They look like hamburgers, don’t they?

Or maybe it’s just me and my current obsession with sliders. I don’t know why I’ve been finding mini-sandwiches so appealing, but if they’re on the menu I order them. I’ve justified it as a means of portion control – I eat two and share the third. But in reality? I just think they’re cute…and who can resist cute food?

This started out as a cookie post, featuring the Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookie recipe I found on the back of a baking powder canister. But as I was nibbling away – rest assured I do plenty of taste testing before posting recipes on this blog – I couldn’t help wanting some ice cream to go with them. I was all set to pick up a pint of Haagen-Dazs when my strategic-minded husband suggested I make some from scratch. Next thing I knew I had a batch of David Lebovitz’ ultra-rich, super-smooth, intensely-chocolate gelato (from his Ready for Dessert cookbook) churning away in my ice cream maker. It’s good to listen to your spouse sometimes.

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© Cooking On the Side, 2010. | Permalink: http://cookingontheside.com/peanut-butter-oatmeal-cookie-gelato-sliders/

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A little known fact about me: I am a bit of a family history buff. I’ve assembled more than 1,500 names so far in our family tree. One branch goes back to the early 1600′s. It’s been like putting together the ultimate jigsaw puzzle, just a few pieces at a time over many years. I don’t know if any of you have been watching the “Who Do You Think You Are?” show on NBC for the past few weeks, where they trace celebrities’ family trees, but I find this stuff incredibly fascinating.

Like that of a lot of families, our heritage is comprised of a multitude of cultures, which is why we went as “American” for a little friend’s heritage-themed costume birthday party this past weekend. In honor of the side of the family that will be celebrating Passover this week, I made the unbelievably easy Coconut Almond Macaroons recipe I found on a tube of almond paste.

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© Cooking On the Side, 2010. | Permalink: http://cookingontheside.com/coconut-almond-macaroons/

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Secretly, I’m very excited it’s Girl Scout cookie time. I’ll admit I look forward to it every year. Their scarcity tactics work very well on me – I feel compelled to buy a bunch of boxes as it will be a whole year until they’re available again. Plus there’s the nostalgia factor, as I was once one of those eager little girls in brown uniforms positioned in front of the grocery store.

They got me in front of Vons over the weekend.

I had to buy a box of Thin Mints, that was a given. Beyond that, I’m all about the peanut butter. Specifically Do-Si-Dos (the peanut butter sandwich cookies) and Tagalongs (the chocolate coated ones with the peanut butter filling). You’d think this would have satisfied my hankering for peanut butter cookies for a while, but no. It actually bolstered it. Yes, despite having all of those other cookies in the house, I made the Utterly Peanut-Buttery Bars recipe from the back of the C&H brown sugar box.

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© Cooking On the Side, 2010. | Permalink: http://cookingontheside.com/peanut-butter-bars/

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I always enjoyed the ritual of exchanging valentines as a kid. Opening up a box of 32 (plus two for the teachers!) brand-spanking-new valentines, preferably the Snoopy variety. Carefully addressing the envelopes in crayon for all the kids in my class. Even the boys. Dropping a few conversation heart candies into each envelope. Being careful not to include any too-lovey messages in the ones for the aforementioned boys. Eagerly opening the little cards from everyone else in the class. Hoping for chocolate.

{Hmm-hmm} years later, I still love Valentine’s Day. Our playgroup is having a little celebration this week for the kiddies so I thought I’d make some conversation heart-inspired cookies, with one subtle little twist – these are actually made with animal cracker dough. The difference? They’ve got a lot more crunch to them as well as a hint of spice from dashes of nutmeg and mace. For a treat that will be grabbed and tossed by two-year olds I tend to prefer these over traditional sugar cookies. Plus they’re so darned good.

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© Cooking On the Side, 2010. | Permalink: http://cookingontheside.com/valentine-heart-cookies/

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I have been holding onto this Gingerbread Biscotti recipe for months now, waiting for the holidays to give it a try. It was definitely worth the wait, although I wish I’d tried it much sooner – they are fantastic!

Most of the biscotti I’ve had in the past have been tasty but not especially noteworthy on their own. They usually come to life upon being dunked in a nice cup of coffee or tea. But these spices within these Gingerbread Biscotti, along with the fresh ginger and dried apricots mixed in, have wonderful flavor all on their own. I confess to having enjoyed several without even dunking.

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© Cooking On the Side, 2009. | Permalink: http://cookingontheside.com/gingerbread-biscotti-with-apricots/

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The gratitude on my husband’s face when I brought a small tin of these Chocolate Chip Rugelach up to his office this week was all the validation I needed. They’re among his favorite cookies and this was the first time I’d ever made them. The recipe is a little bit different from many I’ve seen – it uses a prepared chocolate filling rather than nuts, jam or other traditional fillings – but the end result was delightful nonetheless. With tonight being the first night of Hanukkah, I thought I’d share the recipe with you.

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© Cooking On the Side, 2009. | Permalink: http://cookingontheside.com/chocolate-chip-rugelach/

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You’d think that after all the toffee I consumed last week I wouldn’t want anything more to do with the stuff for a while, but it’s not so. On the contrary, I was quite eager to chop up some of the decadent candy that had eluded my eager hands and parlay them into the Toffee Almond Shortbread recipe that I found on yet another package of butter (I’ve definitely become a fan of these recipes from the butter producers!).

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© Cooking On the Side, 2009. | Permalink: http://cookingontheside.com/toffee-almond-shortbread/

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Whew! As much fun as Thanksgiving cooking was, I’m actually kind of glad to switch over to other late-autumn treats (if you’re looking for some good leftover turkey ideas, check out the leftover panini recipes on my other food blog – Panini Happy). Cookies call my name all year round, and as we enter part 2 of “the holidays” I find oatmeal cookies with dried cranberries and white chocolate chunks especially irresistible.

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© Cooking On the Side, 2009. | Permalink: http://cookingontheside.com/oatmeal-cranberry-white-chocolate-chunk-cookies/

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Do you have a “baking buddy”?  Mine is my friend Gillian. Since we both love to bake more than we can (reasonably) consume in our respective households we’ve developed this fun tradition of exchanging baked goods via our husbands, who work out together at the gym every week. My favorite items that she sends are some amazing banana muffins with pecan halves on top. Those little pecan halves always seem to make the muffins extra special and inviting. So when I saw the recipe for these melt-in-your-mouth Pecan Praline Cookies – complete with pecan halves as toppers – I knew I wanted to make them. And I made sure to send over a dozen to Gillian too.

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© Cooking On the Side, 2009. | Permalink: http://cookingontheside.com/pecan-praline-cookies/

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The Toll House chocolate chip cookie recipe may be the most well-known of the on-the-package cookie recipes out there, but it’s by no means the only one. It comes as no surprise that all of the chocolate chip companies feature recipes, but have you ever seen what the butter people have come up with?

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© Cooking On the Side, 2009. | Permalink: http://cookingontheside.com/chewy-jumbo-chocolate-chip-cookies/

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