Martha Stewart's Surprise Cookies

Pick up the chocolate cookie with chocolate frosting...take a look...take a bite...SURPRISE! There's a marshmallow inside! The only thing missing from this recipe was a sprinkling of crushed graham crackers to make it a s'more cookie.

A few hours before heading out to a party my husband told me it would be nice if I made a dessert to share. Well, I didn't have time for an actual dessert so I scrambled through some recipes and came across this Surprise Cookie recipe from Martha Stewart. I happened to have all of the ingredients I needed so I made them!

They turned out to be really tasty cookies and I got a bunch of compliments. I mean, can you really go wrong with Martha Stewart??!! The cookies are more like the texture of moist dense cake bites. The marshmallow and frosting kept them very soft and chewy until the last cookie was gone. And they did all get eaten that evening!

Surprise Cookies

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 12 large marshmallows, cut in half horizontally

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside. 

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg, milk, and vanilla, and beat until well combined. Add reserved flour mixture; mix on low speed until combined. 

Using a tablespoon or 1 3/4-inch ice cream scoop, drop dough onto ungreased baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Bake until cookies begin to spread and become firm, 10 to 12 minutes. 

Remove baking sheets from oven, and place a marshmallow, cut-side down, in the center of each cookie, pressing down slightly. Return to oven, and continue baking until marshmallows begin to melt, 2 to 2 1/2 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting. 

Spread about 1 tablespoon of frosting over each marshmallow, starting in the center and continuing outward until marshmallow is covered.

Chocolate Frosting for Surprise Cookies

• 2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Place confectioners' sugar in a medium bowl. Whisk in butter and cocoa powder. Add milk and vanilla, and whisk until well combined.

**I cut the frosting recipe in half and had a perfect amount to generously frost all of the cookies. I crushed one graham cracker rectangle and sprinkled over each cookie after it was frosted. If you wait until all the cookies are frosted it might be dry enough that the crumbles won't stick.**

Cut the Rope Cake - Cake of Cakes!

"Deliver candy to Om Nom!" I hear this phrase all the time. Both of my boys love Cut the Rope so for my son's third birthday he requested a cake with Om Nom - his favorite character, of course! Turns out he thought it was the cake of cakes!

There are many beautiful and amazing cakes out there that have been covered/decorated with fondant. I am sort of a fondant hater. Mainly because it tastes horrible! I have bought fondant and made (marshmallow) fondant from scratch with the same outcome. The cake tastes great but the fondant has to be picked off and thrown away.

Now, if you don't have kids you might not think this is a big deal but when they don't like the taste of fondant and you have to take it off of their cake and all the frosting goes with it.......well, there are many unwanted tears to deal with!

So, in an attempt to satisfy my little birthday boy I tried my best to smooth out buttercream frosting instead of using fondant. A usual event for me when making cakes. With that said, there is no better way (that I have tried) to create characters and/or graphic decorations than to use fondant. All of the dots and characters on this cake are made using store bought fondant.

I modeled this cake from the Fabric Box from Cut the Rope which includes: om nom, stars, candy, spiders, air balloons and the spikes that breaks the candy. I got the idea from searching google images for cut the rope cakes. This is the one my cake looks most like but with more details. http://kawaiidepartment.blogspot.com/2011/08/cut-rope-cake.html

Don't skimp on the details. It will take longer but the outcome will be well worth it!

If you want to see more details and step-by-step instructions visit http://www.instructables.com/id/Cut-the-Rope-Cake/

Asian Pasta Salad

It's getting to be that time of year (for me anyway) when the days are getting warmer and I don't want to heat up the house by turning on the oven. This is a quick and refreshing meal that will fill hungry bellies (without meat).

The sauce for this cold pasta salad has olive oil and peanut butter for fat and protein and is an adapted recipe from Ina Garten - Barefoot Contessa (although I call it Asian Pasta Salad instead of Crunchy Noodle Salad). The phrase 'crunchy noodle' reminds me of those gross brown crunchy noodle straw things in a can that I hated as a kid!

You can dress this salad up with any fresh veggies that you have available. I have also topped it with grilled chicken if you want an added boost of protein or can't live without meat!

Asian Pasta Salad
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1/3 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon honey or agave nectar
2 fresh garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
zest of 1/2 lime
juice of 1 lime

1/2 lb. angel hair pasta, cooked according to package and cooled
2 c. shredded cabbage, per serving
1 c. chopped bell pepper
1 c. shredded carrots
1 c. blanched peas, frozen or fresh

In a small mixing bowl whisk together all ingredients until mixture is well incorporate, smooth and creamy. Toss half of the sauce with cooled pasta and refrigerate until chilled, approx 30 minutes.

Remove from refrigerator and toss with remaining sauce and all veggies (except cabbage). Serve over shredded cabbage.

Serves 4