HOMEMADE ICE CREAM SANDWICHES

My baby girl turned 9 years old today. She is such a pretty girl and I'm so proud of her and all of her talents. I'm so excited to say she got 2 new cookbooks for her birthday that she's going to be able to use in the kitchen. I love watching her learn how to cook. I LOVE IT! I hope that one day she enjoys to be in the kitchen as much as I do.
Anyhow, I've been wanting to make these for several days and when Makenzie told me that she wanted these for her birthday instead of cake and ice cream, I decided I'd wait and make them this morning so that they were nice and fresh for her party! These recipes are so versatile! I was excited because I was able to do 4 different variations with just two kinds of cookies... Just let your imagination run wild and come up with some great combinations of cookie and ice cream to make your taste buds happy!
Enjoy these! I know we will be enjoying them all summer long!

Homemade Ice Cream Sandwiches
Adapted by fromcupboardtocupboard
Original recipe from Taste of Home Summer Treats 2010
Printable Recipe

Drop Sugar Cookies

2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon orange peel
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Additional sprinkles or sugar for decoration

In a large bowl, beat the eggs, sugar, oil, vanilla and orange peel until blended. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt; fradually beat into egg mixture. Drop the dough by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto greased baking sheets. I sprinkled cute little flower sprinkles on at this point before baking. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool for 1-2 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely. I used orange sherbert in these cookies and they were great! I used my larger cookie scoop to scoop the ice cream and smashed it between the two cookies and wrapped in plastic wrap then froze immediately. I used a small cookie scoop and got 20 sandwiches. These were so refreshing! Quite the hit!


Double Chocolate Cookies

1 1/4 cups butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup baking cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until very light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in the chocolate chips.
Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto greased baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until set. Cool for 2 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.
I used the small cookie scoop and got about 52 sandwiches... I used the same method as above to make sandwiches. I used mint chip ice cream, vanilla bean ice cream, and cookie & cream ice cream to fill these sandwiches. They were wonderful!


Happy Cooking!

Teauna

Whipped Fruit Salad

I have to admit that I'm NOT a fan of the normal everyday fruit salad! I've never liked maraschino cherries, pineapple or canned fruit. And it seems that's what everyone uses to put together a fruit salad. My cute friend was over the other day and we were talking about..... dun dun dun....... FOOD! She told me about this yummy fruit salad she makes and that every time she makes it, she just adds different fruits that her family likes.
It has been so darn warm around here the last couple of days (I think that Mother Nature is finally over her little tizzy fit! She seems to have been a little moody lately. Perhaps she ran out of her meds and finally got them refilled. Who knows.) and because it's been so warm, a nice cool salad of fresh fruit has sounded soooo good! So I tried the salad my friend told me about! It's wonderful! I can think of a million different fruit combinations that would work just fabulous! After you make yours, leave a comment with the fruit combinations you used! We all love new ideas!


Whipped Fruit Salad
recipe from Bre adapted by fromcupboardtocupboard
printable recipe


1 sm pkg instant vanilla pudding
1 cup milk
1 12 oz container cool whip
assorted fresh fruit ( I used bananas, apples, and strawberries)


In a medium sized bowl, combine and whisk together milk and pudding. Fold in cool whip. Add rinsed, dried, and sliced fruits. Refrigerate and serve cold! ENJOY!!!

Happy Cooking!

Teauna

Sweet Sandwich Ham

So, do you ever just want something simple that doesn't take many ingredients or preparation? Well, it was my Mom's birthday yesterday and I was having a dinner at my house. The plan at first was to bbq burgers outside but that's kinda tough when you're getting rained out, so I chose to make this ham instead. This is a GREAT way to feed a crowd and it's simple and doesn't require a huge arsenal of ingredients. Just throw it all in the crock pot and let it do the work while preparing everything else! I hope you enjoy it like we do....

Sweet Sandwich Ham

adapted by fromcupboardtocupboard from my Mom's cookbook:-)

4 lbs thinly sliced sandwich ham (I go to the deli and get honey ham)

3 c apple juice (I use my bottled applejuice-but anything will do)

1 c packed brown sugar

3 tsp mustard

1 c sweet relish(optional)

Mix the apple juice, brown sugar, and mustard together and pour into the crockpot. Add ham and set crockpot on HIGH setting for a couple hours, then turn to LOW... You can cook it as long as you'd like... I think the longer the better:-) {I don't use the relish because some people don't particularly care for it. But I have it on the table for people to use if they want to}

Serve on rolls!

Happy Cooking!

Teauna

**Root Beer Cookies**

Do you like Root Beer? If so, you're going to LOVE these cookies! They are like yummy soft pillows of root beer goodness with a sweet layer of root beer flavored frosting... I think these are the perfect recipe to make and take to a summer picnic, or a family reunion... Or better yet, make them JUST BECAUSE you want to! This recipe does make a huge batch of cookies, but I think they would freeze well. Or split the dough in half, use one half to make cookies and the other half to make bar cookies in a cookie sheet. There are several options. Don't pass these babies up! They're good good good!

Root Beer Cookies

printable recipe

4 cups brown sugar

2 cup butter

4 eggs

1 cup water

1 T rootbeer extract

7 cups flour

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp salt

Cream butter and sugar. Then add eggs and cream together well. Add the rest of ingredients and mix well. Refrigerate for at least an hour. I find that after I have the dough out about half-way through cooking, I have to put the dough back in the fridge because the texture of the cookies change when the dough softens. Drop by teaspoons on a cookie sheet. I use a cookie scoop of course.

Bake at 400 degrees for 8 minutes. Cool completely. Then frost with following frosting.

Frosting:

4 cups powdered sugar

2/3 cup butter or margarine

2 T rootbeer extract

1/4 cup water

If you half the recipe, still use the extract for more flavor.

Enjoy and happy cooking!

Teauna

Chocolate Waffle Cookies

Well, I had no intention of making two kinds of cookies today, however..... I promised the kids cookies after lunch (that means the moment after they've swallowed the last bite of their sandwich to them) and the Root Beer Cookie dough is chilling. So I thought I better make sure and keep my promise. This recipe came to mind! My mother-in-law makes these cookies all the time and everyone LOVES them. I've always told myself I didn't like them enough to want to make them (but I lied). I have only tried these once, and that was nearly 12 years ago. They stuck to my waffle iron and totally irritated me, so I swore I'd never make them again. Well, come a little bit closer because I have a secret to tell you..... are you ready??? I CONQUERED WAFFLE COOKIES!!!! And you can too! Your family and friends (or just you) will love the soft and moist chocolatiness (I know, it's not a word) of these cookies! Just follow the directions and I think you'll be just fine!

First of all, if you have an older waffle iron, USE IT! The more seasoned it is, the better! I plug in my waffle iron and get it heated real well while I'm mixing up the dough. Then I take a little bowl and pour about 3-4 Tablespoons of oil in it and use a pastry brush (I like a silicone pastry brush because they don't leave hairs behind :-)) to grease the waffle maker plates between each and every little "batch" of cookies! If you forget this step, you'll know it!

Chocolate Waffle Cookies

A Recipe of Cheryl's

adapted by fromcupboardtocupboard

Printable Recipe

First, cream together:

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup margarine

Then add:

2 eggs

Beat well.

Now add:

1/2 cup milk

1 3/4 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup baking cocoa

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

Mix well and drop by spoonfuls ( I use a cookie scoop of course, a medium sized one) onto your prepared HOT well-greased waffle iron! I wait until they stop steaming. Then pull them out CAREFULLY using a fork to lift them off the iron. Cool completely on a rack. With the medium cookie scoop, I got 22 cookies.

Now for the glaze:

2 cups powdered sugar

3-4 Tbsp milk

1/2-1 tsp vanilla

Mix well and drizzle over cooled cookies with a pastry brush. Let set and ENJOY!!!

Happy Cooking!

Teauna