Pizza Factory Breadsticks

These bread sticks turned out really good and were pretty easy to make. I think the butter in the middle of the dough and the kosher salt make this stand out.

(Recipe from here)

Ingredients:
1 1/2 C warm water
2 Tbs sugar
1 Tbs yeast
3 1/2 C flour
1 tsp salt
butter
Parmesan cheese
garlic powder
kosher salt

Directions:
Mix water, sugar, and yeast. Let proof for five minutes. Add flour and salt. Mix until smooth. Let rest ten minutes. Roll out into a large rectangle. Melt butter and add garlic powder. Brush over dough. Sprinkle with Kosher Salt. Fold dough in half and cut into strips. Twist and place on greased cookie sheet. Let rise 15 to 20 minutes. Bake at 400 degrees for 17 minutes or until golden brown. Brush immediately with more garlic butter. Sprinkle on Parmesan cheese and kosher salt.

The original recipe said to use "real" butter and I did. I usually use margarine and am not sure how much of a difference this would make on the final taste.

Homemade Oreos

Nothing can replace a real Oreo but these were fun to make and tasty. I thought they were going to be a softer, whoopie pie sort of cookie but the wafers were on the crunchy side, making a dip in milk essential.

(Recipe from this site)

Ingredients:
Wafers:
1 1/4 C flour
1/2 C cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 C sugar
1/2 C plus 2 Tbs butter, room temperature
1 egg

Filling:
1/4 C butter, room temp
1/4 C shortening
2 C powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla

Directions:
Mix the dry ingredients for the wafers. Beat in butter and egg. Keep mixing until dough balls together (this took a few minutes for me). Place desired sized balls on a parchment lined baking sheet. Flatten slightly with fingers or glass. Bake for 9 minutes at 375. Let cool on cooling rack.

Meanwhile, put butter and shortening in a small bowl. Gradually beat in powdered sugar and vanilla.

To put the cookies together, you can use a piping bag to squeeze the filling into the center of a cookie. Squeeze the two cookies together to get the filling to spread to edges. Alternately, you can simply use a knife to spread filling onto cookies.

This recipe make plenty of filling for the number of cookies. I thought they actually tasted better a few hours after I made them, once they were completely cool and crunchy. They stored well for several days.