Rolled Buttercream

I have a friend who is trying to get pregnant - so I figured a little "bouquet" of sperm and egg cookies was in order! Also gave me the perfect excuse to try rolled buttercream on cookies.  Was a great success, I must say!

Recipe:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup light corn syrup (I could only find golden syrup so I used that.  I think they recommend light so your rolled buttercream isn't tinted slightly brown.  I was dying mine so didn't really care)
about 4 cups sifted icing sugar
1 tsp extract (I used almond)
1 pkg instant pudding (I used white chocolate)

1.  Beat corn syrup and butter until combined (the picture is pre mixed)

2.  Add about 1/2 the icing sugar, pudding (not made, so you are adding the powder) and the extract.  Beat with hand mixer until it sounds like it is going to die (or use your fancy stand up mixer if you have one).  Don't worry if it seems like a crumbled mess - it will come together!

3.  Knead in the rest of the icing sugar by hand, adding a small amount at a time until at desired consistency.  (if I was using this on a cake, I would make it a bit "denser" so it would not rip)

(in this photo I had added the white food coloring which is why it is white)

4. Roll out and cut with cookie cutters...

Seems easy, right??  here's a trick I learned...

I rolled out the buttercream on parchment paper.  I then froze the cut out icing while my cookies were baking.  This made it easier to transfer them onto the cookies without losing their shape.

Once the cookies were done, I let them cool slightly (about 3 minutes) then put the buttercream on the warm cookies.  The heat from the cookies softened the icing enough I could push it into place (to the edges) of the cookie.

Then I let them cool and made into my "bouquet".  All in all, happy with the turnout! While making the buttercream was time consuming, it was way easier to decorate the cookies! I will definitely use this technique again (and again, and again, and again...)

"Skor Candy"

This is one of my favorite candy's to make.  It's not the prettiest thing to come out of my kitchen but it is easy and delicious!

1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
splash of vanilla (optional)
graham crackers
bag of chocolate chips (at least 300g)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line a cookie try with tin foil and cover with graham crackers.

Melt the butter and brown sugar in the microwave (about 1 1/2 minutes on high).  Stir until it combines and add vanilla if desired.  It will thicken as you stir, it almost like a caramel sauce.

Pour over the graham crackers and bake for 8 minutes in oven

When done, remove from oven and cover with chocolate chips.  Return to oven for 1 minute

 Remove from the oven and spread chocolate chips with knife or spactula.

Refrigerate the pan for at least 2 hours, but I usually leave it in the fridge over night.

Once refrigerated, break like brittle.  Store in air tight container.  I personally like to freeze mine =)

YUM!!

YORKSHIRE PUDDING SUCCESS!!

I have struggled with flat, hockey puck like yorkshire pudding's for years... until today! Thanks to the advice of a local chef, I finally produced large, fluffy, perfect yorkshire puddings for tonight's roast beef dinner.  I'm so happy...

HOW I DID IT
-preheat oven to 350 degrees
-fill each cavity of a muffin tin with a tbsp of vegetable oil
-put in oven for at least 45 minutes

While pan is heating...
- crack and measure eggs into a 1 cup measuring cup (it took me about 4 large eggs then I topped it off with liquid egg whites to get exactly 1 cup).  Beat eggs until well beaten (until all yellow)
-measure exactly 1 cup of milk and pour into beaten eggs.  beat with hand mixer for 3 minutes.
-add exactly 1 cup of flour, a little salt and pepper and a pinch of nutmeg.  Stir into egg/milk mixture with whisk until just blended.
-cover and put in refrigerator until pan is heated.

Once pan is heated, remove from oven and quickly fill each cup with batter until the oil hits the top of the cup. (the oil should sizzle when the batter hits it).  You want to do this as fast as possible and get back into oven.  Set the timer for 40 minutes and WALK AWAY.  Do not go near that oven again until the 40 minutes is up. 

After 40 minutes your puddings should be baked.  Even if you need to bake them a bit longer, they should still hold their shape and size after 40 minutes.

Is there anything better than a sugar cookie?

One of my favorite cookies is a sugar cookie.  I just love them.  There's icing, they're soft, they are typically large in size - everything I want a cookie to be! BUT I have never had great success in baking them.  They look great on the cookie sheet - but turn into these odd deformed shapes when I bake them (from spreading too much).  So, I set out to figure out WHY and how to get them to keep their shapes.  Here's what I learned...

1 - the butter shouldn't be too soft.
ok, mixing hard butter sucks - especially by hand (more on that shortly).  I was always the one who would take my butter out 3 days before I was going to bake so it was almost at the melting point.  Not a good idea when wanting cookies not to spread, apparently. And I always use butter in my baking, never lard.  Lard just sounds... bad.  So, your butter should be soft but not melting.  I found leaving it out overnight to defrost (we freeze ours until we need it) then popping it in the fridge about an hour before I need it worked well.
2 - don't use a hand mixer or one of those fancy stand mixers.  mix by hand. 
I am not one for creating more work, or making work harder, but mixing by hand is key.  Unlike when baking a cake (hmmmm.... cake) you don't want lots of air bubbles in this dough.  So mixing by hand with a wooden spoon it is (right after I press my husbands shirts and hang the laundry... whoops! just writing mix by hand with a wooden spoon made me think I was back in 1950...)
3 - preheat your oven for a least 1/2  hour.
Don't ask why.... you just need to believe.
4-cut the cookies into shapes then plop the cookie sheet into the freezer for 15 minutes before baking
You'll see from the recipe that the dough is chilled prior to rolling it out but it warms up while you are re-rolling and cutting.   Also, you never want to bake a cookie - any cookie - on a warm or hot cookie sheet (unless your preference is hard cookies).
5-pray
and I'm not even religious...

THE RECIPE
This is the receipt I know use after trying countless others.  One - they don't spread as much as others I have tried and two - they are freaking delicious! Sometimes I don't even get to the decorating part before they are gone..
When using this recipe, keep in mind this is what works for me, my oven and where I live (in Alberta so I am about 3500 feet above sea level - baker's nightmare)

3 cups flour (all purpose)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup butter - I use salted butter.  if using unsalted, you may want to add in some salt
1 cup sugar
2 eggs **I add an extra egg due to my location.  if you are not at least 2000 feet above sea level, you probably only need 1
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tbsp or so milk **again, due to my location.


1 - cream butter and sugar (with your wooden spoon) until just mixed

2 - add eggs and vanilla

3 - mix dry ingredients and add to butter mixture

4 - mix until just incorporated (OK, truth be told at this point I throw away the wooden spoon and just mix with my hands.)

I then roll out my dough (I tend to make it thick  cause I like soft cookies) between 2 sheets of parchment paper.  I then put all my rolled out dough in the fridge overnight (or at least 2 hours).  By rolling between sheets of parchment paper, I do not have to roll on a floured surface - less mess.

The next day, I cut the cookies and then place back in the freezer for at least 15 minutes before baking.  Again, I preheat my oven at 350 degrees for at least 1/2 hour.  Cookies take about 10 minutes to bake.

THE ICING

I am not the best decorator but I try!  I like sugar cookies icings that harden when dry so I can stack the cookies in a container but don't like a true royal icing.  So this is the one I use...

-about 2 cups icing sugar

-1 - 2 tsp almond extract 

- 1 tbsp milk or whipping cream (if I have it - if not, I just use milk)

- 1 tbsp light corn syrup (I think this is what makes it harden as well as gives it a nice glossy glow).  I could be wrong.

Mix and color with food coloring.  I personally then use a small paint brush to "paint" my cookies - better control then a knife and easy for the kids!

RESULTS

here is a picture of my first attempt...

     They tasted great! And they still look like hearts so they held their shape pretty well.   But I think I need to learn either how to "flood" my icing so they are a bit neater or I am curious to try "rolled buttercream icing" (what's that, you say? think fondant but way better tasting).  Stay tuned for THOSE results....

An introduction....

I'm not the crafty mom.  I'm not the soccer mom.  I'm not the sew my kids Halloween costumes and volunteer in their classrooms mom either.  But I am the baking mom!

I could bake everyday (except I'd end up eating it all).  I'm always on the hunt for better recipes, new ideas, new challenges... and the internet is a wealth of information - too much information sometimes! And I am NOTORIOUSLY bad for finding a recipe, liking it then never being able to find that website again. So decided to write my adventures down... and maybe along the way, my mistakes will make someone else's job easier!

Feel free to comment, steal recipes, post suggestions...or share your own tried and true successes!!