My New Favorite Cookie Recipe

Normally, all my posts are sewing related or show products from  The Polka Dot Store. Today I have something different for you....my new favorite cookie recipe.

Don't they look good! Well they taste as good as they look. It started with a recipe by Paula Deen and I tweaked it to fit my taste bubs. Here is the recipe:

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Raisin Cookies

•  1 1/2 cups butter, softened
•  1 1/2 cups brown sugar, firmly packed
•  3/4 cup sugar
•  3 large eggs
•  1 tablespoon vanilla
•  3 1/2 cups flour
•  1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
•  1/2 salt
•  3 cups oatmeal
•  12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
•  1/2 cup white raisins (optional)
•  1/2 cup toffee chips (approximately) (optional)
•  1 cup chopped pecans (approximately) (optional)

Place ice cream scoop size mounds on a lightly greased cookie sheet. You can also use a piece of parchment paper  or a Silicone mat instead of greasing the cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 14 minutes.

*Note: you can mix and match the ingredients marked "optional" or leave them off. Personally, I like to use all of them if I happen to have them in my pantry! Yummy deliciousness! This makes a LARGE amount of cookies.

Here is another picture of the cookies:

Enjoy!

Heirloom Sewing - My First Love

Welcome to Behind The  Monogram! I know many of you are snowbound, but earlier today in south Georgia the temperature was 87 degrees. Yes, shorts weather! Now it is raining and getting cold. Two exciting things are happening to Thomasville, Georgia this week. We have what is called "First Friday Night" here in Thomasville. It is just as it sounds, there is a celebration, street dance (Swinging Medallions this week), and shopping at our participating downtown shops on the first Friday night of each month. Thomasville is really lovely at night. Here is a picture I took a few weeks ago outside Sweet Grass Dairy while downtown at a meeting with friends:

This is the store front at Sweet Grass Dairy.

The second really exciting thing happening is that HGTV is in town shooting an episode of "Restore America". One of the old homes on Monroe street is getting a makeover. Since I drive within a block of it every day, I shot a picture from the car to show you. These guys are hard at work and it is lunch time!

The HGTV crew has been seen at different locations doing interviews, eating lunch, and taking on location shots. Pretty cool!

O.K., enough rambling and onto the blog topic. Since the first of the year, I have been trying to make time for one of my passions, Smocking and Heirloom Sewing. If you have read the "about me" section of the blog, you know I have been doing smocking and heirloom sewing for over 30 years. I've taught it and done custom sewing using the techniques. Life and has been crazy the past few years (can we say 5 - 10 years) and I haven't been able to find time for it. I am so excited to be enjoying it again! Here are a few of my latest projects hoping to make an appearance soon on the website:

Smocked Imperial Batiste Baby Dress with Scalloped Hem

Smocked Roses Daygown with Tatting

Smocked Heirloom Daygown made with Imperial Batiste and French Lace

There are more projects planned and I look forward to sharing them with you later! Until next time, remember to shop at The Polka Dot Store for the finest quality baby gifts and accessories.