Girl Scout cookies

Frozen Samoa Cookie Pie

March 14, 2014

It is finally going to be nice out tomorrow so we are going to test drive some cars!

I feel like I’m betraying our other car. Ahh poor Frank the Tank.

But Frank is just too small now. Not in the ‘we have a new baby and have tons of stuff small’ but ‘we have a new baby and no one can sit in the passenger seat now because of the car seat’ small. Yep, that’s what happens when your Scion Xa is the size of a matchbox car. It means with the car seat in the back you can’t sit in front. Well, you can but then your knees are touching the dashboard and that’s not the safest thing.

Now we are getting a new car so that it doesn’t mean that one of us is playing chauffeur.

Thankfully, Frank has been paid off for years so he is sticking around and will be the car we use when we are just running errands. I can’t ditch Frank yet! He only has 115K miles under the belt and he has plenty more in him!

Tomorrow we are looking at a Mazda CX5 and then next weekend we are going to check out a Toyota Rav4. Price has done endless research on endless models of cars and they are our top 2 cars.

Truthfully, I’m a bit nervous to test drive cars because I’m so used to how mine handles and this time we are going to get an automatic (for various reasons). Aside from rentals, I’ve only ever driven standard cars and when I drive automatics I tend to drive with 2 feet. I’m sure the sales guy is gonna love it…

Anyway, today is Pie Day here on the blog and Pi Day! #doublepieday

So I made this doozy of a pie for the occasion. This Frozen Samoa Cookie Pie is what happens when you stuff some Samoa Cookie pieces in and on a Cool – Whip based pie. And don’t forget the added coconut, caramel, and chocolate that is in and on the pie too!

This takes almost no time to whip up but the killer part is waiting for it to set up and freeze again. But the wait it worth it.

DIG IN!!!

Frozen Samoa Cookie Pie

Makes 9″ pie

Ingredients

1 Nilla Wafer Pre-made Pie Crust
8 oz of cream cheese, at room temperature
1/3 Cup sugar
2 Tablespoons low-fat milk
1 container (8oz) Cool Whip, at room temperature
12 Samoa Cookies, cut into dime sized pieces, divided
1 cup shredded coconut, divided
chocolate syrup (about 1/2 cup)
caramel sundae syrup (about 1/2 cup)

Process

Whip the cream cheese in a mixing bowl for a few minutes until light and fluffy. Add the sugar and milk and mix until fully incorporated it into cream cheese.
Gently fold in the Cool Whip until it’s well blended together
Put half of the filling mixture into the pie crust. Then put half of the coconut on the filling. Drizzle a lot of the caramel and chocolate sauces on the filling. Lastly, add in half of the cookie pieces.
Pour the rest of the filling mixture on top of the fillings later. Spread evenly with a spatula.
Sprinkle the remaining coconut and cookies on the top of the pie. Gently press into the top of the pie. Then generously drizzle with the caramel and chocolate sauces.
Put the pie into the freezer to set up. I suggest at least 4 hours, but overnight is preferred.
When ready to serve, remove from freezer and cut into all the pieces (8-12). (Cutting the pieces at once when frozen makes it easier to do.) Remove slices from pie plate and let thaw slightly on serving plate.
Serve slices with more caramel and chocolate sauce. And a bit of whipped cream doesn’t hurt.

Inspired by Beyond Frosting

Thin Mint Cookie Pie

February 28, 2014

Yay!!! It’s Girl Scout cookie season!

I get Girl Scout cookies every year. Typically I order them from one of my coworker’s daughter but being out on maternity leave I missed my chance to order from her. I was a little afraid that I would totally miss out on the opportunity to get those addictive Girl Scout cookies. But then I saw that a local troop would be setting up a table in my office building. Perfect! So I ran down one day and loaded up on this annual treat.

Now Girl Scout cookies are great on their own but I’ve learned that you can enjoy them in a variety of ways, including in baked goods, like the Thin Mint Gooey Cake Bars I made last year. How can you go wrong with adding cookies to a dessert? You can’t! It just makes it better.

Well, I had a box of Thin Mint cookies staring me down daring me to get to work. I had plenty of things in mind like cookies inside of cookies, cupcakes, and ice cream but ultimately decided to use the Thin Mints in a pie recipe. A minty, chocolaty pie… yes!!

This pie uses the Thin Mints in the no bake crust and then the minty chocolate pudding filling is garnished with whole Thin Mints. A whole cookie with each slice!!

This is such a simple pie to whip up. It takes about 20 minutes of active cook time and, thankfully, you don’t dirty many dishes either.

Making the pudding filling is very easy but you can’t rush it or neglect it either. If you cook it on too high of a temperature or don’t mix it enough you run the risk of burning the mixture. If you burn it you have to start over again and use some serious elbow grease to scrub your pot. And you don’t want to go that. You want to eat pie.

Thin Mint Cookie Pie

Makes a 9″ pie, 12 slices

Ingredients

Pie Crust

24 Thin Mint cookies
4 tablespoons butter, melted

Pie Filling

2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
4 egg yolks
3 cup milk, any fat content (I used non-fat milk)
2 Tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
1 3/4 cups dark chocolate chips

To create the pie crust:

Add the Thin Mint cookies to the bowl of a food processor and process until crumbs form.
Add the melted butter, mix well.
Firmly press the cookie crumb mixture into a 9″ pie plate.

To make the pie:

Sift together the sugar, cornstarch, and salt into a 2 quart saucepan.
In a medium sized bowl, combine the egg yolks and milk. Slowly pour milk mixture into sugar mixture and stir to mix.
Cook the mixture over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a low boil. Continue to stir continually while it cooks for 1 more minute. Remove from heat and stir in the butter and peppermint extract. Add the chocolate chips and stir until chips are melted and the mixture is well blended. Let cool for 15-20 minutes, stirring it every 5 minutes.
Pour into the Thin Mint cookie pie shell. Lightly lay a piece of plastic wrap on top of pie filling before refrigerating for several hours until chilled.
Garnish with 8 Thin Mint cookies around the edge of the pie plate so that each slice would have a cookie.

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Looking for more Girl Scout Cookie Recipes?

Thin Mint Gooey Cake Bars

Samoa Cookie Cocktail

Mango Mini Cheesecakes

March 11, 2013

Mango Chobani + Mini Cheesecakes + Girl Scout Cookies = Mango Bombs!

So this year the Girl Scouts came out with a new cookie called Mango Cremes with nutrifusion. I ordered a box to try them out. The first thing I thought of when I opened them up was that they smelled like suntan lotion. No, I’m not saying a chemical smell! I’m saying the fruity, tropical smell that I can’t get enough of. Pure spring and summer.

Besides just eating Girl Scout Cookies I love to use them in different recipes. Most recently I made a Samoa Cookie Cocktail that I garnished with a Samoa Cookie. So I got to thinking about how I could use these cookies and I decided on using the cookies as the bottom of mini cheesecakes, just like my Mini Creamsicle Cheesecakes with Creamsicle Oreo Cookie Crusts.

I basically used the same filling recipe for my Mini Cheesecakes with an Oreo Crust, with just substituting regular yogurt for the Mango Low-Fat Chobani Greek Yogurt. This made the mango flavor shine throughout the entire cheesecake. I used the Mango Creme Cookies on the bottom of the cheesecakes, but if you don’t have them then use Golden Oreos.

I decided to invert the cheesecakes and put them in a new wrapper so that everyone could see the cute cookie bottom. You can leave them right side up and sprinkle some powdered sugar on top. Or you can take out of the wrapper and serve with a fruity sauce on top.

The thing I love most about these little cheesecakes is how easy they are to make and how yummy they are! Give them a try!!

Mango Mini Cheesecakes

Ingredients

1 1/2 packages (12 ounces) cream cheese, room temperature
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 cup mango Greek yogurt, such as Chobani’s low fat Mango yogurt
12 Mango Creme Girl Scout Cookies or Golden Oreos

Process

Preheat the oven to 325.
Line a 12-muffin pan with aluminum liners and place a whole cookie of the bottom of each of the cupcake liner.
Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat the cream cheese until creamy. Gradually add the sugar, salt, and vanilla; beat well. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing just until blended. Stir in the mango yogurt.
Evenly divide the filling into the baked Oreo crusts, about a 1/4 cup of filling. The filling should should come almost to the top of the liner. Bake for 15 minutes or until tops of cheesecakes are puffed and only slightly jiggly in the very center. Cool to room temperature and then refrigerate for at least a couple hours, preferably overnight, until serving.