Chocolate Mint Oreo Cookies

For my family's Christmas presents, I made choosing a bit easy. Anthony and Kati (Oatmeal Scotchies) and Dad (peanut butter chocolate chip cookies) were essentially the same as before. I decided to make Helen the Pinipig cookies that I made a few years ago since Mom had heard her say they "taste like home" (and she's returning to the Philippines soon). Since I didn't know what non-food gifts to get Mom and Nonni, I decided to make them coconut macaroons (I had a lot of egg whites) and split the recipe between the two of them.

Kevin seems to be the one whose gift changes every year. One thing that doesn't seem to change, though, is that lately I've been more likely to choose a chocolate mint recipe (or chocolate peanut butter - both combos seem to be his favorites). Including this year: after the success of last year's Mint Chip Brookies, I decided to stick with finding a chocolate mint recipe. At first I tried to find the mint Oreo bars that I made for Father's Day in 2020 (the year I wasn't doing blog posts) but since I couldn't remember what they looked like, I wasn't successful. I eventually landed on the Chocolate Mint Oreo Cookies recipe from Two Peas and Their Pod.

Golden Oreo Fudge

Oreos are a bit of a staple in my family. Even I buy them and I'm not that big a fan of them (sadly, my hands are magnets to yummy-sounding new flavors of my favorite sugary treats). Which is why it was a no-brainer when trying to figure out what kind of "golden" treat to make for Carly for her golden birthday that I should find a recipe that uses golden Oreos. After a quick search I decided on Golden Oreo Fudge from Annie's Noms (probably one of the quickest decisions I've ever made in picking out a recipe).

Fireworks Cookies & Cream Cookies

A few years ago I had a temp job gave employees a 4-day weekend because the 4th of July was on a Thursday that year. They probably did the same this year since the holiday was on a Tuesday. My current job isn't that generous (government/federal jobs must be like this in general since I had to work the day after Thanksgiving when I had a temp job at a bank one year). So to make up for it I decided to make some patriotic cookies to take into work on Monday. After looking at my patriotic treats Pinterest board (because really, where else do I have to look? 😏) I decided on Fireworks Cookies & Cream Cookies from Inside Bru Crew Life.