Cookie Dough Stuffed Cupcakes

Today is a very special day! It is on of my best friend and bridesmaid's birthday!  I celebrated with Tamara this weekend up in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin where we went out to a fabulous dinner and then had a good old-fashioned sleepover back at her place.  Tamara and I share a deep appreciation for cupcakes and so for her birthday I baked this outrageous Cookie Dough Stuffed Cupcakes.  Everything is homemade!  I made yellow cake, homemade egg-less cookie dough, and dark chocolate frosting.  Check it out:

Cookie Dough Stuffed Cupcakes

Ingredients:
For the cupcakes:
2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup powdered milk
1 tbsp baking powder
3/4 cup water
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup butter, softened
3 eggs
For the cookie dough filling:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp skim milk
1 cup mini chocolate chips
For the frosting:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3 oz low-fat cream cheese
1 cup dark chocolate chips
1/4 cup skim milk
3-3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. To make the cupcakes, whisk dry ingredients together.  Beat in wet ingredients.  Pour into prepared cupcake pan with liners.  Bake at 350 for 15-17 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let cool.
2. To make the cookie dough filling,  beat the butter with the brown sugar.  Then, ad in the vanilla.  Then, add in the flour and salt until just combined.  Beat in the milk until you have a desired consistency one tablespoon at a time.  Finally, stir in the chocolate chips.  Chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Then, core the cupcakes using a knife or cupcake corer and put the cookie dough inside.
3. To make the frosting, beat the butter and cream cheese together until light and fluffy.  Beat in the powdered sugar and then slowly add the milk and vanilla.  Melt the chocolate in a microwave safe bowl on high, stirring after 30 seconds, until melted.  Beat in the chocolate.  Frost cooled cupcakes!

Enjoy :)

Red Velvet Cookie Dough and Brownie Parfait

It's my birthday! I decided to share this treat today because it is one of my favorite treats that I have made! But first, let me tell you all about the fun birthday events I have been up to!

First, on Saturday, my family and Bri went to dinner at Due Lire.  I had the Tortelli and it was quite delicious.  Then, on Sunday, I ran the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon and afterwards, went to lunch at D4.  Yesterday, Bri and I went for a little picnic for dinner in the park and now today is the big day!  Today, my family is coming downtown and we have reservations at RPM Italian.  I have never been, but I have heard phenomenal things.  I am pretty excited.  I also baked some of my famous Inception Cookies to bring to my staff at camp today.  I sorta feel like I'm in elementary school again; I'm bringing treats for my class :)

So this dessert basically combines all of my favorite things.  It has brownies, red velvet cookie dough dip, and homemade whipped cream.  I LOVE whipping cream.  I think it is just so cool,  Plus the brownies were the beer brownies that Bri and I made with spent grain from brewing.  This dessert was just outrageously delicious.  

Red Velvet Cookie Dough and Brownie Parfait

Ingredients:

(this fills one large mason jar)

2-3 brownies (I used my Beer Brownies)

Red Velvet Cookie Dough Dip:

8 oz low-fat cream cheese

1 cup non-fat, greek yogurt

2/3 cup brown sugar

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tbsp cocoa powder

2-3 tsp red food coloring

Whipped Cream:

4 oz low-fat cream cheese

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1/4 cup powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Bake the brownies or use your favorite store bought brand.

2. Make the red velvet cookie dough dip: In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese with the greek yogurt.  Beat in both sugars until well combined and then add in the cocoa powder and red food color.  Mix until well combined.

3. Make the whipped cream: In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese with the powdered sugar.  Add in the cream and beat on high until peaks begin to form.  Continue to beat until you have stiff peaks.  

4. Use a mason jar or other container to layer your dessert.  Start with some crumbled brownies, then red velvet dip, and then whipped cream and repeat. 

Enjoy :)

New and Improved Cookie Dough Frosted Brownies

Happy Friday! Today I have a really fun recipe to share!  I made Cookie Dough Frosted Brownies a while back, but I changed up the recipe a bit this time and they came out even better than before! Last time, I had way too much cookie dough.  Now, I know that typically doesn't sound like a problem, but it actually overpowered the brownies and I love my brownies.  So this time, I cut the recipe in half and cut out a few other things and it was awesome.  I still had plenty cookie dough frosting to cover those brownies, but you got a good balance of brownie and cookie dough in every bite.  

In other news, I have also been having one great food week.  Last night, I went with my family and Bri to the Little Goat Diner.  This place is so good! If you are ever in Chicago and looking for a casual meal that is also incredibly delicious, this is a great place to go.  My mom and I split their Springy Veggie Quesidillas and the Chinese Chicken Sandwich.  Both items were great and it was one amazing meal.  Today, (after a much needed workout and zumba class) I am going to Budacki's Drive-In where I actually LOVE the veggie dogs.  Plus, if you really want to splurge, get cheese fries, do it.  And then, I am headed to Lizzie McNeill's for some drinks with a few of my teaching buddies.  School hasn't even been out for a week and I already miss them like crazy.  It should be a great day! 

Cookie Dough Frosted Brownies

Cookie Dough Frosted Brownies

Ingredients:

1 batch of Dark Chocolate Fudge Brownies

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup powdered sugar

6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

3 tbsp light cream cheese

2 tsp vanilla

skim milk, as needed

pinch of salt

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Make the brownies according to directions and let cool.

2. Make the frosting by beating the melted butter, brown sugar, and powdered sugar together in a bowl.  Beat in the cream cheese and vanilla.  Add in 1 tbsp of milk if the mixture is too thick.  Mix in the salt and the chocolate chips.

3. Frost the cooled brownies with the cookie dough mixture.  Let set in the fridge.  When ready, cut into pieces and serve. 

Enjoy :)

Wedding Planning Wednesday Part 5 and Inception Cookies

I do have some exciting developments to share in our wedding planning extravaganza.  But first:

Happy National Running Day!  I have some new shoes arriving today to help kick off my marathon training for the Chicago Marathon.  Plus, I decided to sign up for ANOTHER marathon.  Jana and I have been looking for a spring marathon so that we can have a "runcation."  We decided to sign up for the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon in Nashville!  I am pretty excited about this.  This marathon is not until April 30 so I will have a ton of time after the Chicago one to rest up and train.  Yay running! I know many of you think I am insane, but I just love it :)

Also, it's finals week and you know what that means: COOKIES!!! I made a ton of Inception Cookies for all my kiddos to celebrate finishing the year on a good note.  Currently, I am sitting in my Algebra Advanced final and I am watching them work really hard.  I am pretty proud of these guys and they totally deserve some cookies.  Plus, I found Cookie Dough Oreos! I know, what? Yes, cookie dough! So really these Inception Cookies are like TRIPLE inception: A cookie, within a cookie, within a cookie!

Inception Cookies

And now, the wedding plans.  We (almost) have a DJ!!! I set up two meetings with Style Matters and Toast and Jam to talk about music.  So we have a place, a rabbi, a photographer, and a DJ!!! I am still working on my "ask the bridesmaids" project and I am going to get started on figuring out food and a wedding website as soon as school is out!  Things are getting pretty exciting!  If anyone has advice on DJ's or good recommendations, I would love to hear them!  We are pretty much decided on using a DJ over a band because of finances, but if you know of a great band that is reasonable, I would love to hear that as well!! Thanks for all the advice I have already been getting from you guys! 

Cookie Dough Frosted Brownies

I can't believe I am a month away from race day! I just finished an "easy" 14 miles.  You may be wondering...easy?  Well, after running 18 last week, today seemed like a breeze.  Plus, the weather was chilly and beautiful.  This made the run a whole lot more pleasant than those others that were in 80 degree heat with crazy humidity!  I feel great right now! I can't believe that next week is the 20 mile run! 20 miles is the longest run before the actual marathon and I am only one week away!

I am running for a charity called Access Living and if you would like to read more about the charity and my running journey, you can find all info here:  Jodie-Team Access Living.

Today I figured we should celebrate!  I am pumped about my running going so well, but I am also grateful for an amazing start to the school year.  So far classes have been great, I love my co-workers, and my students have been a joy so far!  (Let's hope it stays that way!)  I'm also excited about the fact that I have finally finished reading all the current Game of Thrones books.  This was a HUGE project as each book is about 1000 pages, but I finally finished and I can't wait for the next book to be released!  All in all, a celebration is in order and what better way to celebrate than with delicious brownies?  I made my typical Dark Chocolate Brownies, but then I topped them with a layer of cookie dough frosting.  YUM!!!! Bri has already asked that I make these for his birthday this year and thats not for another 3 months!

Cookie Dough Frosted Brownies

Ingredients:
Brownie Recipe
Frosting:
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
12 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
2 tbsp skim milk
2 tsp vanilla
3 tbsp low-fat cream cheese
pinch of salt
3/4 cup chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Make brownies according to directions (or make your own favorite recipe). Let cool completely.
2. In a large bowl, beat sugar, brown sugar, and melted butter until well combined and sugar starts to dissolve.  Beat in the milk, vanilla, cream cheese, and salt until well combined.  Stir in the chocolate chips.  Spread the frosting over the brownies.  You will have a very thick layer.
3. Cover in tinfoil and place in fridge for a few hours to ensure that the frosting sets.  Once chilled, cut into squares.

Enjoy :)

Baked Crispy Chicken Fingers

Another Snow Day!

This is getting ridiculous.  And today was especially strange.

I woke up at 5:30 since I had to be at school early for a department meeting.  Following breakfast, I got a text from my cooperating teacher.  The text was about how there was going to be a late start to school because of the icy road conditions and that we should get there around 9.  Since it was not yet 6:30, I decided to get in my 3 mile run for the day.  I slipped and slid my way to the work out center and, after successfully not falling, I got in a nice run.  I returned home, showered, and then got dressed in an adorable dress with tights.  Then, I saw my phone.  I proceeded to freak out because my phone had a text about the department meeting being at 8:15...it was 8:20!!! I grabbed my coat and called my cooperating teacher. I apologized and told her I was on my way. She then said: Wait, don't leave, they just cancelled school.

I was out of my tights and dress within seconds and into my leggings and oversized sweater.  Then, I got my baking supplies and headed to the kitchen to make some cookies! I was so excited!

Now, it is finally the afternoon and I have already baked not one, but TWO treats, gone over lesson plans for tomorrow and next week, cleaned my room, worked out, and finished laundry! I love that I have had so much time to get everything done and now I get to tell you about a yummy meal I made for the superbowl this past weekend!

For the superbowl, I watched with the only two people who get me remotely excited about sports: Tamara and Courtney.  We all got together and had my Light Baked Spinach and Artichoke Dip, Veggies, other snacks, Cookie Dough Dip, and for our main course, Baked Crispy Chicken Fingers.  We wanted to have "sporty food" but also "healthy food."  Baked Chicken Fingers were a great idea and super yummy.  And, those dips use non-fat greek yogurt in place of sour cream or butter!  It only took a few ingredients and very little time.  This was a really yummy dinner that I will definitely be making again.

Skillet Baked Spinach and Artichoke Dip

Strawberry Dipped in Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip

Baked Crispy Chicken Fingers (adapted from Fitness Magazine)

Ingredients:
24 oz chicken strips
4 cups corn flakes, crushed
2 eggs
2 tbsp honey
2 tsp mustard

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. In small bowl, mix the eggs, honey and mustard.
3. Place corn flakes in a separate bowl.
4. Dip chicken strips in the egg mixture and then roll in teh corn flakes until coated.  Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 12-18 minutes depending on how thick your chicken strips are.
5. Serve with various dipping sauces! We had BBQ sauce...mmm!

Enjoy :)

Cookie Dough Dip

This weekend was so great!

I participated in the Color Run Saturday morning and it was a blast!  I started out in a squeaky clean white shirt and then I ended up like this:

I then proceeded to shower as fast as I could while still attempting to get all the color off of me so that I could drive to Chicago and get all dressed up to go downtown for my friend Anna's birthday.  It was a blast!

It was a whirlwind of a weekend, but overall it was a great time! Now, it's back to lesson planning and getting very little sleep, but I am excited.  Tomorrow I am trying out a demonstration on Geometer's Sketchpad.  I am a little nervous because typically technology and I do not get along so well.  However, I am excited because if all goes well, it should be a pretty neat demonstration.

Also, after this super short, fairly random post, I have a cute recipe for a cookie dough dip that I shared with my Education Psychology class.  It was crazy yummy and we dipped graham crackers, animal crackers, and pretzels in this mouthwateringly good dip.  Also, it is a great dessert to make if you are like me and have practically no spare time, but still love to create fun food things.  Cooking and baking is what is keeping me sane right now, and this recipe is definitely one that I will make again as it is so easy to whip up and so yummy to devour!

Cookie Dough Dip (adapted from How Sweet It Is)

Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 8 oz low-fat cream cheese
1 cup non-fat plain greek yogurt
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
1. In a medium bowl, melt butter in the microwave and then stir in the brown sugar until well combined.  Whisk in the vanilla.  Set aside to cool.
2. In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and greek yogurt together.  Beat in the powdered sugar.  Next, beat in the butter and brown sugar mixture.  Stir in the chocolate chips.
3. Serve with an assortment of yummy things to dip in this crazy-good dip (animal crackers, graham crackers, pretzels, fruit, your fingers...etc).

Enjoy :)

Crazy Cookie Cupcakes

It's time for yet another Foodie Friends Friday! That means its the end of one crazy week.

My student teaching experience is fairly difficult.  I am in a rather rough classroom and I have never experienced anything like this before.  I am grateful for the experience, but I am learning first hand how hard it is to focus on good teaching when you are so preoccupied with bad behavior.  Typically, I just don't know where to draw the line.  When do I redirect? When does the behavior become so bad that they need to be sent out of the room?  It's really tricky especially when you have no prior experience!  Monday was just plain nuts, Tuesday was a tad better, Wednesday I got observed so I was a nervous wreck, and by Thursday, I was just excited for Friday!  Thursday was a review day and today is a test!

Assessments are interesting because I finally get to see where the students are in terms of understanding.  Sometimes with all the craziness that can happen in that classroom, I find it hard to gage how quieter students are feeling.  Also, many times I have been pleasantly surprised by the tests! We use standards based grading and I like it because then I can truly assess student understanding instead of simply right or wrong answers.  This type of grading system requires me to really think about what I want the students to understand.  What are the essential concepts and what should be the enduring understanding?  I find this to be really great practice.

So, after a crazy week, I can't wait for another Foodie Friends Friday and this Friday I am sharing a crazy recipe: Crazy Cookie Cupcakes.  There are oreos on the bottom, cookie dough in the middle, and cooking dough frosting slathered on top.  This is one crazy cupcake!  I got the idea from Cookies & Cups and then I adapted the frosting and made my own homemade yellow cake mix from a recipe at Chickens in the Road.  I made mini cupcakes and I was able to make about 72 mini cupcakes.  If you make big cupcakes, you will probably make around 24-30.

Crazy Cookie Cupcakes

Ingredients:
24-30 oreos (whole for big cupcakes or crumbled for mini)
Homemade Cake Mix:
2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 cup non-fat dry milk
3/4 cup water
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
3 eggs
Cookie Dough Filling:
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup skim milk
2 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 cup mini chocolate chips
Cookie Dough Frosting:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
2-4 tbsp milk

Directions:
1. Make the cookie dough filling: beat the butter, brown sugar, and sugar together until creamy.  Beat in the milk and vanilla until well combined.  Beat in the flour and salt until just combined.  Stir in the chocolate chips.  Form tbsp sized balls of cookie dough and place on a pan lined with parchment paper.  Freeze for at least 1 hour.
2. Preheat oven to 350 and line your cupcake pans with liners.  For mini cupcakes, sprinkle a layer of crumbed oreos into each cupcake.  For large cupcakes, simply place an oreo into each cupcake.

3. Make the cake batter: In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, and dry milk together.  Beat in the water, butter, vanilla, and eggs until well combined. Set aside.
4. Fill each cupcake well with batter until 1/2 full.  Place a frozen cookie dough ball into each cupcake well.
5.  Bake for about 18-20 minutes.  Let cool completely.

6. Make the frosting: beat the butter and both sugars together until light and fluffy.  Beat in the vanilla and then the flour/salt.  Start with 2 tbsp of milk and add more as needed until you have the desired consistency.  Frost the cooled cupcakes and sprinkle the tops with chocolate chips!

Enjoy :)

Onto the business/fun stuff! Last week these three lucky winners won canister labels from A Mustard Seed Dream:

1. Marlys F.

2. Danielle

3. Marsha J.

And here are the winner's from last week's party!

Most Votes:

1. Sun-dried Tomato Chicken Spaghetti

2. Blue Ribbon Carrot Cake

3. Pumpkin Crumb Cake

Most Clicked:

1. Sun-dried Tomato Chicken Spaghetti

2. Swirly Pumpkin Brownies

3. Sweet Heat Tacos with Pineapple Salsa

This week is sponsored by The Lovebug Collection and three randomly picked, lucky winners will win a Foodie Headband!

But first, here are this week's co-hosts:

Foodie Friends Friday http://www.foodiefriendsfriday.com

Tracy at Busy Vegetarian Mom http://www.busyvegetarianmom.com

Robyn's View http://www.robynsviewathome.blogspot.com

Marlys at This and That  http://marlys-thisandthat.blogspot.com/

Lois at  Walking on Sunshine http://wifeofthecolonel.blogspot.com/

Lindsey at Family Food Finds  http://www.familyfoodfinds.com

Cindy at Cindys Recipes and Writings  http://www.cindysrecipesandwritings.com

Michelle at  From Calculus to Cupcakes http://www.fromcalculustocupcakes.blogspot.com

Cynthia at Feeding Big  http://www.feedingbig.blogspot.com

Jodie at Binomial Baker http://www.binomialbaker.blogspot.com

R Dawn at Spatulas on Parade http://www.spatulasonparade.blogspot.com

Angie at A lil Country Sugar http://www.alilcountrysugar.blogspot.com

Erika at Chef Picky Kid http://www.chefpickykid.com

Amber at Mamas Blissful Bites http://www.mamasblissfulbites.com

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