Ginger Snowflake Cookies by Nelson Prater

These thin cookies were so good and tasted a little like an oatmeal cookie. You should definitely try this recipe.

Ginger Snowflake Cookies

2/3 cup salted butter

2 cups quick-cook oats

1 cup sugar

2/3 cup flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ginger, cloves

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup corn syrup

1/2 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Slowly melt butter in a saucepan. Stir together oats, sugar, flour, spices and salt. Stir in melted butter, corn syrup, milk and vanilla. Line baking sheet with foil (shiny side up). Drop by rounded TEASPOON on to foil.

Press down to flatten out pretty thin. (These will spread quite a bit-to at least 2" in diameter, so leave lots of room).

Bake 6-8 minutes or until starting to brown. (You can prepare other foil sheets with dough while these are baking).

Remove from oven, pull sheet off the pan onto wire rack to cool. Slide next foil onto pan and stick in oven and repeat. After they have completely cooled, they will be easy to peel off the foil. Makes about 5 dozen cookies.

Raspberry Dream Bars by Cindy Ellison

These cookies were entered into the Dallas Morning News Cookie Contest. Not sure if they won anything but they were delicious! Here is the recipe:

Raspberry Dream Bars

1 cup butter, soft

1 1/2 cups sugar (divided use)

2 egg yolks

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/3 cup chopped pecans

1 1/4 cup raspberry preserves

4 egg whites

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 10 X 15 inch jellyroll pan. In a large bowl, beat together butter, 1/2 sugar, egg yolks and vanilla until well blended. Add flour and mix until blended. Add chopped pecans.

Pat dough evenly into bottom of greased pan and bake for 10-15 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges.

Remove pan from oven but leave the oven on. Let cool for 5 minutes then spread the perseveres evenly over hot crust.

Beat egg whites until foamy, add cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks form. Gradually add the remaining sugar and vanilla and beat until very stiff.

Gently spread on top of the preserves, making sure to seal the edges and corners. Return to oven for 20-30 minutes until golden brown. Cool completely before cutting. Makes about 18 2 1/2 squares.

Decisions~Decisions

Which set of "Shabby Chic" cookies should I enter for the Decorated division? The cookies on the right are actually green, blue and pink in the middle.