PI Day & Thin Mint Cookie Pie

So last Friday was PI day at school.   You know like 3.14.  Even though the actual number for PI is never ending, we had a contest at school of who could memorize the most digits of PI. But I got so mad because I memorized 100 numbers of PI, but messed up at 10!!!! Do you want to hear it, 3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751058209749445923078164062862089986280348253421170679821480865132!!! I swear that was all by memory. But at least afterward  we got to eat pie. :-)  Most of the pies came from Baker's Square.  So bummer for me right?  Yes, but then we made this pie and it was some of my friend's favorite anyway.  Thin mint cookie pie!!!  Who doesn't love Thin Mint cookies right?  Hopefully you all still have some Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies or hopefully can still pick them up from a store booth sale -there have been alot of them around here lately.

P.S. - This is a no bake pie! :-)

Here's the amazing recipe from My Baking Addiction

Thin Mint Pie

Ingredients:

45 Thin Mint Cookies, divided (24 for crust & 21 in pie filling)

1 package cream cheese (8 oz), room temperature

1/3 cup sugar

thawed Cool Whip Topping (8 oz)

Note from.......will store in fridge up to 2 days.

Here is the label from the Girl Scout cookies from Little Brownie Bakers and here is an excerpt from their site.

"On each of our cookie packages, we label for the top 8 allergens directly below the ingredient statement on the Nutrition Facts side panel. For peanuts and tree nuts, we have chosen to include cautionary labeling in the form of a "may contain" statement. This indicates that the product shares processing equipment with another product that contains peanuts or tree nuts. "

More detailed info here:  Girl Scout Cookies Allergen Info




Ok on to the pie! We took 24 of the Thin Mint cookies and pulsed in food processor until the cookies were chopped into find crumbs.




Next we mixed with the butter until it was blended well.





Now we took our pie pan and spread the mix across the bottom of the pie pan and up the sides too.  It's best to take your time to get even crust and push firmly to make it stick.  Then we went ahead and put the crust in the fridge to let it harden while we made the filling.



For the pie filling we chopped up the rest of the 21 cookies.  Then in another bowl we mixed the cream cheese and sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed till it got light and fluffy.

Next we stirred in the whipped topping and then gently folded in the crushed cookies.

Almost done.....we lightly spread the filling into the pie crust.

We then put it back into the refrigerator to let it firm up.  Should take about 2 hours.

Once it was ready we drizzled some Hershey's chocolate syrup across the top and used some RediWhip around the edges to make it pretty.  Here it is.....

Just Like Those Lofthouse Cookies...

Have you ever walked in a store and have those colorful Lofthouse cookies catch your eye? And then look at the label that has may contain tree nuts and peanuts in it?  Not fun, is it!?  Well that's why I decided to make my very own "just like" Lofthouse cookies.  Oh and please note these are an overnight process to make these.  I didn't not read until I started making it. :-)  Definitely worth the wait though!

The recipe is from the wonderful Galley Gourmet!

Here is the link!

The Galley Gourmet 

Homemade "Just Like" Lofthouse Cookies

Ingredients For the Cookies:

5 1/2 to 6 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup (16 Tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened

2 cups granulated sugar

3 extra large eggs at room temperature

1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups sour cream

Ingredients For the Frosting:

1 cup (16 Tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened

1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract

5 cups confectioners' sugar

4-6 Tablespoons milk

Food coloring

Sprinkles

The ingredients for the cookies!

The ingredients for the frosting!

 First we whisked together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

Next we got a new bowl and used an electric mixer to cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Then we added vanilla and eggs until mixed.  Finally, we stirred the sour cream.

 After we added the flour mixture a little at a time and used the mixer to blend until it was a soft mixture (should have a little stickiness to it).

 Snapshot!

Then we separated the dough in half and made two rectangles.  We used a lightly floured surface to separate them and pat them out to about 1 1/2 inch in thickness.   We wrapped them carefully with saran wrap and put them in the fridge to set over night.

After the dough set overnight, we first preheated the oven to 425 degrees.  On a lightly floured board, we rolled out the dough so that the dough was 1/4 of an inch thick. Then we used a 3 inch cookie cutter (because that's what they had but Galley Gourmet used 2 1/2 inch and would probably work a little better).  We cut them out and re-rolled the scraps as necessary to get more cutouts.

Next we placed the cookies each an inch apart on a cookie tray with parchment paper.  Put them in for about 7 minutes as instructed.  Ours took a little longer because may have been thicker and were 1/2 inch wider around.

After they were ready to go, we mixed up the recipe for the frosting (recipe above).

Once again here are my ingredients used for frosting:

                  

First using the mixer we creamed together butter, salt, and vanilla.  Then we slowly added in the the confectioners' sugar a little at a time using the mixer on low.  Next we added the milk just a tablespoon at a time until it was ready.  We then added our food coloring until we got this pretty aqua/teal color.   We added the frosting to a Wilton bag and cut a chunk off the corner.   It was now time to frost, decorate, and enjoy!

Note: The frosting was very soft but we stored in the fridge which helped firm it up.  I shared these with a bunch of friends and was a hit!

More Valentine's Fun!

Hello, sorry I haven't posted in while:( Oh and Happy almost Valentines Day!!!! I saw these cookies online and thought, simple but cute! So I decided to make them! My cookies did not turn as good as Lauren's (look down:)) but they were delicous! Today, of course, I had a guest baker! My firend Katrina and she was a big help! I don't think the cookies be delicous without her.  And now our recipe drum roll please, da, da, da.

From Lauren's Latest, one of the best blogs I've been on!

Here is a link to the recipe:  Lauren's Latest - Valentine Heart Cookies

Ingredients

3 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup sugar
2 sticks butter, cold & cut into chunks
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons liquid red food coloring

A pic of the ingredients!

 First, we mixed the flour and baking powder in a medium bowl.

Next, we set the bowl with the dry ingredients aside and used a mixer to cream together butter and sugar, make sure you chop the butter into chunks:)

After, we mixed in the egg and vanilla extract (use mixer).   Then we slowly added the dry ingredients.

Next we seperate the dough into to thirds, take one third and use red dye to make that third of the dough red.   We used quite a bit of red to make it nice and bright.

 Next, roll out the red dough and cut out the hearts. After, stack the cut out hearts together.

(note:  Lauren had 3 rolls but we did 2 - I think our cookie cutter was bigger and cookies bigger overall which means more flavor in one cookie! :-)

Then, cover the row of stacked hearts with the extra dough. We also rolled side to side to make it smoother once we added the dough around the stack of hearts.

After we were done stacking the hearts and wrapping them.  We wrapped the covered stacked hearts in saran wrap and we set them in the fridge for about an hour.

After about 45 minutes we preheated the oven to 350 degrees.  Next, we took them out of the fridge and sliced them into cookies.

Note: If you have extra dough you can do what we did.....make extra heart cookies!( see pics down below :-)

Then we set them on a pan and put them about each an inch apart. Finally, we put them in the oven for 8-10 minutes, make sure you watch them carefully.

Extra dough?? No problemo!  Just roll out your extra dough out, cut out hearts, put it in the oven for 8-10 mins, and enjoy!

Here's the cookies all baked up!!!

These were our extra cookies.  We pulled out the sprinkles, chocolate chips and Betty Crocker icing again and had a decorating party!  These are Katrina's.

And these are mine....I just love the little smiley face guy.  

Valentine's Peppermint Pattie Brownies

Extreme cold weather and no school = BAKING!!  Valentine's Day is right around the corner and we were looking for a cute Valentine's day project.  We found this recipe from Two Twenty One's blog.  So cute and so easy!!!!  We just added our own touch with lots of sprinkles, gels and icing and of course help from my friend Brynn!!

Notice: We don't have as many pictures as usual.  A memory card would help!  

Here is the link to Two Twenty One's site.

Peppermint Pattie Brownies

Ingredients:

- One package of York Peppermint Patties

- One box of  brownie mix( We used Hershey's!!!!)

 Here are the ingredients for the brownies:                         

The York peppermint patties are from Hershey and do not have a nut warning.  Hershey's is usually good about labeling when may have cross contamination.   

We also made a Vanilla Icing recipe we found on Allrecipes.com .  You can get details on the recipe here.   It was so good but juts needed a little extra milk.

Vanilla Icing

DIRECTIONS!!!!!!!

First, we followed directions on the brownie box. Since we used Hershey's we needed to stir together 1 egg, brownie mix, chocolate syrup from package and water. 

Next we sprayed cooking spray on a muffin pan. 

Then, we filled the muffin tins with brownie mixture about a 1/3 full and cooked them for about 18 to 20 minutes.  We had 16 brownies total. We probably could have spread them to 18.

While the brownies were baking we unwrapped all the patties.  Once fully cooked (use a toothpick to check see if ready) we took out the brownies out of the oven.  We immediately pressed the patties in carefully into the brownie.

While the brownies were cooking we made the icing.  

Finally it was time to decorate!!!!!!  We used Cake Mate sprinkles to decorate the brownies.  Not all sprinkles are safe... make sure to check the label.  We also used Betty Crocker Cake Icing that we had used in our chocolate chip cookie cake recipe.

It got pretty messy when we were decorated but it was all worth it.  As my friend Teagan would say, these brownies are my ticket to paradise!!!!

I love the way they turned out!!

These were Brynn's designs - super cute too!

Chocoalate Chip Granola Bars

Hard to find nut free granola bars?  No problem!!  Quick...get in the kitchen and make some yourself.  They're quick, easy and no baking required! 

Chewy bars can be one hard to find item for a girl like me.  Here are some of the safe chewy bars I have had in the past.  

* No Nuttin - These are now called Libre Naturals.  My mom used to order these for me all the time.

 * Chewy Bars by Quaker Oats - From Canada Only (not US ones)!! -  I've been lucky to have my     wonderful Aunt Helene bring me lots of goodies from Canada.  My favorite was the S'Mores bar

* President's Choice granola bars 

* Enjoy Life - My favorite is Cocoa Loco - These are easy to find close by.

These are all awesome, but not always easy to find.  You can order online or find an aunt like mine. :-)

So back to homemade chewy bars.  The recipe is from Lauren's Latest and is the greatest!  

Lauren's Latest Chocolate Chip Granola Bar

Ingredients:

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup honey

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

2 cups quick cooking oats 

1 cup crispy rice cereal (we used Rice Krispies)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

2 tablespoons mini chocolate chips

Here are our ingredients:

In a large bowl, we mixed together the Rice Krispies and oats.  

Then we put this aside. 

 In a small pot, we heated the butter, brown sugar and honey on medium-high heat until it bubbled.  

Then we turned the heat to low and let it cook for another 2 minutes.  

We then added vanilla to the butter mixture and stirred.  Then poured it into the oats & Rice Krispies bowl and mixed it up until it was coated all the way.

Then we spayed the pan.  Lauren used a jelly roll pan 12x8x1.  We didn't have this size so used a glass baking dish 13x9x1.  But in the end I think ours were thinner and the sides didn't come out straight so a jelly roll would probably be better.  (P.S. - It still tastes just as good!)

We then packed down the mixture with a rubber spatula to get it all even.  

Then we sprinkled the chocolate chips on.  We didn't have mini and also learned that mini is better because it spreads it apart too much.  

Once it is done, let sit out in room temperature to set for 2 hours.  This will help it to stay together.  This can be stored at room temperature or in the fridge to keep a little longer.  

According to Lauren if it is falling apart may not have boiled butter mixture enough, may be too thin or not packed enough.  Put into the fridge for 20 mins to help it stick together before continuing to cut.

Here is one packed up all ready for lunch.

Why are you still sitting there? :-)  Time to make some chewy bars!