Glacé Icing

I am a firm believe that all baked goods should look and taste great (hint: they do not need to be mutually exclusive). 

Nobody really cares how pretty your cupcakes look if they have a flat (but pretty!) piece of fondant on top with no icing or, you know, flavor.  The same goes for cookies with icing that dries pretty but will break your teeth or ruins the flavor of the cookie itself.  Royal icing is notorious for looking gorgeous but tasting like.... nothing.  Hard, crusty, nothing.  I used to prefer icing my sugar cookies with buttercream to avoid this, but it's not as precise and much harder to stack if you need to transport them.  One day, I discovered glacé icing - a sweet glaze-like frosting that dries hard, can be used for detailed designs and actually tastes amazing! 

Our friends have a little guy named Kieran who had his first birthday a few weeks ago, so I took the opportunity to create some star-shaped and sports themed cookies that matched the tablecloth his mom picked out. The great thing about this icing is that one batch can make an unlimited amount of colors.  You just have to separate into smaller bowls and use gel food coloring and mix with a spoon - it's as easy as that!  If you are piping a border or plan to pipe on top of your background icing (like the football/baseball laces or the "K"'s and "1"'s) it's best to let them dry overnight in between steps so the icing doesn't run or smudge.  This recipe is pretty forgiving once you get the hang of it.  If you need more help or want some step-by-step pictures, Our Best Bites has the best tutorial ever for this technique!

Glacé Icing

1 pound bag of powdered sugar
6 tablespoons whole milk
6 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 teaspoon almond extract (or vanilla, if you prefer)

Combine the milk and sugar with a whisk attachment in the bowl of your stand mixer until no lumps remain.  Stir in corn syrup and almond extract.  Use this to glaze (for your background colors).  This is most easily done spreading the icing onto the cookie using the back of a spoon.  For piping letters or accents, I generally add another 1/2 cup to 1 cup of powdered sugar and stir until combined.  This increases the thickness of the icing and makes it easier to pipe. Remember to let the glaze dry before piping on top of it!  Use a pastry bag with a small circle tip to make this even easier.

*Remember to let them dry completely overnight before stacking!*

Fluffernutter Sandwich Cookies

It's no secret I'm a fluffernutter fiend. <-- Make those cupcakes and you'll see why.

I lived in Spain for four months during my junior year of college.  For those who may be unfamiliar, they don't really eat peanut butter in Spain (or anywhere in Europe that I visited for that matter).  I didn't really consider this before moving or I probably would have packed about 26 jars in my luggage.  No friends, this was a lesson learned the hard way.  The funny part is, I brought my host family a gift that included Reese's Peanut Butter Cups when I arrived and my 19-year old host brother literally ate the entire bag in two days.  So I guess he didn't hate them.

After about my first month there, I discovered a little tiny store run by an expat that sold international foods, teas, and trinkets.  Lo and behold.... peanut butter.  I think it was like 8 or 9 euros a jar but obviously it was a no-brainer.  I would have asked the shop owner to procure me some marshmallow fluff, but I didn't want to push my luck.

Fluffernutter Sandwich Cookies
Makes about 10 sandwiches (20 cookies)
Cookie recipe from Bakers Royale; frosting adapted from How Sweet Eats

1 cup peanut butter (smooth or crunchy)
1 cup sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup marshmallow fluff
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar

For the cookies: place all ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix on low until combined.  Using a cookie dough scoop or a rounded tablespoon, place about a tablespoon and a half of dough onto parchment-lined baking sheet.  Use a fork to flatten the dough using a criss-cross design.  Bake for about 10-12 minutes or until they begin to turn golden brown around the edges.  Let the cookies rest on the sheets for a few minutes before transferring to cooling racks to cool completely.

For the frosting: beat the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer until creamy.  Add the fluff and beat again until combined.  Scrape the bowl to make sure everything is incorporated.  Stir in the vanilla. Finally, stir in the powdered sugar a little bit at a time and then beat until creamy.

To assemble: spread the marshmallow buttercream between two (completely cooled!) cookies to make a sandwich.  Enjoy!



Chocolate Peanut Butter No-Bake Cookies

I was under a cookie curse for about a month before my wedding.

No matter what recipe I tried to make in those few weeks, they were epic fails.  I burned one batch.  Another batch spread way too much to form one big jumbled mega-cookie.  My Silpat slipped and I dropped a different batch on my open oven door before I could bake them.  The oven door was hot so they immediately started cooking and it took like 20 minutes to scrape off and clean up.  Point being - there was some serious bad cookie juju going on.  The thing is... up until that point, I had NEVER screwed up cookies.  Some of these were tried and true recipes I've made a million times before.  I chalk it up to wedding brain and trying to focus on a million other things, but to this day I have not figured it out. 

The greatest part of these particular cookies?  No baking!  They're fast, there is no oven involved (perfect for summer if you don't want to heat up your house) and they're gluten free.  These come together in about 20 minutes total and are totally foolproof.  Take that, bad cookie juju.

Chocolate Peanut Butter No-Bake Cookies:
Heavily adapted from Brown Eyed Baker
Makes about 30 cookies


1 stick butter
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup milk
4 tablespoons Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa powder
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups quick cooking oats
peanut butter chips

In a medium saucepan, combine butter, sugar, milk and cocoa powder over medium heat.  Bring to a boil while whisking smooth, and let boil for about a minute.  Remove from heat.  Stir in peanut butter and vanilla extract, and stir until the peanut butter melts.  Add the oats and stir to coat.  Drop by rounded tablespoons onto wax covered baking sheets.  Individually press peanut butter chips into the tops of the cookies, if desired.  Let cookies cool on baking sheets until they are set.

Lemon Ricotta Cookies with Lemon Glaze

Happy Weekend time, friends!  This week was a doozy.  I was traveling for work and stayed in a hotel with no internet (side note: what hotel doesn't have internet anymore? It's 2013.)  Because of this, there was an appalling lack of posting this week. For that, I am truly sorry.  I will make it up to you by sharing these amazing Lemon Ricotta Cookies with Lemon Glaze from my main Food Network babe Giada DeLaurentiis.

I first made these cookies as part of a Christmas cookie ensemble a few years ago to break up all the chocolate options I had, and they have been in the regular rotation ever since.  I think they work even better in April where the bright, lemony flavor is reminiscent of all things Spring.  The ricotta gives these cookies a dense but fluffy texture, making these babies airy little lemon clouds of yum.  That's the highly-technical foodie description.  Clouds of yum.  The cookies themselves are not overly sweet, but the glaze adds the perfect amount of sweetness and tartness in that second layer of lemon flavor that is totally drool-inducing.  If you are a lemon lover, these are a must make.

Second side note: while making these, a sheet of parchment with raw cookies slid directly on to my hot oven door, I accidentally hit the mixer to "on" before I was ready and spewed dry ingredients all over myself, and I dropped a whisk coated with glaze all over my floor.  But it's Saturday, it's sunny, and I have freshly baked cookies, so I'm choosing to be okay with it. 

Lemon Ricotta Cookies with Lemon Glaze:
Recipe by Giada DeLaurentiis from the Food Network
Makes about 44 cookies

2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 (15-oz) container whole milk ricotta cheese
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 lemon, zested

Glaze:
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 lemon, zested

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.  In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt.  Set aside.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, add the softened butter and sugar.  Beat until lighter in color and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Add the eggs one at a time, mixing to combine after each addition.  Scrape the sides as needed, then add the ricotta, lemon juice and lemon zest.  Beat until thoroughly combined.  Add the dry ingredients gradually and beat once more until incorporated.

Drop the dough (each cookie should be about 2 tablespoons) onto the prepared cookie sheets.  Bake for 13-15 minutes or until the edges begin to turn slightly golden brown.   Leave the cookies on the baking sheet for about 20 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.  Stir all ingredients for the glaze together with a whisk.  Spoon onto each cookie and spread around gently.  Let the glaze harden for about 2 hours before storing and/or stacking. 

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

Try to be unhappy when you're eating a cupcake.  Just. . . try.  It's pretty much impossible.  Just looking at this picture makes me giddy.

So last weekend, I finally decided to tackle these Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes.  They have been on my list for awhile, but I needed to scour the Internet to find the perfect recipe that had the right balance of chocolate chip flavor in the cake, an eggless cookie dough filling and a fluffy brown sugar buttercream.  And spell check really needs to stop telling me "buttercream" isn't a word because it's going to be a reoccurring theme on this blog.  Obviously.

I hit the jackpot with this recipe from Amanda at Fake Ginger.  It has a dense, chocolate chip flecked cake with a filling that tastes exactly like the cookie dough you sneak while baking that you know you