Considering I enjoy bolder flavors & shepherd's pie can be somewhat bland, I made this for a church potluck & doubled the ingredients - using 1 lb of spicy breakfast sausage & 1 lb of lean ground beef (like my family does meatloaf), browned the meats with the minced garlic & diced onion (instead of sauteed in oil) & drained the fat. Added a packet of dry beef & onion soup mix with 2 cups of water & brought that to a simmering boil. Disolved a few tablespoons of corn starch in another cup of cold water adding slowly to mix. Voila! Instant beefy/onion gravy! Spread that out in my baking dish & layered the drained diced tomatoes, green beans, with an added a can of drained corn. Lightly salted the layerd veggies. Always running late, I chose to use boxed dehydrated real potatoes (4 cups of water, 1 cup milk, 1/2 stick butter, 1/2 tsp salt, boiled then added 4 cups of dry potatoes. Instead of the additional cup of water, I used a cup of sour cream & then mixed in the beaten egg)! Using a disposable force-bag & a wide tip, topped everything with the high peaked potato stars. (Appearance and presentation is everything at church potlucks!) Nicely filled a 9X13 deep baking dish. Baked 25 minutes until potato peaks started to become light golden brown, topped with the cheese & baked another 10 minutes until the cheese melted. Voila! The ladies were impressed & asked me how I did it ... ... That's always a wonderful compliment for a guy who enjoys cooking & good eats!

Reviewed On: Dec. 6, 2006

This is an old familiar favorite of mine since childhood. However, we called them Grandma's "Boiled Cookies," simply because she boiled them on the stovetop. My Grandmother used the exact same ingredients and exact same amounts. However, boiling time is crucial and essential. We add the Peanut Butter with the other ingredients to boil (milk, butter/oleo, sugar, cocoa, salt) and bring the mixture to a hard boil over a medium flame(roughly, 4 - 5 minutes from beginning to boil). We were too poor to afford a candy thermometer, I suppose. THIS IS WHERE GRANDMA TOLD ME THAT THE TEXTURE PROBLEM LIES - " ... Too little boiling time, runny/wet & unable to set properly (because the mix did not reach high enough temperature to become the confection); while too much time produced dry & crumbly cookies (result of too hot too long, burning off moisture)." Also, I choose to use Super Chunky peanut butter for more peanut texture and Grandma is probably rolling in her grave, but it defintely works for me! Then, after we remove the boiling mixture from the flame and stir in the vanilla and quick oats (one-minute), spooning out mixture onto wax-paper lined cookie sheets. Also, I've noticed that if I use baking/cooling racks, these tend to cool and set a little more rapidly. So, if you're like me and can't wait ... I've never had a soft batch. They're definitely one of my all-time favorites. Not to mention the favorites of any guests and all of my neices and nephews!

Reviewed On: Jun. 6, 2003