Baking my way through the trials and triumphs of life!

I am not a fan of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Who even came up with the idea? As a kid, I really didn’t like any kind of sandwich. I think at a total loss for what to pack, my mom spread peanut butter on Ritz crackers for my lunch, every single day, for my entire elementary education (and I wonder where the boys gets his pickiness). I have nothing against peanut butter or jelly and bread happens to be one of the best foods ever created. It’s just when you put them all together, it becomes an issue of texture. Tell me I’m not the only peanut butter and jelly sandwich hater in the world.

When I made the strawberry cake batter ice cream last week, I thought it was worthy of its own ice cream sandwich. Sure, it would have looked cute in between the sugar cookies covered in sprinkles, but it deserved something totally different to be stuck between. I don’t know what possessed a peanut butter and jelly sandwich hater to make peanut butter cookies,  but since a majority of the world population likes peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, it was worth a shot.

Do you ever have what you think is an original idea and then you google it and find out you are not the first? Man, I hate when that happens. After googling “peanut butter and jelly ice cream sandwiches”, I discovered Paula Deen had already been there done this. I read through her recipe and saw that she spead on actually jelly between the cookie and ice cream. My original thought was to use strawberry ice cream topping, but I followed Paula’s lead and used strawberry preserves and you know what… it was pretty good. Strawberry sundae topping might even be better.

On a side note, just a little personal thing about food blogging. If I put a few chocolate eggs on top of a cupcake, please don’t email me and claim that I stole your idea. I know it’s hard to imagine that there is more than one creative food blogger out there  who might think to sprinkle some chocolate eggs on a cupcake at Easter time. If you follow my blog, you’ll see I give credit to anyone whose recipes I try or adapt or even to someone who just inspires an idea. Whenever I come up with an idea, I google it to see if it’s been done. I never claim to be the one and only on Earth to create something. I didn’t start my blog to become famous or to get in the top hundred of any list. I am thankful for all of the people who read my blog and share their ideas with me… that’s what keeps me inspired. But for goodness sake, if I offend you by what I write or you don’t like the photos I choose to post,  quit stopping by. I promise my feelings won’t be hurt, and you will be a happier person. Say no to blog stalkers!

Thanks for letting me vent! I feel better now.

Peanut Butter & Jelly Ice Cream Sandwiches

a batch of homemade strawberry cake batter ice cream* (recipe here)

your favorite peanut butter cookies**

Strawberry preserves of strawberry sundae topping

Make peanut butter cookies and cool completely. (The peanut butter cookies I used were very soft, so I froze them in advance so they would be sturdy enough to spread the ice cream on.) Take the strawberry ice cream out of the freezer and soften for a few minutes. Spread a scoop of ice cream on one cookie and spread the jelly or sundae topping on another cookie and put together. Wrap ice cream sandwiches individually in foil or plastic wrap and freeze until ready to serve.

*Feel free to substitute any strawberry ice cream.

**I took the easy route and made Betty Crocker’s peanut butter mix cookies and shaped them into squares for that sandwich shape.

Today I’m thrilled to be posting over at Frosting for the Cause, an organization and blog, recently started by Paula of Vanilla Bean Baker, to help in the fight against cancer. Paula has become a dear blogging friend and an inspiration to me. I whipped up these hot chocolate cupcakes in honor of Judi Gregory, a family friend who fought cancer for sixteen years and touched the lives of so many people. Stop by Frosting for the Cause to read my post and get this yummy recipe!

Wishing you a warm, cozy week ahead!

So my boy came home last night from his first camping trip… the first sentence out of his mouth was, “Camping is really not my thing Mom.”. He showed up pretty dirty and in a foul mood. Apparently, sleeping in a tent and riding in a car for 8 hours isn’t his thing either.

On Saturday, the dads took their boys on a 7 mile hike to one of the waterfalls. My boy’s dad was so proud of him for persevering. (By the way, they both have two very different interpretations of the weekend.) While recounting the details of the hike to me, the boy said, “Oh my gosh, you hike and hike for hours to get the top of a waterfall. Then you get there and look down. What’s the point? There’s no point at all.”  Sadly, he doesn’t seem to have developed an appreciation for nature and the wonder of Yosemite.

The boy did tell me that all of the chocolate chip cookies I sent him with were eaten, and he asked if I’d make another batch right away. It doesn’t look like he will be camping anytime soon (if he can help it), but he will definitely be eating more of these cookies.

Yes, there are three billion food blogging posts with chocolate chip cookie recipes. This is a good one, and worth trying. I’m not going to say it’s the holy grail of chocolate chip cookies, but I guarantee it will help you get through a tough situation. The cookie bakes up pretty flat. It’s soft and chewy on the inside, and crispy on the outside.

Have a great week everyone! We’re planning on enjoying these last two weeks before the school year starts.

Yet Another Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe (adapted from Allrecipes.com)

1 cup butter, softened

½  cup white sugar

1 ½  cups packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons hot water

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups mini semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream together the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Dissolve baking soda in hot water. Add to batter along with salt. Stir in flour, and chocolate chips. Drop by large spoonfuls onto ungreased pans.  Bake for about 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are nicely browned.