Olympic Gold Medal Cookies

As soon as I started thinking about the Olympics back in about April I knew I wanted to make some gold medals.  I also knew I had to use some milk chocolate digestive biscuits for the medal since the games are in London this year.

It is totally weird that I LOVE digestives but I do.   I can't even buy them or they will disappear overnight.  If you don't know what they are, "digestives" are an English cookie that is made from wheat flour.  This may not sound that great but it makes the most wonderful crumbly texture.  And the digestives I love are covered in chocolate on one side. 

{of course.}

To.  Die.  For.  I swear.  You can find them at World Market or other places that sell British imports.

I used McVities brand for this but Cadbury's are actually my favorite (Shhh don't tell anyone who is English.)


Anyway, I was trying to figure out how to make these medals and was totally planning on hand painting some gold luster dust on each cookie.  Then, a few weeks ago my friend Dorothy posted these super cute hand pie medals and used Duff gold cake spray.

DUH!

So I sprayed them instead and it was SO easy.  These literally take about 5 minutes to spray and once they are dry you can assemble them in about ten seconds.  Don't you love themed treats that are so easy anybody can do it?

It is more fun to have a party when you aren't totally exhausted from preparing for it.

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When my husband came home from work after I made these he asked how I made them gold.

I said,

"Oh I just used spray paint of course.  I"m  pretty sure it's non-toxic."

And then I ate one right in front of him.  And savored every crumble.


And watched his expression.

You should try it sometime.

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Olympic Rings Drinks

Sometimes things don't work out as planned.  I had this great idea for Olympic rings drinks that used gummi saver rings to flavor Sprite.  (A lot like these Blowpop Drinks).  When I got home and opened the bag I realized that green and red were the only Olympic rings colors in the bag.   BUMMER!  

So I googled Olympic Rings drinks and found that they actually served such a thing in Beijing several years ago!  All I could find was a picture but it inspired me so I felt like I should post the link with my recipe below.

I ended up using miniature fruit slices to make my rings. You can read on to see the process but it's pretty easy.  If, on the other hand you can find tropical gummisavers or something that come in yellow and blue, feel free to save yourself some time and just use those.

Let the games begin!

{next week that is.}

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Peanut Butter Flipz Cookies {Basic PB Cookies}

You know what Flipz are right?  Those chocolate covered pretzels that come in a shiny blue bag.  And claim to have like 8 servings but really only have about 1 1/2.

Does anybody remember when they had a chocolate covered GRAHAM cracker version?  Those ones were really to die for.

Last week the kids and I decided to put Flipz on top of peanut butter cookies, which turned out to be a brilliant idea.  Pop them on while the cookies are hot and they will melt in to the cookie a bit.

The peanut butter cookie recipe we used is my oldest recipe.  I have had for AGES, (seriously since I was like 10) and have adapted it several times.  This is the only recipe we ever make for basic PB cookies and can be done lots of ways-

Add a Flipz chocolate pretzel after baking and drizzle with melted peanut butter chips:

 

Add some M&M's after baking:

 

Roll in sugar and criss-cross with a fork or wire cooling rack:

 

Or add a Hershey's kiss or mini Reese's cup after baking:

 However you make them, they are delicious.  If I ever have a child with a peanut allergy I will probably cry a river (like the Nile river, not some dinky river).  I might have to go on vacations just to eat thai peanut noodles and peanut butter cookies and peanut butter shakes...  Major props to those of you who live with peanut allergies in your family.

Have a great weekend!

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Rainbow Sherbet Torte

When we built our house I said all I wanted was a huge kitchen island.  These days I'm thinking I should have asked for two dishwashers. There are only four of us but I swear our dishwasher is always full.

As is the sink.  And the two counters surrounding the sink.  Every time clean dishes come out of the dishwasher, it gets filled right back up with dirty ones.  And there are still dishes waiting to go in on the next round.

Don't tell me I bake too much.  This is not the problem.  It's the darn size of the dishwasher!!

I need to butter my hubby up sometime and mention the fact that I want two dishwashers in the next house.  Just to get him warmed up to the idea, you know.

(I am not the slightest bit joking about this.  If people can have two ovens I should be able to have two dishwashers.)

One good way to butter hubbys up is to give them ice cream torte.  I realize that this is actually a sherbet torte, and that sherbet is... um...  kinda girly.  But it's a good starting point for a two-dishwasher kind of conversation.

Also, it's bright and happy.  Just like my face will be when we build a house with two dishwashers.

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I always forget that rainbow sherbet is good.  I mean, I would never go to the ice cream store and order sherbet, but whenever I end up eating it I love it.  This is a fun torte to make for dinner guests in the summer and is easy to throw together.  I have actually made it two ways, both of which are delicious so I'm posting two (very similar) recipes.  The biggest difference is the crust- one uses coconut cookies and slivered almonds and makes a true crust.  The other uses macaroon crumbs, chopped pecans, and whipped cream and makes a thick creamy "frozen topping" type crust.  I have a hard time finding macaroons and usually don't want to make them (lazybutt) so I often make the first recipe, but if you have macaroons the second recipe is killer.

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Patriotic Layered drinks

Today our kids are in bed with fevers and flu so I thought this would be a good time to post some of my old recipes before the Olympics next week.  I'm not sure I can watch Tangled or Blue Planet one more time.

These drinks were all over pinterest and we couldn't resist trying them for the Fourth.  I was not at all convinced they would taste good  and was pleasantly surprised.  I think my red and white layers combined pretty well although I didn't really care for the blue.  I didn't really like the Polar Blast Hawaiian Punch as it is though, so that was probably my problem.

In case you haven't done these, the secret is to fill your cup up completely with ice and then pour the drink right on top of the ice as slowly as possible.  Sometimes it's good to wait for a minute and let the drink settle before continuing to pour more. 

You absolutely must layer these drinks in the right order.  Check the label on the back of the drink and look at the sugar content.  The highest amount of sugar is the drink that should go on the bottom.  The lowest will go on top.  (No sugar/calorie free is fine for the top.)  My white layer and blue layer were only about 7 grams different in sugar and they ran in to eachother a bit, so if you want really defined layers, choose sugar contents that are pretty drastic.

I have a Halloween version of these floating in the back of mine brain so hopefully it will make an appearance come October. 

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Firework Sugar Cookies {Pipeable Sugar Cookie Frosting}

These aren't the cookies I said I was going to post for you today.  But while it's still July I thought I'd better hurry and post the ones we made for the Fourth.  I used my basic sugar cookie and frosting recipe and just piped designs on. This frosting is thicker than royal icing (it's basically buttercream) and tastes wayyy better, but also dries hard enough to gently stack the cookies after 12 hours or so.  This cookie/icing recipe is great for any holiday or themed cookie. You will probably see it a lot around here.  Someday I plan to experiment with using lemon or almond extract in place of the vanilla in the frosting.

In other news, Target should totally have a childcare station like Ikea to leave your kids at while you shop.  I would basically live there.  More than I do already I mean.

That's probably why they don't do it.

Can you imagine all those moms??

(I say this is a good idea but then I have visions of mean bully kids throwing cherry slurpees and super salty popcorn all over my poor innocent kids and the Target dog, Bullseye attacking their pants because they accidentally left some string cheese and meat stick in their pockets.  So probably I'd just keep them with me anyways and bring an absurd amount of snacks to keep them in the cart.)

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Shirley Temples

Did you notice my new look? I got a blog makeover this weekend! I am so not computer savvy or techy so this is big news.  It has been bugging me for awhile and I finally sat down and made some changes.  

(When I say "I"-  I really mean my husband.  I ate snacks and peered over his shoulder and nodded as he explained things to me and pretended to understand.) 

I also finally set up a Pinterest account for Dip It In Chocolate, which I have been meaning to do for awhile.  Click on my light blue Pinterest icon on the top right to follow me, and I'll follow you back.  My boards are pretty empty for today but I'm sure they will fill up soon with lots of things to make your pants tight. ;)

Since I was so busy being computer geniusy this weekend, I didn't have much time to bake, but I did make some delicious drinks.  These are low-calorie since they're made with Sprite Zero.  (About 30 calories plus cherries.)  And by saving all those calories you can eat the delicious cookies I have ready for you tomorrow!

I do try to conserve calories for you in the summer time, you know... ;) 

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Brown Butter Peach Pie Shortbread Bars

I thought your body wasn't supposed to start deteriorating until at least 30.  Apparently my body didn't get that memo.  So far 26 has been the year where I have to start dealing with wrinkles and phantom aches and general crabbiness.  (I wish I was joking, but I'm not.  Well, kinda joking about the crabbiness.)

This week I seem to have pulled a muscle in my back probably from pretending to be too realistic of a Velociraptor, so I have been scooting around the house like a hunchback and groaning a lot and using it as an excuse to not put on makeup or go running.  When a migraine joined my back in it's rebellion, I felt so sorry for myself I decided to make these bars.

I had been waiting months for fresh peaches to make them and they did not disappoint. These are really amazing. Especially warmed up with a big fat scoop of drippy vanilla bean ice cream on top.

Put them on your to-do list before summer is up.

And take "Playing carnivorous dinosaurs" off  of your list.

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Chocolate Raspberry Ice Cream

Thanks to a cousin of mine I recently discovered Diet Coke with Raspberry from Sonic.  The heavens opened and raspberry diet coke rained down from the sky along with gumdrops and lollipops and Mike-n-Ikes and the streets were paved with Oreos.  (My blood sugar was kinda low so I might be slightly mistaken about this part, but that's basically what happened.)

Really, it was a great drink. 

I prefer not to drink my calories (obvs. so I can partake in chocolate-dipped goodness).  So finding a delicious diet drink is always a treat.

Some of my favorites are, Chick-fil-A's diet lemonade, Sonic's diet  Dr. Pepper with cherry, and Sonic's diet Cherry limeade with raspberry.

I kinda like raspberries.

Speaking of raspberries-


This chocolate raspberry ice cream is like eating frozen fudge.  In no frame of mind can I see how that could ever be a bad thing.

The bad news, is it's not calorie free.

{I know you're shocked.}

The good news is... we had a diet drink today.  ;)  

What's your favorite diet drink?

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Peanut Butter S'more Bars

Nothing says summer like S'mores.

Let's just add a little bit of peanut butter, shall we?   :)

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