Coffee Chats: Stressed Spelled Backwards

Holly: Sad confession: I have no coffee goin' on today. Too busy painting here. Of course, maybe I should make some coffee so I can keep going....

Nicole: Sadness..I actually forgot to turn the coffee pot on, so I grabbed a Starbucks frap from the refrigerator. I've been saving it for such a time as this. I did just eat an Activia Strawberry Cheesecake yogurt cup, in case anyone is interested.

Holly: Healthy you. You'll lose up to two dress sizes in 16 days if you keep that up....or something like that :)

Nicole: Yay!

Holly: Nicole, you'd disappear.

Nicole: Tee hee.... Ok, so not really...it sounds good though!

Holly: Sure does!

Nicole: So how about we talk about some cooking.

Holly: Sounds yummy!

Nicole: Namely, desserts, since its almost pie-day.

Holly: Even better that just "food".

Nicole: Oh yes, absolutely!

Holly: So who taught you to love desserts?

Nicole: Well, I don't think anyone had to teach me, I probably come by it very naturally! :) But I do come from a long line of expert bakers....my mom and both of my grandmothers.

Holly: I can attest to your mom's baking goodness! I still dream about her whoopie pies.

Nicole: Oh the yumminess.

My Nana, my mom's mom, made some great pies, and I have a cousin that has carried on that tradition. I also remember her making bread pudding...have you ever had that?

Holly: I don't think so actually. I've seen it on menus and such, but never tried it.

Nicole: I don't think you'd like it, being the texture person that you are...its basically just tasty, soggy bread. But its not too bad.

Holly: Hmmm, well thanks for the head's up!

Nicole: My Nana also had this old, old recipe book from the era where farmers didn't waste anything, and it was all recipes that called for blood.

Holly: Whoa. That's spooky.

Nicole: Yeah, chock that up to information you didn't need to know, but it was kinda cool to read through. She obviously never tried any of them.

Holly: My granny {dad's mom} gave me my love for cooking and baking, and I remember my aunt teaching my sister and I how to make pies.

Nicole: Do you make homemade pie crusts? I find them kinda hard to make.

Holly: Well, no. Not really. I don't make pies much now, I'd actually rather do fruit crisps since it's easier. I should though.

Nicole: Oh you had to mention fruit crisp, didn't you. :)

Holly: Oh yes I did! My favorite is the old standby: apple crisp. But blackberry and peach are two more favorites.

Nicole: Yes, apple crisp is one of my absolute favorite desserts. Do you remember the time that we made one at my house?

Holly: Do we have to talk about that....? Lol!!

Nicole: For our readers: just picture two extremely giddy college students crammed in a teeny tiny kitchen waving around knives and apples.

Holly: But, for the record, we still have all 10 fingers.

Nicole: Amazingly enough.

There are so many other cool desserts out there besides the traditional pie or cake. What are some others that you enjoy?

Holly: Well, funny thing, I will pick fruit desserts over chocolate any day of the week. Things like cobblers, crisps, pies, and turnovers are my favorites. And I'd have to say that ice cream will probably always remain my favorite dessert. You?

Nicole: I agree about the fruit! And don't shoot me, but oddly enough ice cream hasn't been my thing lately, either. I really don't know why. For me, cherry cheesecake takes the, er, cake. I'll take that over anything else any day of the week.

Holly: Oh yum. Yum, yum, yum. I like strawberry more than cherry though.

Nicole: See, I'm in love with cherry pie filling on anything ( I know its probably filled with boatloads of bad things...don't mention it and I'll let you live) so on cheesecake its just about heavenly.

Holly: You and my mom! Cherry cheesecake is her favorite too. With lotsa cherries!

So do you make cheesecake?

Nicole: Um, well...not normally. I do sometimes make mini ones...they are made in muffin tins. But I have not done the "normal" ones very much. Cream cheese is uber expensive in Canada, so while I lived there I kind of got used to not eating things with cream cheese in them.

Holly: Sad story! I live on that stuff!

Nicole: But a dear, sweet, fantastic lady in my church sometimes made me some. :)

Holly: Nice! They are hard to master.

Nicole: *cough* box *cough*

Holly: Cheat. Er.

Nicole: I noticed some strawberries filled with cheesecake on Pinterest last week...THAT sounds good!

Holly: Wow, that does sound good. I love desserts that kind of "think out of the box" as it were.

Nicole: Yes, they are fun...usually more time consuming, but fun. At the end of this post, I'm going to share a family recipe for Oreo Balls...sure to be a favorite for anyone!!

Holly: Can't wait to try them! Up in Ohio, Buckeyes are a famous treat. Some people call them Peanut Butter Balls.

Nicole: Yes, I think it has only been since meeting you that I've heard them referred to as Buckeyes.

Holly: Well, Ohioans do know how to name things correctly. ;)

Nicole: Apparently so. :)

Did you grow up in a "gotta have dessert with every meal" type of family?

Holly: Um, no. My mom doesn't like cooking/baking, plus my dad is diabetic, so one dessert every couple of weeks is the norm for them.

Nicole: Thats better on the ol' waistline, anyway.

Holly: Andrew and I usually have ice cream in the fridge and/or cookie dough ready to be baked in the fridge.

Nicole: Confession...I tried to do your freeze cookie dough thing, I really did. But somehow, it never made its way to being cookies. Funny thing about that.

Holly: You are going to die. Just kidding! I've been eating raw cookie dough since I was three and never had a problem.

Nicole: Its soooo good.

Holly: I think that raw eggs thing is a myth.

Nicole: Me too...I'm pretty sure that if the eggs are bad, you are going to get salmonella poisoning if they are raw or cooked. But what do I know?

Holly: So, would you rather bake desserts or cook things like main dishes?

Nicole: Probably desserts. Although I don't know what the difference is.

Holly: Haha!

Nicole: When I was younger, my Nana had arthritis in her hands pretty bad. She always liked to have cookies and whoopie pies on hand, so every week I would go bake for her.

Holly: Good memories, huh?

Nicole: I still have the chocolate chip cookie recipe memorized.

Holly: Everyone needs a good chocolate chip cookie recipe.

Nicole: Yes, and mine is the *best.* Sorry, rest of the world.

Holly: You wish.

Nicole: Once I had someone from Guatemala request my cookies...beat that! ;)

Holly: Um...ok, you have me beat there!

Nicole: Baking is fun, especially when you have someone fun to bake with. Unless you are a "give me my space and no one gets hurt" type of person.

Holly: Love to bake with others! More people to help with the clean up! Just kidding!! It's just much more fun with others.

Nicole: Uuggh. Clean up. Nastiness.

Holly: That's the worst part about baking. Sometime I think, "Oh, I want some dessert." Then I remember that I have to clean up from it, and decide it's not worth it. Isn't that awful?

Nicole: Oh me too! Another reason why cookie dough is better...you only have a little bit of clean up, without the baking sheets, cooling racks, etc.

Holly: So right!

Nicole: Well folks, here are a couple of our favorite dessert recipes. If we referenced any others that you'd like to have, just leave a comment and let us know! We'd love to know what your favorite dessert is as well. Because dessert = love. So lets share the love!!

Oreo Balls

1 package Oreos

8 oz. softened cream cheese

12 oz White or Milk chocolate for dipping

Directions:

Crush Oreos until they are fine crumbs. Mix in cream cheese. Roll into balls the size of your choice. Freeze balls for 15-20 minutes. Remove from freezer and dip in melted chocolate. allow chocolate to harden and then enjoy!

Buckeyes

1 1/2 cups peanut butter
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 cups confectioners' sugar
4 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions: In a large bowl, mix together the peanut butter, butter, vanilla and confectioners' sugar. The dough will look dry. Roll into 1 inch balls and place on a waxed paper-lined cookie sheet. Press a toothpick into the top of each ball (to be used later as the handle for dipping) and chill in freezer until firm, about 30 minutes. Melt chocolate chips in a double boiler or in a bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water. Stir frequently until smooth. Dip frozen peanut butter balls in chocolate holding onto the toothpick. Leave a small portion of peanut butter showing at the top to make them look like Buckeyes. Put back on the cookie sheet and refrigerate until serving.