Slow and Steady

Tags

cookies, ketchup, peanut-butter, tic tac toe

Apparently I took an unintentional hiatus from blogging. Back-to-school, family illnesses, technology woes, and a book binge occupied most of my time. This is just a short and sweet post to get my toes wet again.

While at lunch with a few friends, I spotted this interesting recipe on the back of the ketchup bottle.

Tic Tac Toe Cookies

Peanut-butter and ketchup cookies? Yes, you heard that right! Of course, my friends wanted me to make them for them to try, but I can’t seem to bring myself to bake with peanut butter and ketchup together.

What do you think? I’d love to hear your story if you’ve ever tried these!

XOXO
Young Wifey

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Cinnamon Extract – By Accident

Tags

bread, cakes, cinnamon, cookies, extract, food, recipe

The blogosphere has been plastered with DIYers making their own infused vodkas and homemade extract. I too have enjoyed making different variations of infused vodka. A few weeks ago I had planned to make cinnamon infused vodka using the same process. In a toddler-esque state I enjoyed dropping the cinnamon sticks into the container and accidentally lost count. Now, if I would’ve let it seep just a day or two and had cinnamon infused vodka. I love cinnamon, I really really love cinnamon. Red hots? Atomic Fire Balls? Bring it on… I wanted to continue my little experiment and make my infused vodka, a fiery cinnamon vodka.

After about a week I realized I just passed the phase of infused vodka and headed down the extract lane. I inadvertently crossed off something on my culinary to do list. I love using almond extract when I bake and I love using cinnamon. I’m not sure why I’ve  never thought of making cinnamon extract before. Cookies, cakes and bread… oh the possibilities to which I’ve unlocked the door.

Cinnamon Extract

Ingredients:
1.74mL vodka, 20 cinnamon sticks

Directions:
Add cinnamon sticks to vodka. Let soak for two weeks, stirring or shaking once a day. Remove sticks and strain before bottling.

The would make great gifts for any baker. I had fun using paper and my craft punches to make some cute labels.

What unusual item do you like to incorporate into your baking?

 

Raspberry Lemon Spiral Cookies

Tags

cookies, dessert, food, foodie, lemon, postaday2011, raspberry, recipe, spiral, tea cookie, tea party

I’ve felt like baking for weeks, I just didn’t have the time. I got a 100 in my course (yay!) and it feels good to be able to take my time in the kitchen. Baking! Oh, how I’ve missed you (Hubster may have missed you more). I forgot how much I love the feel out dough under my hands.

I did not have chocolate chips on hand… but I did have a lemon. Spiral cookies, it is…

Raspberry Lemon Spiral Cookies

Ingredients:
2 c. powdered sugar, 2 1/2 sticks of butter (softened), 3 1/4 c. flour, 1 lemon, 1 Tbsp. lemon extract, 1 Tbsp. raspberry extract, 1/4 Tbsp. milk, red food coloring, water

Directions:
Cream together sugar and butter until smooth, slowly mix in flour and milk. Separate dough into two batches. Zest lemon and add to one bowl, with the lemon extract and mix well. Add a few drops of food coloring and raspberry extract to other bowl and mix well. Press each ball of dough flat, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. On a floured marble slab, roll out lemon dough until it’s about 1/4″ thick. Repeat with raspberry dough. Spray (or brush) the top of the lemon dough with water. Carefully lift the pink dough onto the lemon dough. Cut the edges, to create a neat 6″ x 12″ rectangle. From the long sides, roll the dough tightly into a log. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Preheat oven 350°F. Remove dough from fridge and slice into 1/4″ thick discs. Place on a greased baking tray for 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest for two minutes before moving to a cooling rack.

*Excellent dipped in white or dark chocolate! Or add jam or frosting and make a cookie sandwich. 

This is the perfect treat for a luncheon, tea party or princess party!

What’s in your oven?

Almond Butter Blossoms

Tags

almond, almond butter, cookies, desserts, food, foodie, nut butter, peanut-butter, postaday2011, recipe, snack, sweets

Baking is always therapeutic, it’s just the dirty dishes that I don’t want to deal with afterwards. But despite the dishes, today required some baking begin feeling like myself again… Oh, and the Aleve helped too…

Hubster loves peanut-butter, I have a strong aversion to it (well, except for the occasional Reese’s Pieces). He always begs me to make peanut-butter cookies, peanut-butter no bakes, peanut butter brownies… you get the picture. At the supermarket a few months ago, I had an epiphany. Maybe I can appease his appetite as well as mine.

Almond Butter Blossoms

Ingredients:
bag of Hershey’s Kisses, 3/4 c. almond butter, 1/3 c. light brown sugar, 1/8 c. milk, 1 1/2 c. flour, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/2 c. butter, 1/3 c. sugar, 1 egg, 1 Tbsp. almond extract, 1 tsp. baking soda, extra sugar for coating

Directions:
Unwrap Kisses and set aside. Preheat oven to 375ºF. Grease baking sheets. Mix together flour, salt and baking soda. Cream together, almond butter, butter, sugar, almond extract, milk and egg. Slowly combine flour mixture in to sugar mixture. Roll dough into 1″ balls, coat in sugar and place on cookie sheets. Bake for 8 minutes, remove from oven and quickly press one kiss into the center of each cookie. Place cookies on cooling rack.

Serve with a tall glass of milk and enjoy!

What activity do you find therapeutic?

Classic Shortbread

Tags

almond shortbread, bake sale, baked goods, chocolate, classic, cookies, dark chocolate, dessert, food, foodie, postaday2011, recipe, shortbread, snack, sweets

Unfortunately my sister didn’t have a copy of her shortbread recipe with her when she was on this side of the pond. Of course she used a real Scottish recipe. I played with a mixture of ingredients until I had a dough that I liked, similar to my sugar cookie, but much less sugar. No egg in the dough, so it’s safe to sample uncooked bits. This is what I came up with…

Shortbread & Tea

Shortbread Ingredients:
2 c. flour, 1 c. butter softened, 3/4 c. sugar, 1 tsp. almond extract, 1 tsp. vanilla extract, 1/2 tsp. fresh ground sea salt, finely chopped dark chocolate (optional for chocolate dipped)

Shortbread Directions:
Preheat oven to 300°F. Cream together butter, sugar and extract. In separate bowl combine flour and salt. Stir flour into butter mixture 1/4 cup at a time. Chill dough for about an hour (it’ll help the flavors richer and make the dough more manageable). Press dough into pie dish or roll out on floured surface and use cookie cutters. Use prongs on fork to make designs on shortbread. Depending on thickness, bake for about 30 minutes, or until edges are golden brown. Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack. If you used a pie tin, cut shortbread into fantails before cooling. Serve at room temperature with hot tea.

For Chocolate Dipped Shortbread:
On the top of a double boiled, melt chocolate. Dip edges or bottoms of shortbread in chocolate and place on wax paper. Chill in fridge to harden chocolate. Remove shortbread from fridge and store in an airtight container.

*If you use salted butter, you can omit or cut back the sea salt.

*If you like your shortbread sweeter, add 1/8-1/4 c. more of sugar.
*As a gift or favor you can wrap a bunch of shortbread in a mug, with a box of tea bags.

Unfortunately my embosser in still packed in some unknown box, or I would have used it embellish my shortbread before baking. I used individual tart tins to make a smaller shortbread, which I cut in wedges to create fantails.

As the aroma of fresh-baked shortbread lingers through my home, I sit down for a moment to nibble a few shortbread fantails and sip on my earl grey tea. I just hope my sister approves my recipe.

What do you like to munch on with your tea?

Chocolate Covered Pirouettes & Pretzels Rods

Tags

back up plan, Candy, cookie, cookies, dessert, luncheon, party snack, pot luck, pretzels, snack

When All Else Fails

There are good days and there are bad days. Then there are perfect days and epically bad days… Yesterday, was the latter…

I’m still not feeling 100% and today is our holiday luncheon at work… I like to make tasty and beautiful desserts.

Plan #1
Make a butter rum pound cake topped with dark chocolate ganache and garnished with crushed peppermints… I only have half the ingredients I needed… and I didn’t have time (or energy) to run out to the store…

Plan #2
I had planned to make an almond angel food cake with chocolate ganache… I’ve made it many times before. I was whipping my egg whites and soft peaks had formed, but I wasn’t getting the stiff peaks I needs before I added my flour mixture. My metal bowl was completely grease-free… yet still no stiff peaks… Then I went for my bundt pan… ah, it’s in storage. I quickly grab my baby bundt pan and attempt to make mini angel food cakes. I couldn’t figure out the timing, and teh texture of the cake was all wrong.

Plan #3
Melt dark chocolate in double boiler and dip in pretzel rods & pirouette cookies. Easy? Normally yes, but my double boiler is also in storage… So I have to place my small sauce pan in my larger one, keeping it balanced with my left hand… if it were to tip and get a drop of water in the chocolate, it would be ruined… Once chocolate hardened I placed the chocolate dipped pirouettes (I had chocolate pirouettes and vanilla) and chocolate dipped pretzel rods in a glass bowl… and headed to bed.

Chocolate Dipped Pirouettes & Pretzel Rods

Normally, I’d make these a little more gourmet by sprinkling with crushed pistachios or drizzling stripes on with white chocolate… but tonight it was the perfect balance or sweet and salty and easy…

Here’s to today being a better day…

Dark Chocolate Cookies

Tags

chocolate, cocoa, cookie recipe, cookies, dark chocolate, dark cocoa, dessert, dessert recipe, newly wed, recipe, sweets

Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate! The entire world loves chocolate (except for my Pumpkin)… I love dark chocolate. Chocolate cake, chocolate pie, chocolate pudding, I’ve even been known to eat a square of baking chocolate. I’ve used and modified many chocolate cookie recipes and this is my favorite.

Dark Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients: 3/4 c. melted butter, 1/2 c. dark cocoa powder, 1 c. dark brown sugar, 2 eggs, 1 Tbsp. vanilla, 2 c. flour, 1 tsp. baking soda, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/2 c. sugar

Directions:
Mix together butter, cocoa, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Slowly stir flour mixture into chocolate batter half a cup at a time. Cover bowl and refrigerate for a few hours. Preheat oven to 350°F. Roll dough into 1″ balls and roll in sugar. Place on a cookie sheet and bake for about 10 minutes. Remove cookies from tray and place on a cooling rack.

*Usually I bake chocolate with almond extract instead of vanilla, but this recipe I actually used vanilla extract.

Hubster was standing over the oven with a jar of peanut butter in hand, waiting to spread it on the warm cookies.

What flavor do you like the best paired with chocolate?