To Grandmother's House We Go: Baking

I feel like a baking post is long overdue here on my blog!  If I am not cooking a meal here in Alaska, I am baking something.  Our boat has begun to trade baked goods for fresh fish from the local fisherman, so my current task as appointed by the Captain is keeping the kitchen fully stocked with baked goods to give away.  Surprisingly, I haven't gotten tired of it yet!

Here are the two most popular cookie recipes among the crew that I work with, Cowboy Cookies and Cowgirl Cookies (I did not name these recipes ;)  They are from a Deer Valley Ranch cookbook, but I typed them both out to share with you!

While baking at home I have the privilege and am accustomed to using all organic ingredients with freshly milled flour and honey granuals as a sugar substitute.  Only having bleached white flour and generic ingredients to bake with has certainly been an adjustment for me.  Eating organic and milling flour is something I so dearly miss!  Growing up, I was very blessed to have a healthy minded mother when it came to eating.  I don't believe I actually tasted anything made with white flour or store bought bread till I was in my teens!  Even as much as it annoyed me as a child to always eat healthy, I love it now!  Not only that, I have never once had a problem with my teeth.  Even anything minor!  And I rarely if ever get sick... It pays off in the long run I think.

That being said, these two recipes work just as well with whole wheat flour and sugar substitutes as they do with white flour and regular sugar, which is awesome!

I hope you enjoy these.  Let me know if you try them and how they turn out!

Also, excuse the photo of the cowboy cookies.  One batch got slightly overbaked, and before I could take pictures of the good batches with my nice camera they were already gone!  Yes, they are that good ;)

Have a wonderful day!
Olivia

P.S. From Olivia's Posting Manager Heidi - due to the lack of internet connection, Olivia has been sending me the contents for the blog, and I have been posting them.  However, as the season starts in Alaska and the population grows by hundreds, the phone lines and internet connections get jammed; so it is possible that this could be the last post for a while.  Hopefully technology will continue to work, but as it is unpredictable, only time will tell.