I guess everyone is getting geared up for vacation season. Going to the beach or an amusement park was something we never got to do. Number one, we didn’t have the money and two, when I was a kid that just wasn’t something people did where we lived. Our great vacation was a camping trip. Even that didn’t entail going to a camping area, we usually just went to the woods.
No electricity, only water from the river or creek and no bathroom, just the great outdoors, cooking food over the campfire and, of course back then no electronic devices. I don’t think kids today could stand the pressure of being away from those devices for an extended amount of time. Momma Said, “Sometimes being disconnected is a good thing.”
Even if we didn’t leave home my brother and I would take a tent up into the cow pastures behind the house and camp by ourselves. We didn’t have to worry about being kidnapped or killed, things like that were unheard of. Our biggest concern was being eaten by mosquitoes. Kids today don’t like to be outside for any extended amount of time to do anything fun. Mom couldn’t keep us inside, we were up early and out late.
Moms didn’t have to worry about where their kids were, we were out and about but could always easily be found. Usually Mom knew what we had done during the day even before we got home. I still haven’t figured that one out but if we had been doing something we weren’t supposed to be doing, she always knew. I think it was the Mom Mafia there were always eyes on you even if it wasn’t your mom. Momma Said, “Moms will be Moms it doesn’t matter who the kid belongs to.”
Turtle Cookies
YIELD: 16-20 COOKIES – TOTAL TIME: 30 MINUTES
Ingredients:
- 1 & 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup cocoa powdered
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 cup butter, 1 stick softened
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (I like to use minis!) for the batter plus 1/4 cup to go on top
- 1/2 cup caramel bits for the batter plus 1/4 cup to go on top
- 1/2 cup pecans, chopped for the batter plus 1/4 cup to go on top
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 350º F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat.
- In a small bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa, salt, and baking soda.
- In a mixing bowl cream the butter, brown sugar and sugar until fluffy, 1-2 minutes. Add in the egg and vanilla, beat again. Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture, mixing with a spatula just slightly then add the chocolate chips, caramel bits and chopped pecans, mixing just until there are small flour streaks let – it’s okay if the batter has clumps!
- Use a cookie scoop to form dough balls, add extra toppings to the dough balls, pressing them in slightly. This is optional but I like the way the cookies look when you can see the chocolate chips, caramel bits and pecans on top.
- Place the cookies onto the baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool on the sheet for 10 minutes before moving to a cooling rack.
If you can’t find caramel bits, you can substitute cut up small pieces of regular caramels.
