Pizookie!!!

OK, so over the last couple of weeks I have been seeing a LOT of other bloggers talking & linking about "Pizookie". My curiosity got the better of me & I started to do a little bit of googling. I have to say, "Pizookie where have you been all my life???" From what I have found out, it is an American desert that is a biscuit dough that is normally cooked in a deep pizza dish & topped with ice cream. I came a cross a few variations & the one that tickled my fancy the most was the dough cooked in a small oven proof dish till lightly golden on top, still warm & gooey under & served with ice cream. HOLEY DOOLEY!!! It is amazing!!

You could use any biscuit recipe that you like. I used a chocolate choc chip recipe that I think is perfect for this desert. We topped it off with home made cookie dough ice cream & ice magic............I know, I know, not very diet friendly but I couldn't care less.......................this is worth every calorie!!! So I will not keep the secret any longer, here goes.......


Pazookie (Deep dish cookie)

160g of brown sugar
160g of castor sugar
255g of margarine
2 eggs
2 teaspoons of venilla essence
1 teaspoon of salt
370g of plain flour
1 teaspoon of bicarb soda
3 tablespoons of cocoa
250g of choc chips

Ice cream to serve

Beat butter & sugars until light & fluffy. Add eggs, vanilla & salt. Beat well.

In a large bowl, whisk the rest of the (dry) ingredients.

Add the butter mixture to the dry ingredients & fold through, then mix well till all combined.

Fill small oven proof bowls (ramekins or small cereal bowls) 1/2 inch deep with cookie dough.

Place the bowls on a baking tray & put int he oven on 170 degrees for around 15 minutes or until lightly browned on top. Now the secret to this desert is to make sure that the dough is warmed through or slightly undercooked so that it is soft & gooey but not doughy.

There you have it, Pizookie or deep dish cookie. Serve warm (remember the bowls will be hot so hold underneath with a tea towel). Put a scoop of ice cream on top & even a splash of chocolate topping.

From the first mouthful of warm cookie dough & cold icecream, you will be hooked!!!

If you have leftover uncooked dough. place tablespoon fulls onto lined baking trays & make some biscuits for the next day. I hope you enjoy this as much as we did!!

Oreo icing for cupcakes!

Mmmmmmm, Oreo icing!! This icing is melt in your mouth delicious!! It is a very simple cream icing that goes really well with the chocolate cake recipe that I did as one of my first blogs. Instead of making one large round cake, I made cupcakes. Make the recipe the same but spoon the mixture into cupcake wrappers, in a muffin tin. Cook for 15-20mins or until a skewer comes out clean.

Cut a small hole out of the top of each cupcake.

In a food processor, finely crush one box of  Oreo cookies. Set aside.

Using an electric beater, whip 250ml of cream & 3 tablespoons of icing sugar.

Gently food through half of the crushed Oreo's through the cream.

Use a piping bag to fill the holes in the cupcakes with the icing cream.

Spread the tops of the cupcakes with the icing cream.

With the remaining crushed Oreo's, sprinkle over the tops of the cupcakes.

Whatever you are doing this weekend, enjoy!

Bath salts made by Miss G

There is nothing better than a nice relaxing bath. Ahhhhhhhh, thinking about it just makes me relaxed. What could be more relaxing? A nice warm bath with your very own home made bath salts! Miss G loves her bath so when she was reading a "Kids gifts to make" book & found bath salts, there was no stopping her!! We had to drive straight away to the shops to get the ingredients. Now, this is not just a kids thing to make. They also make a great gift. For the person who has everything, why not give them something they don't have, a pretty jar of bath salts made by you!! So here goes................

Bath salts

You will need;
Small gift jars with tight fitting lids
Epsom salts, enough to fill the jars
Food colouring
Essential oil of your choice, we used peppermint
Some old jars for mixing the salts in, we made 3 different colours
decorations for the jar

Fill up one of the gift jars with the Epsom salts. Pour that amount equally between 3 mixing jars.

Into each jar, add a couple of drops of food coloring & a couple of drops of essential oils. Shake well.

 Using a funnel, pour each colour of the salts into a gift jar so that you can see the different coloured layers.

Decorate the jar & attach a label. You only need about a tablespoon or 2 of these salts so make sure that you write the directions on the back of the label.

 Miss K liked this so much that she also made some bath salts for herself!! She made her salts blue with orange essential oil.

Now, who wouldn't want a gift made with love? They really do smell beautiful! You could make your salts with lavender, rose, vanilla, coconut, the options are endless!!
Enjoy!

OMG!!!!!!!!! Cookie dough for cookie dough icecream!!!!!

OK, I have to admit from the start, I forgot to take photo's of all the steps to making this!! Miss G & I were just so excited to be making it that we got a little sidetracked!! This would have to be better than any store brought cookie dough ice cream & is a fraction of the price!! I just added this dough into cheap plain vanilla ice cream but you could add it in to any flavoured ice cream that you wish!! Here is a photo of the finished product.......

It is so yummy!!! So here goes.......

Cookie dough for ice cream
2 cups of plain flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
3/4 cup of butter/margarine, melted
1 cup of brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup of white sugar
2 teaspoons of vanilla essence
1 tablespoon of milk
1 packet of small choc chips



Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl.
Wrap in a log shape using alfoil, freeze for 2 hours.


You can then let a 2L tub of ice cream slightly melt, place it in a large bowl. Cut up the cookie dough into bite sized chunks & mix through the ice cream.

It is that easy!!!

It is the first official day of school holidays here so we spent the morning with some lovely ladies & lots of kiddies at a great park next to the beach.

 So now the chickadees have a DVD on, Furry Vengance with Brandon Fraser (eye candy!!), & it looks like it is time for some cleaning for me. I think I drew the short straw!! What ever you are up to today.........enjoy!

Ahhhhhh, memories!

Today, I am dreaming of Summer! The above photo is one that I took at one of my fave places in the world. Bribie Island! We love to take the 4wd out on the beach, drive to one of the lagoons & sit & watch the world go by.

We have the ocean running in our veins. The beach is calming & soothing. Today, I am dreaming of summer!

7 scarves for 7 days!

7 scarves for 7 days! I started sewing my first scarf yesterday & only thought I would make 2-3, I ended up making 7!!! The pattern that I made was so quick & easy that I just kept going!! Once you start pinning, a scarf can be completed in around 15-20 minutes!!! I have so many beautiful pieces of fabrics in my stash that I have brought over the years but could not decide what to do with them. So I turned them into scarves!!! The first 4 in the above picture are made from sheer Italian silk blends so they so soft & luxurious. The next 2 are made from beautiful stretch lace. The last scarf is made from 100% cotton. It shows that you can use any material to make these scarves. I am going to make some more in stretch jersey next. I think I have found a new addiction!! I have always loved scarves but I do find that the woolly ones can become itchy & pick up fluff, pet hair, etc.

I made the simple pattern by joining 2 pieces of the local newspaper together.

The newspaper pattern measures 115cm long so you can use it across the length of the material. You need 2 pieces of fabric & sew 2 of the short ends together to make one long piece. I did not even use the overlocker as some of the material I used was see through so I did not want bulky seams. Fold the material in half length ways as in the diagram below.

Sew along the 3 open side but make sure you leave a gap (as shown in the diagram) so that you can use the gap to pull the material out the right way. Then once you have turned the scarf in the right way, close the gap up with a small straight stitch.

Your scarf is then finished!!! Very simple & easy but very beautiful. It is a quick way to update your winter wardrobe & add a splash of colour. I find that black & denim jackets are timeless & a staple in my wardrobe. It is how you add accessories that bring them into fashion.

Now I have a scarf for every day & every fashion trend!! Go on, what are you waiting for!!! Grab your machine & get sewing!!! Enjoy!!

Dreaming of summer!!

When I see a big bowl of strawberries, I immediately think of summer. I don't know why, but I just do! Now strawberries are at their best & cheapest in winter so now is the best time to use strawberries for cooking. In our family we love to go strawberry picking at a local strawberry farm near us. The chickadees love going through the fields & have competitions looking for the biggest ones! Here is the winner form last year.....

It was nearly the same size as Miss G's face!!! I think that visiting a local farm & letting the kids pick their own strawberries is something every family should do. And you can't forget to have some of the yummy foods that the farm often has on offer.

It is a great way to support your local farmer. Now I do have to let you know that Miss K does not like strawberries at all but she loves to go picking too!! She just doesn't like having her photo taken!!

The girls have already been asking when we will be going picking this winter, hopefully over the school holidays we will head up. It is a great way to keep the kids amused on the holidays.

Now, Miss G has been waiting for weeks for the price of strawberries to drop, she checks every week. When they are under $4 a punnet at the shops, she knows that it is time for home made strawberry ice creams!!! Now these are so simple to make & are chocked full of strawberries. It is all done in the food processor. So here goes........

Strawberry ice creams
1 punnet of fresh strawberries
1/2 cup of milk
2 tablespoons of icing sugar

Remove the tops of the strawberries & slice them. Add the strawberries, milk & icing sugar to the food processor.

Process until smooth & creamy. Put the mixture into a pouring jug.

Fill the ice block moulds to the fill line at the top. This amount of mixture should fill a tray of four.

Place the ice block handles on securely & freeze until solid or overnight.

To release the ice creams, run warm water over the base for approximately 10 seconds, then pull the handle to release.

Now, as you can tell by the smile on Miss G's face, these are so very tasty!! As soon as she walked through the door after school, she made a beeline for the freezer. She did not utter a word, she was on a mission!! She had been thinking about these all day at school & said the wait was worth it!!! LOL!!!

Why not plan a trip to your local farm this holidays!! Enjoy!