Oatmeal Cream Pies

Today is a special day.

It’s Mr. Picky-pants’ birthday today!!

It’s also Pi Day (03/14 = 3.14). How lucky he is to be born on Pi Day?! (I was born on Pecan Day and even though I have a very soft spot in my heart for pecans, I firmly believe that I was meant to be born on Brownie Day or I-ate-way-too-many-cookies day, just sayin’). He gets to enjoy all the wonderful pies that people around him make. Oh, wait… he doesn’t like pie. Not one single flavor. Commence eye roll. He’s Mr. Picky-pants for a reason, after-all.

Pie hating aside, I love him and I hope to make his birthday as special as I can. I’m taking him out for some of his fave food with good friends and sending him to work with his favorite chocolate chip cookies.

If you’re nice, I’ll share that recipe soon.

Until then, have some oatmeal cream pies.

Originally I wanted to make a mini fruit pie or at least a chocolate pie but motivation and ingredients were low. So Tracey helped remind me that there were loopholes. I quickly exploited that loophole and made these “pies.”

So, grab a cookie-pie and celebrate! Happy Pi Day!

Happy birthday hubby, I love you sooo much!!

Oatmeal Cream Pies
Yields about 12 cookie sandwiches (24 cookies)

Ingredients:

For the cookies
1 stick butter, room temperature
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups quick cook oats (not instant)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 /2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

For the marshmallow filling
1 stick butter, room temperature
1 7-ounce container marshmallow creme
3 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used vanilla paste)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper; set aside.

In the bowl of your stand mixer (or a large bowl with a hand mixer) cream the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Scrape down the bowl. Add the egg and vanilla and mix together until thoroughly mixed.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, oats, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.

Scrape down the bowl with the butter/sugar mixture. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture. Mix on low setting until just combined (the flour just disappears).

Use a cookie scoop (mine holds 2 Tablespoons) to measure out dough balls on your prepared cookie sheets. Leave at least 1 inch between cookies (I fit 12 on each cookie sheet and it worked great!)

Bake for 8-11 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack.

Make the filling:
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and marshmallow creme. Slowly add the powdered sugar and vanilla. Beat until smooth and fluffy.

Add a generous dollop of filling to half of the cookies and top with another cookie, lightly pressing down. Enjoy!

Recipe from Baked Bree

Advertisement

TWD – Chocolate Ganache Ice Cream

It might come as a surprise to you that I’m not one of those gals that go gaga over ganache.  I don’t coo at the ganache topping on a cupcake. I don’t hide in the closet in my ninja outfit eating it by the spoonful. And I don’t daydream about skinny dipping in a vat of it. I won’t give up my hypothetical first born for it.

Don’t get me wrong, it can be extremely delicious in a tart perhaps. Or as truffles. It just isn’t my favorite thing in the whole wide baking world.

But this ice cream is something else entirely!! Or at least I have convinced myself that it is.

Although ganache is naturally smooth, thick, rich and creamy usually draped over some unsuspecting cake… I expected this ice cream to just be a fancy name for plain old chocolate ice cream. No big whoop right?

Wrong-o!! It is beautifully rich and decadent. It’s full bodied chocolate flavor with the smoothest texture ever. And boy, oh boy… it is CREAMY as all get out!!

No, seriously… get out so I can go have some more and not have to share 😉

I followed the recipe except I used David Lebovitz’s method for making ice cream without an ice cream maker. As I have not been gifted one for my kitchenaid yet (Ahem) and I only changed a small thing. Instead of putting the custard into a deep baking dish, I put it in my food processor bowl. I covered it with foil and placed in my freezer for 30 mins. Then I scraped the sides down with a rubber spatula and pulsed a few times until it looked creamy again. Repeat every 30-45 mins for 2-3 hours. The longer you do it, the creamier your ice cream will be.

Don’t forget to throw your add ins into the mixture while it is still soft and creamy to help with ease of mixing.

My add ins: marshmallows, graham cracker bits, and chocolate chunks. But feel free to completely lose your mind with add ins: caramel, nuts, peanut butter cups, bits of fresh baked brownies, oreos, toffee bits, andes mints (junior mints or any minty chocolate), fruit, sprinkles, hot fudge syrup, a splash of Kahlua, crushed peppermints, etc. This list is only limited by your imagination!!

A GIANT thanks goes out to Katrina of Baking and Boys for choosing this recipe. I will be making this one again and again and again. Head on over to her blog for the recipe!

Up next week: Oatmeal Breakfast Bread

MSC – S’mores Cupcakes!

I. LOVE. S’MORES.

LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE. Some may call it an obsession.

While most people think of snow and holidays and gift-wrapping once chilly weather arrives, I… think of s’mores.

Once acceptable s’mores weather passes, I make ’em in the microwave: assemble (minus the top graham cracker) and zap it for 10 seconds, top with graham cracker and squish!! Mmmm.

Anywho, you can imagine my childish squealing mature delight at being able to make this along with the MSC group this month.

I made half of the cupcake recipe, full recipe of the ganache and made 1/3 recipe of the 7 minute frosting instead of the marshmallow frosting.

I pulsed graham crackers in my food processor until it was fine, and assumed that this was what Martha meant by ‘graham flour.’ I also tossed a few chocolate chips on top of the cupcakes before they went in the over but they sunk to the bottom. Once they were cool, I cut small circles out of the tops of each cupcake to hold a bit extra ganache. Cus, let’s face it, ganache makes everything better. Topped it with a dollop of frosting. Magnifique!

All I can say is, these bad boys are trouble. A few people have tasted them and that’s the exact same response given by everyone. And I heartily accept that as a compliment 🙂

A huge thank you to Mary Ann from Meet Me in the Kitchen for indulging in my obsession, even though you didn’t know I had one 🙂