Skookies

Guess who's back from a week long vacation of bliss?? I can't even tell you how grand it was. No, we didn't go anywhere outrageous - just home to see the family, but it was fan-freaking-tastic! Did anyone else watch the Grey's Anatomy premiere Thursday night?? Oh my emotional!! A bunch of my sister-in-laws and cousins were planning on getting together to watch it, but Zachary had to be back to work at 7 o'clock yesterday morning. I was so bummed that I wasn't going to be able to be there! Lucky for me though, I married the sweetest man in the world and he let me stay and said we could drive home after the show. That put us on the road at 11 o'clock Thursday night and we got home around 5 o'clock yesterday morning. Don't worry, I didn't wake up until 1 o'clock that afternoon. Say what? I think that's a new record for me. I hope to never let that happen again. Talk about a waste of a day! It was all worth it though, to be able to spend a little extra time with my fab. family!

Anyway, I would be deeply ungrateful if I didn't give a shout out to all those lovely bloggers that guest posted for me while I was gone. Do they have some serious talent or what? I thoroughly enjoyed each one of their posts. You guys are great and I appreciate you all so much!

To start off, I have to ask you a question: have you ever heard of a skookie? I remember the first time someone said that word to me and I thought they were speaking a different language. It's actually just the combination of two words: skillet and cookie. Imagine with me for a second, a personal-sized cookie {and by personal, I mean larger than a regular-sized cookie, but small enough to not make you want to vomit after eating it} topped with a scoop of ice cream that melts and oozes into all the cracks of the cookie, giving you the perfect dessert. That, my friends, is a skookie.

I never really understood why you couldn't just do all of this with a regular cookie and why it had to be in a skillet. That was until my sister-in-law pointed out that by cooking it in a skillet, it keeps the cookie warm, so that you get the whole effect of this tasty dessert. We received our skillet as a white elephant gift and I have to say, it's the best white elephant gift I have ever received. {Which really isn't saying much since one year, I received a pair of men's boxers from Russia - not exactly something that makes me jump for joy.} As far as I know, you can use any cookie recipe really {preferably chocolate chip}, but here is the one I used {courtesy of my best friend}:

*Note: This recipe is for an entire batch of cookies, so I used what I needed for the skookie and then just made the rest into cookie bars. Easy peasy.*

Ingredients:

• 1-1/3 cup butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 3 to 3-1/2 cups bread flour {or all-purpose is fine}
• 9 oz. (3/4 bag) milk chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Cream together the butter and the sugars until fluffy.
3. Add eggs, one at a time, and mix until smooth
4. Add vanilla.
5. Mix in salt and baking soda and combine well.
6. Add flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until dough begins to pull away from edges. Be sure not to add too much flour, so as to keep the resulting cookie nice and soft.
7. Add chocolate chips and mix well.
8. Press enough cookie dough into your skookie pan for it to barely touch the top. 
9. Place directly in oven and bake for 9-10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.
10. Top with a scoop of your favorite ice cream and serve immediately.

We just make it a 'free for all' type of deal where everyone has their own spoon and goes at it. It's super tasty and is always gone within minutes {if not seconds}. I hope you like this yummy dessert as much as we do!

-Sarah

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