In The Kitchen - Zucchini Nut Bread Cookie Sandwiches

That has to be the longest name ever for cookie. But, oh man, are they good!

I found the recipe in an issue of Martha Stewart Living a few months back, and proceeded to add it to my growing pile of "recipes to try" - and when I say pile, I mean a 3 inch three ringer binder (that is full). While looking for a few holiday cookie recipes for a friend, I found this; and decided since I had some leftover zucchini, I should give it a try. 

You have to check this recipe out on MarthaStewart.com. You will love it! 

I pretty much followed the recipe exactly. The only differences in mine is that I used 1/2 cup whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup all-purpose flour (instead of 1 cup all-purpose), and I only used 1/4 cup walnuts (I also forgot to toast them).

Refrigerated for 1 hour.

I think I made mine a bit too big because I only ended up getting 8 sandwiches out of this batch (according to the recipe I should have gotten 14).

MMMMMMMM...So yummy!

I'm not normally a fan of cream cheese frosting; but sandwiched between the zucchini bread cookies it is delicious! If you're not a fan either, no worries, these babies taste just as good without it. I would also like to point out that the consistency of the cookies is more bread like - as the name insinuates. Just thought I would point that out, in case you were wanting a more crunchy cookie.

This little guy LOVED them! I was quite surprised that he didn't just take it apart and eat the frosting. Makes me happy that I snuck in some veggies. He didn't eat the whole thing though - we shared =). 

Thank you, Martha Stewart, for another amazing recipe to add to my collection.

Make them yourself:

Zucchini Nut Bread Cookie Sandwiches

Happy Baking!

In The Kitchen - Parmie Pizza Pull Aparts

My family loves pizza; but sometimes, I get a bit tired of it. I found this great recipe on Pinterest yesterday for Pepperoni Pizza Monkey Bread.So I decided to try it out for dinner. 

There was this awesome pizza place that I used to go to growing up, that had these amazing Parmie Puffs. They were basically small rolls smothered in garlic butter and parmesan; served with marinara sauce for dipping. Definitely not healthy, but tasted sooo good. This is where the "Parmie" part of my recipe comes from. 

For the most part, I followed the recipe from the blog, Confections of a Foodie Bride. I just added an extra step/ingredient, and I halved the recipe (only because I didn't thaw out enough dough; but 1 lb of dough is plenty for 2 adults and 1 child).  The extra step makes all the difference though. Just the aroma that filled the house while these were baking brought me back to my childhood.

Note, that I made half with pepperoni and half just cheese. I was thinking of filling some with olives or peppers as well, but Hubby doesn't care for either of those things, and I figured it would be too difficult to tell them apart. Next time, I'm going to try it though. I think I could just put the ones with pepperoni on one side of the pan, and the ones with "my" fillings on the opposite side. The great thing about this recipe, is that you can customize it to your families taste. 

Ingredients

2-3 Cloves Garlic, thinly sliced (depending on size and taste preference) 

5 Tbs Butter

1-2 lbs Pizza Dough (store bought or homemade)

6 oz Mozzarella Cheese, cut into small cubes

Slices of Pepperoni (or other fillers)

Grated Parmesan Cheese (~3 Tbs)  

2 cups Marinara Sauce, warmed, for serving

> Heat garlic and butter in a saucepan, until garlic is just turning brown. Remove from heat. 

> Brush the inside of the bundt pan with the garlic butter.

>Pull off balls of dough, and flatten. Top with a fillers; in this case, a slice of pepperoni, and a cube of cheese. 

> Wrap dough around your filling, and pinch to seal.

> Lightly brush each ball with garlic butter, and place in the pan.

> Repeat until all the dough is used.

> Cover and let sit for 30 minutes, while you pre-heat the oven to 400°.

> You will end up with ~ 2 Tbs of garlic butter. Before placing in oven, drizzle about 1 Tbs over the dough, and sprinkle with the parmesan cheese. (I think I used about 2 Tbs, I probably would have used more if I had enough though).

> Bake for 30-35 minutes, until golden brown.

> Let cool for a few minutes (a step I missed); then invert onto a plate.

> Sprinkle the top with the remaining parmesan. Serve with warm marinara sauce. 

{Side-note: I also served the remaining bit of garlic butter as a dipping sauce. So yummy. Can you tell how much I love garlic and butter?} 

  

This was so easy to throw together; definitely a good option for what I like to call "lazy cooking days."

 Try it out, and let me know if you changed the recipe at all! I'd love to hear any variations.