Butternut Squash and Apple Gratin

I'm always on the lookout for recipes that can easily be assembled ahead of time and that are tasty enough to possibly make it on the menu for Thanksgiving. This recipe gets bonus points this year as another use for all the apples we have!

If you omit the bacon and use vegetable broth it makes a great vegetarian side dish.

Butternut Squash and Apple Gratin
  Serves 8

1 large Butternut Squash

4 medium Apples 

1 medium Yellow Onion, diced

1/4 C Whole Wheat Flour

1/4 tsp Smoked Paprika 

1/4 tsp Sea Salt

1/4 tsp Cinnamon 

1 1/2 C Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese

3 slices of cooked Bacon, chopped

1 C Chicken or Vegetable Broth

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9x13 baking pan and set aside. In a small bowl mix together flour, paprika, salt and cinnamon. Peel, seed and cube butternut squash into  1/2 inch chunks.  Peel and cut apples into similar sized pieces. Toss squash, onions and apples in a large bowl with flour mixture. Mix one cup of grated cheddar and chopped bacon into squash (reserve 1/2 cup of cheese for later). Pour squash mixture into prepared pan, add broth, cover with foil and bake 1 hour. After 1 hour remove foil, sprinkle with remaining cheese and bake additional 15 minutes.

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

Pumpkin and Snickerdoodles, a match made in heaven. I've seen different versions of this cookie on various blogs, but the reviews were mixed. Some said they were too dry, others said not enough spice. I thought they didn't use enough pumpkin! So here is my soft, pillowy, spicy version of pumpkin Snickerdoodles.

Makes 3 1/2 dozen

1 C. Butter-unsalted and softened

1 C Evaporated Cane Sugar

1/2 C Rapadura Sugar (or brown sugar)

1 C Pumpkin Purée

1 Egg

2 tsp Vanilla Extract

3 3/4 C Whole White Wheat Flour

1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Sea Salt

1 tsp Cinnamon 

1/2 tsp Nutmeg

For the coating:

1/4 C Evaporated Cane Sugar

1/2 tsp Cinnamon

1/4 tsp Nutmeg

Dash Cloves

In a medium bowl combine flour, baking powder, sea salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. 

In a large bowl beat together butter and sugars, then add pumpkin and vanilla finally add egg. Mix flour mixture into wet ingredients. 

*Side note, I did this all by hand and it turned out great. I think people have a tendency to over mix cookie dough and the cookies turn out tough.*  

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

In a small bowl combine remaining 1/4 C sugar and spices. Set aside. Either using a cookie scoop or teaspoons portion out equal size balls of dough, rolling into a smooth ball and coating in spiced sugar mixture. 

Place sugared balls of dough on baking sheet (don't worry about spacing, they are going into the fridge to chill out). When all dough has been used place cookie sheet in fridge for about an hour. Alternately, you can put the tray of dough into the freezer until dough becomes hard, then place cookie dough in a freezer bag to use at a later date or just bake a few at a time for portion control. I usually start putting cookie dough in the freezer a few months before christmas to take some of the stress out of holiday baking. All I have to do is bake the dough!

Preheat oven to 350. Place 12 balls of dough onto parchment or silpat lined baking sheet 

and flatten slightly with the palm of your hand. 

Bake 15-18 minutes

Harvest Time Apple Butter Bars

Fall is my favorite time of year. The rich smell of baked apples, pumpkin, cinnamon and cloves permeates the air. Every few years our apple trees go crazy and I'm trying to find new ways to use them. In 2011 I made cases of apple butter, apple sauce, apple juice and over 5 gallons of hard cider along with countless pies, granolas and bags of dried apples. I realized I still have a case of apple butter in the back of our pantry so I better use it up before the madness begins again. If you have never had spiced apple butter, I'm sorry and I will post my super easy crockpot apple butter recipe shortly!  If you don't happen to have any spiced apple butter you can certainly make this with applesauce using the changes I noted in the recipe. I'm making these as an easy breakfast for a picky toddler, so I didn't want something loaded with sugar but you could up the sweetness to your tastes.

2 C. Old Fashioned Oats

1 C. Whole Wheat Flour

1 tsp Baking Powder

1 C. Spiced Apple Butter

     Or 1 C Apple Sauce and increase spices to 2 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 tsp cloves. Add 2 Tbs Honey

1/2 tsp Cinnamon 

1/8 tsp Cloves

2 TBS Oil

1 Egg

1 C. Milk (I use almond)

1 C. Raisins

Preheat oven to 350. Grease an 8x8 pan, set aside. In a large bowl combine oats, flour and baking powder. Add apple butter, spices, oil, egg and milk. Stir until just combined.

Stir in raisins.

Spread mixture into prepared 8x8 pan.

Bake 30-35 minutes

Spicy Salsa Flax Crackers

We love flax crackers in our house but until recently we only had a round dehydrator that I had to cut parchment paper to fit in the trays to make fruit leather or flax crackers, what a pain! Well we hit the jackpot a couple of weeks ago when a customer sold us an Excaliber dehydrator with the teflex sheets for $5! It looks like its 30 years old but works great! So I've been making flax crackers and chia seed fruit leather for the toddler and the husband. This has been a favorite recipe of ours for years so I decided to share it first, but I'm working on some different flavors and some may show up at Vita-Mart in the near future!

1 C Flax

1 C Water

1 C Tomato 

1/4 C Onion 

1 clove Garlic

1/2 Jalapeño (more or less depending on desired heat level)

1 tsp Sea Salt

Mix Flax and water in a soup bowl

and let sit for about an hour until it gels.

Cut tomato, onion and jalapeño into large chunks. Toss in a food processor or blender with garlic and salt 

and process until smooth.

Mix tomato mixture with flax mixture and spread evenly over a teflex sheet lined dehydrator tray (or use parchment paper).

(I forgot to take a pic of this step with this flavor so don't mind the banana chunks in this picture. This is the Banana Bread Flax Cracker Recipe I'm working on.)

If you want your crackers thinner divide mixture between 1 1/2 trays.

Dehydrate mixture  at 110 degrees, if you have the option to set a temp, for 4-6 hours until you can pull the cracker (at this point it will be one solid piece) off the teflex sheet and put back on the dehydrator tray. The side that was down on the sheet will still be wet. Keep dehydrating for another 4-6 hours.

Break cracker into pieces and keep in a plastic bag or Tupperware until you eat them all!

Grandma Ruth’s Gluten Free Spice Cake

Ok, Grandma Ruth wasn't baking Gluten Free Cakes in her day, but she did make a mean Spice Cake. The original recipe was made yearly for my Mom and my Aunts Birthdays and I adapted it years ago for a customers Birthday. I actually just made this cake for that same customers Anniversary. I'll never forget the panicked phone call I received that day asking if I had forgotten this cake needed to be gluten free because there was no way a gluten free cake could taste this good. It comes out so light, moist and grit free (no rice flour!) you won't believe its gluten free.

          

  Serves 8-10

¾ C Butter Softened

1 ¼ C Brown Sugar (I use Rapadura)

1 C. Unrefined Cane Sugar

3 Eggs

3 C. Bobs Red Mill GF Flour Blend

1 ½ tsp Xanathan Gum

1 tsp Baking Soda

1 ½ tsp Cinnamon

¾ tsp Cloves

¾ tsp Nutmeg

1 tsp Sea Salt

1 ½ C. Whole Milk

1 Tbs Lemon Juice

Preheat oven to 350. Grease either 3 rounds or one 9”x13” pan. In a large bowl beat together Butter and Sugars, add Eggs one at a time. Meanwhile add Lemon Juice to Milk to curdle, let sit 10 minutes. In a medium bowl mix together Flour Blend, Xanathan Gum, Baking Soda, Spices and Sea Salt. Add 1/3 of flour mixture to wet mixture, stir to combine then add 1/3 of Milk combine, continue mixing in the alternating flour mixture and milk.

 Divide Cake batter between 3 Rounds or pour all into 9x13 pan. Bake rounds 30-35 minutes or 9x13 45-50 minutes.

For Frosting

1lb Cream Cheese-softened

4 oz Butter-softened

1 tsp GF Vanilla

1 LB Powdered Sugar

In a large bowl beat together cream cheese, butter and vanilla. Slowly add in powdered sugar until desired consistency and sweetness is achieved.

***Recipe may be halved if making the 9x13 pan***

Moist Chocolate Cake

I'm not above going for the sweet stuff when I'm really stressed out and recently I had to call in the big guns... Chocolate Cake. So after much inner conflict (if I bake this I will probably eat the whole thing, yada, yada, yada) I assembled my ingredients and realized I was out of sugar! But all was not lost, thank goodness I had some agave nectar! Forty-five minutes later I had the endorphin shot I needed. Sure I could have exercised, but sometimes a girl just needs chocolate cake.

1 1/3 C Agave Nectar

2 Eggs

2 tsp Vanilla Extract

1 C Whole Milk

1/2 C Melted Butter

1 3/4 C Flour

1 C Cocoa Powder

1 1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder

2/3 C Hot Coffee  

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 13x9 pan with cooking spray (this is a chocolate emergency, there is no time for fancy round layers!). In a large bowl mix together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and baking powder, set aside. In another large bowl beat together egg, melted butter, agave nectar and vanilla. Mix milk into wet ingredients until thouroghly incorporated. Stir dry ingredient into wet until just incorporated then add hot coffee and mix until no lumps remain.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 30-35 minutes. This cake baked pretty quickly, great for a chocolate emergency! I did throw together a quick frosting of cream cheese, cocoa powder, powdered sugar and vanilla. 

Frosting:

8 oz Cream Cheese

1/2 C Cocoa Powder*

1C Powdered Sugar*

1 tsp vanilla

*ingredients are approximate 

In a large bowl beat together all ingredients with a mixer. I like frosting to not be so sickly sweet so I add a lot of cocoa powder to thicken it but you could reduce the amount of cocoa powder and add more sugar. This is just a simple eating frosting, not something you would decorate with.

Fruit Punch, Just like Grandma used to make!

Google "fruit punch recipe" and chances are you will find they all use Hawaiian Punch concentrate. I wanted a fruit punch for the Toddlers birthday that didn't include high fructose corn syrup but I couldn't find one. So I turned to my grandmothers Betty Crocker Cookbook from the 1930's and it had a recipe that actually used fruit juice! After tweaking it a bit, and removing the extra sugar it called for, we had a hit! A sweet fruity fruit punch without high fructose corn syrup, artificial color or flavors, just like grandma used to make!

Makes 2 Quarts

1 C Lemon Juice

1 C Cherry Juice

2 C Pineapple Juice

1 Qt Ginger Ale

Stir together first 3 ingredients in large pitcher. Add Ginger Ale and stir. Serve over ice.

Quail Egg Stuffed Mushrooms

Quail Egg Stuffed Mushrooms

Makes 12

12 Quail Eggs

12 Crimini Mushrooms, washed and stems removed

1/2 Piece of Bread

2 Tbs chopped Cheddar Cheese

1 Tbs sliced Green Onion or Spring Garlic

1 Slice Bacon, cooked and finely chopped (or 1 Tbs finely diced ham)

Cooking Spray

Preheat Oven to 375. Spray a mini muffin tin with Cooking Spray. In a small food processor or blender pulse bread and cheese until it becomes fine crumbs. Place mushrooms hollow side up in muffin tin, carefully break a quail egg into each mushroom. Top with a sprinkle of bread crumbs, onion and bacon or ham. Bake for 10 minutes, until egg whites are set but yolk is still soft. Serve immediately.

Salted Maple Cashew Crispy Treats

Who doesn't love rice crispy treats. Back in the day I used to walk to the gas station by my office and buy them at least once a week. It shames me to think I bought "food" at the gas station. Since turning my life in a healthier direction one thing I've shunned is marshmallows (and gas station food) because of the ingredients and unfortunately that included my beloved rice crispy treats. I had forgotten about my obsession until recently when I came across a recipe for a healthier version, so I tried it and it was sooo sweet. I felt there had to be a better way and I wanted to put a bit of a gourmet twist on it.

Ingredients:

3 C Crispy Brown Rice Cereal

1/2 C Cashew Butter, unsweetened/ unsalted

1/2 C Maple Syrup

1/2 tsp Sea Salt

Oil or Butter for Pan

In a Large bowl, measure 3 cups of Crispy Brown Rice Cereal.

Grease 8x8 pan, set aside. In a small saucepan combine cashew butter, maple syrup and sea salt. 

Cook over medium low heat until combined and slightly thick.

Pour into Crispy Brown Rice Cereal. Stir until cereal is completely coated and clumps together.

Pour cereal into pan and gently press into pan with a spatula.

Chill in fridge for 30 minutes then cut into squares.

Grilled Vegetable Hogies

I love sandwiches and could easily eat one everyday. This is one of my favorite meals from our Vegan days. It's super quick and easy, you can grill you veggies a couple of days in advance. It's versatile because you can use almost anything you like, and it's a complete source of protein when you combine, hummus, veggies and bread!

Ingredients:

Hummus

1 roll per person

Any or all of the following vegetables to grill;

Onion, Bell Pepper, Portobello Mushroom, Zucchini, Asparagus, Yellow Squash, Eggplant.

Any or all veggies to top sandwich;

Avocado, Tomato, Sprouts, Spinach, Arugala, Lettuce.

Oil

Balsamic Vinegar 

Salt & Pepper

Preheat Grill to Low. Slice Vegetables into large pieces so they don't fall through grates. (Bell peppers get cut in half and seeds removed. Small Zucchinis cut in half lengthwise, large squash or eggplant get sliced into 1/4" thick slices ect). Place veggies on the grill for about 4 minutes then turn. Keep a very close eye on things, four minutes on my grill maybe  two minutes on yours. My parents grill only seems to have one setting, incinerate! You just quickly pass the veggies over their grill and it's done! You just want the veggies to be soft and have some nice grill marks. 

Here is a sampling of what we used this evening.

Once everything is nicely grilled slice everything into thin strips. Spread hummus onto both sides of bread and top with desired vegetables. Salt, pepper and a drizzle of Balsamic Vinegar if desired.

Caramelized Onion Dip

With Summer barbecues right around the corner I thought it was time to share a tastier alternative to a summer staple. Who hasn't stirred a packet of French Onion Soup Mix into a container of sour cream, but those ingredients (not to mention taste) of those packets are terrible. With a little time, mostly away from the stove, you will have a dip that will make you forget about those packets forever!

Ingredients:

1 Yellow Onion, diced

2 Tbs Butter

1/4 C Sweet White Wine, like a Reisling

2 tsp Roasted Garlic Veganaise (optional but very tasty addition)

1/2-3/4 C Sour Cream (depending on how big your onion is!)  

In a large skillet over medium low heat cook onions and butter stirring every 5 minutes.

Once onions are translucent add 1/4 cup of wine. I use a sweet wine to help the onions achive a nice caramelization and add flavor to the onions.

I let the onions cook for a total of 45 minutes but you don't want to hover over this. You need to step away and let the onions do their thing. Mine got a little dark in spots because someone woke up from their nap a little cranky. 

I let the onions cool and added them to the sour cream and mayonnaise. You may want a little more or less sour cream depending on how big of onion you used. 

Chill dip for at least 30 minutes or overnight. It's great with chips, as a sandwich spread or with sea salt roasted potato wedges. 

Cauliflower Garlic Bites

Cauliflower Garlic Bites

Serves 2-4

1 Head of Cauliflower cut into florets

Garlic Powder

Butter it up Spray

Preheat oven to 450. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl lightly spritz with butter it up spray then sprinkle with garlic powder.

Spread cauliflower onto baking sheet and bake 15 minutes. Pull out cookie sheet and stir, return to oven another 10-15 minutes until brown and crispy.

Baked Eggplant Parmesan

This was one of our recipes that we served during our Gluten Free cooking class. It's a great way to use up those heels of bread you usually toss! It's also great if you are not Gltien Free, you can sub wheat bread in place of the Gluten Free!

Baked Eggplant Parmesan Dippers

Serves 2

1 Eggplant cut into 1/3” slices

1 Egg

2 Slices of Gluten Free Bread (or whole wheat bread if you are not GF)

1 Tbs Italian Seasoning

1 tsp Garlic Powder

2 Tbs Parmesan

2-4 oz Shredded Mozzarella or Jack Cheese

Sea Salt

Grapeseed Oil Spray

Pasta Sauce to Serve

Preheat oven to 400. Line cookie sheet with silpat  baking mat or parchment paper. Place sliced eggplant onto paper towel and salt each side then top with another couple of pieces of paper towel to pull moisture out of eggplant.

Meanwhile, place bread, italian seasoning, garlic powder and parmesan cheese into food processor and process into crumbs.  Beat egg in a cereal bowl. Pour bread crumbs onto plate or another cereal bowl.

Take eggplant and pat off excess salt. Dip each slice of eggplant into egg then bread crumbs. Repeat with each slice then lay on prepared cookie sheet. Lightly spray each piece of eggplant with grapeseed oil spray. Bake eggplant for 10 minutes, flip each slice and then top with a little cheese. Bake another 10 minutes.

Serve with heated Pasta Sauce.

Spring Pasta with Fresh Peas

What's for dinner is an easy question this time of year. So many great items are in season right now! If you have never eaten fresh peas you have to try them! It's really not hard to shell them, and you can get the kids to help. The flavor is so different from frozen or (shudder) caned peas. 

Also only available this time of year are spring onions and garlic. They are the immature bulbs of onion and garlic. They are sweeter and not as pungent as their grown up counterparts. They add wonderful flavor to this super simple pasta. I have also used them for a spring onion soup, in salads and on sandwiches. I could go on and on about how wonderful these are, and part of their charm is they are only in season for a short time.

1-1 1/2 lbs Fresh English Peas in shell

1 bulb Spring Garlic

1 bulb Red Spring Onion

8-10 Crimini Mushrooms

4 Tbs Unsalted Butter

8 oz Organic Valley Cream Cheese

Salt & Pepper to taste

6 oz dry Pasta cooked according to package directions

In a large bowl shell remove peas from shell, set aside. Slice onion and garlic lengthwise and cut lengths into half moon shape and set aside in small bowl. Slice mushrooms. In a large skillet over medium heat melt butter then add in onions and peas. Cook until peas start to turn bright green. Next add in mushrooms, cook until softened. 

Add in cream cheese that has been cut into cubes. Stir until melted and combined. Add in cooked pasta to coat in sauce. Add salt and pepper if desired.

Serve with garlic bread!

Zucchini Carrot Muffins

I've been trying to come up with some healthy portable snacks for the toddler lately. He loves fruit and string cheese but I don't want to give him the same thing all the time. I've noticed that the "healthy" packaged snacks fill him up but don't provide much in the way of nutrition or calories. Since he is a little underweight for his age (His Doctor said he doesn't have a "Doritos Belly" like most kids his age, I see that as a good thing) I wanted to make a portable snack that had some veggies and fats but wasn't full of sugar. Maybe I can at least give the toddler a healthy American muffin top! ;)

Zucchini Carrot Muffins

Makes 18 Muffins

3 small Zucchinis 

1 large Carrot

1/2 C Plain Whole a Milk Yogurt

1/2 C Maple Syrup

2 Eggs

1/3 C Sunflower Oil (Almond or Walnut would work well too if there are no allergies)

1 2/3 C Whole Wheat Flour

2 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 heaping tsp Cinnamon 

Preheat oven to 350. Shred Zucchini and Carrot on a grater. In a large bowl beat together Yogurt, Maple Syrup, Eggs and Oil. Mix Zucchini and Carrot into wet mixture. In a small bowl mix together Whole Wheat Flour, Baking Soda and Cinnamon. Mix dry ingredients into wet until just combined. 

Spray two muffin trays with Spectrum Grapeseed Oil Spray. 

Fill 18 cups nearly to the top with muffin batter. 

Bake for 18-20 minutes.

Pasta Salad with Veganaise Gourmet Spread

6 oz uncooked Whole Wheat Penne Pasta

1 medium Zucchini diced

2 Tbs diced Red Onion

2 Carrots Shedded

1/2 C Grape Tomatoes halved

1/2 C shredded Cheddar Cheese

1/2 - 3/4 C Roasted Garlic Veganaise (or Pesto, Chipotle or Barbeque flavor)

Cook Pasta according to package directions. In a large bowl combine Pasta, Zucchini, Red Onion, Carrots, Grape Tomatoes, and Cheddar Cheese. Next stir in Veganaise. I like to mix the ingredients together while the pasta is still  warm. The pasta absorbs the dressing ( in this case the Veganaise) and the flavor penetrates throughout the salad.

Farro & Garbanzo Bean Summer Salad

1 C Uncooked Farro

3 C Water

1 14 oz can Garbanzo Beans drained and rinsed

1 Carrot Shredded

1 Zucchini shredded

2 Tbs shredded Red Onion 

2 oz Lemon Juice

2 oz Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 tsp dried Oregano

1/4 tsp Garlic Powder

Greens for serving if desired

In a medium sauce pan bring Farro and 3 cups of water to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes. Meanwhile in a large bowl combine Garbanzo Beans, Carrot, Zucchini and Onion. In a small bowl combine Lemon Juice, Olive Oil, Oregano and Garlic. Pour dressing over bean mixture and stir.

When Farro is done (soft) drain off remaing water

and stir the warm Farro into the bean mixture. Serve over greens or top with Parmesan cheese if you are like baby boy who loves it on everything!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake adapted to be gluten free and a reduced the sugar (there is still plenty, don’t worry) from the SmittenKitchen. Check out her post for detailed pictures. She obviously didn't bake this over 2 days with a baby in one arm like I dis. Although it was totally worth it! I made this for BJ’s Birthday which happened to fall in our 30 days of Gluten Free. BJ says its like a giant Peanut Butter Cup and he liked it so well he didn't share with anyone but me.

Chocolate Crust

2 Boxes (14.5 oz total) of Pamela’s GF Chunky Chocolate Chip Cookies

(or any Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies)
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and still hot

Fudge Layer
1 cup heavy or whipping cream
13 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped or chips

(Be careful that the chocolate you choose is Gluten Free like Enjoy Life, also the mini chips melt very easily.)

Cheesecake Layer
2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups smooth natural peanut butter (no sugar added)
1 cup evaporated cane sugar
3/4 cup sour cream
3 large eggs

Ganache Topping
1/3 cup heavy or whipping cream (NOT the stuff you spray out of the can or that comes in the tub!)
4 1/2 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped or chips

Make chocolate crust:  In a food processor, blend cookies. Drizzle in melted butter and process until crumbs begin to stick together, scraping down the bowl if needed. Transfer crumbs to prepared pan. Press crumb mixture up sides to within 1/2 inch of top, then evenly over bottom of pan. Chill crust until next step.

Make fudge layer: Bring cream to simmer in large saucepan. Remove from heat; whisk in chocolate until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Pour into bottom of chilled crust and spread in an even layer. Freeze until ganache layer is firm, about 30 minutes or overnight.

Heat oven: To 325°F.

Make cheesecake layer: Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese, peanut butter, and sugar in large bowl until well-blended and fluffy. Beat in sour cream, then eggs, one at a time. Mix until smooth. Pour over fudge layer that has set in the freezer.

To Bake: Place springform on middle baking rack. Bake cake until slightly firm to the touch and the top appears dry, about 1 hour to 90 minutes. I find cheesecake baking times to be the hardest to pin down; it is safest to use this visual guide: The center two inches should only move slightly when pan is gently shaken. Transfer cheesecake to rack in the fridge until fully cool, at least three hours. Waiting is the hardest part but crucial.

Make ganache topping: Heat cream in a small saucepan until simmering. Off the heat, whisk in chocolate, if using. Pour onto chilled cheesecake and spread to the edges. Return cheesecake to the fridge until the ganache sets, about 30 minutes.

To serve: Gently cut around between edge of cheesecake crust and springform pan to make sure it isn't sticking. Unhinge the sides. Serve in very skinny wedges, that way you can go back for seconds. Cake keeps in fridge for up to a week, and longer in the freezer.

* If you don't want to make this gluten free just use any chocolate chip cookies for the crust. Our devilishly good chocolate cookies would make a tasty crust. You would need roughly 18 cookies.