Saturday, September 20, 2008

Toothy and Mop Top and Some No-Bake "Brownies", Banana Cookies and More...

Parker just turned seven a few weeks ago, and just like Scottie and just like me, took forever to lose his first tooth!  Even when I was a baby, Mom wondered if I even had teeth as I didn't get my first one until 13 months old.  The boys have all been a little slow in filling in teeth and losing teeth, but Scott did lose his first tooth on a kindergarten apple picking field trip.  The tooth had barely even been loose and he took a bite of a fresh picked apple and out popped his first tooth.  Parker has been eating a lot of apples lately, just hoping. 

He's has been anxiously awaiting losing his first bottom tooth that has been loose for a month or so.  Most of his friends and classmates have lost 3-4-5 teeth already!  Well, today was the day.  This morning he showed me how loose his tooth was getting.  A few hours later he showed me that Daddy had been trying to loosen it more and was actually pretty successful.  It could lay down flat. 

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(Sorry about the blur on the camera, I didn't realize it had a smudge.)  I assured Parker that we could so easily get that tooth out.  He was a bit leery.  He kept putting his finger on the tooth to show me how loose it was and one of the times I just reached up and whacked my hand down on his hand (totally surprised him and that whack was not very hard) and pop, out went the tooth on to the floor.  After getting over the shock and the bleeding, Parker was pretty excited!  He can finally join the ranks!

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And I know, you're probably getting tired of all the hair and curly talk about Sam, but when you see this sweet picture, how could you get sick of it?!  Last night Sam had a bath and went right to bed with wet hair.  This is him this morning!

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There just isn't anything or anyone cuter than this--and it's not just the hair--look at that face and smile! 

All the children's books we have are on shelves in Sam's room.  Every morning when I get him out of his crib, he has to make sure he has his blankie and he always grabs a book.  This morning he grabbed the blankie and a book and starting going right downstairs, hair bopping all the way!  You really just want to run your hands through that hair and kiss those sweet cheeks, don't you!

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And now for some treats!

I got this recipe from Recipe4Living in an email and thought it sounded interesting and YUMMY!  And well, it is!  It's what I would call Oreo Overload!  (Can there be such a thing?)

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Found some fun Halloween plates that I thought these would be perfect to use for serving and pictures. 

So, I don't think these are really "brownie" like at all, but more like a candy.  And I knew before I made them that that is what to expect, so I wasn't upset to not have brownies.  Do you like Oreos?   And just who doesn't?  If you love them, these are for you!  They are so simple to make and the hardest part may be the chilling time--in the recipe it is suggested to chill for four hours, but I thought even after just an hour that they would have been fine to cut.  I did wait about four hours, but only because other things of the day got in the way.  You can add whatever candies or even nuts on top if you'd like.  I like the new Halloween M&M's that instead of "autumn colors" are now "ghoul" colors-purple, green, orange and black.  I may be jumping the gun a tad on Halloween treats, but I can't help it when the stores put out all the "stuff" a good three months in advance!  Have you noticed that even the Christmas stuff is beginning to be stocked on the shelves!?

The so-simple recipe for these treats is:

No-Bake Oreo "Brownie" Candy (adapted from Recipe4Living's No-Bake Fudgey Brownies)

1 can sweetened condensed milk

2  1-oz. squares of unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used 1 oz. unsweetened chocolate and 1 oz. semi sweet chocolate, because that is what I had, it worked fine.)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups Oreo cookies, finely processed in food processor

5 Oreo cookies, very coarsely chopped (this is my addition and I wish I would have added a few more, just for the contrasting look when cut)

1/4 cup mini M&M's or whatever candy or nuts you'd like

Combine condensed milk and chocolate in a medium sized pot and stir and cook over low heat until it just begins to bubble.  At that point, cook while stirring for 2-3 minutes more.  It will start to thicken.  Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.  Then stir in 2 cups of cookie crumbs (it was about 2/3 of the package of Oreos).  Spread evenly into a 9 inch square baking pan lined with foil and sprayed lightly with cooking spray.  Sprinkle with candy or nuts and press down gently.  Cover and chill for four hours or until firm.  Remove from pan by lifting out the tin foil.  Lay it on a cutting board and cut in to desired size of squares.  Store leftovers covered in refrigerator.

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Mostly I just REALLY liked the condensed milk/chocolate combo and as it thickened wanted to just eat it, or have a giant bowl of vanilla ice cream with some of it on top, but I went ahead with the recipe.  I also thought it would be a great thing to play around with flavors.  The mint Oreos or Peanut Butter Oreos would be great for using and all kinds of different candies would be great on top.  I need to stop thinking about it, or I'll go buy a bunch more packages of Oreos!  Next time I make these (which would be a great treat for any holiday) I will probably do less Oreo crumbs.  I thought it was 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup too much.  I wanted a tad more fudginess instead of Oreo-ness!  These are rich and therefore could be cut into even 1 inch squares.  Okay, moving on.

Earlier in the week I made some of my kind of cookies, well, okay, I'll admit it--all kinds are my kind of cookies!  I'm talking about healthy ones here.  I got the recipe for these here at 101 Cookbooks.  Another great blog for recipes, there's so many out there!  I made just a few changes from this recipe that Heidi got from her friend Nikki for these Chocolatey Banana Cookies.  There is no sugar in these and they are still really good!  Expect a healthy cookie, you know, one that doesn't spread out, but a really yummy one, especially if you like bananas (come on, Deb, give them a try! ha)  You can also easily make these vegan as there is no butter or eggs and you could use carob instead of chocolate.  There's also no flour for a gluten free cookie!  I know, so you're wondering how they could possibly be any good, but try them, you will see. (Do I sound like Sam I Am from Green Eggs and Ham?) Okay, so without further ado, here's the recipe as I made it.  You can click on the link above to get Nikki's recipe.

Banana Oat Cookies with Chocolate Chunks

4 small bananas, well mashed (about 1 1/2 cups)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon coconut extract (probably didn't need it, but since they original recipe called for coconut oil, I threw some in)

1/4 cup canola oil (the recipe suggests coconut oil or olive oil, I used the "cheap" stuff)

2 cups old-fashioned oats

2/3 cup almond meal (I made my own by blanching some almonds, removing the skins, toasting them in the oven and pulsing them in the food processor until fine crumbs)

1/3 cup coconut, finely shredded and unsweetened

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

4 oz. Ghiardelli semisweet chocolate, chopped

1 1/2 oz. Ghiardelli 60% cacao chocolate, chopped (the recipes suggests 6 oz. of a dark chocolate, this is what I used because this is what I had)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line baking sheet with parchment paper.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the bananas, vanilla, and oil.  Set aside.  In another medium sized bowl, combine together with a whisk the almond meal, oats, coconut, salt and baking powder.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir until combined.  Fold in the chocolate chunks (you could also just use chips).  The dough seems a bit loose and wet, but it will be fine.  Scoop out balls of dough with a cookie/ice cream scoop or with a spoon about 1 tablespoon size and drop onto baking sheet.  These don't spread, so many could fit on the baking sheet.  Bake for 12-14 minutes.  Cool on wire racks. 

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I baked 15 cookies that day and froze about 2 dozen more dough balls.  I shouldn't admit it, but have snuck and eaten a few of these as just the frozen dough.  (What, there's no egg, so it's safe and it's mostly just banana, oats and a little chocolate.  They are good for you!)  I would suggest only baking as many as will be eaten that day as they may not store very long because of the banana.  I could eat these all day long and it's a good thing they are in the freezer.

I've got more things to show you, but really should get a few more Saturday things done, especially while Sam naps!  Toodles!

12 comments:

priscilla joy said...

those brownies look yummy. brownies and ice cream is one of the best desserts ever.

Clumbsy Cookie said...

These look like the cookies I do every single week for my mom! Mine have whole wheat flour, oats, and toons of fiber stuff. Not really the same ingredients but the same appearence. They have no sugar at all, cool!
Now those oreo-brownie-candy, oh my, oh my! I would looooooove that, and I know I'll have to do them!
The picture of your kid after loosing his tooth is priceless!

Jessica said...

I'm going to really have to try out those cookies-they looked great and now that I know they really taste good they are on my list!

Anne Marie said...

Adorable haircut, Sam!

Natalie Que said...

Cute kids! Have I been living under a rock for the last 10 years? I've never heard of no-bake brownies! Am I the last one to hear the news?

And the cookies look good too!

Katrina said...

hot garlic,
Never fear, as I mentioned, they are more like a candy than brownies, so I wouldn't really call them brownies. To me, they are like Condensed Oreos. Wait until you see what I did with them in my next post!

Natalie Que said...

Oh, okay, good! Can't wait to see!

Tiffany Winters said...

And they were delicious. We had ours with vanilla ice cream too! Thanks again!

Darius T. Williams said...

This totally looks like overload - but cooking with the kiddies makes it worth it.

-DTW
www.everydaycookin.blogspot.com

Jersey Girl Cooks said...

You post the cutest pictures!

Lisa magicsprinkles said...

Congratulations on the tooth! Love those curls (don't you love the way the way they slide down the stairs on their tummies - bump bump bah da de dump). Love the recipes and the commentary!

Anonymous said...

I made the Oreo Cookies Treats over the weekend; they tasted fabulous, and when I served them on a silver bread tray, they looked decadent! Thanks for posting the recipe.