Wrinkles by Amy Rae

Since the hubbers loves Oreos (me, too!  me, too!), I thought this cookie recipe would be a happy surprise for him.  Truth be told, he was happily surprised and gobbled them up.  However, our opinions were split down the middle.  While the hubbers and others said these cookies were good, I was not so thrilled with them and rather upset that I’d wasted so many perfectly fine Oreos.  However, I was thrilled with my new PPM (since this was the first recipe I used with it).

Oreo Cheesecake Cookies ♥♥ (2/5 hearts)

recipe retrieved from here

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp
3 oz. cream cheese, room temp
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
1 cup Oreo cookie crumbs

(full disclosure:  I used salty butter, whole wheat flour, and forgot to add the chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a mixing bowl, combine butter and cream cheese on medium until smooth.   Add sugar and vanilla and mix.  Add flour and mix.  Stir in chocolate chips.

Put Oreo crumbs in a bowl.  Scoop cream cheese dough mixture into 1.5 – 2″ balls and then roll in cookie crumbs.  Place cookie balls on cookie sheet and bake 12-15 minutes.

Sounds easy enough, right?  This recipe gave me all sorts of trouble.

Meh.

The final step (rolling the dough in Oreo crumbs) was way more difficult than it should’ve been, and I’m still not really sure why. In the first batch, I used Oreos mashed up in a plastic Ziploc bag.  This is how they came out:

the red is from the Holiday Oreos

Ugly, right?  The cookies were HUGE because apparently I didn’t consider how big these crumbly monsters would be after adding the chunky crumbs.  Plus, mashing Oreos in the bag seemed to waste a TON of Oreos (half the bag) on just a few rolled up balls.

For the second batch, I broke out the food processor and ground up the Oreos (mint ones this time – my favorite!).  This method was much preferred, since it was easier to roll the dough in the crumbs and it wasted less Oreos.  However, I had to pre-flatten the cookies before baking, otherwise they stayed puffed up chunky monsters.

Maybe these would’ve been better with the chocolate chips, but I’m hesitant to try again to find out.  I’d much rather just eat regular ol’ Oreos.

So, I did it.

I finally discovered parchment paper.  And I.am.addicted.  THis stuff is FAB-U-LOUS.

(If my excessive punctuation doesn’t convince you, you will just have to trust me.  You can do that.)

You can pull cookies right off the paper, with just a twist and a zip!

Twist and Zip!

Ever since my oh-so recent discovery of ParchmentPaperMagic (hereafter known as PPM), I’ve been baking up a storm!  Oreo cheesecake cookies (seen above), haystacks, chocolate-dipped pretzels, homemade Mounds…

The best part of PPM is that nothing sticks to it.  PPM really is magic!   *love!*

I’ve recently tried my hand at a few recipes and figured I’d add my two cents for posterity.  So here goes:

Broccoli Chicken Casserole:  ♥♥♥♥♥ 5/5 hearts

(recipe retrieved from here)

This casserole is AMAZING.  The salty, buttery goodness of the cracker crust finishes this piece to perfection.  However, this is not your 15 minute whip-it-up casserole.  It took me a good hour to put in the oven, but there are some time savers.  For instance, you could boil and chop your chicken beforehand.  I like to boil several chicken breasts at one time and separate the product into dinners over the course of a few nights, e.g., chicken salad, brunswick stew, chicken and dumplings.  Added bonus:  you can save and reuse the water from boiling method as chicken broth!

Another time saver is to have a kitchen helper – someone on hand to chop and mix along with you would certainly speed this along!

Ingredients:

1 lb. broccoli (I used steam-in-the-bag and chopped it up afterwards)
3 cups cooked chicken breasts
3 cups grated SHARP cheddar cheese
2 sleeves Ritz crackers
1/2 cup melted butter
1 tbsp. poppy seeds
1/3 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 cups milk

Directions:

Grease a 13×9 pan and layer broccoli and chicken.  Set aside.

In a saucepan over medium heat, combine butter, cornstarch, chicken broth, salt + pepper, and milk.  Stir well and continue to stir until sauce has thickened.  (I just stirred for five minutes or so)  Add 1.5 cups of cheese and stir until melted.  Stir, stir, stir.

Pour over chicken and broccoli and top with remaining cheese.

Add poppy seeds to melted butter, stir.  Add crushed Ritz crackers, stir.  Spread crumbs over top of casserole.  (note:  I crushed my crackers while they were still in the sleeve.  I recommend crunching them lightly – the bigger chunks make this casserole terrific!)

Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, or until bubbling goodness.

My husband and I ate this for DAYS afterwards and it never got old.  It heats up nicely and satisfies every time.  I highly recommend this recipe!