O-R-E-O

I didn't realize when I made these homemade Oreos that Annie had already made and blogged them too! Let me just be a second witness that they are delicious. I think they're even better than Nabisco.

I guess I just couldn't get enough of Oreos though because I also recently made these:
Make them, try them and I dare you to just eat one. They are so rich, so chocolatey, and SO easy! This is a new favorite and I'm thinking next time I'm going to get some of those spring Oreos and then swap the chocolate chips that are sprinkled on the top for Easter m&m's.

Oreo Fudge Bars
1 16oz. package of Oreo cookies
1 stick butter, melted
1/4 tsp salt
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips (could use another 1/2 cup semi-sweet chips if you like)
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (or regular, if you're like me and you don't always have those mini ones in your pantry!)

Preheat oven to 325. Line a 9×13 pan with foil and lightly spray with cooking spray. Set aside 8 Oreo cookies for the toppings.
In a small food processor grind the rest of the cookies. If you don’t have a food processor, just pound with a rolling pin until the cookies are fine crumbs. Add the salt to the crumbs and stir to combine.
Melt butter and gently stir together with the cookie crumb mixutre. Press firmly into the bottom of the prepared pan. Coarsely chop the remaining cookies into chunks and set aside.
Over a double boiler or in the microwave, melt 3/4 cup semi-sweet and 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips together with the condensed milk and vanilla. Stir frequently until smooth and spread evenly over the prepared cookie crust.
Sprinkle the mini chocolate chips and the Oreo cookies chunks over the top of the filling. Press down gently into the chocolate topping.
Bake for 20-22 minutes oven.
Allow to cool on counter for 1 hour. Chill in fridge until completely cold and set before cutting into bars. If you don't, you'll have a fudgy mess on your hands!

Coming back!

Well, I hope. Annie's got her hands full with 2 kids and another on the way. Becky and I are teachers with busy lives who are beat at the end of a teaching day and Brittany is trying to get graduated. So, we've been busy. I can't promise I'll be consistent, but I feel pretty lame that I bake as much as I do and still don't share, at least not on the blog. For all that I bake, I definitely do share the finished product!
Anyway, in celebration of Valentine's Day, I made a little something. King Arthur Flour's Chocolate Linzer Cookies were really easy to make and tasty, especially the uncooked dough.
The recipe is long, so HERE is the link.
Just make sure the dough REALLY is refrigerated well, flour your surface VERY well, and if you don't have a linzer cutter, you could always do a heart shaped cookie cutter and use a smaller heart to cut out the middle. Be creative...any shape would work! Oh, and I left out the espresso powder. That's not a standard pantry item in my kitchen!

Rocky Ledge Bars

I love that Annie uses marshmallows in a number of her confectionery treats. I'm a BIG fan of marshmallows. So, when I saw this Martha Stewart recipe recently, I thought I'd give it a try. I'm not a big butterscotch fan so I substituted milk chocolate chips, but I bet peanut butter chips would be good too. There's all kinds of possibilities! If you can find Kraft's new caramel bits, use them! They're the size of chocolate chips and can be mixed into all kinds of baked treats.












Martha's Rocky Ledge Bars

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1 1/2 cups packed dark-brown sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup miniature marshmallows
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 1 cup white chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 1 cup butterscotch chips
• 18 soft caramel-candy cubes, coarsely chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly butter a 9-by-13-inch baking pan. Line with parchment paper, allowing a 2-inch overhang on the longer sides. Brush parchment with butter (not overhang).
2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix butter and brown sugar until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla; mix until well combined. Mix in flour mixture until combined. Fold in half of each of the marshmallows, chocolates, butterscotch chips, and caramels.
3. Spread batter in prepared pan. Scatter remaining marshmallows, chocolates, butterscotch chips, and caramels on top. Bake until top is golden brown and a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack. Lift out of pan, and transfer to a baking sheet. Refrigerate until set, at least 30 minutes.
4. Remove parchment, and cut into about 16 triangles. Bars can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week.

S'mores Bars

I've been camping a few times this summer. What to do with all those leftover s'mores goodies... This recipe was a hit with its consumers. I made them ahead of time before I served them, but they really need to be eaten warm so I put them in the microwave for a few seconds before serving otherwise the marshmallow comes off in one bite. Not so good. These are simple to make with the help of a Betty Crocker cookie mix. The recipe comes from the Betty Crocker Website and I've been pretty satisfied with the recipes from their site.

Toasted Marshmallow S'mores Bars

1	pouch Betty Crocker® sugar cookie mix
1	cup graham cracker crumbs
1	cup butter or margarine, melted
3	cups milk chocolate chips (18 oz)
4 1/2	cups miniature marshmallows

	Heat oven to 375°F. In large bowl, stir together cookie mix and crumbs. Stir in melted butter until soft dough forms. Press into ungreased 13x9-inch pan.
	Bake 18 to 20 minutes or until set. Immediately sprinkle chocolate chips over crust. Let stand 3 to 5 minutes or until chocolate begins to melt. Spread chocolate evenly over crust.
	Set oven control to broil. Sprinkle marshmallows over melted chocolate. Broil with top 4 to 5 inches from heat 20 to 30 seconds or until marshmallows are toasted. (Watch closely, marshmallows will brown quickly.) Cool 10 minutes. For bars, cut into 6 rows by 4 rows. Serve warm. Store any remaining bars tightly covered.

Blackberry Buttermilk Sherbet

Alright Sistas, it's been a while, but here's something truly sweet and not ridiculously unhealthy! Despite what you may think, buttermilk is NOT full of the fat that actual butter has. It's pretty good for you. Love that!

Blackberry Buttermilk Sherbet
Originally from Cooking Light

Straining the blackberry mixture is optional but worth the effort for the smoothest, creamiest texture.

2 1/2 cups blackberries (about 12 ounces)
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups low-fat buttermilk

Combine blackberries and sugar in a blender or food processor; process until smooth. Strain blackberry mixture through a fine sieve over a bowl; discard solids. Stir in buttermilk.

Pour mixture into the freezer can of an ice-cream freezer; freeze according to manufacturer's instructions (mine took about 20 minutes). Spoon sherbet into a freezer-safe container; cover and freeze 4 hours (or one if you're like me and just couldn't wait any longer!) or until firm.

Easy Vanilla Ice Cream

It's starting to get warm again. It's supposed to be about 90 degrees on Sunday, but today is absolutely beautiful. So warmer weather means...HOMEMADE ICE CREAM! I love homemade ice cream because it gets all melty really fast. Some require making a custard first, but the reason that I love this recipe is that you can have homemade ice cream in literally minutes. There is no cooking and no eggs involved. It isn't as rich and creamy as a custard based treat, but this is a great alternative. My husband actually likes this ice cream recipe better than those made with a custard because he likes that it isn't as rich.
Growing up we always had strawberry-banana homemade ice cream and we didn't have it very often. I always thought ice cream was hard to make until I got an ice cream maker that doesn't use rock salt and ice. It has been the best thing ever. You just throw everything in and click "on."
One of my favorite ice cream flavors is chocolate chip, but I'm sort of picky about it. I don't like huge chunks of chocolate but I like it when the chocolate is shaved. It has a very delicate texture and you don't have to bite the chocolate. It really just melts in your mouth. I used a Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate Bar and shaved it. Dark tastes better to me than milk chocolate in this ice cream. Milk chocolate makes it way too sweet.

Easy Vanilla Ice Cream
Makes 1 1/2 quarts

1 1/2 cup whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup half and half
1/2 cup whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup of mix-ins (optional)

Combine milk, sugar, and salt. Stir with a wire whisk until sugar is dissolved. Stir in half and half, whipping cream, and vanilla.
Pour into ice cream maker canister and freeze according to directions.
Stir in mix-ins during the last few minutes of mixing.
You can eat it immediately, or you can freeze it in the freezer for a couple of hours so it will set even more and the flavor develops a little stronger.

Note: Last time I made this ice cream I did not have any half and half or whole milk. Instead I used 1 1/2 cups 1% milk and 1 1/2 cups whipping cream. I didn't use any half and half and it turned out great. So you can really mix it up if you wanted.

Craisin and White Chocolate Blondies

When my friend first tried these she took a bite and said, "Oh, I don't like peanut butter."

I told her, "Ummmm...they don't have peanut butter in them."

"I swear I tasted peanut butter." She tried another bite. "Why on earth did I taste peanut butter?"

Answer: I have no idea.

Some possibilities could be that it has a chewy texture that some peanut butter bar cookies have or it has a TON of brown sugar that gives it a butterscotch flavor. I really can't come up with any other reason why it would taste like peanut butter. Maybe she was just expecting it to.

Once when I was teaching school back in the day to 5th graders one kid brought in a science experiment in which he was trying to prove that our sense of sight has an effect on taste. He made samples of vanilla ice cream in which he made them different colors. It worked too. The kids thought that the pink tasted like strawberry, the purple tasted like grape, etc. It was all just the same vanilla ice cream from the very same container. So I guess that my friend thought they looked like a peanut butter bar cookie and tricked her mind into tasting peanut butter. I myself love a peanut butter bar cookie. These are not them. Nooo, but they ever so delicous and chewy. It is just a plain blondie recipe that was made fabulous with crasins and white chocolate chips. I wish that I had some pecans to put into the mix.

Blondies with Craisins and White Chocolate

1/2 c butter (I used salted)
2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup craisins
3/4 cup white chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350F. Melt butter in the microwave in a large microwaveable bowl. Add the brown sugar and stir until moistened (about 2 minutes). Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Add flour and salt; mix well. Stir in craisins and white chocolate chips.
Spread batter, it will be thick, into an ungreased 9x13 inch baking pan.
Bake for 22-27 minutes
*I lined mine with foil so that it overhangs the edges. After it bakes and cools you lift out the blondies with the foil overhangs.

P.S. This is probably one of the easiest things I have ever made. Just one bowl!

Surprise Cookies

I had some leftover marshmallows from my husband's campout hanging around in the pantry. I'm always looking for recipes that use up something in the cupboard that would otherwise have gone to waste. Marshmallows would definitely go to waste. I don't really just sit down with a bag of them and chow down. I guess I could, but I don't. Once I made a mini batch of rice krispy treats with some leftover marshmallows, but I wanted to do something new and I also did not have any rice krispies. I had all of the ingredients for these cookies so I went for it. Actually, most of the recipies I have posted here are made from ingredients one would usually have on hand--if you're a baker. That's just how I bake...I like to keep it simple. I found this recipe on Martha Stewart's web site. It's one of their "Cookie of the Day" recipes. I love to look at each cookie of the day, but I don't actually make them. I'm just a recipe reader.

These cookies are rich, but not overly sweet like I had anticipated. I thought they were a great blend of textures with the frosting, marshmallow, and cookie all in one bite.

Surprise Cookies

from Martha Stewart.com

1 3/4 c all-purpose flour

3/4 c cocoa

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup (one sitck) unsalted butter, softened

1 c sugar

1 large egg

1/2 c milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

12 large marshmallows, cut in half horizontally

Frosting:

2 c powdered sugar

4 tabl unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1/4 c cocoa powder

1/4 c milk

1/4 tsp vanilla

To make the cookie:

Preheat oven to 375F and line baking sheets with parchment. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar, about 2 minutes. Add egg, milk, and vanilla, and beat until well combined. Add reserved flour mixture; mix on low speed until combined.

Scoop into heaping tablespoons onto prepared cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake until cookies begin to spread and become firm, 10-12 minutes. (I did 10 minutes)

Remove from baking sheets and place a marshmallow cut-side down into the center of each cookie, pressing down slightly. Return to oven, and continue baking until marshmallows begin to melt, 2 to 2 1/2 minutes. Remove from oven. Cool cookies ona wire rack. Cool completely before frosting.

Spread about 1 tablespoon frosting over each marshmallow and spread to cover the marshmallow.

To make the frosting:

Place sugar in a bowl. With an electric mixer mix in the butter and cocoa. Add milk and vanilla.

Mix until very silky and just slightly runny. It hardens on top as it dries.