Cousin’s Camp is just around the corner and you know what that means!
Exhaustion, bug bites, poison ivy, the threat of imminent peril around every snake stretched landscape…
Camp cookies!
If you’ve never had camp cookies you are in for a total treat. Well, a total treat if you’ll actually take the time to make them. I guess reading about them without having them might actually be kind of a bummer.
Camp Cookies are an Aunt Ann specialty. Here she is hanging out with my Mom at camp:
Aunt Ann and my Mom were best friends growing up. Still close and both still beautiful.
Here’s the thing about Cousin’s Camp. It’s some dad gum hard work! And that’s where camp cookies come in. They are packed with protein and super delicious. You can definitely eat too many of them.
After you’ve eaten a ridiculous amount of cookies there is only one thing left to do. Seek relief from the Sassafras Tree. Now if you don’t know anything about the Sassafras tree it’s roots can be made into Sasparilla which was an early form of Root Beer. My Grandmom taught me a long time ago that chewing the stems of the Sassafras leaves will ‘settle your stomach.’ It’s true. I love the way it tastes.
Plus, it’s just cooler than cap sleeves that these trees grow everywhere and are just waiting to be useful. Here is what it looks like:
Kinda like a dinosaur footprint.
And here is the stem pre chew:
Yum!
So, make the camp cookies and then go try the Sassafras stem!
CAMP COOKIES A LA AUNT ANN
½ cup margarine, softened 1 TSP vanilla
1 18 oz. jar chunky peanut butter 6 Cups quick cooking oats, uncooked
1½ cup sugar 2½ TSP baking soda
1½ cup firmly packed brown sugar 1 Cup semisweet chocolate chips
4 large eggs
Beat butter and peanut butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until fluffy; gradually add sugars, beating well. Add eggs and vanilla mixing well. Combine oats and baking soda; add to butter mixture, mixing well. Stir in chocolate chips; drop by tablespoons onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake at 350 degrees until done. Cool on cookie sheets 5 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. Yield: 7 dozen.