dots

Mini chocolate chips

A small plate of cocoa powder or crushed chocolate cookies

Mix the frosting and flour until the frosting is more like a dough. Chill overnight. Take a small amount of frosting and roll it into a ball, stretching out one end so it looks more like a mouse. Really you should roll it into an oval, but kids have a hard time with that. Roll the mouse into the cocoa. Use the slivered almonds for ears, the chocolate chip for a tail and the red sprinkles for eyes.

Sugar Plum Dreams

1 bag of large marshmallows

Melted white chocolate

Sprinkles

Wafer Roll cookies

Break a wafer roll cookie in half and stick them into 2 large marshmallows. Roll the marshmallow into melted white chocolate and sprinkle with sprinkles. Let set and enjoy!

I originally planned for the kids to make gingerbread kids, but that fell through. We’re redoing our kitchen floors, so I knew I wouldn’t be able to make the gingerbread dough from scratch without going completely insane stepping over my husband and tile pieces. And the grocery store I went to had no gingerbread. So instead, I am having the kids pick one of four cookie presses that I have and push them into peanut butter cookie dough, and then they can decorate them with icing and sprinkles.

The kids’ cooking club has been a huge success. Every month my playgroup sends out a calendar and Little Chefs is one of the first activities to fill up, and it always has a waiting list. I was a little wary at first that the kids wouldn’t be interested, but they all love it and so do the moms.

1 C. butter

2 C. flour

1 C. chopped walnuts or hazelnuts

1 C. powdered sugar

2 tsp. rum or vanilla extract

pinch of salt

Cream the butter and sugar. Mix the rest of the ingredients into the creamed mixture, except for the nuts. Once the mixture is blended well, add the nuts. Roll the cookies into little balls and bake them at 350* until golden brown. About 8-10 minutes. Roll the cookies in powdered sugar while hot, and then again after they cool. Enjoy!

Million Dollar Cookies Recipe:

1 C. softened butter

1C. sugar

1 C. packed brown sugar

2 eggs

2tsp. vanilla

2 1/2 C. flour plus 1/4 C.

3/4 C. cocoa

1tsp. baking soda

2 Heath candy bars or toffee bits

1 bag Rolo candies

Preheat oven to 375*. Beat butter and sugars until fluffy, then add eggs and vanilla and beat well. In another bowl, mix the 2 1/2 cups of flour, cocoa and baking soda. Add flour mixture to moist mixture a little at a time and blend well. If it’s too sticky, sprinkle in a little extra flour.

Cover and chill for about 30 minutes. Chop heath bar into small pieces. Toss with 1 tablespoon of sugar. Wrap a piece of dough around a rolo and form into a ball. Dip the dough into the candy topping and bake for 7-10 minutes. Cookies will look soft, but do not overbake. Cool for a couple minutes on pan and then remove. Enjoy!

Here’s the winning recipe for Rolos Peanut Butter Cookies

1 package of peanut butter cookie dough
1 package of Rolos
Sugar to roll the cookies in
Open the pack of peanut butter cookie dough. Tear off a chunk and roll a Rolo into the middle of it. Roll the ball into sugar and bake at 350*, until lightly browned. About 10 minutes for us.

This cookie won because of its simplicity, taste and the ability to work as an everyday cookie or a holiday cookie. The kids made this 100% by themselves. The only thing I did was preheat the oven for them. They both had a blast making these and rolling the Rolos in the dough and rolling the dough in sugar. We decided that when we make our Santa cookies, we’ll roll these in red and green sugars instead of white.

Even though Pam’s cookie won, all the cookies were delicious. The super simple peanut butter cookie with the chocolate star in the middle was our runner-up. The kids had a really hard time deciding between the two, and fighting over who got the last bite. If you love peanut butter, then the super simple peanut butter cookie is for you.

The chocolate chip, peanut butter, and sugar cookie recipes are all traditional favorites of ours, and we enjoyed trying each recipe. We have the leftovers frozen to make our Santa cookies with. The no-bake cookie reminded my son of a Snicker’s for some reason, and he gobbled lots of those down.

The oatmeal chocolate chip cookie was a hearty cookie, and will probably become a new holiday favorite for gift giving. The reindeer chow was fun and simple to make, but we had quite a discussion on whether or not it could be called a cookie. In the end we decided it was a different form of cookie and my daughter shared them with her playgroup yesterday at their Christmas party. The snowball cookies went fast, and that was largely due to me and my husband fighting over them. The kids tried them, but they had a little trouble getting won over because of the nuts. They loved rolling them in powdered sugar though.

The last three entries are posted on yesterday’s blog. So if you missed seeing your cookie, check the blog from yesterday. Thanks everyone for entering the christmas cookie contest. We had a lot of fun baking and trying all the cookies. It’s always a pleasure when I can get my son into the kitchen for more than just eating. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!