The Cookie Butter Craze

For those of you who haven't tried it, cookie butter is a popular treat that takes a spiced European cookie and turns it into a peanut butter-type spread. The cookie butter craze has officially taken over the world. 

I tried it when Trader Joe's started carrying it a couple years ago, but it wasn't really my thing.  As a full-fledged fan of Nutella, I don't understand the cookie butter hype, but I fully support anything that causes sane people to lose their minds.

Little did I know that the butter was in such high demand!  After a relaxing night out with friends, cookie butter and Pretzel Crisps, I learned that not only do most Trader Joe's have a limit of two jars per person, but apparently, they sell out ridiculously fast!

The next morning, I made my way over to Trader Joe's, picked up a jar (there were six pallets of jars on a Sunday) and proceeded to make a cinnamon-vanilla cupcake with cookie butter buttercream frosting...just for the addicts. 

By Tuesday, ALL SIX PALLETS WERE GONE.  Seriously.  Ya'll are crazy and I love you.

Post-Season Hockey Treats

Hockey players are creatures of habit. We put our gear on right to left, every single time. We wear lucky socks. We wrap our sticks in a way that appeases the hockey gods.

Ok, maybe we're not all that hardcore (yes, we are).

Every year between mid-April and mid-June, I make a special treat in honor of the NHL's post-season, typically referred to as the most wonderful time of the year.  From puck cakes to the Stanley Cupcake, the treats symbolize some of my favorite things: hockey, sugar, hockey and chocolate.

This year, instead of baking a treat, I went the candy route, dipping chocolate hazelnut sandwich cookies into creamy chocolate to make pucks...Los Angeles Kings pucks, my favorite kind!

So delicious and so easy to make!  Using an Oreo cookie candy mold, I filled it 1/3 up with melted chocolate, stuffed a cookie into the mold and filled the rest with chocolate.  Once it cooled down, I popped those babies out of the mold and topped it with an edible Kings logo.  Easy peasy!!

The Kings face the Chicago Blackhawks this week in the Western Conference Finals.  Let's go Kings! 

My new favorite dessert

Many moons ago, brownies were my favorite treat to eat.  Why? Duh, because it's chocolate on sugar on chocolate.

Now that I'm older and waaaaaay more sophisticated (not really), my taste has evolved into something much more simple and not nearly as decadent. 

Do I still indulge in the always fancy salted caramel ______ (fill in the blank)?  Of course.  But every now and then, it's equally indulgent to go back to basics.

Like Rice Krispy Treats.  Seriously, how can you go wrong with one of the easiest desserts known to man?  They're crispy yet chewy, not sugary sweet and can be easily fancified using any number of ingredients.  Nutella, Snickers, chocolate chips....you name it and it will probably taste amazing.   

When I like to get fancy, I go back to my childhood with the ever popular Oreo.  You know what's weird - I don't really like Oreos as a cookie.  But mix that bad boy into cookie dough, brownies or milkshakes and it's the best thing ever!  No joke.  Mix into a Rice Krispy Treat and you are definitely in for a treat!!!