Gooey Goodness Tuesday: Homemade Oreos

When Topher sent me the link to make these classic favorite, I knew that he truly understands my soul. Plus, he really likes cookies.  It works for us.

If you like Oreos, you're really going to love these.  The sweet-yet-bitter chocolate cookie is a dead ringer for an Oreo and the creme filling so very true to the Oreo filling we all know and love.  The assembled products are crispy yet chewy- like a fresher version of the classic cookie, according to hubs.

However, I do recommend you flatten your cookies a bit more before baking if you're going for a more wafer like feel- mine didn't fully flatten and were still yummy, just also a bit chewy!

This recipe originally comes from Retro Desserts, and was adapted by Smitten Kitchen, and then utilized by me.  I haven't copied it below so that you'll hopefully follow the links for yummy goodness!

Gather your super awesome ingredients:

Combine the dry ingredients:

Add the butter and eggs:

It will slowly...

...form a ball of dough.

Create small teaspoon sized balls of dough on parchment lined pans.

Flatten them with hands or the bottom of a glass:

Bake them following the guidelines until they come out all delicious like:

Then combine the ingredients for the filling:

Mix until it's nice and fluffy.

Simply plop or pipe the filling on one cookie. Don't be stingy:

Give it a hefty dose! You can always make more filling!

Smoosh and enjoy!

Do you like Oreos? I find I need to really crave them to be able to eat them...

Monday, Monday, so good to me...

I can hardly believe a full month in 2011 has already passed.  Topher and I are celebrating nine whole months of marriage tomorrow, which has gone by incredibly quickly.

I was at the grocery store yesterday buying ingredients for tomorrow's Gooey Goodness (really, get excited. YUM!), and found these little babies just asking me to pick them up:

This gets me uber freaking excited for next week's Gooey Goodness Tuesday, because I have some fun love themed desserts up my sleeves for y'all!

Ok, so, you're all probably really here to see which two lucky readers will soon be getting the PASHMINA OF THEIR DREAMS!

It'll be 'shminas for...

 

Hooray! Rose and Sprinkles, I'll be emailing you today to grab your addresses and then ordering your lovely purple pashminas!

Is it strange that I get some weird OCD satisfaction seeing that the two random numbers chosen are inverts of one another?

Have a great day, loves.

I'm a regular...

...at a full fat ice cream shop.

Tonight, Topher, Uncle John and I enjoyed some delicious barbecue, a cold jaunt through the town where we got married, and rounded off the night with a stop at a local ice cream chain that I lurve. We sauntered up to the window, our breath seeping out in frozen puffs.

We placed our order and as Ice Cream Scooper Extraordinaire Kevin brought the small red cups of joy to the counter, he said:

"Did you have a bet if I would remember?"

I'm such a known entity that Kevin knows I ask for extra graham with my regular order of Graham Central Station: graham-flavored ice cream with chocolate chips and a swirl of graham.

The graham is like buttery graham cracker crust, and he dollops extra on top:

I should be ashamed that my reputation precedes me, but really, I'm just proud.

Oh and that's my ice cream face. It's my version of Chandler's sex face.

Vlog Friday: Eighth Grade, Awkward Pictures Included

Happy Friday everyone!  It felt like a short week over here, after working from home for a few days due to snow.  Definitely threw my schedule off, which sucks, but I always feel like a little kid when schools close.  Even now, when I still have to work!

So, this week's Vlog Friday topic is particularly mortifying.  I have to apologize for the awkwardness of the first few seconds of the video AND the silent photos.  I'm still figuring out how to mix the sound and images in iMovie. Also, if anyone has advice on how to NOT lose quality when uploading to youtube directly from iMovie, I'd LOVE you FOREVER.

What was I like in eighth grade? Press play to find out. Awkward pictures definitely included.

What'd you think?

Join us next week for an equally intriguing topic:

• What is the best advice you've ever received?

Join us (co-creator Cole and everyone linked below) each Friday as we share a little bit our worlds with each other.  We'll always share the next week's question, and soon, we'll be answering February's Vlog of the Month question, from the VOTM Club! If you can't do every week, join us at least once a month!

I really hope you do join us in vlogging.  Comment below if you joined this week, and I'll add your link in this post!

We Vlog Friday. Do you?

• Adventures in Love and Happiness
• Folly Life
• Forget Me (Not)
• Blogimony
• Heart on Homestead
• She Likes Ruffles, He Likes Truffles
• A Minted Life
• Kimberly Michelle

Either way, happy Friday!  What were YOU like in eighth grade? Anyone feel me on the awkward white socks or being strange just for strange's sake?

Happy Snow Thursday!

Light post today, due to heavy snow.  Our power was wonky last night, so I was afraid to write a long post in fear it would somehow not get saved if my computer suffered a power surge.  I have lots of posts planned for next week though, so get ready!

In the mean time, two quick reminders:

1. Don't forget to enter my pashmina giveaway! It closes on Sunday on 6 pm EST, and I'll be announcing the two winners in Monday's post! Enter here: http://bit.ly/goWO8Q
2. Break out that camera and vlog tonight for Vlog Friday! Tomorrow's prompt is SUPER fun! 
1. WHAT WERE YOU LIKE IN 8TH GRADE?

Aight, I'm peacing out. See you tomorrow!

The view from our back door:

'shmina for me, 'shmina for you!

The other day I posted about how I don't crave shoes or purses the way some women do.  Some of you totally related, others love yourselves some heels and bowler bags, while others were probably left wondering "does she have a sense of style at all?!?!"

Why, yes I do. It might not be your cup of tea, but I can sum up my style in one sentence.

Tee-shirts-and-jeans-colorful-flats-basic-black-and-brown-sometimes-chunky-necklaces-often-muted-with-flashes-of-color-funky-tights-jersey-skirts-and-leggings-emphasis-on-underthings-and-absolutely-usually-if-I-can-swing-it-at-all-pashmina-scarves-as-often-as-possible.

Hmmkay?

I enjoyed said style very recently, while having brunch with some amazing bees:

Back: Tulip and gorgeous daughter, Tiramisu, Brooch, Guinea Pig

Front: D'Orsay, Me (Pencils), Cheeseburger, Lox. Turtle came too but had to leave for work! 

(Not sure how many of these women want their names out there, so, Bee names it is. I swear I remember all of them though! T, E, S, M, C, D and J, love ya!)

Aight, so. From my fashion manifesto above, you can likely gather there is one thing I'm pretty much in love with.  Pashminas. Scarves, in layman's terms (or, in terms if you don't feel like forking over cash for real pashmina cashmere from Kashmir, which I've only done once- well, Topher did it.)

I now present Kate, in pashminas, through the years.

Florence, 2005. My first pashmina ever, purchased in Florence! With Am, a bestie.

Rome, 2005.

Budapest, 2007.

Paris, 2007.

Hitler's Eagle's Nest, Berchtesgaden, 2007

North Carolina, with Ma and G-ma, 2008.

Cruisin', 2008.

Cruise, 2008. I think this photo represents the best of pashminas They're soft and warm and classy and put up a good fight against wind on a big boat. This is Paige, my gorgeous bestie. 

Visiting our wedding venue, 2009.

In the car, 2010.

Costa Rica, 2010.

Costa Rica, 2010.

Dork. 2010.

Engagement photos, 2009.

Pashmina's are great tools, too. 2009.

Mexico, 2010.

New Years Eve, 2010.

It's safe to say I lurve pashminas. Do you like them?

I hope so.

Because I took the advice of all y'all and decided to do a giveaway and give away something that I SMOOCH A LOT.

It was a tough choice between underwear* and this.

Pashminas.

You really should love them too. As you can see from above, nothing completes a wardrobe like a classic black pashmina. My black pashmina has been across the world with me- literally- and it's still my favorite.

I like pashminas so much I made my bridesmaids take them as gifts, whether they wanted them or not.

Do you want one? I hope so.

Enter the official Marsh Mellow Goodness' Giveaway to Celebrate Boob Firework Worthy Followers!

It's easy to enter:

The first step is to be sure you follow my blog via the Follow button to the right.  Then, do the following and garner one separate entries both times!

• - Comment below and tell me what color pashmina you dream of.  Let me know if you already follow me or if you have added yourself!

• - Follow me on twitter (@katemarshmellow) and tweet the following: 
• Pashmina for me! I just entered @katemarshmellow's colorful pashmina giveaway. Want one? Enter here: http://bit.ly/goWO8Q
• Then return and share that you tweeted!

The giveaway IS CLOSED. 

You can enter twice and GET EXCITED because...

there will be TWO winners! Woot toot! And some sort of baked good will ABSOLUTELY be included.

*At some point, I know I'll just have to give away a Victoria's Secret gift card...

Gooey Goodness Tuesday: Chocolate Chip Cookies

I like cookies. Cookies like my hips. I hope you like classic, yum cookies.  I got this recipe from my great grandmother, who was French. Her name was Nessle Tulouse. 

Or, Nestle Tollhouse.

No lie, the best simple chocolate chip cookie recipe. A little extra salt, a little extra flour and you're good to go.

Ingredients. Exciting, no?

Dry ingredients in the bowl. The recipe calls for 2.25 cups of flour. I don't even off my flour on the last scoop and so it comes out likely to about 2.3 or so, which I think makes them a bit fluffier.

Baking soda. Wee!

My second tip: a bit extra salt. I think what makes chocolate chip cookies so yum is the saltiness of the dough juxtaposed with the sugary chocolate morsels. So I do a bit extra salt and it's just yum.

Yay, butter! Lightly softened so that it's room temp.

Mix it all together and you turn yourself around...

That's what it's all about! I love brown sugar. I use dark brown for the extra molassassy- flavor.

Mix it all up!

Oh, dough, how I covet thee.

Super fun this time around? I chopped up a Lindt chocolate reindeer I got for Christmas and used those chocolate bits with my chips for extra creamy yum.

Dump in that chocolate.

So, the other day, Topher and I were at Crate and Barrel. We had some gift cards, I don't know why, but Topher did. Perhaps left over wedding gifts? Or Christmas gifts? Anyway, we had money to spend.    We went in for dish towels, since the week before, Topher put our white and black striped dish towels in the washing machine with our yellow table cloths. And, welp, we now have pee colored towels with black stripes. So, new dish towels were needed. Thank everything Topher is the domestic one because he, for one, knew we needed these new towels because, for two, he actually washed our old ones.

Ok, so. We were at Crate and Barrel. For so long, I've longed for a dough scoop. Just those little moving parts of metal to help me even out my cookies and cupcakes. I picked up the cool-to-the-touch handle, said "ooh!" and promptly dropped it back into its bin, telling myself to be smart and good and let Topher spend the magical gift cards because well, for one, he somehow found them or received them, and for two, he washes our dish towels and I didn't even know they needed washing.

And what did hubs do? Picked up that cold metal and sneakily carried it in his hand through out the store, plopping it on the counter for purchasing, surprising me! 12.95, well spent, as you can see above.

Plop those cookies on sheets.

Do as I do, and admire our new Crate and Barrel kitchen towels and the perfectly sized cookies courtesy of hubs surprise gift.

Then enjoy those crispy-edged-soft-inner cookies.

Do you really want the recipe you can find on the back of the bag? Just in case:

I've heard the New York Times recipe is amazing, and think it looks great- just not as simple. What's your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe?