Cookie Time!!!

This week I made Graham Cracker Cookies, which I know sounds a little odd but are actually really delicious.

When I first read this recipe and I was 100% sold on it, it seemed a little strange.  Mostly because it doesn’t have any flour in it, the structure is graham cracker crumbs.  I was kind of afraid that they would come out like little pie crusts, which also sounds yummy.  I didn’t think they would rise and be chewy like a good cookie but I was totally wrong.

The recipe calls for 2 cups of cracker crumbs and yes I’m sure you can grind your own but even when I’m making a pie crust I just go ahead and buy the boxed crumbs.  They are just as good and you don’t have to spend time making them and you can get right to the baking, which gets you that much closer to eating.  And that’s always a good thing in my book.  I followed the recipe as is and my bake time was 9 minutes and then I let them cool on the pan for about another 2 minutes before moving them. I don’t like cooling my cookies on a cooling rack (cause I don’t like messing up the bottom of my cookies with ridges) so I cool mine on a freshly foiled table.  And if you bake enough cookies you soon looks like you have a little cookie army, or maybe that’s just me.

In the end I would give these cookies a big thumbs up.  They were super simple and fast to make and they are delicious.  It’s like eating a soft, buttery, puffy graham cracker.  This one will go into my most make these again folder.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Icebox Cake

I started out the weekend thinking I was going to make a cake with dark chocolate and raspberry filling and then the San Diego heat wave said….nah I don’t think so lady. I baked my cake and then I had visions of chocolate frosting sliding down the side into a big gooey mess.  So, I went back to my list and looked for a refrigerated dessert and voila we have the Strawberry Cream Cheese Icebox Cake.  And that’s a terrible name, it’s too long and I don’t know if I would really classify this as a cake but more of a layered dessert.  But the one thing I can tell you is that it was delicious and was perfect for a hot summer night.

The recipe is pretty simple, especially if you have a kitchen aid, you beat together cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk until nice and smooth.  Any dessert recipe that has sweetened condensed milk in it just about always gets a thumbs up in my book.  I love the stuff.  At some point I’ll have to tell ya’ll about my Hot Chocolate recipe that starts with a can of this stuff…yum yum.  But I digress,  next up was adding the instant pudding.  The recipe called for cheesecake flavor but I go my own way sometimes and went with banana. Mostly so I could say BANANA like a Minion. Plus, I love bananas and strawberries together.

Now the hardest part, assembly.  And that should tell you hard this recipe is. Start with Graham Crackers and I suggest leaving them connected together as much as possible because when you add your first pudding layer it will make it easier to spread it out.  Also, on that note, I recommend putting a good amount down to start with and use a small offset spatula to basically frost the crackers.  Add your sliced strawberries and then repeat. You want to top it with a little Cool Whip (and yes, I’m not a Cool Whip snob, it has its place in the culinary world too…don’t Cool Whip shame!) And then I finished it off with some crushed Graham Cracker crumbs.  It makes it all pretty like!  I refrigerated it for about 8 hours and it set up beautifully.

I used a metal spatula to cut and serve it and it came out perfect.  While eating this I kept thinking about all the different combinations of fruit and puddings that I can use.  I would love to do Lemon Pudding and Blueberries, I think that would be really good too.  And it’s a great dessert for potlucks and picnics.  So, a big thumbs up for this one and if the heat wave continues I see more cold desserts ahead.