No-Bake Chewy Cookies and Cream Bites

I would like to personally strangle the person who originally wrote this recipe. The end result was great, don't get me wrong. Getting there was the tough part.

The original recipe says to line your pan with foil. DO NOT DO THIS!!!! Oh my goodness, I was peeling bits of foil off of and out of my cookie bites for about an hour. I so wish I was joking. In-laws: you better understand how much I love you that I didn't make you de-foil your own bites at dinner. I changed the recipe to say wax paper (which I used when storing the bites: soooo much better) to save some other poor chef the trouble I ran into.

Problem number two: I made these during the hot summer here in Fresno and let me tell you, heat is not your friend. As you can probably tell from my picture, I was so done with these by the time I finished making them. I don't know what shapes those are supposed to be, but I don't care any more.

I finished the recipe and waited for them to set in the pan. 30 minutes later they were still really gooey and warm. So I put them in the fridge to cool. They were nice and firm a few minutes later, but then the evil foil monster attacked and I couldn't get them detached from the foil. I tried to reshape the ones I freed into little squares as best I could so they would look a smidge nicer but it was not my day. I was running out of the house so I got a few detached and set them on a plate, figuring I would finish the rest when I got back. I returned to the house a few hours later and the nicely re-shaped squares were now melted blobs on the plate. I finally gave up and put them back in the fridge to harden, thinking I would reshape them later and then make sure to store them in the fridge. Problem: even when they were cold it was almost impossible to unstick them from the plate.

So now I have half my recipe still covered in foil and half of them stuck to a plate. I'm glad my in-laws aren't offended by my funky-looking culinary experiments, because I wouldn't have ever invited them back for dinner if they were! I eventually got all the foil bits off, sort of re-shaped the remaining bites and we ate them. Whew! This 15 minute recipe just took over my entire evening!

• one package of Oreos (about 16 oz)
• 5 cups large marshmallows
• 4 Tbsp butter

Place Oreos in food processor and pulse until ground. Melt marshmallows and butter in microwave until puffed, about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Remove from microwave; pour in ground cookies. Stir to combine and then transfer to a wax paper lined, 8 x 8 inch baking pan. Let set for up to 10 minutes. Remove bars out of pan with edges of paper and cut into squares.

NOTES: As I mentioned above, wax paper is your friend. You're not baking anything so you should be fine with wax or parchment paper. As the name says, these are chewy. Store them in a cool place (refrigerator works great) to keep them from oozing.

I tried to put the Oreos in a plastic bag and smash them that way. I didn't want to dirty up another dish, but it didn't work so well. I got them broken into smaller pieces, but nothing fine enough to work for this recipe. I ended up using our Ninja to blend the rest of the Oreo bits and went from there. So much faster.

We thought these could have been dressed up a bit too. Next time I make them I am going to try one of the following:

• adding chocolate chips
• adding rice krispies cereal
• making a rice krispie treat bottom layer and pouring the Oreo layer on the top.

I think I'm most excited about the last option

Serves 12-ish, 2 small bites each

Total Time: 15 minutes