Snowy End to 2012

Look at what greeted us this morning!

I told my staff to work from home today, as most people are on vacation, the weather is nasty and we always leave early the day before a holiday anyway.  Up and about early this morning, I headed out to take the girls a nice breakfast of scrambled eggs.  Fat and wet snowflakes were plopping down all around me and the neighborhood was quiet.  Not a soul was out except for me!  So I paused to take some pictures.

Then it was off to get the turkey ready for its suntan in the oven. We lucked out on a trip to Hyvee on Christmas Eve - they had a surplus of young turkeys and were selling them for $6.00! 

And, yes, that's a big ol' fat pat of butter resting on that birds thigh.  I'm drooling just thinking about yummy turkey dinner as the last meal of 2012.  What a better way to end the year than a night in with my honey, a nice dinner, a movie, a roaring fire and fresh snow falling outside?

 

Before I stuck the turkey in the oven, I wanted to try out a recipe for homemade oatmeal creme pies. To my delight, I discovered that I had 3 canisters of quick oats in addition to the one I just bought last weekend.  That's got to be some kind of mandate that I make a ton of these cookies, right?

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Oatmeal Creme Pies

Ingredients (Oatmeal cookies)

•  2 cups brown sugar
• 1 stick butter (1/2 cup), softened
• 1/4 cup shortening\Crisco
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 Tablespoons boiling water
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2-1/2 cups flour
• 2 cups quick oats



DING!  Cookies are done!

Ingredients (Filling)

• 5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup granulated sugar

 

Directions for Cookies:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cream brown sugar, butter, and shortening.
3. Add eggs and mix.
4. Add salt, cinnamon, and baking powder and mix.
5. Mix baking soda and boiling water, then add to the bowl and mix.
6. Add flour and mix well.
7. Add oats and mix well.
8. Scoop dough onto parchment-lined cookie sheets so that you have rounded heaping teaspoons.  I used my new cookie scoop.  Look at those perfectly rounded cookies.  I'm in love!)
9. Bake for 10 minutes, being careful not to burn. Remove from oven, transfer to a cooling rack, and let the cookies cool completely.

Directions for Filling:

1. Place milk in a small saucepan on the stove under medium heat. 
2. While stirring constantly, add flour and whisk constantly until thick. Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature.
3. Stir in vanilla.
4. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy and all sugar grains are dissolved.
5. Add the cooled milk/flour/vanilla mixture and beat it until it resembles whipped cream.  This will take awhile - don't freak out!  Have a cookie while you're mixing.  :-)
6. Scoop a small amount onto cookies, pressing a second cookie on top.

What do you think?  Look yummy?  Right after I took this photo, it was in my belly.  :-)  And, yep, it was num-num-Y-U-M-M-Y!

 

The filling is to die-for, but you can also skip the effort and just use marshmallow fluff.  To keep the filling from oozing, refrigerate before you eat them.  You can freeze them as well.

 

So how are you going to celebrate New Years Eve?

I'm sharing this post with the Farmgirl Friday, Sunny Simply Sunday, Blog Party Sunday, More the Merrier Monday, and Clever Chick hops.