Grandma's Peanut Butter Cookies

For as long as I can remember, my Grandma has ALWAYS had her cookie jar filled with these cookies whenever I have gone looking for them. For me, I have never tasted a better cookie, peanut butter or otherwise. I hope you like them as much as I do!

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup margarine
• 1/2 cup peanut butter (eg. Kraft Smooth)
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (try Roger's Golden Sugar!)
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup flour (eg. Robin Hood All-purpose)

Equipment

• Medium bowl
• Cookie sheets
• Fork, knife, spoon

Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F
2. Cream together the margarine and peanut butter using a fork.
3. Add the granulated and brown sugars to the creamed mix, and mix well.
4. Stir in the egg, vanilla, flour, and baking soda. Mix well. Don't be scared to get in there with your hands and mash it up really well!
5. Take small amounts of dough (maybe 1 tbsp) and roll into small balls and drop them on to the cookie sheets. (You shouldn't need to worry about greasing the sheets.)
6. Press the dough balls flat using a floured fork. This will also make the nice ridges in the cookie that make them so easily identifiable!
7. Bake at 350 F for 10 minutes.
8. Remove from the sheets immediately and place them on a cooling rack. They will be quite soft at first, but they will cool into a deliciously soft cookie.

This recipe will make up to 5 dozen cookies, depending on the sizes that you make. Once you try them, I'm sure you will agree that 5 dozen isn't enough!

Black Forest Brownies

Topping:

• 500 ml cherry pie filling
• 1 teaspoon almond extract

Batter:

• 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup butter
• 5 (1-ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 4 large eggs
• 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Topping:

1. Place cherries and extract in a bowl.

Batter:

1. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt. This is the flour mixture!
   
2. In a large saucepan melt butter and chocolate over low heat, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat and stir in sugar. Stir in eggs, one at a time. Stir in vanilla.
   
3. Add flour mixture to chocolate mixture and mix until smooth.
   
4. Fold in chocolate chips.
   
5. Spread batter in greased 15x10-inch jelly roll pan.
6. Drop heaping tablespoons of cherry topping on batter, spacing them evenly in rows -- 3 spoonfuls across and 4 lengthwise.
   

Bake at 350°F for 25 to 30 minutes.

Easy Greek Salad

Ingredients

You can change the amount of the vegetables or cheese to whatever your preferences are. I usually add extra feta and olives. :)

• 1 cup tomatoes (I prefer vine or Roma tomatoes)
  
• 1 cup cucumbers
  
• 1/4 cup diced red onion
• 1/2 cup crumpled feta cheese
  
• stuffed or kalmata olives (as many as you like)
  
• 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp dried parsley

Equipment

• Small bowl
• Medium bowl
  

Steps

1. Dice the tomatoes and cucumbers and add them to a medium sized mixing bowl.
2. Dice the red onion into small pieces, and add them to the salad.
3. Crumple the feta cheese into the salad, and mix it all up. You can also add olives at this point, or choose to add them to the top of the salad as a garnish.
   
4. In a small bowl, combine the olive oil, vinegar, parsley and oregano, and mix it up really well.
5. Pour the dressing over the vegetable mix, and toss to coat everything.
6. Chill for 10 minutes, and serve. If desired, top off the serving with a few olives.

This recipe makes plenty for 2-3 people. For a variation, you can also add to the salad red or green peppers, or add crushed garlic to the dressing. Try it out and let us know what works for you!

Apple Pancake / Breakfast Pie

Filling:

1/4 cup Brown sugar
1 tsp Cinnamon
2 tbsp. Butter
3 Apples peeled and sliced

• Preheat oven 400° F
• In 9" pie plate melt butter and sprinkle in sugar and cinnamon, add apples and bake for 10 minutes.

Batter:

1/3 cup Flour
1/2 tsp Baking powder
2 Egg yolks
1/3 cup Milk
2 Egg whites
1/3 cup White sugar

• Combine flour and baking powder; blend in egg yolks, and milk.
  
• In large bowl beat egg whites until soft peaks form, add sugar and beat till stiff. Fold into batter, spread on baked apple slices.
• Bake 15-20 min

Dutch Apple Pie

This is not your typical apple pie. Instead of a doughy crust covering your pie, we have a scrumptious brown sugar topping that is wonderful on the lips.

1 Tenderflake pie flaky pie crust (or equivalent)
5 apples
1/4 cup whipping cream
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
3 tbsp cold butter
1/2 tsp cinnamon

• Before beginning, preheat your oven to 450°F (230°C)a
  
  
• Peel and core apples; cut each apple into six or more wedges. Arrange wedges snugly in single layer in pie shell; drizzle with half the cream.
  
  
• In a small bowl, combine sugar and flour; cut in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over apples; dust with cinnamon and drizzle remaining cream.
  
  
• Bake in oven at 450°F (230°C) for 15 minutes, then reduce to 350°F (180°C) and bake for 30-35 minutes or until apples are tender.

That is all that there is to making this pie. If you have any comments, suggestions or general feedback, please feel free to leave them below!

We hope to have a picture for it up soon, but if you have one that we can use, please send it to us at allstarrecipes@gmail.com