Ranchero Cookies

I have a sweet tooth. I love anything with chocolate and if it's in a cookie, then jackpot! For years I've been looking for a Cowboy Cookie recipe that had oatmeal and chocolate that created a crisp yet, soft centered cookies. Traditional Cowboy Cookies have anything from oatmeal, rice crispy cereal, chocolate chips to even shredded coconut.  Eliminating coconut, rice crispy cereal and adding in brown sugar along with granulated white sugar, I finally hit the jackpot with these Ranchero Cookies that made about 6 dozen delicious treats!

Click here for the recipe for Ranchero Cookies

With Valentine's Day this week, these cookies would be a huge hit at parties, work or just as a delicious dessert to have in your cookie jar at home anytime of the year. Trying to get ahead of  my busy week, Saturday night involved baking these cookies and watching the Olympics with my family at home.  Perfect evening in my book.

For my first batch, I made my Ranchero Cookies larger with about 2 tablespoons of batter on the cookie sheets. After seeing how large they were (about as large as my hand), I reduced the dough to 1 tablespoon in size and they were perfect. These cookies may bake faster than the 7  - 9 minutes I recommend.  Our favorite cookie scope is our ice-cream scoop at our house.  It works perfectly, especially when lightly greased with a oil.

Be careful and watch these Ranchero Cookies closely in your oven as you don't want them to get to bake too long. If you are like me, you'll want a chewy middle with a brown, crispy outer edge.

Click here for the recipe for Ranchero Cookies 

This week my Ranchero Cookies will be shared with my daughter's golf team, co-workers and high school English teachers as this recipe made so many.  You can easily halve this recipe and still have around 3 dozen cookies depending on the size of dough you place on your baking sheets.  I did use parchment paper to line my pan for easy cleanup.  I also used the convection bake element on my oven switching the cookie sheets halfway through to make sure all cookies baked evenly.

I hope you'll enjoy these Ranchero Cookies!  They will definitely be a cookie I will bake for many years to come.

Alise
The Ranch Kitchen

Christmas with my girls and Hot Chocolate Cookies

This Christmas I have so enjoyed my girls being HOME!  With my two oldest daughters off at college and work, it's precious few times we get to spend an entire week or more together. 

One thing I look forward to each year is the baking and preparations for our family meals in my crowded little kitchen.  With all four of us cooking and baking around the bar, stove and oven my kitchen soon get a good kind of messy and I couldn't be happier.

My Bethany and Ilissa both this week created desserts to serve our family, their grandparents, our ranch manager Steve, and their assorted uncles, aunts and cousins for during the holidays.  Our youngest daughter Audrey proudly shared these Hot Chocolate Cookies for a Christmas party at her friend Jaici's and she said they were a huge hit.

Hot Chocolate Cookies rolled into balls

Add marshmallows after first initial baking and then return to the oven for 2 - 3 minutes and no longer.  You don't want the marshmallows to melt.

Place in a pretty tin and these cookies will keep up to two days out of your refrigerator.

Click on the here for the recipe for Hot Chocolate Cookies.


We hope you'll try these precious cookies!  The original recipe was from Rachel Ray's Magazine and site and a fantastic blog and site called Glorious Treats!  Please check it out!

Enjoy your holidays!

Alise, Ilissa, Bethany, and Audrey  - The Ranch Kitchen

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Alise's Note - December 1st, 2018 - These cookies continue to be a huge hit at our house and now our most requested cookie at our Cookie Exchange and by teachers who get them as gifts each year.  They are so worth the extra effort and change them out with the sprinkles in January and make them look wintery with blue and silver sprinkles.  





Alyse & Ruthie's Chocolate Chip Cake

Have I told you how much I love chocolate?  I adore the smell, the thought and all the different flavors of chocolate! My house has candy bowls of sweets and chocolate throughout and found I'm the only one that really eats them.  I don't really eat them a lot, but a small snack size Hershey's Kiss seems to curb my appetite and hold me until dinner.

Alyse Jones Bennett at our school's Thanksgiving luncheon with her wonderful cake!

Today I'm sharing another Alyse's recipe and not mine for Alyse and Ruthie's Chocolate Chip Cake.  It's a dense, rich and decadent cake from a young teacher at our school.  She didn't follow her Aunt Ruthie's recipe directly, but the results were wonderful!  It sometimes gets a bit confusing having two Alise's on our campus, but we are blessed to have her as she is a fantastic science teacher and cares about 'her' kids so much.

Click here for Alyse and Ruthie's Chocolate Chip Cake!

This cake would a great desssert for anytime of the year.  It would especially be enjoyed this week during Thanksgiving as it has most the ingredients you already have in your pantry and refrigerator.  The original recipe called for 8 ounces or sour cream, but Alyse decided on 16 ounces and it was over the top good. 

Very proud of this young cook. If you'd like to also share recipe on my site it's easy.  Just click on the link at the top or here to Share a Recipe and create an account.  Promise it's super simple and won't take you but a minute.

Once you submit and I check it over, I'll submit!  If you'll leave your email in the text of the recipe (I'll delete it before I submit), I'll let you know when your recipe goes live.  It's a great way to catalog and share your recipes with family and friends!  And I love getting new family favorite recipes for my site!

Enjoy and thanks Alyse for sharing this recipe!

Alise - The Ranch Kitchen