Split Decision

It's an age old question. One that has riddled the minds of cookie monsters everywhere....Which way do you eat your Oreo? What a delicious dilemma.

There are, of course, the hardcore purists who eat Oreos solo.  On the other end of the spectrum are the diabolical dismantlers who, "twist, lick, dunk" their Oreos. And of course the serial saturators who pre-redunk their Oreos in milk. Before. Each. Bite.

Whichever school you choose is a good one. And the only thing that can make an Oreo better is if it's homeschooled. Yep, homemade Oreos. Truth, people. 

Whatever kind of Oreo cookie connosieur you are, you'll find that the homemade ones are the valedictorians of the class. So twist them, lick them, dunk them or eat them whole. Or put them in stuff. For the record, folks, that includes in vanilla ice cream, as a pie crust and in super-thick milkshakes. Mouth watering yet? Pour a glass of milk and dig on the recipe here.

PB&J YOU'RE A-OKAY

PB&J. It's a time tested classic kiddo combo. When peanut butter and jelly are in cahoots, they're hard to resist. But these days a PB&J sandwich rarely, if ever, makes the cut for lunch in my world.

Most of us have- at least once- dipped a spoon into the peanut butter jar, then the jam jar, then straight down the gullet. No? You haven't? Oh ooookay. It's cool, I won't call you out. You just keep floatin' down that river in Egypt. You know the one? Da Nile?

But if you need a snack for rafting through the rapids, I've got just the thing to satisfy those grown-up PB&J cravings, minus the jar and the spoon. And the shame.

A classic peanut butter cookie with a sweet and tart raspberry jam thumbprint. So sophisticated that you won't have to hide in the pantry with a spoon to get your fix. You're welcome.

SHORT AND SWEET

I never like to show up empty handed. And sometimes bringing your host or hostess the ubiquitous bottle of vino feels a bit witless. In that case, it's fun to whip up something simple to take along as a token. This brown sugar shortbread does the trick- and with only a handful of ingredients, you can whip these up in no time.

Using brown sugar adds depth to the flavor and a good sprinkle of kosher salt on the top makes it my new favorite salty sweet treat. Here's my take on this classic treat with a little twist. So simple, any shawty can pull it off.

SUMMER YUMMER

On a recent hot (horray!) day in Seattle, I had friends coming for dinner and nothing planned for dessert. It was getting late and I didn't have time for my usual cake-baking antics. Walking into the grocery store, I was blessed with an epiphany. Maybe not a life-changing revelation, but a day-changing one at least. Ice. Cream. Sandwiches. I imagined two huge golden cookies with a thick layer of ice cream between them. Some dreams must become reality. Especially cookies and cream dreams....

Aren't they charming? I love taking simple, classic concepts and blowing them up with super high quality ingredients. In this case, the cookies start with a base of whole wheat pastry flour, wheat germ, natural sugar, butter, vanilla, eggs and a touch of coconut oil. Then the batter is studded with whisps of coconut, huge chocolate buttons, crunchy banana chips and buttery pecans. Mortar the cookies together with any natural ice cream made with real vanilla, and that seals the deal. Literally.

Check out the recipe here. And remember, when comes to ice cream sandwiches it's worth the effort. Because summer yummer than others.