Mint Oreo Tart

I know, I know. I've been a slacker. The busy summer has begun, so I hope that excuses my short absence. But I am back and hoping the summer brings some new dishes to my brain. I always love a new season to make things fresh again. I've been pretty busy and it's extremely hot so we've been having a lot of sandwich/salad types of meals. Sometimes I even talk myself out of baking knowing that the oven will make the house slightly warmer. But I'll still be here, just probably not as often. Hopefully I'll pick back up soon and things will move along like they did before.

Anyway...

I made this awhile ago and thought it was a good time to finally post it. It is basically a giant mint Oreo. There is a homemade Oreo recipe I love from one of my favorite cookbooks, Retro Desserts. My dad gave it to me years ago, and I've actually seen the chef as a guest on some Food Network shows making recipes from this book. The Chocolate Sandwich Cookies with Vanilla-Cream Filling, as he calls them are a favorite of mine and usually others when they partake. Here's the recipe from the Food Networks Website. I just made a few changes by pressing the cookie dough into a tart shell, and then baking it. (Careful, it puffs up a lot. Try freezing it before you bake it and then put in on a baking sheet so it drips onto that if it overflows. It actually wasn't a very good idea since this dough isn't like tart dough, but it turned our in the end okay. I have a lot more trials to do it in this form before it's perfect and I don't see myself doing that soon, so this is what you get. This website is all about experimenting isn't it?) And then I added a little mint extract and a little green food coloring to the filling. When the shell is cool, spread the filling in it, and drizzle a little chocolate sauce, or ganache on top. I had Andes baking chips so I went ahead and put those around the edge for fun. I think we also ate it with mint chocolate chip ice cream. It was refreshing in a rich sort of way.