Roll Out Sugar Cookie Recipe

Yeah.....it's FRIDAY!!!!!

Friday's are my favorite. For me it simply means the kids are all going to be home from school and we can play for two days......baking, playing games, watching movies together.

Yes, I have no life and my children are my playmates. It's been that way FOREVER.....and I wouldn't change a thing. I would rather hang out with my kids then go out parting like most of the world. 

Don't get me wrong, not that long ago I was the life of the party. Having "shot time" was my all time favorite part of the weekend. Patrón and I were very good friends.

But then something happened. Somewhere along the way.........I GOT OLD! 

Yeah Old! 

Well old in my book anyway.  Let's just say I'm not 21 anymore.

Although I like to think I 'm young, buying six inch heels......wonder how long I can wear those before I get too old and the only thing I can wear are tennis and ballet flats. 

Not that there's anything wrong with that.......I just love my heels. Heels make everything better....in my book anyway. My mother-in-law bought me a picture for my wall that has a picture of a high heel and it reads......"My Best is Always Better in Heels". She always gets me the best gifts!

Well it's Friday and I've got something for you.....

I'm going to give you my sugar cookie recipe! 

Surprise! Surprise!

This is the best cookie recipe.....In my opinion anyway. 

Are you excited????? Ok here's what you'll need....

Roll Out Sugar Cookie Recipe

1 egg, room temperature and beaten

1 cup butter, softened

1 1/4 cups powdered sugar

2 1/2 cups flour, sifted

1 tsp salt

1 tsp PURE vanilla

2 tsp Almond emulsion (you can use extract if you prefer)

Ingredients

 You could use a hand mixer if you don't own a stand mixer.

I prefer my stand mixer.

This was one of the gifts my father bought me for my wedding. 

It's my most cherished item.....other than my heels!

cream butter

Add powdered sugar and incorporate well

then I add the egg, salt, and extracts/emulsion

Then add the flour. I add this a little at a time. 

Do not over mix. I just mix until incorporated. 

The dough will be sticky. It does need to be refrigerated a few hours before using. 

OR you can do like I do......

I put it in a large container and pop it in the freezer for about 30 minutes. 

After dough is refrigerated. Roll out on a floured surface and cut out cookie shapes. 

Place on a lined cookie sheet and bake at 375˚ for 10-12 minutes. 

**I pop my cookies in the freezer for 5 minutes before baking. I think this helps with spreading.

A few tips:

• EVERY oven is different so times will vary
• DO NOT brown cookies
• I only use Madagascar Vanilla......it makes a huge difference.
• You can use extract, I prefer emulsions. They give a stronger flavor. 
• All ingredients should be room temperature
• ALWAYS pre heat your oven
• Let cookies sit for a day before decorating. This will help with the oils bleeding through your icing and ruining all your hard work.
• This cookie dough does not spread much at all. 
• This cookie recipe doubles well. I always double my recipe.
• This cookie dough freezes well. If freezing for a period of time, I wrap dough in plastic wrap and place in a ziploc bag. Then I put the bag in a plastic container.

Enjoy~

Chocolate Pie

It's a week till Christmas. This is my favorite time of the year. It makes me feel so good to get things for the kids and see their excited little faces as they stare and wonder what's in those packages under the tree.

Don't you just love giving to others?

I know I do. There's nothing nothing better around Christmas than the spirit of giving. So I'm going to give you something.......My grandmother's Chocolate Pie recipe. Yes....my grandmothers. I've held it close to my heart for years.

She would have given it to anyone, yet I've kept it in the family. I'm a bit Selfish. Well it's time to get into that giving spirit. Grandmother would have wanted it that way.

This is the best Chocolate pie recipe I've ever had. I apologize that I don't have a picture of a pie slice so you can see the beautifulness of it, but it went in minutes and these piranhas of mine wouldn't wait for me to take a picture. In their defense, it takes quite a while to get that perfect shot.

 Grandma's Chocolate Pie


1 Cup Granulated Sugar
2 1/2 Tbsp Cocoa
2 Tbsp corn starch
3 egg yolks (save whites for meringue)
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup milk
1 tsp pure vanilla
1 Tbsp butter

1) Mix all liquid ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer then sift in dry ingredients.

2) mix well

3) Cook until thick.....stirring constantly to prevent scorching.

4) After filling is thick pour into a beautiful handmade crust......or if you're pressed for time like I was use a store bought one. Bake the crust according to the package directions before adding the filling.

5)Beat 3 egg whites in your stand mixer on high until stiff. Add 6 Tbsp sugar (2Tbsp per egg). Mix again to incorporate sugar.

6) put Meringue on pie and bake at 350˚ until top is golden brown. (about 15 min)

White Chocolate Chip cookies

It doesn't get much better than this. I am not a sugar cookie person. That's right, I decorate them but do not eat them. I don't really care for them at all. But, I love to decorate them. 


My weakness is WHITE CHOCOLATE....oh yeah, that's the good stuff.  I love white chocolate chip cookies. They are one of my favorites. Just plain simple goodness. 


They are so good. Nice and warm, fresh out the oven with a nice cup of coffee. 


Can you smell them? 


I wish you could. We could sit down with a warm cup of coffee, eat some white chocolate chip cookies and talk about cookie cutters and heels. Sound good?


I could use the company. 


Ok, Ok.....well you may not be able to come have cookies and coffee with me because I can't be giving out my address and all. Y'all know how many creepers they have out there? 


Lots!


So we can share cookies and coffee via bloggerville. Sound good? Hey, it's safer like this. 


Well if we are going to do this I'm going to have to give you my recipe right? 


Right.


There are many versions out there I'm sure, but this is the one I've altered to my taste. I use all pure ingredients and use good chocolate. It really does make a difference that you can taste.


White Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 sticks of unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
3 cups flour, unsifted
2 eggs, room temperature
2 tsp pure vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 bag white chocolate baking chips

 Preheat oven to 350˚

1) Cream together butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar

2)add vanilla

3) add eggs one at a time and mix until incorporated 

4)In a separate bowl mix together flour, baking soda, and salt.

5) add flour mixture to wet ingredients a 1/2 cup at a time. Mixing just until incorporated. 

6) after  ingredients are mixed add white chocolate chips. Mix on lowest speed or 

fold in with a wooden spoon.

7) Drop a cookie scoop of batter on a baking sheet and bake at 350˚ for 11 min.

8) Remove from oven and let cool on a baking rack.

9) Serve with a cold glass of milk and enjoy with a friend.

Spice Cake Cookies

Ok so as some of you know I went down to New Orleans this weekend. My grandmother was having a huge eightieth birthday party at the country club.

We had a great time and it was so good being back home. Now we're only four hours away right now but it seems we never go home that often. So this was a treat. 

Well we are back home.....to my surprise that we didn't die....yes DIE.  Have I ever told you that my husband falls asleep in a matter of seconds? Seriously you can be taking to him and he'll just doze off. Yep!

Well normally I do all of the driving because, well I like my life.....BUT.....I decided to let him drive. 

The entire drive I was saying......baby....you tired? Baby your eyes are closing. Baby hey watch that car. Baby RED light!.............

Which, to all of my comments he replied "I'm not sleeping"

Now look.....either he's calling me a liar or he's sleeping .....right? sounds right to me. 

But Nope I must be making the stuff up. Gotta be. From now on he can ride in the passenger's seat. He can nap. 

Well before we left I baked six dozen cookies for the kids (they stayed home). No worries My son is 18 so they were all in good hands. They may have played video games all weekend and ate trash like pizza rolls, but I came home to 5 children who were still alive and look like they had more fun than they could handle. 

Wanna know how I made these? I thought you would. I got the recipe from my brother in law, who loves to bake as well. 

These are Spice Cake Cookies.....Don't they look yummy? Well they are! 

Spice Cake Cookies

1 box Duncan Hines Spice Cake mix

2 eggs

1/2 cup oil

2/3 cup Heath Toffee Bits (1/2 bag)

Preheat oven to 350˚

Mix cake mix, eggs and oil until completely mixed.

 After that's completely mixed....
Fold in Heath toffee bits.

Fold in well so the toffee bits are evenly distributed.

Using a cookie scoop....place cookie dough on cookie sheets

  Bake for 10-15 minutes.

I do mine for 11 min, but each oven varies.

 I take them out when the centers are a little underdone.

Let cool on cooling rack and serve to your little cookie monsters. 

Lemon Sablés

This is going to be the best week ever.

So many wonderful things are happening this week. 

1. I'm guest posting on Frosting for a Cause on Wednesday!

2. I'm having Thanksgiving dinner with my baby sister. We've been in Germany for the past three years and this is the first Thanksgiving we will celebrate since 2006!

3. And the best thing is...... I will be telling you a secret. Shhhh....I'll be telling you tomorrow so keep it a secret...ha ha, Ok you don't have to keep it a secret. But, be sure to stop by so you won't be left out. 

SECRETS.....I never was good at keeping secrets...or surprises for that matter.   I just can't keep a secret.  I mean look, that's a hard thing for a talkative kinda girl to do.

What am I going to talk about if I keep everything locked up inside? Then it's like I left you all out on the information and that's just not a fair thing and I'm all about being fair.

Then there's Christmas. Oh gosh I'm horrible. Especially if I buy the presents early. I buy the kids tons and tons of presents because I just can't wait till Christmas. They get things way early. 

A present here, a present there. It's like the twelve days of Christmas around here.

Look.....I've got issues. They can't be helped.....really I've tried. I'll admit my weaknesses. 

Now that my husband is home from Afghanistan I'm on present secret lock down. He's a stickler for keeping the rules.  He actually makes us wait till Christmas morning.....can you believe that? So UNFAIR!

My Dad actually does Christmas presents on Christmas Eve. We have a huge party Christmas Eve and do presents and stuff. You would think my husband would okay this for us, but NOOOOO. Mr. Rule won't do presents with the kids on Christmas Eve....so we have to wait. 

One day is an eternity in present time. 

ETERNITY!

So to keep myself from going crazy thinking about an extra day of waiting to open presents, I'll eat cookies. 

Sound good? I thought so.

These cookies are to die for! Yes die for. I seriously only gave everyone like two each and ate the rest myself. They were that good. 

This recipe was adapted from Martha Stewart's key-lime sablés recipe. I wanted Lemon, not lime. That was the only substitution. 

Lemon Sablés

**Adapted from Martha Stewart's Key-lime Sablés

1 1/3 Cups flour

1/3 cups powdered sugar

1 1/2 Tbsp granulated sugar

1/4 tsp coarse salt

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, chilled and cut into pieces

1 1/2 tsp pure lemon extract

lemon curd

1) Mix together flour, powdered sugar, granulated sugar, and salt in bowl of mixer until well combined. 

2) Add butter and mix until crumbs form. Add lemon extract and mix. 

3) Place dough on plastic wrap and form a disk.  Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate until very firm.  At least 2 hrs. 

To bake:

1) preheat your oven to 325˚.  Line baking sheet with parchment paper. 

2) On floured surface, roll out your dough to 1/4 inch thick (I found the 1/8" in Martha's direction too thin) Cut into squares using a 2 3/4" square fluted cutter. Use a 1" fluted cutter to cut the centers out of half the squares.  

3) Place on baking sheet. Space about an inch apart.  Bake until they just turn golden brown, about 17-20 minutes.  (oven's vary so check them through oven window) Transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

4) Spread 1tsp lemon curd on bottom of the full square cookies.  Sprinkle powdered sugar on the top squares with the cut out windows.  Place cut out cookie on top of the cookie with the lemon curd, making little sandwiches.  

5) Refrigerate for about 30 minutes until they are firm. Serve.....and SHARE (I omitted this part)

Daisy Cupcakes for Miss B..........

My daughter has been asking me to make her some carrot cake cupcakes.....okay more like begging.

I just started decorating cookies maybe a month ago and honestly, I didn't feel like making cupcakes at all.

To prevent her from growing up and saying I wasn't mother of the year I just had to do them.....not that ten  years from now she would even remember that I didn't make them.    Just in case she did I figured I better get in that kitchen and make some cupcakes for her.

She's a very sweet, kind girl. She always helps others. BUT......boy,  is she a BLONDE sometimes.

That girl keeps me laughing all the time.

Just a few days ago she came to me and asked me if I remembered a place from when she was a little girl.  She described the place as a park that had a dinosaur footprint in the ground.  I could only assume she was talking about our zoo, who had put in that new exhibit where the kids could dig for dinosaur bones and such. .....totally MAN made by the way.

I described the place to her the best way I could to see if we were on the same page with the location.  Apparently we were NOT.

She said NO this was a real dinosaur footprint.  I said Miss B, we have never seen a real dinosaur footprint in our life.....not EVER!

"What", she exclaimed.....I've been telling all my friends for the past two years about seeing dinosaur footprints.  I couldn't help but LOL.....that's laugh out loud in teen talk.

She was so upset and all I could do was laugh.  Apparently I was not funny either.  I knew I had to make those cupcakes to make up for laughing at my daughter's mistake.....just in case ten years from now she does remember I didn't make them.

I had to be sure to get a few pictures for proof as well.

Now I know they aren't "fall" themed cupcakes, but it's what Miss B likes.

She loves lime green and her favorite flower is a daisy.

So in my heels, which are very cute I may add, I went to bake some cupcakes for my oldest daughter.

Miss B......if you're reading......thanks for always making me laugh.

To make Daisy cupcakes you'll need:

Cute babies in cupcake pj's
a box of your favorite carrot cake mix (or make it from scratch)
cream cheese frosting
white fondant to cut daisies
yellow fondant for flower centers





Cream Cheese Frosting
1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature
2 8oz pkgs of cream cheese softened
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 tsp pure vanilla

Cream butter and cream cheese. Add vanilla and mix until combined. Add powdered sugar a little at a time until well combined. Place in fridge and allow to get firm again. Right before you want to pipe your cupcakes take frosting out of refrigerator and whip it a bit in your mixer. Pipe on top of cooled cupcakes.


For more great cupcakes you should check out Kristan's blog, Confessions of a Cookbook Queen. She always has the cutest cupcakes.

~Throw on your heels and get to baking~

Royal Icing Tutorial.......

First I want to say there is no exact way to make royal icing.  Everyone does their's differently.  Some add more sugar, some more extract, and some more meringue powder. You need to find the one that you like. This is the recipe I use.....It's what works for me. 

Royal Icing

4 Tbsp meringue powder 

4 cups confectioners sugar(sifted)

1/2 cup water

1 tsp clear extract

First combine meringue powder and water. Using whisk attachment. Whisk on med/high speed.

Whisk until foamy.

Add confectioners sugar a little at a time. I do this 1/2 cup at a time and combine thoroughly before adding another 1/2 cup.

Scrapping down sides as needed.

 After it's all mixed together, add clear extract of choice. 

Now mix on med/high speed until high peaks formed about 5-6 minutes.

 Picture below is a "NOT READY" picture so you can see the difference. 

Now, it's done. High peaks. 

Attachment will stand alone in mixer. 

Add water a little at a time to get the consistency you need. 

Okay moving on to consistency of royal icing.....

Now everyone has different opinions on what consistency icing should be. Find what works for you. The humidity where you live also is a factor in your icing consistency.  So use trial and error when making it. This is just the way I do it.....it's what works for me. 

Just so you all know I TOTALLY hate doing video tutorials.....COMPLETELY.

First of all I hate how I sound. Have you ever listened to a recording of yourself? Yeah, you know exactly what I'm talking about. 

Then there's the issue of looking ten pounds heavier in a video. Yep, you really do. It was not the extra cookies or cupcakes I had to eat so that they wouldn't go to waste, nope its the camera.

So forget me getting in front of the camera....NO WAY....sorry, you get to look at a boring plate instead.

BUT.........

I did make the tutorial for you. Nothing major or detailed, just a simple look at how your icing should appear......just ignore the sound of my voice.

And before you ask.....yes, I'm from New Orleans.

Hope the tutorial was informative. I'm new to this and you never know what to say when your on camera.....need some cue cards and a helpful teenager.....hmmm, maybe for next time. I know just the teenager that would do great on camera, maybe because she is constantly recording herself and taking pictures with the "duck" face....you know the pose. 

So.... Miss B if you're reading......I've got a job for you.....but please, no "duck" faces.