Cookies and Cream Pound Cake

After discovering that both cookies, and brownies are improved with the addition of Oreo cookies, I turned to the final frontier. Cake!
And I knew this delicious loaf cake would be the perfect match.

It's a simple mix of butter, sugar, eggs milk and flour - but the right combination that makes a thick, fluffy cake - that's strong enough to keep the crushed up cookies suspended.
I did toss the pieces with a little flour before mixing them in - but even if you didn't, I don't think they'd sink much.
I don't even have much else to say about this (I know, me, at a loss for words??) except that it was really delicious.
And I wish I could tell you if it was any better or worse the second or third day, but, well, four of us managed to eat the whole loaf in one sitting.
Oops!

Tip of the Day: When removing a cake from a pan, often it's easier to use two wire racks, placing one upside down on the top of the cake, and flipping the whole thing over, eliminating any worry of dropping the cake, like I've done before.

Recipe:
1/2 cup (1/ stick) butter or margarine
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup crushed sandwich cookies - approximately 12 cookies

Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating between additions.
Mix in the milk and vanilla, beating well.
Gradually add in the flour, baking powder and salt, mixing until combined.
Toss the crushed cookies with a little flour, and stir in to the batter.
Pour in to a greased 9x5" loaf pan.
Bake on 350F for about an hour, or until set.
Cool in pan for ten minutes, then invert on to wire rack to cool completely.

Oreo Brownies

After I made the Oreo Cookie Cookies a couple months ago, and they were fabulous, I started thinking about what else I could put cookies in. Because - let's face it, what recipe can't be improved by the addition of cookies. So after much googling, when I found this Ina Garten recipe for "Barefoot Contessa's Outrageous Oreo Crunch Brownies," I knew these were in my future.
It starts off with a lot of chocolate, and butter. This is a rich recipe. We're talking 1/2 cup of flour, to a whole cup of butter.

This is rich, people.
Of course, as if that couldn't get any better, you then add the cookies. Mmmmmmm, cookies.
The recipe dictates that you toss the crumbled cookies with a little flour, to help them suspend in the batter, but of course I forgot. I think they suspended pretty well anyway.

Anywho, once I got these in the pan, and baked them, I was already salivating from the smells in my kitchen.

But once I pulled them out and let them cool, they started to crack and collapse!
Just look at that crater. I think I could crawl right in. I guess I don't really mind about the collapsing. It gives it that "authentic" look, right? Right?
Collapsed or not, these brownies were sinful. Really, really rich chocolate, crunchy cookies, delicious taste - you might need a glass of milk to get these down.

Tip of the Day: Even when a recipe calls to melt over a double boiler, lazy me can generally accomplish it in the microwave - you just have to be sure to microwave in short spurts - at most 30 seconds - and stir well between sessions.

Recipe:
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
3 eggs
1 1/2 tbsps instant coffee granules
1 tbsp vanilla
1 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup flour plus 2 tbsp flour, divided
1/2 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups chopped Oreo cookies (about 25)

Melt the butter and the chocolate together and mix. Cool slightly.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, coffee, vanilla and sugar.
Blend the chocolate mixture in to the egg mixture.
Add 1/2 cup flour, baking powder and salt.
Coat the crushed cookies in the remaining 2 tbsp of flour and stir in to the batter.
Bake in a well greased 9x13" pan for 35 minutes.

Oreo Cookie Cookies and Disaster Averted

Yep, you read that right. A cookie within a cookie. How can it be wrong when it feels so right?
But it went wrong. Very wrong. I should have known from the beginning. Being a superstitious baker, I can feel it in my bones when a recipe is bound for disaster. And I felt it, when this happened:
That's right, THE FORK FELL IN. Being the brave trooper that I am, I fished and out and kept going, adding in the flour, sugar, vanilla, eggs etc.

Then came the mix-ins. Chocolate chips, of course, and then: oreos!
I like crushing things. Putting them in a plastic bag and whacking them with a rolling pin. It's a very satisfying experience. You don't want these too fine - like graham cracker crumbs - but not too big either About the size of your chocolate chips would be good to aim for, but of course they won't all be the same size.

All this crushing and mixing left me with a cookie dough that made me not want to bake it at all, but I did. That was a decision I would come to regret, but more on that later.
I used a cookie scoop to measure these out, hoping for nice, uniform cookies.
And then I stuck them in the oven. The recipe called for them to bake for 15 to 17 minutes, but my oven generally runs a little cool so I went to check on them after 17 minutes. They had spread more than I would have liked, but more importantly, they didn't look done at all. I reset the time for another three minutes, and came back to find they had barely progressed. Then I got closer to the cookies, putting my hand into the oven space. Something was wrong. It wasn't hot enough. I've stuck my hands and face into enough 325 F ovens to know that this wasn't it.

Let me set the scene. It was a Friday afternoon. The cookies were to finish within half an hour, as more food was waiting to be cooked for the evening. This oven situation was not good. After frantically attempting to set and reset the oven to see if it would heat up, it was determined that we needed outside help.

Without much hope, we called an appliance repairman and left a message. Within the hour, he called back. Within two hours, he was at our door. With two and a half hours, our oven was once again working.

Five seconds left in the game. Do you believe in miracles? YES! (Name that movie.)

Now while this turn of events saved the next batch of cookies, the first ones were never quite the same.

This is what they looked like when I pulled them out upon realization of the disaster.
Luckily, our microwave oven is also a convection oven, and the baking sheet just managed to slip inside and I baked them enough to finish up. They were still spread way too thin and barely held their shape, but they were dee-licious. (What, you thought I would throw them away? Are you kidding?)

Contrary to what you may believe, this is not one cookie. This is a plate of cookies. Did I mention they spread too much?
But when those finished ones came out right, oh boy were they good. A cookie in a cookie - who knew it would be so great?
Now its got me thinking what other cookies can I put in cookies? The possibilities are endless.
Note: I used a non-dairy chocolate sandwich cookie (and margarine) that is a perfect substitute here.

Tip of the Day: If you find yourself in a situation like mine, most cookie doughs can be kept in the fridge, covered, for several days before baking, or frozen for several months. Then, when you have the time (and oven) to bake, your dough is right there waiting!

Recipe: (from Sugar Cooking)

3/4 cup butter (1 1/2 sticks), melted
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp vanilla
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups chocolate chips
20 oreos, crushed

In a large bowl, beat together the melted butter and sugars.
Add in the vanilla, and beat in the egg and egg yolk.
Mix in the flour, baking soda and salt until just combined.
Stir in the chocolate chips and crushed oreos until evenly distributed.
Drop 1/4 cup measurements onto a greased baking sheet, and bake for 17 minutes on 325 F.
Cool on baking sheet for five minutes before transferring to cooling rack.