If you like a little chocolate with your peanut butter (who doesn’t?) try subbing some chocolate chips for peanut butter chips. For crunch, throw in some salted peanuts. My secret ingredient, not reflected in the recipe, is a little bit of cinnamon. It’ll keep everyone guessing!

Peanut Butter Cookies
adapted from Magnolia Bakery Cookbook

Ingredients:
1-1/4 c. flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
8 tbsp. butter, room temperature
3/4 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. sugar
1 egg
1 tbsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. peanut butter chips
2 tbsp. sugar, for rolling

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Cream the butter, brown sugar, and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, milk, and vanilla. Stir in the dry ingredients, just until incorporated. Stir in the peanut butter chips. Roll tablespoons of dough in the extra sugar, then place the ball of dough on a greased baking sheet. Flatten slightly with a fork to create a crisscross pattern. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven and let the cookies stand on the baking sheet for 2 minutes before moving to wire racks to cool completely. Yields about 3 dozen cookies.

I’d like to share my favorite recipe for each of these categories. Kicking off this series is (perhaps) the most basic cookie of all — the sugar cookie.

Now, my essential sugar cookie is not a roll-out recipe. Those are fun to decorate, but my favorite sugar cookie is a chewy drop cookie with a hint of lemon. It’s classic, it’s delicious, and it’s essential!

Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:
1-1/2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
8 tbsp. butter, room temperature
2/3 c. sugar
1/4 c. brown sugar
2 tsp. lemon zest
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 egg
extra sugar for rolling

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, cream the butter, sugar, brown sugar, and lemon zest. Beat in the lemon juice and egg, then stir in the flour mixture. Roll tablespoons of dough in extra sugar to coat. Place the ball of dough on a greased baking sheet and flatten slightly with a spatula. Bake for 11-13 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Remove from oven and transfer to racks to cool completely. Yields about 3 dozen small cookies.

I’m spreading the word — Ben & Jerry’s annual Free Cone Day is next Tuesday, April 29th. You can get your free scoop between noon and 8 pm. To find a participating location near you, use the Scoop Shop Locator and select shops that participate in Free Cone Day.

I know where I’ll be next Tuesday!

Image courtesy of Ben & Jerry’s.

This year, the big blockbuster is Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull. The bag features Green, who obviously has the hots for Dr. Jones. Hey, it’s Harrison Ford, so I totally get it. It also features phrases like “Dig New Mint Crisp M&Ms” and “Get ‘M’ Before They’re Lost.” On the back are two “arti-facts.” Mine are:

1. Green made her first TV appearance in 1997 (I remember this!).
2. The Mola Ram character doesn’t make his first appearance in Temple of Doom until an hour into the movie.

Inside the bag, the M&Ms feature a skull, Indy’s hat, a pyramid, a compass, and a face/mask. Each design incorporates the classic ‘m’ somehow. They’re more than a little irregular, and aren’t all that pretty. They come in various sizes, ranging from tiny to very large, and are lumpy and bumpy.

As for the taste — well, if memory serves me correctly, these taste almost just like the Mint M&Ms that were out for the Christmas season. That’s not a bad thing. It’s a semi-sweet chocolate with a fairly strong mint flavor. The difference is, of course, the crisp. I really like the crisp; it adds fun texture and a burst of salt. The crisp leads these to one-up the Christmas Mint M&Ms.

I like these, though I don’t think I would buy them often. It would be nice if they were added to the holiday line-up, when I seem to crave mint the most.

I bought a 10-pack at Target, which contains three varieties: Choca Doodle Doos, Hunka Chunka Chocolate, and Doohickeys. The fun names are sure to appeal to children. Each bag weighs about an ounce and contains five to six mini-cookies. At 100-110 calories per bag, they’re great for portion control, but let’s move on to the interesting part — taste!

Choca Doodle Doos are chocolate chip oatmeal. The cookie has a great flavor; the oatmeal lends a nice, nutty taste. However, I’m not tasting any chocolate. The chocolate chips seem to be an afterthought, but the base is good enough to make up for that. Hunka Chunka Chocolate are double chocolate chip, and trust me, they aren’t skimping on the chocolate here. They’re so dense and chocolate-ty, they’re almost like brownies. But my favorite are the oatmeal raisin Doohickeys. They bring a good dose of cinnamon and not too many raisins, which is perfect in my book.

These have become a staple snack since I discovered them months ago. I love them enough that I’m considering ordering some of Immaculate’s other products online. With flavors like Pumpkin Ginger and Key Lime, who can resist?

Ben & Jerry’s, one of my favorite out-of-the-freezer brands, has introduced three new flavors to their line. First up is Cake Batter, a yellow cake batter ice cream with a chocolate frosting swirl. There’s also Imagine Whirled Peace — caramel and sweet cream ice creams swirled with fudge peace signs and toffee cookie pieces. My personal favorite is the ONE Cheesecake Brownie, which is cheesecake ice cream with cheesecake brownie chunks. YUM. For you frozen yogurt fans, there is Strawberry Banana FroYo, which contains real strawberries and a strawberry swirl.

Meanwhile, Baskin Robbins is hitting us with a double whammy of sugar this season. Their recent campaign is Candy Bar Madness, which features Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, Heath Bar, and York Peppermint Pattie ice creams. There are also candy-themed sundaes, shakes, and ice cream cakes.

You might want to keep these treats in mind for the next time you’re looking for a cold indulgence!

(Image from Ben & Jerry’s.)

Still, I was pretty excited when I heard about the limited edition Twix Java a few months back — and I haven’t been disappointed. The chocolate cookie is lacking in flavor, but it does lend a pleasing crisp, sandy texture. The caramel is where we get the flavor. It’s not your typical sweet, buttery caramel; instead it holds a surprisingly authentic coffee flavor. These coffee notes come with a welcome note of maple, and the milk chocolate coating sweetens it up just a bit more.

I first spotted it at the end of January, but I’m not sure how much longer they’ll be around, so you might want to grab it while you can. I much prefer this to the regular Twix, and wouldn’t mind seeing it added to the regular line… and maybe as a fun size or a mini?

Well, now I’ll do a better job of keeping my eyes open.

The Valomilk is made by the Russell Sifers Candy Company, which is located in Kansas. I remember seeing it featured on the Food Network, and someone said something along the lines of “you know it’s a Valomilk when it runs down your chin.” That doesn’t sound very appetizing, does it?

Luckily, my chin remained clean, but it is a rather messy candy. The chocolate tends to break away, leaving the marshmallow filling free to run out. It was freezing (okay, 50 degrees, but that’s freezing to me) when I had it, so the marshmallow remained pretty solid and didn’t run very far.

So we’ve established that the marshmallow innards are sticky and flowing. It’s also sweet and surprisingly smooth on the tongue. It’s missing the strong vanilla component I was expecting — I believe the ‘va’ in Valomilk stands for vanilla. It just tastes like marshmallow. The chocolate is slightly chalky but compliments the filling well. I really like the old-fashioned wrapper. Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s very appealing to kids. That’s a shame because I think kids would have a lot of fun with this product.

Overall, it’s good but not great. But I’d certainly have it again, partly for the fun of it.

The crescent-shaped cashews make up the majority of the mix. Cashews pair nicely with chocolate, but they are mild nuts. I wish there was a little salt to bring out the flavor. The almonds pack a greater punch; they have a great crunch and are perfectly roasted. There were only about three macadamias in my mix. They were crunchy and buttery, as a macadamia should be, but again, I think they could stand a little salt.

The nuts were all crunchy and fresh; there wasn’t a bad one in the bunch. My main problem with these treats was the chocolate. It was bland, and I think the nuts can stand up to richer chocolate. So while I liked the packaging of this product, I think it could have packed a little more flavor.

Still, I did eat them all.

Baskin Robbins is celebrating Valentine’s Day with two seasonal flavors: SuperFudge Truffle and Love Potion #31. SuperFudge Truffle is chocolate ice cream with toffee and chocolate ganache. Love Potion #31 is white chocolate and raspberry ice creams with raspberry-filled chocolates and a raspberry swirl. If you are looking for something more decadent, check out the Chocolate Covered Strawberry Sundae or the Chocolate Chip Truffle Shake.

If the grocer’s freezer is more your style, check out Dreyer’s/Edy’s new selection of… erm… American Idol inspired flavors. The five flavors are:

- Cheesecake Diva (cheesecake ice cream with brownie bits and a fudge swirl)
- Cookies ‘n Dreamz (chocolate ice cream with chocolate cookies)
- Mint Karaoke Cookie (mint ice cream with chocolate cookies)
- Most Orange-inal (vanilla ice cream with an orange sorbet swirl)
- One Split Wonder (banana ice cream with fruit and a chocolate swirl)

You can visit Edy’s website to vote for your favorite flavor. Last year’s winner, Take the Cake (cake batter ice cream with frosting and sprinkles), is now a permanent flavor.

Photo courtesy of baskinrobbins.com.