Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies are amazing!!! A few months ago I was browsing a blog called The Picky Palate and I ran across this recipe.  I had all but forgotten about it until the other day when I was browsing through my bookmarked recipes, looking for something to make for my sister-in-law's birthday.  Boy, did I hit a winner!!!  You can find the original recipe here. When I ran out of Oreos, I used the Girl Scout's Thin Mints Cookies :)

Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies


Ingredients: 

1 package of Oreo Double Stuffed Cookies
2 sticks of butter, softened
1 cup of granulated sugar
1 cup of loose brown sugar (not packed)
2 large eggs
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 cups of flour
1 cup chocolate chips (I tend to go easy on the chocolate chips, but add more if you want!)

Directions: 


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Beat butter and sugars together until creamy.  Add eggs, one at a time, then the vanilla, and beat until just blended.  Add in baking soda, salt, and flour and mix until it is well combined.  Stir in chocolate chips.

Take a small spoonful of cookie dough and flatten it in your hand.  Place an Oreo on top of the cookie dough. Add a thin layer of cookie dough to the top of the Oreo, and flatten the dough with your fingers, making the two ends of the cookie dough touch.  Cup the cookie in your hands so that the cookie is round and even.

Bake for 5 minutes, then turn 180 degrees, and continue baking for another 5 minutes.  They should retain the cookie dough like color, even though they are done.  If you want, go ahead and bake them longer :)  Allow the cookies to cool for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire wrack to cool.

When you take your first glorious bite, the soft Oreo will just melt in your mouth! It's absolutely divine :)

Enjoy!

Blueberry & Strawberry Muffins

I found the best Blueberry & Strawberry Muffin recipe! I made these about a month ago for our community group and they were a hit!  You can make these with just strawberries too.  I plan on making blueberry ones this afternoon and as soon as my fruit trees are ready I'm going to try peach too! You can find the original recipe here.  I love the world wide web :)

Blueberry & Strawberry Muffins

Ingredients:


Batter:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1/3 cup milk (I used 1%)
1 cup fresh blueberries
1 cup fresh strawberries, chopped into small pieces

Topping:
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup butter cubed into tiny pieces
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions:


Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.  Place muffin/cupcake cups in muffin/cupckae pan.  Combine sugar, flour, salt, and baking powder in a bowl.  Mix the vegetable oil, egg, and milk in a glass measuring cup and then add it to the dry mixture.  Stir in fruit.  Scoop the mixture into the cups all the way to the top. (I ended up only needing 11).

For the topping, mix the sugar, flour, and cinnamon in a bowl.  Add in the cubed butter and mix in with a fork.  Add to the top of the muffins.  (Bakers Note on the topping: I found that I had way too much mixture and not enough butter.  I followed the directions on the mixture, but I forked out the butter pieces and places them on the top of the muffins.  Then I sprinkled some of the dry mixture over it.  I also heavily sprayed the tops of the muffins with I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Spray, because I thought it looked too dry.)

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until done.

Enjoy!

Lemon Squares

Our lemon tree is on its way out for the season, and I couldn't think of anything to do with my remaining lemons besides making lemonade...so I decided to try and make lemon bars.  I remembered I had a recipe that came with one of my Martha Stewart baking pans I got for my bridal shower, so I gave it a whirl.  

We were going to dinner at my in-law's anyways, and I wanted to bake something.  My husband, in his oh-so-kind way suggested sticking to cookies, since those usually turn out the best when I decide to experiment :)  I told him it's Martha Stewart, how could it go wrong? I am happy to say that they turned out delicious, and I don't even like lemon bars!

Martha Stewart Lemon Squares

Crust:
3/4 cup unsalted butter, frozen
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flower
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 tsp. salt

Filling:
4 large eggs
1 1/3 cups sugar
3 Tbsp. all-purpose flower
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup milk
3/4 cup fresh lemon juice

Toping:
Powdered Sugar

Directions::


Grate frozen butter on a cheese grater with large holes and set aside.  Whisk together flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl.  Add butter and stir until combined and mixture looks crumbly. Butter a 9x13 baking pan and line with waxed paper.  Pour mixture into dish and press evenly onto bottom with your hands.  Freeze the crust for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat oven to 350 degrees. Bake crust until slightly golden, 16-20 minutes.

While the crust is baking, mix the filling together.  Whisk eggs, and add sugar, flour and salt until smooth.  Stir in milk and lemon juice.  Pour over crust as soon as it comes out of the over.

Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees, then bake until the filling is set and the edges are slightly golden brown, about 18 minutes.  (In my oven it was about 23 minutes, and I should I baked it until the edges were brown because my center was gooey... good but gooey.)

Let the pan cool for a few minutes on a wire wrack.  Then gently lift them out of the pan and cool completely on the wire wrack.  Top with powdered sugar and cut into squares.  Absolutely delicious!!!

Enjoy!

Honey Apple Cookies

I've has some apples laying around for about a week...and I have no intention of eating them anytime soon.  So I decided I wanted to make my Cinnamon Spice Apple Cookies.  Well, I started making them and decided I wanted to tweak my own recipe.  Instead, I decided to add honey and just leave it at that.  They turned out delicious!!!

Honey Apple Cookies


Ingredients:
10 Tbsp Butter, softened
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 1/2 cups flour
2 medium apples, grated
2 Tbsp honey (mine was straight from Texas, thanks honey!)

Directions:
Preheat over to 350 degrees.  Beat butter and sugars together until creamy.  Add in egg and mix well.  Add in cinnamon, cloves, baking soda, and salt.  Mix in flower alternately with grated apple.  Lastly, mix in honey until well blended.

Drop by rounded spoonful onto baking sheet.  Bake for 4 minutes. Rotate, and cook an additional 4-5 minutes.  After a few minutes, transfer to cooling rack.  Serve with a nice cold glass of milk :)

Enjoy!