Perfect for parties, these chocolate cookies kill a sugar craving, chocolate craving, or make great “bread” for a down-and-dirty peanut butter samich!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened (ours is organic)
• 1-1/2 cups sugar (ours is raw cane sugar)
• 2 eggs (ours are from free roaming hens)
• 4 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour (ours is a blend of 1/3 white to 2/3 whole wheat)
• 1/2 cup Cocoa
• Additional sugar sprinkled on a plate to roll the dough in…

Directions:

1. Beat butter, 1-1/2 cups sugar, eggs and vanilla in large bowl until fluffy.

2. Combine flour and cocoa in a second bowl.

3. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, beating until well blended.

4. Refrigerate dough about 1 hour or until firm enough to roll by hand without it sticking to your hands.

5. Heat oven to 350°F. Shape dough into 1-1/8-inch balls. Roll in sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheet about an inch apart.

6. Bake 9 minutes on cookie sheet or 11 minutes on insulated cookie pan, or until set. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely.

Makes about 4 dozen cookies. Adapted from a Hershey’s recipe.

Not too big, not too sugary, just enough for a grab-n-go breakfast or snack.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup frozen squash – we used a frozen package of cooked squash and let it defrost in the fridge the day before)
• 1/4 cup sugar (ours is Sugar in the Raw)
• 1/4 cup milk (ours is organic skim)
• 2 TB cooking oil (ours is canola)
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 1 large egg
• 2/3 cup (heaping) flour (ours is whole wheat)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp honey

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a bowl, combine squash, sugar, milk, oil, raisins, and egg. Mix to combine.
(You can also add a few raisins on top instead of mizing in 1/4 cup here.)

3. In separate bowl mix flour, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg.

4. Add squash mixture to dry ingredients and stir until just blended.

5. Add honey and stir once more.

6. Spoon into muffin pan and bake at 350 for 28 minutes.

Makes 4 jumbo muffins, 6-7 small muffins.