Best Sugar Cookies EVER!!

This is a staple recipe in our house. These are the BEST sugar cookies you will ever eat. I don't know if it's the shortening or the sour cream, but SOMETHING in them makes them SO SOFT & they will literally last WEEKS. We make these for friends at Christmastime & we had a few friends say they ate theirs 3 weeks after I made them & they were still soft & delicious. I hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

Grandma Cherry's Sugar Cookies:

2 cups THRIVE White Sugar

1 cup THRIVE Shortening Powder reconstituted (or 1 cup Shortening)

2 teaspoons Vanilla

3 teaspoons THRIVE Baking Soda

1/2 teaspoon THRIVE Iodized Salt

4 Eggs (or 4 Tablespoons THRIVE Egg Powder + 8 Tablespoons Water)

1 cup THRIVE Sour Cream Powder reconstituted (or 1 cup Sour Cream)

6-8 cups THRIVE White Flour

Cream sugar & shortening.

Add soda, salt, eggs, & sour cream & mix well.

Add 6 cups of flour & mix well.

Keep adding flour until the dough forms a large ball & is no longer sticky. . . similar to bread dough. Knead the dough a minute or two & form into a ball.

Roll the dough out & cut with cookie cutters & bake cookies at 375 degrees for 5-8 minutes. The softer the better. But I guarantee these will stay soft for a VERY long time if you cook them just right. I usually cook mine 7 minutes.

This batch I decided to roll 1/2 of my batch onto a pizza stone & baked a GIANT cookie the size of a pizza.

Once my giant cookie cooled, I spread some strawberry cream cheese on top. . . mmmm.

Then added fruit for a FABULOUS fruit pizza.

If you are interested in purchasing any ingredients used in this recipe, comment below or visit my website: dani.shelfreliance.com

Buttermilk Caramel Syrup

I was looking for a recipe for buttermilk syrup for pancakes & found this recipe on the allrecipes.com website. It made the yummiest CARAMEL SAUCE ever! It wasn't really a breakfast syrup (way too sweet!), but it would be GREAT on ice cream. Anyhow, it was just yummy so I thought I'd post it on here so you can make it at home too.

Buttermilk Caramel Syrup:

1 1/2 cups THRIVE White Sugar

3/4 cup Buttermilk (learn how to make your own butter & buttermilk on my homemade butter post)

1/2 cup Butter (or THRIVE Butter Powder reconstituted)

2 Tablespoons Corn Syrup

1 teaspoon THRIVE Baking Soda

2 teaspoons Vanilla

I used homemade buttermilk for my recipe & it was SO SO SO good!

Mix your sugar, buttermilk, corn syrup, butter, & baking soda together in a TALL pan. Boil for 7 minutes & stir constantly. It boils up REALLY high & WILL boil over if you're not careful.

As your syrup is cooling add your vanilla. Stir well & you've got some yummy caramel syrup.

If you'd like to purchase any of the ingredients used in this recipe, comment below or visit my website: dani.shelfreliance.com

Cinnamon Sugar Graham Crackers

I have to admit. . . graham crackers bought at the store really aren't that bad for you. They don't contain a ginormous amount of processed foods, but I still thought it would be fun to make some of my own. Can I say FABULOUS? I'll continue making them because they taste almost like a cookie when you make them yourself. I loved it.

I used the recipe straight out of the THRIVE Cookbook. Normally I like to change things up & do it my way, but really this was the perfect recipe & why mess with perfection right?

Cinnamon Sugar Graham Crackers:

2 cups THRIVE Whole Wheat Flour

1 cup THRIVE White Flour

1 teaspoon THRIVE Baking Powder

1 teaspoon THRIVE Baking Soda

1/2 cup Butter, softened (or do 1/2 THRIVE Butter Powder + 1/4 cup Water)

1/2 cup THRIVE Brown Sugar, packed

1/3 cup Honey

1/2 cup THRIVE Powdered Milk, rehydrated (1 1/2 Tablespoons powder + 1/2 cup Water)

2 teaspoons Vanilla

1 Tablespoon Cinnamon

2 Tablespoons THRIVE White Sugar

Sift together the whole wheat flour, white flour, baking powder, & baking soda. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, cream the butter, brown sugar, & honey until light & fluffy.

Stir in the sifted ingredients alternating between the milk & vanilla..

Cover dough & chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Divide the chilled dough into quarters. On a well floured surface, roll the dough out one quarter at a time into a large rectangle. (just like rolling out sugar cookie dough) The recipe says to roll it 1/8 inch thick, but I though the thicker grahams (1/4 in thick) turned out yummier. So it's up to you. Divide into smaller rectangles with a butter knife.

Place rectangles on ungreased baking sheets. Mark a line down the center of each one without cutting through the dough, & prick the tops with a fork. Combine cinnamon & white sugar & sprinkle over dough before baking.

Bake for 8-10 minutes until the edges are golden brown. Remove from baking sheets to cool on wire racks.

These are SO GOOD. I don't know why I expected them to be not as good as the store bought kind, but they're seriously like eating a cookie. FABULOUS. They're even better with ice cold milk. Mmmmm. The kids LOVED them too. In fact, my little two year old kept sneaking into the kitchen to eat more when I wasn't looking. He almost ate the entire batch the little stinker.

If you'd like to purchase any of the ingredients used in this recipe, comment below or visit my website:

dani.shelfreliance.com

Banana Nut Crumble Muffins

These are

THE BEST MUFFINS YOU WILL EVER EAT!

I made these the other day & we ate them ALL at one sitting. They were SO good, I had my sweet husband BEGGING for another batch.

Basically, I just started throwing things together & combining some old recipes I had & this was the end product. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Banana Nut Crumble Muffins:

1 1/2 cups THRIVE White Flour

1 teaspoon THRIVE Baking Soda

1 teaspoon THRIVE Baking Powder

1/2 teaspoon THRIVE Iodized Salt

3 cups THRIVE Freeze Dried Bananas (or 3 brown bananas)

1/2 cup THRIVE White Sugar

1/4 cup THRIVE Brown Sugar

1 teaspoon Vanilla

1 Tablespoon THRIVE Egg Powder (+ 2 Tablespoons Water in wet ingredients)

1/3 cup THRIVE Butter Powder (+ 1/4 cup Water in wet ingredients)

1/2 cups Chopped Walnuts (optional)

1/3 cup THRIVE Brown Sugar

2 Tablespoons THRIVE White Flour

1 Tablespoon THRIVE Butter Powder (mixed with 1/2 Tablespoon Water)

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Grease 12 muffin cups (or use liners). Let your Freeze Dried bananas soak in 4 cups of water for 10 minutes until they are soft & ready to be squished. Then drain out the extra water.

While your bananas are soaking, mix your dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, & salt.

Add your powdered egg & powdered butter to the dry ingredients. I know it sounds SO strange, but you have to trust me. It works out & bakes just fine. It's hard to get used to, but it makes your food DELICIOUS.

In another bowl beat the bananas, vanilla, sugars, & 1/4 + 2 Tablespoons water (to make up for your powdered egg & powdered butter. . . again, trust me on this.)

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients & mix thoroughly. Add your nuts & stir until evenly distributed. Scoop into the muffin cups until 2/3 full (or even a little more).

In a small bowl mix the brown sugar, flour, & prepared butter powder until you have a nice little crumble. (I had to make two batches of this because I ate most of the first one.)

Sprinkle the cupcakes GENEROUSLY with the crumble. Put a TON on them. It's SO good.

Bake muffins for 18-20 minutes until baked all the way through. We ate them HOT out of the oven & all 12 were gone in minutes.

I hope you enjoy them as much as my family did.

If you are interested in purchasing any of the ingredients listed in this recipe, comment below or visit my website:

dani.shelfreliance.com

Banana Bread

There's nothing that makes me feel as warm inside as a hot loaf of yummy

BANANA BREAD.

I've been making the same recipe of banana bread my entire life. This recipe belonged to my great-great grandmother & was passed down through the generations to me. I was 5 years old when my great-great grandmother passed away & I still remember this bread being baked in her house. My grandmother taught it to me when I was 10 or 11 & the rest is history. (My poor mother is allergic to bananas so she never got the chance to make or eat this recipe.) This time, I made it with THRIVE ingredients to see how well it would work & it tasted great. I was surprised at how well the freeze dried bananas baked in this. YUM!

So here's the our family's famous Banana Bread:

(You can make this with non-THRIVE food too. The measurements are all the same & I use 3 brown, squishy bananas)

1/2 cup THRIVE Shortening Powder, prepared (1/8 cup water with 1/2 cup powder)

1 cup THRIVE White Sugar

2 THRIVE Eggs, prepared (2 Tablespoons egg powder with 4 Tablespoons water)

2 cups THRIVE White Flour

1 pinch of THRIVE Iodized Salt

1 teaspoon THRIVE Baking Soda

3 cups THRIVE Freeze Dried Bananas

1/2 cup of nuts (optional)

Rehydrate the bananas by soaking in hot water for 10 minutes. Drain well. Cream the prepared shortening & white sugar. Add eggs & beat until the mixture is smooth.

Add the rehydrated bananas & mash into the mixture. (I like to mash them up with my hands before I put them into the batter. I like pulpy bananas for this.)

Sift the flour, salt, & soda together & add it to the batter. Beat until smooth & creamy looking. Add nuts if desired.

Bake in a loaf pan at 350 degrees for 1 hour. It should be a beautiful brownish yellow color when it's all done.

I hope you enjoy it as much as our family has enjoyed it. And a special thank you to my Grandma Cherry, my Great-Grandma Lottie, & my Great-Great-Grandma Maudie! They were the masterminds that made me the cook I am today.

If you are interested in purchasing any of these ingredients, comment below or visit my website:

dani.shelfreliance.com