Category Archives: Cookies

Cookie recipes, decorating, etc.

Nov 29

Pictures

Hey guys, I have a few pics I wanted to upload.

The other night, I made a “Brie en Croute” for the very first time. I’ve had brie before, but this was my first time doing the making. I love puffed pastry (as well as phyllo dough) so I wanted to give it a shot. I added dried cranberries on the bottom and it added a nice touch. As for the rind, I didn’t really know what to do with it so I left it on. I know a lot of cheese has mold involved but didn’t know penicillin was the culprit for this case. After checking out some info about the rind, it was too late to take it off (baked and out of the oven already) so Mumzi, who has a penicillin allergy, just peeled it off. A lot of people with the allergy, it turns out, can eat brie rind with no issues but I wanted to be safe and not risk it. It looked so pretty with the pastry decorations and I really didn’t want to cut it open! Even the inside looked festive!

the leaves are my favorite part!


Look at all the gooey cheese!


Puddle of melty brie and cranberries, mmm-mmm-mmmmm

 

For dinner last night, I made a yummy “spoon bread” to go with our white chicken chili. It was delicious!

Spoon Bread with chilies and cheese:

16 oz. Cream
3/4 C. Milk
1/3 C. Shortening
1 C. Corn Meal
1 C. Flour
2 Eggs
1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
1 tsp. Baking Powder
1 tsp. Salt
4 oz. can Green Chilies
1 1/2 C. Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Combine all ingredients, pour into a greased cake pan and bake for 45 minutes at 400*. Plate and enjoy!
(I also ended up adding 1 C. of Whole wheat flour to my batch)

Spoon Bread! Yum!

The night before Thanksgiving, Archie and I spent the evening at my sister’s while he fixed her computer. She and I spent our time in the kitchen with the boys making and decorating some delicious lemon sugar cookies. We made penguins, snowflakes and other Christmas related shapes. The boys (when taking a break from being rambuncious) helped spread icing and sprinkle them with some of decorations I brought. All in all, they had fun…And I still have a ton of cookies to make!

My ode to Lady Gaga

The boys each made/decorated me a cookie, how sweet!

Small selection of the finished product...

As for the baby shower I went to on Sunday, she loved the cake (so did most guests). I was really excited about how it turned out! Pretty and super PINK! =D

Little Miss Lorelie's Diaper Cake, I'm sure she'll get use out of it later! Congrats Lacresia and Jon!!!

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Oct 24

Fall has fell? =)

Hi ghosties and goblins, witches and warlocks!!! I’m just going to express how excited I am for FALL and the fun “holiday” that falls in the middle (end?) of it…Halloween! A few weeks ago, we took my nephews and my sister to pick out pumpkins just for this occasion. We had a blast! The kids pointed out things and “found” about 1,000 different pumpkins they wanted. We took some pictures and it was a PERFECT day to go. Only problem is, we haven’t carved ours yet! We have two perfectly shaped carving pumpkins sitting on the kitchen floor. I’d like to dedicate a full day to do fall/pumpkin related things but Archie insists it won’t take that long (Oh only an hour!)…But what about the fun parts!? Scooping out the guts (throwing them at each other…), acting like a little girl when it comes to carving a scary dangerous angle, separating and washing the seeds to roast (yum!)…I guess what I really wanna do is take a whole day to make memories, since its our first Halloween as newlyweds. Am I wrong to want it this way? How about your thoughts? After the “Great Pumpkin Hunt”, we stopped at a local farm and picked out some pumpkins to break down and can for next year. I enlisted the boys’ help to pick out a yummy looking jarrahdale. For those of you who haven’t seen or heard of them, they’re a blue-green pumpkin, but when you cut them open, you’ll see BRIGHT orange flesh. They are so sweet and I looove cooking and baking with them. We always buy a few in the fall and can them for later. Nothing better than your own pumpkin I think. Of course, home-canning isn’t USDA approved because, well, its government. Nah, its actually not “recommended” or “safe” because if you do it wrong, you’re on your own for that. Freezing is however safe, so if you’ve got the space, cook it and freeze it instead. Anyway, I think I’ll be making some pumpkin and apple thumbprints later this evening, here’s the recipe!

 

Dough:
1 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (calls for almond but I’m using vanilla for these babies)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup jam (here’s where I’m using my apple and pumpkin butters)
Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 to 3 teaspoons water
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Combine butter, sugar and 1/2 teaspoon almond extract in large bowl. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until creamy. Reduce speed to low; add flour. Beat, scraping bowl often, until well mixed. Cover; refrigerate at least 1 hour.

Heat oven to 350°F. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Make indentation in center of each cookie with thumb (edges may crack slightly). Fill each indentation with about 1/4 teaspoon jam.

Bake for 14 to 18 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Let stand 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to wire cooling rack. Cool completely.

Make the glaze and drizzle it over!

Happy baking!

 

 

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Oct 17

Apples!

Saturday, my husband and I went to an orchard for a “fall fest” thing they had. It was first time for both of us, but I was pretty excited. He went hunting early in the morning and till he got back, I was ready to head out. On our way there, we got a call from my dad saying my Great Grandmother had passed away earlier in the morning. I was upset but tried not to let it ruin the day. We arrived at Dries Orchard about 1 in the afternoon after we stopped for lunch. We walked around, checked things out and then saw a hayride! So exciting since they’re usually aimed towards kiddos. It was about 10 minutes to the orchard (we’re talking tractors, not cars) and so fun! They had huge bins of apples you could pick from, pumpkins already weighed out and priced, and if you wanted, you could pick your own apples! We opted for stuffing as many as we could into a bag and paying a flat rate but we also added some that we picked. All the huge apples were in the middle to the tops of the trees but lucky for me, I have a tall husband… =D Another short ride back to the orchard and we loaded our loot into the car. We walked around outside, bought some teaberry fudge (WHAAA?! So good!) then we went back in to shop around some more and found some yummy pumpkin butter! I’m really excited to try it in something. I might use it in some fall inspired thumprints along with some apple butter my Aunt Cyndi made for me! And since her husband Rich loves any of them that I make, I have to share! =D

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Aug 2

Berry Pie Pops

I’ve had this recipe lying around for weeks. Ever since I got my first berries of the season, I’ve wanted to try it. But who wants same old boring items? What recipe am I talking about? Berry pie pops. They are the cutest thing! I saw them online while I was searching and I’ve tried similar ideas but never knew how to go directly about it. It calls for 6″ lollipop sticks and woe is me, I only have 4″ (what was I thinking buying THOSE?!) so I was digging in the drawer and found (drumroll…) skewers! I rarely do kabobs and 100 was a bit too many for the last time I made them so I had a bunch just lying around. The only problem was getting them to be 6″ when they were 10″. *Lightbulb* Use my dowel cutter (the contraption I use to cut my dowels to size for cakes- I don’t know the “real” name for it)…new roadblock! They are about 1/4 the size of my regular 1/4″ dowels… So what did I do? Taped them together… Not completely brilliant but it worked (after 5 minutes of struggle). I had everything laid out last night before bed, had my dough and filling chilling in the fridge while I was snoozing then when I got up, I got to work. I tried to pierce some berries in the filling but it didn’t work too well. They gushed everywhere! So I got some of the fresh ones and skewered them instead. Besides the dough going soft on me (and re-chilling every so often) things went well. I put everything together and put them in the oven. Fast forward 20 minutes, they looked amazing! Golden brown, glistening with sugar …sigh! Everything went off without a hitch… almost. After I let them cool, the sticks kept sliding through and going everywhere, they were too skinny! Giving up, I pulled it off and ate it like a cookie instead. Pie cookies anyone? I’ll definitely give them a try again, with different sticks!

Berry Pie Pops…

Pie Dough:
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, chilled
6 to 8 tablespoons ice cold water

In a mixing bowl, mix together the flour and salt. Work the butter into the flour with your fingers or a pastry cutter until you have large pea-size chunks of butter scattered throughout the flour. Gradually add the water in while stirring with a fork, until just combined. Avoid overworking the dough. Using your hands, shape the dough into a disk, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before rolling out.

Berry Filling:
1 1/2 cups mixed berries, your choice
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Place the berries in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir in the sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, and cook until thickened and the mixture coats the back of a spoon, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and cool. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Roll out the Perfect Pie Dough on a well-floured surface until it is 1/8-inch thick. Using a 2 1/2-inch round cookie cutter, cut out 16 rounds, for 8 pie pops. Place the rounds onto the prepared baking sheet. If the dough becomes too soft, place the entire baking sheet into the refrigerator to chill.

Place about 1 heaping tablespoon of filling in the center of 8 rounds, leaving a border about 1/4-inch from the edges. Place the lollypop stick in the middle of the 8 rounds through the filling and almost to the top of the rounds. Take the remaining 8 rounds and slightly stretch them out so they can fit over the filling. Brush the edges of all the rounds with egg wash. Place the 8 rounds on top of the filled rounds, egg wash side down. Press the edges together gently with your finger and then crimp the edges with a fork to make sure the edges are completely sealed. (Use a little flour on your fork to crimp the edges so your fork doesn’t stick to the pie dough.) Brush the tops of each pie pop with egg wash and sprinkle with turbinado sugar. Use a paring knife to cut small vents in each pop.

Bake the pie pops until golden brown, about 20 minutes.

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