Vanilla Wafers

To my mother's credit, she never bought us many pre-packaged sweets....well, almost never. Usually, if we were going to have things like cookies, we made them together, but Nilla Wafers were something I only experienced at Sunday school. I vividly remember sneaking extra handfuls of them off the snack table to take home with me and eat in private. They were soft inside with a slightly chewy bite and tons of sugary vanilla flavor -- oh, so yummy.

Why can't pre-packaged cookies be better for us!? That lament is one of the reasons why I love trying to figure out how to make healthier, homemade versions of pre-packaged products. The treats of my childhood are wrapped up with so many wonderful memories I want to share them all with my own kids -- just without all the preservatives and artificial flavors.

While you may think that a Vanilla Wafer would be complicated to make in your kitchen, my take on it is easy. After many blunders trying to perfect a homemade recipe, I eventually arrived at this version which tastes as good as, if not better than, the ones I remember. Kenya and Chloe have never tried the box kind, but give them a small handful of these cookies and a tall glass of milk and I don't think they're missing a darn thing!