Frosted Sugar Cookies

I don't mean to brag, but these are amazing cookies!  Every time I make these people are asking where I bought them from (OMG!) and then I get to smile and say that I made them from scratch.  Such a confidence boost!  :)  These are very simple and the almond flavoring adds that little bit extra to make them great.  This recipe is for roll out cookies.  I will post one for drop cookies eventually.


Ingredients:
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

½ teaspoon almond extract

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 egg

2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

Steps:

Preheat oven to 350F.  In a stand mixer bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in egg and extracts.  In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and salt.  Add to butter mixture slowly, mixing after each addition. 

Do not chill dough.  Divide into two balls.  On floured surface, roll each ball out about 1/8 inch thick.  Use cookie cutter to cut out shape.  Transfer to an ungreased baking sheet and bake 8-11 minutes or until lightly browned.  Frost with your favorite frosting once cooled. 


These ones are from Thanksgiving (I know that I'm late posting them) and I made them to look like pumpkin pie.  I love coming up with new and different designs for them!

Enjoy!

Double Chocolate Chunk Cookies

These are so delicious!!  It's hard to eat only one.  My nephew has an egg allergy so there is an eggless option to these as well.  I entered these in the Iowa State Fair and got a lot of really useful feedback!  I hope you enjoy them as much as my family does.

 

Ingredients:

8 ounces semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

2/3 cup all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

2 eggs (½ ripe banana for eggless option)

¾ cup packed light-brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 package (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chunks

Steps:

Preheat oven to 350F.  Heat chopped chocolate and butter in a microwave-safe bowl in 20 second intervals, stirring between each, until mostly melted.  In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat eggs (banana for eggless option), brown sugar, and vanilla on high speed until light and fluffy.  Reduce speed to low, beat in melted chocolate.  Mix in flour mixture until just combined.  Stir in chocolate chunks.

Use cookie scoop to drop balls onto ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake for 12-15 minutes, until cookies are shiny and crackly yet soft in the centers.  Let cookies sit on cookie sheet for 10 minutes.  Transfer to cooling rack.

Enjoy!

 

Moscato Cake with Strawberry Frosting

I made this cake (in cupcake form) for the Iowa State Fair.  It was my first time entering anything and I had a lot of fun doing so!  I also entered my m&m cookies, frosted sugar cookies, and eggless double chocolate chunk cookies.  This is a delicious dessert and looks so elegant.

 

Cake Ingredients:

2 ¾ cups cake flour

½ teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 cup moscato wine

5 egg whites

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup butter, softened

1 ½ cups granulated sugar

Cake Steps:

Preheat the oven to 350F.  In a medium bowl, combine wine, eggs, and vanilla.  In a second medium bowl, sift together flour, salt, and baking powder.

Use an electric mixer to beat together 2 sticks of butter and sugar.  Beat until light and fluffy.  With the mixer on low speed, add about 1/3 of the flour mixture, followed by 1/3 of the wine mixture.  Alternate the flour and wine mixing until well combined.

Pour into greased cake pan.  Bake for 25-30 minutes or until sides start to pull away from edge of pan.  Allow to cool before frosting.

 Frosting Ingredients:

3 ½ cups powdered sugar

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

½ teaspoon vanilla

3 tablespoons strawberry puree

Frosting Steps:

Beat butter in stand mixer until it is pale in color and fluffy.

Add in powdered sugar slowly.  Next, add the vanilla.  Mix in 3 tablespoons of strawberry puree.  (To make puree, place 1 cup of fresh washed, drained, and hulled strawberries into a food processor and blend until it is a liquid puree)

Homemade Pancakes

Since the weekdays are so busy all the time, I like to make an effort to make breakfast on the weekends.  What's two days a week, right?  I like making Bryce pancakes because they are so quick and easy.  These pancakes are thick but not too heavy.  Very delicious.  Go crazy and add chocolate chips, blueberries, anything else!






Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 1/4 cups milk
3 tablespoons melted butter






Steps:
Sift together dry ingredients.  Add the egg. 




Melt the butter and add it to the milk and vanilla. 




Whisk together the dry and wet ingredients. 


Pour about 1/4 cup batter onto a greased hot skillet.  Once the top is covered in little bubbles flip the pancake.  Let the other side cook a little and your pancake is done. 


Makes 8-10 average sized pancakes. 
Enjoy!

Amazing M&M Cookies

These cookies are truly amazing!  And they're so quick and easy.  I got a little ambitious lately, and I decided to enter some baked goods into the state fair.  These are a front runner right now.  My family taste testers are still testing.  :)

Ingredients:

3/4 cup butter, room temperature

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 (3.4 oz) box instant vanilla pudding mix

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 cup flour

1 1/2 cup mini M&M's, plus 1/4 cup more for garnish

Steps:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.


In the bowl of your stand mixer combine butter and brown sugar.  Beat until combined.  Add in the egg and vanilla.  Continue mixing until smooth, scraping the sides with a spatula as necessary.  Mix in the vanilla pudding mix, baking soda, and salt.  Add in the flour and beat until combined.  Stir in the mini M&M's. 


Using a cookie scoop, scoop dough onto baking sheet.  Bake for 9-11 minutes or until edges become golden brown.  Allow to cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes then transfer to a cooling rack.


Enjoy!  (probably with a big glass of milk)

Spaghetti Pie

My sister and I made dinner the other night and wanted to do something new.  After looking through our Pinterest boards we found the Today Show's recipe for Spaghetti Pie.  It was very easy and extremely tasty!! 


Ingredients:

12 ounces spaghetti, cooked, 1/2 cup cooking water reserved
1 pound ground beef
1 cup tomato paste, divided
3 large eggs
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
2 tablespoons olive oil


Steps:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large skillet, brown the hamburger.  Add 3/4 cup tomato paste and half the reserved water.  Stir well.  Should turn into a thick paste.  Add more reserved water as needed. 


In a large bowl, combine eggs, parmesan cheese, 1 cup of mozzarella cheese, and 1/4 cup tomato paste. Stir in the cooked spaghetti. 


Grease a 9 or 10 inch pie plate with the olive oil.  Spread half the meat mixture on the bottom.  Add the spaghetti mixture and press it down to level it.  Top with the remaining meat mixture.  Scatter remaining mozzarella cheese over the top. 


Bake for 30-35 minutes.  Remove from the oven and let sit about 10 minutes.  With a sharp knife or pizza cutter, slice pie into wedges and serve.  Extra marinara sauce for dipping is helpful.

Enjoy!

Oreo Fluff

This is a slightly late post, but I was so busy celebrating the Fourth of July with all of my family.  We all got together at the lake, and despite the colder than normal weather we had a great time!  One of the desserts I took to share was Oreo Fluff.  It's easy to make with only four ingredients.  And according to one of my sisters it's addictive.  :)


Ingredients:

2 cups buttermilk
2 packages of Oreo cookies and cream pudding mix
16 ounces Cool Whip
1 package crushed Oreos (I use the regular stuffed)


Steps:
Combine the buttermilk, and cool whip.  Add in the pudding mixes.  Stir in the crushed Oreos and enjoy.  Refrigerate until served.

Chicken Parmesan Soup

My boyfriend, Bryce, likes to send me different recipes that we should try for dinner, and this was one of them.  I was particularly drawn to this because I had all the ingredients in my pantry and it was easy to make.  If you're looking for a spin on chicken parmesan, look no further.


Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
1 15oz can diced tomatoes
4 cups chicken broth (more if you want it soupier)
1 pound cooked boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into 1 inch cubes
8oz penne pasta
1 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese


Steps:
In a large pot, heat oil over medium heat.  Add onion and cook until tender and browned.  Add garlic and cook until fragrant.  Stir in tomato paste and crushed red pepper flakes (optional).  Add diced tomatoes and chicken broth.  Bring to a simmer.  Add chicken and let simmer for a couple minutes.  Add pasta and cook 6 to 8 minutes, or until noodles are to desired texture. 


Right before serving, mix in the cheeses until just melted.


Happy Cooking! 

Pie Crust

This crust recipe is super simple!!  I made a cherry pie for Father's Day and this is the crust recipe I used to go along with it.  It was perfectly light and flaky.  This recipe only makes one crust so for my pie I had to do the recipe twice, it will all depend on what type of pie you're making.

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons cold butter
4 tablespoons ice cold water

Steps:
Mix together the flour and salt in a medium bowl.  Cut in butter with a pastry blender until the mixture is pebble sized crumbs.  Add the water and blend until dough forms.  Roll into a ball and place on floured surface.  Roll the dough big enough to cover your pie plate.  Flour the rolling pin and gently roll the dough around the pin.  Unroll over pie plate.  Gently press into pan making sure to cover all edges.  Crimp the edges.

This crust is now ready for your favorite pie filling.

Happy Baking!

Father's Day Cherry Pie

Since Father's Day is here, I decided to try my hand at making a cherry pie from scratch.  Both my dad and my brother-in-law LOVE cherry pies.  We went out and picked a bunch of cherries from a coworker's house (thanks!) on one of the hottest days so far!  Hopefully this will all be worth it!


I found my pie recipe from The Food Network and it was very simple!  This is just for the pie filling.  I will be posting another recipe for the pie crust that I used as well.

Ingredients:
4 cups fresh tart cherries (tart)
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 tablespoons cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon almond extract (optional)




Steps:
Place pitted cherries in a medium saucepan and place over medium heat.  Cover.  After the cherries have lost quite a bit of liquid (this could take a few minutes) remove from heat.  In a small bowl, mix the sugar and cornstarch.  Mix this in with the hot cherries and stir well.  Add the almond extract and mix.  Return to the stove and cook over low heat until thickened.  Stir frequently.  Remove from heat and let cool. 


If the filling is too thick, add a little water.  If it is too thin, add a little cornstarch.


Preheat oven to 375 degrees.


Once you've made your pie crust (store bought or my recipe here) divide it in half.  Roll out each piece large enough to fit your pie plate.  Pour the cooled cherry filling into the crust.  Dot with butter.  Moisten the edge of your bottom crust and place your top crust on.  Flute the edges.  Make a slit in the middle of the top crust to allow steam to escape.  Brush with milk and sprinkle with sugar. 


Bake for about 50 minutes or until top crust is lightly browned.  Place a covered cookie sheet on the rack below your pie.  It is a mess to clean cherry pie filling off the bottom of your oven.  Remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack.


Enjoy this delicious recipe!!  I know my family will
.  Happy baking!