I made these cookies today, a snowy afternoon with not too much going on.   The recipe was from a site that I follow on facebook, but i made some adjustments for myself and i must say that these are winners.  In fact i enjoyed them so much that the class that wins for box tops this month at marissa's school just might get these.  

 The other reason that i enjoyed them is regular Oreo's from the store make me sick so i cannot eat them.

The next thing i might also try with them at a later date is with peanut butter.   

 This is the recipe from the website My Baking Addition.

At the bottom will be my changes:

Homemade oreos

makes 25-30 sandwich cookies
Ingredients
For the chocolate wafers:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa (I used Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 to 1 1/2 cups sugar [see recipe note]
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) room-temperature, unsalted butter
1 large egg
For the filling:
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) room-temperature, unsalted butter
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (I used clear vanilla extract)
Optional- Gel dye
Method
1. Set two racks in the middle of the oven. Preheat to 375°F.
2. In a food processor, or bowl of an electric mixer, thoroughly mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt, and sugar. While pulsing, or on low speed, add the butter, and then the egg. Continue processing or mixing until dough comes together in a mass.
3. Take rounded teaspoons of batter and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet approximately two inches apart. With moistened hands, slightly flatten the dough. Bake for 9 minutes, rotating once for even baking. Set baking sheets on a rack to cool.
4. To make the cream, place butter and shortening in a mixing bowl, and at low speed, gradually beat in the sugar and vanilla. Turn the mixer on high and beat for 2 to 3 minutes until filling is light and fluffy. (Optional: Blend in a tiny bit of gel dye until you reach the desired color.)
6. To assemble the cookies, in a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch, round tip, pipe teaspoon-size blobs of cream into the center of one cookie. Place another cookie, equal in size to the first, on top of the cream. Lightly press, to work the filling evenly to the outsides of the cookie. Continue this process until all the cookies have been sandwiched with cream. Dunk generously in a large glass of milk.
Notes:
-I used Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa Powder instead of Dutch Processed.
-I used Wilton Gel Dye to color the centers.
-Once I measured out a rounded teaspoon of dough, I rolled the dough into small balls before baking.


So the changes that i made were:
I did not have Special Dark Cocoa powder so i just used my standard unsweetened dutch processed.

Inside the cookie i wanted it to be pink and regular food coloring worked just fine (for me)

I also have a cookie scoop (not sure on the size) but the cookie were large and i only got about 12-15 cookies out of the batch.  the recipe says 25-30 cookies you can get out of a batch. 

I also rounded out the scoop of cookie batter and then pressed it down a little making sure they were round.

As for the filling i did not go with what the recipe calls for, I do not really like working with shorting.  So I made cream cheese filling.  

Cream Cheese Filling:
1 8oz cream cheese
1-1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar depending on how thick or not thick you like it
1 tsp of vanilla
couple of drops of food coloring what ever color you like. 

after I filled the cookies I would press them down a little ways to get the filling to come out to the edges and then roll them in sprinkles.

Enjoy!!  I know my family will!!!

until next time, as always


Pretty in Pink!

Smoking or non?

O.K. so usually i stay away from this discussion, no one ever wins and everyone has a stand on it!  but this morning while i was taking Malana to school, our local radio station was talking about it and was not so pretty!  Remember everything on here is just my honest OPINION!!!!.................

So Smoking or non witch way do you lean?  Do you stay indoors or do you stand outside of the door at the bar?  As i was saying the radio station was talking about how this town and i don't remember where it was at (not that it really matters to me anyways)  probably some real little itty bitty place, they have banned smoking anywhere in there town.  If you get caught you will be fined starting out a $1000.00 and it goes up from there.  Really????  How is that at all right?  I know here at home we have certain campuses that are smoke free, such as the hospital (and their parking lots) and schools, that my friends i understand.  But as far as everywhere come on people!  Lets just be fair about certain things!!  

I know what you are thinking.....but smoking kills, causes all kinds of health problems.  We know this already!  But tell me how if we are outside and you are standing a football field away from someone how is that hurting you?  Some people have the argument that it raises our health care costs?  Well let me just ask doesn't health care prices also go up from over weight people?  Who in their right mind sits on their couch at night with a dozen donuts to watch tv? not me!  (I saw that on the season premiere of the biggest looser)  The same person who probably snubbed a smoker on the way in to the donut shop. 

I not just picking on an over weight person what about the type of person that says stupid things to a smoker and then proceeds to go home and make up their own personal batch of meth?  Gives their animals chemical burns, and then blows up their house?

I know that this might be harsh to some, but we live in the land of the free, the home of the brave.  And i don't know about you but as my brother would say i am free white and over 21!!!!  LOL  People are knocking at our door step to get in to our states!  Our states that make you have to get a license to fish, or have a garage sale, or a permit to put a fence up in your own back yard.  Listen to me get started on another whole ball of wax.  

Every one has their own vice, and like i said every one has a stand on this issue!  But PLEASE be nice when you decide to judge!  Before you decide to vent!  Before you decide to fine and alienate a certain group of people!   Before you decide to Tax the nay nays out of our extracurricular activities!  But if you do it to one you may need to do it to all!

So I have done all of my venting, and I said what i felt i needed to, and I more then likely have done a politically incorrect blog, not staying in flow with the majority of society, but I did it.  Now i will go back to not really talking about this topic, Cuz no one is a winner!!!!

Until next time, as always

Pretty in Pink

all about me! (just in case you didn't know)

Welcome to my very first blog!  Yeah.. I am super excited about it! 

Let me give you a little info, all about me!  I am a wife and a mother!  I have two girls, Marissa is 6 and Malana who is 3 they keep me running all the time.  Mike ( my hubby) and  I met in high school, two months into my freshman year of high school, and we have been together since!  I also cannot forget to mention our little hyper dog Hemi, he is a Yorkie terrier mix. 

As far as for me I love to cook, if i had to pick a poison it would be baking, i think that i am fairly good at it, but it is more of a stress reliever for me!  So with that said when things get stressful you need to stop over, chances are that i just might give you a plate of cookies or a cake.

Mike and I also love boating!  We were boaters before we had our fist child and fell deeply in love with it.  When we had marissa we sold out first boat, now that we are done having children and they are a little older, we now have another boat.  Ironically i cannot swim, and in if i sit out in the sun to long i break out in a rash all over, but we still love it.  I also believe that if a couple can withstand a boating year they can almost withstand anything!  It is quite amusing watching fellow boaters try anchor with out the husband saying saying something rude or uncalled for at that moment!

As you also might notice i love pink!!!  And my email has the number 21 in it, both my girls were born on the 21st ( of different months).  We always bet 21 on roulette at the casino it is kinda our lucky number, not me having my mind in the gutter or wishing i was 21 again.  LOL

Now that you know a little bit about me, i would also like you to know that any thing that i might put in these blogs will be honest, and strictly in my opinion!  That might surprise or shock some of you?  but i look forward for things to come...........

until then as always,

Pretty in pink