Cream Cheese (Cookies and Cream) Cookies

Cream Cheese frosting is my arch nemesis. Like Batman and Joker, Superman and Lex Luthor, Thor and Loki….you get the idea. Unlike in the movies though cream cheese frosting normally wins. Spread that on a graham cracker and give me a glass of milk and I am in HEAVEN. Spread it all over a “blue velvet cake” (my husbands signature birthday cake for me) and well…you’ve never seen me happier. So when I figured out how to make a cookie out of a cream cheese frosting like base it was the best day of my life. Then I added in one of my favorite candy bars and it turned into one of my best creations. I think this could be one of those recipes that I go down in history for in my family. “No one made cookies like grandma’s cream cheese cookies and cream cookies” my grandkids will say.

Now before I age myself let’s get on to this recipe. While I type I might just eat one or five more of these.

Ingredients:
3 oz cream cheese
1 stick butter
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 3/4 cup flour
3 Hershey’s Cookies and Crème Bars Broken into Chunks

Cream together the butter and cream cheese. Add the powdered sugar and cream until well blended (this is the frosting like base for your cookies and what gives them the awesome cream cheese flavor) Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until they are doughy. Stick the dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. This is an important step! Don’t skip it no matter how tempted or impatient you are. If it helps just eat a spoonful of dough while you wait (I know raw eggs…naughty naughty…but YUMMY!)

Roll into one inch balls and slightly press down with a glass before baking. The cookies don’t spread much so press them down to the approximate thickness you want.

Bake at 375 for about 8-10 minutes until the cookies are just golden brown on the bottom.

Tips from Kj:

If you don’t have powdered sugar on hand…never fear!! I found out that you can put regular granulated sugar into your blender (at a 1:1 ratio to the powdered sugar needed) then you just blend away until a powder forms. This was so cool to try and it really does turn into perfectly powdery sugar!  :D Pin It

Parmesan Butternut Squash

My husband loves butternut squash like our baby loves….dogs, cars, cookies, coconut milk…and the list goes on and on. Pretty much he loves it maybe more than he loves me. He’d marry it if he could. Good thing he can’t or it might be banned from our home.

I love it too and come to find out so does our little guy. I guess butternut squash will have to be a permanent member of our family. Maybe like a second cousin or something. I like to have this with Swedish meatballs. (You can see them peeking in the picture) Tonight we had them with lasagna and it was a perfect accent to our dinner.

Here is what you need to make this beautifully delicious side dish for any meal. I promise you your taste buds will thank you. I literally had someone say “I don’t know what you did to this but I am glad you did it!” as he asked for seconds. Yum. O.

Pre-Heat oven to 400 degrees

Peel and dice 1 butternut squash into 2 inch strips, or cubes, or however you like it. Place in a baking dish.

Melt 1/4 Cup + 2 Tbsp butter in a small dish
Mix the following ingredients into the melted butter:
2 minced garlic cloves
1/3 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon parsley

Pour the butter mixture all over the butternut squash and be sure to stir it up so it is all coated.

Bake at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until the squash is perfectly soft and delicious.

Tips from Kj:

If you put your squash in a smaller baking dish and it is overlapping you will probably need to leave it in for the full 40 minutes. If the squash is in a single layer it will probably only take about 30 minutes.

I like a single layer better because everything is more evenly coated with the topping!

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Who Needs Pinterest? How to Separate an Egg White and Yolk the Easy Way

I was at my mom's house. She is pretty much the nicest mom in the world. Evidence:

She was making pancakes for my brother who is 16 at 11:30 when he should have been eating lunch or at least pouring himself a bowl of cereal or something. But alas he requested pancakes and she delivered. As she was making them she needed to separate the egg yolk and the white. I got excited and said "You should do the water bottle trick from pinterest!" She was like "Why?" And then did this:

It was epic. It cracked me up. And the best part about it was that it worked! haha She shook the yolk a little to get the white off and ta da a perfectly separated egg white and yolk.

This is one of the million reasons I love my mom. She is just awesome!

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