Recipes for Taking a Break to Ponder School Libraries

Teacher-librarians are not uni-dimensional beings.  I have found them to be an extremely gracious community.  I rarely attend meetings or go for visits that there isn't tea and goodies served for our discussions.  Similarly, at our meetings of the School Library Resource Centre Consultative Committee, I have tried to uphold the gracious, although this is not always an area of giftednesss when working under the pressure of time.  This week, at our SLRCCC meeting, I served home-made cookies to the surprise of my TL colleagues who were unaware of this aspect of my being.

Here are two absolutely foundational cookie recipes that I share as one who brought up two children in the belief that good cookies are what every child deserves when growing up:

Basic Oatmeal Cookies

Cream together: 1 c margarine (or butter), I c (or less) white sugar, 1 c (or less) brown sugar.

Beat in: 2 eggs, 2 t vanilla.

Add and mix well: 1 t vanilla, 1 t bkg powder, 1 t baking soda, ¼ t salt, 2 c flour, 2c oatmeal.

You can also add: 1 c choc or butterscotch chips OR raisins OR gum drops OR Smarties OR chopped dried apricots OR dried cranberries OR chopped nuts.

Drop on sheet. Bake 350° F 11-12 mins.

NOTES: My most recent adaptation has dried cranberries AND chopped pecans. Served recently to critical acclaim at SLRCCC meeting, January 31! Deemed delicious, with requests for recipe. I suggest you make the recipe exactly as given above and then experiment with sugar, additions, etc., thereafter.

I use a small ice cream scoop to make substantial cookies and bake them longer. Depending on how long you bake these, they can be soft-centred and chewy or crisp. I prefer the slightly chewy version. Everything freezes fantastically, including the dough. I sometimes double the recipe BUT it exceeds the capacity of my old mixmaster so be prepared to assemble everything in a very large bowl.

Molasses Ginger Snap Cookies

Cream together: ¾ c margarine, 1 C sugar, ¼ c molasses, 1 egg.

Add and mix well: 2 C flour, 1 t baking soda, ¼ t salt, 1 t each of cinnamon, cloves, ginger

Form into balls. Roll in sugar. Place wide apart on slightly greased cookie sheets.

Bake 375° F 8-10 mins, where 8 is chewy and 10 is crisp. These have not been reviewed by the SLRCCC committee members.

When offered to colleagues, board visitors, parent groups, student teachers, committee meetings when advancing the case for school libraries as the hubs of teaching and learning or for school-wide discussions about planning for technology integration with teaching and learning supported by the school library, you will surely make headway!