Ritz Cracker Cookies and Cream & Health Bar Cookies

A good advertising campaign is one that we remember.  It's not the flash and dazzle, the talking dogs, the cute babies, or endearing old people.  It pretty much all boils down to a clever slogan that becomes burned into our brains.  One of the best slogans that I can recall was created back in the late seventies/early eighties and spoken by a trustworthy pitchman in the form of Andy Griffith.  We believed him when he said, "Everything tastes better when it sits on a Ritz."  We not only believed him, we remembered him, at least I did.  This is a slogan that I remember to this day, and do you know what?  It turned out to be true!  And this goes for both sweet and savory.  

After the great success I had with the Thin Mint Clones, I decided to continue to experiment and came up with two other recipes that are as least as good as the Mint Cookies, if not better (my husband swooned over the Cookies and Cream).  They are also ridiculously quick and easy.  I made both at the same time I was making a pot of mushroom soup. 

Cookies and Cream Cookies
 Total Time: 25 minutes
 Yield: 10-12 cookies

1 cup Ghirardelli white chocolate chips

1 teaspoon solid shortening (I used Crisco)

2 chocolate sandwich cookies, crushed (I used Oreos)

10-12 Ritz crackers

1/4 cup Ghirardelli 60% cacao chocolate chips

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.

Melt white chocolate chips and shortening in a heat-resistant bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Stir in crushed cookies. Drop Ritz crackers, one at a time, into the warm mixture, turning to coat. Place on baking sheet to harden (you can expedite this by putting them into the refrigerator for about 5 minutes). After all crackers have been covered in the mixture and have been allowed to hardening, melt dark chocolate chips in a small bowl in the microwave. Using a small spoon, scoop up melted chocolate and drizzle it over the cookies in a back and forth motion.