Monster Cookies

I'm not quite sure why these are called monster cookies, because I don't make them monster-sized.  I could, I suppose.  My friend Karlin gave me the recipe about a hundred years ago, so maybe Karlin made them monster-sized.  

I do have a scoop that could make them monster sized.  I just can't bring myself to use it.  When you do that, pretty soon you believe normal sized cookies are the size of your hands.  Only in Disneyland is that true. 

  
Maybe they're called monster cookies because you could eat a scary number of them in one sitting.  They are THAT good.  And though they can't be called healthy....the butter and sugars kind of negate that....

They do contain more than four cups of oats, and no flour at all.  That's a monstrous amount of oats.  Oats are a whole grain, don't you know?

And as I've established numerous times on this blog, they also contain peanut butter and peanut butter is a great source of protein.  Clearly these verge on health food.  Except maybe this part...

And I suppose this part isn't really healthy either....

My mixer whines a little at the end when I add the M&Ms and chocolate chips.  Maybe because the dough is monstrously heavy by the time you add all the ingredients?

As a total aside, if you don't have a scraper blade for your KitchenAid, you really must get one.  It sounds horrible as it squeals and scrapes the bowl, but it does scrape the bowl. 

Maybe they're called monster cookies because they make a really, really BIG batch of cookies?

  
Or maybe monster cookies, because you could make them a scary number of times and never get tired of them?  

I suppose you could call them angel cookies, or pixie cookies, or fairy cookies.  M&M cookies?   

Or, you could just call them good.  We do.  Try them, and I think you'll agree.  They're horrifically addicting.

Monster Cookies
Makes about 4-5 dozen, depending on size

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
3 eggs
1.5 cups peanut butter
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
4.5 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup M&Ms
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a mixer, beat butter and both sugars until well incorporated.  Add eggs, one at a time, until well mixed.  Add in vanilla, then peanut butter, mixing until creamy.  Sprinkle in baking soda and salt, then slowly add oats.  When oats are evenly distributed in batter, add in M&Ms and chocolate chips.  Scoop out onto cookie sheets in rough balls--I use a cookie scooper.  Bake for 8-10 minutes.  Cool, then enjoy!

Home Alone

It was a dark and stormy night.  And day.  And night.  And day.  And night.  And day.  As in, we got about ten inches of rain in three days.  As in, crazy thunder and lightening and losing power.  That's pretty much the sum of my staycation over Memorial Day weekend.  I was all by myself in scary storms for three days.  Home alone.  Alone.  By myself.... 

Working mothers out there, do you hear me?  I was home.  Alone.  By myself.  Uh huh.  

It's not that I don't want to be with my family.  They went to North Dakota to help my brother build a second garage.  I really wanted to see my brother's family.  I really wanted to see my parents.  I love to spend time with my kids.  I love to sit quietly by my husband on long car trips, when he drives and I hold his hand and just think.  But unfortunately we couldn't find anyone to look after the farm, and one of us had to stay home.  Since running power tools falls more into Dan's skill set than mine, I volunteered to stay home and do chores.  

Now, if it would have just been the dogs, we could have found somebody to help us out.

  
Honestly, look at those brown eyes.  Anybody would have been happy to care for her if we all went away.  She's no trouble at all.  In fact, when the weather got a little dicey, THREE nights in a row, she helped me to hold down the bed.  Such a protector, that girl.

And this guy?  He was saving me from rabid squirrels and scary sparrows left and right.  He totally even chased them up trees.  Who wouldn't want a boy like this for a long weekend?

  
The cats aren't much more trouble.  We might have been able to find someone to come out to feed them.  In fact, they can generally feed themselves. 

(I know, I know, I was cringing as I was racing to grab the telephoto lens....)

Generally the cats just chill and love.  This guy?  He's Romeo.  

He's a lover, not a fighter.  He braved puddles to make love to my leg.

And they all look out for the baby ones, so anyone watching our place could have just let them babysit each other.

The horses didn't need anyone to come out.  The torrential rains have produced abundant grass in our pasture.

Not that they would turn down grain, mind you.  But no caretaker was needed for them.

We didn't even need anyone to come out to water the yard or the plants, because.....well, the days and nights of torrential rainfall...

Why, then, did I spend three days home alone?

Yep.  The chickens.

And the turkeys.  (Dear God).  No one in their right mind wants to help do our poultry chores.

Thankfully Cooper, the bird dog, helped me keep them in line.  

I was actually pretty proud of myself.  Wearing big leather gloves, I even grabbed two eggs from underneath a roosting hen.  And I worked myself down to only one scream in the chicken coop by the last day.  I was leaning down to try to grab a water dispenser from a group of absolutely insane teenaged chicks and my hoodie touched my neck.  It felt like a chicken touched me.  Whew.  Close call.  The insane chicks really loved it when I screamed.

I spent three days at home, by myself, while my family went off and had fun, so I could take care of chickens.

God bless our chickens, every one.

Cake Push-up Pops

 

Our daughter turned 6 this week (sniff sniff).  Like most moms, I like to send birthday treats to school to celebrate.  Maybe more than most moms, I angst over how to get the treats to school without making a sticky mess of my child, her bookbag or the bus, how to transport them without having my child take a roll on suitcase, and how to get the treats there in the same form they left my house.  I know, I know, I could just buy prepackaged Little Debbie Snack Cakes and call it good.  But have you ever looked at that ingredient list?  

Not that 6 year olds care.

Did you know there are cow hooves in gummy worms?

Six year olds like gummy worms.

I digress.  

I saw these push-up pop containers in a specialty catalog, and found them on Amazon.  LOVE!  Way easier than making cake pops....or maybe I just found them easier given my most recent cake-pop-fail.  (Note to self: do not use food color gel and candy melts).  I'm not saying cake push-up pops come together fast--they don't--but they were simple to make and the possibilities for decorating them are endless.  

We decided on a pink ombre look for our push-ups.  That is, Tehya decided on the pink and I decided on the ombre.  I made batter for one cake, and divided it into three.  I colored one batter with a little bit of pink gel color, one batter with a little bit more, and one batter with a little bit more.  If you've never used gel color, you must.  

When the cakes cooled, I cut off the top crust and bottom crust which were more of a golden brown color so the color of the cake would come through.  

Speaking of golden, these cake pictures all look yellow because I took them in the evening when the natural light was gone.  Note to anyone taking pictures of food in the evening--it doesn't turn out well without special equipment.  I spent all day at work.  Then I spent hours at Tehya's beach birthday party with 7 little girls (seriously, how do kindergarten teachers handle the squealing?!), in the rain and cold.  Then I rushed home to make treats for the next day.  It is what it is, so forgive these ugly cake pictures. 

Anyway, I used a cake pop cylinder to press out circles from each pan of cake.

Some people use a foam square to hold their push-up pops upright, but I used what I had and just rested them in a trifle bowl to assemble. 

Frosting anything is way easier with a frosting bag.  My technical method for filling a frosting bag is to fold it into a pitcher.  It works.  I was scrambling to get these done late at night (excuse, excuse) and forgot to put a frosting tip in the bag before putting the frosting in there.  If you use a tip you can make the frosting look extra pretty.  

 

Though not extra pretty, I was able to quickly squeeze frosting into the cylinders without getting it all over the sides.  Mission accomplished.

 

 

Cake.  Frosting.  Cake.  Frosting.  Cake.  Frosting.  Then wait until the morning when there is natural light so you can take really good pictures of your really great cake push-up pops.

So much prettier in good lighting, right?  The tops just pop on, so they don't get frosting all over everything.  If I had them, I could have added pink sprinkles, mini chocolate chips, candies, or fruit in there too.  We just went with what we had, because Tehya's mama had all she could handle this week.  Still, I don't think they turned out too bad!

Certainly good enough for children who like to eat cow hooves.

Note: Use whatever cake and frosting recipe makes you happy.  I'm sure you could even buy cake mix and frosting in a can.  I tried this recipe for both the batter and frosting, and wasn't in love with it.  The cake had a very definitive butter taste.

Black Forest Cheesecake

I'm not too proud to admit that I would eat Nutella straight out of the jar with a spoon if I had even a smidge less self-control.  I always need two butter knives when making English muffins with Nutella--because I can never seem to prevent myself from licking off the knife after I get one side slathered.  I love Nutella.

I also love cherry pie filling.  I've probably purchased less than five cans of it in my entire adult life because if I'm going to make a pie, I buy actual fruit--but oh my.  I worry less about cutting my fingers on the sharp edges of the opened top than I do about wasting even a lick of left-over pie filling.  

Combining Nutella and cherry pie filling was a stroke of genius, if I do say so myself.  Izaak was craving cheesecake.  I didn't have time for the whole water-bath-pray-it-doesn't-crack-traditional-cheesecake.  This is a super-fast Nutella 'instant' cheesecake, fancied up with cherries, ganache and whipped cream.  Like one step above the kind of cheesecake made by Jello.  But way better.  Way.

It starts with Oreos.  Of course it does!  You could buy a premade Oreo crust, but doing it on your own means you can use a larger size pie plate.  Large pie plate = larger pie = bigger pieces.  I'm good with that math.

So easy.  And then the Nutella magic happens, with some whipped topping, cream cheese, and cocoa.  I'm not going to tell you how many mini-spatulas I used during this step.  At least I had the decency to get a fresh one each time I licked the old one clean.... (Usually).

Up next, ganache in 30 seconds.

 

Aren't chocolate chips versatile?  And isn't ganache a fancy name for something so simple?

I know, right?  "But that's not all folks!" (flashback, Bob Barker).  

Wait for it, 


wait for it.....  


 (No tongues were cut in the making of this dessert.  But it was a near thing.)


 

Luscious layers of good stuff.  Oreos.  Nutella cheesecake.  Ganache.  Whipped Cream.  Cherries.  Wowza.

If you don't mind that I licked my fingers (and spatulas, and spoons, and bowls, and cans, and lids...), come over for a piece!

Black Forest Cheesecake

20 Oreos
1/4 c butter, softened
1 c. Nutella
1 block cream cheese, room temperature
1 container Cool Whip, cold but thawed
2 T cocoa
1 c semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 T heavy cream
1 c. heavy cream
2 T powdered sugar
1 can cherry pie filling

In a food processor, crumb the Oreos.  Add 1/4 cup softened butter, and pulse until well combined.  Press into a pie plate, and place in the refrigerator.

In a mixer, on high speed beat the Nutella, cocoa and cream cheese until very well combined.  Add in whipped cream, and beat on high speed until no white streaks are showing.  Scrape down your bowl a few times during that process.  Pour the Nutella mixture into the Oreo crust, and refrigerate at least a half hour.

In a microwave safe bowl, combine chocolate chips and 3 T heavy cream.  Heat for 30 to 45 seconds, or until chocolate chips begin to melt.  Whisk until smooth.  Pour ganache onto the Nutella mixture.  Refrigerate at least a half hour.

In a mixer, on high speed with a whisk attachment, beat 1 cup of heavy cream with powdered sugar until the 'stiff peak' stage--until it looks like whipped cream, not heavy cream.  Layer that on top of the hardened ganache.  Then gently spoon cherry pie filling over the whipped cream layer.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.  Enjoy!