Blackberry Oatmeal Cookies

I love blackberries. I grew up picking them every summer with Grandma, Mom, my aunt on occasion, and my cousin.
I now grow tame vines in my yard and put them in our freezer.

We usually made cobblers with them and jams and jellies.

I do crafts every Wednesday at the Senior Center where I volunteer. Along with a craft I take a blackberry dessert.

I usually take blackberry muffins, blackberry crumbles or blackberry breakfast bars. On special occasions, I will take my Fancy Blackberry Cobbler.

Tomorrow I am leading the Crazy Crafters in making cookie jars.
Our Director said they would make cookies to put in the jars. They are making No Bake Cookies, using the recipe in my book. Yum Yum!

Instead of making a crumble, breakfast bar or muffin to take tomorrow, I decided to make some blackberry cookies.

I had never made blackberry cookies before, so I didn't know how they were going to turn out, so in case they were a flop, I made them tonight.

I found a recipe online and made a few changes to it.

Here is a pic of my ugly cookies.

Here are the ingredients and directions:

1 cup of room temperature butter
1 cup of packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup of sugar
2 eggs
2 t vanilla
1 1/4 cups of self-rising flour + 2 T
3 cups quick oats
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups blackberries (Cut up large ones)

Cream the butter and sugars until smooth. Beat in the eggs and vanilla.
Stir in 1 1/4 cups of self-rising flour.
Stir in the oats and white chocolate chips.
Coat the berries with the 2 T of flour.
Gently fold the blackberries into the cookie dough.

Using a tablespoon, scoop out the mixture and place on a greased cookie sheet. (I used an un-greased cookie stone)

Bake for approximately 15 minutes at 375 degrees.
Cool for a few minutes and then transfer to a wire rack.

TIP: the dough is thick and a little hard to work with. Use a large mixing bowl, so mixing the ingredients is easier to do.

From the looks of the dough, I really thought these cookies were going to be a flop. And after cooking, they weren't very pretty to look at either.

But they taste delicious!

I hope they like them at the center. And if you make them, I hope you like them, too.

Olympics

Are you watching the Olympics?

I must admit I have been watching the games for many years. It took a little while to get used to the alternating years. They used to have the summer and winter Olympics in the same year - not two years apart.

What is your favorite winter event?

I love the ice skaters, especially the women and men's singles events.
It is beyond me how they can do all of those jumps, spins, twirls and jumps without falling.

I remember Peggy Fleming from the 1960s. I went to You Tube and watched a few of her winning performances. She was so graceful.
Here is a link to one of the videos.
I also loved Dorothy Hamill. She was in the 1976 Olympics.
Here is a link to one of her videos.
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They have advanced so much since the 1960s and 1970s, though. The skaters are now doing triple and quadruple jumps when they used to do doubles.

Can any of you ice skate?
I've never been on ice skates in my life, but I have roller skated - just not very well.

Feeding and Taking Pics of the Birds

I just love watching our birds and taking pictures of them.

I'm not too sure how they feel about being watched so closely while they eat, though. I do it from inside our windows, but they seem to know I'm there.

Our weather has been crazy this winter. We go from 50 or 60 degrees one day to snow and cold the next day.

The robins are confused, too. They have returned and we look out and see dozens of them in the yard at one time. I hope they like seeds, because I don't think they will be getting any worms out of the ground any time soon.

Do you like taking pictures of your bird visitors?