The Ultimate Sugar Cookies

I love Tyler Florence's show "Tyler's Ultimate", and I think if he was doing a show about the ultimate sugar cookies, he would use this recipe. If you are looking for a sugar cookie that bakes up soft without a cakey texture, this is it. The only downside to these cookies is that you wont be able to stop yourself at just one, two, or even three! They are simply irresistible. I also love the almond flavor they have, everything is a little better with some almond extract I always say:) You can pair these cookies with your favorite frosting. I made a simple buttercream with almond extract and vanilla bean paste. Another perk to these cookies is that they really maintain the shape of the cookie cutter you use. Have you ever made sugar cookies with your favorite cookie cutter and found that after they baked the shape of the cookies ended up being nothing like your cutter? Well that wont happen with this recipe...at least it didn't happen when I made them:) Hope you have a chance to try this one out!

See how perfect it kept the heart shape?! I made mine about 1/4 of an
inch thick, maybe they would have spread a little more if I made them thicker, I'll
try it out and let you know how it turns out:)

Special Occasion Sugar Cookies

1 cup sugar
3/4 cup butter or margarine, softenend (I used 1/2 c. butter 1/4 c. butter flavor crisco)
1 egg
3 T. Whipping cream (I used half and half because that's what I had)
1 t. vanilla
1 t. almond ext.
3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
Granulated sugar

Combine sugar, butter, egg, whipping cream, vanilla and almond ext. Beat at
med. speed until light and fluffy. Add flour, baking powder and salt at low
speed until soft dough forms. Cover and chill until firm.

Heat oven to 400 degrees. on floured surface roll dough 1/4 in. thick, cut
desired shapes and place on ungreased cookie sheets. Sprinkle lightly with
granulated sugar (I would only sprinkle with sugar if I wasn't frosting them). Bake 4-6 minutes.

Cute Carousel Cake!

Yesterday was my little nieces first birthday. I can't believe she is already a year old! My sis in law threw the cutest lil birthday party for her, and I made her cake:) I saw a picture of a really cute carousel cake and decided I wanted to duplicate it but make it a little different. I found some of those candy sticks with sugar dinosaurs on them and used those for the carousel poles. For the cake itself, just 2 8" round cakes. To make the carousel top, cut a 9" circle out of paper, made a cut to the center of the circle then overlapped the cut a little and tapped it together. Pretty simple, and it turned out really cute. I might have to make this for my little girl when she is one, I have a while to think about that though, considering she wont even be here for about another 10 weeks:)

So no recipe for this post because I just used a cake mix for the cake. But tomorrow, I will post a recipe for the best sugar cookies ever! So get excited:)

Red Velvet Whoopie Pies

If you haven't made a fun Valentine treat yet, this is a good one to try out. I saw these on Annies Eats a little while ago and knew I had to try them out. I thought they would be fun to make for any occasion, but just perfect for Valentines Day. The texture of these were amazing, just like a whoopie pie should be. To be honest though, I didn't care too much for the red velvet pie by itself, but once I added the cream cheese icing it took it to another level. You can make these into simple round whoopie pies but they sure are cute as hearts. To see some great step by step pictures check out Annies Eats.

Red Velvet Whoopie Pies
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For the cookies:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp. cocoa powder
½ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
8 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
½ cup buttermilk, at room temperature
1 oz. red food coloring

Ingredients:

For the frosting:
8 oz. cream cheese
5 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2½ cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted

*I added a little almond extract to the frosting

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375˚ F.

Using a heart template cut out from card stock, trace evenly spaced hearts onto pieces of parchment paper sized to fit two cookie sheets. Place the parchment on the cookie sheets so that the side you have drawn on is facing down; set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and brown sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the egg until incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Blend in the vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, beat in about a third of the dry ingredients, followed by half of the buttermilk, beating each addition just until incorporated. Repeat so that all the buttermilk has been added and then mix in the final third of dry ingredients. Do not overbeat. Blend in the food coloring.

Transfer the batter to a pastry bag fitted with a large plain round tip. Pipe the batter onto the parchment paper using the heart tracings as a guide. Bake 7-9 minutes or until the tops are set, rotating the baking sheets halfway through. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheets at least 10 minutes, until they can be easily transferred to a cooling rack. Repeat with any remaining batter. Allow cookies to cool completely before proceeding.

To make the cream cheese frosting, in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment beat the cream cheese and butter on medium-high speed until well combined and smooth, about 2-3 minutes. Mix in the vanilla extract. Gradually beat in the confectioners’ sugar until totally incorporated, increase the speed and then beat until smooth.

Transfer the frosting to a clean pastry bag fitted with a plain, round tip. Pair the cookies up by shape and size.

Pipe frosting onto the flat-sided cookie of each pair, leaving the edges clear. Sandwich the cookies together so the flat sides are facing each other and press gently to help the filling reach the edges. To store, refrigerate in an airtight container.

Source: cookies adapted from Dinner and Dessert, originally from Better Homes & Gardens, December 2008; frosting frosting adapted from Confections of a Foodie Bride

Clearing up the Confusion!!

Ok-so pretty much disregard a lot of what I said in my last post. I just went online to food network and read some of the comments again about Kathleen Kings cookies, and Kathleen herself posted a comment saying that 1 1/4 cups of butter is CORRECT! She also uses salted butter as well as adds salt to the recipe. Feels good to get that confusin cleared up:)

Kathleen Kings Double Chocolate Almond Cookies

I was watching Ina's new episode yesterday and she had a friend on showing her how to make chocolate almond cookies. They looked so amazing that I got up and started making them. I looked up the recipe on the food network and was surprised to see that it only called for 1 1/4 c. of butter online, when I was certain that she used 2 1/4 cups on tv. O well-I just proceeded and started making them from what the recipe online said. As the first batch was baking I decided to read some reviews about the recipe. Every review that was posted so far was saying how "the cookies turned out horrible because the butter measurement is off". I decided to rewatch the episode and find out for certain how much butter she used, and sure enough, it was 2 1/4 cups! I was expecting the cookies to turn out horrible, but they didn't! Quite the opposite actually, they were one of the best homemade cookies I have had. They had such a dense yet moist texture. If I didn't know it was missing a cup of butter I wouldn't have thought there was anything wrong with these cookies. I am however going to make these cookies again this week with the proper amount of butter. I think they could be even better, because they did get a little dry the second day, and I think if I used 2 1/4 cups of butter they would be more "gooey". Anyways here's the recipe, after I make them again with the full amount of butter I will do another post and let you know how they turned out:)

Kathleen King's Double Chocolate Almond Cookies

Ingredients

nocoupons

• 2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cups salted butter, softened to room temperature (I just found out for certain 1 1/4 c. is correct, disregard all of talk about 2 1/4 c. :) )
  
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup firmly packed dark or light brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup white chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (I used 1/2 c. semi and 1/2 c. milk)
  
• 1 cup almonds, chopped (I left out because I didn't have any)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. (Recipe on tv also says to preheat oven to 375, I baked mine at 350 and they turned out fine, but I also used a cup less butter)

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream the butter and sugars. Add the egg and vanilla and mix together. Add the flour mixture and continue mixing until just combined.

Add the chocolates and almonds and mix until combined. Using two tablespoons or a small ice cream scoop, drop the dough two inches apart on sheet pans lined with parchment. Bake for 15 minutes. (Mine were perfectly done at 12 minutes, check at 10 minutes)

Cool the cookies on the cookie sheets. The cookies should be very soft when they are removed from the oven. They will firm up as they cool.

Copy Cat Panda Orange Chicken

During my pregnancy there have been a few things that I have been craving, and one of them is Panda Express' Orange Chicken. I love the stuff! I just can't seem to get enough of it, but I have been trying to cut back:) A few months ago I saw a bottle of Panda Express Orange Sauce at the grocery store in the Asian aisle. I have resisted getting it, but last week I just couldn't resist any longer. I was excited to try it out and see if it really resembled Panda's orange sauce. I found this copy cat orange chicken recipe online, tossed it with the orange sauce, and it was delicious! My husband loved it. It was such an easy meal as well. And I figured that it is so much cheaper to make the orange chicken from scratch using the bottled sauce rather than buying it from Panda Express. I will definitely be making this again! :)

"Panda Express" Orange Chicken

2 lbs. chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 egg
Salt
Fresh ground pepper
1 T. oil
1/2 c. cornstarch
1/4 c. flour
Oil for frying
1 bottle panda express orange sauce

Coat chicken in egg, salt and pepper and 1 T. oil; mix well. Stir cornstarch and flour into the chicken. Heat oil in a wok (about an inch deep in a wok) over medium heat, and add chicken in batches, frying until crisp and browned on the outside. Heat up some of the orange sauce and toss with chicken.

Nanaimo Bars

The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca.

I must say I was very excited for this months challenge. I have never had nanaimo bars, but they sounded delicious! I was also very excited to make homemade graham crackers. What a fun challenge!

What I loved about this challenge was that it wasn't very time consuming or difficult so I could easily make them again. I loved the different layers, my favorite was probably the middle custard layer, which was more like a thick layer of buttercream! The first bite I took out of these bars I though they were ok, the second bite I thought they were good, then the third bite I was hooked! They were the type of things that just kept getting better and better with each bite. Thanks Lauren for a great challenge and be sure to check out how the other daring bakers did here.

Preparation time:
• Graham Wafers: 30 to 45 minutes total active prep, 2 ½ hours to overnight and 45 minutes inactive prep.
• Nanaimo Bars: 30 minutes.

Equipment required:
• Food Processor
• Bowls
• Parchment paper or silpats
• Cookie sheets
• Double boiler or pot and heatproof bowl
• 8 by 8 inch square pan
• Hand mixer or stand mixer (You may use a wooden spoon, but this makes it much easier!)
• Saucepan

For Gluten-Free Graham Wafers
Ingredients
1 cup (138 g) (4.9 ounces) Sweet rice flour (also known as glutinous rice flour)
3/4 cup (100 g) (3.5 ounces) Tapioca Starch/Flour
1/2 cup (65 g) (2.3 ounces) Sorghum Flour
1 cup (200 g) (7.1 ounces) Dark Brown Sugar, Lightly packed
1 teaspoon (5 mL) Baking soda
3/4 teaspoon (4 mL ) Kosher Salt
7 tablespoons (100 g) (3 ½ ounces) Unsalted Butter (Cut into 1-inch cubes and frozen)
1/3 cup (80 mL) Honey, Mild-flavoured such as clover.
5 tablespoons (75 mL) Whole Milk
2 tablespoons (30 mL) Pure Vanilla Extract

Directions:
1. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade, combine the flours, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt. Pulse on low to incorporate. Add the butter and pulse on and off, until the mixture is the consistency of a coarse meal. If making by hand, combine aforementioned dry ingredients with a whisk, then cut in butter until you have a coarse meal. No chunks of butter should be visible.
2. In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together the honey, milk and vanilla. Add to the flour mixture until the dough barely comes together. It will be very soft and sticky.
3. Turn the dough onto a surface well-floured with sweet rice flour and pat the dough into a rectangle about 1 inch thick. Wrap in plastic and chill until firm, about 2 hours, or overnight.
4. Divide the dough in half and return one half to the refrigerator. Sift an even layer of sweet rice flour onto the work surface and roll the dough into a long rectangle, about 1/8 inch thick. The dough will be quite sticky, so flour as necessary. Cut into 4 by 4 inch squares. Gather the scraps together and set aside. Place wafers on one or two parchment-lined baking sheets. Chill until firm, about 30 to 45 minutes. Repeat with the second batch of dough.
5. Adjust the rack to the upper and lower positions and preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius).
6. Gather the scraps together into a ball, chill until firm, and reroll. Dust the surface with more sweet rice flour and roll out the dough to get a couple more wafers.
7. Prick the wafers with toothpick or fork, not all the way through, in two or more rows.
8. Bake for 25 minutes, until browned and slightly firm to the touch, rotating sheets halfway through to ensure even baking. Might take less, and the starting location of each sheet may determine its required time. The ones that started on the bottom browned faster.
9. When cooled completely, place enough wafers in food processor to make 1 ¼ cups (300 mL) of crumbs. Another way to do this is to place in a large ziplock bag, force all air out and smash with a rolling pin until wafers are crumbs.

My homemade grahams:)

Nanaimo Bars
Ingredients:

For Nanaimo Bars — Bottom Layer
1/2 cup (115 g) (4 ounces) Unsalted Butter
1/4 cup (50 g) (1.8 ounces) Granulated Sugar
5 tablespoons (75 mL) Unsweetened Cocoa
1 Large Egg, Beaten
1 1/4 cups (300 mL) (160 g) (5.6 ounces) Gluten Free Graham Wafer Crumbs (See previous recipe)
1/2 cup (55 g) (1.9 ounces) Almonds (Any type, Finely chopped)
1 cup (130 g) (4.5 ounces) Coconut (Shredded, sweetened or unsweetened)

For Nanaimo Bars — Middle Layer
1/2 cup (115 g) (4 ounces) Unsalted Butter
2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons (40 mL) Heavy Cream
2 tablespoons (30 mL) Vanilla Custard Powder (Such as Bird’s. Vanilla pudding mix may be substituted.)
2 cups (254 g) (8.9 ounces) Icing Sugar

For Nanaimo Bars — Top Layer
4 ounces (115 g) Semi-sweet chocolate
2 tablespoons (28 g) (1 ounce) Unsalted Butter

Directions:
1. For bottom Layer: Melt unsalted butter, sugar and cocoa in top of a double boiler. Add egg and stir to cook and thicken. Remove from heat. Stir in crumbs, nuts and coconut. Press firmly into an ungreased 8 by 8 inch pan.
2. For Middle Layer: Cream butter, cream, custard powder, and icing sugar together well. Beat until light in colour. Spread over bottom layer.
3. For Top Layer: Melt chocolate and unsalted butter over low heat. Cool. Once cool, pour over middle layer and chill.

German Chocolate Cake Take #2

Over the summer I made "The Most Amazing German Chocolate Cake", using David Lebovitz'recipe, everything except the cake itself which I used a cake mix for. My Grandma's birthday was this past week and I decided to make the cake again, but this time put all the effort in and make the cake from scratch using David's recipe. First of all, this cake was a lot of work. If you make this cake, be prepared to dirty every bowl in your kitchen, but also be prepared to taste the best cake ever! Honestly, this time I can truly say it was the most amazing german chocolate cake. I am always nervous to try out a new cake recipe from scratch. Some are too dry, don't rise enough, too dense....but this cake was absolutely perfect. So moist, best texture. I can't wait to try this cake recipe out in a cupcake. My mom has requested this cake for her birthday in March. I think for that cake I am going to double the coconut filling. That filling is to die for! And I would have loved more of it in the cake. This cake is also a bit time consuming, but worth it. And one suggestion, I am not a dark chocolate fan so sometimes in recipes I am tempted to use milk chocolate where it calls for dark or semi sweet. But for the chocolate icing, you must use a semi sweet chocolate, at least, if you like a darker chocolate use darker. But I thought the semi sweet was perfect because the rest of the cake is pretty light and sweet it really does need something a little richer to bring it all together. Enjoy!

Looking at these pictures make me sad that I don't have a piece
of this cake to eat right now!

German Chocolate Cake
David Lebotiz

One big, tall 9-inch cake; about 16 servings


For the cake:
2 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chopped (I used semi sweet)
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
6 tablespoons water
8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 ¼ cup + ¼ cup sugar
4 large eggs, separated
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract


For the filling:
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup sugar
3 large egg yolks
3 ounces butter, cut into small pieces
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup pecans, toasted and finely chopped
1 1/3 cups unsweetened coconut, toasted


For the syrup:
1 cup water
¾ cup sugar
2 tablespoons dark rum (I left out)


For the chocolate icing:
8 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped (I used semi)
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 ½ ounces unsalted butter
1 cup heavy cream


1. Butter two 9-inch cake pans, then line the bottoms with rounds of parchment or wax paper. Preheat the oven to 350°.

2. Melt both chocolates together with the 6 tablespoons of water. Use either a double-boiler or a microwave. Stir until smooth, then set aside until room temperature.

3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, or by hand, beat the butter and 1 ¼ cup of the sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in the melted chocolate, then the egg yolks, one at a time.

4. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

5. Mix in half of the dry ingredients into the creamed butter mixture, then the buttermilk and the vanilla extract, then the rest of the dry ingredients.

6. In a separate metal or glass bowl, beat the egg whites until they hold soft, droopy peaks. Beat in the ¼ cup of sugar until stiff.

7. Fold about one-third of the egg whites into the cake batter to lighten it, then fold in the remaining egg whites just until there's no trace of egg white visible.

8. Divide the batter into the 2 prepared cake pans, smooth the tops, and bake for about 45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Cool cake layers completely.

While the cakes are baking and cooling, make the filling, syrup, and icing.


To make the filling:

1. Mix the cream, sugar, and egg yolks in a medium saucepan. Put the 3 ounces butter, salt, toasted coconut, and pecan pieces in a large bowl.

2. Heat the cream mixture and cook, stirring constantly (scraping the bottom as you stir) until the mixture begins to thicken and coats the spoon (an instant-read thermometer will read 170°.)

3. Pour the hot custard immediately into the pecan-coconut mixture and stir until the butter is melted. Cool completely to room temperature. (It will thicken.)


To make the syrup:

1. In a small saucepan, heat the sugar and water until the sugar has melted. Remove from heat and stir in the dark rum.


To make the icing:

1. Place the 8 ounces of chopped chocolate in a bowl with the corn syrup and 1 ½ ounces of butter.

2. Heat the cream until it just begins to boil. Remove from heat and pour over the chocolate. Let stand one minute, then stir until smooth. Let sit until room temperature.


To assemble the cake:

Remove the cake layers from the pans and cut both cake layers in half horizontally, using a serrated bread knife.
Set the first cake layer on a cake plate. Brush well with syrup. Spread ¾ cup of the coconut filling over the cake layer, making sure to reach to the edges. Set another cake layer on top.

Repeat, using the syrup to brush each cake layer, then spreading ¾ cup of the coconut filling over each layer, including the top.

Ice the sides with the chocolate icing, then pipe a decorative border of chocolate icing around the top, encircling the coconut topping.

(It may seem like a lot of chocolate icing, but use it all. Trust me. You won't be sorry.)

Homemade Oreo Cookies

I feel like my blog is turning into a cookie blog, considering my last few posts have been about cookies! I guess I am just in the cookie baking mood:) This particular cookie, is one of my all time favorites! And fortunately, one of the easiest cookies you could ever make. I mean, is there anything better than two giant chocolate cookies stuck together by a thick layer of cream cheese icing? I don't think so, these homemade oreos are the perfect excuse to eat two cookies at a time. My problem is, I end up eating three of these homemade oreos in a sitting, now let's see....that's a grand total of 6 cookies plus frosting!!...I'd rather not think about that and just enjoy my cookie, which is calling my name as we speak:) Enjoy!

Homemade Oreo Cookies
1 devil's food cake mix (I have tried these with other chocolate cake mixes and they turn out just fine)
1/2 c. shortening
2 eggs

Mix the above ingredients together. Roll the dough into dime-sized balls and place on a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes. Cool cookies.

FROSTING:

8 oz. cream cheese
1/2 square butter
2 tsp. vanilla
2 to 4 c. powdered sugar

Mix all of frosting ingredients until smooth. Frost BACKS of cookies and place together to make sandwich cookie.

Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies

The chocolate chip cookie-it seems like everyone is constantly striving to find the ultimate recipe. I am no exception. I always try different recipes, hoping to find some unbelievable recipe that somehow tops my usual chocolate chip cookie, but it hasn't happened yet. I always go back to my standard, which was a recipe I got from a lady in my home neighborhood. These cookies are truly amazing. They are always sure to please, never to disappoint. I think the secret is all of the mixing that is required. I make mine in my bosch, I haven't tried it yet in my kitchen aide mixer but am anxious to see if the results are the same. If anyone has a chocolate chip cookie recipe that you think could beat mine out, I'd love to hear it! I LOVE my recipe, but am not closed minded and am open to the possibility that some other recipe could be better:) I usually put chopped up symphony bar bits in my cookies instead of chocolate chips, I think that extra touch makes these cookies out of this world!

My Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies

Note: Like I said above, I have only made this in my bosch mixer, they could turn out a little different if you make them with a hand held mixer or with a kitchen aide, but I'm sure they would still be great:)

Mix for 8 minutes (stopping at 4 min. to scrap down sides)

¾ c. butter

¾ c. butter flavor Crisco

1 ½ c. firmly packed brown sugar

1 c. sugar

Add:

¼ c. milk

2 Tbs. vanilla

Add 2 eggs, one at a time, mixing for 2 min and 30 sec. after each.

Combine dry ingredients in separate bowl:

3 ½ c. flour

2 tsp. salt

1 ½ tsp. baking soda

Mix dry ingredients together thoroughly so everything is combined. Add to creamed mixture and don’t mix long-just pulse to blend. If you have a bosch, pulse the medium switch 3-4 times.

Mix in by hand 2 c. chocolate chips.

Baking at 350 7-8 min.