Peanut Butter Oreo Truffles

How do you eat your Oreos? Do you twist? Dunk? Twist, then stack, then dunk? How about crushed and pulverized into a small ball and then covered in chocolate? I never thought an Oreo could get much better until  I visited my girlfriend’s family for the holiday and discovered “Oreo Balls.”  These creamy spheres are made of Oreos crushed up and mixed with cream cheese, then covered in chocolate. They are so good, I’ve been conditioned to salivate just from talking about them.

Fast forward over a year and a half, and my sister’s graduation is upon us. In order to pitch in, I volunteered to make Oreo Balls with a twist—a peanut butter twist. Admit it:  you put some peanut butter on your Oreos occasionally. So I bring to you “stick to the roof of your mouth” Peanut Butter Oreo Truffles.

I figured that actual peanut butter Oreos would work in the recipe, but was prepared to throw in spoons of peanut butter just in case. And of course, since I’m a health nut, I used fat-free cream cheese. Turns out that the one package of peanut butter Oreos was enough to give a sufficient taste of peanut butter in the truffles. The end result is a sweet, creamy, peanut-buttery bite of deliciousness. Imagine the taste of dunking a peanut butter Oreo in milk. It’s better than that. I promise.

Read More

Endless Ice Cream: Peanut Butter Pretzel Ice Cream Truffles

At some point last year I came across a recipe for ice cream truffles. It seemed easy enough. You scoop the ice cream, flash freeze the scoops, coat them in melted chocolate, freeze a little while longer, then indulge. So I grabbed a pint of  Häagen-Dazs vanilla bean ice cream out of the freezer and happily started away.

Good lord, it was a holy disaster. I’m pretty sure it ended with everything thrown unceremoniously in the garbage, quickly followed by the crack of a beer. But since I started making my own ice cream, my mind has often wandered back to that terrible day, and made me wonder exactly what went wrong. I started researching and I determined it was three things:

1) When the ice cream scoops started to melt I kept going instead of popping them back into the freezer.

2) When the temperature of the chocolate dropped and quit adhering easily to the ice cream I did not heat it up again.

3) Dipping the ice cream with my hands was messy and slow, increasing the speed of melted ice cream and cooling chocolate.

So I decided to give it another whirl, and this time the results were pretty fantastic…

Read More

The Cookie Dough-Lympics: Banana Almond Poppers

Banana Almond Poppers

Have you ever witnessed the “law of attraction” at work? Like when you think about something for a long time, dream it to be true, and then voila! it shows up at your front doorstep? Well, ladies and gentleman, all my years of wanting, wishing, and longing for have finally come to light—in the form of a book full of raw cookie dough recipes.

Before you go singing the salmonella symphony to me, let me explain: this cookie dough is egg-less. What does that mean, my friends?  It means that you can stick your head right into that bowl and nom you way to the bottom, worry-free. And thanks to Lindsay Landis, creator of this cookie dough recipe and book full of desserts to make with it, all of our lives have now been touched.

With this new cookbook ES has entered the “Cookie Dough-Lympics,” where we come up with our own recipes based around this egg-less delight. I sat down with the book while brainstorming ideas and found cakes, ice cream, souffles…you name it, Lindsay created it. In brainstorming for my own recipe I realized I wanted a yummy, easy to make, minimal-ingredient summer treat with this dough.  I want the kind of thing that is bite-size so I can munch with ease. I want the kind of thing I can make on a weeknight, store in the freezer, and grab whenever I need a frozen pick-me-up. And then it hit me: the Banana Almond Poppers were born.

Read More

Marshmallows Gone Wild! Top 10 Summertime Uses for Jumbo Marshmallows

Maybe I’m just sheltered, but I never knew about jumbo marshmallows until I saw a large palate of them in a grocery store near the shore a few weeks ago. As a proponent of campfires and burning marshmallows to a charred, crispy, oozing sweet goodness, you would imagine that I got excited.

With the summer finally here, it’s time we break out the mallows and start toasting away. But wait…there’s more you can do with a marshmallow than toast it in a fire? Well yes, and here are ten favorite, craziest ways:

10. Chocolate and Caramel Covered Marshmallow Pops

Whenever we’re making caramel apples, I make sure no caramel goes to waste. I dip marshmallows in the caramel, then set them in the freezer. Why didn’t I think of then dipping in chocolate afterwards? I’m ashamed. The peeps (no pun intended) at the turtle’s life for me made these. A layer of crushed Oreos after the caramel and before the chocolate would MAKE these.

(Photo: A Turtle’s Life for Me)

9. Toasted Coconut Marshmallows

They sell toasted coconut marshmallows in stores — but I’m pretty sure they couldn’t even compare to homemade toasted coconut-covered marshmallows. Now imagine this: they are made with jumbo marshmallows. I’m thinking you can coat the store-bought jumbo marshmallows in melted butter and the toasted coconut would stick. Or just make them from scratch. Whoever said marshmallows are boring: you lose.

(Photo: PreventionRD)

8. Oreo Marshmallows

Again, they’re homemade so the first goal would be to make these oreo marshmallows double the size. Do I hear a challenge? Damn right.

(Photo: Raspberri Cupcakes)

Read More

BEER: It’s What’s for Dinner (Numbers 3, 4, & 5)

Things are getting fast and furious in Endless Simmer’s quest to use beer in 100 different dishes. After an off-list detour for Corona cupcakes, we’re back this week and crossing three items off the agenda: beer cornbread, beer-marinated pork, and chocolate beer milkshakes!

Last week, I embarked on a beerfeast of epic proportions. My plans consisted of a four-course meal; each course cooked with beer and paired with a different beer. I got through my week mostly by dreaming up the menu: pork loin marinated in an IPA, mashed potatoes with a brown ale gravy, cornbread with a wheat beer, and milk stout milkshakes.

When the end of the week finally came around (and the drinking began) the menu got downsized a bit, quickly falling from a beerfeast to a dinner with some things made of beer, but not all the beers I wanted to make them with. The pork ended up being marinated in a brown ale, which the friend who brewed it proudly called a “piece of shit.” Mashed potatoes and gravy didn’t even happen, after I asked another drunken pal to peel potatoes and found that ending horribly wrong.

Fortunately, I made the cornbread in advance, and when I reached my peak in drunkenness later on in the night, I was still well able to whip up the milk stout shakes. And of course, while we were beginning our beveraging, we did brew an IPA. So in the end, I still had a fairly epic beer dinner, reaching a new record of three items from my beholden list.

1. The Appetizer: Wheat Berry Cornbread

Read More

Smackaroons: Coconut Crème Kiss Filled Macaroons

Hi!  It’s Renee again from Attack of the Hungry Monster. Also, it’s macaroon time. But these macaroons have a secret. While not obvious to the untrained eye (my eye is trained in chocolate, in case you are wondering), it is most definitely a coconut crème Hershey’s kiss!

I decided to call these smackaroons because they are kisses (*smack*) stuffed inside coconut macaroon cookies.  I really need to trademark that.

Here’s how they came about: I am a bargain shopper through and through.  No discounted item goes unnoticed by me.  I hit that Target clearance weekly like I’m storing a bunker…full of discount clothing and old Easter candy.

So, after Easter when I came across these bad boys, I knew where they’d end up.

Read More

Extreme Brownies: Cookie Dough Cheesecake Brownie Pastry Pockets

Have you seen this new trend in which describing something as “to die for” is no longer good enough? I keep seeing these recipes named “Better Than Sex Cake, Sex in a Pan, etc…” Really? I’m pretty sure sex outside of a pan is still better.

But I get it. It’s a quick hook to get you to look a little closer. And if there’s one recipe that I’m going to describe that way, it’s definitely this one. Now that we’ve established that, do lean in close and take a look at this sexified brownie creation.  Inside that pastry pocket is a cookie dough cheesecake brownie bar — yes, It’s a mouthful. This mouthful is an extreme brownie with a sweet and salty combination that finishes with a dusting of confectioner’s sugar and some chocolate and caramel drizzle — how’s that for a happy ending?

So in playing along with the current sex and food trend, I give you the Brownie Sex Maker. This will make you and the person you share with it want to do anything…for reals.

Cookie Dough Cheesecake Brownie Pastry Pockets…a.ka. The Brownie Sex Maker

Read More
« Previous
Next »