I didn't handcuff myself to the building.....YAY!

Well, I took my little trip to Greendale to visit the Reiman Publications (Taste of Home) Visitors Center, with my cohort in crime, Karri. I was beyond excited to walk through the doors and all plans of funny stalkerish pictures in front of the building fell to the wayside as I spied the Test Kitchen through the windows.

First, let me tell you that the lovely gal at the reception desk was uber informative and absolutely charming. Taste of Home, you did a great job hiring this gal. If my memory serves me correctly, I believe her name was Diane. She told us of all we could see within the Visitors Center, gave us tips for fun places around Greendale, and also event plans at Taste of Home VC that would allow me access back (without a Code Red button being pushed upon my entry).

My two main draws at the Visitors Center were: 1. The Test Kitchen 2. The TOH Outlet Store (ridiculous deals were had ladies, be VERY jealous).

My heart started palpitating as we approached the Test Kitchen. There was one woman baking away. Thank goodness it wasn't bread, because we all know my feelings about bread now, right? She was in the midst of baking an award winning peanut butter cookie. Another cookie, "The Minnesota Muncher" was already displayed outside of the kitchen's window for browsers to sample. Yes, we had one, it was delish and dang right it should be, because it won 1st place out of 34,000 submitted cookie recipes.

The cook within the Test Kitchen was named CJ, she had beautiful blonde hair, looked like she really enjoyed working there, took the time to chat with us, and didn't seem annoyed by our million questions. This is the kicker.....SHE DOESN'T HAVE A FOOD SCIENCE DEGREE......she has a marketing background. People....there is HOPE! I believe that Karri had to drag me away before I came right out and told her that I needed to have her job.

We then did some shopping at the store, came back up to the Test Kitchen to chat some more with the lovely CJ, and she let us try the peanut butter cookie. That was my kind of cookie. I heart peanut butter something fierce. CJ even showed me which recipe it was within the TOH cookie cookbook, but somewhere between the sweet flavor explosion that was going on in my mouth and majorly coveting CJ's job in the cute as a button test kitchen, the name of the cookie has escaped me. This I know, the name of the cookie had Peanut Butter in it. I thought for sure I could find it when I got home, but much to my disappointment, a search for peanut butter cookies on the TOH website yielded over 500 results. Looks like I have a reason to go have coffee with CJ so she can set me straight, right?

Remember above, when I mentioned the "Minneosta Muncher" cookie. Well, the gal who won with this recipe decided she didn't want it published without monetary compensation. Good on TOH that they didn't fold! Personally, I would be thrilled if my recipe beat out 33,999 others and I just might have the gumption to have the ingredients and directions tattooed on my forehead. CJ hinted that I may be able to find the recipe on the internet (she herself doesn't even know it....she gets the premixed ingredients to this cookie delivered to her so the recipe stays top secret).

While I was more of a fan of the nameless peanut butter cookies, my compensation prize to you is the recipe for the MINNESOTA MUNCHER. Yep, I found out. Now, it's yours and you can go bake these and know that everyone will love them as they are award winning yummies:

Minnesota Munchers

1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder (or could use baking soda)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2/3 cup English toffee bits (use more if desired)
1 cup pecans, chopped

Preheat oven to 350*. Line cookie trays with parchment paper (or spray with cooking spray). Cream together butter and sugar. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then stir in vanilla. Combine dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, salt and stir into the creamed mixture. Stir in milk chocolate chips, semisweet chocolate chips, toffee bits and pecans. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto the greased cookie sheets.
Bake 10-12 minutes in preheated oven. Allow to cool slightly on baking sheet before transferring to wire cooling rack.

Cannot guarantee that this is EXACTLY the recipe, but fairly certain this is close based on the ingredients listed.

Pictures will come soon. We are having some major issues with computer networking, printers and downloading capabilities at the moment over here. So yeah, another little nugget of hope in my quest. Glad I went, and hope I don't wear out my welcome over there or find myself in a position where I'm given a nickname such as "Wide-Eyed Weirdo Stalker Girl".