Grandma's Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies

When I was a kid, my dad used to sell Grandma's Cookies and drinks on the side. Mom would then pack some of those cookies in my lunchbox. Let me tell you: I hated those cookies. They had an unappealing aftertaste that I couldn't stand. I also felt that Grandma's Cookies were too dry. 

After seeing Grandma's Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk in various stores recently, I thought "Oh yum, peanut butter and chocolate sounds delicious. But I bet those cookies are still awful tasting. It's not worth the disappointment." And yet I obviously caved, as you can see. 

I was surprised to discover the cookies tasted completely different than the ones from my childhood. There are two cookies in every packet. Each peanut butter scented cookie was soft and moist, without being messy and crumbly. There were plenty of rich chocolate chunks, too. The aftertaste was buttery. 

Grandma's Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies were a pleasant surprise for me. I would buy these again. 

Toys R Us, Part 2: Girl Gourmet Refill Pack

Continued from Review # 1





Girl Gourmet Ultimate Deco and Sprinkler Refill Kit. It included 3 frosting packs: chocolate, strawberry and vanilla. Just add water to the mix for frosting. Can I say how cute that cartoon baker is ? I would use that for my icon here if it wasn't trademarked.



This kit had 6 sprinkle packs. I'm saving those for another day.





Each pack made 1 shot glass of frosting.

The chocolate frosting smelled and tasted like a thinned Duncan Hines frosting. It tasted good, except for a mysterious metallic taste.

The vanilla frosting had a metallic taste and smell. It was sickly sweet. The second scent this frosting had was similar to the honey flavoring you find on granola bars.

The strawberry frosting had a very nice smell. Not artificial like I expected. Unfortunately, the strawberry frosting tasted like strawberry medicine laced with metal. Yuck!

I do not recommend purchasing the Girl Gourmet Ultimate Deco and Sprinkler Refill Kit. It tastes metallic and is a waste of money.

Toys R Us, Part 1: Easy Bake Super Pack

When life hands you a Toys R Us gift card, you do what ? Buy toys for the godkids ? Get something sensible for yourself ? Heck no. You grab an Easy Bake 12 Mix Super Pack and the Girl Gourmet Ultimate Deco & Sprinkler Refill.







The Easy Bake Super Pack had 3 packs of yellow cake flavored mix, 3 packs of chocolate chip cookie flavored mix, 3 packs of sugar cookie flavored mix and 3 packs of chocolate frosting flavored mix. Each mix required a dash of water. If you're wondered why I said "flavored" four times, that's Hasbro's wording, not mine.





Left to right: Chocolate frosting, yellow cake batter, sugar cookie mix and chocolate chip cookie mix. Each shot glasses holds three packets worth of mix or frosting. Yep, you're not getting a lot.

The chocolate frosting tasted & smelled like chocolate cake batter. The only reason it was better than Girl Gourmet (see review #2) is because Girl Gourmet frosting had a metallic taste.

The yellow cake batter had a sweet, buttery, pudding scent, just like other yellow cake mixes.

The sugar cookie mix smelled like Yogi Fresh Strawberry Crunch. I have no idea why.

The chocolate chip cookie mix smelled like a less buttery yellow cake mix. The chocolate chips were not solid. They were those little soft pieces that are precariously close to being labeled "chocolatey chips."



7 Chocolate chip cookies & 6 yellow cakes in a small muffin tin.



6 Sugar cookies in a small muffin tin

Yeah, I used a normal oven. I know you're supposed to buy the actual Easy Bake Oven. I couldn't justify buying it for a one time taste test.

I started off baking the treats for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, the cake tops and the cookies were both fluffy, but not done. So I put the tray back in for 20 more minutes. The cakes unfortunately started to get crisp, but again, still not done. I scooped the cookies and cakes out of the muffin tin, put them on a sheet of foil and baked for another 20 minutes. That only helped partially. I gave up after that. The comment over here was "Well, duh, of course they're not coming out right. They're supposed to cook under a light bulb, not in a regular oven."

I give this product a B for taste and a C- for over all usefulness. Unless you're a big fan of Easy Bake and definitely plan to buy the refills, this is not a great value for your money.

POMx Iced Coffee

"A delicious blend of antioxidants, caffeine and rich coffee"

Confession time: I don't drink hot coffee. Iced coffee, though, I love. Sipping an iced coffee at the park is just so relaxing to me. The downside to that past time is spilling your cup on the drive to the park : P But there is a solution to that: POMx Iced Coffee. Their coffees come in cute, portable bottles you can toss in your tote bag for a day at the park.

POMx comes in three yummy flavors: vanilla, chocolate and cafe au lait. Some of you are probably wondering "Wait, isn't POM a fruit juice ? I don't want juice in my coffee." No worries. Only the pomegranate antioxidants are in POMx iced coffee, not the actual pomegranate flavor. Plus, this beverage is preservative free and made with hormone-free milk.

Aside from drinking the POMx iced coffee, I liked trying it in recipes. For breakfast, I recommend a glass of POMx cafe au lait, fruit, toast and cafe au lait butter. The cafe au lait butter was easy to make. Just mix a smidge of the POMx and some butter in a small bowl with a fork. Don't add too much, as you just want to add the flavor and not make the butter soggy.

For dessert, I added 1/4 cup POMx cafe au lait to a chocolate chip cookie mix. That was the best idea ever. Like chocolate chip cookies aren't addictive enough! X D

As a late night snack, I would suggest the chocolate POMx. I had a bowl of black pepper popcorn and the chocolate flavor. That was a very odd combination, but absolutely delicious. (I sort of get the whole chili and chocolate craze now) I dipped the popcorn in the chocolate POMx. What, it tasted good.

Thumbs up for POMx Iced Coffee *skips off to produce aisle for more*


POMx cafe au lait & POMx chocolate iced coffees


POMx cafe au lait & POMx chocolate iced coffees


POMx chocolate iced coffee and black pepper popcorn


POMx cafe au lait iced coffee and toast with POMx cafe au lait butter

Organica Deluxe: Ginger Cookies

"Baked fresh in small batches, the organic ingredients make these darker and richer than traditional ginger cookies. Topped with sugar crystals, these oversized treats are the perfect compliment to your morning latte, hot tea or a cold glass of milk."

Last week, I entered an Organica Deluxe contest. I ended up winning two Organica Deluxe ginger cookies. How awesome is that ?

These ginger cookies were soft, lightly sugared & fresh tasting. They absolutely melted in my mouth. I was pleased with the ingredient list, too:

"Organic flour, organic cane sugar, organic butter, organic molasses, organic eggs, organic ginger, organic cloves and other natural spices."

I'll definitely be sending Organica cookies to people for the upcoming holidays. Thumbs up for Organica Deluxe!

Nabisco 100 Calorie: Oreo Mini Cakesters

"Experience the classic taste of Oreo in a soft snack cake – smooth, one-of-a-kind Oreo crème sandwiched between two luscious chocolate cakes."





Yesterday, I received a coupon for a free package of Oreo Mini Cakesters. You know how much I love chocolate cookies! So I headed over to Publix to buy a box.

Each Cakester pack came with three mini cookies. The crème tasted just like the original Oreo filling. The sandwich cookies were rather good, too. They reminded me of devil's food cake. Thumbs up for Oreo Mini Cakesters!

An Occasional Cookie, Dillsburg, PA

An Occasional Cookie
47 South Baltimore Street
Dillsburg, PA 17019
(717) 432-5099
Fax:(717) 432-7859

Today I received a sample in the mail from An Occasional Cookie. AOC is located in Dillsburg, Pennsylvania and sells cookies, gift tins and cookie cakes.

My sample was a chocolate chip cookie. It was a nice, hefty size. AOC bakes with butter and Hershey's chocolate. That results in delicious, buttery soft cookies with oodles of chocolate chips. If you don't like chocolate, they have several other flavors such as Ginger Crinkle and White Chocolate Almond.

I was excited to see the cookies and gift tins are available for sale online (Cookie cakes are only available in the store). I would definitely recommend you try these cookies. I know I'll be ordering a batch soon. Thumbs up for An Occasional Cookie.

Simply Indulgent Gourmet: Carrot Cake Cookies

"9 oz. of satisfying Big Carrot Cake cookies bottomed in White Chocolate"

I purchased a box of Simply Indulgent's cookies at the Cracker Barrel in Salisbury,NC. They looked so enticing, with a picture of fresh carrot cake and white chocolate bottomed cookies on the box.

When I opened the box, it smelled of spice cake. There were about ten large cookies in the package. They looked just as promised. The white chocolate was thick and creamy. The cookies were crisp and had a delicious spice cake flavor. The down side is that they sprinkled carrot strips on top. Stringy carrot strips are not what I want on a cookie. Every time I bit into one, it was like a bird yanking at a worm. Carrot cake requires grated carrots, not shredded carrots.

These cookies were decent, but not worth a repeat purchase.

Kashi Oatmeal Dark Chocolate Cookies

I am not usually a fan of oatmeal cookies. To me, they're the sad, boring cousins of chocolate chip cookies. However, Kashi has changed my mind about oatmeal cookies.

Kashi's oatmeal cookies weighed 1 oz each and were pretty hefty. They had just the right amount of dark chocolate chips and grains [wheat, oats,rye, barley and buckwheat]. One cookie was surprisingly enough for me. I did not feel the need to eat a second or third cookie. I would definitely recommend Kashi Oatmeal Dark Chocolate Cookies to all of you : )

Key lime Cookies

I found this recipe in Mr. Food's cookbook Quick and Easy Diabetic Cooking. I added sliced almonds to the batter, left out the cherries and added key lime powder to the powdered sugar. This recipe was a big hit with my family!

Nicole's Cherry Bonbons
Air Date: 6/3/2008
24 servings

3 tablespoons butter, softened
5 tablespoons corn oil stick margarine, softened
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar, divided
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons fat-free (skim) milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
24 maraschino cherries, drained with 2 teaspoons liquid reserved


Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. In a medium bowl, beat the butter, margarine, and 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar until creamy. Stir in the flour, milk, vanilla, and salt; mix well.

2. Shape into 24 balls. Press each ball around a cherry and place on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake 18 to 20 minutes, or until light golden. Cool on a wire rack.

3. Place 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar in a shallow dish and roll the bonbons until lightly coated.

4. In a small bowl, combine the remaining 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar and the 2 teaspoons reserved cherry liquid; mix well. Place in a resealable plastic storage bag. Cut a small corner off the bag and drizzle the glaze over the bonbons.

5. Allow the bonbons to cool until the glaze is firm, then serve, or store in an airtight container until ready to serve.