Holiday Baking
So I've been baking A LOT lately and I've had quite a few recipe requests so here goes:
The first thing I made was Snickers Chocolate Cupcakes.
It was my friend Kerri's birthday and she requested them.
Essentially, just take your favorite chocolate or vanilla cake recipe [or you can use a box cake]. I pureed a snickers bar in the food processor and sprinkled the crums on top of the batter after pouring it in the cups. The caramel melts down into the cupcake. I find it works best with chocolate cupcakes. I used canned butter cream since this was kind of a last minute project. Then I sliced another snickers bar and garnished the top of some of them with slices.
The next thing I made were Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Blondies. AMAZING!!!
The recipe is as follows:
Recipe:
Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar (half brown, half white)
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups butterscotch chips/chocolate chips - I used 3/4 cup of each.
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375F. Line a 9×13 inch baking pan with foil or parchment paper.
2. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt.
3. Cream butter and sugar by hand or with an electric mixer. Add in eggs one at a time until incorporated. Stir in vanilla.
4. Add flour mixture to butter mixture in 2 additions, then add your chocolate/butterscotch chips and stir until batter is smooth. Spread evenly into your prepared pan.
5. Bake 20-25 minutes, until the edges are golden brown (A slightly longer baking time will produce a slightly more cakelike cookie). A tester should come out clean, if you use one.
Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then lift out onto a rack for further cooling. Cut bars as desired.
Next I made Vanilla Ricotta Cookies... they can also be made with lemon, but I personally prefer the vanilla. I plan on making some of both for Christmas Eve though. Here's some pictures and the recipe[s]
These cookies are so soft and cake like. They're my new favorite and put plain sugar cookies to shame!!
Ingredients
Cookies:
* 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
* 2 cups sugar
* 2 eggs
* 1 (15-ounce) container whole milk ricotta cheese
* 3 tablespoons lemon juice
* 1 lemon, zested
***If you want the Vanilla cookies instead - sub 1 teaspoon of vanilla INSTEAD of the lemon juice and lemon zest.
Lemon Glaze:
* 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
* 3 tablespoons lemon juice
* 1 lemon, zested
Vanilla Glaze:
* 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar
* 3 tablespoons of milk + some to get your desired consistency.
* teaspoon of vanilla
Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Cookies:
In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
In the large bowl combine the butter and the sugar. Using an electric mixer beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating until incorporated. Add the ricotta cheese, lemon juice, and lemon zest(Or Vanilla). Beat to combine. Stir in the dry ingredients.
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Spoon the dough (about 2 tablespoons for each cookie) onto the baking sheets. Bake for 15 minutes, until slightly golden at the edges. Remove from the oven and let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for 20 minutes.
Glaze:
Combine the powdered sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest in a small bowl, or you may sub the vanilla glaze ingredients, and stir until smooth. Spoon about 1/2-teaspoon onto each cookie and use the back of the spoon to gently spread. Let the glaze harden for about 2 hours. Pack the cookies into a decorative container.
The next thing I made was Tootsie Roll Chocolate/Peanutbutter Fudge
Ingredients:
1 Teaspoon plus 2 Tablespoons of butter, divided.
2 Cups of Tootsie Roll Midgees
2 Tablespoons of Peanutbutter
3 and 3/4 Cups of confectioner's [powdered] sugar
2 Tablespoons of milk
1 Teaspoon of vanilla
1 cup of chopped pecans [optional]
1/3 cup of red and green M&Ms [or as many as it takes to fill your pan]
- Line a 9 inch square pan with foil and grease with 1 teaspoon of butter. Set aside. In a heavy saucepan, melt the Tootsie Rolls, peanut butter and remaining butter over low heat, stirring constantly.
* I recommend a large saucepan as this gets very thick and can be hard to stir.
-Gradually stir in the confectioners' sugar, milk, and vanilla - mixture will be very thick. I alternated a cup of confectioners sugar with a 1/2 tablespoon of milk until everything was incorporated. It made the mixing easier.
- Spread into prepared pan. Using a sharp knife, score the surface into 1 inch squares. Press a M&M's candy into the center of each square. [You can eye ball this instead of using the knife, if you wish.] Cool. Using foil, remove fudge from pan. Cut into squares and store in an airtight container. Yields about 2lbs.
Finally, I made Secret Kiss Cookies. These taste great, but I found the recipe needed to be modified a bit.
Ingredients:
1 Cup of unsalted butter, softened.
1/2 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla
2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 cup of finely chopped walnuts [optional]
30 milk chocolate kisses
1 1/3 cups of confectioners' sugar, divided
2 tablespoons of baking cocoa.
- In a large bowl, cream the butter, sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Gradually add flour and mix well. Fold in walnuts if you wish [though I found they made the dough more difficult to work with]. Refrigerate dough for 2-3 hours or until firm.
- Shape into 1 inch balls [I really think this would've worked without the walnuts, but because of the walnuts I needed to make them more like 2 inches]. Flatten balls and place a chocolate kiss in the center of each; pinch dough together around kiss. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.
- Bake at 375 for 12 minutes until set but not browned. Cool for 1 minute; remove from pans to wire racks.
- Sift together 2/3 cup of confectioners' sugar and cocoa. While cookies are still warm. roll half in cocoa mixture and half in remaining confectioners' sugar. Cool completely and store in an airtight container.
***Note: It says that it yields 2-2 1/2 dozen. Because I made mine bigger because of the walnuts, I got about...20 cookies. While they tasted great, I think the modifications would make them better.
Hope you enjoyed!
The first thing I made was Snickers Chocolate Cupcakes.
It was my friend Kerri's birthday and she requested them.
Essentially, just take your favorite chocolate or vanilla cake recipe [or you can use a box cake]. I pureed a snickers bar in the food processor and sprinkled the crums on top of the batter after pouring it in the cups. The caramel melts down into the cupcake. I find it works best with chocolate cupcakes. I used canned butter cream since this was kind of a last minute project. Then I sliced another snickers bar and garnished the top of some of them with slices.
The next thing I made were Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Blondies. AMAZING!!!
The recipe is as follows:
Recipe:
Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar (half brown, half white)
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups butterscotch chips/chocolate chips - I used 3/4 cup of each.
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375F. Line a 9×13 inch baking pan with foil or parchment paper.
2. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt.
3. Cream butter and sugar by hand or with an electric mixer. Add in eggs one at a time until incorporated. Stir in vanilla.
4. Add flour mixture to butter mixture in 2 additions, then add your chocolate/butterscotch chips and stir until batter is smooth. Spread evenly into your prepared pan.
5. Bake 20-25 minutes, until the edges are golden brown (A slightly longer baking time will produce a slightly more cakelike cookie). A tester should come out clean, if you use one.
Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then lift out onto a rack for further cooling. Cut bars as desired.
Next I made Vanilla Ricotta Cookies... they can also be made with lemon, but I personally prefer the vanilla. I plan on making some of both for Christmas Eve though. Here's some pictures and the recipe[s]
These cookies are so soft and cake like. They're my new favorite and put plain sugar cookies to shame!!
Ingredients
Cookies:
* 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
* 2 cups sugar
* 2 eggs
* 1 (15-ounce) container whole milk ricotta cheese
* 3 tablespoons lemon juice
* 1 lemon, zested
***If you want the Vanilla cookies instead - sub 1 teaspoon of vanilla INSTEAD of the lemon juice and lemon zest.
Lemon Glaze:
* 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
* 3 tablespoons lemon juice
* 1 lemon, zested
Vanilla Glaze:
* 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar
* 3 tablespoons of milk + some to get your desired consistency.
* teaspoon of vanilla
Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Cookies:
In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
In the large bowl combine the butter and the sugar. Using an electric mixer beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating until incorporated. Add the ricotta cheese, lemon juice, and lemon zest(Or Vanilla). Beat to combine. Stir in the dry ingredients.
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Spoon the dough (about 2 tablespoons for each cookie) onto the baking sheets. Bake for 15 minutes, until slightly golden at the edges. Remove from the oven and let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for 20 minutes.
Glaze:
Combine the powdered sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest in a small bowl, or you may sub the vanilla glaze ingredients, and stir until smooth. Spoon about 1/2-teaspoon onto each cookie and use the back of the spoon to gently spread. Let the glaze harden for about 2 hours. Pack the cookies into a decorative container.
The next thing I made was Tootsie Roll Chocolate/Peanutbutter Fudge
Ingredients:
1 Teaspoon plus 2 Tablespoons of butter, divided.
2 Cups of Tootsie Roll Midgees
2 Tablespoons of Peanutbutter
3 and 3/4 Cups of confectioner's [powdered] sugar
2 Tablespoons of milk
1 Teaspoon of vanilla
1 cup of chopped pecans [optional]
1/3 cup of red and green M&Ms [or as many as it takes to fill your pan]
- Line a 9 inch square pan with foil and grease with 1 teaspoon of butter. Set aside. In a heavy saucepan, melt the Tootsie Rolls, peanut butter and remaining butter over low heat, stirring constantly.
* I recommend a large saucepan as this gets very thick and can be hard to stir.
-Gradually stir in the confectioners' sugar, milk, and vanilla - mixture will be very thick. I alternated a cup of confectioners sugar with a 1/2 tablespoon of milk until everything was incorporated. It made the mixing easier.
- Spread into prepared pan. Using a sharp knife, score the surface into 1 inch squares. Press a M&M's candy into the center of each square. [You can eye ball this instead of using the knife, if you wish.] Cool. Using foil, remove fudge from pan. Cut into squares and store in an airtight container. Yields about 2lbs.
Finally, I made Secret Kiss Cookies. These taste great, but I found the recipe needed to be modified a bit.
Ingredients:
1 Cup of unsalted butter, softened.
1/2 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla
2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 cup of finely chopped walnuts [optional]
30 milk chocolate kisses
1 1/3 cups of confectioners' sugar, divided
2 tablespoons of baking cocoa.
- In a large bowl, cream the butter, sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Gradually add flour and mix well. Fold in walnuts if you wish [though I found they made the dough more difficult to work with]. Refrigerate dough for 2-3 hours or until firm.
- Shape into 1 inch balls [I really think this would've worked without the walnuts, but because of the walnuts I needed to make them more like 2 inches]. Flatten balls and place a chocolate kiss in the center of each; pinch dough together around kiss. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.
- Bake at 375 for 12 minutes until set but not browned. Cool for 1 minute; remove from pans to wire racks.
- Sift together 2/3 cup of confectioners' sugar and cocoa. While cookies are still warm. roll half in cocoa mixture and half in remaining confectioners' sugar. Cool completely and store in an airtight container.
***Note: It says that it yields 2-2 1/2 dozen. Because I made mine bigger because of the walnuts, I got about...20 cookies. While they tasted great, I think the modifications would make them better.
Hope you enjoyed!