Operation Baking GALS - Round 6

I'm so so so glad things have calmed down enough for me to be able to participate in round 6 of Operation Baking GALS! I love baking for someone that I know will truly appreciate it. I picked Team KelseyKakes for this round, & we're baking for Bryan Tull who is a broadcast journalist in the Army Reserves. Since these fine folks are the ones that keep us informed on the things going on in Iraq, I decided to bake a couple different kinds of cookies.

I knew I wanted to bake some good ol' oatmeal cookies because those are always so comforting to me. I'm also a huge fan of Tuesdays with Dorie. This group of bloggers is working their way through the recipes in Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours. I following their weekly baking adventures, & I'm totally envious. I wish I had the time to be able to join them, but it's just not in the cards right now. A couple of weeks ago I finally got myself a copy of this amazing cookbook & instantly fell in love with the recipe for World Peace cookies. I needed an excuse to make them, & this was it! As it turns out the TWD group made these last week, so I had a chance to check out everyone's cookies & figure out some of the problems they had.

These cookies are soooo good! I almost didn't want to pack them up & send them away. I guess now I just need to make some for myself! By far my favorite cookie ever!

Operation Baking GALS - Round 2

For Round 2 of Operation Baking GALS, I was on Team Maybe For Real hosted by Anna at Maybe Just A Little Bite. This time I wanted to try to make something that I love & reminds me of home. My favorite cookie in the whole world are snickerdoodles, so I thought maybe our soldiers would love them too. I found a recipe that sounded pretty good, so I set out baking. These cookies were so easy, & they filled the house with the delicious smell of cinnamon & nutmeg. I had to make sure I taste-tested these little morsels before I sent them off, for quality control of course! Mmmmm...so good!




Snickerdoodles

1 cup butter (softened)
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp cream of tarter
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Mix throughly in a bowl the butter, sugar & eggs. Blend in flour, cream of tarter, baking soda & salt. Chill. Shape rounded teaspoonfuls into balls. Roll in sugar mixture (listed below), & place on an ungreased baking sheet two inches apart. Slightly flatten balls with a glass & bake 6 to 8 minutes or until set. Remove from baking sheet immediately.

Sugar Mixture: 2 Tbsp sugar, 2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg

Operation Baking GALS - Shortbread Cookies

For the inaugural Operation Baking GALS event, I knew I needed to bake something that was durable enough to hold up to shipping overseas. After digging through all my recipes, I found exactly what I was looking for...Shortbread Cookies. This recipe is so easy to put together, & the cookies are delicious. I hope Susan's cousin enjoys eating them as much as I enjoyed baking them.



Shortbread Cookies

1/2 cup butter, cold
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup plus 1 1/2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 egg yolk, ice cold
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp lemon extract
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place all ingredients in bowl of food processor. Process until a ball forms. Take out & form together. Wrap in plastic wrap & chill at least 1 hour. Before rolling out, let set at room temperature until soft enough to roll. Roll to 1/4" thick and cut into shapes. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake about 10 minutes.

Yields approx. 2 dozen (depending on size of cookies)

Operation Baking GALS

I wanted to spread the word about a genius idea that I read about today. Susan at She's Becoming DoughMessTic & My Kitchen, My World put a call out to a few of her food blogging friends asking for help sending homemade goodies to her cousin in Iraq. Well her idea has exploded (now appropriately titled "Operation Baking GALS"), & she's offering to anyone who like to help a chance to send their homemade goodies as well. I fell in love with the idea as soon as I read about it, & e-mailed Susan immediately. I'll be baking my sweet treats tonight so I can send them off tomorrow. Nothing makes me happier than knowing that something I made will bring a smile to a soldier's face. I'll post a couple of pictures tomorrow of what I'm baking, but until then...it's a surprise!