Cookies and Cream Cookies

I will never, EVER put one of those ridiculous headbands with the giant flowers on Ellie’s head. I know some people love them because they leave absolutely no doubt that their baby is a girl, but I just can’t stand them. That doesn’t mean I won’t put Ellie in a tutu though.

I think it really complements the drool on her chin.

The grandparents are in town right now, and my dad brought his french horn (he brings it everywhere). Ellie might be a future french horn player.

She loves her grandpa.

One of my parents’ favorite places in the city is Cafe Bunn Mi on Clement, and we were there just a few hours after they arrived.

I wish I could say that we had these cookies for dessert after our banh mi, but sadly they were already gone.  Sorry, parents.  Cookies never last long around here.

I love baking with Oreos a lot more than I love eating Oreos. Actually this week I discovered that I love eating and baking with Newman’s Os. They’re amazing.

As soon as I made the blueberries and cream cookies from Momofuku Milk Bar, I knew that the next time I made them, I would use oreos in place of dried blueberries. I’m SO glad I did. I also happened to make a mistake when I read the recipe and added about 3 times as much corn syrup as I was supposed to, but the cookies weren’t way too sweet, and the texture was perfect so I’m going to keep the recipe the way I made it, not the way it was supposed to be according to the book.

These are kind of time consuming because you have to make the milk crumbs and then the cookie dough, which has to chill for at least an hour before you bake it, but I think they’re worth it.  I only included the weights in this recipe, because the last time I used the volume recipe from this book, the cookies didn’t turn out, so I think weighing the ingredients ensures a better end result. A food scale is definitely a worthwhile investment!

This will make about 20 cookies

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(adapted from Momofuku Milk Bar Cookbook by Christina Tosi)

Oreo Rice Krispie Treats

I was completely exhausted all day today, but 8th period pretty much turned everything around. There’s a kid who is, to put it lightly, a challenge. The other day his behavior was a lot better than normal, so the next day I left a post-it on his desk telling him he was doing a great job and encouraging him to keep it up. I just assumed he’d think it was dumb and recycle it, but I wanted him to know I was proud of his improvement.

Today, I was standing next to him as he flipped through his notebook, looking for a blank page to do the warm-up. He’d stuck the post-it on one of the pages, and had traced over all the words a couple times in different colored ink. I know it seems like nothing, but I hope I’m starting to turn a corner with this kid. It’s little things like that that make this job amazing.

I was still a little tired after school but was determined to run since yesterday was a rest day. I had absolutely NO desire to run outside, so I made a deal with myself that all I had to do was 30 minutes on the treadmill at whatever pace felt good.

After warming up for 10 minutes, I decided to do intervals and ended up doing 5 x 2 minutes at 9.7 miles per hour. Definitely a confidence booster, and I felt a million times better after the run than before.

And since it appears we’re now on the topic of little triumphs, here’s one more. I’ve pretty much been riding high all week on the fact that I can now make rice krispie treats that I can actually eat. I’m not always a totally strict vegetarian (I still drink Guinness and eat Parmesan cheese) but I’m pretty adamant about not eating gelatin (why I pick and choose that way, I’m not entirely sure). I just assumed rice krispie treats weren’t going to happen for me anymore, but it turns out marshmallow creme doesn’t have gelatin in it!

They’re not exactly the same as when you make them with real marshmallows, but I’ll take them (and you can use a 10-ounce bag of marshmallows if you’re not vegetarian).

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(adapted from Annie’s Eats)

Oreo Cupcakes

Somehow I ended up promising my students I’d make cupcakes for Open House. I’m not sure how that happened, but I guess it’s a good sign that the persuasive writing techniques I’ve been teaching them weren’t falling on deaf ears (or maybe I volunteered because I saw a golden opportunity to bake AND immediately get the products out of the house).

Either way, when I thought about what would appeal to 12 year olds and their families, I immediately thought of Oreos. Originally I was thinking of doing a chocolate cupcake with Oreo frosting, but when I found this recipe, it looked too good to pass up. For some reason the idea of combining cream cheese frosting with Oreos didn’t really appeal to me, so I just made a standard vanilla buttercream and added some crushed cookies to it. I loved these and so did all the kids!

Recipe:
(adapted from Beantown Baker)

cupcakes
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups flour, plus 2 tbsp
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 2/3 cup sugar
3 large egg whites, at room temperature
1 package Oreo Cookies (about 45 cookies)

frosting
6 tbsp softened butter
3 cups powedered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Oreo crumbs
2-4 tbsp milk

Preheat over to 350F. Line 24 cupcake tins with paper liners.

Twist apart 24 Oreos. Place the cookie with filling on it, filling side up, in the bottom of each cupcake pan. Cut 12 of the filling-less cookies in half for garnish, and crush the others in a plastic bag with a rolling pin to make fine crumbs. Reserve these crumbs to mix into the frosting.

Roughly chop the remaining Oreos and toss with 2 tbsp flour.

Cream the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in the milk and vanilla.

Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together into the butter mixture. Stir a few times, then mix in the sugar and beat with the mixer on low for about 30 seconds. Add the egg whites. Turn the speed up to medium and beat for two minutes. Fold in the roughly chopped cookies

Divide the batter evenly among the prepared pans and bake for about 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of cupcakes comes out clean. Cool cupcakes in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the frosting, beat the butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer and add milk 1/2 tsp at a time until it has a smooth, spreadable consistency. Add the Oreo crumbs and mix well. Put in a piping bag and pipe onto the cooled cupcakes, then top with half a filling-less cookie.

Oreo Cheesecake Cupcakes

I may spend the majority of my time in the kitchen figuring out how to pack lots of vegetables, whole grains, and legumes into a simple yet flavorful dinner, but I can’t pretend that packaged food never makes an appearance in our house. There’s just something about Oreos I can’t resist, even though I know they’re full of junk.

I swear I’m not trying to make all the cupcakes out of Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes, but lately every recipe that’s jumped out at me as I scroll through dozens of food blogs happens to be from that book.

These are awesome, and if you’re at all hesitant about making cheesecakes this is a great place to start, because you get all the good qualities of a cheesecake without having to worry about cracking or water baths or springform pans. They’re easy to put together, and the hardest part is definitely waiting the four hours they need to chill (but you can speed that up by putting them in the freezer for some of the time).

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(adapted from 52 Cupcakes, originally from Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes)