My niece turned three recently, and she is absolutely obsessed with a certain cartoon mouse with a bow. These Minnie Cupcakes felt like the perfect way to celebrate my niece while still making a delicious dessert!
These Minnie Cupcakes are made with a vanilla cupcake topped with strawberry frosting. Mini Oreos work at little mouse ears, finished off with a cute polka dotted fondant bow.
Ingredients (makes 12 cupcakes):
Vanilla Cupcakes:
1 2/3 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 egg whites, at room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup whole milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Strawberry Buttercream Frosting:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
These Christmas Lights Sugar Cookies are a bit out of my cookie baking comfort zone. I tend to stay away from any holiday cookies that use royal icing — I don’t usually have the patience for decorating cookies so I lean toward drop cookies for most of the ones I make.
But this year, I figured it was time to try a fairly easy decorated holiday cookie – Christmas Lights Sugar Cookies!
These sugar cookies are topped with royal icing and then are decorated with strings of Christmas lights which are made with black icing and mini M&M’s.
The resulting Christmas Lights Sugar Cookies are colorful, fun, and oh so tasty!
Ingredients (makes approximately 2 dozen cookies)
Sugar Cookies:
1 1/2 cups flour, plus more for dusting
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 egg yolks (reserve your egg whites!)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Royal Icing:
4 cups powdered sugar
2 egg whites
1 teaspoon almond extract (can substitute vanilla extract to make nut free)
Note: I was sent apples from Stemilt in order to create this Irish Apple Cake recipe. Opinions are mine alone.
I am pretty sure most countries and regions have some form of apple cake recipe. And why wouldn’t they, apple cake is delicious! Irish Apple Cake is a spiced cake with loads of apples within the batter. The cake has a nice crunchy crust and is traditionally served with a custard sauce.
Stemilt, a family owned and operated fruit company based in Wenatchee, Washington, was kind enough to send me a care package of beautiful apples, including some granny smith apples.
With it being St. Patrick’s Day, I knew I had to make an Irish Apple Cake with the apples, of course.
The tartness and juiciness of granny smith apples make them a perfect choice for an Irish Apple cake!
The Irish Apple Cake recipe below is lightly adapted from Stemilt, and their version incorporates whiskey into the sauce for a more modern spin. Yum!
I’m back with another cookie recipe using some of my favorite OXO tools, specifically OXO’s cookie press, disk set, and Ceramic Pan!
Every year, OXO supports Cookies for Kids’ Cancer and the fight against pediatric cancer. Before I share my cookie recipe for Spritz Cookies, I want to share a bit about Cookies for Kids’ Cancer.
Cookies for Kids’ Cancer (CFKC) is a nonprofit founded by two OXO employees after their son, Liam, was diagnosed with pediatric cancer. Through grassroots bake sales across the country, CFKC raises funds to develop new, improved and less toxic treatments for childhood cancer. Liam Witt’s legacy lives on as the organization works toward a cure for pediatric cancer, helping children and families everywhere.
Every year, OXO supports CFKC by encouraging people to bake and share.
For every cookie baked, OXO donates $1 to Cookies for Kids’ Cancer up to $100,000, so here is my new cookie this year to support the cause and spread the word!
Here are some of my old cookie swap and Cookies for Kids’ Cancer posts, in case you’re in a baking mood:
With Thanksgiving so late this year, I hope you’ll forgive me for sharing a Christmas cookie recipe before Black Friday; these Cannoli Cookies are too good to keep a secret!
If you’re a cannoli lover, these Cannoli Cookies are sure to impress, especially because they are quite a bit easier to make than homemade cannolis!
Cannoli Cookies are spiced ricotta cookies with chocolate chips, pistachios, and orange zest, delivering the flavors of a classic cannoli in cookie form!
I had no clue that Election Cake used to be a thing until I saw an article recently about this lost tradition! Recipes for Election Cake are found back to the late 18th century, but apparently the tradition has fallen off in recent years.
This yeasted spiced bundt fruitcake was traditionally prepared prior to Election Day and served to hungry voters.
For years, I was the machine inspector for every general and primary election in my South Philly polling location, so any attention I can bring to voting is super important to me! I am also down for any and all food holidays so let’s bring back Election Cake!
I don’t have a ton of experience using yeast, so I looked up a recipe from NY Times Food. Because of the yeast, there are two proofing times in this recipe, so set aside 4 to 6 hours to make this cake.
Ingredients (serves 10):
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
This recipe for Strawberry Shortcake Whoopie Pies was a result of my desire to bring a different dessert to a gathering with some of my college friends. My friend who was hosting is a big fan of Strawberry Shortcake. That, plus my love for whoopie pies made Strawberry Shortcake Whoopie Pies a no brainer!
These Strawberry Shortcake Whoopie Pies are made of fresh whipped cream and sliced strawberries sandwiched between two vanilla cake-like cookies.
Ingredients:
Whoopie Pies:
1 1/4 cup whole milk
1 tablespoon white vinegar
5 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
Inspiration for new recipes to share on this blog can come from almost anywhere – local restaurants, family traditions, cravings, and sometimes even mystery novels. The latter is where I found inspiration for this recipe for Ube Crinkle Cookies!
I have been reading a mystery series written by Mia P. Manansala. The first book, Arsenic and Adobo (paid link), introduces the protagonist and narrator of the series, Lila Macapagal. Lila, an avid baker, has recently moved back to her hometown, and is helping out at her Tita Rosie’s struggling restaurant. When her ex-boyfriend, a local food critic, dies suddenly, Lila becomes the top suspect and has to start her own investigation to prove her innocence. Throughout the story, Lila bakes up delicious desserts, infusing Filipino flavors into some seriously amazing sounding baked goods.
One in particular stuck out to me: Ube Crinkle Cookies. I’ve made a few crinkle cookie recipes on this blog so you know I love a good crinkle cookie. I’m sure ube crinkle cookies isn’t a new idea, but it’s new to me, and I knew I had to make these!
Ube is a sweet purple yam with a slightly nutty and vanilla flavor which lends itself perfectly for desserts. The bright purple color of ube makes it particularly wonderful for use in crinkle cookies. The contrast with the white powdered sugar makes these cookies a real showstopper!
I couldn’t get the idea of these Ube Crinkle Cookies out of my head, I had to make them! These cookies are made with Ube Halaya and Ube flavor. Ube Halaya is mashed purple yam combined with condensed milk. Ube flavor, or extract, obviously adds more ube flavor, but it also contains purple dye in it to amp up the color. Both ube halaya and ube flavor can be found at most Asian grocery stores.
There are a couple of tools that I suggest using to make this recipe:
Note: I was sent a review copy of Fabulous Modern Cookies in order to write this post. Opinions are mine alone.
I am well aware that people have strong feelings about pumpkin/fall/cooler weather recipes this early in the year. It technically isn’t even fall for about another week. But I’ve shared pumpkin filled recipes much earlier in the “season” than this so I hope you’ll give me a pass again, especially for these pretty little Pumpkin Snickercrinkles.
With bold and fearless suggestions, Taylor and Arguin, scientists turned bakers, explore the deep-in-our-heart love of cookies as well as the philosophy behind them. Does a cookie always have to be round, sweet, or soft? Breaking down the essential rules, ingredients, and equipment needed, FabulousModernCookies demystifies the cookie and provides home bakers with fun and unique cookie recipes.
Filled with 100 recipes, Chris and Paul also provide “Cookie Bytes” – short tips, tricks, helpful techniques, and explanations to demystify the science of baking. The recipes are grouped in chapters like Bar Cookies; Drop Cookies; Rolled Cookies; Filled, Stuffed and Sandwiched Cookies; Savory Cookies and Slice-and-Bake Cookies.
This recipe for Pumpkin Snickercrinkles can be found in the Drop Cookies chapter. Although this recipe is a bit more involved than most drop cookie recipes I’ve made in the past, the result is absolutely worth it!
It’s that time of year where there are plenty of barbecues and outdoor gatherings again. Whenever our friends host, I never want to come empty handed so I like to have a bunch of dessert recipes on hand, especially no bake dessert recipes!
This No Bake Chocolate Eclair Cake is perfect for summer meet ups – you don’t have to turn on your oven and overheat your own home, and it can be made ahead and served chilled or at room temperature.
The cake is super simple to make. It is layers of graham crackers, whipped cream pudding, and chocolate frosting, mimicking the flavors of a chocolate eclair. If you don’t want to make your own frosting, you can also buy store bought and just use that.
Ingredients:
1 pint heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 (16 oz box) plus 2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar, divided
2 (3.4 oz) boxes instant vanilla pudding mix
3 cups whole milk, divided
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
I originally made this Chocolate Coconut Cake for my dad for his birthday a few years ago. Since then, my parents request it any chance they get!
The recipe is a chocolate cake that substitutes coconut milk for regular milk in the recipe. It is then topped with a coconut cream frosting and some coconut flakes for extra coconut-y goodness!
Cake:
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened (or margarine to make dairy free)
2 cups sugar
4 eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1 (13.5 oz) can coconut milk
Frosting:
4 sticks (2 cups) unsalted butter, softened (or margarine to make dairy free)
I am about to share with you my new favorite cake. Not only does this Tiramisu Cake taste amazing, but it is actually just a more spiffed up cake from a box!
I made this tiramisu cake originally to celebrate my mom’s birthday, and everyone loved it so much, I decided to share it here too (my husband wasn’t upset at all to have this cake show up in our house again either!)
Ingredients:
1 package white cake mix (I used a Super Moist French Vanilla Cake Mix)
Lemon and blueberry is such a solid combination. I’ll basically eat any baked good with those two flavors together, which might be why I already have shared a lemon blueberry pancake, cupcake, and icebox cake on here already! So when I saw a recipe for Lemon Blueberry Drop Scones on Taste of Home, I wanted to try them. I messed with the method of their recipe and adding a bit more lemony goodness through lemon extract because I really wanted that flavor to come through.
These are super easy and rustic looking scone recipe. The more misshapen they are, the better they look!
In the 11 years I’ve been writing posts for this blog, I have never posted on Christmas Day!
This year, I decided to finally rectify that and bring a recipe for a Christmas Pudding. Plum Pudding is quite a misnomer (at least to us Americans) – it does not include any plums, and pudding is actually a cake, not a custard-like substance. The method of cooking the plum pudding was new to me too; you actually steam it on your stovetop rather than bake it!
This recipe for Irish Plum Pudding is adapted from a cookbook I have owned for a while (Christmas Flavors of Ireland– paid link), although, I have to admit, I think I royally Americanized the recipe into something different. So, here’s my American Not-Plum Bundt Cake!
Note: You’ll need a 6 cup bundt pan (paid link), and a pot large enough to fit the bundt pan inside (I used a large pot I use to make tomato sauce).
