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If you like gingersnap cookies then you'll enjoy these balls just as much.  They are soft and chewy with tons of gingersnap flavor, their great little one bite treats.  I prefer using crispy ginger snap cookies but I think this recipe would also work well with other types or crispy cookies too.

Gingersnap Balls

20-30 Gingersnap cookies
2 Tbsp corn syrup
1 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp cream cheese, softened at room temperature
1/4 Cup powdered sugar

1) Crush cookies into very fine crumbs using a food processor or in a resealable bag with a rolling pin
2) In a small bowl combine corn syrup, honey, and cream cheese and mix until well combined
3) Add about 20 crushed cookies and mix well (the mixture should hold together on its on without being overly sticky).  Continue to add crushed cookies until desired texture is reached (if mixture becomes too dry add a little bit more cream cheese)
4) Roll into 1inch balls and then roll them in powdered sugar, store them in the fridge and enjoy!

I stole this recipe from my mom's collection...we'll she knows I took it, so I guess it's not really stealing but she doesn't know that I want to keep it forever because it's so good.  It's such a great sour cream coffee cake recipe but I slightly modified it (when do I not change the recipe?) by adding crushed up Iced Oatmeal Cookies within the cake and on top of the cake.  The addition of the cookies adds an extra sweetness factor and a nice crunchy texture that goes well with the moist, soft cake.

Cookie Crumb Coffee Cake

20-30 crispy cookies, crushed up by hand (so you have both big and small pieces)
2 Cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 Large eggs
1/2 Cup shortening
1 Cup white granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 Cup sour cream

1) Preheat oven to 350F and grease a 9" spring form pan
2) In a large bowl, mix together sifted flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt
3) In a separate bowl, beat together eggs, shortening, sugar and vanilla until smooth
4) Separately add both the sour cream and flour mixture into the shortening mixture in two equal parts alternating.  (Add half of the sour cream first, then half of the flour mixture, then the remaining half of the sour cream, then add the rest of the flour mixture blending each time after adding each addition to the shortening mixture and until smooth.)
5) Evenly spoon half of the cake batter into the prepared pan, then sprinkle with half of the crushed cookies
6) Add the remaining cake batter on top of the crushed cookie layer evenly (the batter is a bit sticky but try your best to cover the cookie crumbs), then sprinkle the remaining cookie crumbs on top of the cake
7) Bake for 34-45min or until toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean
8) Cool 10min before removing the cake from the pan, then enjoy!

A good family friend of mine asked me to bake for her son's engagement party that she was hosting at her house.  Since it was the beginning of summer she thought it would be a great idea to take advantage of the local strawberries and asked me to bake her chocolate covered strawberries, strawberry tarts, strawberry shortcakes and strawberry shortbread cookies. 

For the chocolate covered strawberries, I thought it would be a cute idea to decorate the strawberries in outfits of chocolate covered wedding dresses and tuxedos.  I used semisweet chocolate for the tuxedo jackets and white candy coating for the wedding dresses.

For the shortbread cookies, I got the idea from the Pioneer Woman for this recipe.  I thought the combination of shortbread, creamcheese, and strawberries was perfect for a light and sweet simple dessert. I decided to use a flower shaped cookie cutter and sprinkled the dessert with raw sugar to make it look more prettier.

The tarts were very fun to make and I used this vanilla pudding recipe that turned out really well.  I didn't have any vanilla beans so I added an extra 1 1/2 tsp of vanilla to the recipe and used 2% milk.  I made the pudding the day before assembling and let it sit in the fridge overnight so it was extra vanilla tasting.  Hope you enjoyed all the strawberry treats, happy baking!

I love love love ice cream! But... I'm lactose intolerate and I am yet to find a good soy ice cream out there that I enjoy.  Looking at the Pioneer Woman's website, like I always do, I was drooling over her 'I Scream' post all about ice cream.  Then I discovered that she had a whole section of non-dairy ice cream recipes that were posted on the Tasty Kitchen website.  I don't have an ice cream maker (yet!) but I found this recipe for Healthy, Impossibly Easy Banana Ice Cream that doesn't use an ice cream maker, doesn't have dairy, and is healthy!  I was so excited that I went out the next day to the store and bought so many bananas.  I followed the recipe posted on Tasty Kitchen and added 4 Tbsp cocoa powder, 1/4 Cup almond milk, and 1 Tbsp vanilla to the 3 sliced frozen bananas.  I don't have a very good blender but I just kept blending and stirring the mixture until it formed the texture I wanted.  Then I sprinkled it with mini chocolate chips and enjoyed!

Side Note:  I only ate half of the batch that I made and kept the other half covered in the freezer overnight.  The next day I let it sit at room temperature for about 30min and then it was perfect texture to eat again!