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Chonky Boys: The Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches that Scream Summer!

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Featuring my thick and nuggy Chonky Boy Chocolate Chip Cookies, these ice cream sandwiches are the stuff that summer dreams are made of.  If you've ever had the Cookie Ice Cream Sandwich at Disneyland , you are going to LOVE these!  These big and bold chocolate chip cookies are based on a recipe from my culinary school studies at Auguste Escoffier, but with a few modifications to give them that Jennuine touch.  They make the perfectas book for a fat slice of real vanilla bean ice cream.  And those mini chips?  You just gotta have that extra cronch! Thank goodness this recipe only makes 8 sandwiches, otherwise I would be eating them for breakfast lunch and dinner.  This way, my big family can help save me from my inner child diet-saboteur.   Print With Image Without Image Chonky Boy Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches Yield: 8 Author: Jenn Erickson Loaded with chocolate chips and buttery, brown-sugary vanilla flavor, these mall-sized cookies form a perfect partnership with a
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Roasted Root Vegetables Your Whole Family Will Fall For

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  This post is sponsored by Country Crock ® . I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective , and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.  -----------------------------------------      How do your kids feel about veggies?  When it comes to my crew, there are one or two they love, a few more they'll tolerate under a veil of thinly concealed disdain, and others that the mere mention of leads to wildly incongruent facial contortions.   So, it's always a delight to discover new ways to prepare vegetables that makes them fun and delicious (yet still healthy).  Recently, I was asked by the Clever Girls Collective and Country Crock ® to try a recipe from the Clare Crespo Cookbook (a FREE download from Country Crock ).  Veggie Stoplights (with Polenta) , page 32 I was so pleased by what I found!  When it comes to recipes, flavor and healthfulness can often be sacrificed in the process of earning the &
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How to Make Robins' Egg Truffles

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Days are longer, trees are bursting with flowers, and new life is hatching all around -- It's Spring!   I believe in celebrating life's sweet moments and enjoy dreaming up whimsical confections to make those moments even sweeter. So last year, for the Spring Fling at Mine for the Making , I hatched a new idea for a chocolate truffle, inspired by one of the most lovely, delicate, and sweet symbols of Spring -- the robin's egg.  Today I'm sharing my recipe for these speckled sweets here in my own creative nesting place. ROBINS' EGG TRUFFLES INGREDIENTS 9 oz. semi sweet chocolate, finely chopped 1/2 cup heavy cream (not "whipping cream" or "half and half") 1 Tablespoon butter (this makes the truffle silkier) 10 oz. white candy bark Blue food coloring 1 Tablespoon cocoa powder Equipment Baking sheet or tray lined with wax paper Cool, damp cloth Candy dipping fork a fine sieve 1.  In a sm
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What Rhymes With Octopus? ~ A Little Birdie Told Me...No. 67

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Thanks to The Graphics Fairy for the graphic elements I used in this piece. -------------------------------------- Welcome to  "A Little Birdie Told Me..." Tuesday No. 67! If you're here to share a craft, recipe or project post, you'll find the linky and the specifics on how to  join the party after the features below. -------------------------------------- So, what does rhyme with Octopus? According to the rhyming dictionary it's words like opus, rumpus and grampus.  Great words, no doubt, but do they really rhyme with Octopus?   Today there's only one "A Little Birdie Told Me..." feature.  Just as I'm hard-pressed to find a word that rhymes with Octopus, I couldn't seem to find another post to feature that would tie in with the one that totally won my heart (more like reached out and grabbed it with all eight arms).  What can I say?  I'm a sucker for cephalopods!
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How to Make Lavender Egg-Shaped Soaps
By Reurposing Plastic Easter Eggs

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Chances are, if you celebrated Easter this past week, you probably have a dozen or more of those colorful plastic eggs lying around.  So, what to do with those empty plastic shells once the last jellybean has jumped and the last peep has popped into your mouth? Last April I came up with this simple little tutorial for making lovely egg-shaped soaps with the help of plastic Easter eggs.  Even the packaging is made from upcycled materials. I shared the tutorial in a guest post at My Repurposed Life .  Today, I'm sharing it here on Rook No. 17!  How to Make   Egg Shaped Soaps from Plastic Easter Eggs   Materials Pour & Mold Soap (2 pounds will yield 1 dozen egg soaps) Essential Oil for scent -- optional Cardboard Egg Carton Acrylic craft paint & paint brush Small funnel* (typically available at craft stores) Drill with a 7/32 bit and a 11/32 bit Piece of scrap wood Plastic Easter Eggs Gorilla Tape & scissors Bamboo skewer
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How to Make an Old World Easter Basket
(On a Bargain Store Budget) #KmartEaster

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Holidays like Easter are what nostalgists like me live for!  For this vintage-junkie, Easter evokes memories of time-worn wicker baskets, fluffy chenille chicks, handmade chocolate bunnies, and the rocky road eggs that my mom had personalized with our names by a local sweet shoppe.  There was a look and a quality to those understated yet artful treats that can be hard to find in today's mass-produced, bright and shiny, commercial world. Recently, I had the opportunity to shop for an Easter basket on a budget through a Collective Bias campaign on behalf of Kmart stores.  I knew that this project would be a terrific creative challenge to put my flair for the "vintage" to the test.  Following you'll find some easy and inexpensive tricks and tips for putting together an Easter basket that looks like it came right out of the Easter Bunny's workshop or an expensive boutique, but at a price that is as easy to swallow as a jellybean!
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