Chocolate Chip Cookie and Oreo Ice-Cream Cake

When my friend told me he didn't really like cake, my immediate reaction was disbelief. "You don't like cake? How can you not like cake?? IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY! WHAT AM I GOING TO MAKE YOU IF YOU DON'T LIKE CAKE????" Then I realized, I'm not much of a cake fan myself. I prefer the frosting. Confetti frosting. Or cream cheese frosting, my favorite! We compromised with ice-cream cake: Looks like a cake, it even has cake in the name, but without anything that's actually technically a cake.

On a side note, if you want to read a funny cake story, go here.

I made this cake up as I went. Remember when I wrapped cookie dough around an Oreo and baked it? That was actually the last post I saved. Well, that's the basis of this recipe. With an Oreo bottom and a cookie layer between some vanilla ice-cream, you can't really go wrong. Top it with whipped cream and finely crushed cookie, you've got a birthday cake.



I forced everybody to sing to the birthday boy, despite the fact that he is twenty-four.

There were candles too, which he definitely blew out.

You're never too old for candles on your cake!



Chocolate Chip Cookie and Oreo Ice-Cream Cake

3 T melted butter
1 1/2 c. finely crushed Oreos (about 14 cookies)

1 pint vanilla ice-cream

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups chocolate chips

To make the crust, combine crushed Oreos and butter and press to the bottom of a cake pan. I like to just use my fingers here. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Let cool.

Place half of the pint of ice-cream on Oreo bottom

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, then add granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels if chocolate.

For every Oreo, put one scoop of cookie dough on top, another on bottom, then seal edges together. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

Several days ago, one of my friends sent me an e-mail that had nothing but a link to an unusual recipe in it. A subtle hint? "It's hard to pass things like this along without the other person assuming you are demanding cookies...but I figured you would make them regardless of how you heard about them once they were brought to your attention!" says the Desert Crab.

He was right.

So what this Amandaleine person thought up was a simple yet brilliant thing: take an Oreo, wrap it in your favorite cookie dough, and bake. Easy as that. The result? "It was yummalicious!" That's what I like to hear.


Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Cookies

Honestly, I'm a fan of the generic Nestle Tollhouse cookie recipe with minor adjustments. I will make batches of the stuff, scoop out balls of the dough, and flash freeze them so I always have them on hand. Freezing the dough is the secret to the perfect cookie! You can use whatever recipe you like for these.

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups chocolate chips
1 package Oreos

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, then add granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels if chocolate.

For every Oreo, put one scoop of cookie dough on top, another on bottom, then seal edges together. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Pineapple-Chicken Curry

Tonight I fed some nerds, some very dear and beloved nerds playing Magic: The Gathering.


Curry for dinner, and cookie dough balls for dessert. Yes, I am a (semi-)grown-up, but I still love eating cookie dough. Just make your standard Tollhouse cookie recipe, stick some toothpicks in them, freeze them for a while, dip them in melted chocolate chips, and there you have it! Delicious.


It was fun. That is all I have to say for tonight, aside from try this sometime. It's good stuff; filling, flavorful, and fun to make.


Pineapple Chicken Curry

2 c. rice
5 chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
4 potatoes
1 c. sweet yellow onion, sliced
1 c. sliced carrots
1/2 tsp. curry powder
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
2 cans coconut milk
2 T. yellow curry paste
1 can pineapple

Begin cooking the rice as instructions dictate.

Boil the potatoes until they become soft and tender. Cool and proceed to cube them.

In the meanwhile, cook cut chicken in a large skillet over medium heat until fully cooked. Set aside. In the same skillet, saute potatoes, sliced onions, and carrots adding water as necessary. When vegetables are tender, combine chicken. Spice with curry powder, cinnamon, and salt to taste.*

In a large pot, add sauted veggies and chicken along with the coconut milk and curry paste. Bring to a boil than reduce to a simmer until thick. Add the pineapples with the juice. Enjoy over the cooked rice!

Vegan Muffins: Recipe Swap

My mother works as a nurse, and she's darn-tootin good at what she does. I guess she was telling a patient about how much I love to bake, and so begins the recipe swap. A notecard with this on it arrives home for me:

Oatmeal Cookies
"Heat oven to 375 degrees and oil cookie sheets.*

Cream:
1 1/4 c. "Earth Balance" (butter substitute)
3/4 c. dark brown sugar (packed)
1/4 c. evaporated cane juice crystals (such as "Florida Crystals")

Add:
1 T. "Ener-G" egg replacer w/ 1/4 c. water (beaten seperately)
2 T. Water
1 tsp. vanilla

Add & mix:
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
3 c. rolled oats

Stir in:
1 1/4 c. walnuts, chopped
1 c. raisins

"How many cookies you get depends on how you divide the batter. The neighbors who game me the recipe makes only nine--big, huge circles. I made two dozen.

"Drop onto the cookie sheet, then flatten and shape with the back of a spoon.

Bake approximately 16 minutes (golden on top, but still moist). Cool on rack before storing."

Apparently, this woman is a vegan, something I tried one year for lent. It was rather difficult for me because I went about it very unhealthily.** If it had eggs or butter or the like in the recipe, I just wouldn't go for it. This is rather stupid, I now realize, because there's so many alternatives! My mother confused a gluten-free muffin recipe I once made up with a vegan recipe, but I can work with that.


Now, I have yet to actually try out her recipe, but the idea was that maybe we could start swapping recipes. A lady I've never met who knows me through her nurse... I find it interesting. All the more interesting with the added challenge of vegan cooking. So, I have decided to play with muffins using my personal favorite substitutions. More blackberry, because I have it on hand.


Vegan Blackberry Muffins
1 1/2 c. all -purpose flour, divided
1/2 c. oat flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
4 T. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 ripe banana, mashed (substitutes eggs)
1 c. soy milk (substitutes milk)
1/4 c. applesauce (substitutes butter)
1 c. blackberries

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Sift 1 1/4 c. of all-purpose flour with oat flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and sugar. In another bowl mix banana, soy milk, and applesauce. Pour this over the flour mixture. Stir just enough to moisten the flour.*** Dust 1 cup fresh blueberries with the reserved flour and stir gently into the batter. Pour paper muffin cup liners two-thirds full of the batter and bake about 15 minutes. Makes about 1 1/2 dozen muffins.


They turned out fairly well, moist and not too sweet. My friend, who prefers things too sweet, said they would be better with some sort of frosting, so I smeared some Nutella on one and that made it perfect. Now just to copy the recipe down and send it off to this random woman!

*I would just use parchment paper.
**I should really try it again, now that I'm more informed. Maybe next year.
***The batter should not be smooth.