Sugar Cookies aka Jacob Cookies

Mike has a friend named Tommy. Whenever we see him he calls me the cookie girl. So I told Mike the next time you see Tommy I'm going to make him a batch of cookies. I wasn't sure what kind of cookie person he was so I wanted to make something neutral.

Sugar Cookies

Dough

• 3 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup cream cheese
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 large egg

Topping

• 3/4 cup sugar for dredging

Dough

• 12 3/4 ounces King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 8 ounces unsalted butter
• 8 3/4 ounces sugar
• 2 ounces cream cheese
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 large egg

Topping

• 5 1/4 ounces sugar for dredging

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Lightly grease two baking sheets, or line with parchment. 1) In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

2) In a large bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, and cream cheese until light and fluffy.

3) Beat in the vanilla and almond extracts, and the egg; scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.

4) Add the flour mixture, and mix at low to medium speed until the mixture is evenly moistened.

5) Place the 3/4 cup sugar in a large plastic bag, or in a shallow pan. Scoop the dough by tablespoonfuls into the sugar, rolling them in the pan or gently shaking them in the bag to coat them with the sugar.

6) Place on the prepared baking sheets, leaving 2" between them.

7) Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. The edges of the cookies will just barely begin to brown.

8) Remove from the oven and cool on the pan for 5 minutes, before transferring to a rack to finish cooling completely.

Tip: If you like a chewier, moister, "bendy" cookie, add 2 tablespoons (1 3/8 ounces) corn syrup to the dough. The cookies will spread out a little more and be 1/4" thick once they're baked.



My Review: I've made this recipe twice and both time they came out really gooooood!!! I decided with half of the second batch to roll some of the dough in sprinkles (Jacob's favorite cookies). They came out great. I told my sister that Jacob would be jealous...hehe...I highly recommend this recipe and I will definitely make it again and again and again!

Daring Baker's Challenge: Cheesecake

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

This month has been a really busy month for me and my family. With a new baby at home I haven't had much time to do a lot of baking. When some of my husband's family were coming over to visit with us I decided to try my challenge for this month.

My father-in-law had an Aunt that would make cheesecake for local restaurants for a living. She would even send him one every year on his birthday as a gift. My husband always compares every cheesecake he tries to hers. Unfortunately she got sick before being able to pass down the recipe to anyone. So we are always in search for something that can compare to hers. So of course I got excited to try out a new recipe and see how it compares. Mike's favorite kind she made was with pineapple on the bottom which is what I tried to do with this one.





Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake:

crust:
2 cups / 180 g graham cracker crumbs
1 stick / 4 oz butter, melted
2 tbsp. / 24 g sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

cheesecake:
3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz) room temperature
1 cup / 210 g sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup / 8 oz heavy cream
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. vanilla extract (or the innards of a vanilla bean)
1 tbsp liqueur, optional, but choose what will work well with your cheesecake

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (Gas Mark 4 = 180C = Moderate heat). Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.

2. Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too - baker's choice. Set crust aside.

3. Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and alcohol and blend until smooth and creamy.

4. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.

5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done - this can be hard to judge, but you're looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don't want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won't crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.

Pan note: The creator of this recipe used to use a springform pan, but no matter how well she wrapped the thing in tin foil, water would always seep in and make the crust soggy. Now she uses one of those 1-use foil "casserole" shaped pans from the grocery store. They're 8 or 9 inches wide and really deep, and best of all, water-tight. When it comes time to serve, just cut the foil away.

Prep notes: While the actual making of this cheesecake is a minimal time commitment, it does need to bake for almost an hour, cool in the oven for an hour, and chill overnight before it is served. Please plan accordingly!

Review: I am going to start with the bad...well I should say my errors...I used the wrong size springform pan (10") and so my cheesecake was thinner then I expected. I thought I had the right size but then realized I didn't when it was too late. I should have used the casserole pan as suggested because my foil wrapping wasn't the best and some water did leak in which caused my crust to get a little soggy. Other than that everything came out great and the family loved the surprise of pineapple on the bottom. It wasn't like my husband's great-aunt's recipe but was still loved by the family!

Easter Dessert

I asked my sister-in-law if I could bring something for Easter dinner and she said a dessert. While food shopping, I had walked past the Easter candy isle and saw M&M's for Easter. That's when the idea of making a cookie cake popped into my head. Instead of using chocolate chips I would use the M&M's.


All I have to say is that it came out a lot better than the last one I made. The recipe tells you to leave an inch and a half border around the pan to let the cookie spread during baking. I must have been in a rush the last time I made it cause I didn't read that part carefully. I had spread the cookie dough to fill the whole pan. To make a long story short. The cookie spread over the edge of the pan and onto the oven floor. Where it started to burn and fill the house with smoke. So we had to open all the windows. Did I mention it was December!!! Also, the house smelted like burnt cookies for a few days. I told Mike I was going to write to Yankee Candle to let them know of a new scent. Burnt Cookie.

But this time I remember my past mistake and didn't make it again. Hooray Me!!

Chocolate Covered Marshmallows!

When Jacob was born I made chocolate covered pretzels for his Bris. So I asked Michelle when she was pregnant with William if she wanted me to make something like that for his Bris. She said yes. At first I was going to make the pretzels again, but then decided to do something different. Chocolate covered Marshmallows!!! I love making them...they are sooooo easy to make. The only problem I had was that when I made the Snowman for Christmas I used a Styrofoam block to stand them up while drying. I had thrown those out, thinking I wouldn't be making any kind of marshmallows for a while. So I had to get creative. What did I do.... I poked holes in a box.

Here's a picture of the finished product.

Now...Easter is Sunday and we're going to my brother-in-laws for dinner. I volunteered to bring a dessert (surprise, surprise) so while looking around the web for ideas I came across these marshmallow animals. I just had to try making them. I only made the chick, what do you think?

Is This Animal Cruelty?!?

I couldn't let the left over chocolate from making the chicks go to waste!!

Chicken w/ broccolli, bacon & shreaded cheese in the middle

I found this recipe on the kraft foods website and it looked so good I had to try it last night. A new twist to making chicken. It was so easy...the only tricky part was actually wrapping the chicken tightly with the chopped broccoli, bacon bits & shreaded cheese in it.

Ingredents:

Chicken breast, thighs (which ever you prefer)
Chopped fresh or thawed broccolli
Bacon chopped (I used bacon bits)
Bread crumbs

Using a meat tenderizer, flatten the chicken to about 1/2 inch. Sprinkle the chopped broccolli, bacon, & cheese on the chicken, then wrap tightly and secure with tooth picks. Coat wrapped chicken in bread crumbs and make sure completely covered.

Pre-heat oven to 400*, place breaded wrapped chicken, seam side down in a foil lined shallow baking dish. Cook for 25-30 mins or until chicken is cooked through. Remove all toothpicks and serve.















This took a bit longer to bake then the 30 mins it says...but that could just be my oven and the fact that I dont have a meat tenderizer and couldnt flatten the chicken as much as I should have. Kevin loved it, and I would def make this dish again. Very tasty.

March Recipe Round-Up

This month's recipe was Irish Soda Bread in honor of St. Patrick's Day:

Heidi: Irish Soda Bread, American Style
Jenn & Michelle: Irish Soda Bread Muffins

New Twist to an Old Ice Cream Cake Recipe

For Kevin's birthday I always make him an ice cream cake since he's not a huge fan of regular cakes. This year I thought I'd do something a bit different...since Kevin loves ice cream sandwiches I thought I'd incorporate them into his cake. I was given this recipe by a friend of the family and it turned out AWESOME!!

I first sprayed my spring form pan with pam cooking spray so the ice cream sandwiches wouldn't stick to the sides. Then I cut each ice cream sandwich in half long way, then in half short way giving me 4 pieces about 3 inches tall by 1 inch wide. Line the whole outer edge of the spring form pan with the small ice cream sandwiches. Then in a seperate mixing bowl, take your chocolate ( or oreo ) pie shell and mush to crumbs. Melt some butter and stir in until it holds together. Using half, press with a fork to the bottom of the spring form pan. Then using the first ice cream of your choice, fill the pan half way. Sprinkle the remaining chocolate crumbs over that then fill with your second choice of ice cream ( I always use vanilla as the top ice cream, that way you can decorate with candles, icing etc. ). Put in freezer to harden.

Birthday Cupcakes

On March 25th was my husband Mike's birthday. Where he works they are responsible for bring in their own birthday treats. I told him I would make him something to bring in, if he wanted me to. He said ok and then told me I had to make enough for around 40 people....So I went looking for ideas. I came across a blog called Smitten Kitchen and found the perfect birthday treat for Mike. Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes. What is an Irish Car Bomb Cupcake?!?....It's a chocolate Guinness cupcake with a whiskey (Jameson, of course) ganache filling and a Bailey's Irish Creme frosting. Mike told me they were a big hit everyone loved them. But they recipe only made 24, so I had to make something else. He told me not everyone drinks so I decided to also made just plain yellow cupcakes with chocolate frosting.

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

Yellow Cupcakes w/Chocolate Frosting

Classic Yellow Cake
12 tablespoons butter (1 1/2 sticks)
1 3/4 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 large eggs , plus 2 yolks
2 3/4 cups unbleached AP Flour
1 1/2 cups milk

Preheat the oven to 350

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, salt, baking powder, and vanilla until fluffy and light, at least 5 minutes.

Add the eggs to the butter mixture one at a time, beating well after each addition. Slowly blend one-third of the flout into the creamed mixture, then half the milk, another third of the flour, the remaining milk, and the remaining flour. Be sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl occasionally throughout this process.

Pour batter into cupcake pan and bake for 17-19 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for 10 minutes in pan and then turn out on a rack to cool completely before frosting.

Easy Chocolate Buttercream
1/2 cup semisweet, bittersweet or unsweetened chocolate, chopped
4 tablespoons butter
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 to 5 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 tablespoons milk or cream

Melt chocolate and set aside to cool to room temperature.

In a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter and salt until fluffy. Add about half of the sugar and beat slowly until well blended. Add the vanilla and half the milk and beat until fluffy. Add the melted chocoalte and mix until thoroughly blended. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the remaining sugar and milk alternately until they've been completely incorporated. Beat until the frosting is light and fluffy, adjusting the consistency with more milk or sugar as needed.

My Review: Both recipes were easy to make. I felt the frosting for the car bomb cupcakes might not have turned out right, but Mike said everyone loved them. The only thing I would do differently next time is not make and decorate all 48 cupcakes in one night....Boy was I tired afterwards and the kitchen was a mess. Live and learn!!

Our Sweet William

We are proud to introduce the newest member of our family: William

Born: 3/23/09 at 7:57am
Weight: 8lbs 9 oz
Length: 20.5"

Irish Soda Bread, American Style - KAF

One thing I love about March is the holiday St. Patrick's Day. It always inspires me to make some Irish Soda Bread. This year I decided to make King Arthur's American Style Soda Bread. Sorry no pictures. Mike wanted to start eating it 5 minutes after it came out of the oven.

Irish Soda Bread, American Style

4 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
5 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
2 cups milk
1 tablespoon caraway seeds
1 1/2 cups raisins

In a large bowl, sift together the dry ingredients; set aside. In another bowl, cream together the butter or margarine, eggs and sugar till light and fluffy.

Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients alternately with the milk. Stir in the caraway seeds and raisins.

Spoon the batter into a greased deep (9 x 4-inch round) cake pan or springform pan, or a deep angel-food or tube pan. Bake the bread in a preheated 325°F oven for about 1 1/2 hours (less in a tube or angel-food pan), or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove the bread from the oven, and cool on a wire rack. Yield: 1 sweet, moist, crumbly-textured loaf.

My Review: I didn't have a deep 9x4 round cake pan so I used to 9x4 loaf pans. It was easy to make and very tasty. Since it had a generous amount of butter in it and you need to spread any one. I though this recipe tasted great and is very moist, but I kind of like the dry version a little more. This came out more like a cake than bread. But I would make it again.