Thin Mint Milkshake

I’m a Cub Scout Mama but way back when, I used to be a Girl Scout.  My little guy sells popcorn, which is all well and good, but it’s definitely not Girl Scout cookies!  Foodie Jr.’s little buddy happens to be a Daisy and since her mom bought popcorn from him, it was time to reciprocate.  (Who am I kidding, I would have bought Thin Mints from any little girl pedaling them at the store.)  Since you can only eat so many Thin Mints (really?) I thought it was time to make something with them.  So, I made a milkshake for Mr. Foodie, he’s big on the milkshakes.  Plus, I wanted to use the old school, beat up, green aluminum cup my mom gave me in the picture so it all matched nicely.  Make these, you will be happy.  And so will those little girls at the grocery store you bought them from.

THIN MINT MILKSHAKES

Ingredients:

6 Thin Mint Cookies, plus one for optional garnish

1 Cup Milk (your choice, I used almond milk for Mr. Foodie’s needs)

2 Scoops of your favorite Vanilla Ice Cream

Whip Cream

Directions

1.  Throw all ingredients in the blend and blend away until you reach desired consistency.

2.  Garnish with whip cream and whole cookie and serve!

Lemon Oatmeal Cookies – The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap!

A little bit about ‘The Swap”…

I was hanging out on Twitter late one night when I happened upon Love and Olive Oil and The Little Kitchen‘s tweets about their Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap.  I was in luck as it wasn’t too late to sign up, which I immediately did.  I used to attend a local mother’s group cookie swap every year and it was a lot of fun.  I am no longer a member of that club and while I still participate in smaller swaps, I wanted to do a bigger one.  At the time I had signed up, they had about 550 bloggers from around the world signed up to swap cookies.  I thought that was pretty darn cool and it was fun being a part of it.  I got to exchange 3 dozen of my cookies with 3 other bloggers, blogs I had never read before!  They estimate that over 22.000 cookies were swapped across this big ole world!  That’s a lot of cookies and I’m happy I got to be a part of it!  If you missed it this year and would like information on how to participate in the next one, sign up here.

A little bit about the cookies I received…

1.  Sisters’ Snacktime ( AJ & Jas Hwang) provided me with my first cookies.  They sent me two kinds (!) –  Peach and Crisp Salted Oatmeal with White/Dark Chocolate.

2.  I got my second set of cookies from Lana Watkins at Bibberche.  They were called Roses and were Serbian recipe from her Grandmother.

3.  My final set of cookies arrived from Chrissy and Dana Marie DeCapite at Sorelle e Cibo.  They were a really yummy white chocolate macadamia and cranberry cookie.  (Mr. Foodie ate them all.)

Thank you to all of my Cookie Swappers!  I enjoyed the different cookies and stories.

A little bit about the cookies I swapped…

I wanted to make a cookie I had never made before and I wanted it to be a little bit different.  Don’t get me wrong, I love your standards like chocolate chip or peanut butter, but I definitely wanted to go in another direction.  When I was pregnant with Foodie Jr., I became part of an internet message board for moms delivering in the same month and year.  I immediately made friends with a gal named Jen and we’ve been friends ever since.  And although we haven’t even met in person, I still consider her one of my best, dearest friends.  One thing we have in common is a love of food.  I sooooooooo trust her taste in food and have not disliked any recipe she has ever passed along.  She gave me this recipe for her favorite cookie a few years back and I’ve never gotten around to trying it.  I have no idea why I waited so long because these are definitely on MY list of favorite cookies now!  This recipe came from her father’s mother and I just love that – recipes that are passed down from one generation to the next.  These cookies are pretty simple to make and generally are things you would normally (well, I would) have on hand.  These cookies can be made chewy or crunchy.  While I think everyone here preferred them on the chewier side (my friend Jen included) the crunchy ones are good too and great for having with coffee or tea.  I adore this recipe and am going to make it several more times this holiday season – my new go-to cookie.  These would be great iced too so I might have to try that!

LEMON OATMEAL COOKIES

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup Shortening

1/2 Cup White Sugar

1/2 Cup Brown Sugar

1 Egg

1 1/2 Tsp Grated Lemon Rind (I used the rind of an entire lemon)

1 1/2 TBS Molasses

1/2 Tsp Vanilla

3/4 Cup plus 2 TBS Flour

1/2 Tsp Baking Soda

1/2 Tsp Salt

1 1/2 Cups Rolled Oats

Directions:

1.  Preheat Oven to 400 Degrees (once dough is done chilling.)

2.  Mix the first seven ingredients (shortening, white sugar, brown sugar, egg, lemon rind, molasses and vanilla) thoroughly.

3.  Sift together the next three ingredients (flour, baking soda, salt) and add to the first mixture.

4.  Stir in rolled oats and mix thoroughly by hand.

5.  Press and mold into a long smooth roll about 2 1/2′ diameter.  Wrap in wax paper and chill until stiff (several hours or overnight.)

6.  With a thin, sharp knife cut into thin slices 1/8′ thick.  Place slices on an ungreased cookies sheet and bake until lightly browned, about 8-10 minutes.

A few notes:  These overcook really quickly so if you prefer them on the chewy side, they won’t look quite ‘done’ when you take them out.  Just let them sit on the sheet for another 5 minutes before moving to a rack to cool.  Also, this recipe doesn’t double well, so make each batch individually.

Peanut Butter Heart Cookies

Happy Valentine’s Day!  This is a typical peanut butter blossom cookie recipe but instead of the kiss, I used a heart shaped Hershey candy.  The candies I purchased were labeled ‘extra creamy’ and they definitely help make these cookies yummy!  Wishing you and yours a very happy hearts day!  Enjoy!

PEANUT BUTTER HEART COOKIES

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup Sugar

1/2 Cup Light Brown Sugar

3/4 Cup Peanut Butter

1/2 Cup Butter, softened

1 Egg

1 1/4 Cup All Purpose Flour

1 Tsp Baking Soda

1 Tsp Baking Powder

1/4 Tsp Salt

Extra granulated sugar for rolling cookies in

Chocolate heart candies, unwrapped

Directions:

1.  Pre-heat oven to 375 Degrees.

2.   Cream butter, peanut butter, sugars and egg in a large bowl.

3.  Add in remaining ingredients and mix well.

4.  Shape dough into 1 inch balls and roll in sugar and place on cookie sheet.

5.  Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes, ovens will vary.

6.  Remove cookies from oven, press chocolate hearts into the cookies.

7.  Remove cookies from cookie sheet and allow to cool on rack.

 

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

With all the special holiday cookies floating around, I got a hankering for something traditional!  Just threw some oatmeal in my grandmother’s chocolate chip cookie recipe…

CHOCOLATE CHIP OATMEAL COOKIES

Ingredients:

2 1/4 Cup Unsifted Flour

1 Tsp Baking Soda

1 Tsp Salt

1/2 Cup Butter

1/2 Cup Margarine

3/4 Cup Sugar

3/4 Cup Brown Sugar

1 Tsp Vanilla

2 Eggs

1 12 Oz. Package Chocolate Chips

1 Cup Oatmeal

Directions:

1.  Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.

2.  Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl.

3.  In a separate bowl, cream butter, margarine, sugars and vanilla.

4.  Beat in eggs.

5.  Gradually stir in flour mixture.

6.  Stir in chocolate chips and oatmeal.

7.  Drop by teaspoonfuls on ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 9-11 minutes.

Oatmeal Graham Cracker Toffee

I adapted the popular Saltine Toffee recipe for this.  The combination works really well, great for the holidays and perfect for any sweet tooth!  This is such an easy recipe and it takes no time at all.

OATMEAL GRAHAM CRACKER TOFFEE

Ingredients:

1 Package Graham Crackers

1 Cup Butter

1 Cup Dark Brown Sugar

1 Cup Oatmeal

Directions:

1.  Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

2.  Line cookie sheet with graham crackers.

3.  In a pot, bring butter and brown sugar to a boil.  Continue boiling for three minutes.

4.  Stir in oatmeal.

5. Pour hot mixture over graham crackers and spread evenly.

6.  Bake in oven about 5-6 minutes.

7.  Remove from oven and let cool.  Once cool, break apart and enjoy!

Iced Pumpkin Butterscotch Cookies

Fact:  I am a firm believer that homemade baked goods are the way to go.  However, I am also a believer that sometimes you just gotta take a short cut.  Last night was definitely a short cut kind of night.  I am a class mom for Foodie Jr.’s kindergarten class and was running around like a chicken with its head cut off prepping and packing for his big Halloween shindig at school today when I realized that I should probably make a little something for his teacher.  And while I was at it, I figured Mr. Foodie’s staff at work probably should not get neglected either.  So off to my pantry I went…

After much hunting and pecking, I decided to make some pumpkin cookies from a yellow cake mix I had in the pantry.  Ideas went swirling around in my head – Oats or no oats?  Chocolate chips?  White Chocolate Chips?  Butterscotch Chips?  Nuts or no nuts?  Frosting?  Icing?  Plain?   Decisions, decisions.  I actually have an iced pumpkin cookie recipe that I have used forever but seeing that it was almost 10 p.m., that recipe was not happening, hence the quick and easy shortcut.  Both Mr. Foodie and I were pleasantly surprised with the final product.  Foodie Jr.’s teacher loved them, well she ate the whole plate right in front of me so either she is really polite or she really did like them!

This recipe made just over 30 cookies.   It was easy to throw together and really just a no hassle dessert.  The best part is that you can probably just interchange a bunch of ingredients, keeping the general ratios the same, and come up with other simple cookies to do in a pinch.

ICED PUMPKIN BUTTERSCOTCH COOKIES

Ingredients for Cookies:

1 Box Yellow Cake Mix

1/2 Tsp Cinnamon

1/4 Tsp Ground Ginger

1/4 Tsp Allspice

1/4 Tsp Nutmeg

1 15 oz. Can of Pumpkin (I really like the Organic from Trader Joe’s)

1/2 Cup Chopped Walnuts

1 Egg

2 Tsp Vegetable Oil

1/2 Cup Butterscotch Chips

Ingredients for Icing:

Powdered Sugar (I used a heaping cup and it was enough to ice all cookies)

Spiced Apple Cider

Directions:

1.  Pre-heat oven to 350 Degrees.  Line cookie sheet with parchment paper or Silpat.

2.  Combine cake mix with spices and walnuts in a large bowl.

3.  In a separate bowl, combine pumpkin, egg and oil.

4.  Add pumpkin mixture to dry ingredients and stir until well combined.

5.  Add butterscotch chips to batter and mix.

6.  Drop by teaspoonful onto cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes.

7.  Allow to cool on wire rack.

8.  While cookies are cooling, place powdered sugar in a bowl and add spiced cider in small (tablespoonish) increments, stirring until you get a desired glaze consistency.  Ice the cooled cookies and let the icing set a bit before serving.