Sugar cookie recipe + royal icing = the perfect Valentine’s Day cookies! Happy baking, hon.
(Tip–This recipe makes a large amount of cookie dough. You can make all of it or use half and freeze half.*)
Ingredients:
6 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt
Directions:
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well.
In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients. Add dry ingredients to butter/ sugar mixture in increments until the flour mixture is completely incorporated.
Chill mixture in fridge for about one hour then let sit on counter while you prepare the surface you are using to roll out the dough.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Roll dough to desired thickness and cut into shapes. Bake cookies on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper but you may bake them directly on your ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until edges turn slightly brown.
Yield: Whole recipe makes approximately 4 dozen cookies, depending on cookie cutter size.
Royal Icing
Ingredients:
3 3/4 cups confectioners sugar
3 Tablespoons of meringue or dried egg white powder (I used the brand Deb El and a product called Just Whites.)
6 Tablespoons warm water
1 teaspoon vanilla, optional (note: adding vanilla adds flavor but tints the color of the icing)
food coloring, optional
sprinkles, decorating sugar
Directions:
Beat all ingredients 4 to 5 minutes by hand.
Stir in optional flavorings.
Tip: Cut icing in half, keeping one half white and adding a couple drops of food coloring to the other half. Thin icing, if needed with extra Tablespoons warm water. Decorate as desired.
Let icing dry.
*After I defrosted the second half of the dough, I had to knead it a few minutes before I could work with it.
DIY Hostess gift idea: Bring dessert on a dish the hostess can keep. Wrap them in cellophane for a pretty presentation.
Hon, you know what I like about a holiday besides spending time with family and friends?
The built-in theme!
One of my daughters and I had fun taking the American flag colors to the extreme. We baked red, white and blue sugar cookies and cupcakes. Click herefor sugar cookie and Royal Icing recipes. My daughter decorated with flags while I tried my hand at tie dye effects. I used a toothpick to “drag” two or three icing colors from the center out, then swirled with the toothpick to create a tie dye look.
Baking Day continued with red, white and blue cupcakes.
We were inspired by Ziploc Bag’s Patriotic Piped Tri-Colored Cupcakes, but they turned out to be more challenging than they looked. So, we abandoned our pastry bags and spooned the colored batter into baking cups. The result? Still patriotic, fun and delicious.
*Tip: Wear plastic gloves because colored batter is messy and stains.
1. Start with boxed cake mix. Separate batter into three bowls.
2. Add red food coloring to one bowl of batter and blue to another, leaving the third bowl plain.
One of my daughters loves to throw a New Year’s Eve party and, aside from the friends, games, decorations, food, sleepover, and general merriment, one of the pleasures of her get-together is discovering what cookies her friend’s mom made. (shout out to Ben and Michele!) This year, she made piñata cookies and they were outrageous!
I’d never even heard of piñata cookies, but now they’re on my must-try list! Hmm…Valentine’s Day, maybe? Since I haven’t made these myself, I’ve included links to people who have. Check out sweetambs for recipes and a video on decorating a champagne glass (or beer mug). Click Hot Chocolate Hits for recipes and pics of piñata Valentine’s Day cookies, and you can access an easy-to-understand tutorial here: How To Video.
The New Year’s Eve champagne glass piñata cookies, which were decorated on both sides, were made up of three layers of the same shape cookie: one for the top, one for the bottom, and one for the middle. The middle cookie’s center was cut out. Sprinkles and a message were placed in each cutout section before the top cookie was secured with icing.
Why “I think” in Happy New Year? The messages inside the cookies were sarcastic, funny, and said the opposite of “Happy New Year!” You should hear what messages adorn Michele’s Valentine’s Day cookies…on second thought, maybe not! This blog is G-rated!
My daughter and me.
Have you ever made piñata cookies? If so, what were they for? Did yours have candy and messages inside, too?
DIY Hostess gift idea: Bring dessert on a dish the hostess can keep. These funky melamine dishes are from SEED387. Wrap cookies in cellophane for a pretty presentation.
Need a patriotic-themed kid activity? Or are you in the mood to bake? Either way, enjoy this re-post.
Hon, you know what I like about a holiday besides spending time with family and friends?
The built-in theme!
One of my daughters and I had fun taking the American flag colors to the extreme. We baked red, white and blue sugar cookies and cupcakes. Click herefor sugar cookie and Royal Icing recipes. My daughter decorated with flags while I tried my hand at tie dye effects. I used a toothpick to “drag” two or three icing colors from the center out, then swirled with the toothpick to create a tie dye look.
Baking Day continued with red, white and blue cupcakes.
We were inspired by Ziploc Bag’s Patriotic Piped Tri-Colored Cupcakes, but they turned out to be more challenging than they looked. So, we abandoned our pastry bags and spooned the colored batter into baking cups. The result? Still patriotic, fun and delicious.
*Tip: Wear plastic gloves because colored batter is messy and stains.
1. Start with boxed cake mix. Separate batter into three bowls.
2. Add red food coloring to one bowl of batter and blue to another, leaving the third bowl plain.
DIY Hostess gift idea: Bring dessert on a dish the hostess can keep. I bought these funky melamine dishes from SEED387. Wrap them in cellophane for a pretty presentation.
Hon, you know what I like about a holiday besides spending time with family and friends?
The built-in theme!
One of my daughters and I had fun taking the American flag colors to the extreme. We baked red, white and blue sugar cookies and cupcakes. Click herefor sugar cookie and Royal Icing recipes. My daughter decorated with flags while I tried my hand at tie dye effects. I used a toothpick to “drag” two or three icing colors from the center out, then swirled with the toothpick to create a tie dye look.
Baking Day continued with red, white and blue cupcakes.
We were inspired by Ziploc Bag’s Patriotic Piped Tri-Colored Cupcakes, but they turned out to be more challenging than they looked. So, we abandoned our pastry bags and spooned the colored batter into baking cups. The result? Still patriotic, fun and delicious.
*Tip: Wear plastic gloves because colored batter is messy and stains.
1. Start with boxed cake mix. Separate batter into three bowls.
2. Add red food coloring to one bowl of batter and blue to another, leaving the third bowl plain.
Hon, have I told you that baking relaxes me? That I have a sweet tooth? That I love a theme? Favors give guests a piece of the party to take with them. What better way to tie it all together than to give out cookie favors? Here are a bunch I baked recently.
Hubby’s Music-Themed Birthday Dinner.
Cookie favors wrapped and ready.
Record player cake from Sweet Lucy’s in Morristown. I haven’t baked with fondant yet.
Do you like these record player cookies? I painted them to look like they were turning.
“40” cookie cutters, blue and black Royal Icing and white squeezable icing were all part of the process. Shout out to artist daughter who helped me decorate them.
My tween daughter came home from a holiday party with the cutest melted snowman cookie. She and her sisters decided they HAD to bake their own! Sugar cookies and Royal icing transformed into snowmen “bodies,” marshmallows stuck on cookies turned into heads, and decorative icing and food coloring, carefully applied, created faces and outfits. These cookies were a lot of work…but the result? A collection of cool cookies (and they tasted great)!
5. Cool cookies a few minutes, line counter or plate with parchment paper. Ice cookies, dripping icing over sides.
6. Lightly grease a plate and your fingers and slightly melt marshmallows in the microwave. Marshmallows on plate shouldn’t touch.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
7. Place one marshmallow on top of each “snowman body.” Lightly press on marshmallow so it sticks to icing.
8. Decorate your snowmen with toothpicks dipped into decorative gel and food coloring.
“Oh no, my nose fell out!”
Typical teenager texting!
Bikini-clad snow-woman.
Harry Potter snowman.
Directions:
Ingredients other than those needed for sugar cookies and Royal icing:
1 bag regular sized marshmallows
decorative icing, food coloring, toothpicks for decorating
1. Make and bake sugar cookies. (See recipe below or click on link above.)
2. Mix Royal icing. (See recipe below or click on link above.) Prepare parchment paper, wax paper or tin foil on a large, flat surface or plate before icing cookies. (Icing these cookies is messy.)
3. Ice cookies after they’ve cooled a few minutes. Drip icing over edges of cookies to make icing look like its melting.
3. Prepare marshmallows. Test a marshmallow in your microwave to see how many seconds it takes to get slightly melty. Then, lightly coat a plate with either cooking spray or vegetable oil. Place marshmallows, not touching, on plate and microwave a few seconds. Lightly grease your fingers with cooking spray or vegetable oil so marshmallows won’t stick to your hands when you place each on a cookie.
4. Stick one marshmallow, slightly melted from microwaving, on top of each sugar cookie.
5. Wait a few minutes for marshmallow heads to cool.
6. Decorate cookies to look like snowmen. Decorative orange icing was formed into “carrot noses.”
Sugar Cookie Recipe
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Ingredients:
6 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well. In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients. Add dry ingredients to butter/ sugar mixture in increments until the flour mixture is completely incorporated.
Chill in fridge for about one hour then let sit on counter while you prepare the surface you are using to roll out the dough. Roll dough to desired thickness and cut into circles. We used rims of juice glasses as cookie cutters. I line my cookie sheets with parchment paper before baking.
Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until edges turn slightly brown.
Yield: Whole recipe makes approximately 4 dozen cookies, depending on cookie cutter size.
Royal Icing Recipe
Ingredients:
3 3/4 cups confectioners sugar
3 Tablespoons of meringue or dried egg white powder (I used the brand Deb El and a product called Just Whites.)
6 Tablespoons warm water
Beat about 4 minutes by hand. Thin icing, if needed with extra Tablespoons of warm water.
I was feeling ambitious when I decided to try this recipe. This recipe can be made in one day or the meringues, lemon cream and chocolate-dipped nuts can be prepared 2 to 3 days in advance and assembled before serving. The meringues were easier to make than I thought. You can add food coloring to the meringue recipe if you want to make them a color. Although the lemon cream is delicious, I thought it would have more body. Napkin ready? When you bite into this sweet and tangy dessert, it’ll be messy. Spoon ready? You’ll want to scoop up every last drop. Happy baking, hon.
Egg whites being whisked.
Meringues spread into circles.
Meringues out of the oven.
Sugar, potato starch and water over a medium-high heat.
Lemon cream cooking.
Folding whipped cream into lemon mixture.
Whipping cream.
Lemon cream is almost done.
Assembling Lemon Meringues.
Lemon Meringues
Lemon Meringue Ingredients:
Meringues:
2 egg whites
pinch salt
1/2 cup sugar, super-fine if possible
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
Lemon Cream*:
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/3 cup either cornstarch or potato starch
2 cups water
juice of 3 lemons (about 1/3 cup)
3 egg yolks
1 (8-ounce) container whipping cream
*I had lots of extra lemon cream using these proportions and could have doubled the meringue recipe. The lemon cream was so delicious we just spooned up the extra and ate it.
Garnishes:
2 ounces semisweet chocolate
1 teaspoon margarine
6 hazelnuts or cashews
Directions:
Meringues:
Allow the egg whites to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. If you are short on time, place the egg whites in a stainless steel bowl and set it in a bowl of warm water for 2 minutes to bring egg whites to room temperature quickly.
Cover two baking sheets with parchment paper. Preheat oven to the lowest possible temperature, 140 – 175 degrees F.
Place the egg whites in the bowl of a mixer. With the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites with the salt about 5 minutes or until soft peaks form; the tips will curl. Gradually add the sugar, beating on high until stiff peaks form; the tips will stand straight and sugar will be dissolved. Fold in vanilla and almond extracts.
Evenly spread the meringues into 12 circles. Flatten slightly so they have a diameter of about 3 to 4 inches. Place the two baking sheets in the oven for 4 hours. When they are done, remove from the parchment; if the bottoms are sticky in the center, return them to the oven for longer. You want them completely dried out but not browned. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
When completely cool, place in an airtight covered container. Store at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Lemon Cream:
In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar and cornstarch (or potato starch–whichever you’re using). Whisk in the water, stirring constantly, until the mixture comes to boil over a medium-high heat. Cool for 15 minutes. Cover the top of filling with plastic wrap,making sure it touches the cream or a skin will form. Cool to room temperature or refrigerate overnight or up to 2 days in advance.
In a large bowl, with mixer at high speed, whip the whipping cream. With a rubber spatula, gently fold in 3/4* of the whipping cream into the lemon cream. Reserve rest of whipped cream for dollop on top.
*Next time I try this recipe, I’ll fold a little less whipped cream into the lemon cream so that the yellow color isn’t as diluted.
Garnishes:
Over a double boiler or in a microwave, melt the chocolate with the margarine. Roll each nut in the chocolate and gently remove with a fork to a sheet of wax paper. Let stand until the chocolate is set and shiny; can be put in refrigerator for 5 minutes. Store in an airtight container until ready for use.
To assemble, spread half the meringues with lemon cream. Top with remaining meringues. Place a small dollop of whipped cream on the top of each “sandwich” and top with a chocolate dipped hazelnut or cashew. Serve immediatley.
eggs in a glass bowl heated by placing on burner NEAR heat source but NOT directly on it
chocolate mixture folded into egg mixture
melted chocolate mixture on stovetop
ready to go into the oven
torte out of the oven
Flourless Chocolate Torte
This easy and chocolatey recipe smells so good when baking, you can’t wait to try a piece. The only trick is getting the baked torte separated from the bottom of the springform pan. Next time, I’ll either grease the pan with margarine and cocoa powder or line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper before spraying the sides with cooking spray. Happy baking, hon.
Ingredients:
5 large eggs
8 ounces unsweetened chocolate
4 ounces semisweet chocolate
1/2 cup water
1 1/3 cups sugar, divided
1 cup (2 sticks) margarine
Directions:
Preheat oven 350 degrees F. Lightly coat a 9-inch springform pan with nonstick cooking spray (or the old fashioned way mentioned above).
Crack the eggs into a small glass or metal bowl. Let them sit out and come to room temperature. The recipe I used said to place them on a stovetop, but not over a direct flame. You could do that or put them in the microwave for a second or two. You want to warm the eggs, but not cook them. This will allow the eggs to triple in volume when beaten. Set aside.
In a medium pot, melt the chocolates, water, 1 cup sugar, and margarine over medium heat, stirring with a spoon. Remove from heat. Let cool.
Transfer the eggs to a mixing bowl. Add the remaining 1/3 cup sugar to the eggs and beat until tripled in volume. With a rubber spatula, fold the chocolate mixture into the eggs.
Pour into prepared pan. Bake 30-35 minutes; it will be a little loose in center. Serve warm or room temperature with whipped cream and berries or confectioner’s sugar sprinkled on top.
I baked these cookies using the Sweet Tooth Sugar Cookie recipe. Happy baking, hon!
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
This recipe makes a large amount of cookie dough. You can make all of it or use half and freeze half *.
Ingredients:
6 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well. In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients. Add dry ingredients to butter/ sugar mixture in increments until the flour mixture is completely incorporated.
Chill in fridge for about one hour then let sit on counter while you prepare the surface you are using to roll out the dough. Roll dough to desired thickness and cut into shapes. I used snowflake cookie cutters for the cookies above. I bake cookies on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper but you may bake them directly on your ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until edges turn slightly brown.
Yield: Whole recipe makes approximately 4 dozen cookies, depending on cookie cutter size.
Sweet Tooth Cookie Icing
Ingredients:
3 3/4 cups confectioners sugar
3 Tablespoons of meringue or dried egg white powder (I used the brand Deb El and a product called Just Whites.)
6 Tablespoons warm water
1 teaspoon vanilla, optional (note: adding vanilla adds flavor but tints the color of the icing)
food coloring, optional
sprinkles, decorating sugar
Beat 4 to 5 minutes by hand. Stir in optional flavorings. I cut the icing in half, keeping one half white and adding a couple drops of blue food coloring to the other half for these snowflake cookies. Thin icing, if needed with extra Tablespoons of warm water. Decorate as desired.
*After I defrosted the second half of the dough, I had to knead it a few minutes before I could work with it.
Bmore energy 