A Divine Cookie Recipe & Foodie Friday Theme for 9/3

OK, so we had 5 link-ups for last week's Foodie Friday which doesn't seem too bad to me considering that it was the 1st one.  I'm sure it takes a long time to get the big numbers.  Besides that, I had a hard enough time choosing which of the 5 recipes to review.  I ended up choosing the recipe submitted by Heather over at Gourmet Meals for Less.  Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate Cookies.  When she linked them up, she described them as being the "perfect fall cookie", and since fall is my favorite time of year and it's just around the corner, I rushed right over to see what she was talkin' about.  Turns out, she was talking about oatmeal cookies, with cranberries AND white chocolate!  Mmmmmmmm!  

I made these last night and it was really the simplest recipe for cookies that I've used.  Really quick to make and only a handful of ingredients.  I added a handful of chopped walnuts that I had, but I don't think they really made any kind of difference.  These cookies are that good!  Baking at 375 seemed to get the outsides crunchier, but the insides soft and chewy.  I love oatmeal raisin cookies and these had that flavor, but also the sweet of the white chocolate and the tartness of the cranberries.  Heather's recipe says that you'll yield 2 doz.  That's pretty accurate.  I ended up with 2 and a half dozen small cookies.  We have 3 cookies left now, not even 24 hours later.  My husband took about a dozen to work with him and they were scarfed down within a couple of hours.  I took some to his grandmother's this morning and she and I had eaten most of them within a few hours.  These will be my new Thanksgiving cookies and I'll be adding them to my Christmas baking list.

This photos is Heather's.  Mine doesn't look anywhere near as nice as hers do.

Don't those look YUMMY?  If you this so too, go here for the recipe.

Now on to this week's theme.  I didn't get any suggestions is comments so I'm just going with something that I've already got planned on our menu this week. 

Slow Cooker

I'm not picky.  Anything you can cook in a slow cooker, you can link up.  

* Some info on the Foodie Friday link party:

I love food and I love finding new recipes and so I thought having a recipe link party would be a fun way to have a sort of modern day recipe swap.  I've decided to host this party on Fridays and call it Foodie Friday.  There will be a theme each week and I'll post the theme either on Mon or Tues the week of the party.  That way, you'll have time to make something for a submission and post on it, if you don't already have a post.

Thanks & A Treat

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who has entered my CSN giveaway and to all of my new followers!  If you haven't entered already, you still have 12.25 days left.

Now on to the treat!

I LOVE brownies!  They are by far, my favorite dessert.  I especially love the corner pieces.  I love how the edges are hard and crunchy, but the rest is soft and chewy.  I've tried a lot of from-scratch brownie recipes, but this one is the best.  They are perfect!

It comes from Miss Emily at Inside a Black Apple.  She's got a mean Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe too.

You need: 1 medium sized pot and an 8" sq. baking dish
Ingredients:  

1 stick butter (8 tbsp)
1/2 c Brown Sugar
1 c White Sugar
2 large eggs
3/4 c flour
1/2 c cocoa
Pinch salt
Tbsp Vanilla1. Preheat Oven to 390
2. Melt butter in pot over stove
3. Remove butter from heat, let cool about a minute, then add sugars (just use the pot as your bowl...it saves you more dishes). Mix well.
4. Add eggs, flour, cocoa, salt, and generous tablespoon-splash of vanilla, and mix well.
5. Spray baking pan, pour in batter, and pop in oven.
6. Bake 20-25 minutes7. Cool one hour

And don't you think these would be fabulous with some Nutella on top?  Mmmmmmmmm!

Don't Judge a Dessert by its Name

Mmmm.. doesn't this look good???

This is Booger Pie.  I swear.  

I have no idea what the original name is, but the lady who gave me this recipe years ago, called it this so now I do too. 

This is a super easy recipe and while it doesn't follow our mission of trying not to eat processed foods, we love it!  Actually, I had never made this for Han or Charles until last week  (for whatever reason, I hadn't made this for almost 10 years).  They both aren't huge sweet lovers, but they love this.  I've already made two batches in less than a week.

Here's the breakdown:

1 package Chips Ahoy chocolate chip cookies

1 16 oz container of Cool Whip

small bowl of milk

chocolate sprinkles (to make it look pretty)

Dip cookies in milk and layer the bottom of a baking dish with them.  Spread half of the Cool Whip over this and then add some sprinkles.  Repeat.  Put it in the fridge for about 2 hours.  

The milk makes the cookies all smooshy and the whole thing is just creamy and sweet with the little chocolate chips making a statement every now and then. YUM! 


Linking to:
Anything Related @ All Thingz Related

Best Cinnamon Rolls

I'll admit that this is the only recipe for Cinnamon Rolls that I've tried.  It's likely to be the last.  The original recipe was good, but I tweaked it a little the next few times I made it, and it's pretty close to perfect.

Adapted from this recipe at Allrecipes

24 Servings (this is pretty close..  I get around 20) 

WHAT YOU NEED 
For the Rolls:
2 packages active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1 1/2 cups warm milk
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
6 cups all-purpose flour

For the Filling:
¼ cup butter, softened
3/4 cups sugar
4 to 5 tsp cinnamon
½ cup raisins
½ cup chopped pecans

For the icing:
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 TBS milk
½ block cream cheese, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:
1.    In a mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in water; let stand for 5 minutes. Add milk, butter, sugar, salt, eggs and 2 cups flour; beat on low for 3 minutes. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.
2.    Turn the dough onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl; turn once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
3.    Punch dough down; divide in half. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; roll out each half into a    12-in. x 8-in. rectangle. Spread with butter. Combine remaining filling ingredients; sprinkle over butter. Roll up from a long side; pinch seam to seal. Cut into 12 slices; place with cut side down on a cookie sheet (I use 2 sheets).  Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.
4.    Bake at 350 degrees F for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in pan on a wire rack.
5.    Mix icing ingredients with a mixer until smooth; spread over warm rolls.


** Edited to add that the orig recipe calls for 2TBS of milk for the icing, if you use cream cheese, you'll have to add a little more.

Oh My!!

This stuff is so good that I don't have any pictures of it broken up into pieces the way it is supposed to be served. I adapted the recipe from this one.


Cashew Caramel Crunch

graham crackers (enough to line baking sheet)
1 cup salted butter; chunked
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 c salted cashews

-Preheat the oven to 375F.
-Grease baking sheet and line with crackers.
-Melt the butter and brown sugar together over medium heat. Stir frequently until the mixture begins to boil.  Boil for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Before removing from heat, stir in cashews. 
-Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Pour mixture over crackers and spread evenly with a silicone spatula.
- Put the baking sheet in the oven, reduce heat to 350F and bake for 15 minutes, watching carefully that the caramel does not burn.
-Remove from oven.  Let cool completely and then break into pieces, storing in an airtight container.


Awesome!  

Linking to:
Show and Tell @ Blue Cricket Design