Tag: Baking Powder

Spritz Cookies

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. Annually, OXO highlights this month with a program benefiting Cookies for Kids’ Cancer, founded by two OXO employees who’s son battled pediatric cancer. Cookies for Kids’ Cancer provides inspiration and support to allow anyone to easily get involved in fundraising to find a cure for pediatric cancer.

Spritz Cookies #OXOGoodCookies

 

To show support, OXO will donate up to $100,000* to support Cookies for Kids’ Cancer through the sales of specially marked items, bake sale matches, and other fundraising efforts.   And that’s where this post comes in! OXO sent me a set of cookie-baking tools including specially marked OXO baking products with this Cookies for Kids’ Cancer sticker:

#OXOGoodCookies

 

OXO is donating $100 to Cookies for Kids’ Cancer for each blog post dedicated to this cause in September. (I made these Vegan Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies and these Gluten Free Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes last year in support of Cookies for Kids’ Cancer as well.)

But they aren’t stopping there. For every stickered item sold, OXO will donate 25 cents in support of pediatric cancer research as part of its $100,000* pledge to Cookies for Kids’ Cancer. Look for specially marked OXO products at participating retailers in September. (Here’s a list of OXO products that include the sticker.)
* In 2014, OXO will donate up to $100,000 to Cookies for Kids’ Cancer through specially marked baking tools, bake sale matches and other fundraising efforts. Cookies for Kids’ Cancer is a recognized 501c(3) public charity duly incorporated under the laws of the state of New Jersey. Your donations are tax deductible to the fullest extent allowable by law. 100% of proceeds raised by Cookies for Kids’ Cancer fund pediatric cancer research.
So my cookie-baking set came with a Cookie Press with Disk Storage Case, as well as a Cookie Spatula and a 3 Piece Spatula Set. OXO was even kind enough to send over their newest Measuring Cups and Measuring Spoons! I have never made Spritz cookies before so I was really excited to try the Cookie Press out. Although Spritz cookies are typically thought of as a holiday cookie, OXO’s Cookie Press comes with plenty of other non-winter shapes, including a Leaf, Daisy, Sunflower, Buttercup, Fleur-de-lis, Butterfly, Shell, and Heart! (More winter-y shapes include a Bear, Snowflake, Tree, and Wreath)

For my first attempt, I stayed traditional and made a traditional Butter Spritz Cookie Dough using a recipe adapted from the Food Network to make these Spritz Cookies!

Ingredients:

  • 2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon sized pieces
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • Sprinkles or colored sugar, for garnish
  • Food dye (optional)

note: to make Spritz cookies you need a cookie press Continue reading Spritz Cookies

Blueberry Breakfast Bars

I have a coworker who absolutely loves blueberries. She is retiring this week, and I wanted to make her a blueberry treat before she left. I adapted this recipe for Blueberry Breakfast Bars on The Kitchn, with the original recipe coming from the Whole Grain Mornings cookbook by Megan Gordon.

My version uses quite a bit of substitutes and including using sprouted spelt flour instead of whole wheat flour because I could not find my whole wheat flour when I went to make these (I guess I need to clean out my pantry!) I also have more blueberry filling in my version, and used a different sized pan. Be sure to check out the original version on the kitchn to see if you prefer their method!

Ingredients:

Blueberry filling:

  • 4 cups fresh blueberries, divided
  • 1/4 cup natural cane sugar
  • 3 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • the juice and zest of 1 lemon
  • 1 tablespoon water

Crust:

  • 1 cup rolled oats
  • 1/2 cup original wheat germ
  • 3/4 cup sliced raw almonds
  • 1/4 cup raw sesame seeds
  • 1 cup sprouted spelt flour (or whole wheat flour)
  • 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 large egg, beaten
  • 8 tablespoons (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1⁄4-inch cubes, plus more for greasing the pan
  • 3 to 4 tablespoons ice water

Continue reading Blueberry Breakfast Bars

Blueberry Coffee Cake with Almond Streusel

My boyfriend and I were visiting friends this weekend and I wanted to bring a little something for everyone to enjoy. This month’s Cooking Light gave me the perfect recipe: Blueberry Coffee Cake with Almond Streusel.

Coffee cake can refer to two different dishes: a cake made with coffee, or a cake that is served with coffee. This coffeecake is the latter and can be served for breakfast or as a dessert.

Ingredients:

  • 9 ounces unbleached all-purpose flour (about 2 cups)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups fresh blueberries
  • 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
  • 2 tablespoons sliced almonds
  • 1 tablespoon unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 2 tablespoons butter, melted
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/4 cup butter, softened
  • 2 tablespoons canola oil
  • 1 large egg, lightly beaten
  • 1 cup nonfat buttermilk
  • 2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
  • Cooking spray

Continue reading Blueberry Coffee Cake with Almond Streusel

Honey Citrus Champagne Cupcakes

Happy New Year!! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season! My boyfriend and I had a New Years Eve party this year, complete with a champagne bar, dessert bar, and a DIY photo booth!

Minted sent me the banner and signs as well as paper cups, plates, and napkins to really snazz up our party. Aren’t those signs so cute? The theme shown in the photos is “Sparkle Everywhere”

Their party decor is really great; Minted has decor for any party you can imagine! You can build your own package or choose from three suites: unique party, perfect party, or dream party. Minted has you covered from the napkins to the table confetti to even adorable paper straws and cake plates. You can also order invitations that match your theme!

The Champagne Bar was a huge hit. I included suggested champagne cocktails but creativity was encouraged. My favorite combination was St. Germaine filled with sparkling wine and topped with some cranberry juice.

We had a blast in the photo booth and people had fun with all of the props!

The dessert bar turned out great too! I will be sharing recipes that I made for it over the coming days but I wanted to start with a particularly appropriate New Years Eve cupcake, although these are so good you will want to make them all year round 🙂

(The Nutella Cupcakes are a recipe from Gimme Some Oven and they are fantastic. Head over to her blog for the recipe! I have made the Lemon Earl Grey Squares before and posted the recipe on this blog. Check out the recipe for Lemon Earl Grey Squares here)

This recipe for Champagne Cupcakes was sent to me by Golden Blossom Honey. Golden Blossom’s honey is composed of honey from three flowers — extra-white clover, sage buckwheat, and orange blossom so the flavor profile is unique and really tasty!

These cupcakes highlight the taste of the honey with the addition of orange and dry champagne, making for a really moist and flavorful cupcake.

Ingredients:

  • CUPCAKES
  • 2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup Golden Blossom Honey
  • 1/2 cup orange juice
  • 3/4 cups champagne
  • the zest of one orange
  • FROSTING
  • 6 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened
  • 3 tablespoons champagne
  • 6 tablespoons pulp free orange juice
  • the zest of one orange

Continue reading Honey Citrus Champagne Cupcakes

Star Anise Snickerdoodles

Boy did I start my cookie baking late this year! I can’t believe Christmas is just days away. I was recently sent a beautiful carved cinnamon bark box with 3 oz of Vietnam cinnamon by World Vision so I wanted to make a cookie recipe that would feature cinnamon, so I had to make snickerdoodles! This recipe for Star Anise Snickerdoodles from Cooking Light adds ground star anise to traditional sugar cookies for a subtle different take on the classic.

World Vision is a Gift Catalog that allows you to give a truly meaningful gift this holiday season.  The catalog is filled with items for every budget ($16 to $39,000) that help children and families in need worldwide. The World Vision Gift Catalog offers an alternative (or addition to) traditional holiday gift giving. You can choose a gift for these families that fits your financial abilities and personal tastes. For example, a gardener may enjoy giving hybrid or drought-resistant seeds to a farmer with a donation of just $17 to help one family.

With a financial contribution, the gift giver can select one of 36 items that you will get while helping a person in need. The cinnamon used in this recipe comes with a donation of $85. The wonderful people at World Vision Gift Catalog have offered to give another Prosperity Cinnamon Box away to a lucky reader!

More after the recipe …

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground star anise (about 2 pods)
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
  • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, divided
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Continue reading Star Anise Snickerdoodles

Hot Cocoa Cookies

It’s that time of year again! I signed up for the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap again this year and got some great ideas for what to bake for Christmas!

In its third year, the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap helps raise money for Cookies for Kids’ Cancer, a national non-profit organization committed to funding new therapies used in the fight against pediatric cancer, which claims the lives of more children in the US than any other disease. The swap raised $13,778.40 this year, raised through blogger participants donations and matching donations from OXO, Dixie Crystals, Gold Medal, and Grandma’s Molasses. The goal was $10,000, so to get nearly $4,000 more in donations is amazing!

So here’s how the actual swapping part of this works: I was assigned three food bloggers and made one dozen cookies for each of them. In return, I received three different boxes of cookies from other bloggers.

Last year, I received a batch of hot cocoa cookies that were SO good I was craving them again this year. So I decided to make some myself! The chocolate cookies are topped with mini marshmallows, chocolate chips, and a touch of grated chocolate. I based my recipe off of Rachel Ray’s Hot Cocoa Cookies recipe.

 

 

Ingredients (get all ingredients here):

  • 8 tablespoons (1 stick) of unsalted butter
  • 1 (12 oz) package of semisweet chocolate chips
  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/4 cups light brown sugar, firmly packed
  • 3 eggs, at room temperature
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 6 oz of milk chocolate chips
  • 1 package of mini marshmallows
  • 1 dark chocolate bar, for garnish (optional)

Continue reading Hot Cocoa Cookies

Honey Buttermilk Biscuits

I’ve used Melt Buttery Spread in a few recipes on here, including delicious Skinny Iced Pumpkin Cookies, Tim Tam Tarts with Raspberries and Rose Water Whipped Cream, and Shrimp Florentine Pasta.

Melt Buttery Spread is made of virgin coconut oil, flax seed oil, palm fruit oil, and canola oil — all healthy cooking oils and “good fats.” The coconut oil doesn’t make Melt taste like coconut butter though, the flavor is more mild. Typical buttery spreads are made of hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils, which have been liked to obesity, heart disease, etc. Melt is also organic, gluten free, soy free, kosher, and has 50% of the saturated fat and fewer calories than butter, so it is a healthy butter alternative. The melting point of the buttery spread is also close to butter’s (unlike most buttery spreads) so it is easy to use as a butter substitute in baking.

Melt has recently developed two new spreads: Honey Melt and Chocolate Melt. I was sent coupons so that I could try these new spreads so I picked up some of the Honey Melt. The spread would be great on its own, just on waffles or on a dinner roll, but I wanted to highlight how great Melt is when baking.

I found this Bobby Flay recipe for Buttermilk Biscuits with Butter and Honey on FoodNetwork.com and substituted in the Honey Melt.

 

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus 1 tablespoon, divided
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 4 oz (8 tablespoons) Honey Melt
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream, plus more for brushing tops
  • Freshly ground black pepper, optional
  • Honey, for serving

Continue reading Honey Buttermilk Biscuits

Banana Split Cupcakes

The inspiration for this post is a bit convoluted. I was originally looking for some way to incorporate wet walnuts into a recipe for my dad. My dad is a huge fan of wet walnuts and he just had surgery so I wanted to make him a little pick-me-up treat. Wet walnuts are usually a topping on ice cream so I thought it would be fun to make a spin on a banana split in cupcake form. Later, I found out that Banana Splits do not traditionally even have wet walnuts as a topping. Oh well!

I used a banana cupcake recipe from Martha Stewart and filled each cupcake with homemade whipped cream. I then topped 1/3 of the cupcakes with vanilla frosting, 1/3 with strawberry frosting, and 1/3 with chocolate frosting. I topped them all off with sprinkles, wet walnuts, and maraschino cherries!

These are sugar overload so despite the photos showing all 3 types, stick to one cupcake at a time 🙂

INGREDIENTS:

Banana Cupcakes (makes 12 cupcakes):

  • 1 ½ cups cake flour
  • ¾ cups sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ½ cup butter (1 stick) melted
  • 4 ripe bananas, mashed
  • 2 eggs
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

 

Whipped Cream Filling

  •  1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
  •  ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
  •  1 tablespoon granulated sugar

 

Frosting

  • 1 ½ cups butter, softened
  •  6 cups powdered sugar, plus more if needed
  •  6 tablespoons heavy cream, plus more if needed
  •  ½ tablespoon vanilla extract
  •  Pinch salt
  •  ¼ cup strawberry jam
  •  ¼ cup cocoa powder

 

Wet Walnuts

  •  1/4 cup pure maple syrup
  • 1/4 cup agave
  • 1/4 cup chopped walnuts

 

Toppings

  •  Maraschino cherries
  •  Wet walnuts
  •  Rainbow sprinkles

Continue reading Banana Split Cupcakes

Gluten Free Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes

Gluten free baking. Does it terrify anyone else? Just me? Hm.  Whelp. I finally decided it was time to conquer my fear and try my hand at it.

I was sent a copy of Kyra Bussanich’s new cookbook Sweet Cravings: 50 Seductive Desserts for a Gluten-Free Lifestyle which makes gluten-free baking seem not-so-scary. Kyra was the first gluten free  baker to win Food Network’s Cupcake Wars and has actually won twice overall so she knows her stuff! The cookbook is filled with really amazing sounding cupcakes but has a bunch of other mouthwatering baking recipes, including gluten free muffins, scones, cookies, brownies, and much more!

As I was paging through the cookbook, I came across her recipe for Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes. I just had to make them!

I used a bunch of OXO baking tools to create these cupcakes including the Cupcake Corer, the 6 Piece Measuring Spoon Set, and the 6 Piece Measuring Cup Set. These tools, along with many others, can be found during the month of September with these green stickers on them:

For every specially marked item sold, OXO is donating 25 cents in support of pediatric cancer research as a part of its $100,000 pledge to Cookies for Kids’ Cancer. Keep an eye out for the green sticker when buying your baking tools, every little bit helps!

Now, on to the recipe. I changed the frosting but kept the rest of the recipe intact.

Ingredients:

CUPCAKES:

  • 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 cup tapioca starch
  • 1 cup potato starch
  • 2/3 cup white rice flour
  • 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
  • 1 1/2 cups whole milk
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

VANILLA BEAN PASTRY CREAM:

  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 6 egg yolks
  • 1/3 cup cornstarch
  • 2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste

DARK CHOCOLATE FROSTING

  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1 package dark chocolate chips (12 oz)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
  • Pinch fine sea salt
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • Cocoa powder, as needed
“Adapted with permission from Sweet Cravings: 50 Seductive Desserts for a Gluten-Free Lifestyle by Kyra Bussanich (Ten Speed Press, © 2013).”

Continue reading Gluten Free Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes

Vegan Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies

I personally am not vegan. But as more of my friends dabble in veganism, I have been getting more requests to do some vegan friendly recipes. I’m honestly finding vegan baking to be relatively easy; most of the substitute ingredients are already in my pantry!

I received a bag of One Degree Organics Sprouted Spelt Flour along with some vegan baking recipes that sounded really tasty! I have never made a vegan cookie before so I appreciated the nudge towards trying and decided to make some Vegan Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies.

Sprouted Spelt Flour works generally like normal flour, you just need to adjust your dry-to-wet ingredient ratio (less dry ingredients or more wet ingredients). Sprouted Spelt Flour contains more fiber, vitamins, and essential fatty acids than regular flour so it seems like a generally good switch to make. (I’m not giving up eating cookies, but hey, at least I’ve increased my fiber!)  🙂

 

One Degree Organics prides itself on using only organic foods grown using natural veganic methods for its grains used in its cereal, bread, and flours. The company also does not add any synthetic ingredients and practices sustainable growing methods. One Degree Organics actually includes a QR code and alphanumeric code on each package so that you can learn about where that specific product came from and the family of farmers behind it. Pretty cool right?

 

So I was really excited to use their Sprouted Spelt Flour in this recipe! Because this is my first time baking vegan cookies, I kept the recipe mostly intact. I did add some walnuts for a bit of crunch which resulted in these Vegan Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies!

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/3 cup One Degree Organic Sprouted Spelt Flour
  • ¼ cup Coconut Palm Sugar
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon sea salt
  • 1/3 cup + 2 tablespoons maple syrup
  • 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla powder or extract
  • ¼ cup + 3 tablespoons melted coconut oil
  • ½ cup vegan chocolate chips
  • 1/4 cup walnut pieces

Continue reading Vegan Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies

Mini Pumpkin Blossom Honey Cakes

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, began last night at sundown. Honey plays a significant role in Rosh Hashanah celebrations, signifying hopes for a sweet new year.  Apples or challah dipped in honey is popular, as is honey cake. Because of the time of year, honey cake typically includes flavors associated with fall. My mom had given me a Pumpkin Blossom Honey recently and I thought this would be the perfect way to use it.

I adapted my recipe from one found on Epicurious and gave it my own pumpkin-y spin. Pumpkin Blossom Honey is created by bees that solely pollinate pumpkins and pumpkin blossoms. It has a darker amber color and has a really nice spice flavor at the end.  I thought it would work great with some traditional fall spices thrown in!

Ingredients:

Cake:

  • 2 1/2 cups cake flour (or all purpose flour)
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 1/4 cups vegetable oil (I used sunflower oil)
  • 1 cup Pumpkin Blossom honey
  • 8 oz lukewarm pumpkin coffee (I used Green Mountain’s)
  • The zest of one orange

Chocolate glaze:

  • 1/2 cup shaken canned unsweetened coconut milk (not light)
  • 2 teaspoons light corn syrup
  • 4 ounces dark chocolate, finely chopped
  • Flaky sea salt for garnish, optional

Continue reading Mini Pumpkin Blossom Honey Cakes

Irish Soda Bread

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! One of my favorite memories growing up was my mom making Irish Soda bread during March. It is a fairly straightforward bread and is really quite easy.

The bread uses  baking soda instead of yeast as its leavening agent. Irish Soda Bread is also made with buttermilk that reacts with the baking soda to make it rise. Soda bread is a mostly savory bread, but it usually has some kind of dried fruit in it (raisins, currants, etc) that add a bit of sweetness.

My mom’s version has caraway seeds in it that add a little bit of an anise flavor to it (caraway seeds are typically found in rye bread) and I just love it. I wanted to make this with currants but couldn’t find any, so I used raisins. Feel free to substitute golden raisins or currants.

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups coarse wholemeal flour
  • 1 cup all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 4 tablespoons butter, chilled
  • 2 tablespoons caraway seeds
  • 1 cup raisins or other dried fruit
  • 2 cups buttermilk, or more if needed

Continue reading Irish Soda Bread

Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip, and Pecan Cookies

This year, I participated in the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap.The Cookie Swap is in its second year and helps raise money for Cookies for Kids’ Cancer, a national non-profit organization committed to funding new therapies used in the fight against pediatric cancer, which claims the lives of more children in the US than any other disease. I was assigned three food bloggers and made one dozen cookies for each of them. In return, I received three different boxes of cookies from other bloggers.

 

I wanted to make a cookie that was a spin on a traditional cookie. This Cooking Light recipe was perfect: Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip, AND Pecans!

 

Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (about 5 1/2 ounces)
  • 1 cup Steel Cut oats
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/4 cup chopped pecans, toasted
  • 1/4 cup semisweet chocolate minichips

Continue reading Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip, and Pecan Cookies

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