Walking in a ginger wonderland....

As a wanna-be ginger myself, I have always been drawn to all things spicy. Spicy attitudes, spicy hair colors, and more importantly.... spicy foods. One of my go-to ingredients, when i'm looking to add a little 'summtin summtin', is good ole, super reliable ginger. When no one is looking I find myself adding a teaspoon to baked chicken, a quarter teaspoon to steamed broccoli, a pinch to my cookies.... you know, when I'm feeling a little frisky. Its become recent secret obsession.

So my most recent venture into all things delicious is an old homey classic, turned upside down and changed forever: The woopie pie.

Now my mother has made these old school classics for me since I was a wee one, and they have been demanded by many throughout the years. Who doesn't want a chocolate pillowy cake smothered by marshmallowy goodness only to be covered by-- what is this?!-- another pillowy chocolatey cake that I can only describe as a sweet, tender piece of heaven? You just can't deny perfection such as that. But I decided to take a risk; to take a bold blind step into a world of the bitter - yet, better. I decided to not only upgrade the chocolate to gingerbread full of robust warm flavor, but to transform that marshmallow filling cloud into a slice of lemon cream cheese heaven. And lets just say, it was the best decision I've made thus far.

So let's get down to the nitty gritty.

What you'll need to experience this work of art

For the cookie:

3 3/4 cups Flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp ginger

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp cloves

3/4 cup butter (UNSALTED, ROOM TEMP)

3/4 cup tightly packed light brown sugar

1 egg

3/4 cup molasses

3/4 cup butter milk

For the Lemon cream filling:

12 ounces (or 1.5 packages of 8 oz.) cream cheese

8 tbs. of butter (UNSALTED, ROOM TEMP)

1 tsp of vanilla extract

1 tsp of lemon extract

3 3/4- 4 cups of confectioner's sugar

Now for the break down.

Preheat the oven to 350* and line your baking sheet with parchment paper.

Get a medium sized bowl out and whisk together the flour, salt, and all those glorious spices. Whisk it good, whisk it right..... it's the right thing to do.

Then in a large metal bowl, cream together your butter and brown sugar until it's beautiful and creamy. Or until you hear angels sing. Whichever comes first.

After that gets to be a nice creamy consistency, go ahead and crack that egg.... come on, you know you want to.

Now once you have that nice and combined, pour in half of the dry ingredients and mix it up real well. You may want to roll up your sleeves for this one, it's a toughy.

Once that is incorporated, pour in the molasses. Sweeeeet sasssssy molassssssy.

Now pour in the rest of the dry ingredients that have been sitting on your countertop.... just screaming your name. Give in, it's okay. It's worth it.

Once you've turned this ^ into this:

You know your poor tired arm can take a breather. But only for a second.

.............................

Break is OVER! Grab your pan covered with parchment paper and get ready to work it. Get out your high class, super fancy ice cream scooper..... or if you're like me, a big fat spoon, and put that bad boy to work.

When you have filled the pan, bake those beauties until they are golden brown. Or 9-12 minutes. Remove them from the oven, allow them to cool for 5 minutes, then move them to a cooling sheet to finish. Continue baking the rest of the dough.... avoiding the undying urge to grab one and shove it in your mouth. Trust me, you'll thank me later.

While the cookies are cooling, go ahead and grab your metal mixing bowl and prepare to make some amazing filling.

Cream together the cream cheese and butter first.

Work that whisk until you get a nice smooth consistency then add in the vanilla, lemon, and confectioner's sugar.

Keep the whisk going until you eliminate most of the lumps (If you have a hand mixer/stand mixer you won't want to chew your arms off when you're finished... and I am jealous.).

HOW TO ASSEMBLE THE WOOPIE PIE:

Match up all your cookie mates according to size and shape and prepare them for a life full of holy matrimony, happiness, love, and teeth.

Grab your bottom cookie:

Tenderly cover it with that lemony, creamy goodness:

Then grab its significant other and place it on top:

Continue matching up your cookies to perfection and place them all on wax paper. Once they're complete, sprinkle a little powdered sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg (VERY LITTLE NUTMEG, LIKE A PINCH, OR EVEN HALF A PINCH! HAVE YOU EVER BITTEN INTO SOMETHING THAT HAD AN OVERPOWERING TASTE OF NUTMEG?! TRUST ME, IT ISN'T FUN).

Now that you're done assembling pure heaven, feel free to share them with your closest friends and family, with perfect strangers, or hoard them all for yourself. I won't judge you, I promise.

-Allison Marie

Chicken and creamy cheesy overload pizza!

Ever get tired of the same old boring cheese pizza? Here's a new creamy spin on an old cheesy classic that is sure to leave your taste buds tingling! Our yummy take on chicken alfredo pizza.

Our pizza dough takes about an hour from start to roll so we started that first:

Dissolve 2 and 1/4 teaspoons of *active* dry yeast in 1 cup of lukewarm water, this takes about 30 or so minutes. Stir the yeast in then don't touch it ;)

In a big bowl combine together 2 cups of bread flour, 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 2 teaspoons white sugar.

After your yeast has dissolved into your water, add the water mixture to your flour mixture.

This should form a nice sticky ball of dough, set it in the big bowl and cover with a towel, saran wrap, whatever you have on hand at that moment in time, and let it sit for about 45 minutes. (The dough should double in size)

While the dough is rising, grab 2-3 boneless skinless chicken breasts and cut them up

into cubes. Throw them into a hot skillet on medium heat, along with some minced garlic and chicken broth if you have it on hand.

After a minute, turn the heat down to low and cover the pan. Simmer for about 5-7 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. After it's cooled down, chop it up into bite size pieces.

Take 3 tablespoons of unsalted butter along with 4 cloves of garlic (or more if you lover garlic like me!), minced, in a saucepan.

Cook on medium low for 2 minutes to allow the butter to melt down. Add 3 tablespoons of flour, stirring constantly to create a roux. Cook mixture for 2 minutes on low heat. Slowly add 1 cup of milk, continuing to stir the entire time. Cook over medium low heat for 3-5 minutes. Add 3/4 cups shredded parmesan cheese, and salt and pepper to taste, continuing to stir.... your arm may hurt a little after making this delicious sauce.... but trust me. It's worth it. After the cheese has melted, you should be left with a pan of ooey, gooey, cheesy deliciousness. Set this pan aside and try your hardest to keep the finger licking taste tests to a minimum, not that I could!

Seriously, tell me this doesn't look yummy. (Over pasta, over rice, on that spoon.... mmm!)

At this time, preheat your oven to 375!

Take the gigantic ball of dough you have growing in your bowl and turn it out onto a nice floured surface. Kneed it a few times to incorporate some of the flour to decrease your stickiness. Form a ball, whip out your rolling pin, and get to workin' that dough! Roll the dough out, making a big circle. If you're feeling risky, toss it up a few times... it's actually quite simply and really helps stretch the dough out at the ends.

Yeah, it's not a perfect circle... nobody is perfect!

Line your pizza stone/pizza pan with foil and move your pizza dough to your pan. If you like a thicker end to your crust like I do, fold in the dough around the edges to puff it up a little. Pour your cheesy, gooey mixture out onto the dough and circle it around to cover. Next, pour on your chicken pieces and spread 'em around. You want to share the love with the entire crust, right? Finally, cover the chicken with mozzarella cheese! Ohhh, the massive amounts of cheese will be heavenly, I assure you.

Put your masterpiece in the oven and bake that bad boy for 25 minutes, or until you get a nice golden brown top/crust.

All you have left now is to enjoy!.... So, get to it!

Oh, and here's the finished product... Yum!

Indulge yourself....

Hello all!

We're just two girls who want to share our love of cooking with the world... or with a few of our closest friends that want to follow our blog ;).

I'm Allison and I am starting this adventure with my twin sister Jess. We grew up in the kitchen learning everything we know from our momma! Believe me when I say, she's a magician in the kitchen.

When it comes to our cooking styles, I like to think that i'm a little more experimental. I will try anything once. If I don't have something in my kitchen, i'll try my best to find SOMETHING that I can use to substitute... doesn't always work but at least I can say that I tried.

Jess on the other hand likes to follow the recipes to a T.... the first time. Once she knows it's a winner, she makes it her mission to make it bigger, better, and tastier than before. Everything can be improved... am I right?

Our kitchen is our fortress and we maintain it with love. You can follow a recipe as closely as you want... but if you're lacking the love, the result won't be nearly as sweet.

So get to the FUN, with two times the YUM!

A&J