Football sugar cookies

That Steelers loss the other week hurt. (Didn't hurt too much since they didn't exactly play well, but it still hurt.) I made these cookies for the big game, and was really happy with how they came out.

Once again, I used this sugar cookie recipe. I cut the cookies into jersey and football shapes. For the royal icing, I added in 1/2t of lemon extract to liven up the flavor. Once the outline icing was ready, I separated out two small bowls of it (for the lettering), and divided the rest between two larger bowls. Using the small bowls and food coloring gel, make one bowl yellow and one bowl white. In the larger bowls, dye one bowl brown and one black.

For the jersey cookies:

Once dry (overnight), use the yellow and white icing to write in player names and numbers, and to decorate the arms of the jerseys.

For the football cookies: 

Thin the icing, then used it to flood the cookies.

Once dry, use the white icing to decorate the stitching.



And if you're a Steelers fan (or just a football fan in general), check out this post from Bakerella. So amazing I was speechless.

Homemade Oreo Hearts

Now I've done homemade Oreos before, but given my Type A personality, I couldn't deal with the cookies in them being different shapes and sizes. I was looking through old posts from Bake at 350 the other day, and saw a post for her version of Oreos, and decided I needed to try again (especially since her's were so darn cute). Since I liked my version of the cream filling, I used that again, but tried her recipe for the cookies. And with it being Valentine's Day and all, I made these cookies in a heart shape!

These cookies are cut out cookies, so they require a little more work. I had a ton of trouble getting the dough to stick together, and it was obvious when they were baked. I'm not sure what my problem was, but even if they're hard to get to come together, the taste is totally worth the extra effort. These cookies are the perfect blend of sweet and salty, and would taste great by themselves.

Chocolate Cut Out Cookies

(from Bake at 350)

2.5c flour

1/2c cocoa

1/2t salt

1c butter (unsalted), softened

1c sugar

1 egg

1t vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350, and line baking sheets with parchment.

Stir together the first 3 ingredients, then set aside.

Cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla.

Gradually add in the flour mixture.

Chill the dough for about an hour.

Roll dough onto a surface covered in flour and cocoa (evenly mixed).

Cut out the cookies with a heart shaped cookie cutter.

Press a smaller heart shaped cookies cutter into the center, but not the whole way through (only about halfway).

Bake 7-9 minutes, then let cool.

Meanwhile prepare the filling.

Fill the cookies using a piping bag, or by spreading in the center.

Valentine's Day Cookies

I know it's a little late, but if you're anything like me, you've had your Valentine's Day treats planned for weeks now and have been getting really excited to make them! There have been so many great posts on other blogs this week and I'm thinking I might have to start celebrating Valentine's Day every day so that I can try out all the great ideas I've seen.

This year I made a couple things - cookies, cupcakes and ice cream! I'll slowly be posting those over the next few days, but today I'm going to share my heart shaped sugar cookies with you. I wanted to make them look like candy hearts since those are one of my favorite candies, but my piping skills aren't quite up to par so they didn't come out as planned. (Still tasty though!)

I recently purchased this Ateco food coloring. While I really love the bright vibrant colors, it's been making my royal icing a weird texture, and it hasn't been getting quite as hard as normal.

Here's the sugar cookie recipe I used, and I cut them into various sized hearts. Once cooled, pipe the outline onto the cookies using royal icing. Use a few drops of your favorite food coloring gel to tint the icing whatever color you'd like. To make the icing taste a little better, I added 1/2t of lemon juice. About 1/2 of the royal icing recipe should cover cookies from the whole dough recipe. Reserve a small amount of the icing for lettering.

Fill the cookies with flood icing and let sit overnight.



The next day (when dry), lay a large piece of parchment on the counter or table and sprinkle a generous amount of sanding sugar in the center. I used both white and bright pink sugar, but the white definitely looked better since it was a contrast to the cookie color.

Using the reserved icing, pipe on any words you'd like, and an outline. Immediately dip the cookie into the sanding sugar, then let sit to dry. Once all of the cookies are decorated, pour the excess sugar back into the container.

For the mini cookies, I used the outline icing to fill in the center of the cookies, then pressed a little harder when I put them in the sanding sugar so the icing would spread to the edges in a heart shape.

 

Package each cookies in a cellophane bag to prepare them for your Valentine...or to ship them to your friends and family (get ready Mom & Dad).

Pittsburgh's Going to the Super Bowl!

I've had a sugar cookie recipe that I've been wanting to try for a while, and since I've also been wanting to retry royal icing after my slightly failed attempt, I thought I'd make some Steelers cookies for the game this past weekend.

My royal icing skills still need some major work - I don't think my hand will ever be steady enough to make it work - but the cookie base this time was much better than the last. If I were to make these again, I'd fill the cookies entirely in white royal icing and then draw on the whole logo using edible markers. I'm thinking I might have to try that for the Super Bowl!

The number of cookies this recipe makes will vary based on the size of your cookie cutters. I used a large round cutter and got about 20 cookies. The dough can also be frozen for up to 3 months if you don't want to use it all at once.

Steelers Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing

For the cookies:

3/4c softened butter

1c sugar

1t baking powder

1/4t salt

2 eggs

1t vanilla

2.5c flour

For the icing:

4T meringue powder

1/2c water, scant

2.5c confectioners sugar

1t light corn syrup

Divide dough in half. Cover and chill at least 4 hours.

Roll dough to about 1/4" thick. Cut out using cookie cutters or knife.

Let cookies cool completely before decorating.



Add corn syrup. Increase speed and beat until stiff peaks form, about 5 mins.

Using this icing, pipe the outline of the cookies, and the logo outline.

Add water to the icing, one tablespoon at a time, until it is the consistency of syrup.

Cover the icing with a damp towel and let sit for several minutes.

Run a rubber spatula through the icing gently to remove air bubbles.

Separate out a small portion of the icing into three bowls, leaving most of the icing in the main bowl.

Transfer the white icing to a squeeze bottle and use it to fill the white areas of the logo.

(Don't fill the whole way - fill in lines and use a toothpick to spread to the edges.)

Add gel food coloring to the other three bowls - yellow, red, and blue.

Repeat the process of filling the cookies using the colored icing.

Let sit overnight.

Using an edible food marker, write in the team name and outline the logo.

Brownie Pillow Cookies

I can't remember where I first saw these cookies. I've tried the brownie/chocolate chip cookie mixes from the grocery store before but they never quite come out right, so this recipe intrigued me.

Brownie Pillow Cookies

 For the brownie:

1/2 c butter, melted

1 c sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

1/2 c all-purpose flour

1/3 c cocoa powder

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

For the cookies:

1 c butter, room temperature

1 1/2 c packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs, plus 1 egg yolk

1 T vanilla extract

2 1/2 c all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

12 oz bag semi-sweet mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9 inch square baking pan.

For the brownies, stir together butter, sugar and vanilla. Add eggs, beating well. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Gradually add to egg mixture, beating until well blended. Spread evenly into pan and bake 20-25 minutes. Once cool, cut about 10 one inch squares.

For the cookies, beat butter until creamy. Add brown sugar and beat until smooth. Add eggs, yolk and vanilla, beating until smooth. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add flour mixture to butter mixture and beat until combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Chill dough in refrigerator for an hour.

Scoop batter into 1/2 c portions. Place on parchment paper lined baking sheet. Make an indentation in the center and put brownie square into indentation. 

Work remaining dough into ball around brownie.

The cookies will get very large, so put only 4-5 per baking sheet. Bake for about 18 minutes.

Sugar Cookie Bars

I originally saw these on Love and Olive Oil. They're really tasty, and the bar form makes them very easy to make.

Sugar Cookie Bars

 For the cookies:

1 c unsalted butter, room temperature

2 c sugar

4 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

5 c all-purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

For the frosting:

1 c butter, room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

pinch of salt

1 c confectioners sugar

5 T milk

food coloring

Preheat oven to 375.

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time. Mix in vanilla. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, salt and baking soda. Gradually add butter mixture and mix until just combined. Grease a large rimmed baking sheet (13x18) or line with parchment paper. Evenly spread batter into pan. Bake 15-20 minutes until light golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.

To make frosting, beat butter until fluffy. Mix in vanilla and salt. Add confectioners sugar, one cup at a time, until combined and then add milk and mix until smooth. Add food coloring if desired. Spread over cooled cookies, then cut into bars.

Homemade Oreos

I love oreos... so much that I could eat an entire package in one sitting. When I came across a recipe for homemade oreos (I forget where I saw it), I knew I needed to try making them. These cookies taste almost like the real thing, but are a bit sweeter. Luckily I like them that way because it makes me stick to one or two instead of eating the whole batch.

Chocolate Wafer Cookies

For the wafers:

1 1/4 c all-purpose flour

1/2 c unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/4 c sugar

1/2 c + 2 T butter, room temperature

1 large egg

For the filling:

1/2 c butter, room temperature

1/2 c vegetable shortening

2 c confectioners' sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375.

Using a mixer, combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt and sugar. While on low speed, add the butter and then the egg. Continue mixing until dough forms a mass. Place rounded teaspoons of batter on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Slightly flatted the dough with your hands. Bake for 9 minutes.

For the filling, mix butter and shortening, and gradually beat in sugar and vanilla. Turn mixer to high and beat for 2-3 minutes, or until filling is light and fluffy. Pipe blobs of cream into the center of one cookie and place another cookies of equal size on top, pressing to work the filling to the outside edges of the cookie.

Relay for Life

A few weeks ago I participated in Relay for Life. My sister started a team 5 years ago when our grandmother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and our family and friends have been participating ever since. It always amazes me how many people are willing to donate their time and money to the event - it shows how many people have been impacted in some way by cancer and want to do what they can to find a cure.

Since this year's theme was birthdays, I decided to make cut out cookies shaped like birthday cakes and birthday presents. I didn't want sugar cookies so I tried making chocolate chip ones using the recipe from the Toll House chocolate chips bag. Unfortunately, they turned into big blobs so I tried using decorating icing to show the shapes. I've made cut outs with chocolate chip cookies before and they worked, so I'm guessing you need a recipe that's more of a sugar cookie base with the chocolate chips added.

I also made some ribbon cut out cookies, using a sugar cookie recipe and royal icing to decorate. For the royal icing, I bought Wilton's meringue powder and used the recipe included, but added a little bit of vanilla extract for flavor.

Vanilla Almond Sugar Cookies

(from Bake at 350)

3c unbleached all-purpose flour

2tsp baking powder

1c sugar

1c butter

1 egg

1/2tsp vanilla extract

1/2tsp almond extract

Preheat oven to 350. Combine flour and baking powder then set aside. Cream the sugar and butter, then ass the egg and extracts. Gradually add the flour mixture and beat until just combined. Roll on a (heavily) floured surface and cut into shapes. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

With the royal icing, pipe the outline of the cookies. For the icing filling, thin the icing with water, 1T at a time, until it reaches the consistency of syrup. See tips here.

I chose to color mine purple since it's the color of the ribbon for pancreatic cancer and also the color of Relay for Life. I used a purple gel food coloring. Since the icing is initially white, you can divide it and color it however you like. Once the filling is added, let sit overnight or until completely dry.

And now the finished product - royal icing is hard to work with!