How to Make a Pookie

You may recall that last Super Bowl Sunday, I made a pake. Well, this year, we took on the pookie. That's a pie inside a cookie.

As with the pake, the idea came from CakeSpy, only this year I actually had a bonafide recipe to follow, thanks to the CakeSpy cookbook!

How does one make such an amazing treat? Well, you start by making cookie dough. In this case, it was butterscotch chip cookie dough, which I had never made before, but will probably make again, because YUM.

Then you take this dough and you smush it down into a pie tin...sort of like you're making a crust...even though the pie already has a crust.

I should have mentioned that before I could put the cookie dough in the pie tin, I had to take the pie out of it. It was a frozen apple pie that I par-baked, so it wouldn't be frozen when it went into the pookie.

And now it's time for it to go back into the pie tin, on top of the cookie dough.

Ok, so if I were to make this pookie again, I'd try a pie tin that was larger than the pie. Using the pie tin that came with the pie resulted in a gap between the edge of the cookie dough crust and the top of the pie, so I had to fill it in with dough, as you see here.

Once I was done making what was essentially the walls of the pookie, I covered the whole top of that pretty little pie with dough.

See, it's a giant cookie!

Ok, so then the baking. 400 degrees for 45-50 minutes...I think I must have used too much dough because we had a bit of a breakdown while in the oven. (This scene caused my husband to begin calling it the "pukey.")

But no one who attempts to put a pie inside another dessert could be scared off by a little mid-bake disfiguration, right? Right. So we stayed strong and waited until that dough was golden brown on the edges and...

TA-DA!

It's a pookie!

We served it with vanilla ice cream and it was a hit. Seriously good. If you could figure out how to make it less ugly, you could serve this thing in a restaurant. The butterscotch and apple were perfect together. Yummy, yum, yum.

Oh, and we watched some football, too. But the pookie was the show stealer for sure. Yay pookie!

This summer, maybe we'll attempt some sort of sugar cookie/blueberry pie bonanza. And next Super Bowl? Well, it's time to start researching other things we can fit a pie inside.

It's like Reading, Baking and Eating Rolled Into One!

You guys have to go buy this book immediately and here's why:

1. It's important to support anyone who runs a dessert detective agency...because c'mon, you know you wish you'd had that idea.
2. It includes a recipe for Pookie, which is a cookie with a PIE INSIDE IT! (If you're thinking, "But you just linked to the recipe," please see item #1.)
3. It includes a recipe for Cupcake-Stuffed Cupcakes, which are what would happen if average-sized cupcakes ate mini cupcakes. 
4. All the other recipes are just about as insane as #2 and #3.
5. Your kids will want to bake with you.
6. And finally, the author's response to my tweet:

Candy Day!

Happy Easter! We don't celebrate any of the religious stuff over at our house, but we do revere that lovely rabbit who so kindly delivers candy - and, this year, Pokemon cards! (I guess the rabbit heard that Aidan had resorted to drawing his own Pokemon cards in a delightfully wholesome attempt to keep up with the junior Joneses.)

In my opinion, the best thing about Easter is the Cadbury Eggs. However, even I wanted to vomit when I saw this evil combination of two of my favorite foods.

Still, I appreciate the creativity with which many of my fellow sweet-lovers approach the holiday. So here, for your enjoyment, are few other ways to love your Easter candy:

• Torch the Peeps (thank you, Kevin!)
• Cakespy's suggestions for leftover candy
• A festive way to get caffeinated

And, finally, why didn't anyone tell me this existed? I might have booked a flight.

Enjoy your (hopefully) day off. Try to incorporate a fruit or vegetable between bites of that chocolate bunny.

With Sprinkles on Top

I've been busily trying out recipes for the home-baked (hand-baked?) gifts I intend to give out this year. So far the cranberry-white-chocolate-oatmeal cookies were too bland and the first batch of mint brownies were a disaster (although the second recipe I tried shows much promise)...next up are the pumpkin pie bars, or maybe I'll just default to my old stand-by, cracker toffee, which never disappoints.

But, I've said too much. What I really wanted to share was this photo of this perfectly festive cupcake because it is, well, perfect and festive.
So if you happen to be in Seattle, heading back to Minneapolis, with time to stop at Cupcake Royale and you feel like bringing me one of these puppies, I'd be mighty grateful. Every baker needs a little inspiration. And every girl needs a cupcake. Just sayin'.

Pretty Good Year

I love this photo. It just conjures up so many possibilities on what that is and where and what it tasted like. (FYI, it's a marshmallow from Three Tarts in NYC and I have to assume it was good.) Sadly, it's not my photo. It's from Cakespy, where they've counted down their 25 Most Delicious Bakery Experiences of 2008. (note: If someone would pay me to travel around eating and writing about baked goods, I could never ask for anything more.) 

I am so delighted with (and jealous of) this list, that I hereby resolve to take more pictures of my food in 2009 so that I can make a Best Meals of 2009 list at this time next year. And possibly I will also make a Biggest Home-Cooking Disasters of 2009 list as well. I didn't document all of my failures this year, but I can assure you that the pumpkin cake incident is #1. 

Ok, so what do I have to say about this year as it draws to a close? Well, to be honest, 2008 sucked in a whole lot of ways. Without rehashing the drama with the teenager, let me just say that my biggest hope for 2009 is that it will be easier for him and that it will contain far less fear and heartbreak for all of us. 

Perhaps my second biggest hope is that I find a job that is at least tolerable, if not awesome, so that we can weather this failed economy and reclaim some financial stability...and go to Hawaii next Christmas. You see, in my view, the whole point of lowering your cost of living and/or trying to make more money is that you have the freedom to experience more of life. The Hawaii experience is the goal for 2009. 

On that note, 2008 was not a total bust. I made a ridiculous three trips to Las Vegas (oh, that's where I left our financial stability) with some of my best friends. My babies turned five and started kindergarten. I had two of the best meals of my life: one on my birthday at La Belle Vie and the other at Craftsteak during trip #2 to Las Vegas. Most of all, I got to spend another year (what looks to be my last year) making a living as a freelancer and staying home with my boys. That's all pretty good. 

So goodbye, 2008. You've had your moments, but it's time for you to go.

Hello, 2009, all shiny and new. No pressure or anything, but don't let us down, okay? 

Grand Slam

Good morning. How could it not be a good morning with such a lovely sight? Thank you, Cakespy for starting off my morning right. If only this doughnut could magically appear at my door...

Ok, so anyway, last night I played my second game as a Skirt Turtle. (Unfortunately, we've had to miss several games because they kept getting scheduled at the boys' bedtime.) We WON! I played on a winning team! But wait, there's more: I actually scored a POINT! Me! 

Somehow I managed to hit a ball that got me onto first base -- which I would have considered a triumph in itself --  but then Mike hit a home run and suddenly I was part of a GRAND SLAM, which also included my husband. How cool is that? And my boys got to see the whole thing, which made it even better. Go Skirt Turtles!

We only have one game left -- perhaps I can still conquer my fear of the outfield.