2/11 Weekly creativity contest winner & new prompt

Two delicious entries for this week’s creativity contest on the prompt “cookies.” Rebecca Coll wins for a fabulous, extremely creative submission! Rebecca writes: Here it is — a silly little idea I had when nothing else was coming to me. I was having a hard time getting creatively motivated by ‘cookies,’ when all I really wanted to do was eat them… Attached are three images of a paper doll I made who also seems to have an issue with cookies.”  We love it, Rebecca! (Anyone who has ever personally related to the term “muffin top” will be especially appreciative, LOL.) Your $10 amazon.com gift certificate is on its way.

From Cathy Coley, a recipe you’re going to want to make RIGHT NOW. Cathy writes: “I haven’t made these in a long time, as I can’t find sucanat or decent molasses (with sulphur, not unsulphured) around here, but these are good for breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner and dessert, smell unbelievable, will guarantee a good romance that night (and the kids love them, too). They are magically chewy and crispy and crunchy all at once! Yes, the magician is letting you in on the secret!”

Cathy’s Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

1 cup or 2 sticks of butter, softened
1½ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
OR ½ cup sucanat + 1/2 cup molasses +
½ cup dark brown sugar (this is the better option)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
¾ cup whole wheat flour
¾ cup unbleached white flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
3 cups old-fashioned oats, even better if Irish
1 cup raisins
Throw in a big handful of nuts or 2: walnuts or pecans

Preheat to 350 degree oven

2 big bowls
In first, beat together butter and sugars until creamy
Add eggs and vanilla, beat well
In second, combine dry ingredients: flour baking soda, cinnamon, and salt, mix well

Add dry ingredients to sugars bowl, mix
Stir in oats raisins and nuts
Drop rounded spoonfuls onto cookie sheets
Bake 10-12 or until deeply goldenish brown
Cool one min on sheets, transfer to racks to cool more

Kinda hard not to eat straight out of oven, but they will burn, have milk handy and blow to cool before you chomp one! I tend to be generous with spilling in extra of many of the ingredients as I go, so they’re not perfectly the same every time, but the variety makes them good, too — little surprises in yummy. Now I have to go make them! I should be writing, but grandma’s home, baby won’t nap, and my mouth is watering thinking about these cookies!

This week’s prompt: “Box”
Use the prompt however you like — literally, or a tangential theme. All media are welcome. Please e-mail your entries to creativereality@live.com by 10:00 p.m. eastern time (GMT -5) on Tuesday, February 17, 2009. The winning entry receives a $10 gift certificate to amazon.com. Writers should include their submission directly in the body text of their e-mail. Visual artists and photographers should attach an image of their work as a jpeg. Enter as often as you like; multiple submissions for a single prompt are welcome. There is no limit to how many times you can win the weekly contest, either. (You do not have to be a contributor to this blog in order to enter. All are invited to participate.) All submissions are acknowledged when received; if you do not receive e-mail confirmation of receipt within 24 hours, please post a comment here. Remember, the point here is to stimulate your output, not to create a masterpiece. Keep the bar low and see what happens. Dusting off work you created previously is OK too. For more info, read the original contest blog post.