Baking for a cause

For the past few years, I've helped provide dinner for our volunteers each night at our church's Vacation Bible School, this year it was renamed to Kids Camp. In previous years I would get catering or do some catering and some homemade food. This year it was all homemade. Lots of preplanning made it not to difficult. Pre-make some parts and pieces, ask for help in other areas. One area I've asked for help - cookies for dessert. I ask people if they are willing to make a batch of cookies. More often than not, the people who offer are people who aren't helping as a volunteer so it's their way to help out. We do get some people who volunteer and bake too, which is great too. Since I won't ask people to do something that I'm not also doing, I decided to give some cookies a try too. I made these about a week earlier and froze the dough balls, they were ready to bake the day I needed them. These cookies include an ingredient I don't see much, Cookies 'n' Creme Bars from Hershey's. Usually, I see these aren't Halloween and that's it! In fact, the big 6 bar pack was on clearance at Wal-Mart! These cookies were full of cookies and cream goodness. The Oreos added lots of crunch and the Hershey bars added that creme flavor. I'll be making these again for sure. I had to ask one of my kids to snag me one to try because they went fast and the plate was empty before I knew it!

Cookies and Cream Cookies
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup cake flour
1 tsp. cornstarch
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cold, cut into cubes
1/2 cup brown sugar, light or dark, packed
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
15 Oreo Chocolate Sandwich Cookies (chopped)
9 oz. HERSHEY’S Cookies ‘n’ Crème Bars, broken into pieces (6, 1.55 oz. bars)

Preheat the oven to 375°F.
Whisk together the dry ingredients in a large bowl: All-Purpose flour, cake flour, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the cold butter with the sugars. Cream for 3-4 minute, it will look sort of like a paste. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl as needed.
Then add in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract and mix again until combined.
Gradually add in the dry ingredients and then add in the chopped Oreo cookies and cookies and creme bars.
Shape dough into 7-large cookies (~5 oz. each). and bake for 10-12 minutes. Or you can make them much smaller and adjust the baking time.
Let cookies cool on the cookie sheet for 15 minutes and then transfer to a wire cooling rack.