Tag Archives: oreo

thursday things

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So this is what the “holidays” look like in Phoenix.  Like living in a desolate wasteland.

I can’t believe Thanksgiving is only one week away!  ONE WEEK!  I love cooking (obviously) but I’m also super thankful that I’m not hosting this year.  Not so thankful that I will be working that day, but you win some you lose some I suppose.  At least I will be off in time to eat some delicious Thanksgiving food (that I didn’t have to cook myself)!

Those of you who are hosting, did you know that there are several items that you can make in advance? Like, today? You can make your rolls, stuffing, and even your gravy over the weekend leaving you free to visit with your guests on the big T-Day. Unless, of course, you don’t want to visit with your guests on Thanksgiving… I won’t tell.

With holiday baking starting this weekend, now is probably a good time to check your leavening agents to make sure your cakes and cookies will bake correctly. On the off-chance you don’t bake often, baking soda and baking powder DO go bad. If you don’t remember how long ago you opened yours, they might be worth checking.

I’m dying over these cupcakes on A Farmgirl’s Dabbles. Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Latte Cupcakes. It’s everything I love in one tiny, delicious package! Like they were made with me in mind.

Even though I don’t believe in talking about Christmas until AFTER Thanksgiving (with Nordstrom earning my respect with this Nordstrom initiative).  I wish more stores would follow suit.

(YOU GO WITH YOUR BAD SELF, NORDSTROM!)

I got super excited at a recent trip to home depot where we saw Yoda in a santa outfit!  We have almost zero Christmas decorations so of course I immediately started jumping up and down and screaming about how we needed to have it.  (Note: I would have had the same reaction even if our entire house was filled to the top with Christmas decorations)

Not want.  Need.  BF said we couldn’t get it because he knows I will set it up in our bedroom for the other 11 months of the year.  As if that’s a “bad” thing…

OMG!  And look whose home-made faux-reos made the cover for this week’s Share Your Sweets on SeriousEats! You can click the picture to go straight to the recipe.

I’ve been really bad about entering pictures lately.  I kinda forgot the whole thing existed… oops?  You should definitely make these, they’re super easy and you can make a million variations of the filling.  So good.  Now I want to make them again!

Speaking of SE, they posted this video of things exploding in the microwave (in slow motion).  If you, like me, have always wanted to explode things in the microwave, but realize that you would end up cleaning up the mess, this video may help to fulfill that desire.  Or strengthen it.  I’m still not sure which.

That’s all my Thursday things… Enjoy your weekend, I’ll have a Thanksgiving roundup this weekend for those of you who are still trying to plan your menus!

oreo cheesecake cookies

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oreo cheesecake cookie main

After I missed National Cheesecake Day, I vowed never to miss another food holiday again. Well, it turns out that I was a bit on the naive side. Did you know that there is a food holiday every day? Like, literally, EVERY DAY. I mean, I love food as much as the next girl… in fact, some may argue that I love food significantly more than the next girl, but every single day?? Isn’t that a bit overkill?

Monday was Root Beer Float Day, and today is Raspberries in Cream Day. August 5th was not only National Waffle Day, but National Oyster Day as well. We couldn’t even make them related? It had to be two of the most un-related foods celebrated on the same exact day? Granted, maybe Oyster Waffles are super delicious and I just have no idea. But seriously, calm down guys. We don’t need a food holiday every day... It will be OK.

I promise.

I’m on board for S’more Day on August 10th (THIS FRIDAY, GUYS!), maybe even Rum Day on the 16th, but  Soft Ice Cream Day and Julienne Fry Day are a bit much. What’s wrong with just “Fry-Day” (that could conveniently fall on a Friday every year), or just plain “Ice Cream Day”… why do we need to be so specific?

Anyway, I digress, moral of the story is that I missed Cheesecake Day and I’m sure that I missed Oreo Cookie Day (Which was apparently March 6th, for the record. Pretty sure I knew that thanks to the Birthday Cake Oreo, actually.)

So, In honor of belated Cheesecake Day & belated Oreo Day… in honor of all the other hundreds of food holidays I will miss (and have already missed)… and if you follow me on Pinterest, in honor of my apparent intense craving for Oreos…. I give to you:

Oreo     Cheesecake      Cookies.

Soft, chewy, cream cheese cookies rolled in Oreo cookie crumbs. So, essentially, a delicious cookie rolled in crushed delicious cookies, another cookie inception perhaps?

Oreo Cheesecake Cookies – Yields about 30 small cookies

[ Printable Recipe ]

  • 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
  • 3 ounces cream cheese, softened
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup (7 ounces) sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup (4.8 ounces) all-purpose flour
  • ½ cup mini chocolate chips
  • 1 cup oreo cookie sandwich crumbs (about 8 oreos)

1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. In a large bowl, beat the butter, cream cheese and salt on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Gradually add the sugar and continue beating until the mixture is light and fluffy, 1-2 minutes. Beat in the vanilla, and then add the flour and mix on low just until combined. Mix in the chocolate chips.

3. Roll or scoop the dough into 1-inch balls. Drop the dough balls into a bowl of oreo cookie crumbs and roll to coat. Arrange the dough balls 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.

4. Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes, until the edges just start to brown and the tops are set. Cool for a minute or two on the sheets, then transfer the cookies to wire racks and cool completely.

[ Adapted from crumblycookie.net ]

thursday things

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inception cookie main

Happy Thursday, everyone! This Thursday in particular is exceptionally happy for me, because it is the start of a (much-needed) long weekend. That’s right! The BF and I are ditching work and heading out on our very first trip to Lake Powell.

In other news, I have the best boyfriend ever, because he bought me this magical thing:

That’s right ladies and gents… POWDERED PEANUT BUTTER. AANNDD powdered CHOCOLATE peanut butter. What’s that you say? 85% less fat than regular peanut butter? With 100% of the flavor? All you do is mix a bit of the powder with a bit of water and voila – peanut butter. Of course I’ve already mixed it into milk … which I then dipped my delicious Oreos into. Yup, Oreos dipped in peanut butter flavored milk. Pretty much the best thing ever. Just sayin’. I can’t wait to work it into 234283493 recipes. Can’t. Wait.

Speaking of Oreos (and my delightful BF), we had this conversation over the weekend when he returned from the store…

BF: “I have bad news, and I have good news.”

Me: “Okay…?” ( insert quizzical stare here ) 

BF: “The bad news is, they’ve discontinued the birthday cake Oreos… The good news is they were on clearance so I bought ALL OF THEM!”

Things like that remind me of why I love him so much… That and the peanut butter. A man after my own heart… Now that I had enough Oreos to feed a small village, I had to use them. And what better way to use them than to stuff them inside of a chocolate chip cookie? While I was at it I used the rest of our (opened) Girl Scout cookies, leaving us with chocolate chip cookies stuffed with Oreos, Tagalongs, and Samoas. Because the only thing better than eating a cookie is eating multiple cookies at the same time.

Your brain just exploded. I know.

Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

[ Printable Recipe ]

  •  2 sticks softened unsalted butter
  •  3/4 cup packed brown sugar (I usually use “golden” but ran out and ended using half dark)
  •  1 cup granulated sugar
  •  2 large eggs
  •  1 Tablespoon pure vanilla
  •  3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  •  1 teaspoon salt
  •  1 teaspoon baking soda
  •  5 oz (half bag) mini chocolate chips
  •  1 bag Oreo Cookies (or Tagalongs, or Samoas, or whatever you want. Go crazy)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

1. Cream butter and sugars in an electric mixer until well combined.  Add in eggs and vanilla and beat until well combined.
2.  In a separate bowl mix the flour, salt and baking soda.  Slowly add to wet ingredients along with chocolate chips until just combined.

3. Using a cookie scoop take one scoop of cookie dough and place on top of an Oreo Cookie, smoosh down, pressing toward the edges.  Take another scoop of dough and place on bottom of Oreo Cookie.  I sealed mine by pressing the dough to the edges, then rolling the cookie between my hands until it was completely smoothly covered.

4. Chill in refrigerator at least 15 minutes before baking.

5. Place onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake cookies 10-20 minutes, depending on the size of cookie scoop you use. They should be just golden and the bottoms lightly browned.
Using a large scoop will give you GIANT cookies (see Oreo cookie) that take almost 20 minutes to bake completely
Using a smaller scoop gave me the ratio I preferred (see Tagalong cookie), and they baked faster as an added bonus

Let cool for 5 minutes on a baking sheet before transferring to cooling rack.

oreo dirt

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dirt main

Dirt is the quintessential Halloween treat. I remember I first enjoyed it at my grandma’s Halloween party. I don’t know how old I was, but I was young enough to be at my grandma’s… for a Halloween party. So, I was pretty young, I guess. I don’t remember the specifics of grandma’s dirt recipe, but I know that every recipe I saw after that had cream cheese. Since I spent the majority of my life (up until the last few months, actually) hating cream cheese, I had to create my own equally (or more-so) delicious version.

So, I don’t know if this is officially “dirt”, but it’s a creamy chocolate dessert, covered with oreos, that you can stick worms and other fun stuff in to make it look like a graveyard (if you’re going Halloween-y). Otherwise, you can opt out of the extra decoration and just enjoy yourself some creamy, chocolatey, oreo goodness.

Oh, and you don’t have to do individual servings. If you’re going “halloweeny” sometimes it’s better to do one big cake pan and turn it into a graveyard (I’ll post a picture of that version later). 🙂

Dirt

[ Printable Recipe ]

  • 1 large package instant chocolate pudding
  • 1 container whipped topping
  • 1/2 package (or more…) Oreos, crushed
  • gummi worms, or other decorations (if desired)

1. Make pudding according to package directions.

2. Spread pudding on bottom layer of dish, reserving about 1/4 – 1/3 of the mixture in a separate bowl.

3. Mix half of the whipped topping and half of the crushed oreos with the reserved chocolate pudding. Spread on top of pudding layer.

4. Cover with remaining whipped topping and a generous sprinkling of Oreos. Go on, dump ’em on there…

5. Decorate with gummi worms, gummi bears, “grave stones” (aka cookies); if desired. Chill a couple hours in the fridge before serving.

* To make “grave stones”, dip elf cookie, graham cracker, anything that general shape, into melted white chocolate or white candy couveture ( if you have some black food coloring, you can turn it gray ). let dry, and using a food-safe marker or icing write “RIP”

* To make “ghosts” dip nutter butter (or anything that shape) into white candy couveture, draw or pipe on the little black eyes and mouth.

* You could also use rolled fondant instead of couveture if desired. It all depends on how fancy you want to get. If you’re not that into it, just do gummi worms, or even just cute halloween-y cupcake toppers – it’s the easy way out 🙂

fauxreo

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fauxreo

Oreos are one of many childhood delights that still hold a special place in my heart. You know how sometimes you buy something thinking about how awesome it used to be when you were little? Then, once you eat it, you’re filled with sadness and disappointment (and sometimes disgust)? I don’t get that with Oreos. They’re just as delicious today as they were when I was little. Part of their allure lies in their versatility – I add them to other desserts, eat them on their own, drown them in milk (ya know, to soften the cookie), mix them into ice cream, or even dip them in peanut butter (it’s good, trust me).

So of all the things I don’t buy at the grocery store, all those over-processed, horrible for me, not really as good as I remember them to be sweet and salty treats… Oreos still make the cut. I can’t help myself. Can’t. I don’t care what kind of horrible stuff is in them, they print the ingredients small enough that I don’t have to read them anyway.

Even when I went with my bestie to NYC, one of the items at the top of our list was (of all things) an Oreo. To be fair, it wasn’t just any old Oreo, it was a the Thomas Keller Oreo (aka “TKO”). They weren’t really Oreos – they were “grown up” Oreos. Rich, dark chocolate cookies with a classy filling enhanced with high quality white chocolate. Delicious? Yes. But an Oreo? Debatable…

TKOs made it into last year’s Christmas cookie boxes, but all the rolling and cutting and melting chocolate …. a little bit more work than I am willing to do on a regular basis. But when I read this recipe, I wasn’t even planning to bake that day. Just skimmed the recipe, realized I had all of the ingredients, and it didn’t require softened butter or rolling…  so into the kitchen I went.

These took almost no time to make. The most time-consuming part was waiting for them to cool enough for me to fill them – after my ice cream sandwich disaster, I learned my lesson about making sure my cookies are thoroughly cooled before attempting to fill them. Please take note of the word thoroughly.

They aren’t as pretty as TKOs, they lack the smooth cookie surface and the precise shape given to perfect rolled and cut cookies, but they make up for it in taste. If you want a fancy-pants grown up Oreo, you can have your TKO, but if you want your nostalgic childhood Oreo (with ingredients you can actually pronounce) – these are for you. Tasty? Yes. Pretty? Not really. 🙂

Faux-reos (Makes 20-24 sandwich cookies)

[ Printable Recipe ]

For the cookies:

  • 1¼ cups all-purpose flour
  • ½ cup unsweetened dutch-processed cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • ¼ tsp. baking powder
  • ¼ tsp. salt
  • 1-1½ cups sugar
  • 10 tbsp. (1¼ sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 1 large egg

For the filling:

  • 4 tbsp. (¼ cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • ¼ cup vegetable shortening
  • 2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
  • 2 tsp. vanilla extract
  1. Preheat the oven to 375˚ F.  Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.
  2. In a food processor (or electric mixer) mix together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and sugar.  Add the butter to the bowl and pulse or mix briefly to incorporate.  Add in the egg and mix until the dough forms a cohesive mass.
  3. Scoop by tablespoons onto parchment, spacing a couple of inches apart.  Flatten scoops slightly with moistened fingers.
  4. Bake for 9-11 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through baking.  Then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before filling.
  5. To make the filling, Beat butter and shortening on medium speed until smooth.  Add powdered sugar to the bowl and mix on low speed until incorporated, then increase the speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Blend in the vanilla extract.
  6. To assemble, pair cookies by size and pipe a swirl of filling onto half of the cookies, then top with remaining half. Press cookies together so the filling reaches the edges.

Tips

* The range of sugar called for here allows you to make these cookies as sweet as you like (or not).  To make it closer to a store-bought Oreo, use 1 cup.  For a sweeter cookie, use the full 1½ cups.  

* I don’t know if I made life easier or harder for myself, but I didn’t feel like piping anything, so I just used my cupcake spatula and filled my cookies that way. Didn’t make the filling as pretty and smooth, but the cookies were already not pretty and smooth, so I didn’t really care too much.

[ Adapted from Annie’s Eats ]