Jill, this is a cute story why I'm a Met's fan. My youngest son loved baseball since the womb. lol. When he was 7 (he's now 30) we went to the Mall to a sport's store. He asked the guy for a Met's cap, and the guy started laughing at him because back then the Met's were just awful. WHY my son loved the Mets, I have no clue. But his love never waivered. His classmates always made fun of him for liking the Mets. He didn't care! Then the Mets got really good. A neener neener moment for him. :) Know what I had to do? I called the Met's office and asked them if I could order things from them on the phone. This was before internet stores. I got him not only a cap, but lots of things! He put the Met's license plate on the front of his truck and someone stole it. I was livid.

Lou - LOL! I hate any store bought cookie - even the "gourmet" ones. They are all too greasy or oily or dry as dust. Thank you everyone for your comments! My Kitchenaid makes cookies and cakes sooooo easy! I pre-measure everything and put it on paper plates and just dump each plate when the recipe tells me to. If I don't pre-measure, you can bet I will leave something out. Here are my favorite 2 recipes that everyone goes nuts (pun intended) for. Cookies: Oat-rageous Cookies 1/2 C shortening 1/2 C sugar 1/2 C brown sugar 1 egg 1 Tbsp water 1 tsp vanilla extract 1 C all purpose flour 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt 1 C quick cooking oats 1 C semisweet chocolate chips 3/4 C cranberries 1/2 C chopped walnuts 1/2 C English toffee bits In a mixing bowl, cream shortening and sugars. Beat in egg, water and vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda and salt. Gradually add to the creamed mixture. Stir in remaining ingredients. *Drop by rounded Tbsp 2" apart onto ungreased baking sheets. **Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned. *I use a cookie scoop and get 32-36 cookies per batch. **I prefer to bake them at 365 for 15 minutes. ***I leave out the chocolate chips. Bundt Cake: Ingredients � 1 (18.25 ounce) package devil's food cake mix � 1 (5.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix � 1 cup sour cream � 1 cup vegetable oil � 4 eggs � 1/2 cup warm water � 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips Directions 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). 2. In a large bowl, mix together the cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, oil, beaten eggs and water. Stir in the chocolate chips and pour batter into a well greased 12 cup bundt pan. 3. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until top is springy to the touch and a wooden toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool cake thoroughly in pan at least an hour and a half before inverting onto a plate If desired, dust the cake with powdered sugar. * I add 1 cup of Angel Flake shredded coconut

This is the Ranger Cookie recipe from the Wyoming section of my mother's 1949 cookbook: "America Cooks: Favorite Recipes from 48 States." This recipe has been baked by and/or served to 5 generations of our family, so I'd say it is tried and true! I have used other recipes and come back to this one. I have typed the recipe verbatim, including any misspellings. I don't buy shortening, and use butter. I do use a cookie scoop. The recipe does not specify length of cooking time or oven temperature, other than "moderate" oven. RANGER COOKIES 1 cup shortening 1 cup white sugar 1 cup brown sugar 2 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla 2 cups flour 1 teaspoon soda 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 cups quick-cooking oatmeal 2 cups Rice Krispies 1 cup shredded coconut Cream shortening and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla, mix smooth. Add flour sifted with soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix thoroughly. Add coconut, oatmeal, and Rice Krispies and mix. The dough will be crumbly. Mold with hands into balls size of a walnut. Place on a greased cooky sheet and press slightly. Bake in a moderate oven. This makes almost enough cookies for a roundup or Cheyenne rodeo. There you have it: what I consider THE Ranger Cookie recipe! :-) Jill in Texas

I found the Eggnog Snickerdoodles on the cooking forum years ago. I made them last night and they were very good! I couldn't find Brandy extract so I just used cognac instead. I also added a little bit of cinnamon. Eggnog Snickerdoodles 2 3/4c flour 1 1/2c sugar 1 c butter, softened 2 eggs 2 tsp cream of tartar 1 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp salt 1/2 tsp brandy extract 1/2 tsp rum extract 1/8 tsp nutmeg Sugar mix: 1/4c sugar 1tsp nutmeg Mix butter and sugar. Add eggs and beat. Add flour, cream of tartar brandy and rum extract, salt, soda and nutmeg. Mix well. Chill. Shape into 1 tsp sized balls. Roll in sugar mix. Bake 8-10 minutes at 350° or until cookies are lightly browned. Yields 2 dozen. Recipe easily doubles with no problem.