Oreo Cheesecake Bars

Oh my. Good golly. Holy crap. That is along the lines of what I thought when I tasted my first bite of these Oreo Cheesecake Bars. And then I might have done a little happy dance around the kitchen. But I won’t cop to that – cause that would be embarrassing. And I do plenty enough to embarrass myself on a regular basis. I don’t need to add sugar-induced, hallelujah dancing to the list. So let’s just say, if you are prone to busting out some rockin’ dance moves when feeling euphoric, you might want to sample your first bite of these bars when no one else is home. I’m just sayin’.

Because these creamy, crunchy, cheesecake-y babies are so crazy good. They are I-would-eat-lettuce-for-a-week-to-justify-eating-them good. They are so good I was glad I was baking them for other people. And that I had friends to invite over to eat the rest. And that the few that remained fit in a small spot in the back of the freezer. Cause there’s no way these bars can have a regular seat at my currently healthy-eating table.

If you are in the mood for a treat, however, run to the kitchen as fast as you can and get to work. But don’t worry – there’s little work to be done. First you need to make an easy chocolate cookie crust using crushed chocolate sandwich cookies (like Oreos or something similar if you are like me and aren’t a fan of some of the ingredients in Oreos). Then you make the creamy, tangy, rich, and dreamy cheesecake layer. Pour the cheesecake on top of the crust, and bake. All you have to do after that is let it cool down, then chill it til the bars are very cold. (You may need to leave the house for this part to resist digging in too soon.)  

When they’re ready, cut them up and prepare to bliss out. Just make sure you invite some friends over to help you (after the first potentially embarrassing bite), because this recipe is very rich and makes a lot. Not that that’s ever a bad thing.

Molasses Spice Cookies

College roommates are great for a lot of things. They’ll lend you clothes and jewelry so you look extra cute for an important party. They’ll sing indie rock and show tune duets with you even though you can’t sing on key. They’ll even go out with you in the pouring rain so you can meet up with a boy you like. (Just make sure you thank your roomie for that at your wedding when you marry that same boy.)

College roommates are also great for introducing you to new recipes – like these cookies, for instance. Until recently, I was convinced I did not like spice cookies even though I love spices in everything else. Perhaps I had a less than tasty specimen when I was a kid. Whatever the reason, spice cookies have never been on my radar. Until now that is, and I have my former college roomie to thank!

These molasses spice cookies are sweet and buttery. They are spice-kissed with a touch of salt. They are soft and chewy with a crunchy sugar coating. Basically, they rock. They are also quite easy to make. Just make sure you leave enough time to let the dough chill in the fridge for a couple of hours. You need that time to let the dough firm up enough to roll it into balls – and to call up your old roommate and thank her again for changing your mind about spice cookies, helping you get together with your future husband, or you know, whatever else you might need to thank her for.

Dulce de Leche Sandwich Cookies

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and I am feeling thankful. Thankful for family and friends. Thankful for a nice place to live and plenty of food to eat. I’m feeling thankful for all of you, too. You come here and read my ramblings, check out my pictures, and read my recipes. Knowing you’re out there keeps me cooking, trying new things, and figuring out entertaining (I hope) ways to tell you about it. And so I thank you. Stan thanks you too, since he gets to eat everything I share with you.

Because I’m feeling thankful, I’m going to post a new recipe every day until Thanksgiving. Some of them will be things you might want to put on your Thanksgiving table. Others will be lighter, healthier options you might want to check out after your Thanksgiving feast. Either way, you’ll want to check back often because there is going to be some serious culinary goodness coming your way over the next five days.

To kick things off, I’d like to tell you about some cookies that might just rock your world. I made these for a party recently and to say they were a hit would be an understatement. To illustrate my point, picture a grown man walking around with a cookie in each hand, alternating bites between the two. That actually happened, and it wasn’t my husband – though he couldn’t stop eating them either.

The star and show-stopping ingredient in these cookies is dulce de leche. Dulce de leche is basically a caramelized milk product. It is thick and rich and sweet. You can buy it already prepared in cans or jars or you can make your own by caramelizing sweetened condensed milk. Look for prepared dulce de leche in the baking aisle of your supermarket next to the sweetened condensed milk and evaporated milk (that’s where I get mine) or in the international foods aisle in the Latin American section.

For these cookies, dulce de leche is added to the cookie batter and is used as a filling for the sandwiches. The cookies themselves are soft, chewy, and richly flavored. They are also a breeze to make if you have an electric mixer. Sandwiched together with a smear of dulce de leche in the middle, the cookies are a decadent, easily portable treat. They aren’t as fancy looking as many other desserts, but they are special enough that they will leave those lucky enough to try them begging for more.

S'mores Cookies

If you ever were a Scout (and yes, I was Girl Scout), went to overnight camp, attended a bonfire, went camping, etc. as a child, then you probably know all about s’mores. In the off chance that you don’t, imagine gooey marshmallows roasted over an open fire (preferably on a stick you found yourself in the woods), sandwiched between squares of graham crackers with a piece of chocolate thrown in for good measure. Whether or not you let your marshmallow catch on fire before removing it from its skewer is of course a matter of preference, though I personally find that to be a crucial step in achieving the perfect marshmallow.

S’mores get their name from the fact that they are so good you always want “s’more”. The only bad thing about them is that you need a fire to make them. Or so I thought until I came across today’s recipe for oven baked s’mores, which, in my humble opinion, is pretty much pure genius. Using your broiler instead of a campfire, you can get toasty marshmallows perfect for sandwiching with chocolate and graham crackers. Even better, you can keep the ingredients for these s’mores in your pantry, so you can have s’more any time you want – and you don’t even have to find a stick!

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Normally I like to give you guys a little story before I post a recipe. Today I just can’t. The cookies I made this weekend were so freakin’ amazing I have to tell you about them. Now. No time for an introduction or any hint of anticipation. Just this: make these cookies immediately – if not sooner. They are that good.

These are thick and chewy cookies. Rich and chocolaty cookies. Cookies filled with chocolate chips and (optional) walnuts. And the secret ingredient? Instant coffee. You’d never know it was there, but the coffee boosts the chocolate flavor to another level. We cannot stop eating these cookies. Seriously, I had to ask Stan to leave me a couple to photograph. Instead, he asked me to take a picture of a plate with nothing on it but crumbs. (He thought this would show how good the cookies were… and allow him to eat the few that remained.)

In short, these are going to be my new go-to cookies… maybe forever.

Vanilla Sugar Cookies

When you love to bake, social gatherings serve as a great excuse to try out new recipes. Who doesn’t like a little sweet treat when visiting with friends? And if the goodies you bring are unexpected, so much the better. You should, however, proceed with caution. If you surprise the same group of friends more than once or twice, your confections will likely go from being unexpected to highly anticipated. And you’ll feel inclined to deliver, because really, what baker doesn’t want to be known for his or her culinary prowess?

Assuming you have no problem with being a regular purveyor of baked goods, the only question that remains is what to make. One tip: think portability. I’ve carted chocolate peanut butter truffle cupcakes to a bowling alley, brought cheesecake brownies to a Super Bowl party, and smuggled lemon and almond biscotti into a hockey game. Basically, the thing to keep in mind here is ease of transportation and consumption. Unless you know your destination will have dishes and utensils available, hand-held treats work best.

So last night, Stan and I met up with some of his coworkers for a little ping-pong action. (Ok, really it was more of a trash-talking, ping-pong smack-down, but those details will remain confidential to protect the guilty.) I knew I wanted to bring something to share with our friends, but it needed to not only be hand-held but also relatively free of mess. (Last time we got together for ping-pong, I made the mistake of bringing cupcakes with messy, sticky frosting. I learn from my mistakes. Especially those that require obscene amounts of napkins.)

I had come across this recipe for vanilla sugar cookies earlier in the week and thought they would be a perfect, portable, ping-pong-playing treat. (Bet you didn’t know I rock at alliteration did you?) The cookies are simple to put together, fast-baking, and completely and utterly delicious. Soft and chewy, they aren’t overly sweet, which means you’re likely to want at least one for each hand. They also kind of melt in your mouth, and really, who doesn’t like that? If you are the sweets provider in your circle of friends, I definitely recommend these cookies for your next get-together. Your friends will thank you...and then ask you to make more.

Soft Oatmeal Cookies

I’m not really a cookie girl. Given the option, I’ll always reach for a brownie or some ice cream over a cookie. It’s actually kind of surprising considering being a cookie monster runs on my mom’s side of the family. Not surprisingly, despite many happy childhood cookie-baking memories, I seldom bake cookies at home. When I visit my Grammy, however, it’s a whole different story.

It was during my last visit that I came across this recipe. Pasted into a priceless collection of recipes written and accrued over many decades, was a recipe for soft oatmeal cookies. The name of the recipe captured my attention because, when I do eat cookies, I like them soft and chewy rather than hard and crispy. I decided to write down the recipe when I noticed one hugely significant detail: you only need one bowl to make these cookies. You can literally put all of the ingredients in the bowl, stir them together, and plop the cookie dough on a baking sheet. Because I can never do things the easy way, I, of course, had to use more than one bowl when I tried the recipe. It was absolutely unnecessary.

These cookies live up to their name. They are indeed soft and chewy. They are also hugely flavorful with notes of orange, cinnamon, and vanilla. For cookies in a hurry, you couldn’t ask for a better recipe. The dough comes together in a flash, and the cookies bake up in no time at all. If your Valentines include little ones, these would make great lunchtime or after-school treats. And if your Valentine is a kid at heart, take a trip down memory lane with some fresh baked cookies and a glass of milk.

Lemon and Almond Biscotti

Last week I was at the gym using one of their treadmills that conveniently have personal television screens and remote controls, which of course I love. And as is often the case, I turned the TV to one of my favorite channels – Food Network. Yes, I do occasionally feel guilty watching the chefs prepare fatty deliciousness while trying to burn pounds packed on by eating too much of said food. Okay, I really feel guiltier for putting the shows on where my fellow, probably more calorie-conscious, gym rats might be tempted. But hey, they show Food Network on the TVs in the locker rooms too, so I figure what’s a little more temptation going to do?

These biscotti have a lovely, slightly grainy texture from the cornmeal and a bright flavor from the lemon zest. This was my first attempt making biscotti, and it was really quite easy. I even managed to zest my lemons without zesting off a chunk of one my knuckles along the way. That never happens. So maybe these cookies have good mojo. My weary knuckles are sure thanking me. So is my stomach. Try these out, and I’m sure your stomachs will thank you too.

Lemon and Almond Biscotti
Adapted from Giada De Laurentiis
Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup cornmeal
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
Zest from 3 lemons
3/4 whole almonds, coarsely chopped

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt.

In a large bowl, beat the sugar and eggs with an electric mixture until pale yellow, about 3 minutes. Mix in the lemon zest and then the flour, and beat until just blended. (The dough will be sticky). Stir in the almonds. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes.

Divide the dough evenly into 2 equal mounds and place on the prepared baking sheet. With moist hands, space the dough evenly apart and form into 2 (9 by 3-inch) logs.



Bake for 35 minutes until lightly browned. Cool for 5 minutes. Using a serrated knife, cut the logs crosswise into 3/4-inch-thick diagonal slices. (I did this on a cutting board to avoid scratching my baking sheet.) Arrange the biscotti cut side down on the same baking sheet. Bake until the cookies are pale golden, about 25 minutes. Let cool completely.


* Note: The original recipe called for dipping the cooled biscotti in melted white chocolate. I’m not the biggest fan of white chocolate, so I decided to forgo this step. Plus, without the chocolate, they’re almost healthy!