If You Give a Spouse a Cookie
By Pat Racimora on August 24, 2008 at 2:56 AM in Bill Clinton, Michelle Obama
Favorite recipes tell you a lot about a person. And the good folks at Family Circle magazine have a contest every presidential election cycle to see which spouse of a presidential candidate has the best recipe for cookies.
For the first time in the history of our country, a male spouse got in on this contest. None other than Big Dog himself supplied the recipe for the photo shown above. I made them, and they are delicious (not to mention nice and easy to put together and bake). The clear winner.
Cindy’s and Michelle’s, not even close.
Cindy McCain’s favorite recipe makes for a nice cookie, despite containing more calories than most people need. But poor Cindy, who got the recipe from a friend, does not seem to realize that the friend got it from the back of the chip package. I don’t think Cindy bakes much.
But Michelle Obama takes the…er…cake. It is complicated to do and contains ingredients not found in your typical household. Some may keep lemon or orange zest around (maybe one but probably rarely both—that’s a trip to the store). But Amaretto? Is that on a shelf over the arugula?
Voting is over, and results will not be known until November 1st. But you can still make them. I highly recommend Bill’s.
Bill Clinton’s Oatmeal Cookies Longtime Clinton family cook Oscar Flores — he worked for them in Washington and after, but is now serving in Iraq — is famous for these treats, which tempt the former president to break his diet.
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups quick-cooking or old-fashioned oats
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter or margarine, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
Method:
Heat oven to 350º.
Spread oats and walnuts in un-greased 151/2 x 101/2 x 1-inch baking pan. Bake 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until toasted and light brown; cool.
In small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda and salt. Beat together brown sugar, butter or margarine, vanilla and egg in large bowl. Stir in oat mixture and then flour mixture.
Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto un-greased baking sheets.
Bake at 350° for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on pans for 3 minutes; remove from cookie sheet. Cool on wire rack.
Cindy McCain’s Oatmeal-Butterscotch Cookies. Originally reserved only for special occasions, these butterscotch-chip-studded cookies are now “a must” whenever family gets together, according to Cindy. She attributes the recipe to a good friend.
Ingredients:
3/4 cup (11/2 sticks) unsalted butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups rolled oats
1 2/3 cups butterscotch chips
Method:
Heat oven to 375°.
In a large bowl beat the butter or margarine, granulated sugar and brown sugar together. Add the eggs and vanilla, beating well.
In a medium-size bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture; stir until blended. Stir in oats and butterscotch chips. Drop by tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto un-greased cookie sheets.
Bake at 375° for 10 minutes, until the edges begin to brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Yields: 5 1/2 dozen cookies
Michelle Obama’s Shortbread Cookies The recipe comes courtesy of Mama Kaye, the godmother of both Obama daughters. Orange and lemon zest gives the squares plenty of citrus zing.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons Amaretto (almond liqueur)
1 teaspoon each orange and lemon zest
3 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 beaten egg white
Chopped nuts or dried fruit (optional)
Method:
Heat oven to 325°.
Line a 17 x 12 x 1-inch baking pan with nonstick foil. In large bowl, cream together butter and 11/2 cups of the sugar.
Slowly add egg yolks, and beat well until smooth. Beat in Amaretto and zest.
Stir in flour and salt until combined.
Spread dough evenly into prepared pan, flattening as smoothly as possible.
Brush top of dough with egg white; sprinkle with nuts or fruit (if using) and with remaining 2 tablespoons sugar.
Bake at 325° for 25 minutes or until brown, turn off oven and allow cookies to sit in oven (with door ajar) for 15 minutes. Cut while slightly warm.
Yields: 6 dozen 2″ x 3″ cookies
on sale for only $16.95.
also comes with a special spatula.)
(List Price: $27.95 - Your Price: $15.47)
“The story of poker is that of risk-loving America ... a crazy ride in unparalleled detail, driven by wit, wisdom, true love, and sizzling style. As analyst, historian, devotee, and no mean player, James McManus is poker’s most eloquent advocate.”
By Sarah Palin (Release date: November 17. 2009)
MEchille is trying to present what she thinks sounds like high class. It’s sad really. She wants so badly to be toney and part of the upper crust. MEchille will never be one of the 400.
All those recipes are awful…..basically butter and sugar. Then some oatmeal and flour is mixed in to give it some body and bake for 15 minutes.
D
that’s what makes them good.
That’s what a cookie is.
Michelle’s were gross and weird and fruitcake-esque.
Just like her.
Yep. MEchelle is trying to be a Martha Stewart wanna-be. (Too Late- B. Smith already filled that niche) I felt bad for Cindy McCain. What the heck- if you are making Oatmeal Scotties, of course you got the receipe from the back of the bag of butterscotch morsels. Duh! Bill cookies look and sound yummy, but I would add some crumbled up toffee or chocolate chips.
If you are making Oatmeal Scotties, of course you got the recipe from the back of the bag of butterscotch morsels.
Exactly! Otherwise, I use the recipe on box of oatmeal, and I like dried cranberries in mine.
YUMMMMMM Oatmeal COOKIES!!!
can I add raisins?
but wow butterscotch chips? what a great idea!!!
yummmmmmm cooookies!! lol
There’s a lot of sugar and carbs in Big Dawg’s cookies. It’s definitely not for people on a low carb diet like the Atkins nor the South Beach diet.
THEY ARE COOKIES FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! Which is what they were asked for.
no shit! haha
THEY ARE COOKIES FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! Which is what they were asked for. But NO CHOCOLATE? That’s unamerican in my book…..
No chocolate, No Good!
Sheesh! Come on people!
In all fairness, I hate oatmeal. I’m not fond of shortbread cookies.
Well, I love good chocolate but dislike sweets made with chocolate in them…
they are kind of …. not the “real” thing
just give me the chocolate and nobody gets hurt.
do you have something against the Scottish?
This is a favorite of mine that I’ve made for friends often. You can use the lime sugar to rim daquiris.
Lime Sugar Cookies from Gourmet Magazine July 2000
3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
2 tablespoons cold vegetable shortening
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup lime sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Preparation
Beat together butter, shortening, granulated sugar, and 2 tablespoons lime sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together over egg mixture, then beat on low speed until just combined.
Form dough into a 10-inch log (2 inches in diameter) on wax paper, then wrap in wax paper. Chill dough until firm, at least 4 hours.
Preheat oven to 375°F.
Remove wax paper and cut log into 1/4-inch-thick rounds. Bake cookies 1/2 inch apart on ungreased baking sheets in batches in middle of oven 10 to 12 minutes, or until pale golden. Immediately transfer with a metal spatula to a rack set over a sheet of wax paper and sprinkle tops with remaining lime sugar. Cool cookies.
Cooks’ notes:
• Dough can be made 2 days ahead and chilled, wrapped well in plastic wrap.
• Cookies keep in an airtight container at cool room temperature 2 days.
Lime Sugar
This sugar, used in the cookies and lime ice, is great to have on hand for sprinkling on cut fruit or to add a boost to iced tea.
Active time: 45 min Start to finish: 45 min
Servings: Makes about 3 cups.
subscribe to Gourmet
Ingredients
6 limes
2 1/4 cups sugar
Preparation
Remove zest from limes in strips with a vegetable peeler and cut away any white pith from zest (pith imparts a bitter flavor). Chop zest (about 1/2 cup), then grind in a food processor with sugar until mixture is pale green with bits of zest still visible.
Cooks’ notes:
• Lime sugar may be made 3 days ahead and kept, chilled, in an airtight container.
• The sugar becomes aerated in the food processor; do not pack when measuring.
I’m just gonna hang right here, angling for an invite….
dude get in line
I will bake cookies for you guys anytime you like. HAHA! You’re the best.
I hope Barack America isn’t expecting Biden to do the political equivalent of stay in the kitchen and bake cookies. Because something tells me he’ll be sorely disappointed.
Let the gaff-fest begin!
http:// http://www.youtube.com/watch?v= D4X7ehB9kN0&fmt=18
Obama Handles A Crisis
oops, gaffe-fest
Runner up:
Michelle’s Chocolate Bamboozler
LMAO…
The McCain Ad Why Not Hillary is out.
McCain Ad: Why Not Hillary?
god…it’s so nice to hear hillary’s voice again..
the voice of reason, competency and tenacity. i miss her.
the Ad is not loading for me; will try later. Thanks Charles L. Please please
please Senator Clinton do not yourself feature in any ads for Obama. You do not have to!!
I miss her…
I don’t like McCain uses her for his battles
Don’t worry about Cindy! She is plenty tough in her own right.
I like it…thanks for posting.
Here is the link that works better:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=%20D4X7ehB9kN0&fmt=18
Can someone please get in touch with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright so that he can announce to the world that “Obama been ridin’ dirty”?
there is the potential for some seriously snarky recipes to be posted here. The only problem is they would be very very bad for your health.
Here’s another Michelle recipe…it was published in their church cookbook:
Ridin’ Dirty Heavenly Eggs
Buy Brown Eggs (just sayin’)
hard boil all eggs. Always.
separate the “folks” from the whites
reserve the whites for another use (I feed them to my pet Venus Fly Traps)
Mash the yolks with mustard, horseradish and hot sauce (no typical white Mayo!!!)
Spread the mixture on slices of just-past-raw roast beef and roll into tubes
Serve with a knowing smirk
Perfect for all kinds of parties! Postpartisan, kids, private, or parties of one!
Mustard, horseradish and hot sauce! WHEW. I guess that’s what you’d call feisty. Very funny.
Zee, I know I shouldn’t be slapping my knees here, and I woke up both dogs with my howl, but that is funny.
seperate the “folk’s” from the whites…LOL
best laugg all day…thank’s
What a great post Pat R. !! I am laughing hard. Thank you.
KUDOS TO BILL CLINTON: will surely try his simple and delicious recipe !!
For years my maternal grandmother’s pie crust was considered the best and my mother-in-law’s chocolate chip cookies were the best our kids ever had. Turns out both are from the recipes provided by product vendors. The pie crust recipe was from Crisco with special attention paid to the temperature of the water. The incredible chocolate chip cookies were from the Nestle’ package. Perhaps its the cooking by someone that cares that makes it taste wonderful.
I thought the attacks on Cindy McCain over a dang receipe were so petty and ridiculous. Gimme a break. It was a receipe using a speciality food product- butterscotch morsels. Of course it came from the manufacturer’s test kitchen. That’s how they get us to buy it. Every dessert receipe calling for Cool-Whip, or Jell-O, or Marshmellow Fluff came from the back of the package. Duh!
My family was nuts about Cool-Whip. It was kept in the freezer and went on the table with the main course, so it would thaw by dessert. I had a French BF when I was 19, and he came over for dinner. The Cool-Whip confused him, and my dad decided to joke around with him. He kept offering him Cool-Whip all through dinner. “Want some Cool-Whip with your roast beef there?”
I bet you that crust is made with Crisco LARD.
Remember lard? Some of our moms still make crusts with it…and they are good.
Yup.
Some of those old vendor recipes are the best…so why mess with perfection?
Like you said having someone who cares and has the talent to bake is what makes it wonderful.
All those recipes are awful…..basically butter and sugar. Then some oatmeal and flour is mixed in to give it some body and bake for 15 minutes.
you already said that Dennis, a cookie now and then doesn’t hurt anyone.
OK, skip the f***ing cookies then dennis, the rest of us are bonding over recipes thank you! We like cookies, ok?
Orange and lemon zest are merely the grated rind of the fruit.
Hey Pat!
As we all know, the Greatest President for the last 50 years has “discerning” taste!
He married Hillary!!!!
Clinton’s cookies are excellent, except for the walnuts they are straight out of an old, old, Betty Crocker cookbook, I think. I have a dogeared copy from that book. The dough is hard to handle, we always rolled it in waxed paper, chilled it and sliced off the cookies.
Both lemon and orange zest are staples in the kitchens of most bakers. Nothing exoctic about them. Same with ameretto and other flavorings and extracts.
I have an entire cupboard filled with such baking staples.
I don’t like Michelle Obama AT ALL but her cookie recipe looks delicious, as do Bill’s and Cindy’s.
BAKERS, sure. Average working moms, hell no.
ditto that
My husband bakes the best cookies. I don’t know what it is about men, but I suspect many of them have a hidden cookie talent. My father also was about useless around the house, but after he retired he spent his days on a mission to bake the perfect cookie.
I can bake cookies, but just not with the love and passion these two men in my life put into it. LOL, actually with them it’s probably something closer to an obsession or a form of worship.
What was the Obama Team THINKING? Here kids, have some booze-laced cookies, yeah, that’s the ticket!!! Certainly, the heat burns off the alcohol, but still, it’s a stupid recipe. It’s hoity-toity, and it’s total bullshit.
And they whine when they’re called “elitists!”
Now, if they ever asked for MY fatass recipe, I’d steal Bill Clinton’s (and cheerfully ADMIT it) and throw in a couple of handfuls of chocolate chips, or caramel chips, for EXTRA decadence!
Eat up, Munchkins!!
Cindy’s Oatmeal-Butterscotch Cookies:
3/4 cup (11/2 sticks) unsalted butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups rolled oats
1 2/3 cups butterscotch chips
Hershey’s Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies:
3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups quick-cooking or regular rolled oats, uncooked
1-3/4 cups (11-oz. pkg.) HERSHEY’S Butterscotch Chips
Plagiarize much? Must have been all the drugs she stole from that charity.
She only did drugs for two years after she had painful back surgery and while her husband was going through Keating Five. In case you haven’t heard, Vicodin and Percoset are very addictive.
sshhhh, they don’t like reality and facts.
ok, ok….now click heels 3 times….all will be ok….back to fairy tale land.
ui - wanna talk about plagerizing?
Obama/Biden = the xerox twins
gotta life?..much?
just like a bot not to know that 1-2/3 does not equal 1-3/4. You lose. Thanks for playing.
OMG…what is that GREEN stuff in MEchelle’s cookies? Oy Vey! Maybe that’s why she’s so bitter. Before I read the recipe, I thought it was a Mexican dish.
Do you think she ever made these, or just called someone for a recipe and they yanked her doodle giving her this?
If she makes these things, no wonder she used to always look like this, before her “make over”. It also explains other things.
http://www.thewe.cc/thewei/_/images11/us_rich_scandal/barack_michelle_obama.jpe
…taken at Conneccticut Convention for Joe LIEberman endorsement 2006.
Dried fruit in a cookie…ugh!
Dried fruit is what ruins fruit cake every X-mas. Who would do that to a cookie?
Clearly, these ‘fruit cake cookies’ are being given to unsuspecting children.
Which is just cruel….lol.
~~
And once again, Obama is displaying his one finger salute in the pic…
This weekend, I managed to cruelly deprive my children of the pleasure of trying deep fried twinkies dipped in chocolate. We were kind of horrified and fascinated watching people try to eat these things, LOL.
You’ll want to serve Cindy’s cookies to friends and family and sit around laughing about good times. Mrs. Obama’s cookies would be a nice addition to a respectable wake.
Definition of upper crust:
A bunch of crumbs, held together with lot’s
of dough = Michelle Obama
LMAO!!
Family Circle has put pistaccios on hers to make them look like SOMETHING, rather than colorless , bland, flat things.
She offers no IDEAS of her own as to what sort of dried fruit or nuts. I doubt she has ever made them.
I don’t happen to have Amaretto, orange or lime zests, or cake flour in the house.
I do have oatmeal and brown sugar, though.
Having been single for a long time, between bouts of serial monogamy, I noted that women who ordered Amaretto to drink, particularly when I was paying, tended to be self-absorbed hose***s and snob wannbe’s.
Ditto for Drambuie guzzlers, and anyone who uses the word, “DOM,” without meaning the metallurgic term, “DRAWN OVER MANDREL.”
The worst were those who complained that I didn’t keep Amaretto at my place. As if I am supposed to drive out in the night and get some Trendoid joy juice in the hope that I MIGHT get heels drumming on my backside.
LOL!!!! Tha’s funny!
Fave Oatmeal Cookies (from a Wisconsin Electric Company Christmas cookie recipe booklet–put out every year until sometime in the 60’s, iirc)
Agnes’ Scotch Oatmeal Cookies
1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. shortening
1 c. white sugar
1 c. firmly packed dark brown sugar (have used light brown in a pinch)
Cream above ingredients together
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla (I tend to be a tad generous)
2 eggs
Add to creamed mixture
1 1/2 c. sifted flour
1 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt
Sift together to ensure no baking soda clumps
3 c. raw quick cooking oatmeal (have used 5 min.)
1 c. finely chopped walnuts
Stir together and add to mixture quarter or so at a time. Be careful to scrape bottom of mixing bowl to ensure all moistened evenly. Don’t go crazy.
Shape into rolls about 2″ diameter, cover in waxed paper, chill until firm.
Cut into sices about 1/2″ thick. Cookies spread and come out flat, so space so they do not flow together.
350 degree oven–about 12 minutes. Do not overcook–cookies stay more moist if not overcooked. Let cool on tray until cookies cool slightly and are a bit firmer. Cool (or scarf one or two warm ones down).
These oatmeal cookies have a wonderfully nutty flavor. Can add raisins. I have never tried with chocolate as they taste so good without.
About 9 dozen 2 1/2″ cookies.
Can freeze rolls to cook in smaller batches. Christmas merits dash of colored sugars or other decorative edibles.
I’m addicted to these–and have never found another recipe I like as well, including the one on the Quaker Oats container.
What a weird blog post. If I wanted to read about cookies and look for receipes I would go over to the Ladies Home Journal website!
Stick to politics please!
I’ve never been into baking cookies, but these recipes and the many delicious comments have certainly been good for a great morning laugh!
Man! They all sound very complicated, but then, I don’t bake. I prefer to make things like paella!
Paella! The ONLY reason to visit SE Florida is GREAT paella!
I saw this article when it ran in Family Circle. What everyone seemed to have missed was the fact that the winner of this contest ALWAYS predicted the winner of the Presidency! Sigh.
I LOVE oatmeal cookies and I love the Clintons.
See you in Denver.
p.s. Lighten Up, Everybody, they’re COOKIES! They’re supposed to be sugary, fatty and bad for you. Yummmm.
I’m headed to the store this afternoon to get the ingredients to Big Dawg’s cookies.
Since the DNC convention has been banned in our household, we’ll pop in a DVD, stir up lemonade and vodka tipples and make cookies!
Actually this thread is a welcome relief from all the Obama crap.
A must Read!!!!!!!!!!!!!Questionable speaker at the convention!!!!!!!!!!!
http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/08/24/critics-question-dncs-pick-for-islamic-speaker-at-interfaith-gathering/