Oreo Cake with Oreo Buttercream

This was Miller's cake request this year and it was delicious!  If you have an oreo lover in your house, this is the cake for you.

Oreo Cake

1 box white cake mix
1 c. flour
1 c. sugar
¾ tsp. salt
1 ⅓ c. water
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 c. sour cream
2 eggs
10 oreos, crushed

Preheat oven to 325.  In a mixer, combine cake mix, flour, sugar and salt.  Add water, vegetable oil, vanilla and sour cream.  Mix well.  Add eggs, one at a time.  Add crushed cookies and blend well.  Evenly distribute batter into cake pans prepared with Baker's Joy.  Bake for 16-20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.  Allow to cool in pans for 5 minutes then move to a wire rack to fully cool.  Top with oreo buttercream.

Oreo Buttercream

15 oreos, processed to a fine powder
1 ½ c. butter, room temperature
4 ½ c. powdered sugar
1 ½ tsp. vanilla
3 Tbsp. heavy cream
pinch of salt

Mix butter and powdered sugar until combined.  Add vanilla and heavy cream and mix well until good consistency.  Add pinch of salt and oreos and blend well.  Spread over cooled cake.

White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies with Macadamia Nuts

I'm trying to increase my cookie recipes and I found this one to be so good.  It's a perfect little cookie for the holidays.  I sent it to school several weeks ago for a teacher appreciation lunch.  I usually send cookies to Jason's office in Texas every Christmas and I'm thinking of adding this one to the stash.

White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies with Macadamia Nuts

3 c. all purpose flour
¾ tsp. baking soda
¾ tsp. salt
¾ c. sugar
1 c. brown sugar
2 sticks butter, room temperature
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 Tbsp. vanilla
1 c. white chocolate chips
1 c. dried cranberries
1 c. macadamia nuts

Preheat oven to 350.  In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt.  In large mixer, cream both sugars and butter until light and airy.  Add in eggs and vanilla until combined.  On low, incorporate the flour mixture slowly.  Scrape bowl down and give one last mix.  Stir in white chips, nuts and cranberries.

Drop by rounded tablespoon (or cookie scoop) and bake for 10-12 minutes or until just set.  Remove to cooling racks.  Keep dough chilled in between batches to keep them from spreading.

Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is my new favorite chocolate chip cookie.  The cinnamon is a nice surprise.

2 c. minus 2 Tbsp. cake flour
1 ⅔ c. bread flour
1 ¼ tsp. baking soda
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
1 ½ tsp. sea salt
1 ¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
2 ½ sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1 ¼ c. packed light brown sugar
1 c. plus 2 Tbsp. sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 (10 oz.) bag of dark chocolate chips
8 oz. milk chocolate chips
sea salt for sprinkling

In a large bowl, combine flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon; whisk together well till combines.  Set aside.

Using a mixer with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes on medium.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.  Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.  On low speed, add in vanilla.  Continuing on low, add dry ingredients in two additions, mixing just until combined.  Do NOT over-mix the dough once you have added the flour.

By hand, stir in chocolate chips.  At this point, dough can be refrigerated up to 72 hours until ready to bake.

When ready to bake cookies, preheat oven to 350 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or use a silicone mat.  Using a round cookie scoop, scoop mounds onto the cookie sheet, rolling them gently in your hand to make them rounded, if needed.  Sprinkle each dough ball with sea salt and bake until lightly golden 8-12 minutes.  Allow to cool on pan 3 minutes and then remove to wire cooling rack.  Repeat with remaining dough.

Oreo Ice Cream

This past fall, the hospitality committee at church (of which I am a part) hosted an old school Men's cake bake and ice cream social after an evening service.  I've always loved cake bakes, so I was a solid vote for this fun party.  My Granddaddy always made a German chocolate cake for the men's cake bakes at my childhood church.  It was a huge success and I took my go to favorite ice cream of Cake Batter Ice Cream.  But this oreo ice cream was my favorite from the night.  I was so glad to get the recipe to add to my ice cream arsenal.

Oreo Ice Cream

1 c. milk (always whole milk for rich ice creams!)

1 c. sugar

½ tsp. salt

1 ¼ c. half and half

1 tsp. vanilla

3 c. whipping cream

20-25 oreos, crushed

Scald milk until bubbles form around edge.  Remove from heat.  Add sugar and salt.  Stir until dissolved.  Stir in half and half, vanilla and whipping cream.  Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes.  Add crushed oreos to chilled mixture and immediately freeze as directed.

Makes 2 quarts.

Carmelitas

Well, hello there!  We've spent a couple of months settling in with new baby.  Again, blessed with food from friends and family to keep me out of the kitchen for a VERY long time.  But I had to share this one recipe.  I've had it pinned for a while waiting for the perfect time to make it (which really isn't now for the post baby diet).  However, I've been thinking about it since I watched the Olympic trials in Oregon and saw Carmelita Jeter run.  And then last week, she's certainly been in the spotlight in London...making me think of these dang cookies!  As you can see by looking at her, she probably doesn't eat stuff like this.  But looking at me, I do!  They are incredible!  I followed the exact same recipe that was online, but I actually think it was too much butter.  Well, I also used milk chocolate chips instead of semi-sweet because they are my favorite...just personal preference.  I may try to cut back on the butter and follow the recipe below next time.

Carmelitas

32 caramel squares, unwrapped
1/2 c. heavy cream
1/2 c. butter, melted
3/4 c. brown sugar, packed
1 c. flour
1 c. rolled oats
1 tsp. baking soda
6 oz. milk chocolate chips (or semi-sweet)

Combine caramels and cream in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir until completely smooth; set aside. In a separate bowl, combine melted butter, brown sugar, flour, oats, and baking soda. Pat half of the oatmeal mixture into the bottom of an 8x8" pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Remove pan from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over crust. Pour caramel mixture over chocolate chips. Crumble remaining oatmeal mixture over caramel. Return to oven and bake an additional 15-20 minutes, until the edges are lightly browned. Remove from oven and cool completely before cutting.


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Now that I got that out of my system, it is time to get back on track.

Biscoff Crunch Cookies

I made a special treat this week to send to The Dish Washer's coworkers.  I've had my eye on this one from Picky Palate for a while now.  These cookies are absolutely delicious!  They have crunch from the Biscoff cookies but yet are a soft cookie once baked.  The white chips just send it over the top.  I think these may be my new "go to" cookie.

If you aren't familiar with Biscoff cookies, this is what they look like.

If you've ever flown Delta and had their delicious cookies, THIS is the exact cookie now sold in our local stores!  Woohoo!

Biscoff Crunch Cookies

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 c. sugar
1 c. packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
20 finely ground Bischoff cookies
3 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
20 crushed Biscoff cookies (coarsely crushed)
2 c. white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and line a large baking sheet with a silpat liner or parchment paper.  In a stand or electric mixer, cream the butter and sugars until light and creamy. Add eggs then vanilla until well combined.  In a large bowl add the flour, ground Biscoff Cookies, baking soda and salt. Mix to combine then slowly add to wet ingredients until just combined. Add coarsely chopped Biscoff cookies and white chips until just combined.With a medium cookies scoop, scoop dough onto prepared baking sheet about 1 inch apart. Bake for 12-15 minutes until edges start to turn golden brown. Remove and let cool for 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

Makes 3 dozen cookies**

**I used a smaller cookie scoop and it made well over 4 dozen cookies!

Mall Cookie Cake Knockoff

Somebody has a birthday in our house tomorrow and I can hardly believe he is already 2 years old!  I wanted to get him a cookie cake for his birthday, but I didn't love the $30+ price tag that came with it.  So weeks ago I began searching for a good cookie cake recipe I could make that would be similar to those yummy mall cakes!  I found the perfect one to try from one of my favorite websites, Southern Plate.  You can find her original post about the cake here.  Here's what she suggests:

Pillsbury chocolate chip cookie dough (16.5 oz. each)
Karo syrup (1/4 cup per 16.5 oz. dough)
Chocolate icing
White icing

I used canned icings just to make life much easier and even used the chocolate she suggested, but I promise that while it is good, it tastes NOTHING like GACC's icing.  Just know you will barely use much of either.

I didn't need a big cookie, so I opted to just use one roll of dough and baked it in a 10 inch tart pan because that is all I had that was round and a little bigger than regular round cake pans.  It surprised me how much it puffed up while baking and I thought it was going to be all wrong, but when the buzzer finally went off, it had flattened down just fine.

Mall Cookie Cake Knockoff

1 (16.5 oz.) roll refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough
1/4 c. corn syrup
1 can chocolate icing
1 can white icing

In a mixing bowl, combine cookie dough and corn syrup until well incorporated.  Place in a greased baking pan and use damp hands to pat down until flat.  Bake in a 325 degree oven for 25-35 minutes depending on your pan size and how much cookie dough you use.  Allow to cool completely before icing.

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It is definitely homemade looking and I will update on how it tastes once we cut into that bad boy.  I'm sure for much less than $10 it will taste GREAT!!  :)

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Update:  It turned out great!  A little greasy feeling on the bottom, but hits the spot.  I used Betty Crocker whipped fluffy white.

Pilgrim Hats

I was originally asked to bring Granny's Cut Out Cookies to our Thanksgiving lunch for the kids, but I took creative liberty and decided to make these little gems instead.  They are super easy to make and definitely something older children could help with.  Here's what you'll need:

Pilgrim Hats

Keebler Fudge Stripe Cookies
Marshmallows
Chocolate chips
tube of yellow decorators icing

Place cookies, stripe side down onto wax paper.  In microwave, carefully melt chocolate.  Use toothpicks to dip marshmallows to coat in chocolate.  Place on top of cookie.  Allow chocolate to set.  Pipe a buckle onto hat.  (My store didn't was out of yellow tube icing, so I just bought some white can icing and colored it myself.  Then I used a ziploc bag to pipe onto hat.)

I was also asked to bring Not Yo' Mama's Banana Pudding for the adults.  I won't change that up and will definitely be taking that.

Peanut Butter Haystacks

These cookies are my most favorite cookie in the world.  They are the easiest no bake cookie to make ever!  I have never shared them because I thought one day I would make millions off of them and need to keep the recipe secret (for real!), but I have decided that probably won't happen and even if it did there would be no need to keep it secret.  HA!  This is my Grandmother's recipe and anytime I take them anywhere, everyone always goes bonkers over them.  Our church collected snack foods to give to emergency workers as a thank you for what they do.  I decided I wanted to make them something special.  But then I got to thinking, I wonder if they eat homemade food from strangers?  Oh well, it was the thought that counts.

And if you make millions off of my cookie one day, remember this lady!!  :)

Peanut Butter Haystacks

1/2 c. light corn syrup

1/2 c. sugar

1 c. peanut butter

2 c. cocoa krispies

In a saucepan, heat syrup and sugar until bubbling.  Remove pan from heat and carefully stir in peanut butter until well combined.  Stir in cocoa krispies.  Drop by teaspoon onto wax paper and allow to cool.

Nutella Chess Bars

You may know these bars from the one and only Paula Deen.  She calls the base recipe Gooey Butter Bars, but growing up we always called these Chess Bars and Chess Bars they will always be to me.  Paula is also well known for changing up the base recipe to make several different flavors like German Chocolate.  I saw this recipe using Nutella over at Plain Chicken and this was the original recipe I told you about when I ended up making Nutella Cookies.  I took these to a family get-together this weekend (again, so good to take these where there are a lot of people to help you eat them) and everyone thought they were just brownies.  And honestly, they did taste like frosted brownies.  They had more of a chocolate flavor and I couldn't taste much Nutella, but they were still amazing!  Very rich!

Nutella Chess Bars

1 box Devil's food cake mix
1 stick butter, melted
1 egg

1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
3 eggs
1 c. Nutella
1 tsp. vanilla
1 stick butter, melted
1 (1 lb.) box powdered sugar

In a mixing bowl, combine cake mix, 1 stick butter and 1 egg with electric mixer.  Once mixture is formed, press into greased 9x13 baking dish.  In a separate bowl, combine cream cheese and Nutella until creamy.  Add eggs, vanilla, butter.  Next mix in powdered sugar until smooth.   Pour and spread on top of unbaked crust.  Bake at 350 for 40 to 50 minutes.  Be careful not to overbake.  You want it to have a gooey texture.

Tie Dye Cookies

Well, school is around the corner and all of my first babies (nieces and nephews) are officially school age this year!  Let's put it this way, May 2024 will make for a busy graduation season for us!  (2024, what?!?!  So weird.)  In honor of school starting, I knew I wanted to send everyone something special to wish them a happy school year!  I found these awesome Tie Dye Cookies online.  I used two separate sites to come up with my final product.

I used the cookie dough recipe from here.

I used the cookie rolling method from here.  (I thought this look was cuter than the Baked Bree version.)

Then I used free printables from here to send a note to all of my "Smart Cookies" and wrap the cookies up.  I mailed them off yesterday!  I'm happy to report today that everyone has received them and they were a hit!

Nutella Cookies

I just had to make something sweet for my company and I have had my eye on a particular recipe for a cookie using Nutella.  I don't know about y'all, but I eat the stuff straight from the jar it is so good!  I can't buy it very often.  When I got started on my cookies, I realized I didn't have everything I would need so a quick search turned up these little cookies still using Nutella.  I hope to make the original recipe I had on my mind sometime, but for now these turned out delicious.  My Buddy always gives the best compliments and said they were the best cookies he has ever had and could he please take them home today?  I wouldn't say they are the best cookies I have ever had, but they were good.  (And they did go home with him!)  The perfect amount of chewiness.  They will look under baked when you first take them out, but turn out great.  They spread and become very thin, so be sure to give yourself enough room on the cookie sheet.

Nutella Cookies

2 c. all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 stick butter, softened

1 c. sugar

1/2 c. brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1/4 c. Nutella

Preheat oven to 375.  Cream together butter, sugar and brown sugar until creamy.  Beat 1 egg at a time into batter.  Mix in vanilla.  In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt.  Gradually add the flour and mix until well combined.  Mix in Nutella.  Use cookie scoop or rounded teaspoon to drop cookies.  Bake for 9-11 minutes.

Peanut Butter Bars

I may have mentioned before, but when Sister got married she had a shower that people brought their favorite recipes to.  I was looking for a sweet dish to make with the limited ingredients that I had at home and this fit the bill.  They are very chewy and delicious.

Peanut Butter Bars

1/2 c. peanut butter
1/2 c. butter (1 stick)
1-1/2 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. self rising flour

Grease and flour a 9x13 pan.  Melt peanut butter and butter in the microwave.  Add remaining ingredients.  Stir until thickened.  Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.  Cool and cut into bars.

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Well, I just stuck with what I already had.  I decided to make the version of Neiman Marcus cookies that I already had.  And as you can see, we had to take their picture on the school of choice since most of these are probably going to the "other school." 

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

1 stick of butter, room temperature
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 c. flour
1/2 tsp. soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1-1/4 c. oats, blended to fine powder
1 small pkg. chocolate chips (I prefer milk chocolate)
3/4 c. chopped nuts (I used pecans)

Cream the butter and both sugars.  Add egg and vanilla, mix again.  In separate bowl, combine flour, soda, baking powder, salt and oatmeal.  Stir in sugar mixture until well incorporated.  Stir in chocolate chips and nuts.  Drop with cookie scoop.  Bake for 10 minutes at 375.

Oatmeal Cookies

We spent the afternoon at the lake visiting new friends in their new town and new home!  The only housewarming thing I could come up with was to make something from the kitchen.  I decided on the universal oatmeal cookie.  Most people like them, so I didn't think I could go wrong.  These were some of the best oatmeal cookies I have made.  Some cookie flavors I prefer chewy and less crispy, but oatmeal cookies are good crunchy...to me, anyway!  These have a good crispness to them.

Oatmeal Cookies

1 c. shortening
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. sugar
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 tsp. vanilla
1-1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
3 c. oats

In a bowl, cream together shortening and sugars.  Add in eggs and vanilla until well incorporated.  In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt and baking soda in a bowl.  Stir in to cream mixture.  Then add oats until well mixed.  Drop by spoonful on ungreased baking sheet.  Bake at 350 for 14 minutes.  (You could bake for less time if you don't want them too crispy.) 

Granny's Cut Out Cookies

We have had quite the eventful weekend, so we are just now celebrating Valentine's Day tonight. I asked The Dish Washer what he wanted to eat and he said Cajun Meatloaf. He is all about beef and pork, so along with the meatloaf I made a different type of baked beans that included sausage (I'll post that tomorrow) and then I made him his favorite cookies...better known as "steak cookies" for tonight.



Isn't that the cutest thing? The Dish Washer brought me this precious cookie cutter last month from a Cattleman's Convention in the state to our north.

I've mentioned these cookies before. They are his absolute favorite and were made every year by his Granny Miller. She had a talent for rolling cookie dough and could get her's paper thin so that they were very crunchy little things. I, on the other hand, am terrible at rolling cookie dough, but The Dish Washer said that was ok since I was "learning." Isn't he the best Valentine? I had made the dough a while back and put it in the freezer. It freezes very well! Then I just let it sit out on the counter a little while and it was ready to roll.

Granny's Cut Out Cookies

3-1/2 c. plain flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

Sift flour with baking powder and salt.

1 c. oleo (Crisco)
1-1/2 c. sugar
2 eggs, well beaten
1-1/2 tsp. vanilla

Cream oleo; add sugar gradually and continue to beat. Add well beaten eggs and blend thoroughly. Add vanilla. Combine dry ingredients and creamed mixture; mix well and chill. Work with about 1/2 mixture at a time. Roll thin and cut. Bake at 400 for 6-10 minutes.

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For any of you readers who stayed at the hotel for our wedding, this is the recipe used for the cookies in your goody baskets. My mother in law made them for you...she's also good at getting the dough thin!

Cookies in a Jar

Here's another easy gift idea:

Several years ago, I cut this idea out of The Montgomery Advertiser. I made this about 3 years ago, and it turned out to be a success. One of the people I gave it to was The Dish Washer's Granny. She never made them, but always saved the jar. Last year before she died, my mother in law decided to bake them. By three years later, the sugars at the bottom were rock solid so she had to replace them with fresh. You may want to give this as a gift to folks you know will bake them right away.

Country Oatmeal Cookies

3/4 c. white sugar
3/4 c. brown sugar
1 c. rolled oats
1-1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. semisweet chocolate chips*
1 c. chopped nuts (optional)
3 dashes cinnamon (optional)

Directions:
In a 1 quart or 1 liter jar; layer the ingredients in the order given. Pack down the jar after each addition. Attach a tag to the ribbon with the following instructions-

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, cream together 3/4 c. softened butter with 2 eggs and 1 tsp. vanilla. Add the entire contents of the jar and mix by hand until combined. Drop dough by heaping spoonfuls onto an unprepared cookie sheet. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes.

*I always use milk chocolate instead of semisweet chips in all of my recipes.


This is the jar before I added the topper. As you can see, it is very packed. I wouldn't have been able to get nuts in this jar if I tried, so I ended with the chocolate chips in the above recipe. I thought I had some burlap that I was going to use as a topper with some red raffia ribbon, but I couldn't find it when I went looking. I must have used it already to wrap another gift. Luckily, I save all of my scrap fabrics and this was some from when I re-covered my kitchen table chairs. I thought it would pass for this Christmas season.