Happy Birthday Lil' L!

My "baby girl" turned two today!  I had a hard time believing how quickly the past two years have gone and what a "big girl" she is now.  "The days are slow, but the years are fast..."

We had a big family party with my husband's side of the family yesterday... three cousins have birthdays this week, so we had lots of cupcakes and sang "Happy Birthday" three times! And then today, we had just a small family dinner with my brother, sister-in-law, and their daughter, who is also two...  Lil' L. loves Minnie Mouse, so these were her special birthday treats...

Minnie
(Her nose is a little high on her face, and she is missing her eyelashes, but other than that...
she turned out ok for a thrown together leftover cake.)
Poor, neglected third kid.

After bailing on treats for the big family party, I was struck by a case of Mommy Guilt and feeling bad for my "poor, neglected third kid," I bought a Minnie Mouse balloon and a couple of cans of frosting at the grocery store this morning.  The best part was that the cake was pieced together from the frozen leftovers from the "cake-pop" experiment, so I didn't even have to bake a cake, and I have no more leftover cake-pop cakes hogging room in the freezer and making me feel bad for being a cake-pop-flop. Plus, I used my candy melts to make these SUPER yummy Oreo Micky and Minnie cookies.

Original inspiration from Pintrest

I got the idea from this Pintrest pin... which was repinned from this blog (http://aars5.blogspot.com), but I could not find the original post for it.  Lil' L. isn't much into food on-a-stick, so I just skipped the stick and did it my way...plus, I didn't like the fact that you could tell that they were Oreos... and I couldn't get my ears to stay in place, so...

I wish that I had taken in-process photos for you so that I could do a proper tutorial... but I didn't.  So here is how I found was the best way to make these SUPER yummy (did I already mention that) and super easy, once you know how to do it, treats...

Shopping List:  
- Double-Stuffed Oreos
- Mini Oreos
- Wilton candy melts (red, pink) and Almond Bark (chocolate and white chocolate)  ((You can use candy melts for it all, but the Almond Bark is less expensive and works just fine, plus it is what I had, so...))
- Sticks (if you want them)

1) Use a paring knife to scrape out just a little bit of frosting from 2 o'clock and 10 o'clock positions on the D-S Oreo. (Scrape it off into a bowl for your helper to eat.)

2) Open and scrape the frosting off a Mini.  Keep the cookie, ditch the frosting.

3) Melt your chocolate, according to the directions on the package.  Use a microwave safe bowl that is deep enough to dip the top half of the cookie.

4) Dip about 1/4 of the Mini in the chocolate and stick it in place at 2 o'clock. Repeat for 10 o'clock.  Let harden on a sheet of wax paper or parchment.

5) Then dip the top half of the cookie in the chocolate, gently tap the excess chocolate off over the bowl, and lay on wax paper to dry/harden.  (I actually ended up spooning the chocolate over my cookie instead of dipping, because in my initial trials, before I "glued" in the ears with chocolate, I kept losing my ears.  Also, I was running low on chocolate and didn't want to fully coat the back side.) If it leaves a puddle, use a toothpick to create a separation line BEFORE it hardens.

6) Once the chocolate is VERY hard, melt your red or pink candy melts.  If you want to put it on a stick, you will want to dip the tip of the stick in the candy melt and stick it quickly into place, and then quickly spoon the candy coating on to the bottom of your cookie, gently tap off the excess candy over the bowl, and let dry in a cake-pop holder.  If you are skipping the stick, then dip or spoon chocolate over the bottom side of your cookies, gently tap the excess candy off over the bowl, and lay on wax paper to harden.  (I preferred to spoon it, because I didn't want the chocolate to melt from the top and discolor my candy for the bottoms.)  Also, I wanted hot pink bottoms, but I only had light pink candy melts, so I used the red and then stirred my leftover red into my light pink.  It worked fine.

7) Then, melt the white chocolate and put into a decorator's bottle.  For Mickey's buttons, I tried to use some white chocolate chips that I had, but they didn't melt into place like I thought they would, so they stick out too much.  For Minnie's skirt, I used melted white chocolate chips (and they didn't melt smooth, so I thinned them with shortening, but then they were too runny to make good consistent polka dots.) Learn from my mistakes and use either candy melts or white chocolate almond bark.

8) Let dry and serve with love.

And here are a couple of photos of my "big girl" on her "big day!"

 (Aren't you glad I spared you the potty training pictures from the weekend?)

Cheers!

Sarah

We Interupt Our Regularly Scheduled Programming...

... to bring you: Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies!

So, we had two Curious George parties a couple of weeks ago, (I know, I haven't posted the photos yet... OK...), and that meant that in addition to the stockpile of bananas that I had already stashed in the freezer to hide the fact that we didn't eat them fast enough, I also had about a dozen extra bananas destined for bread.  However, the idea of dozens of loaves of banana bread, on top of the two that are already in the freezer, sent me looking for something, ANYTHING else to make instead. 

Well... YIPPEE!  Because I found and tried this recipe for Banana Cookies from the Laurel Brooke Bed & Breakfast, which was in my new Weston's Bed & Breakfast Recipes Past & Present 2010 cookbook. (THANK YOU!!!)  The original recipe came with a recipe for frosting, which I think I am going to skip because these are so yummy the way that they are! ;^)  I also added the oatmeal and the chocolate chips.  I made a double-batch and baked 2 dozen according to the recipe, (they would be good this way for a more delicate affair, like a tea party), then added the oats and baked 2 dozen more (perfect for breakfast) and then added the chocolate chips and finished it up the batch  (a yummy treat).  They are all really good, but the final product is my favorite.  Next time, I might try to add some nuts (although my kids don't care for nuts), or even some wheat germ, so I can keep pretending that these are almost healthy cookies. ;^)

Now, I have joked that "I never met a cookie I didn't like" but that is not the complete truth.  I am actually very discerning when it comes to cookies, and even more so now that I am around them ALL of the time.  I only eat the REALLY yummy ones.  That said, I REALLY liked these, AND because I REALLY like YOU, I am going to share the edited recipe... (NOT MY COOKIES THOUGH.. you'll have to bake your own! Although, if you need bananas, give me a call.  ;^))

Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

3/4 c. Crisco

3/4 c. light brown sugar

1 egg

2 tsp. vanilla

2 ripe bananas, smashed

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

2 c. flour

1 cup old fashioned oats

1 cup chocolate chips

Cream shortening, sugar, egg, vanilla, and bananas.  Add dry ingredients.  Drop on greased cookie sheet. (I used baking parchment instead.) Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.  Makes about 40 cookies.

The note on the original recipe says that they freeze really well, too, although, my cookies will probably not make it to the freezer this time. ;^)

Enjoy!

Sarah