Friendship, Fun, and a S'more Cookie!

It's been a very busy month for me. Alot of traveling and going, going, going. At the beginning of the month we left for a ten day vacation along the Oregon coast with friends, only to turn around and head to Lake Almanor for our annual family wine pairing dinner.

The very next day I was off for a few days to play and
camp with old childhood friends on the Rogue River in Oregon.

We have all turned or are about to turn 50!

Kim lives in Oregon and turned 50 last November, Jenny from Florida turned in February and I, the baby of the pack, turns 50 in October.
(That is so hard to say but even harder to see in print. Sigh)
So it was a celebration of our fifties, friendships, and great wine.
Errr, I mean fabulous food. Yea, that was it.

Fifty's, Friendship, and Food!

I have known these girls many years. I met Kim when I was in 1st grade. I was five, she was six. Growing up over the years, there was Barbies, boys, party's! Where there was Kim, there was Megan. That's 45 years of friendship! It's funny, I now work at the very same elementary school that Kim and I attended. I see all those little kids, and those hallways, and the memories, it seems a lifetime ago. Well... I guess it was.

I met Jenny when we started the 9th grade. Freshman's, we were. Silly little Freshman girls with very big dreams! Ironically, this is the year my daughter starts high school and it seems weird to think I was just her age when I met Jen. How soon we all grow up.

Here's a fun cookie I wanted to share with you. Made with graham cracker crumbs, chocolate chips, and mini marshmallows, It's a S'more cookie! Perfect for a camping trip or a backyard sleep out, this cookies delivers. If I close my eye's, let my mind wonder,and nibble a cookie, I can be transported back to the big old redwoods.


But here's a hint for perfect cookies. The recipe says to bake them for 9 minutes and then place 3 marshmallows and the Hershey pieces on the cookie and finish baking. Well...I have a recipe for a Mississippi Mud Cookie that you just bake the whole time with three marshmallows on top. So in the interest of saving a few minutes, I tried it that way.

The marshmallows slid around a bit and weren't quite as pretty as the one's where I did follow the directions. Lesson learned!



A perfect S'more cookie!

S'more Cookies
From Cookie Madness
3/4 cup butter — softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate
1 cup (more or less) of mini marshmallows
2 Hershey Bars, broken into pieces

Beat together butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Blend in egg and vanilla. Add combined flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking soda and salt. Mix well. Stir in chocolate chips and (if using) other stuff.

Drop dough by heaping tablespoonfuls onto greased cookie sheets about 3 inches apart.

Bake in pre-heated oven 375 degrees F for 8 minutes. Remove and quickly press marshmallows and chocolate into cookies. Return to oven and cook until done (about 3 or 4 more minutes)

Makes about 3 dozen