Baking | I Can Cook That

Marble Peanut Butter & Dark Chocolate Cookies

This time of year, I love finding recipes that incorporate candy bars. I tend to have an influx of candy in my house so I might as well use it to make awesome baked goods right? I received a couple of Equal Exchange Candy Bars recently and couldn’t stop snacking on them!

Equal Exchange is the nation’s leading Fair Trade brand of coffee, chocolate and tea. They recently launched a new line of organic, fairly traded candy bars with flavors including milk chocolate peanut butter, milk chocolate crisp with puffed rice and quinoa, and dark chocolate fruit and nut with raisins and almonds.

The milk chocolate crisp lives up to its name, the puffed rice and quinoa added a nice crunch to the milk chocolate. The dark chocolate fruit and nut is the perfect mix of chocolately goodness, nuts, and fruit. The website describes it perfectly as trail mix in candy bar form. My favorite of the three though was the milk chocolate peanut butter bar a perfect and classic combination for a reason! I decided to use the chocolate peanut butter bars in a cookie but wanted to find a cookie that sort of resembled the chocolate bar itself.

I adapted this cookie recipe for Marble Peanut Butter & Dark Chocolate Cookies from a Bakergirl recipe for Marbled Peanut Butter & Chocolate Snickers cookies.

Ingredients:

Peanut Butter Dough

2 cups creamy peanut butter
2 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 cup mini chocolate chips

Chocolate Dough

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cup cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 Equal Exchange Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter bars
3/4 cup peanut butter chips

Photo courtesy of Equal Exchange

Continue reading Marble Peanut Butter & Dark Chocolate Cookies

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

One of my favorite parts of reading other blogger’s pages is checking out the “about me” sections of their blogs. It’s always so interesting to read how bloggers began cooking, how they decided to start and blog, and what else in life interests them. So when I was offered a copy of White Jacket Required: A Culinary Coming-of-Age Story written by Jenna Weber of the wonderful blog Eat Live Run I couldn’t wait to dig in!

The book follows Jenna as she graduates college and makes the decision to go to culinary school to fulfill her dream of becoming a food writer. The book allows the reader a deep dive into Jenna’s journey to follow her dreams while dealing with life along the way. Like me, Jenna seems to pinpoint specific times in her life by food that sticks out from that time period. Throughout the book, her story is peppered with delicious recipes from her childhood as well as recipes she developed through her career.

One of the recipes stood out to me: Jenna’s recipe for Pumpkin Whoopie Pies. I am pumpkin obsessed, and I have wanted to make whoopie pies for a while now but was always kind of intimidated by them. Jenna’s recipe seemed approachable so I took the plunge.

I’m pretty sure whoopie pies can now be found basically everywhere but they originally hail from the Pennsylvania Dutch. (I gotta tell you, the Philadelphia area really has some awesome food. It’s no wonder I became a food blogger with all this inspiration surrounding me!) Whoopie pies are just cake-like cookies with creamy goodness sandwiched in between. They are oh so fluffy and just, well, make me happy. So let’s see if I can do them justice..

Ingredients:

Cookies:

2 cups brown sugar
1 cup canola oil
1 can pumpkin puree
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger

Buttercream filling:

1 egg white
2 tablespoons whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups powdered sugar, divided
3/4 cup shortening

Mini Orange & Cardamom Muffins

This weekend, I am co-hosting a Tiny Food Party with Bridges, Burgers & Beer, another Philly food blogger, using recipes from Teri Lyn Fisher and Jenny Park’s cookbook: Tiny Food Party. A bunch of the recipes we are making use mini muffin tins. I wanted to try out my new min muffin tins at least once before making food for the party, so I found this recipe for Mini Orange & Cardamom Muffins from a book I received last year and have used once before for a recipe (see it here) called 1 Mix, 100 Muffins.

The flavors of these muffins sounded absolutely delicious. It was a lot of prep though: you have to juice and zest the oranges for the recipe. It’s well worth it, the citrus-y flavor is perfect with the cardamom seeds.

Ingredients: (makes 48 mini muffins)

2 oranges

1/2 cup milk (maybe less)

6 whole green cardamom pods

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup sugar

2 large eggs

6 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled

Begin by melting the butter over medium-low heat. Allow to cool.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line the mini muffin pans with paper liners.

Grate the rind from the oranges and juice the oranges.

Add the milk to the orange juice until you have 1 cup total of liquid. Add the orange rind.

Remove the seeds from the cardamom pods (I just cut into them and poured them out).

Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Stir in the sugar and cardamom seeds.

Lightly beat the eggs in a separate bowl. Add the orange/milk mixture and the cooled butter.

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until just combined.

Spoon the batter into the muffin pans (I used a coffee scoop to measure them out, it worked really well).

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until risen and golden brown. Allow the muffins to cool in the pan for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack.

So the original recipe said to bake these at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. When I did that they turned out quite dark and slightly burned on the bottoms. (in the photo above, they are the ones in the background)

Next batch I tried at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Not as browned but still too dark bottoms (that’s the one in the foreground of the above photo). So I suggest trying 350 degrees instead, checking on them at 15 but probably baking for 20 minutes.

The muffins were wonderfully floral from the cardamom, which was balanced out by the citrus of the orange. I’m glad these were mini muffins, if not I’d probably consume at least 2 normal sized versions, I loved how they tasted!

I will have a post about the Tiny Food Party in the coming days so stay tuned!

Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread

I am in love with all things warm-weather related, but one of my favorite parts of summer is the outdoor eating (surprise surprise). I used to work at a camp on the Chesapeake in Maryland and would spend one day a year stuffing myself with steamed Old Bay crabs. I now have friends who live in the general area and was thrilled when they decided to have a crab feast this past weekend. I, of course, wanted to bring something to eat with me and really had a hard time deciding what was appropriate: I needed a complimentary food that didn’t involve a fork and knife (when you’re covered in Old Bay, the last thing you’re reaching for is a fork). I finally realized the perfect accompaniment: cornbread!

This Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread is one awesome recipe, just be sure to limit your intake of these delicious squares, they are pretty darn decadent!

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 cups whole milk
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted, plus extra to grease the pan
8 ounces aged extra-sharp Cheddar, grated, divided
1/3 cup chopped scallions, green parts, plus extra for garnish
3 tablespoons seeded and minced fresh jalapeno peppers

Lemon Earl Grey Squares

My sister and dad have their birthdays within 2 days of each other. And this year, my mom was away on Mother’s Day so we didn’t get to celebrate. So when I went home to celebrate the birthdays of my sister and dad, I wanted to bring a little something for my mom as well. When the last issue of Cooking Light had a recipe for Lemon Early Grey Squares, I knew they would be perfect. My mom is obsessed with everything bergamot. She’s also a huge citrus (specifically lemon) fan. I hope she likes them!

Ingredients:

For the Crust:

Cooking spray
5 3/5 ounces all-purpose flour (about 1 1/4 cups)
1/3 cup powdered sugar
2 Earl Grey tea bags, divided
1/8 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into pieces

For the Filling:

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (about 2 lemons worth)
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons grated lemon rind (about 2 lemons worth)
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon powdered sugar

Continue reading Lemon Earl Grey Squares

Homemade Chipwiches

I have many childhood memories of me chasing down the ice cream truck to get my absolute favorite ice cream treat: a Chipwich. I mean, honestly, what more could you ask for in a dessert? Two chocolate chip cookies with ice cream sandwiched in between. Mmm.

So I was, well, horrified, to find out that the Chipwich brand name is no longer in existence as of 2007. At that time, Nestle bought the rights to the name and stopped all production because it competed with their “Chocolate Chip Cookie Sandwich.” I mean, come on. The name Chipwich is exponentially more catchy. But hey, whatever floats their boat.

Since finding out this information, I can’t get the idea of making my own Homemade Chipwiches or Chocolate Chip Cookie Sandwiches out of my head.

I was sent an Airbake cooking sheet recently and wanted to test it out. The Airbake Nonstick Insulated sheets are pretty snazzy. They are made of 100% aluminum and are comprised of two sheets surrounding a layer of air. This is said to reduce the temperature of the metal that actually comes in contact with the food which should result in more even baking. Airbake also claims that cookie bottoms won’t burn, win! (They also have natural sheets if you don’t want nonstick)

I decided to use a recipe from David Lebovitz for Salted Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies because the only way I can think to enhance my homemade chipwiches would be to add a little salt to bring out the flavor.

Ingredients (makes about 12 hand-sized chipwiches, make cookies larger if desired):

4 ounces salted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/3 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon flaky sea salt or kosher salt
1 1/3 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 pint vanilla ice cream (or your favorite ice cream)
Mini chocolate chips, for decorating (optional)

Continue reading Homemade Chipwiches

Lemon-Blueberry Scones

When a friend put in a special request for scones, I was up for the challenge. I’ve never made scones before, and I honestly wasn’t sure how they’d turn out. One of the issues is the definition of a scone changes depending on who you ask. In Great Britain, scones are usually round and look like American dinner biscuits. They are usually slightly sweet with raisins or currants. In America, we tend to make our scones into triangles. Despite being traditionally served as a dessert or with tea and coffee, most Americans eat scones as a breakfast. Scones within America tend to be include fruit and are more sweet than their British counterparts.

The difference between scones and biscuits is that scones used cold butter cut into the flour, making the scones flaky, while biscuits tend to use some type of shortening which results in a crumbly bread. So basically my goal was to end up with a baked good hopefully resembling a scone instead of a biscuit!

I used a recipe from Tyler Florence but changed the amount of Lemon drizzle used.

Ingredients:

for the scones:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold, cut in chunks
1 cup fresh blueberries
1 cup heavy cream, plus more for brushing the scones
for the glaze:
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 lemon, zest finely grated

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Sift the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar together and mix to combine.

Remove the butter from the refrigerator. Cut the butter into smaller pieces (I aimed for 4 pieces per tablespoon) and add it to the flour mixture. You want to “cut” the butter into the flour using two forks or a pastry blender (the tool in my photo).

The goal is to get small pieces of butter covered in flour. It supposedly should look like coarse crumbs. Mine clearly doesn’t.

Add the blueberries to the mixture and combine ever so carefully, trying not to break the blueberries. (Using a silicone spatula or your hands will work well).

Make a well in the center and pour in the heavy cream. Fold the cream into the mixture until just incorporated, it can still be a little sticky.

Remove the dough from the bowl and press the dough out into a 12x3x1.25 inch rectangle with your hands, again trying not to break the blueberries. I failed at this. 1. I have no idea if my measurements of the triangle were correct. I eyeballed it and just hoped for the best. I also had quite the heavy hand and broke more than a few blueberries.

Cut the rectangle into 4 equal pieces, making 4 smaller rectangles.

Cut these pieces in half on a diagonal, resulting in 8 triangle scone pieces. Add the scones to an ungreased cookie sheet and brush the tops with a little bit of heavy cream.

Bake for 15-20 minutes (mine too about 18) until they begin to brown on the top. Allow to cool.

While waiting for the scones to cool, add the lemon juice and confectioners’ sugar to a microwave-safe bowl. Whisk to combine until the sugar is dissolved. Whisk in the butter and lemon zest (it’s ok if the butter is not yet fully incorporated). Add the glaze to the microwave for 30 seconds. Remove and whisk to remove any lumps.

When the scones have cooled, drizzle the glaze over the scones. (I was left with a good 3/4 of the mixture. The scones would have been drenched if I used it all. I wanted more of a slight drizzle. Use to taste.)

Allow to sit for another 5 minutes before serving.

I’m really glad I didn’t try to use all of the glaze. My friend commented that at first bite, she actually thought they might be too sweet but that they ended up having the right amount of sweetness. Can you imagine if I doused them in the glaze?? It would have been a candy!

I wish I had added some of the lemon zest to the actual batter as well. I like my lemony flavor to be throughout my baked goods.

The scones were flaky when first removed from the oven, but by the next day they had become more dense which I didn’t mind at all.

The blueberries I crushed also (thankfully) didn’t bleed too much so I didn’t end up with purple scones!

Coconut Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Muffins are the perfect Sunday baking activity to set yourself up for breakfasts throughout the week. I haven’t made a batch in so long so I’m happy I finally had time to do so! I was given the opportunity to try Tropical Traditions Coconut Oil and I thought the best way to try the oil out would be in baking. (I adapted this recipe for Coconut Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins from the 1 Mix, 100 Muffins cookbook.)

Coconut oil can be used like butter in its solid state and like oil in its liquid state. It does have a slight coconut flavor to it so it’s a great way to enhance the flavor of many dishes. These Coconut-Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins have just a hint of coconut that is really complementary to the Lemon flavor.

Tropical Traditions is also sponsoring a giveaway! One lucky reader will win their very own jar of coconut oil! Details below.

Ingredients (this recipe makes a dozen muffins):

2 cups all-purpose flour, leveled with a knife

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 cup milk

6 tablespoons Coconut Oil, melted and allowed to cool slightly

the zest of 2 lemons

1/2 cup sugar, plus 1 tablespoon sugar

2 tablespoons poppy seeds

Note: The method I will list below is the one I ended up using for this recipe. And the reason I used this method was because I completely forgot to add in the sugar and poppy seeds at the correct time! Anyways, the muffins turned out fine. Whew.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Line a cupcake/muffin pan with 12 paper liners. Add 6 tablespoons coconut oil to a small saute pan over medium heat until completely melted. Remove from heat and reserve.

Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt. (If you have a stand mixer, add the dough hook and turn it on low for a minute or two. It will break up all the chunks, just as good as sifting!)

In a separate bowl, lightly beat the eggs.

Add the milk, melted coconut oil, and lemon rind. And mix with a whisk to combine.

Make a well in the flour mixture and add the wet mixture to the bowl.

Stir until just combined (I used the lowest setting on my stand mixer. You can just use a spatula.)

Add the sugar and poppy seeds, stirring until just combined.

Add the batter to the muffin pan. To get equal sized muffins, use a small ladle or an ice cream scoop to portion out the batter.

Bake the muffins for 20-22 minutes; you want the muffins to have risen and be slightly golden brown on top, or when a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean.

Allow to cool for 5 minutes in the pan and then remove.

So everyone knows how delicious normal Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins are. The coconut oil brings the muffins from good to great!

They are so fragrant. I was having trouble photographing them because I kept trying to eat them!

There is definitely a taste of coconut present without it being overwhelming; I find that coconut can really overtake a dish sometimes.

The lemon still shines through and is wonderfully sweet (due to all that sugar!)

Disclaimer: Tropical Traditions provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose. Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway in return for the free product.

So on to the giveaway!

Win 1 quart of Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil!

Tropical Traditions is America’s source for coconut oil. Their Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil is hand crafted in small batches by family producers, and it is the highest quality coconut oil they offer. You can read more about how virgin coconut oil is different from other coconut oils on their website: What is Virgin Coconut Oil? You can also watch the video they produced about Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil:

Tropical Traditions also carries other varieties of affordable high quality coconut oil. Visit their website to check on current sales, to learn about the many uses of coconut oil, and to read about all the advantages of buying coconut oil online. Since the FDA does not want us to discuss the health benefits of coconut oil on a page where it is being sold or given away, here is the best website to read about the health benefits of coconut oil.

To enter, use the widget below. You have 8 chances to win (Writing a comment is mandatory, the rest are optional)! Giveaway ends this Friday, May 11 at 11:59PM EST. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

<a href=”https://rafl.es/enable-js”>You need javascript enabled to see this giveaway</a>.

Bunny Carrot Cake

Every Easter, we have this adorable little bunny cake that shows up for dessert. I honestly don’t know what bakery we get it from, but it always makes me smile. So I thought I’d try to recreate it. Obviously, a bunny would be filled with carrots, so I decided to make a Bunny Carrot Cake with cream cheese frosting, covered in coconut.

I used a recipe from David Lebovitz for the cake and frosting, and used Betty Crocker‘s instructions on how to make it into a bunny.

Ingredients:

Carrot Cake:

¾ cup butter, melted and browned
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs, at room temperature
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups loosely packed grated carrots (about 5 carrots)
1/2 cup golden raisins

Frosting:

2 (8oz packages) cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Additional ingredients:

1 bag of coconut flakes
green food dye
jelly beans

Tools needed (paid links):

grater
electric mixer (hand mixer or stand mixer)
10-inch round cake pan
5 in round cake pan

Continue reading Bunny Carrot Cake

English Blackberry Pudding

Recipes can tell you a lot about the time period in which they were written. I have always been interested in how recipes change over time to meet tastes, availability and personal income. A few months ago, I went to an event at the Historical Society of Philadelphia about a Civil War era cookbook they found within their documents. The cookbook, written by Ellen Emlenwas written around 1865 and is really well organized, especially for the time. Mrs. Emlen, a Philadelphia housewife, put a lot of time into the cookbook, organizing it into thirteen categories including over 200 recipes.

Some of the fun facts that I learned:

If you think Americans have a sugar problem now, you should see some of the amounts of sugar that used to go into recipes! Most recipes would have to be altered to include less sugar to make palatable to us today.
Despite their not so wallet-friendly prices now, oysters used to be “poor man’s food” in nineteenth century Philadelphia. The Delaware River used to be teeming with them! Because of that, there are some ridiculous-sounding recipes for things like “how to pickle 1,000 oysters”
It’s quite amazing how some things haven’t really changed. There is a recipe for eggnog in the book that is comparable to today’s recipe.
The affluent families of Philadelphia (Mrs. Emlen included) really had a thing for saffron. So many dishes include it in the ingredients!

The event was really interesting and we all were given a copy to take home with us! (Expect some posts including adaptations of her recipes in the future). I also picked up another book while I was there, 35 Recipes from “The Larder Invaded”, which also included historical recipes from local Philadelphians. I used a recipe from that book for this Blackberry Pudding, with a few slight changes.

I’m sure some of you just looked at that photo and thought to yourself “that is NOT pudding.” It’s actually an English pudding. Although in the U.S., pudding is usually a milk-based custard type dessert, pudding in the United Kingdom can be used for any sweet dish after dinner (think: Christmas pudding or “figgy pudding”). So, this recipe is actually more of a bread or cake.

Ingredients:

1 pint almond milk, plus more for glaze

3 1/2 cups flour plus more for dredging the blackberries

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 eggs

1 tablespoon melted butter or margarine to make dairy free

2 heaping teaspoons baking powder

1 pint blackberries

powdered sugar

To make this recipe a bit more my own, and bring it into the 21^st century, I decided to try this with Vanilla Almond Milk. I thought it might add a nice extra flavor to the whole dessert. Feel free to use normal milk.

Beat the eggs together until light.

Add the almond milk and flour and mix to combine. Add the melted butter, salt and baking powder and mix to combine.

Wash the blackberries and dredge in flour.

Add the blackberries to the pudding and mix to combine.

The original recipe wanted me to put the batter into a pudding tin (I have no idea what a pudding tin is) and then place that in a pot with some boiling water and cook it this way, replenishing the water when needed, for 3 hours. Yep. Not happening.

Instead, I preheated my oven to 350, added the batter to some Pyrex bowls (I used one medium and one small to use all the dough) and baked them for 40-50 minutes.

Because I have a ridiculous sweet tooth, I decided to add a little bit of a glaze to the top of the dessert. Combine 2 parts powdered sugar to 1 part milk. (I made 1 tablespoon powdered sugar to 1.5 teaspoons almond milk).

So how was it? Delicious of course! Look at that beauty!

I was a bit afraid of how this would turn out because I messed with the method of preparation. But it looks fine to me! I enjoyed the glaze on top to give it an extra pop of sugary goodness. The blackberries were nice and tart, so it was a good contrast. I was really happy with the almond milk in it as well!

Best thing about this recipe is that it can easily be adapted to include any kind of berry you choose. It’s a wonderful base recipe to let your creativity run wild.

I actually had a really hard time taking these photos; I kept trying to eat the pudding!

English Blackberry Pudding

A traditional English pudding made with blackberries and drizzled with a simple glaze

Course Dessert

Cuisine United Kingdom

Keyword Blackberry, Cake, Dessert, English, Pudding

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 50

Total Time 1 5

Servings 6

Author Kaitlin @ I Can Cook That

Ingredients

1 pint almond milk plus more for glaze
3 1/2 cups flour plus more for dredging the blackberries
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 tablespoon melted butter or margarine to make dairy free
2 heaping teaspoons baking powder
1 pint blackberries
powdered sugar

Instructions

Beat the eggs together until light.
Add the almond milk and flour and mix to combine.
Add the melted butter, salt and baking powder and mix to combine.
Wash the blackberries and dredge in flour.
Add the blackberries to the pudding and mix to combine.
The original recipe wanted me to put the batter into a pudding tin (I have no idea what a pudding tin is) and then place that in a pot with some boiling water and cook it this way, replenishing the water when needed, for 3 hours.
Instead, I preheated my oven to 350, added the batter to some Pyrex bowls (I used one medium and one small to use all the dough) and baked them for 40-50 minutes.
Let cool.
To make the glaze, combine 2 parts powdered sugar to 1 part milk and drizzle over the pudding while it cools.

Sugar Cookies

I am always so excited to make sugar cookies. To be more precise, I’m actually really excited to decorate the cookies. (Mind you, I’m awful at it. A 6 year old would beat me by a mile in a cookie decorating contest). But it is so fun to see the cookies transform from flour, sugar, and butter into cute little Christmas trees, snowmen, and candy canes. I used a traditional sugar cookie recipe from Cooking Light.

Ingredients:
Cookies:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (about 11 1/4 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
10 tablespoon butter, softened
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs
Icing:
2 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons skim milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Decorations:
Cookie cutters
Sprinkles
Other edible decorations

Add the flour, baking powder and salt to a medium bowl, stir with a whisk.

Add sugar and butter in a large bowl, beating with a mixer until combined.

Add vanilla and eggs.

Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until combined. Mine looked very very crumbly. So if yours looks like this, don’t panic.

Add the mixture to a large piece of plastic wrap and wrap tightly.

Refrigerate for an hour. Unwrap the ball after an hour. Preheat the over to 375. Split the dough in half, rolling out out half of the dough on a floured surface.

Using any cookie cutter you have, cut out shapes and place on a cookie sheet two inches apart lined with parchment paper.

Repeat with remaining dough. Bake the cookies for 10 minutes or until lightly browned along the edges. Cool on pans for 5 minutes then remove and place on wire racks.

When completely cooled, prepare the icing. Combine the powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk stirring until smooth. I added the icing to a squeeze bottle (like a ketchup bottle) but you can also add it to a ziplock bag and cut off one of the bottom corners to make piping easier. Decorate the cookies however you like.

Allow to dry overnight.

Hehe. Aren’t they fun? You can use whatever you want. I happened to be a bit, well, sprinkle happy.

Oh yeah, they taste pretty darn good too 🙂

Snickerdoodles

I am back in cookie baking mode. This time around, I’m going the more traditional route. First on my list, classic snickerdoodles.

Ingredients

3/4 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (about 6 3/4 ounces)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Continue reading Snickerdoodles

Lemon Scented Blueberry Cupcakes

My work is hosting a bake sale this week, so I am using it as the perfect opportunity to try out these cupcakes from Cooking Light that caught my eye a while back. How fantastic do Lemon Scented Blueberry Cupcakes sound?

Ingredients:

Cupcakes:
1 1/2 cups (about 6 3/4 ounces) plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, divided
10 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 large egg
1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk
1/2 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
3/4 cup fresh or frozen blueberries, thawed

Frosting:
1/4 cup (2 ounces) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind plus more for garnish
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
Fresh blueberries (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place paper cupcake liners into the muffin cups. Melt 1/4 cup butter over medium low heat. Zest the lemon.

Add 1 1/2 cups flour plus 1 tablespoon to a medium sized bowl. (I suggest springing for cake flour if you can find it, if not all purpose flour works just fine). Add the granulated sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Stir to combine.

Add melted butter and egg to a large bowl. Stir with a whisk to combine.

Add buttermilk, milk, and 1 teaspoon lemon rind to butter mixture (I used zest from 1 lemon), stirring with a whisk to combine.

Add the flour mixture to the buttermilk mixture, stirring until just combined.

In a small bowl, toss the blueberries with 1 tablespoon flour.

Add the blueberries to the batter, stirring until just combined.

Spoon batter into the muffin cups. I use an ice cream scoop to get evenly portioned cupcakes.

Bake for 25 minutes or until a pick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then remove and allow to finish cooling on a wire rack.

Prepare the frosting while the cupcakes are cooling. Add cream cheese, 2 tablespoons butter, 1 teaspoon lemon rind, vanilla, and 1/8 teaspoon salt to a bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat on medium speed until just blended.

Gradually add powdered sugar mixing until just combined. Stir in lemon juice.

Add the frosting to a ziplock bag. Cut off one of the bottom corners.

Squeeze the icing on top of the cooled cupcakes. Top with blueberries and lemon zest if desired.

I absolutely loved these cupcakes. The lemon zest added great flavor to the sweet blueberry cupcake.

I am having a bit of a problem with the idea of giving these away. I want to keep them all for myself! But that is terribly selfish of me so I guess I should share their deliciousness.

Remember to refrigerate the cupcakes, the icing is part cream cheese.

Yum

Lemon-Scented Blueberry Cupcakes

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

Yield: 12 servings

Ingredients

Cupcakes:

1 1/2 cups (about 6 3/4 ounces) plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, divided
10 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 large egg
1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk
1/2 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
3/4 cup fresh or frozen blueberries, thawed

Frosting:

1/4 cup (2 ounces) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind plus more for garnish
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
Fresh blueberries (optional)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place paper cupcake liners into the muffin cups. Melt 1/4 cup butter over medium low heat. Zest the lemon.
Add 1 1/2 cups flour plus 1 tablespoon to a medium sized bowl. (I suggest springing for cake flour if you can find it, if not all purpose flour works just fine). Add the granulated sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Stir to combine.
Add melted butter and egg to a large bowl. Stir with a whisk to combine.
Add buttermilk, milk, and 1 teaspoon lemon rind to butter mixture (I used zest from 1 lemon), stirring with a whisk to combine.
Add the flour mixture to the buttermilk mixture, stirring until just combined.
In a small bowl, toss the blueberries with 1 tablespoon flour.
Add the blueberries to the batter, stirring until just combined.
Spoon batter into the muffin cups. I use an ice cream scoop to get evenly portioned cupcakes.
Bake for 25 minutes or until a pick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then remove and allow to finish cooling on a wire rack.
Prepare the frosting while the cupcakes are cooling. Add cream cheese, 2 tablespoons butter, 1 teaspoon lemon rind, vanilla, and 1/8 teaspoon salt to a bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat on medium speed until just blended.
Gradually add powdered sugar mixing until just combined. Stir in lemon juice.
Add the frosting to a ziplock bag. Cut off one of the bottom corners.
Squeeze the icing on top of the cooled cupcakes. Top with blueberries and lemon zest if desired.

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Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

I am so excited that pumpkin season is back, and to share this recipe for Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting! I eat/drink pumpkin flavored things all year, but September through December are when I can truly indulge in my pumpkin obsession.

To kick off the season in style, I decided to make pumpkin cupcakes.

The cupcake recipe is adapted slightly from Annie’s Eats recipe for Spiced Pumpkin Cupcakes and the icing is an adaptation of a Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting from Kraft.

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes:

2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin spice
1/8 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon salt
2 Green Mountain Pumpkin Spice K-Cups (about 3 tablespoons?)
1 15 oz can pumpkin puree
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 cup canola oil
4 large eggs, at room temperature

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting:

1 8 oz. package of Cream Cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 16 oz package of powdered sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Continue reading Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

Salted Caramel Brownies

Hurricane Irene has forced me to stay indoors for most of today, which means I’ve resorted to cooking/baking to keep me occupied. Today’s creation is another Cooking Light recipe for Salted Caramel Brownies.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
6 tablespoons butter
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon bakery emulsion
Cooking spray

Topping:

1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
3 1/2 tablespoons evaporated fat-free milk, divided
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 ounce dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/4 teaspoon espresso powder
1/8 teaspoon coarse sea salt