Easter Sugar Cookies

Who's ready for Easter treats?!

I love this recipe out of my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, and they recommend a frosting that is okay, but I think it is too thin and runny for what I wanted. But it had been a long time since I'd made them and I couldn't remember what frosting I had used before that I loved, so I paired it with one out of my new Hershey's book (great idea by the way!). Later of course I remembered the recipe I used before, they just call it by a weird name and put it in the sauce section instead of the frosting section so I wasted a lot of time looking for it.
As I've been going through recipes lately I've realized there are a lot of things I would like to go in a change about my recipe books, just to make them more user friendly. But, since I can't do that, I tend to write little notes on the pages, so next time, I'll remember what frosting recipe to use!

Alrighty, cookie time!

I swear I must have looked at sprinkles every time I was at the store this month, but in the end I decided not to buy sprinkles, but to make my own colored sugar. I am so happy I did! It was fun, easy, pretty, and yummy too. I actually watched a tutorial on you tube and I was glad I did before I got started because I picked up a few tips I would have never known.

For the sugar, I started them Saturday morning(and used them Sunday) because it needs time to dry before you use it. I added a few drops of color to 1/4 cup sugar and shook it up, then set out to dry.




Sugar Cookies

2/3 C butter
3/4 C sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
1 Tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
2 C flour

1. In a large mixing bowl beat butter on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar, baking powder and salt. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl. Beat in egg, milk, and vanilla. Beat in flour, you may have to stir in the last of it by hand. Divide dough in half, cover and chill dough about 30 minutes or until easy to handle.

2. Preheat oven to 375. On a lightly floured surface, roll half the dough at a time. Cut with cookie cutters and place 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

3. Bake 7-8 minutes or until edges are firm and bottoms barely brown.




Once the cookies had cooled I frosted them...And I actually cut this recipe in half because I didn't have that much powdered sugar and it turned out to be the perfect amount for my cookies.

Vanilla Butter Cream Frosting

1/3 C butter
4 C powdered sugar
3-4 Tbsp milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Beat butter with mixer until creamy. Slowly add half the powdered sugar, beating until well blended. Slowly beat in milk and vanilla. Gradually add remaining sugar and beat until smooth. Add additional milk, if necessary, until frosting is desired consistency.



And a quick look at my helper...

To top the cookies with my colored sugar, I just plopped them face down and gently patted them down.

Ta-Da! Beautiful! Magnificent! So perfect for an Easter party!


I loved how these turned out! Perfectly soft. And I was really happy with the frosting/sugar effect. It was like biting into a thin layer of a sugar crust before sinking your teeth into soft frosting. These cookies disappeared fast!

Fun with Apples

I wanted to try something fun and "healthy" this time. So even though I once again did not bake these, I figured they were fun enough to share!


White Chocolate and Cookie Apple (I used Girl Scout's Dulce Du Leche Cookies)

White Chocolate and Twix Apple

Scrump-diddly-umptious!

I decided I needed to make one more round of bread since I probably won't be able to bake anything for a while with my trip and the big move coming up. So I chose to do the white bread recipe out of my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. It is different from the other bread I posted about, I think I like this one a little better but it takes a bit longer to make and uses up the milk so sometimes I don't want to do it.






White Bread

5 3/4 to 6 1/4 C flour
1 package active dry yeast
2 1/4 C milk or buttermilk
2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp butter
1 1/2 tsp salt

1. In a large mixing bowl combine 2 1/2 C flour and the yeast, set aside. In a medium saucepan heat and stir milk, sugar, butter, and salt just until warm and butter almost melts. Add milk mixture to flour mixture. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping sides of bowl. Beat on high speed for 3 minutes. Using a wooden spoon, stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can.

2. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead in enough of the remaining flour to make a moderately stiff dough that is smooth and elastic (about 6-8 minutes). Shape dough into a ball. Place in a lightly greased bowl, turning once to grease the surface of the dough. Cover; let rise in a warm place until double in size (45-60 minutes).

3. Punch dough down. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; divide in half. Cover; let rest for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, grease bread pans or cookies sheets.

4. Shape each half by patting or rolling.

5. Place the shaped dough halves in the prepared pans, seams side down. Cover and let rise in a warm place until nearly double (about 30 minutes).

6. Preheat oven to 375. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until bread sounds hallow when lightly tapped (however, I find that 20 minutes is perfect for me).



Our favorite way of enjoying homemade bread is to toast it in the broiler with a chicken filling. To make the filling I mix boiled/shredded chicken, grated cheese, garlic salt, bell pepper, and mayo.



Oh yes, and a big thank you to Dill who played happily so I could bake!

I finished my painting!

Remember that painting I gave you a sneak peek of? It is done!
Honestly, I'm so proud of myself for completing it before my trip and the move and I'm really happy with the way it turned out!

St. Patty's Day Fruit Dip

For my last St. Patty's dessert hoopla I skipped baking and made a fruit dip.




Fruit Dip
1 brick cream cheese
1/4 C powdered sugar
a few drops of food coloring
chopped candy bars (I used Twix)

Blend together everything except the chopped candy bar. Gently stir in the candy bar pieces and save a few to garnish the top.

Bagels

Phew, I did something good. Honestly, I was a little afraid after my last disaster.

I discovered this recipe online a while back from the company that makes the yeast I have, and I've made them a few times now. They are really tasty!


The key to bagels is that they are boiled then baked. A bagel that hasn't been boiled is a biscuit with a hole in the middle.

Of course you have to have cream cheese with bagels! But I just realized my spreading job was a mess. I guess I was in a hurry to eat it.


Bagels

2 1/4 tsp yeast
1 C warm water
1 tsp salt
4 Tbsp sugar (divided)
3 C flour


In a mixer, combine yeast, 1 cup flour, salt and 2 Tbsp sugar. Add warm water to dry mixture and stir on low speed. Beat for 2-3 minutes more on medium. By hand, stir in remaining flour to make a firm dough. Knead 5-7 minutes until smooth and elastic. Place in a greased bowl, turn, and cover. Allow it to rise until it is doubled in size and your fingers leave an imprint if pushed into dough (I find that 30-45 minutes is good and I like to set it in the oven over a shallow dish of warm water). Turn onto floured surface and punch down. Divide into 4ths and each of those into three parts-12 total (I actually found that I like to make mine a little bigger than that, but it is up to you). Shape each part into a smooth ball. Punch a hole with your finger and pull a little. Heat a pot of water to boiling and add 2 Tbsp of sugar. Place a few bagels in and simmer 3 minutes, turning once. Remove and place on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes.

You may have noticed that my bagels aren't exactly smooth. I think they are cute and "rustic" but maybe I just haven't been patient enough to roll my dough into smooth balls. Let me know if anyone has any luck.

A Festive Flop

I learned an important lesson in brownie making the other day:
Marshmallow brownies need a specific marshmallow brownie recipe.

Let me explain, I wanted to make something St. Patrick's Day-ish. And Travis was wanting marshmallow brownies. And I figured I would take a brownie recipe I had that you are supposed to mix in mint patties and switch them out for green marshmallows. But all I got was one big gooey, sticky, stiff, ugly brownie tar goo.

I'm embarrassed to be blogging this at all, but hey, this is amateur baking here! The good news is, I don't have to rewrite the recipe, because trust me-you don't want it.

Dying the marshmallows (this step should have given me a clue that this wasn't exactly going to work, but I continued anyway).

Oh, the brownie mix is looking good, but don't let it deceive you.

Still hopeful that this is going to work...






Ugh. Really? Did I create that? At least I can say this, it may look like one big gooey, sticky, stiff, ugly brownie tar goo...but it tasted pretty good!