Chocolate Peanut Butter Surprise Cookies

Recently I've noticed (and have partaken in) a lot of posts and Pinterest links comparing food to crack. My last post was about how peanut butter is my crack. The dip I'm making for this weekend is called "apple crack dip". Now I'm no Walter White, my understanding of crack is mostly that it's whack, but I can understand and appreciate how people are finally talking about food addiction like it's no joke! I'm not a drug addict, but I can secretly eat Wheat Thins like it's an obsession. One of my best buds has had a Cheez-It overdose, literally throwing up Cheez-Its. Is it pretty? No. Is it like being addicted to crack? Yeah, probably not. But for us white bread folks who get spooked by needles and pass out when we see blood, it's close enough.

Peanut Butter is My Crack

There's that old saying that there are a few things in life we can be absolutely sure of. I'm pretty sure the examples are friends, and family, and that the sun will come up in the East, etc. Those things are all lame. The one thing you can absolutely, always be sure of? Peanut butter tastes good all the time. Peanut butter all day, every day. If there was a chance we could vote peanut butter into office it would be a good idea if we all put our contrasting jelly ideas aside and elect it a winner. This is how serious I am. 

Last night I had a little free time and decided around 8PM that I was going to make these cookies I found on Pinterest. I was short one very key ingredient, chocolate chips, so after a short pilgrimage to Giant and a conversation with a man who couldn't decide on the best kind of frozen pizza (Red Baron! Because it's not delivery it's DiGiorno is for rich people eating dinner in their hot air balloons) I was able to come home and crank out these cookies. 

Attack of the Girl Scouts: Knock off Caramel De-Lites

I’ve been slowly writing this blog entry in my head all week. It’s one of those occasions where you know exactly what you want to say, like when you’re rehearsing an upcoming argument you’re about to have in your head. In that situation, you are going to sound like the smartest person who ever lived. Really, you’re going to say that? Because I’ll say THAT and make it seem so off the cuff that you will literally be blown back in surprise.

That never happens.

Every time I rehearse some kind of conversation I’m about to have, all the words I’ve been storing in my head just come tumbling out of my mouth all at once. Oh you said that?? How about…about..this! That’s not a good comeback. That’s not even a good response. What happened to all that training? What a waste of preparation.

Anyway, I’ve been writing this in my head all week because I’m about to take a pretty bold stance against the Girl Scouts.

That’s right. I think you all know exactly where this is going.

Day 12: Peanut Butter Toffee Turtle Cookies

Just like all great things in life, our 12 Days of Christmas Cookies Rockette Winter Spectacular is coming to an end.

Right now I'm imagining us all sitting around the table as the man from the Chinese restaurant chops the head off the duck in A Christmas Story. "He's smiling at me". It certainly was a festive countdown, I hope you all enjoyed it as much as me.

Tonight's final recipe is a cookie I've been saving for last, because like all great Christmas movies, this cookie has a little something for everyone. [insert Jingle All the Way quote here].

Peanut Butter Toffee Turtle Cookies.
I'll give you a minute to think that over.

Day 11: Ricotta Cheese Cookies

I’m going to throw this out there for all of you non-believers and say I don’t like cheese. There, I said it! Now, like many of the greatest proclamations, there are a few caveats to that sentence. I like grilled cheese sandwiches (if there is only one slice of cheese). I now eat almost all of the cheese on a slice of pizza (although if the cheese to sauce or pepperoni proportions are way off, things change). I like sausage cups (which, even I can’t explain). And more importantly, and for the purposes of this post, I like Ricotta Cheese Cookies.

The one thing I’ve always had a problem with is why anyone in the their right mind would have combined cheese and cookie batter. Even in my dark twisted fantasy Kayne West mind, I cannot come up with a scenario where I would say “Wow, you know what would make this cookie better? Cheese.”

Day 10: Chocolate Caramel Chews

It's not something that I've ever done, but I've always wanted to learn how to make candy for Christmas time. I've messed around looking for recipes online, and every time I find one I never do it because the recipe calls for roughly half a day. Sadly, I just don't the patience.

What I do have is a quick google finger, so I'm on to the next recipe before I get too depressed thinking about my lack of candy making abilities.

Day 9: Chocolate Rice Cereal Rocking Horses

Today's thoughts on Christmas and cookie recipes are brought to you by Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman's Open Heart necklace. Because if you keep your heart open and wear a necklace shaped like a butt around your neck, love will always find a way in. 

Anyway, today's recipe is described in my recipe book as an old-fashioned favorite among "youngsters". I'm not sure how old fashion it is, but I know rice has been around for awhile so maybe they're right.

A different twist on the regular rice krispie treat, this recipe can definitely add a little chocolate color to your cookie tray.

Day 8: Eggnog Snickerdoodles

A couple years ago I made a joke that it's not Christmas unless the Wells household smells like Southern Comfort. Different people have different ways to spice up eggnog.
Some choose the Raspberry Vinaigrette of liquors - Brandy. Some go whiskey or kahlua. My mom uses Southern Comfort, and the fine spirit has since turned into her Major Award from A Christmas Story. It's not particularly fra-gee-lay, but it's a holiday staple.

Looks just like a snickerdoodle right? Wrong!

Day 8 of the 12 Days of Christmas Cookies is a recipe for Eggnog Snickerdoodles that the book kindly suggests you serve with real eggnog or chai lattes.

I say serve with a hearty helping of Southern Comfort!

Day 5: Chocolate Chunk Brownie Cookies

Day 5 Chocolate Chunk Brownie Cookies are brought to you courtesy of my Aunt Karen (the muddy buddy master) whose a veritable wiz in the kitchen. I mean, this lady can make cookies with the best of them, and is always there with a package of Andy's mints when you need it.

Obviously I took this photo. I don't go anywhere without
my camera, orange spirals and carefree raisins.

The last few Christmas cookie posts have been a little time consuming, and involved in the ingredients department. This recipe, however, is built around a brownie mix and could not be more easy or freakin delicious.

If you're a fan of brownies and cookies, and are looking for something to shake up your Christmas cookie tray this year -- this recipe may be for you.

Day 4: Linzer Cookies

My sister and I are pretty bad ass, as evidenced by this photo:

In our shared history together we've attempted a few kitchen experiments. There was the time when we microwaved marshmallow peeps because we watched a bunch of videos of it on youtube and thought it was hilarious. We didn't actually let the peeps explode though, so it was pretty underwhelming for all involved.

Cookies and Creme Cupcakes

When I first decided to start chronicling my baking ventures in a blog I promised myself that I wouldn't say things like "hubby approved!" and "kevin loves it!" Thats just not me. And if Kevin knew what were good for him he'd like everything I baked - which he does with the exception of anything with mint. (i rediscovered this fact when i made these) The reason I even mention it is because this story all started with a slip of Kevin's tongue. <-- that's the last time I'll mention him by name, I promise!

We were driving home from the movies the other day when my spouse said "i'm looking forward to your first real fail." This came at a break in the conversation, and while I first thought he was talking about general life fails, he was really talking about baking and my blog posts. There are a few things wrong with this sentence. 1. Why would you say that to someone?! Actually, that's about the only example I need. You just don't wish failing upon people spouse, you just don't.

So somewhere in the back of my mind, in a little cob-webbed corner I hid that thought away. But in reality, I was just waiting for it. It was only a matter of time. Spouse had cursed me, cursed me good.

I was making cookies and creme cupcakes for a friend's birthday, and was looking forward to trying out this recipe because there's oreos inside. Even the icing has oreos in it! The party was hinging around a game of frisbee golf, so I decided early on that I would make the icing look like grass and lodge one half of an oreo in the top of the cupcake to look like a frisbee. This is what I was going for:

It's not the clearest image, but it worked.

The plan was simple enough. The recipe for the cupcakes worked out great, and the icing was extremely complementary. The problem was that the recipe said you should just spread the icing on the cupcakes, and now that my icing was green there was no turning back from piping it to make it look like waves of grass. This is where the problems started, THIS is where my fail began.

Behind the cupcake you can see my icing gun - this thing does everything. I have about 6 different tips I can put on it that will make different designs. I opted for the second largest one because I wanted smaller pieces of grass. Fail. The cookies that were in the icing were getting lodged in the tip, so I put the bigger one on. Bigger fail. There was actually a minute where I thought of aborting the whole mission and throwing all of the cupcakes in the garbage.. because I have a temper.

It's these kinds of situations where I have to walk away and figure out why it's not working. But in this case- I yelled to my spouse that he better come to the kitchen and help me out of this jam because he jinxed me. Not the fun kind of jinx where we laugh and owe each other cokes - I was on the edge and had to finish 28 cupcakes with icing that just wasn't working the way I wanted it to. Fast forward an hour later, and we had iced them all one. at. a. time. We'd ice one, clean out the cookies and then move on to the next. An awful lot of work just to see one fail. I hope you're happy you who shall not be named.

In reality, this really wasn't a huge fail. It could have been a lot worse. The recipe is actually pretty great, and the cupcakes certainly tasted good. They were a little dry for my taste, but I'm chalking that up to the amount of crushed oreos that were inside. Not my anger.

You can find the recipe I used here: http://javacupcake.com/2009/12/cookies-n-creme-cupcakes-2/
There are a lot of other cookies and creme cupcakes I'd like to try, but this was a good beginner one.

Here's a few pictures of the final product:

Here's the pink cupcake stand I made.

I wanted to give a cupcake to my neighbor, and found these little cupcake boxes on Amazon. 

Give them a try! And if you have better results than me, just don't tell me.


Source: Java Cupcake: Cookies-n-Creme Cupcakes
http://javacupcake.com/2009/12/cookies-n-creme-cupcakes-2/