Chocolate Chip covered Oreo Cookies

They look deceptively normal.

So, for my senior recital (I'm a music education major) I was rather nervous. I didn't want to do it, I was paranoid nobody would be there, etc. My Sigma Alpha Iota sisters (it's a women's music fraternity) moved our meeting an hour earlier so they could go to the recital, and many of them did.

But, the music fraternity my brother's in moved their meeting back as well so they could go to my recital (not SOP). They all lined up in their Phi Mu Alpha jerseys in the front of the recital hall and sat in a row together. When I walked out, I had a hard time not laughing at them all sitting there.

I thanked both groups with cupcakes, cookies and deer jerky at the reception afterwards. I still felt like I needed to do more, so last week I asked one of the brothers what type of cookies he thought I should bake. His response was Oreos covered in chocolate chip cookie dough. I had never heard of this, and he was a bit stunned by such a response.

Naturally, I turned to my handy-dandy Google and found a recipe on the Bakerella site.

Chocolate Chip Covered Oreo Cookies
2 sticks softened butter
3/4 C brown sugar
1 C white sugar
2 eggs
1 T vanilla
3 1/2 C flour
1 t salt
1 t baking soda
12 oz bag chocolate chips
1 pack of Double Stuf Oreos

- Put the oven on 350*.
- Cream butter and sugar.
- Add vanilla and eggs, beat until combined.
- In a separate bowl, mix flour, salt, soda until combined.
- Slowly add the flour mix to the sugar mix.
- Add chocolate chips and stir until just combined.
- Take a golf ball sized piece of dough (cookie scoop, etc) and flatten it out somewhat. Wrap it around the Oreo. Make sure it's all covered and there are no super-thin parts - these will leave exposed Oreo after baking.
- Place on a parchment paper lined pan and bake about 11-16 minutes.
- Let cool 5 minutes, then remove to cooling rack.

I made 2 batches of these, and had a few broken Oreos left over. It made about 55 cookies between the two batches.

Bam! A hidden cookie!

Again, thanks to the Iota Omicron chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota and the Delta Epsilon chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia and everybody else who showed up to my recital. SAI/PMA, thanks for moving the meetings, and enjoy the cookies. :)

Pearly Crocheted Mesh Bag

Another plarn bag. Yeah, I love to crochet with this stuff.

It's from this pattern on Ravelry. I kind of wish I had used a larger hook (I used the one the pattern called for) since the single crochets at the top and bottom are a bit stiff. The mesh section is also a little tight on certain rows.

The plarn is from big transluscent bags that come in cases of t-shirts my parents get for their screenprinting business. They're a little harder to work with than regular sized bags, since you have to fold them more times, and it's harder to keep the strands from knotting up. I really like the color of the finished product though, so it's worth the fight. The little black flowers are from some trash bags that I had used to cover my backpack in the back of the truck on the way to the camp.

In the picture it looks like the bottom is wider than the top, but in reality it's not. It's just the way the picture took.

Chainmaille! Micromaille, at that...

OK, so some won't call 24g 1/16" micromaille, but I do. It's itty-bitty and a pain to get decent closures on. But, at the same time, I love the feel of it and the way it makes Euro 4/1 and Byzantine look. So dense, yet flowing at the same time.

This one, I just finished today. It's in Euro 4/1, 24g 1/16" stainless steel. I used to have one like this a few years ago, but I traded it at the Louisiana Ren Fest to one of the vendors and got some awesome earrings and ear cuffs for it. I'm partial to the tube clasp on it. I had been saving it for this project, and finally got to sit down and work on it. I wish I could remember where I bought it at, in case this one breaks. Ah well.

This is the chain and pentacle I wear day in, day out. I finished this chain a while back, but just now got around to taking a photo of it. These rings are 24g 1/16" as well, in sterling silver and green anodized titanium. The weave used is Byzantine. At this AR, the weave is almost round instead of its usual square-y-ness.

If you're interested in learning more about chainmaille, this is the best site on the web for it - MAIL.