Homemade Oreos

I found this amazing little recipe on wonder mom envy. I think it has become my favorite cookie and I will definitely be making it for the next gathering I attend! I had to cook them a little longer but I'm pretty sure it's due to the humidity here. i have had to relearn how to cook since moving to Texas, I never realized how much the weather affects the way we bake! I found this article, How weather affects cooking, that I thought was pretty helpful without getting to in depth, if your interested you should check it out. Another reason I really like these is because they are so simple Melody can do a lot to help. She loves being in the kitchen, but if you've ever tried baking with a preschooler you know why I don't allow her in very often. With these she can add the ingredients (we just learned how to crack eggs carefully after losing 4 or 5!), she can mix it (with mom's help of course), and she can help roll them into balls and put them on the cookie sheet. Needless to say these are also her favorite cookie!

Homemade Oreos

from wonder mom envy

1 box devil's food cake
3/4 cup shortening
*2 eggs
1 tub of cream cheese frosting

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Stir dry cake mix, shortening, and eggs until well moistened. Drop small spoon sized balls onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for about 9 minutes. (I bake mine for about 12-13 at about 70% humidity)

They don't look completely done when you pull them out. I just watch for the little cracks to appear on top. Then after I pull them out I let them set on the cookie sheet until cooled, otherwise your going to have a hard time getting them off the cookie sheet in one piece!

Also I frost these the night before and let them set. I think they taste better after the cookies have hardened a little and the frosting's not soft and gooey anymore.

*I didn't have any eggs the night I wanted to make these so I did some research and discovered that you can replace 1 egg with 1 tablespoon of applesauce. In baking eggs act as a binding agent and the apple sauce did the trick. They tasted exactly the same with the eggs as they did with the applesauce.

Blueberry Tart

I found this in the Real Simple magazine. They have a great mix of super healthy, but kinda fancy recipes. Keep in mind I eat a lot of toddler friendly food, so it really doesn't take much to be fancy in my book! The store I buy all my produce at recently had a really good sale on their blueberries, $0.99/lb, so I bought 6 lbs and froze them. (for more on how to freeze berries see end of post.) I was excited to come across this recipe because I had been looking for a way to use them besides the general smoothies and cereal toppings.

Blueberry Tart

1 8 oz sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed

1 lg egg, beaten

1 T granulated sugar

4 oz cream cheese, softened

1/4 C heavy cream*

1/2 t grated lemon zest

3 T powdered sugar

2 C blueberries

1. Heat oven to 350 F. On a lightly floured surface, unfold the sheet of pastry and roll it into a 10x12 rectangle. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. (I just greased mine with Pam and it was fine, but it did stick a little. if your doing this for guests or if the presentation is important to you definitely use the parchment paper)
2. Using the tip f a knife, score a 1 inch border around the pastry without cutting all the way through. Brush the border with the egg and sprinkle with the granulated sugar. Bake until golden and puffed, 18-22 minutes.
3. Using tip of knife, rescore the border of the cooked pastry without cutting all the way through. Gently press down on the center of the pastry to flatten it. Let cool to room temperature, 15-20 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, with an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the cream, lemon zest, and 2 T of powdered sugar and beat until smooth. Spread the cream cheese mixture evenly within the borders of the pastry.
5. Arrange the blueberries in a single layer over the filling and sprinkle with remaining powdered sugar.

*I used real heavy cream for this but I don't usually have it on hand so when a recipe calls for it I usually use this recipe to make a substitute. It won't whip like the real stuff, but as an ingredient it works great!

3/4 C Milk

1/3 C Butter

1 T flour

Melt butter. Pour into milk and stir. Once combined add flour.

Freezing Berries

If you want to freeze berries, but don't want them to end up the clumpy mess you get when buy them at the store try this. Line a baking sheet with foil and spread berries evenly. Freeze until solid, then transfer to a sturdy freezer bag. Because you froze the individual berry they won't stick together, thus allowing you to pull out exactly the amount you need.

ugh there is a difference!

Recently my local grocery store had pork roasts on sale for $1.50/lb. I usually use pork tenderloins but figured there couldn't be too much of a difference right? Wrong! I even asked the butcher, briefly described the recipe I planned to use and asked him if it would work out, he said and I quote; "Oh definitely! That will be really good!" I should fire him! It turned out horrible! Next time I'll find a recipe meant just for that cut of meat! If any of you have a good pork roast recipe PLEASE feel free to share!