If you love homemade cookies but you just don’t have a lot of time to indulge in baking, here are some cookie recipes for you. Maybe you are a young mother who works or just doesn’t have a lot of free time, yet you would love to bake with your children as your mother and/or grandmother did with you. These recipes are perfect for you. Drop Sugar Cookies allow you to make delicious sugar cookies without rolling, cutting and decorating. And the White Chip Apricot Oatmeal Cookies take oatmeal cookies to a new level! So get out the ingredients, grab the kiddos and have some baking fun.

DROP SUGAR COOKIES

2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar + additional sugar for topping
2/3 cup canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Mix well. In a large bowl, using a wire whisk, whisk eggs until blended. Add sugar, oil, vanilla, and lemon zest; mix well. Stir the dry ingredients into the egg mixture until well blended. Chill, covered, for at least 30 minutes. Drop cookie dough by rounded teaspoonfuls about two inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Mist the bottom of a 3-inch flat-bottom glass with water and dip glass in additional sugar. Press tops of cookies lightly with the glass, misting with water and dipping into sugar for each cookie. Bake cookies until lightly browned, about 8 minutes. Cool on baking sheets for two minutes then remove to wire racks to finish cooling. Store in an airtight container.

WHITE CHIP APRICOT OATMEAL COOKIES

3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 1/2 cups rolled oats
10-oz pkg Hershey’s Premier White Chips
3/4 cup dried apricots

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

Beat butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar in a large bowl until fluffy. Add egg and beat well. Add flour and baking soda; beat until well blended. Stir in oats, white chips and apricots. Loosely form rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 7 to 9 minutes or just until lightly browned. Do not overbake! Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet to a wire rack to cool completely.

Yield: 3 1/2 dozen cookies.

Enjoy!