We interrupt this holiday weekend to bring you something that is *not* a cupcake or a pie and actually bring you something *healthy*. OK, mostly healthy. I’ll be going on a picnic or two this weekend, so I thought that I would make something to stash in the basket. These Cherry Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies, with Toasted Almond Slices seemed to fit the bill.
With one week to go before Independence Day weekend, I thought I would throw some “patriotic” recipes into the mix. OK, linzer cookies aren’t really patriotic in the slightest and I make them all the time, but I always make new versions, if not in taste combinations, in new shapes. And that is where the “patriotic” comes in this time. Stars! Fireworks! And I guess all-American blueberries and raspberries (the blueberry jam is homemade). Just something cute and fun to add to your 4th of July picnic!
So tis the season for spring fruit and veg so I had a hankering to make something with strawberries and rhubarb. Yes, again. So I figured why not try cookies in this equation, so here they are. Made the filling from scratch too, because it is hard to find commercially made strawberry-rhubarb jam/butter. Sweet and tart all sandwiched between a lovely vanilla sugar cookie.
I guess technically I should call these “Chocolate Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies” as not to upset the Nabisco Corporation, but you know … they are homemade oreos (wink wink). Anyway, I’ve had the Oreo Jingle going through my head for some inexplicable reason for a week now. Strange how the brain works, eh? So, I was enticed to make these here peanut butter versions of the classic oreo. Using the Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa makes them even more oreo-like (even though I guess I normally wouldn’t use Hershey’s cocoa powder for baking). At any rate, great for packing in a lunch box for the kiddos towards the end of the school year or for camp this summer. Make all the other kids jealous.
After a few weeks of travel and stressful catch-up from vacation, I finally had the opportunity to bake something this morning. How refreshing! It really is stress relief, even if I did get up at 4:30 on a Saturday morning. These florentines are simply lovely: sweet and crisp and almost like a nut brittle. Not to be missed!