A Year of Blogging

December 27th was the one year anniversary for my blog.  It's hard to believe that a year has passed by so quickly.  When I started blogging I had no  idea what I was doing, but knew I could figure it out as I went.  I did have a few goals, though.  I wanted to spend more time baking and cooking, learning new techniques, sharing recipes, and also working on my photography skills.  Over this past year, I am pleased with what I have accomplished, but it has now made me set some higher goals for 2010!  I am also grateful for the blogging buddies I have made along the way.  Some live close.  Some live far.  Some I have never met face to face.  We all share a passion and that in itself brings us all together.  I thank all of you who take the time to stop by my blog and share your comments!

As we come to a close for 2009, I went back to look at some of my favorite and not so favorite baking and cooking experiences.  Below is a slideshow that I hope you will enjoy!  If you click on an image below it will bring you to Picasa where you can follow links back to the recipes.

So, what's on my list for 2010?  It's still in process at the moment, but here is the start of my goals:

• Reading four books that I have on cooking and baking.  I have had the Flavor Bible and Ratio for some time now and have not spent the time to read, though I have skimmed!  I recently purchased the Ratio app for my iPhone so I need to check that out too! For Christmas I received Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day and Marcy Goldman's A Passion for Baking.  No just scanning the pretty pictures.  Time to get down to business!  I think these books will help me hone in on some techniques while also learning to be more creative in baking.  I am a little creative in cooking, but am not as adventurous in baking.
  
• Spend time redesigning my blog:  I feel like my blog shows a part of who I am and my brand and I would like to spend some time coming up with a new look along with adding some cool tools and gadgets.
• Create a Schedule for Posting:  Working full time, cooking, baking, trying to stay fit, and a social life take up a lot of time.  During this past year my blog suffered as I got so busy with other things.  I would like to start with a goal of a minimum of two posts per week and go from there.
  
• Photography:  I have made some strides with my photography, but know I have a ways to go.  My husband bought me an image stabilization lens and some photo shoot equipment for Christmas so I am looking forward to learning how to use them and incorporating the results into my blog.
• Cooking Classes:  I am starting this in January with Cambridge School of Culinary Arts'6 week Back to Basics Series I-IV.  I will be on the lookout for more!
• Social Media:  Get with the times and create a Facebook page for my blog and get on Twitter!
  

What are you most proud of that you accomplished in 2009 and what's in store for 2010?

Veal Ragu

I have made this recipe twice now and it is truly one of my favorite dishes.  I had never had veal prior to making this and know now I was certainly missing out.  I purchased the veal at my local Whole Foods Market.  They did not show boneless veal shoulder in the meat case, but upon asking they brought out what they had in the back.  I will say the second time I made this I had to use veal stew meat as I could not get the boneless shoulder anywhere.  It was still delectable, but the meat just was not as fall apart as the first time.

I read this recipe in November over at Megan's Delicious Dishings site.  It is cold here in the Boston area and this is a perfect dish to warm up to as well as a taste worthy one to serve to company.  It is fairly easy and your guests will think you spent hours on it.  I sometimes find myself making too complicated dishes when we have company over.  This one pot meal (well two if you count the pasta!) will be a real crowd pleaser.  The meat is tender and melts in your mouth.  Serving it with the wide noodle pasta gives it that better than pasta look.  Add some home made bread or a dinner roll for gathering the last bites of the ragu and you will be having your guests asking you when they can come over again!  Jump on over to Megan's Delicious Dishings site for the recipe and her step by step instructions!

Spiced Cranberry Bundt Cake

On Christmas morning I decided we needed something besides cookies for dessert after dinner.  You would think I was all baked out, but in between preparing the ham and Alton Brown's macaroni and cheese (yes, that's a keeper) I jumped online to the bon appetit site and perused some of their top dessert recipes and came across this Spiced Cranberry Bundt Cake by Dorie Greenspan.  I wanted something that was not too sweet because between cookies and candy I sort of had enough of that.

This recipe was easy to put together and the end result was very good.  Two ingredients that you may not have on hand are almond flour (aka almond meal or ground almonds) and Chinese five spice powder.  I actually had both so decided to give it a go.  I did substitute walnuts for almonds as I prefer one to the other.  I had never used Chinese five spice powder before this recipe.  Depending upon where you buy the Chinese five spice the ingredients can differ slightly.  The original Chinese five spice ingredients included equal amounts of cassia (cinnamon family), clove, fennel seed, star anise, and Szechuan pepper.  I had purchased McCormick's and the ingredients were anise, cinnamon, star anise, cloves, and ginger.

When I opened the spice, the first smell I picked up on was licorice (provided by the star of anise) and then could recognize the cinnamon, cloves, and ginger.  These flavors provide sweetness, but are also pungent.  I was afraid that the cake was going to come out with too much of a licorice taste, but I was completely wrong.  While baking, the cake will fill your kitchen with an aromatic smell of the spices and you will be counting the minutes until it is done so you can try a piece! The cake looks like a typical cranberry nut one, but the taste is much different with the combinations in the Chinese five spice.

In reading the reviews, many stated that this cake truly tastes better as it ages.  I would agree that after sitting for a while and letting the flavors meld together it only gets better.  I would say, though, that is the case for most fruit and nut breads and cakes.

So, if you are looking for a twist on the typical cranberry nut cake I would recommend that you add this recipe to your must try list. 

Spiced Cranberry Bundt Cake

Dorie Greenspan via bon appetit (November 2008 issue)

Printable Recipe

CAKE
2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup almond flour or almond meal* (about 2 1/2 ounces)
2 1/2 teaspoons Chinese five-spice powder**
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup plain reduced-fat (2%) Greek-style yogurt
1 cup chopped toasted almonds
1 cup halved fresh or frozen cranberries (do not thaw)
1/2 cup dried sweetened cranberries
ICING
1/3 cup powdered sugar
4 teaspoons (about) orange juice

PREPARATION
CAKE
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour 12-cup Bundt pan. Whisk first 8 ingredients in medium bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until smooth. Add both sugars and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating 1 minute after each addition. Beat in vanilla extract, then Greek-style yogurt. Add dry ingredients; beat just until blended. Fold in almonds and all cranberries. Transfer batter to prepared Bundt pan.
Bake cake until tester inserted near center comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Cool cake in pan 10 minutes. Turn cake out onto rack and cool completely.  I baked mine for 60 minutes.

ICING (I doubled the icing recipe below.  My cake was still a little bit warm so my frosting ran a little)
Stir powdered sugar and 2 teaspoons orange juice in small bowl until sugar dissolves. Mix in more juice by 1/2 teaspoonfuls to reach consistency of heavy cream. Spoon icing over cake, allowing it to drip down sides. Let stand until icing sets, at least 30 minutes.

DO AHEAD Can be made 3 days ahead. Cover with cake dome and store at room temperature.

*Sometimes labeled "ground almonds"; available at specialty foods stores and natural foods stores.

**A spice blend that usually contains ground fennel seeds, Szechuan peppercorns, cinnamon, star anise, and cloves; available in the spice section of most supermarkets and online at penzeys.com.

Giveaway Winner

Thank you to all who left comments for suggestions on the last cookie to add to my trays!  After much difficult deliberation I decided on the Peppermint Biscotti submitted by Lynn for two reasons.  One, I had never made biscotti before and second when I received an email from Culinary in the Desert today with a summary of a ton of awesome treasts Joe has made it included a recipe for Peppermint Biscotti.  I took it as a sign and went for it.  These were really easy to make and have a wonderful peppermint flavor.  Because biscotti are a hard cookie, I chose to leave out the crushed peppermint that the recipe calls for as a decoration.  The crushed candy canes that get added to the batter melt and provide a wonderful minty flavor.  Next time I make them I need to be a little better in dividing the dough as I had one log that produced smaller cookies.  Certainly not a tragedy!

I used to live in the North End of Boston (little Italy) and I spent more than my fair share of time at Modern Pastry buying biscotti.  They are one of my favorite cookies.  If I were going home for the weekend I would buy some for Mom and learned I had to buy extra as I would be nibbling on them in the car ride there. 

I have added all of the recommended recipes to my must try list so I will be sure to let you know how they come out when I try them in 2010!  Right now, after baking for three days, I cannot even look at a cookie or another stick of butta!

Thank you Lynn and please be sure to email me your address along with confirmation of which prize you want so that I can provide to the giveaway sponsor cookware.com, a part of CSN Stores.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Candy Cane Biscotti
Adapted from Land O Lakes via Culinary in the Desert

Printable Recipe

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
2/3 cup finely crushed peppermint candy canes
14 ounces fine-quality white chocolate, melted
extra crushed candy canes to sprinkle on top

Preheat oven to 350

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.

In a large mixing bowl, beat together butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each. Add dry ingredients and mix until combined - stir in crushed candy.

Evenly divide dough into 4 pieces on a lightly floured surface. Shape each piece into 9" x 1 1/2" round log. Place logs 3 inches apart onto parchment-lined baking sheet.

Bake until tops are cracked and ends just start to turn light brown, about 18 to 20 minutes. Remove from oven and reduce temperature to 325. Cool logs 10 minutes on cookie sheet.

Cut each log diagonally into 1/2" slices with sharp serrated knife.  The recipe says "discard ends", but I would not recommend discard any pieces!  Arrange pieces standing up back onto the baking sheet.

Bake until cookies are light golden brown and crisp on both sides, about 12 to 15 minutes. The centers may still be a little soft, but will firm up as they cool.. Place onto cool rack and cool completely.

Dip half of each biscotti into melted chocolate - shake off excess. Immediately sprinkle with additional crushed candy canes or drizzle with chocolate and set on a parchment or wax paper lined baking sheet until the chocolate has set.

Makes about 4 dozen.

Christmas Cards 2009

This year I decided to make our Christmas cards.  Well, let me restate.  Not make in the sense I was super crafty and came up with some handmade Martha Stewart looking thing, but make in the sense I chose a photo of a completed Cookie Tray from Christmas of last year, made a postcard on iPhoto and had Apple make my Christmas cards.

I was really pleased with the way that they came out.  I wanted to add a little extra to them and ended up having a stamp made (thanks husband for that idea!) that said, "Recipes at:  katskitchenplace.blogspot.com".  I thought should anyone want a cookie recipe they could come on over and visit my blog!

So, if you stumbled upon my blog due to my direct marketing approach via this year's Christmas cards WELCOME!  You can click here for the recipes of the cookies on our Christmas card.  The link will bring you to my first post of last year of which I just have basic old recipes with no how to instructions.  Geez, I have come so far this year :)  As I post my cookie recipes for this year, I will provide my now standard commentary and photos.  I hope you will take a minute to review the recipes and also surf around my blog.  Be sure to leave me a comment and let me know what you think! 

Be sure to check my previous post as I am having a great Giveaway sponsored by cookware.com, a part of CSNStores.com!

Above cookies clockwise starting with Cappuccino Flats (chocolate cookie dipped in chocolate)
1.  Cappuccino Flats
2.  Sugar Cookie (with green food coloring)
3.  Chocolate Chip Meringues
4.  Maple Logs
5.  Gingerbread Stars (this was a prepared mix as I was trying out gingerbread)
6.  Almond Bars
7.  Pecan Butter Balls
8.  Gramma's Sugar Cookies
9.  Peanut Butter Cup Tarts

Help Me Choose the 12th Cookie to Add to My Trays & a Giveaway!

Over the past week or so I have been pondering over which cookies I will make for my cookie trays this year.  Two years ago I began to carry on my Mom's tradition of making Christmas cookies and giving out trays of them to family and friends.  So many cookies, so little time!  I usually do not stray to far from a handful of standard ones I make, but I do like to add a few new ones.

As of today, I have eleven different cookies picked out. Seven of them I have made before and four are new this year:

Almond Bars
Maple Logs
Spritz
Sugar Cookies (Stockings & Trees)
Pecan Butter Balls or Cinnamon Chocolate Butter Balls
Chocolate Chip Meringues
Cran Crackle Bars
Peppermint Meltaways
Potato Chip Cookies
Chocolate Nut Wafers
Cranberry Noels

I need your help to decide what the twelfth cookie will be! Leave me a comment with a recommendation (perhaps one of your favorites or a family recipe) of a cookie to add to this year's tray and you will be entered into my giveaway that is being sponsored by cookware.com, a part of CSNStores.com.  In your comment let me know what prize you would like Santa to deliver to you.

So what's the prize you ask?  The prize will be chosen from Le Creuset, Rachael Ray Cookware, or John Boos.

The choices are:

Le Creuset:  A baking dish on this page or this page. (note:  due to stock color may vary).  Having recently purchased a Le Creuset stock pot and fry pan this brand has become one of my favorites!


Rachael Ray Cookware:  Any of the Bubble & Brown Stoneware Bakeware excluding the 3 piece Stoneware Baker set.  Click here to view the items.  I bought the full set of this line a few months ago and can say it is extremely versatile.  I have used the larger size bakeware for making a pork tenderloin and it was perfect for the roast and vegetables.  They are great for cooking or baking.

John Boos:  18x12 cutting board.   Click here to view.  I wish Santa would drop one of these off at my house!!

Entries will be accepted until Monday, Dec 21st at 12 p.m. EST.  Good luck and I look forward to seeing some great cookie recommendations!

Christmas Whoopie Pies

I was browsing through the Williams Sonoma catalog the other night and came across their Holiday Tree Whoopie Pies that caught my eye.  I new I had to try to make these myself.  I used the Williams Sonoma recipe for chocolate cakelets and use my Mom's whoopie pie filling.  Like many, I am a fan of mini desserts so I bought two Christmas Cookie Shapes pans from Wilton to use as my whoopie pie like forms.

I decided I wanted to bring these as a dessert to a friend's cocktail party so I did a test kitchen/trial run and then the real thing.  Both times I ended up with very good results.  My Mom's recipe for frosting was lighter an more airy than the peppermint buttercream I made for the second batch.  Tough call in regards to which one I liked better.  I think I am leaning towards the buttercream as the peppermint flavor was a nice addition.  I came across the mint buttercream frosting from Jenna at Modern Domestic; adapted from Chockylit.  I suppose I could have added peppermint to the first frosting I made, but I did not think of it.

I will share with you some tricks of the trade I learned while creating these.  If you have experience with cupcakes or muffins your natural tendency is going to be to not want to fill the pans to the top with batter.  Let go of your natural tendency.  In my test run I tried filling some wells 3/4 full and then  others all the way.  Trust me on this one.  You are going to want to fill these to the top so that your edges do not curl away and you get a nice imprint on your cakelet.

By filling to the top the batter will overflow while baking.  Don't fret.  It will all be o.k.  Once you take them out of the oven let them cool for about 5 minutes.  At this point, you are going to want to level out your cakelets.  You can do this by taking a knife and slicing off, or my preference, by utilizing a piece of thread.  Note, some may not look good from this angle since they puffed up, but you can fix that.

Cut a piece of thread about 12 inches long.  You can make it shorter, but I like to be able to be comfortable with it in my hand and also to be able to move it around easily.  Place it up against your cakelet and start to saw lightly back and forth.  The thread will catch under the cakelet and you should be able to easily pull it along.  If you let them cool too long it will not be as easy and if you don't let them cool enough it will be messy.  I have used this thread tip with full size cakes and have always had good results. 

So now you have a flat underside, but what are you going to do about the messy edges that overflowed?  Take a pair of kitchen scissors and cut out the excess batter that cooked around the shapes.  Before you know it, you will have nicely cut out shapes.

 

I was talking to one of my friends about how I made these and she was wondering if you could bake a sheet cake and then use cookie cutters to cut out the shapes.  My concern with this is that the sheet cake would be too floppy and not form as well as the pan shapes did.  I cooked these about a minute or so longer so that they would not be as soft and flexible.

Once you have your cut outs you can proceed to decorate however you like.  As mentioned, I made frosting to put in between two cut outs.  I made my buttercream so that it was little more stiff as I did not want the cut outs to slide off of the frosting.  I also tried grinding up some candy canes to put along the edges, but I could not get them to the right consistency.  I tried smashing them with a rolling pin and also putting in the cuisinart.  I did find some crushed peppermints at Williams Sonoma and will try these when I make them again next week.  The only thing to keep in mind is that crushed peppermints are hard so you don't want huge pieces around the edges or those eating your treats will chip a tooth.

I really liked everything about these.  The cakelets were moist, but firm and the peppermint buttercream frosting was a great last minute add!  You can adjust these to whatever Holiday you are celebrating as their are many pans to choose from.  The pans can get a little pricey, but keep your eyes open for coupons.  I hope you will try these and enjoy creating them and test tasting them as much as I did!

Chocolate Cakelets
 Williams Sonoma
Printable recipe

1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
8 Tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup Dutch process cocoa powder
2/3 cup boiling water

Have all ingredients at room temperature.

Preheat an oven to 325 degrees.  Generously grease and flour pan.

Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk together the butter, egg and vanilla; set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar and cocoa powder.  Whisk in the boiling water, then whisk in the butter mixture.  Add the flour mixture in two additions, whisking until smooth and no lumps of flour remain.

Divide the batter among the wells of the prepared pan.  Bake until the cakelets spring back when touched and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Since my pans were much smaller I started checking them around 10 minutes and ended up baking between 14-16 minutes.  Remember that you don't want these to be too flimsy, but also you don't want to over cook.  Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let the cakelets cool for about 5 or so minutes.  You can use the above mentioned thread trick to slice off the excess cake.  If you are having a hard time slicing with the thread, then the cakelet is still too warm.  I also used the thread to loosen the cake that had overflowed.  Let them cool another 5 minutes, remove from pan and then cool completely on a baking rack.

Peppermint Buttercream Frosting
Adapted from Chockylit via Modern Domestic

Printable Recipe


1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
4-5 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1/4 cup milk
1/8 to 1 tsp all natural peppermint extract

In a mixing bowl, beat your butter until creamy. Add four cups of the sifted powdered sugar and milk and beat until creamy. Add 1/8 of a teaspoon of peppermint extract and mix until combined. Taste the frosting – if it is not minty enough for you, continue to add small amounts of the mint extract until you reach your desired flavor.  I did add an entire teaspoon.  Once you have the flavor down, add enough powedered sugar until you get the frosting to the consistency you want.

Kate's Whoopie Pie Filling
Printable Recipe


1 cup milk
5 Tbsp flour
1/2 cup Crisco
1 stick margarine (I used butta)
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup sugar

In a small saucepan, blend the milk into the flour.  Cook over low heat until thickened.  This takes a while.  Let cool.

Cream together crisco, margarine, vanilla, and sugar.  Add the flour mixture and beat with an electric mixture for 10 minutes.

Whichever frosting you choose, I would recommend piping it on vs. spreading with a knife.  Using a sandwich bag (snip off a little of one corner) or a pastry bag, fill either with the frosting and pipe on to one of the cakelets. Top with a matching cakelet. Next time I will use a deocrative tip when piping as it just finishes it off a little more.  At this point, you can gently roll the sides of the cakelets in some crushed peppermints.  I would not wait until the end of decorating all of them as the buttercream does start to get a little harder and form.

I made and decorated these the night before the party and they stored perfect in a plastic container in the fridge.

Operation Baking GALS: Round 15 (Recipes: Snickerdoodles, Cowboy Cookies, Chocolate Peppermint Pinwheels)

I have had a very busy work schedule the past two months and my poor little blog has suffered!  I have been baking and cooking many recipes and hope to get caught up after the Holidays.

I was sure to make time this past weekend to bake cookies for another round of Operation Baking GALS.  As I have mentioned before, Operation Baking GALS is a group of volunteer bakers who bake and send homemade goods to our military men and women.  The goal of the organization is to show our support and remind them how much we appreciate everything that they do for our freedom.

I signed up for 3 Teams this month.  Two were outside of the country and one will be going out next weekend to a group of soldier that are recovering back here in the U.S.  I actually sent out three packages earlier this week as one of the soldiers we were baking for had a friend that had not received a package yet so I felt the need to send him one!

The menu consisted of Snickerdoodles, Cowboy Cookies, and Chocolate Peppermint Pinwheels.  I have made the cowboy cookies before (aka Cowgirl Cookies for Breast Cancer Awareness), but the snickerdoodles and pinwheels were new.  The snickerdoodles were my Mom's recipe and came out exactly how I remembered them.  They are a sweet and buttery cookie that are crunchy on the bottom and have a top that is filled with sugar and cinnamon.  While taste testing a few it brought me back to days of sitting on the couch in her house taste testing many of hers!

The Chocolate Peppermint Pinwheels are a recipe I came across as I have been pouring over my magazines, emails, and recipe boxes deciding what I will make for the Christmas Trays this year.  My first post last year (click here to read it!), was all about the Christmas Cookie Trays tradition of my Mom's that I have continued.  I have really enjoyed my blogging experience to date and look forward to dedicating more time in 2010 to my love of baking and cooking!

So, the chocolate peppermint pinwheels did not turn out exactly as I had thought.  I had expected more flavor from them.  They were also a fair amount of work.  I probably would not complain about that as much if they were some superb cookie!  I hope the soldiers don't think I am bad baker!  I really wanted to start over and do an old standby, but I had already baked dozens of cookies and needed to get things packaged up and ready to go to the post office.  Included in each package were about 4 dozen of the variety of cookies, some gum, candy, munchies, and mini candy canes.  I hope everything arrives in one piece and is not stale!

This weekend I will be finalizing my cookie tray list.  I think I did 11 kinds last year.  There are a handful of standard ones that I make and then each year I try a few new ones.  What are your favorite Christmas cookie recipes?  I saw a treat in a catalog the other day that I just had to try myself.  I did a test run in my "test kitchen" last night and they came out great.  I am going to a friend's party later this week and will be bringing them.  If you are a fan of whoopie pies, you must check back for this great tasting and fun recipe!

Below are the recipes for the cookies I made for the troops:

Snickerdoodles

 Kate's recipe box

Printable recipe

1 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 3/4 cups flour
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3 Tbsp sugar
3 tsp cinnamon

Mix shortening, sugar, and eggs thoroughly.  Blend in dry ingredients.  Shape ball into 1" balls and then roll in sugar.  Don't sugar the bottoms.  I used my small cookie scoop and did not form all of them into a ball shape (see photo below).  The reason for this is when they bake the top crackles more and you get that not even look.  Place 2" apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake 8-10 minutes.  My Mom's recipe said it made 6 dozen, but I got 4 dozen!

Chocolate Peppermint Pinwheels
adapted from First
Makes about 6 dozen
Printable recipe

3 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 lb unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/3 cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
6 Tbsp crushed red and white had peppermint candies or candy canes
2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled

Combine flour, salt, and soda.  Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in vanilla and eggs.  Beat in flour mixture.  Divide dough in half.  Stir crushed peppermints into one half and beat chocolate into remaining half.

Flatten each piece, wrap, and refrigerate 1 hour.

Roll out each piece of dough between sheets of lightly floured waxed paper to a rectangle approximately 16"x9".  Put peppermint dough on top of chocolate dough and roll out to a rectangle approximately 18"x10". 

Starting with one long side roll dough up into a log.  Chill at least 1 hour.

 

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Cut dough into approximately 1/4" slices.  Put 2" apart on ungreased baking sheets.  Bake until edges just start to brown, 5 to 8 minutes.  Cool on wire racks.

Cowboy Cookies:  click here.  Note, these were called cowgirl cookies when I used pink M&Ms and cowboy cookies when I used red and green M&Ms!