Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Chocolate Chip Cut-Outs (recipe included)

 Sometimes you want "a little more" than your basic sugar cookie.
And as much as I like to change things up and flavor my basic sugar cookies (vanilla, almond, chocolate, citrus, etc.)...sometimes I crave MORE.
I have to say, I am not one to "create" or come up with my own recipes very often.
So when I saw this recipe for Chocolate Chip Cut-Outs, I was all over it.
These cookies are a little different in texture than your average chocolate chip drop cookie, as these are made for rolling and cutting out...and they do both GREAT.
They are delicious plain or you can decorate them with royal icing just like you would your regular sugar cookie.
The plain "sunshine" cut-outs in the above picture, I made last night.  My boys aren't really into iced cookies...they like them simple and basic.
The Lego cookies in the picture below, I made a couple years ago for a birthday.
They are the Chocolate Chip Cut-Out recipe.  And as you can see, they decorate quite nicely.
It is very important that you use the mini chocolate chips for this recipe, as the regular sized ones are too big/bulky for rolling.
Here's the recipe adapted from SugarBaker's.

  • 1 c unsalted butter
  • 1/3c granulated sugar
  • 1/2 c light-brown sugar
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 ½ c all-purpose flour (the recipe calls for 2 1/2 cups, personally I only use 2 cups)
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 1 ½ c semi-sweet mini-chocolate chips

    Cream together butter and sugars. Add the vanilla and egg yolk. Sift together the flour and salt, and add it one cup at a time until completely incorporated. BY HAND fold in the chocolate chips. Doing so with the mixer tends to break up the chocolate chips.

    Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Chill dough for at least 30 minutes.  Roll dough on floured work surface and use cookie cutters to cut shapes.  Bake for 10-12 min. at 350.

Thursday, July 31, 2014

Cinnamon Swirl Bread...

This is such a simple recipe...but trust me...
Once you try it you're going to want to make it over and over again.
The aroma in your home while it's baking will have you salivating!
When you pull it out of the oven, you'll hardly be able to wait for it to cool!
Goodness, DON'T wait!  It's even better warm!
That crispy, toasty cinnamon sugar coating on top...
The soft, tender bread with a swirl of cinnamon running through it...
Well what are you waiting for?
Go make this!
You can thank me later!
 
Cinnamon Swirl Bread
 
1/4 c. vegetable oil
1 c. sugar
1 egg
1 c. buttermilk
1 tsp. baking soda
2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt

Topping:
1 tbsp. cinnamon
1/2 c. sugar

Mix all together, mixing topping in separate bowl. Put 1/2 bread mixture into bread pan. Sprinkle with half of topping. Place rest of bread mixture in pan, and sprinkle with rest of topping. Run a butter knife through and slightly swirl. Bake for approx. 1 hour at 350 or until toothpick comes out clean.

Sunday, July 13, 2014

Wedding Belle's!

 WOW!
How did I forget to blog about these beauties?
I had the wonderful opportunity to work with a very kind mother of groom on these particular cookies.
 It was such a fun job.
I was given pretty much, free reign over the design.
The only request was "wedding gowns" and "wedding cakes" with hints of pink.
 Some cookiers enjoy KNOWING EXACTLY what they're going to do.
They enjoy being given a design to follow.
Me?  No way.
Some of my best work comes from when I just let loose and those creative juices start flowing.
 Many of my fellow cookie baking friends all sketch their designs before decorating.
I have never been one to do that.
I "do" get somewhat of a design in my head...but I never sketch.
 I just kind of let my hands go...and see what turns out.
That was the case with these dresses and cakes.
 It was so much fun.  Pretty much each dress was unique...with maybe a few being similar.
 The wedding cakes were fun too.

 It was kind of like decorating a cake, yet on a cookie!
 These I did in 5 designs.
I was happy with the outcome of all of these.
They were a lot of fun to do.
I wish the new couple a lifetime of health and happiness!

Sunday, June 22, 2014

Cookies And Cupcakes And Cake...My First Graduation Open House!

 My first graduation open house.
My son's.
I survived!
I didn't know what I was doing.
I went into it blindly, but I "think" I did pretty good!
Son says it was a success!
If he's happy, I'm happy!
I thought all of the food and decorations turned out pretty great.
You can read more about the actual open house and see all of the decorations on my personal blog at:
http://www.melodysmuse-melody.blogspot.com/2014/06/lets-get-party-startedmy-sons.html
 I made chocolate and vanilla cut-out cookies.
I flooded them with glaze and did royal icing detailing.
But first I played with my new airbrush and some stencils.
I'm still getting the hang of that thing.
It's gonna be a while before I perfect it, but it's fun to play with!
 Some more of the cookies...


We served cupcakes to all of the guests, but I told my son that we had to have a bigger cake in school colors with his name...even if it were just for looks!  LOL!
We decided it would serve as "back-up" if we ran out of cupcakes, LOL!  With an open house, you never know how many guests you'll end up with!  Thankfully we had plenty of cupcakes.
I did a frozen buttercream transfer for our Chix mascot logo.
 I added his name on the front/side in cookies!
 We did a yellow cake with classic buttercream.
 I thought it was pretty cute!
 I added cookie pops to his graduating year!
We served chocolate, french vanilla, and confetti cupcakes.
I did a vanilla buttercream and a chocolate almond buttercream.
Don't forget to check out the full party post on my other blog!
Congratulations Evan!
We're so proud of you!

Friday, June 6, 2014

Class of 2014...Congratulations!

 First of all, I'd like to wish my son Evan the biggest CONGRATULATIONS ever!
My oldest son graduated from high school this year and we are so proud of him!
I'd also like to wish our entire Zeeland East High School Class of 2014 a big CONGRATULATIONS as well!  You all worked hard and are now moving on into college, military, or the work force.  We are so proud of all of your accomplishments!
And to all of the other graduates out there, be it high school or college...Congratulations to you too!
I made these "2014" cookies for my son's Senior All Night Party that they had after graduation ceremony.  The party was top secret.  They all boarded buses and were taken (in a round about way) to a steak house for dinner, and then off to a local college's recreation center.  They had rock climbing walls, laser tag, segways, massages, pool, temporary tattoos, games, photo booths, and so much more. And there was food galore.  I donated these "2014" cookies.  I did these in a Vanilla-Almond cookie and a Chocolate-Almond icing.  They were fun to do and I think the kids liked them.  Several of Evan's friends told me they grabbed them immediately because they knew I made them, LOL!
Again, congratulations to all of you graduates!
We wish you the best in all of your endeavors!

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Easter...(belated)...

I know...
Long time, no blog.
And to think...
I wasn't even going to make Easter cookies.
Until my husband said, "What?  You're not going to make the daycare kids Easter cookies?"
BUSTED.
I had to make my 'littles' some cookies.
I attempted my new airbrush for the first time with some stencils.
Although I will say that is DOES take some practice...
IT WAS TOTALLY A BLAST!
I wanted to spray EVERYTHING, LOL!
I don't really know why I was so intimidated by it!
These little "stacked" cookies were fun to make.
I made large Easter egg cookies and then added a mini to the middle of them.
The kids really enjoyed them.
Then I did some simple crosses and a few sugar coated bunnies and chicks.
Nothing extravagant but the kids loved them none the less.
I hope you all had a very blessed Easter with your family and friends!
I am definitely looking forward to warmer weather!
Bring it!

Monday, March 17, 2014

Luck 'O The Irish To Ya!

 Happy St. Patty's Day to ya!
Our family is Irish (Malone) so I always love dressing the part (lots 'o green!).
I love fun celebrations of any kind.
 I whipped up these shamrock cookies with some extra dough I had in the freezer.
I had a small shamrock (mini) cookie cutter but didn't have a large one...
So, I had to get creative!
 If you don't have a shamrock cutter, all you need to do is simply use your heart cookie cutter, cut out four hearts, and place them all tip to tip.  Add a long rectangular (stem) and voila!
You've got a shamrock!
I did these really quick and they are NOT my best work...but since  we were in Chicago all day Saturday...Sunday I had to play "catch-up".  With a million things on my "to-do list" I didn't have a lot of time to go all out fancy.  It wouldn't have originally been a "time issue" because I had "planned" to just do some quick stenciling with my brand new airbrush!  I was excited to get it out and play with it.  HOWEVER, upon getting it out and setting it up...
I had no air coming through the gun!
My husband tinkered with it and it seems there's a connection problem between the gun itself and the air hose because it's sputtering...start, stop...start, stop...every time the cord is wiggled.
Sooooo...
Today I get to call customer support to try and figure out if my airbrush can be fixed, ugh.
But...
That left me in panic mode.
I had to get these decorated quickly for my daycare kids the next day!
Eeek!
So  just piped some quick little designs on them and added some sanding sugar to the border.  Nothing fancy, not my best work...more like "PANIC WORK".
Thankfully, my "littles" never judge my work...they're just happy to get a treat on the holidays, LOL!  Hope you have a wonderful St. Patty's Day!
Luck 'O The Irish To Ya!