Homemade Tagalong Cookies!

Ok, girls, I'm posting a recipe.  Get your money's worth, because I don't have a lot of recipes worth sharing.  What I'm going to share here is a simple recipe for generic Tagalongs.  You know, the Girl Scout cookie.  The. Girl Scout cookie.

Before you start, place cookie sheets in the freezer.  This way when your cookie comes out of the melted chocolate, it cools it off quickly and keeps it looking like perfection.

Here's what you need:

Two rolls of Ritz crackers, a back of chocolate chips (semi-sweet or milk chocolate, both are good.), and peanut butter.  And wax paper to cover your cookie sheet with.

Spread peanut butter between Ritz crackers to make peanut butter cracker sandwiches. 

Melt chocolate chips using a double-broiler method.  If you don't know what one is (I only recently learned of this) or if you don't have one, let me show you something. 

Fill the bottom pan about half-way full of water.  Boil this water, then place a heat-resistant bowl or pan on top of the boiling water pan.  Following me here?  If you are confused, just copy what I did in the pictures.  It's easy.  I promise.

Ok, so now that you have your double-broiler set up, melt the chocolate chips in the bowl.  Once the chips are nice and melty, you can begin dipping your peanut butter cracker sandwiches.  Are you still with me?

Believe it or not, there is a bit of an art to the whole dipping process.  I've tried to photograph the steps as clearly as I can.  I have found that using a small spatula works best for the dipping.  Basically, drop the cracker sandwich into the melty chocolate, flip it to get it coated on both sides, and then start pushing the cracker sandwich up the side of the bowl.  As you push it up the bowl, add a bit of pressure to the cracker sandwich using the spatula.  This kind of oozes excess chocolate off the cookie as you push it up.

When you get to the lip of the bowl, you should be able to angle the spatula back and away from the bowl and end up with the cookie balanced on the spatula (for me, this is a one-handed process).

Then, allow the cookie to slip off of the spatula and onto your wax-covered cookie sheet.  This is the cookie sheet that you had in the freezer. 

There!  You just made a Tagalong like the little Girl Scouts do!  Now, try to refrain from eating the whole batch.  I won't judge you if you do. 

For a great recipe for generic Thin Mints, check out Beth's tutorial, here.  She's full of great pictures and entertaining humor.