Homemade Tagalongs--Better Than The Real Thing!

Girl Scout cookie season is always a highlight of the winter.  What a better way to drown your sorrows as you look out the window at yet another winter storm?  So when I came across this recipe on Pinterest, I knew I was bound to try them someday...soon.

When I got up this morning, the first official full day of spring, snow was falling again and covering the ground.  I thought to myself, "self, let's do some fun stuff today!"  Hence, homemade Tagalongs!

The ingredients and instructions are easy enough--chances are you already have everything you need to make them.  Get a box of Nilla wafers, your favorite kind of peanut butter, chocolate of your choice (I used both semi-sweet and milk chocolate), and some shortening.

I finally broke open my brother-in-law's Christmas gift to me--a 5 lb. bar of Hershey's chocolate. 

Lay out your wafer cookies on a cookie sheet or cooling rack lined with parchment paper.  Spread about 1 tsp, give or take, of peanut butter on top of each cookie.  If you like peanut butter, use a little more!  Then, in a microwaveable bowl, put chocolate along with a small amount of shortening (about half a teaspoon) and microwave at 20 second intervals until everything is smooth and melted.  Let it cool down a bit so that you don't melt the peanut butter.  Get a fork and spoon.

Set your cookie in the chocolate, and with the spoon, coat the cookie with chocolate, making sure not to miss any spots.  Now, with your fork, carefully lift the cookie out and tap the fork on the side of the bowl to help the excess chocolate drip off.  Set the coated cookie back on the parchment-lined tray.  Continue in this fashion until all cookies are coated, then move the tray to the fridge to allow the chocolate to harden and cool the rest of the way.  Leave them in for at least a half an hour.  I know, it's hard to wait that long, but it's worth it!

In my opinion, these are even better than the Tagalongs from the Girl Scouts (sorry, girls).  They're also quite a bit cheaper!  Boxes of GS cookies are selling around here for $4/box, and I bought a whole box of Nilla wafers for something like $1.50 (sale and coupon), and I already had peanut butter and chocolate.  Just think of how much you've saved your family by making these, instead of buying them! :)

To see the original post and recipe for these, please click here: Back for Seconds blog

Gooey Delicious Turtle Cookies

I did some baking over the weekend.  It always seems like cool weather triggers the baking lobe in my brain, and since it was considerably cooler on Friday than it has been in a while, I felt like being in the kitchen.  I baked a batch of chocolate chip cookies, and then went to work on creating a recipe for turtle cookies--one of my husband's favorites.  He absolutely loved this recipe, so I thought I'd share it here.  There is something great about knowing that your husband likes your cooking and baking.  Am I right??

Ingredients

1 stick butter, room temperature
1 heaping tsp baking soda
1 1/2 C flour
3/4 C lightly packed brown sugar
1/4 C white sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract (make your own!)
~1/2 C semi-sweet chocolate chips
~1/2 C chopped pecans
~1/2 C chopped caramels, approximately 10 unwrapped pieces (not the baking caramel pieces)

Directions
Beat the butter and sugars on high until well mixed.  Add the egg and vanilla and mix well.  In a small bowl, combine flour and baking soda, and gradually add to the wet ingredients, mixing until incorporated.  Add the chocolate chips, pecans, and caramels, and stir until well mixed.  Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown.  You (and your hubby) won't regret it!

Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Cookies

One of my first forays into gluten-free baking was a simple one, admittedly.  I have had little appetite lately, but one thing I have been craving is sweet things.  Odd.  I found this recipe on Pinterest, and my mom had also found this recipe online at an area hospital's Celiac website.  Since gluten-free flours are so expensive, I opted for a recipe that was sweet, peanut-buttery, and just what I was craving, sans flour!

Peanut Butter Gluten-Free Cookies

Yep, tastes as good as it looks!

Ingredients:

• 1 C peanut butter, smooth or crunchy (I prefer smooth)
• 1 C white sugar
• 1 Egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 to 1 1/2 C miniature chocolate chips (Nestle and Hershey both claim that their chocolate chips are gluten-free), plus more for topping

Mix the first four ingredients together well.  Add the chocolate chips and mix.  The dough will be thick!  Using spoons or a cookie scoop, take about a walnut-sized chunk of dough and roll it into a ball with your hands.  Place on an ungreased cookie sheet or a sheet lined with parchment, about 2" apart, and flatten the middle of the ball with your hand or the back of the spoon.  Sprinkle additional chocolate chips on top of the flattened dough.  Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.  Be careful not to overbake, or they will become dry and crumbly.  I got 21 cookies from this recipe.  These are a great fix for any sweet tooth, gluten-free or gluten-y!

Lemon Cookies

I have been relaxing this weekend.  It's nice to have downtime!  But during my downtime, I made a batch of these lemon cookies.  My husband found this recipe and sent it to me, with an indirect request for me to make them sometime.  I'm not a lemon fan, but even I thought these were tasty!  I tend to be a picky eater, so if I like them, chances are that you will, too!


Ingredients:
1/2 C butter, softened
1 C granulated sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 tsp lemon zest
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 C all-purpose flour
1/2 C powdered sugar

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350*.  Grease a light-colored baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray and set aside (I just used parchment paper, and it seemed to work fine).

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

Whip in vanilla, egg, lemon zest and juice.  Scrape sides and mix again.

Stir in all dry ingredients slowly until just combined, excluding the powdered sugar.  Scrape sides of the bowl and mix again briefly.

Pour powdered sugar onto a large plate.  Roll a heaping teaspoon of dough into a ball and roll in the powdered sugar.  Place on baking sheet and bake for 9-11 minutes or until bottoms barely begin to brown and cookies have a matte look to them (neither shiny nor melted).  Cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing them to a wire rack.  If you use a non-stick dark baking sheet, reduce the baking time by about 2 minutes.

I cut the recipe in half, because the original recipe above says that it makes anywhere from two to three dozen cookies.  I got 10 normal sized cookies from halving it.  I didn't roll the cookie dough in the powdered sugar, either--I just sprinkled some on top before putting them in the oven.  Hubby still liked them!