Blogger Cookie Exchange

One word:

COOKIES

Oh my goodness…

Of course we tried to balance out the night of sugar coma with vegetables, cheese and crackers.

We had several varieties at the table that made for interesting flavors:

(From bottom left clockwise by baker)

• Peanut Butter (Katherine)
• Orange Dark Chocolate (Mark)
• Almond Spice (??) with a (??) drizzle (Kaitlin)
• Lemon and Strawberry Whipper Snappers (Moi)
• Oatmeal (Amanda and Andy)
• Smores (Mark)
• Peppermint Oreo Bark (Moi)
• Mint Chip Dough Balls (Kaitlin)

But before we got to the taste testing, I had to make sure I had something nutritious in my belly!

I met my mom at this great bakery/café called Porto’s Bakery in Downtown Burbank for lunch as we had a few things to exchange.  It would also help me with the drive since they’re still almost another hour away and I didn’t want to drive that plus the 2 I’d already done to get there.

Anyhow, I checked out the menu beforehand to make sure there were some Vegetarian options and thank goodness my mom likes eating vegetarian a lot, we ordered the two veg dishes on their menu.

Mom ordered their Vegetarian Sandwich while I went for the House Salad.

I didn’t know it was served with Plantain Chips! So fun!

I ate most of the salad, as of course it was drowning in the dressing for it (forgot to ask on the side, it was crowded and made me anxious!) and 1/4 of mom’s sandwich.  The salad was good though because it was spring salads, black beans, veggies and avocado.  Definitely filling and nutritious!

We chatted and then walked around a little bit, going to the antique stores in the area (I think mom’s addicted. haha…ok, she was just looking for a certain something for someone) before we said our goodbyes and I headed over to Kaitlin’s for some cookie time!

I got there pretty early but spent some time getting to know her and her roommate Mark better before everyone else showed up.

I started off small in the beginning and spent most of the night noshing on the carrots, tomatoes and dressing.  I set myself closest to the vegetables to make sure they were noshed on more than sugar!

On top of the Mint Chip Dough Ball I had 1/2 a PB Cookie, 1/2 an Orange Dark Chocolate and another 1/2 a Dough Ball.  I think I did pretty well keeping with moderation of the cookies, but of course I came home with a bucket load.  That is more dangerous than being at the party! Haha!

We spent a good 3+ hours chatting it up and man on man, I hate living so far away; everyone is freak’n hilarious!!!  Come up to the mountains and visit me!  I have a bed ready for you to stay in!

I have posted recipes for my recipes before (they are now missing pictures sadly) but here is the Whipper Snapper Cookie recipe again.

Whipper Snapper Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 box of flavored cake mix (I like using strawberry and lemon the most)
• 1 egg
• 1 container of Cool Whip
• Powdered Sugar

Directions:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350*F.
2. Mix together the cake mix, egg and cool whip container until combined thoroughly.
3. Use a spoon and knife to create a ball and roll in powdered sugar to cover.  Transfer to a well greased cookie sheet.
4. Bake for 10-13 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges.
5. Let cool only a few minutes before transferring to a cooling wrack (they stick very badly to the cookie sheet if you wait too long).
6. Store in air-tight container until consumed!

I didn’t take any pictures of making the bark but it’s easy, so I’ll post about that later!