Party Baking

Tonight we are hosting a couple shower for our friends Susi & Rob. They wanted something really laid back so we decided on a game night. For us this means lots of nice finger foods including a charcuterie tray, some nice cheeses, homemade pizza squares, olives and such. For sweets we made two different cookies.
The first is an almond bark cookie my mom served over Christmas that I loved. It is so easy to make.


Almond Bark Cookies

2 sticks unsalted butter
1/2 c sugar
1 box graham crackers
slivered almonds

Preheat oven to 375. Melt the butter & sugar together in a saucepan. Lay graham crackers out in a single layer on cookie sheets with sides. Sprinkle slivered almonds over the crackers. Drizzle the melted butter & sugar mixture over all the crackers. Bake for 8 to 9 minutes. Let cool on wax paper.

We didn't grease the pans or anything & some of our cookies stuck because of the caramelized sugar & butter, next time we'll put the silicone mat down.

The other cookie is a Chocolate & Sea Salt Cookie recipe we found on The Culinary Muse. We are currently addicted to chocolates with salt in them so this appealed to us immediately.

I took a chocolate tasting class from The Culinary Muse herself & she knows her chocolate! This recipe calls for 3 cups of dark chocolate so you know a chocolate lover wrote it. We couldn't find the Maldon salt the recipe called for anywhere in town (though it is available on Amazon & igourmet)
so we substituted this salt we found at Whole Foods & I think it worked just fine. I think maybe next time I'd cut back on the amount of walnuts as I found their flavor a little too strong but that's just me. Matt liked the texture they add.

We'll be serving the cookies in my favorite bowl, the pig bowl from Napa Style. Who could resist anything this little guy is offering?