Homemade Oreos

I just made this recipe for homemade oreos from smitten kitchen, http://smittenkitchen.com/2007/05/my-kingdom-for-a-glass-of-milk/, and they were PRETTY GOOD! I can't lie and say they taste exactly like oreos because the cookie isn't as crispy, maybe because I made my cookie a little bigger than an actual oreo wafer, uncooked they were about the size of an oreo but they grew to be about twice that big while baking. If they were smaller perhaps they would have gotten crispier in the 9 minute baking time? Anyway, I liked them alot, I used non-hydrogenated organic vegetable shortening for the filling, no butter. I'll definitely be making these again, I love quick, easy recipes like this!

Birthday Cake!

It was my boo's birthday so I made him a chocolate cake. I actually had 3 attempts, and the last was a charm. I tried a couple of recipes, one from Ina Garten, one from my Southern Living cookbook, and I even resorted to a box cake (which was sub-par to say the least). Finally, I found this recipe on Apartment Therapy http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/dessert/recipe-dark-chocolate-cake-014696, and my oh my was I pleased! It was so easy, especially compared to the recipes I tried previously. I used buttermilk in place of the milk, and hot coffee in place of the boiling water. I halved the recipe, using 4.5" cake pans instead of the typical (2) 9" pans. I love my 4.5" cake pans, they make the perfect size double layer cake for a family of 3, about 5-6 generous servings. I used heavy whipping cream, semi-sweet chocolate morsels, and powdered sugar for the frosting, it was like a ganache but thicker and paired extremely well with this moist cake!