The Cookie Blog Entry

While my BFF was here, we baked.  

We baked like baking fiends!  

We baked like we was a National Emergency and the only thing that could solve it was baked goods!

Remember The Super Brownie?  

Well, we also baked my "Famous Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies!"*

What I love about baking with other people is that it is just so much more fun than baking alone.  We always end up talking, laughing, eating, making messes and just having fun.

They also add their own spin on the recipe and I love the different ways the cookies turn out.

I have made these cookies so many times and with the same ice cream scoop, but this time I had the BBF mix and scoop them onto the cookie pan this time and they came out amazing,  huge and ever so tasty!

This is not a dinner plate but a salad plate - they weren't THAT huge.  :P

The only problem with making these cookies is that they don't ever last that long!

*I call these my "Famous Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies" because where ever I go, or if people come see me, they request that I make these cookies.  I use the recipe on the back of the Quaker Oatmeal Lid but substitute chocolate and white chocolate chips for the raisins.  Seriously!  It's that easy!  :)

Super Brownies

One glass for you, one glass for me!

When we last left the blog, I promised you a post about the food my BBF and I made while she visited.  Go grab a glass of mild and get ready because this post is full of rich and tasty Super Brownies!

Right before BBF came, I had made box brownies.  When I mentioned this in a chat, she stated that we NEEDED to bake together, we always bake together.  I had a bunch of stuff to bake so I said okay!  I'm always up for baking.  We knew we wanted to bake oatmeal chocolate chip cookies - my signature cookies - and banana bread since I had a bunch of bananas in my freezer.  I thought it would be fun to also bake something we had never baked before so I went searching.  While searching, I found these.  Yes, those are Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie 'n Oreo Fudge Brownie Bars!  :P  While looking at the recipe, I figured we could make them "dorm room style."  What I mean by "dorm room style" is cheap and quick!  So, instead of making cookie dough or brownies, we bought cookie dough and brownie mix.  We also decided to not add any fudge since being so high in altitude, it probably would have affected the baking time.  So since we were changing up the recipe, we decided to change the name since "Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie 'n Oreo Fudge Brownie Bar" is way too long to say with one breath!  We thought on it for a few minutes and BBF decided on Super Brownies which worked perfectly.  Short, descriptive - because they ARE super - and perfect!

So we went out and bought all that I didn't already have and put these brownies together.  First we sprayed the pan and spread the cookie dough on the bottom of the pan.  We only bought a small roll of cookie dough and looking back, we should have gotten the bigger roll.  Or cut the roll up into rounds and put them down on the bottom instead of just spreading it out.  Doing it this way didn't really cover evenly, but it worked in the end.

The next step was to place the Oreo's on top of the cookie dough.  We got double stuffed Oreo's like the recipe calls for, but while we were there, we saw a bunch of different Oreo's out now.  These would have been awesome with vanilla Oreo's or even the mint Oreo's.  Or even the colored Oreo's that come out during the holidays!  

The next step is to mix up the brownie mix.  We spent like 20 minutes deciding which kind of brownie mix to by.  Eventually we settled on a dark chocolate mix with chips because it was on sale and we figured the dark chocolate wouldn't make the brownie too sweet with everything else in the brownie.  Lastly, pour the brownie over the Oreo's and pop the whole thing in a 350 degree oven for about 45-50 minutes.  Check for done-ness (yes it's a word!) buy poking a toothpick in the center trying to avoid the Oreo's.  When the toothpick is clean, the brownie is done!  Just let cool enough to handle and cut into that awesome creation!

Those white lines are the insides of the Oreo's...OMG so good!  Grab a glass of milk or some ice cream, pop in you latest Netfilx DVD and ENJOY!  :)

Wish List Wednesday

It's Wednesday and you know what that means!  Time for Wishlist Wednesday!  I have been racking my brain with what to put on my wishlist, but then I remembered something I have been wanting for a while now - a KitchenAid stand mixer in RED!  :)

I am not sure why I want one now - I have been avoiding them like the plague for years.  I think I felt that owning one would make me too "domestic" or something.  I guess I'm over that now.  :P  I would also like to venture into more baking and having one of these would GREATLY help.  

Plus it's red!!  :)

Random Thoughts

Good afternoon.  I am home sick for the second time in a row.  I am not sure what's wrong, I feel sort of in the middle of getting horribly sick and not being sick at all.  And, I have given whatever this is to my husband - great.  Anyway, lately I have been wrestling with where I fit as a quilter, sewer, hobbier, etc.  In the past I have gone through so many hobbies, picking up something, being all gung-ho about it then loosing interest in it quickly.  I'm not sure if it's a growing up and discovering yourself thing, lack of inspiration or that it's just the way I am.

Right now, I can count on two fingers the things I am interested in as hobbies.  One is baking.  The other is quilting.  For some reason or another, these two have stuck around to the point where I actually WANT a mixer for baking AND I have taken the time to put together a room for quilting.

Which brings me to my random thoughts.  (Bear with me, the threads that hold these thoughts together are thin and frayed!)  First, I am not attracted to traditional quilts like these - except maybe the double wedding ring, the compass star and the hexie flower.  Don't get me wrong, traditional quilts are beautiful and I always appreciated the work put into them!  Anyway, sewing together blocks that are all the same except for their colorways (btw, if you Google colorways and click images, you get shoes!) doesn't really inspire me.

Also, I can't seem to be able sew a straight line to save my freaking life!  I want that foot for my machine that guides your fabric and helps you sew a straight and even 1/4" seam - but they don't make one for my machine.

So, what does inspire me?  Well, I'm trying to figure that out.  As for quilts and fabrics, I love working with scraps, charms and small pieces.  I love the look of these scrap quilts.  I also love the look of the "wonky" quilts like this one from Blue Elephant Stitches and this one from r0ssie blog.  I came across my first string quilt when I came across a post from Wendy from Sewing in the Wendy City who was guest blogging over at Sew We Quilt @ Stash Manicure.  Then I discovered the work of Crazy Mom Quilts who just makes EVERYTHING seem so simple to make.  Even her "simple" quilts always look so beautiful!

So...I seem to be attracted to quilts that don't NEED to be sewn with straight lines; ones that look scrappy, bright and like a jumble of ideas in fabric.  However, I think I'm stuck.  I feel that if I go in the scrappy, uneven direction then I won't be respecting the traditions of quilting.  Maybe I also feel that if I don't learn the basic, fundamental, traditional blocks of quilting then I won't be seen as a "quilter?" I mean, I can appreciate the beauty in traditional quilts, really I can!  But when I *TRY* the blocks, or look at quilts that are "traditional," my brain gets bored.

Then there is the fabric.  So many of the quilt blocks out there seem to showcase the fabric in beautiful ways.  Like the 9 patch.  9 squares of fabric sewn together that show off the good choices of fabric you made when you picked out fabric for this quilt beautifully!  How can I justify taking a chunk of fabric I payed $7.95 (OR MORE!) a yard for and cutting it up into scraps?!

I don't know.  I feel the inspiration just bubbling at the surface!  What is blocking me?  Am I over thinking here?  And by over thinking, could I be stifling my creativity?!

So I haven't blogged in a while

It's been about a month or so since I have blogged.  I wanted to blog at least once a week, but life has gotten in the way.  Since my last post, I have moved to a different city, started a new job as a 6th grade teacher, made a couple of new friends, gone through a an infection of pink eye (P had the pink eye, but I went through it with him!) and so far have evaded whatever the sickness is that has been going around the school. *knock on wood!*  I haven't unpacked my sewing room yet so I haven't made anything lately, but I did buy a cute new lamp for above my cutting table so I can actually see what I'm making when I do get around to making something.  My mom (who now has her own blog!) sent me some adorable black and white fabrics she found while cleaning out her sewing room so I'm kind of inspired - but so tired!  I want to make a string quilt for our bed in black and white since both P and I decided we wanted to do the bedroom in black and white to kind of go with some black and white posters of the Eiffel Tower I have.  I have had these posters for a while and have always put one above the bed since it's one of my dreams to see the Eiffel Tower one day.  :)

Anyway, the reason I came here to blog is to let you know about a giveaway Linda over at Stray Stitches is having.  She is celebrating 400+ followers and is giving away some lovely fabrics.  Since I have little to no stash, I am kind of apprehensive about advertising this giveaway because she already has over 150 entries, but the prize is too pretty not to share.  So pop on over, say hi and enter her giveaway!  As for me, I am going to go cuddle on the couch with a kitty and watch some yummy cakes being made on TLC.  Mmm...cake!  Happy Saturday everyone!  :)

Look What I Made Monday!

This will have to be a "retro" Look What I Made Monday post since pretty much everything I am making right now is Christmas related and might be for people who might just read my blog.  Anyway, here is a pumpkin cake I made for my mom a couple Mother's Days ago:

Cute huh?!  It took forever to get the orange right.
I finally had to buy gel food coloring.

The cake is two bundt cakes with pumpkin seeds added down the middle after baking.  Then extra cake that was cut off to  shape it to look more like a pumpkin was put on top before frosting.

I used two types of cake - vanilla AND pumpkin.  It was DELICIOUS!