Candace in the Kitchen

Archive for the ‘Cookies’ Category

I had big plans for these sugar cookies. I was going to monogram one for each person at my office and at Autumn’s daycare. That was an awesome idea until it was 11:30PM and I had only finished the coat of pink icing. “Monogram” then became “dump a crap load of sprinkles on”.

Ingredients:

Cookies: (Source: Dorie Greenspan)

2 c all purpose flour

1/2 t baking powder

1/2 t salt

1 c sugar

1 stick plus 2 T unsalted butter, softened

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

1 t vanilla extract

Royal Icing:

4 c powdered sugar

3 T meringue powder

1/4 c warm water

flavoring or extract (optional)

Food coloring (I use gel)

Directions:

Cookies:

Whisk together dry ingredients (honestly, I rarely do this. If you want to dirty an extra bowl, feel free)

In the bowl of the stand mixer cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Add the large egg and egg yolk

Mix to incorporate the egg and yolk and scrape down sides of bowl. I got a Beater Blade so I didn’t have to stop and scrape so often.

Add vanilla extract

Slowly incorporate dry ingredients, either all at once if you premixed or one by one like I do.

After the dough comes together divide it in half and wrap in plastic. Make sure you use your Hulk strength and break your favorite spatula.

Wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour before rolling and cutting.

Preheat oven to 350° and flour countertop or pastry mat.

Roll and cut dough into desired shapes.

Bake for 8-10 minutes and let cool completely before decorating.

Icing:

Mix together powdered sugar, meringue powder and water until frosting is light and glossy. You can add more water if it needs to be thinned out.

Add coloring or flavoring if using.

Assembly: (I have NO pictures of this process because it was late and I was tired. Sorry!)

Pipe an outline on each cookie and then flood with icing once they are dry, top with sprinkles.

When you get really tired after icing 70 cookies just drizzle it all over the ones you have left. I think they’re pretty cute and were way less time consuming.

I LOVED these! I did half raspberry and half grape jam. I really preferred the grape and next time I make them I will use just that.

Recipe here.

Source Rachael Ray

These were so delicious and couldn’t be easier!

I am writing the directions the way the website should have. I hate recipes that include the ingredients for all components of the dish lumped together. Because of the way that they were written I used the entire 1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla in the batter for the cakes and another 1/2 in the filling instead of 1 t in the cakes and 1/2 t in the filling. It wasn’t an issue and they tasted great, I just didnt realize what I had done until I went to make the filling.

I doubled the filling to make sure that I had enough and I had a little left over.

Ingredients:

Cakes:

1 stick unsalted butter, melted

1 c packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs, room temp, lightly beaten

1 c canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling!)

1 T pumpkin pie spice

1 t vanilla extract

1 t baking powder

1 t baking soda

3/4 t salt

1 2/3 c all purpose flour

Filling:

1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened

4 oz cream cheese, softened

1/2 t vanilla extract

1 c confectioners sugar

Directions:

Cakes:

Preheat oven to 350°

In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter and brown sugar until smooth. Whisk in the eggs, pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice, 1 teaspoon vanilla, the baking powder, the baking soda and 3/4 teaspoon salt. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the flour.

sing an ice cream scoop or tablespoon, drop 12 generous mounds of batter, spaced evenly, onto each baking sheet. Bake until springy to the touch, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.

(I used a cookie scoop and ended up with about 12 finished pies, double what the recipe yield is supposed to be)

Filling:

Cream the softened butter with the cream cheese. Add the confectioners’ sugar and the remaining 2 pinches salt and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla; mix on low speed until blended, then beat on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes.

Assembly:

You can either spread one cake with filling and top with another or pipe the filling onto one side and then top with another. Piping isn’t necescary at all, I just like doing it and I like how the finished product looks. If you are going to pipe I do suggest making the extra frosting because you generally use more when piping than just spreading it on.

These cookies are fabulous! When you eat them it’s just like a regular cookie- slightly sweet, buttery and crumbly. It’s not until after you swallow it that you get a slight heat- not spicy, just a warm heat. The best part is they are SO easy to make and you probably have all of the ingredients on hand.

Ingredients:

2 sticks butter, softened (I used salted)

1/2 cup sugar

8 T heavy cream

1/2 t cayenne pepper

3 c all purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350°

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or in a large bowl with a hand mixer) cream butter and sugar together on medium speed until light and fluffy.

On low speed, add cream and cayenne pepper.

Slowly add flour and mix until thouroughly combined.

Place dough on a floured surface and roll out to 1/4″ thickness.

Cut with small cookie cutters or into squares/rectangles with a pizza cutter. (I used the pizza cutter)

Bake for 16-18 minutes.