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Children’s Choice Cookies
2 ¼ cups all purpose flour
½ cup sugar
½ cup firmly packed brown sugar
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup shortening
½ cup peanut butter
¼ cup applesauce
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1 cup rolled oats
Preserves or jelly for topping
Heat oven to 350°F
In large bowl, combine ¼ cup of flour and all other ingredients except oats and jelly or preserves. Mix well. Stir in reserved cup of flour and oats. Shape into 1-inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Flatten in crisscross pattern with fork dipped in sugar. (I recommend doing this a little bit differently. See the note below the next image.) Place a little dollop of preserves in the center of each cookie. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until light golden brown. Yield: about 50-60 cookies.
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NOTE: Instead of making a crisscross pattern with a fork, I just use a small spoon or my finger and make a little hole for the preserves. I find that, if you use the fork and then add the preserves, the cookies will get too flat and the preserves will not remain in the center.
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Awesome pictures. What a great idea to use the round spoon to make the spot for the jam. I remember making “thumbprint” cookies with my mother as a kid. That measuring spoon makes a much prettier “print” than my thumb!
What a clever innovation, Anne! I’m going to send you all my favorite recipes so you can put a twist on them to make them even better.
I have been making these same cookies for years. I took the recipe off the bag the year it won as a blue ribbon recipe. The only difference is that my recipe has 2 1/4 cup flour. I make these every year at Christmas (usually have to double the recipe). They are always that big a hit! I’ve always done the crisscross with fork, but next time I’m going to try the spoon trick. What a good idea!
I must have rolled the dough balls too big, I had to bake for 15 minutes. When I doubled the recipe, I only got 72 cookies. They tasted good, but I would have liked them just a little sweeter.