Cookie Carrie

June 4, 2013 · 8:00 am

Oaty Nutty Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

I offered to bring dessert to a family BBQ a couple weeks ago, but when it came time to make it I didn’t have much on hand, and didn’t have a ton of time. I searched the internet for ideas and came across this recipe for Granola Blondies by the ever amazing Shelly of Cookies and Cups. I used the idea as a basis for my bars, but none of my fix-ins are the same because I had to use what I had in the pantry!

I wasn’t sure what to call my version, so I settled on a wordy thrown together name that just encompasses everything they represented.

Oaty Nutty Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars – adapted from Cookies & Cups

Ingredients:

1 stick (1/2 cup) salted butter

1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 1/4 cups flour

1 1/2 cups rolled oats

1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

1 cup chocolate chips

Don’t all of the fix-ins look amazing together??

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350*.

2. Line 9×9 pan with foil for easy removal. Spray foil lightly with non-stick spray.

3. Beat together butter and brown sugar until fluffy and creamy. Add eggs and vanilla, and scrape sides if necessary.

4. Add salt and baking powder. Slowly add flour until all incorporated. Mix in the fix-ins by hand.

5. Spread into the foil-lined pan and bake for 30-35 minutes or until edges start to turn golden. Let cool completely before cutting. (You can put in the fridge to cool faster.)

I didn’t have time to let these cool and set up enough, so they were very very gooey when I cut into them.

Still amazingly tasty, but not the cutest pictures or the cleanest fingers. 🙂

1 Comment

Filed under Cookies, Misc

Tagged as chocolate, oats, walnuts

May 31, 2013 · 8:00 am

Graduation Cookies 2013

These high school graduation cookies were made for Jayla. School colors were purple, black, and white. I tried to do less black and more of the other two colors because sometimes too much black icing scares people. 🙂

I have been practicing using different fonts lately. This is one of my favorites. 🙂

Since I do everything freehand, this post by Lizy B helped me a lot!

Do you follow me on facebook, instagram, twitter, and pinterest?

For anyone who has missed it on Instagram, here is a little pregnancy update. 🙂 The pup likes to be in all my photos!

The turquoise wall behind me is the baby’s room. We’re not finding out the sex, so we wanted a bright neutral color that we can add to later. All of the furniture will be white.

6 Comments

Filed under Cookies

Tagged as buttercream, graduation, icing, purple, sugar cookies

May 29, 2013 · 9:30 am

Easy Rolled Sugar Cookies

These cookies are perfect for the beginner sugar cookier. They are glazed, but not delicately so, and covered in the all-important sprinkles!

I was throwing them together Monday morning for a little BBQ at a friend’s house, so I didn’t have a lot of time (or energy) to spend on them.

ALSO, I know I am getting annoying with this, but I have a new sugar cookie recipe. I have been using this one for a while now, and it’s absolutely perfect. I linked it up here and changed the links on my other posts.

I’m also going to actually share my “recipe” for my icing. I finally took the time to measure how much of each ingredient it takes to make it the perfect consistency… rather than just guessing every time.

Basic Sugar Cookie Recipe

Basic Icing Recipe

For these easy cookies, I rolled the cookies extra thick with my 1/4″ dowels. I chose to do stars because it was Memorial Day, but any basic shape will do.

Spread the cookies out on a wire rack and set it on top of another pan or a piece of waxed paper.

Mix up your icing and put into a squeeze bottle or zip-top baggie with the corner cut. Drizzle haphazardly across the cookie in the same back-and-forth direction. I just used white icing for simplicity, but colored icing, or multiple colors drizzled together would look super cute!

It doesn’t matter if it’s messy looking because we’re going to throw sprinkles on top.

Here is a shot of my beautiful icing and sprinkle party after-math. I wish it was acceptable and appropriate to lick the pan.

The cookies dried well enough in just a couple hours and were ready for our Memorial Day BBQ.

These exact cookies would obviously be perfect for 4th of July too.. but now I am thinking Halloween or Christmas or any other holiday these could be cut with a basic shape and different color combos!

2 Comments

Filed under Cookies

Tagged as easy cookies, icing, sprinkles, sugar cookies

May 22, 2013 · 4:12 pm

Proposal Cookies

A coworker asked me to make her proposal cookies based on this idea. Here are a couple more examples.)

I chose to go with a scalloped “lacey” edge.

The wedding color is UCLA blue (which is a very specific color according to my husband), so I used that for the flower in the girl’s hair.

The “diamond” is a white sugar pearl that I colored with silver lustre dust, because silver dragees are illegal here in California. 😦

These cookies were much harder and stress-evoking than I expected them to be. Black on white is always a challenge, but because the design was so basic, it really took effort to make steady lines and dots to make them look effortless.

I would love to see something like this again, but in color.

6 Comments

Filed under Cookies

Tagged as buttercream, icing, sugar cookies, wedding, white

May 17, 2013 · 10:35 am

Reese’s Cupcakes

Tomorrow is a coworker’s birthday. She asked me to bring chocolate cupcakes. Too boring for me, so I had to get fancy.

These are fun, rich, and look fancy!

Reese’s Cupcakes (yields 24 cupcakes)

The cupcake base is the Hershey’s “Perfectly Chocolate” Chocolate Cake. It’s right on the back of the cocoa box. I have made them a couple times here and here. Aaaannnnnd I just realized I didn’t post the actual recipe either time so here it is:

Chocolate Cupcakes – adapted from Hershey’s “Perfectly Chocolate” Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar

1 3/4 cups flour

3/4 cup Hershey’s Cocoa

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 tsp vanilla

1 cup boiling water

(I know it’s a lot of ingredients but it’s easy – I promise!)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350*. Mix together all dry ingredients in a large bowl (or stand mixer bowl).

2. Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.

3. Carefully add boiling water and mix in thoroughly by hand. (If you try to use the stand mixer, water will splash everywhere. Trust me. Don’t do it.) Batter will be very thin.

4. Fill cupcake liners about 3/4 the way. Bake for 11 minutes. While they are baking, start unwrapping miniature Reese’s cups.

5. After 11 minutes, remove the cupcake pans from the oven. Carefully press a Reese’s cup into the top of each cupcake and return to the oven. Bake for another 11 minutes.

6. Let cool completely before making the frosting.

Some of the cups sank lower than others for the second half of baking…

By the way, how cute are these liners? They are the only non-super-girly liners I could find with orange on them. I felt like orange was necessary because, hello – Reese’s!

Now on to the good stuff….

Peanut Butter Frosting

Ingredients:

1 lb powdered sugar

1 stick (1/2 cup) salted butter

2/3 cup smooth peanut butter

3 tbsp milk + 2 tbsp milk

2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. Put powdered sugar in the bowl first. Cut up the butter into small slices or chunks, and spread out on top of the powdered sugar. Add peanut butter, vanilla, and 3 tbsp of the milk to the bowl. (I know this sounds silly, but putting the powdered sugar on the bottom helps the other ingredients incorporate better.)

2. Mix on low until powdered sugar is incorporated and will no longer fly across the kitchen. Beat on medium speed until frosting is smooth. Add the remaining 2 tbsp of milk one at a time until fully incorporated.

I frosted my cupcakes with a large closed star tip. It doesn’t need to be perfect, it just needs to cover the secret Reese’s cup inside the cupcake. Top with other Reese’s cup and ta-da!

These cupcakes are super rich and SO dreamy with the peanut butter frosting. How have I never made peanut butter frosting before?!

8 Comments

Filed under Cakes

Tagged as buttercream, chocolate, peanut butter, reeses

May 14, 2013 · 8:00 am

Lemon Poke Cupcakes

Poke cake. It’s a great invention.

If you’re unfamiliar, it’s basically a cake with lots of holes poked in the top after it is baked and cooled, then some kind of liquid is poured over the top and allowed to seep into the top and holes.

I made a raspberry lemonade poke cake a while back, see it here.

My mother in law asked me to bring cupcakes to our Mother’s Day lunch, and I immediately decided to make lemon poke cupcakes. Lemon and Mother’s Day just go together to me – I don’t know if its because it’s spring, or if it just reminds me of moms and grandmas, but it always seems to be a big hit so I guess I’m on to something!

These cupcakes couldn’t be easier.

1. Bake lemon cupcakes and let cool completely. I used my favorite boxed mix – Betty! Feel free to use your own recipe. The magic of these is really the glaze anyway.

2. Using a wooden skewer or toothpick, poke 10-12 holes into the top of each cupcake. They should only go about halfway down each cake.

3. Mix together 2/3 cup powdered sugar and 2 tsp lemon juice with a small spatula. (I used bottled lemon juice and it was just as good, though I probably would have used real lemons if I had them.)

4. Using the small spatula, “paint” the glaze on the top of each cupcake. You don’t need a lot, but you do want to get some on on most of the cake. It will slowly seep down into the holes and dry thin.

That’s it!

These cupcakes were so moist and just a little tart. They were a total hit with the family, and I only wish one batch had made more!

2 Comments

Filed under Cakes

Tagged as icing, lemon, lemon cake

April 30, 2013 · 8:00 am

Angel Food Whoopie Pies

My mommy loves angel food cake. For the past couple years I have made something angel-food-cake related for her birthday. See here and here for past posts.

This year I used my heart whoppie pie pan to make little love cakes.

I used the same recipe as last year for the frosting, but switched it up to make it strawberry flavored. Aaaaand I kind of over-whipped it so it turned out more like a strawberry whipped cream and less like strawberry marshmallow.

Angel Food Whoopie Pies

I used a boxed cake mix. It’s too easy, all you have to add is water. I prepared the batter according to the box directions, then used a medium cookie scoop to dollop batter into each well of my whoopie pie pan.

I tapped it on the counter a few times and jiggled it side to side until it settled into the lumps of the hearts.

Bake at 375* for 10 minutes.

I didn’t want them to fall too much, so once I took it out of the oven I turned the pan upside-down on top of a couple drink glasses. Probably not necessary, but it couldn’t hurt.

Once the pan was cool, I used a butter knife to carefully cut around the edge of each heart. Once the edges were free, they were pretty easy to pop out. Lay bottoms up on a cooling rack until ready to frost.

Strawberry Whipped Frosting – adapted from this frosting recipe

Ingredients:

Some fresh strawberries ( I used about a basket, but it made a lot so I probably only needed a few)

1 cup granulated sugar

about 5 tbsp water

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

2 egg whites

1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Clean, hull, and cut up the strawberries, then puree. I used a manual food processor to pulse them as much as possible. I guess you could blend them, but I didn’t mind a little bit of chunks, it was going to get strained anyway.

2. Cook the strawberry puree in a small pot on low heat for about 30 minutes. I just wanted to reduce it a little… I could have cooked it longer, but I probably could have also skipped this step. I like to think it made a difference so just play along with me. 🙂

3. Once the strawberry goop cooled down a bit, I poured it through a strainer to get rid of the big chunks that were still left. Then I poured some into a measuring cup about 1/2 way up to the 1/3 cup mark. This clearly isn’t exact science here… a little more or a little less won’t hurt anything. Pour any remaining goop into a small jar to store in the fridge for later use. (I’m thinking ice cream topping!!)

4. Add enough water to bring it to 1/3 cup and pour back into the small pot. Add the granulated sugar and cream of tartar, and cook on medium heat until sugar is dissolved and the mixture is bubbly.

5. While the syrup is cooking, whip egg whites and vanilla to soft peaks. (Use the whisk attachment if using a stand mixer.)

6. When syrup is bubbly, slowly add to egg whites while mixer is running. Whip for about 7-10 minutes or until stiff peaks form. If you err on the side of less stiff, it will be more of a marshmallow texture. If you over whip (like I did) it will be closer to a whipped cream texture. Either would pair well with these!

OH! and I also added a tad of hot pink coloring because it wasn’t pink enough from just the strawberries for my liking. 🙂

7. Put whipped frosting into a piping bag with a large tip (star or round would work fine). Squeeze onto one side of the whoopie pies and top with the other side. If you opted for the softer more marshmallowy texture for the frosting, let it sit for about 30 seconds before you top it with the other piece of whoopie pie. You don’t want to squish your frosting too much.

These were YUMMY. Because angel food cake is typically tall and fluffy, the shortness of these whoopie pies made them a little denser and stickier. It was almost like taking a piece of angel food cake and squishing it up before biting into it. 🙂

The strawberry frosting was subtle. Next time I would add even more strawberry. I was just nervous about messing with the liquids in this recipe too much.

I only made about a dozen of these as whoopie pies (the rest were just regular cupcakes). It was kind of a pain because angel food cake has to stick to the pan to rise, so I had to cut every single one out of the pan, then wash the pan before I could bake the next batch. It was worth it for a couple batches because they came out so cute! Besides, they were for my mommy. 🙂

7 Comments

Filed under Cakes

Tagged as angel food cake, pink, strawberry

April 26, 2013 · 8:00 am

Soft Sprinkle Sugar Cookies

My goal when making these cookies was to mimic an amazing Mrs. Fields cookie I had a couple weekends ago while I was in Tahoe. While these turned out nothing like my beloved Mrs. Fields cookie, they were still so yummy and fun and easy that I had to share!

Soft Sprinkle Sugar Cookies – slightly modified from Spark Recipes

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 sticks (1 cup) of butter

1 egg

1 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 tsp lemon extract

2 3/4 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

4 tbsp milk

Directions:

1. Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and extracts and mix to combine, scraping if necessary.

2. Add the salt, baking powder, and baking soda, then slowly add the flour 1/2 cup at a time. Once fully combined, slowly add the milk.

3. Scoop dough into approximately 1″ balls. I used my small cookie scoop. Roll the tops in sprinkles (I used jimmies) and place 2 inches apart on a parchment or silicone lined baking sheet.

I went a little crazy with the sprinkles.

4. Bake at 350* for 10 minutes, then let cool completely on the cookie sheet. The centers will be soft so you want them to set before trying to move them.

My husband loved these! As did my coworkers and ex-coworkers. The batch made about 5 or 6 dozen, so I had plenty to share!

2 Comments

Filed under Cookies

Tagged as easy cookies, sprinkles, sugar cookies

April 23, 2013 · 8:00 am

Red Hot Cinnamon Popcorn

This wasn’t the most successful idea I’ve ever had, but it still worked so I wanted to share!

I made red hot cinnamon flavored kettle corn.

I mixed together oil, oil flavoring (cinnamon) and oil candy coloring in a large pot. Set it on high and dropped a few popcorn kernels into the oil.

Normally, when the oil gets hot he popcorn kernels pop and then we add the rest of the popcorn… That’s still what I did, but it was smoking like crazy the whole time. Once the kernels popped I dumped in the sugar and rest of the kernels, stirred as much as possible, and put a lid on it to begin shaking. It was smoking so much I had to crack the lid a few times to let the smoke out, but the kernels were still popping so I kept going.

Once the popping slowed, I pulled off the lid and dumped the popcorn on some wax paper across the countertop. Surprisingly, nothing was burned! And it was a pretty pink color from the red coloring I added.

Now for the taste… At first it just tasted like kettle corn but without the salt. Then I kept eating… And the cinnamon snuck up on me ad I could feel it slightly burning my tongue!

The smoking was weird, not sure if t was from the flavoring or the coloring added to the oil, but I’d say overall it was a success! I was scared to add too much cinnamon oil, but it was so subtle that I think I will double it next time!

2 Comments

Filed under Candy

Tagged as cinnamon, pink, popcorn