Cupcake Friday Project

A one-woman test kitchen meets nano-bakery

Category: cookies (page 1 of 9)

The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap 2014: Snacktime delight cookies

December 15, 2014 / / 0 Comments

The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap is back for 2014, marking it’s 4th year! From the site:

The GREAT FOOD BLOGGER COOKIE SWAP brings together food bloggers from around the world in celebration of all things scrumptious. The premise is this: sign up. Receive the addresses of three other food bloggers. Send each of them one dozen delicious homemade cookies. Receive three different boxes of scrumptious cookies from other bloggers. Eat them all yourself (or, you know, share. If you want. No judgement either way.) Post your cookie recipe on your blog. See everyone else’s cookie recipes. Salivate. Get lots of great ideas for next year’s cookie swap. Rinse and repeat.

The swap is partnered with Cookies for Kids’ Cancer, which is a fantastic nonprofit, and supported by sponsors such as OXO and Dixie Crystals. And it’s just really a lot of fun.

I’ve been participating in the swap since 2012, and have baked up recipes such as Chocolate toffee chip cookies with almonds and smoked sea salt and Dark chocolate caramel corn delights.

For this year, I took my favorite chocolate chip cookie base and mixed in pretzels and ruffled potato chips to make a fun snacktime-style cookie. They’re buttery, salty and just the right level of sweetness.

I also received some really lovely cookies, ranging from  soft chocolate cookies from Sara of Sensibly Sara (they melt in your mouth!), chocolate chip cranberry cookies from Crystal of Mrs. Happy Homemaker, and Hononghjerter from Ba-Li Cravings. But most importantly, the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap raises money for Cookies for Kids’ Cancer.

Do you have a food blog and want to participate next year? Sign up here to receive notifications about when the 2014 swap will start to organize and do your part to share some cheer over the holidays and raise money to help some really wonderful kids. It’s good for the soul.

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The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap 2014: Snacktime delight cookies

Yield: 40 cookies

Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
2 tablespoons ice water
10 oz (approximately 2 cups) flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
2 tsp salt
5 oz (approximately 3/4 cup) sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
5 oz (approximately 1/2 tightly packed cup plus 2 tbsp) brown sugar
12 oz semisweet chocolate chips
3 oz crumbled pretzels
3 oz crumbled ruffled potato chips

Directions

Melt the butter in a medium pan over medium-high heat.

Cook the butter, swirling regularly, until the butter is browned and has a nutty aroma. This should take about 5-7 minutes, depending on the strength of your stovetop.

Whisk in the ice water (which replaces the moisture cooked out while browning the butter), and cool in the fridge for 20 minutes.

In a large bowl stir together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine both sugars, eggs and vanilla extract. Mix on medium high speed until the mixture is golden, about 5 minutes.

Set the mixer on low and slowly pour in the browned butter. Once added, turn the speed up to medium and mix until combined.

On low speed, slowly add the dry ingredients, scraping down when necessary.

Add the chocolate chips, pretzels and potato chips, mixing gently to combine.

Cover tightly with plastic wrap and chill the cookie dough for at least 8 hours or up to 72 hours.

When you're ready to bake the cookies, heat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

Line cookie sheets with either parchment or baking silicone.

Scoop the cookies onto the sheet, leaving at least 1.5 inches between cookies.

Bake for 7 minutes, then rotate the pans from top to bottom and front to back. Bake for an additional 6-7 minutes.

Remove the cookie sheets from the oven and place on cooling racks. After about 5 minutes, the cookies can be transferred off of the cookie sheet and directly onto the rack.

Allow cookies to cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

https://cupcakefridayproject.com/2014/12/the-great-food-blogger-cookie-swap-2014-snacktime-delight-cookies/

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Chinese 5 spice snickerdoodles

December 3, 2014 / / 0 Comments


Because I have a cookie club with a few of my friends across the country, I’ve been baking A LOT of cookies this past year. It’s great because I can stretch my creativity and cookies ship easily, meaning I get to share them with ease.

This is a snickerdoodle recipe I’ve been using most of my life, with a handful of updates. The original recipe from a cookbook I no longer remember the name of (it was ANCIENT) called for shortening. Um, no. I don’t like the flavor of shortening, and can’t get behind baking with it. My mom had written in the margin of the cookbook “oil” next to shortening, and I used that for awhile, but I began to notice the taste of my cookies seeming a little off.

So now I use butter, which called for an adjustment to the flour. I also mix spices into the cookie dough, as well as roll the dough balls in sugar and spices. And while cinnamon is the classic spice for this kind of cookie, the Chinese 5 spice is an excellent substitute.

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Chinese 5 spice snickerdoodles

Yield: 50-60 cookies

Ingredients

3 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp Chinese 5 spice, plus 1/4-1/2 tsp additional spice to roll the cookies in
1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar, plus 2-4 tbsp additional sugar to roll the cookies in
2 eggs

Directions

Heat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or baking silicone.

Combine the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, salt, and Chinese 5 spice in a bowl, stirring gently to combine. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed, beating until pale and fluffy, 3-5 minutes.

Add the eggs and beat until combined.

Slowly add the dry ingredients and beat until the dough comes together. Chill for 10-20 minutes to make the dough easier to handle.

In a wide, shallow bowl, mix together the extra sugar and Chinese 5 spice.

Scoop the cookie dough and roll into 1 1/2-inch wide balls. Roll the shaped balls in the sugar and spice mixture, then place on the prepared cookie sheets, leaving at least 2 inches of space around each cookie.

Bake for 8-10 minutes until the bottoms of the cookies are slightly golden and the tops have cracked a bit. Cool fully on a rack before packaging or eating.

https://cupcakefridayproject.com/2014/12/chinese-5-spice-snickerdoodles/

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Cookie-inspired beers from Flying Dog Brewery in time for the holidays

November 24, 2014 / / 0 Comments

A couple weeks ago I received one of the latest creative collections from Frederick Maryland’s : The Holiday Collection.

Since I’m on the brewery’s media mailing list, I often get a bottle of a new beer every now and again, and when it makes sense, I bake with and write about them. But this package was surprising and different from many of the others. Within, there were 4 bottles of beer and a box of Otterbein cookies. The press release explained:

Introducing The Holiday Collection: 4 Otterbein’s cookie-inspired craft beers in a brand new variety 12-pack.

A Baltimore mainstay since 1881, the Otterbein’s cookie recipes have been passed down among 5 generations. Pairing tradition with innovation, the beers were inspired by and meant to pair with these iconic cookies.

Opening the box was a bit like Christmas morning. I unwrapped each carefully packed beer, reading the amusing label copy (Flying Dog never fails to make their beers fun), and within a bakery box were multiple bags of crispy cookies.

I sat down and sampled each beer, along with the cookie designated for each, and here are my thoughts:

Imperial Hefeweizen, inspired by and paired with Otterbein’s Sugar Cookies
This beer was my favorite out of the 4. It hit all the right hefe notes, with a little more spicy punch and an amazing aroma. And the sugar cookie did not disappoint. All of Otterbein’s cookies are extremely thin, but they don’t lack in flavor. This particular sugar cookie had a great crunch, was buttery, and had some toasty notes. Out of the 4, I feel like this was the best beer and cookie pairing.

Roasted Peanut Brown Ale, inspired by and paired with Otterbein’s Chocolate Chip Cookies
According to my press sheet, the particular yeast strain used in this beer gives it some roasty peanut notes, which I thought was rather clever. At first, I didn’t pick up the peanut flavor, but it sort of “bloomed” on my tongue (just a little homebrewer speak there). Sadly, the flavor began to dissipate as I continued sipping the beer and I was left with just a nice brown ale. The chocolate chip cookie was also crispy, but there was something off about the chocolate. I think it was milk chocolate, which I’m not a fan of, especially in cookies.

Oatmeal Raisin Stout, inspired by and paired with Otterbein’s Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
For an oatmeal stout, this beer was a bit thin and seemed more like a porter. I unfortunately didn’t pick up any raisin in the beer, and I think an imperial-style would have been better for this particular flavor profile. As for the cookie, they were wonderfully spiced and crispy and quite the delight to nibble.

Oak-Aged Hazelnut Scotch Ale, inspired by and paired with Otterbein’s Ginger Cookies
This beer is another one that uses specific ingredients to get a unique flavor: in this case, the malts provide the hazelnut character. But I couldn’t pick up any hazelnut. For an oak aged beer, this also was a bit volatile when first poured (all I could taste was the barrel), but after letting it sit a few minutes, it settled and was pleasantly nutty (just not hazelnutty). The ginger cookie delivered on the ginger and had that wonderful Otterbein crunch, but the pairing fell flat for me. I think a molasses-based cookie would have worked better.

Though not every beer and cookie pairing worked for me, I enjoyed seeing Flying Dog flex their creative muscle and have fun. They’re the kind of brewery I’m always excited to see more from, and as a baker, I really like the fact that they fostered such a great relationship with a well-loved Maryland bakery.

Disclosure: I received the beers and cookies from Flying Dog brewery to sample, however my opinions are my own.

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Blueberries and cream cookies

August 1, 2014 / / 0 Comments


While I think I like blueberries fresh off the bush the best, these cookies may become my new favorite. The cookie is chewy, caramely, with a gentle crunch to the edge, and then the tartness of the blueberries comes in. Heaven. Absolute heaven.

The cookie base for this recipe is inspired by Serious Eats’ Best Chocolate Chip Cookie, and I think it might become my new base for all cookies that have add-ins like this. I used to be a big fan of the New Best Recipe Chocolate Chip Cookie, but unfortunately those have been coming out hard. I much prefer a chewy cookie.

What have you been baking this summer? I know I’ve been keeping my baking to a minimum, mainly because I’ve been so busy working on our condo, training for the Bike MS: City to Shore Ride, volunteering at PAWS and writing for Table Matters. But I haven’t forgotten about all you lovelies!

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Blueberries and cream cookies

Yield: Approximately 48 cookies

Ingredients

Blueberries and Cream Cookie Ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
2 tablespoons ice water
10 oz (approximately 2 cups) flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
2 tsp salt
5 oz (approximately 3/4 cup) sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
5 oz (approximately 1/2 tightly packed cup plus 2 tbsp) brown sugar
8 oz dried blueberries
8 oz white chocolate chips

Directions

Melt the butter in a medium pan over medium-high heat.

Cook the butter, swirling regularly, until the butter is browned and has a nutty aroma. This should take about 5-7 minutes, depending on the strength of your stovetop.

Whisk in the ice water (which replaces the moisture cooked out while browning the butter), and cool in the fridge for 20 minutes.

In a large bowl stir together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine both sugars, eggs and vanilla extract. Mix on medium high speed until the mixture is golden, about 5 minutes.

Set the mixer on low and slowly pour in the browned butter. Once added, turn the speed up to medium and mix until combined.

On low speed, slowly add the dry ingredients, scraping down when necessary.

Add the dried blueberries and white chocolate, mixing to combine.

Cover tightly with plastic wrap and chill the cookie dough for at least 8 hours or up to 72 hours.

When you're ready to bake the cookies, heat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

Line cookie sheets with either parchment or baking silicone.

Scoop the cookies onto the sheet, leaving at least 1.5 inches between cookies.

Bake for 7 minutes, then rotate the pans from top to bottom and front to back. Bake for an additional 6-7 minutes.

Remove the cookie sheets from the oven and place on cooling racks. After about 5 minutes, the cookies can be transferred off of the cookie sheet and directly onto the rack.

Allow cookies to cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

https://cupcakefridayproject.com/2014/08/blueberries-and-cream-cookies/

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Sugar cookie cupcakes with cookie butter frosting

June 13, 2014 / / 0 Comments

Another month, and another cupcake taking its inspiration from a dessert. This time? The humble sugar cookie, which, when done right, is delightful on its own, with tea, or dressed with a simple icing.

For the cake, I kept it simple, using my tender and fluffy vanilla cake. This recipe bakes up beautifully and fills the entire house with the alluring scent of vanilla. Then, I used a secret weapon in the frosting: cookie butter spread. Some know it as Speculoos, or  I know some people who SWEAR by Trader Joe’s Cookie Butter. “But what the heck is it?” you ask.

Speculoos/Biscoff/Cookie Butter is a spread made with Belgian cookies that have been baked, crushed, and then mixed with oils to create a spread. The flavor is a little caramely, with hints of cinnamon, and it’s delightful. If you haven’t tried it before, I highly recommend picking up a jar.

As with most spreads, this whips into the buttercream beautifully. Definitely taste in-between sugar additions—you don’t want a sickeningly sweet frosting.

The garnish—in this case, actual sugar cookies that are about 1 1/2-inches wide, finish off the cupcake. You can either purchase your favorite sugar cookie, or bake some yourself, using this base cookie recipe. You’ll only use about 1/4 of the dough for the cupcake toppings, but you can easily freeze the rest of the sugar cookie dough for another time. Shape the remaining dough into a 1-inch disc, then wrap twice in plastic wrap—the dough will keep for at least 2 months if wrapped up well.

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Sugar cookie cupcakes with cookie butter frosting

Yield: 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

Vanilla Cupcake Ingredients
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/8 cup (6 tbsp) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 tbsp vanilla

Cookie Butter Buttercream
1/2 cup (1 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup cookie butter spread (like Speculoos)
1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp cream (as needed for texture)

Sugar cookies as garnish

Directions

Heat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and position the racks toward the center. Line pans with cupcake papers.

Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and gently mix to combine. Set aside.

Cream the butter with the sugar, beating until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs one at a time, mixing to combine.

Alternate the dry ingredients and milk, and mix until combined.

Add the vanilla extract, mixing to combine.

Divide the batter between 12 wrappers in the cupcake tins and bake for 20-22 minutes.

Cool completely on wire racks before frosting.

For the cookie butter frosting, beat the butter until light and fluffy. Add a 1/2 cup of sugar gradually, beating until combined.

Add the cookie butter spread and vanilla extract, then add the remaining sugar in 1/2 cup increments to your own taste. Check the texture ... if it's too stiff, add the cream, then whip until fluffy.

https://cupcakefridayproject.com/2014/06/sugar-cookie-cupcakes-with-cookie-butter-frosting/

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Strawberry shortcake 3 ways

June 12, 2014 / / 0 Comments

Strawberry shortcake is one of those desserts that I have a strong memory link to … I always think of summer and the long drive up to LaFayette, NY when shortcake season hits.

Lucky for me, I’m able to share this memory, as well as the whole debate of Team Biscuit vs. Team Cake in my very first article for Table Matters! I had a lot of fun writing for them (and should be doing so regularly now), and crafting 3 recipes:

  • My traditional strawberry shortcake using biscuits
  • Strawberry shortcake with vanilla pound cake (confession: this was the first pound cake recipe I’ve written and baked)
  • Strawberry shortcake cookies (for when you need a portable shortcake)

So pop over to Table Matters, give my article a read, check out the rest of this wonderful site, and then make yourself some shortcake!

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