Happy Belated.. or maybe Early.. Birthday to Me

So I celebrated my 24th birthday almost ten months ago. And almost ten months ago Shauna came and visited me for my birthday and we made delicious ice cream sandwiches.  So what are my excuses for this late blog post? I moved out of my apartment,  I finished my job of two years, moved to Atlanta, and started Clinical Psychology grad school.. the list goes on but I don't really believe any of them are truly legit so I'll stop. Let's just say I'm sorry and I'm posting about these anyways because they were really delicious and we took beautiful pictures and they deserve to be shared.

Who doesn't love ice cream sandwiches? Delicious, soft cookies with ice cream? You can't really go wrong. Something easy to make and that doesn't require plates or silverware.. That's the type of dessert we were looking for to celebrate my birthday with 15+ people before going out. After perusing our different favorite blogs and online recipe collections we decided on ice cream sandwiches, and being the crazy bakers that we are we decided to make 3 different types of cookies: snickerdoodles, chocolate chip, and triple chocolate chunk. 

Made a little bit of a dent in my pantry. 

Snickerdoodles before and after- I love the way the cinnamon sugar looks.

Triple chocolate chunk before and after- the mini m&ms look so fun!

And we had to have a classic- the famous chocolate-chip cookies that you can always find at the Gonsalves home.

Yummm..

Laid out next to some Bud Light- ready to party..

Throw in some vanilla ice cream and there you go..

Snickerdoodle ice cream sandwich..

Doing a little mix-and-match..

Snickerdoodle Recipe:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar
• 1/3 cup light brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp cinammon
• 1 tsp baking powder

1. Cream together butter, 1/2 cup white sugar and brown sugar. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until smooth
2. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, salt, and baking powder
3. Incorporate dry ingredients into wet ingredients
4. On a plate, mix cinnamon and 2 tablespoons white sugar
5. Roll cookies and cover in cinnamon sugar and place on lightly greased baking sheet
6. bake for 12-14 minutes at 325 degrees.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe (adapted Tyler Florence's recipe):

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp light brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda 
• 1/2  tsp salt
• 4 ounce semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Cream together the butter, sugar and brown sugar. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until smooth.
2. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, salt and baking soda
3. Incorporate dry ingredients into wet ingredients
4. Fold in chocolate chips
5. Scoop cookies and place on lightly greased baking sheet
6. Bake for 12-15 minutes at 350 degrees.

Triple Chocolate Chunk Cookies

• 1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup mini M&Ms

1. Cream together the butter, sugar, and brown sugar. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until smooth.
2. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt
3. Incorporate dry ingredients into wet ingredients
4. Fold in chocolate chips and M&Ms
5. Scoop cookies and place on lightly greased baking sheet
6. Bake for 9-12 minutes at 350 degrees. 

Anyone who knows me knows I love birthdays- I love other people's birthdays and I love my birthday.. I especially love celebrating my birthday all month. While even I'll admit 10 months is a little too much- let's say this is a kick-off two-months before my 25th, which is going to be a big one. That seems appropriate..

Also so does this song- given the gluttonous sugar consumption above and the fact that Shauna and I sometimes sing this to each other: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgxlAqjeio0&noredirect=1