White Sox Cookies

My parents, all their friends, myself, and some of my friends went to the Chicago White Sox game last night. Unfortunately, there was a crazy rain storm that delayed the game by an hour and a half but of corse we waited in the rain! It was so worth it! I had so much fun. My friend Adriana and I took a picture with a cardboard cut out of Ozzie Gullian and they chose four pictures to put on the big screen (shown below) and we won a free shirt! I was so excited! The Sox even won! It was the perfect way to spend my last weekend living in Illinois.

Homerun

My friend Adriana and myself with the new Frank Thomas statue

Anyway, I was so excited about the game and I found the cutest baseball hat cookie cutter, so you know I made cookies for tailgating, check these out: 

They turned out so cute! I found little sprinkles to put on the top for the white buttons. I had so much fun making these. I'm defiantly leaning toward going back to school to be a pastry chef. I wasn't sure, but after these I realized that this might be for me, (as a career). Everyone loved these cookies, much to my relief. They're supposed to be a lot darker, but you have to mix in the back gel in by hand, and I had a lot of trouble with that. Next time I'll figure it out. I got the baseball cookie cutter for a dollar at Sur La Table, and the frosting i used was actually leftover frosting from my Funfetti Cookie Sandwiches.

The recipe for the cookies is from Amandeleine.

Chocolate Cut-out Cookies

2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup dutch-process cocoa, (natural is ok)

1 teaspoon instant espresso powder

1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

1 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

black gel food coloring 

Preheat oven to 350.

Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Whisk together the flour, cocoa, espresso powder and salt; set aside.

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Beat in the egg and vanilla until well combined. 

In three additions, add the flour mixture at low speed. Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl as needed. 

Work in food coloring with your hands to desired darkness.

Refrigerate dough for 30 minuets. 

Roll the dough on a lightly floured and cocoa-ed surface. 

Cut the cookies with your cookie cutter. 

Freeze cut cookies for five minutes.

Bake 8 minutes, let cool completely. 

Funfetti Cookie Sandwiches

I usually make everything from scratch. 

But seriously, how fun do these look?

I didn't have assorted multi-colored sprinkles so I had to improvise and make my own. 

I'm having a going away party this afternoon for my friends, well not really a "party" a fire and swimming if you will. But I decided to make these bad boys for my friends. 

I still can't believe that I'm moving on Monday, it's finally here! 

Most of my clothes are already packed, and half of my stuff is already in Florida.

Recipe from Baked Perfection
Funfetti Cookie Sandwiches

makes about 24 cookie sandwiches
for the cookies:
1 package Funfetti cake
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
for the frosting:
1 stick of butter, (softened)
3 cups powdered sugar
pinch of salt
1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla
2 tablespoons milk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Pour cake mix into the bowl of your stand mixer.
Stir in eggs, oil, milk, and vanilla until combined.
Drop teaspoons of dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake 7-9 minutes, the bottoms will be light brown.
Move cookies onto a cooling rack, let cool completely before assembling.
For the frosting, beat butter and vanilla in your stand mixer until creamy.
Add salt.
Add powdered sugar one cup at a time, beating until combined.
Add milk one tablespoon at a time until you reach desired consistency.
Frost bottom side of half the cookies.
Top with unfrosted cookie.
Roll edges in assorted sprinkles.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Last Christmas I made red velvet cookies. They were supposed to be a sandwich cookie and they were alright. That was my first and only encounter with red velvet.
I knew I was going to bring in one last treat to work for my last day, one last goodbye. I told that to my manager, Joanna and she requested that I brought in some red velvet cupcakes. I had already bookmarked a red velvet recipe, by Annie's Eats so I made that my plan.
I honestly don't know what the signature red velvet flavor is, perhaps it can only be described at red velvet. I did notice that the ingredients included a small amount of cocoa powder and white distilled vinegar.
This recipe calls for two tablespoons of red liquid food coloring. I must admit that I saw red food color on the list of ingredients and thought, I have that, and didn't think about it again. Then it came to actually measuring the two table spoons. Lets just say I went through three little red food color squirters, and what I had left of the whole bottle of red food coloring. So worth it though.
Also cake flour is quite expensive so I used normal all purpose flour and they still were amazing.
Even the frosting was delicious and I don't like cream cheese. I brought these to work and everyone was saying how delicious they were. They were so moist and the flavor was amazing, these might just be the best cupcake I have ever had, let alone made.
Try these, make these, love these.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

makes 24 cupcakes
For the cakes:
2 1/2 cups cake flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons liquid red food coloring
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tsp distilled white vinegar


For the frosting:
8 ounces cream cheese
5 tablespoons butter, (softened)
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar, (sifted)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line the cupcake pans with your cupcake liners.
In a medium bowl, combine the cake flour, sugar, baking soda, cocoa powder and salt; whisk the dry ingredients.
In the bowl of your standing mixer, combine the eggs, vegetable oil, buttermilk, food coloring, vanilla and vinegar; beat on medium speed until well blended.
Mix in the dry ingredients into the standing mixer on low speed and beat until smooth, about 2 minutes.
Divide the batter evenly between the prepared liners.
Bake for about 18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Let cool in the pans between five and ten minutes and then place on cooling racks to cool completely until frosting.
To make the frosting, combine the cream cheese and butter in the bowl of your electric mixer.
Beat on medium-high speed until well combined, about 3 minutes.
Mix in the vanilla extract.
Gradually mix in the powdered sugar until totally incorporated, increase the speed and then beat until smooth.
Frost cupcakes and enjoy.

Chocolate Espresso Cookie Sandwiches With Peanut Butter Filling

Wow that title is a mouthful. But seriously, the thought of those 3 ingredients together is mouthwatering.
I've had this recipe by Lovin' From the Oven, my favorite food blog, bookmarked for a while, I have so many bookmarked recipes it's going to take me forever to try them all, which is not a bad thing!
I'm moving in 2 weeks, I'm so excited! The only problem is that everyone wants to go to dinner or lunch, which I love! BUT I'm going to gain so much weight it is not even funny! My oldest friend Jessica meet me for lunch at her favorite restaurant Olive Garden, you may have herd of it. I wanted to give her something because she's been such an amazing friend since my first years of high school and I don't know what my life would be without her. (AWW) So I decided to make her something sweet, and got all the ingredients for these bad boys.
Kim, who writes Lovin' From the Oven, warned that these wouldn't be easy. And I swear that my cookies never look like the picture, but I suppose everyone says that right? My cookies were a totally different color and texture, and I thought I probably cooked them too long. My filling had the opposite problem as hers, she could barley spread hers and mine was, not watery but defiantly not dry.
But after all that, I gave Jess the cookies and watched her eat one, looking oh so serious, and I had to asked, and guess what she said? "They're Perfect". I was quite pleased.
Also, when making these, I found out that smelling peanut butter makes me all kinds of nauseous. good to know.
Will you make them?


Chocolate Espresso Cookie Sandwiches with Peanut Butter Filling

makes about 12 cookie sandwiches 
For the cookies:
1 cup flour
3/4 cup processed cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons of butter, (softened)
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup chocolate chips
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
For the filling:
2 cups powdered sugar
6 tablespoons butter, (softened)
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
2 tablespoons of milk

Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and espresso powder. Set aside.
In the bowl of your standing mixer cream together the butter and both sugars.
Stir in the egg and vanilla.
Gradually mix in the flour mixture into the standing mixer, until just incorporated.
Stir in the chocolate chips.
Separate the dough into two and roll them into two uniform logs about twelve inches long.
Refrigerate it until firm enough to slice.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Cut the logs into 1 inch slices and place 1 1/2 inches apart onto your cooking sheets.
Bake for 15 minutes, or until the dough looks just baked.
The cookies should be tender, so do not over bake.
For the filling, cream all the ingredients together until well mixed.
Use immediately.

Raspberry Crumb Bars

So I'm not sure If you know, but I LOVE all things raspberry. How can you not? We had a raspberry bush in my backyard when I was a kid and me and my brother would always eat them right off of it so maybe that's where my love comes from. I've never had a raspberry bar but I saw the picture on The Galley Gourmet, where I found the recipe, I knew I had to soon! I actually got to have a bar and I loved them so much I ended up eating three in a row! Let me tell you they are quite delish!!

This was another "learning experience" for me but I'm starting to learn that every time you cook you learn something new, which is why it's so fun! The recipe says to sprinkle the top layer on, but mine was really sticky and doughy so I added more flour and I still wasn't able to sprinkle it, so i picked pieces and placed them on top of the raspberry. Also I didn't measure how much jam I put in the middle and I'd recommend either doing so, but I think the more the better!

I wanted to share my new find! I bought the cutest oven mitt at my favorite store, Sur La Table on clearance for like five dollars! Such a good steal :) Don't you love it?

I also bought some cookie cutters and I want to use them soon, so if you know a good cookie recipe that I can use them with send me an email with the recipe and I'll post it on my blog! (click email to send me one)

Don't forget to leave comments and let me know what you think of this post!!!

Raspberry Crumb Bars

For the bottom layer:

2 cups flour

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

12 tablespoons butter, cold and cut into individual tablespoons

3 tablespoons milk

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1 cup seedless raspberry preserves or jam

For the crumb layer:

1 1/4 cup flour

3/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

1/4 teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons butter, cold and cut into individual tablespoons

1 extra large egg

1 tablespoon milk

Place your oven rack in the center position. 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 

Line a 9x13 inch baking pan with parchment paper, leaving overhang for easy removal.

Part I: Bottom Layer

Put the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of your stand mixer. 

Add the butter and pulse on and off until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Add the milk and almond extract and pulse on and off until the mixture comes together. 

Transfer the mixture into the pan, spread and press firmly, making a smooth and even layer. 

Refrigerate 15-20 minutes. 

Bake the bottom layer for 12-15 minutes, until it's barely firm in the center.

Part II: The Top Layer

While the bottom layer is baking, prepare the top layer.

Clean your mixing bowl and then add the flour, sugar, lemon zest, and salt. Pulse to combine.

Sprinkle the butter pieces over the flour mixture and process until the mixture is well blended. Add the egg and mil and pulse until the mixture is moistened and forms small clumps. 

When the bottom layer is done baking, remove and spread the raspberry jam evenly over the hot crust. 

Sprinkle the top layer over the top, braking any large crumbs with your fingers. 

Bake until the top is barley browned and the jam is bubbly, about 25-30 minuets. 

Remove and place on a rack to cool completely.

Cut into desired sized bars and enjoy!

Better Than A Campfire

I found this recipe on my favorite food blog, Lovin' From the Oven. I bookmarked it a long time ago and then when the opportunity came for me to make it, I could not wait, I mean really, look at them! I was really excited because I love brownies, but if they have too much chocolate or are too sweet, I get the worst headache from them, so with marshmallows and graham crackers, they'd be perfect! It was my first time making brownies from scratch and after making so many cupcakes from scratch and was ecstatic how easy the recipe was. However, it soon found that this recipe was a trial by error effort. Next time, I want to use bigger hunks of graham crackers, and I set the marshmallows on the batter standing up, and I think they would have melted better into the brownies on their sides and maybe if I pressed them in more? Nevertheless, they were gone fast! I think there was one left over after I took them to my Aunt and Uncles house and my father ate it before I could even look at it. I also had a helper, my Niece Maddy, who just turned ten(!), crushed the graham crackers and put them into the batter for me!
What do you think? Are you going to make them?
S'mores Brownies
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
roughly 1 cup graham crackers pieces, broken by hand
half a bag of large marshmallows

Preheat the oven to 350 and grease a 9x13 pan.
Melt butter in saucepan over low heat.
Once melted remove from heat and add sugar, vanilla, eggs, then blend.
In a medium sized bowl, mix together flour, cocoa, and salt.
Add the dry mixture to the batter and mix well.
Add the graham cracker pieces and mix.
Pour into the greased pan.
Place the marshmallows over the poured batter.
Bake for 35-40 minuets, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

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Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes

My parents wanted me to make some cupcakes for their annual Forth of July Rib Fest. Instead of following the typical Forth of July theme I really wanted to make a summer cupcake and I asked preferences from my Mom and Dad and this is the one we chose. I was really happy with my decision to make a cupcake that wasn't chocolate, I needed to switch it up. This recipe was also a learning experience for me because I learned what lemon zest was. The recipe is from Annie's Eats, I don't like a lot of frosting on my cupcakes, so if you do disregard this, but I'd recommend cutting the frosting recipe in half. Also, the cupcakes took much longer to bake for me than the recipe said. I'm told the cupcakes are delish, I however couldn't tell you, they were all gone before I could even snag one.
Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes
makes 23 cupcakes 
For the cupcakes:
2 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons lemon zest
12 tablespoons of butter (softened)
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
2 cups fresh chopped strawberries 


For the lemonade syrup:
1 cup lemonade concentrate, thawed
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar


For the frosting:
1 cup fresh chopped strawberries
12 ounces cream cheese (softened)
18 tablespoons butter (softened)
2 2/3 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
3 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Part I: Cupcakes
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and line your cupcake pans with liners.
In a medium sized bowl, not your mixer bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and lemon zest and then set aside.
In your mixing bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until it is fluffy.
Add the sugar and beat until combined.
Beat in the eggs one at a time, scrape the sides of the bowl after you add each one.
Add half the flour mixture and beat on low speed.
Fold in the strawberries with a spatula.
Fill each liner about 3/4 full. Bake 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Allow to cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring onto the cooling rack.

Part II: Lemon Syrup
Once the cupcakes have completely cooled, whisk together the lemonade concentrate and the confectioners' sugar on a small bowl.
Poke several holes in the cupcakes using a skewer or a straw.
Pour the syrup over the cupcakes and allow it to soak in.

Part III: Frosting
Puree the strawberries in a food processor or blender.
Strain the puree through a mesh sieve to remove the seeds and set aside.
Beat the cream cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth and fluffy, about five minutes.
Add the confectioners' sugar and mix until smooth.
Add the lemon juice and vanilla extract and mix until combined.
Mix in strawberry puree, a little bit at a time until you reach the texture and flavor you want.
Frost the cupcakes and garnish as desired.