I'm Back (and Happy Sugar Cookie Day)!

After a week of vacation with my family in Colorado, I'm back! I had an amazing vacation with lots of food, family, outdoor adventures, and fun!  More details to come on that tomorrow.

This past week, temperatures in Chicago have been extremely high, like in the 100s.  Not your typical Chicago weather!  The day after I got back from Colorado, I woke up for my Saturday morning long run.  When I started my run at 6:45, the temperature was already at 85 degrees and humid.  Needless to say, the weather (and my week of vacation) did not make for a good run.  I was hot, tired, and dehydrated from the start.  I could barely finish and had to walk for a little.  I was obviously disappointed in my run.  It's hard not to get discouraged after a bad run. Instead of focusing on how disappointed I was after my run, I tried to refocus on the week ahead and doing better the next week.  It's important to remember that not every run will be your best (and this one was definitely not mine).  Also on those bad runs remember...

and...

Today is National Sugar Cookie Day!  It is also some of my students' last week of summer school.  I wanted to make the students a special treat for finishing summer school, so I used the holiday as inspiration and made Rainbow Pinwheel Cookies.  

How they looked pre-cooked (kind of looks like Play Doh)

I found the recipe here.  This recipe is ridiculously easy, especially because I used pre-made sugar cookie dough.  Let's be honest...the pre-made dough is so good why bother trying to re-create what is already so yummy?!  I loved how the neon food dye looked in the original recipe, but couldn't find it. So sad!  However, I think mine looked just as pretty and I'm sure turned out just as tasty.

Ready for the oven

I was very happy that I read the comments below the recipe.  People had said that after adding the food coloring, the dough became sticky and difficult to handle or roll.  I definitely ran into this problem!  It was a goopy mess and my hands were becoming covered in dough.  To solve the problem, put colored dough into the refrigerate for about 20 minutes before handling it.  This helps the dough harden and makes it easier to work with.

Finished product!

Ricky's verdict: "Looks and tastes great! My kids would love these."  Let's hope the kids in summer school enjoy them too!

Ricky Says...

Thank you to everyone for all the great feedback and support!  Here is a little preview of what is to come...

Before tell you the recipe (or show the the finished product) for this yummy treat, I have to introduce you to my good friend Ricky.  Ricky is a man who is very near and dear to my heart.  I see him every weekend, he is always a gentleman opening my doors, and he never fails to have a huge smile on his face.  Ricky is one of and hands down my favorite doormen.  Ricky has graciously offered to be the blog's baked goods taste tester.  Every baked goods recipe will have Ricky's review.

Ricky's verdict on this week's creation: "absolutely delicious". You can't argue with that!

I'm calling these Coco-Choco Nana Cookies. I started these cookies with an oatmeal cookie base that I got from Runner's Kitchen.  I like this base because it's not overly sweet, allowing any and all add ins!  The original recipe had coconut (I have been on a huge coconut kick lately) and dark chocolate chips. I decided to add banana chips for some extra crunch and flavor. The recipe made 15 cookies.  However if you don't like to "taste test" the dough as you go (I had to be certain it tasted good), I'm sure you could make a few more!

Coco-Choco Nana Cookies
Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1 cup oats
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
6 tbl granulated sugar
1/4 cup butter (softened)
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
1/4 unsweetened banana chips

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 350.
-Whisk flour, oats, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
-Place butter and sugars in separate bowl. Beat with mixer until blended (about 2 min). Add in egg and vanilla. Beat well.
-Add flour mixture and mix together. Add remaining ingredients and mix.
-Roll into balls, place on ungreased cookie sheet, and bake for 12-15 min (mine needed the longer baking time but were still chewy on the inside).
-Enjoy!