Oatmeal Moon Pies + Solar Eclipse Party

The last time there was a solar eclipse, my little brother Bryce and I thought we  were going to be blind. Someone (who?) had struck so much fear in us, that we were certain that if we looked upon the sun just once with our naked eyes we'd be blind by the next day. Our curious eyes could not help but dart a few quick glances up towards the sun that day. So by the end of it we thought we were goners. Dead serious.

18 years later and our vision is still intact and guess what?! we got another opp to burn our retinas....or is it corneas?

We had a little eclipse party yesterday with our little family of four and big brother Jason. It was a good ol' silly time. Jason had the totally brill idea to bring moon pies, but the night before I told him to skip a grocery run and I'd make homemade instead. And I'm so glad I did! These moon pies I'm about to share with you are legit. Like the kind of legit that makes you want to do a little dance and make yummy sounds all the while. But before I share the recipe, here are some pics of us Eclipsin':

Playing some Solar smash-ball. It's just like regular smash-ball if you are dying to play Solar smash-ball. (No children were harmed during this smashing session)

Special eyewear wearing.

Moon pie consuming.

And Eclipse viewing. That just about sums it up! Now, it's recipe time.

Oatmeal-Pecan Cookie Moon Pies (makes about 36ish cookies and 18ish sandwich cookies):

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

2 1/4 cups old-fashioned oats

1 cup finely chopped pecans

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temp.

1 1/2 cups (packed) brown sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 7 ounce jars marshmallow creme

Chocolate drizzling sauce:

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup milk

Melt chocolate and milk over a double broiler or in your microwave. Stirring often to prevent burning and to promote the chocolate chips to melt. You can add a little honey in to thin out the chocolate as well.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a small-medium bowl.

Combine oats and pecans in another separate bowl. 

Using an electric mixer or stand mixer, beat butter and sugar until smooth. Add egg and vanilla and beat to blend. Scrap down bowl. While machine runs at low speed gradually add flour mixture. Beat until just blended. Stir in oat mixture with a wooden spoon until combined. 

Using a tablespoonful cookie scoop, roll dough into balls and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Flatten balls into 1/2 in thick discs. Bake for 12 minutes, or until cookies are golden brown. Do not over bake. Let cookies cool on baking sheets before removing to brown paper.

Drop 1 tablespoon of marshmallow creme onto cookie (use two spoons). Twist and push another cookie on top. Using a spoon, drizzle choclate over the top of moon pies with quick back and forth motions of the wrist. 

*Some of them I drizzled and some I left plain. I went back and forth all night as to which I liked more. They are equally delicious in my opinion- chewy and gooey. The chocolate drizzled ones were less messy which is good for kids.

So, did you see the Eclipse? How was your weekend in general? Thanks for letting me share our silly party!

images by Briana, bottom pic from my instagram, cookie recipe adapted from Bon Appetit