Carrot cake cookies with cream cheese drizzle

6 Jan

For some reason, the idea of a carrot cake cookie popped into my head a week or so ago. And when our friends Aaron and Diane invited us over for a New Year’s Day Hair of the Dog-style party, I knew it would be the perfect excuse to make some.

My recipe is adapted from Martha Stewart, and instead of making a thick cream cheese frosting to sandwich in-between the cookies, I opted for a lighter drizzle.

Guests really enjoyed the cookies, and polished off the 3 dozen I brought with us (the other 2 dozen got divided up so I could send some for friends—un-iced—and keep some for us). Definitely give these a try if you’re a carrot cake fan, and if you like walnuts and raisins, add those, too!

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Carrot cake cookies with cream cheese drizzle

Yield: 5 dozen

Ingredients

Carrot Cake Cookie Ingredients
2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp Chinese 5 spice
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cloves
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp princess cake and cookie baker's emulsion (optional)
1 1/2 cups oats
1 cup finely shredded carrots

Cream Cheese Drizzle Ingredients
4 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1 tbsp lemon juice
3 tbsp whole milk

Directions

Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, Chinese 5 spice, ginger and cloves in a bowl, whisking lightly to combine. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter for a minute, and then add the sugars. Beat on medium high for 3 minutes until the mixture is light and fluffy.

Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing in between each addition.

Add the vanilla extract and Princess Cake and Cookie bakers emulsion, mixing to combine.

Gradually add the dry ingredients, scraping down the bowl as necessary.

Add the oats, mixing to combine, then add the finely shredded carrots, mixing again until combine.

Chill the dough for at least and hour.

As the dough chills, make the cream cheese drizzle.

Beat the cream cheese in the mixer until it's light and fluffy. Add the salt and mix to combine.

Sift the confectioners sugar into a separate bowl, then slowly add it to the cream cheese mixture. Beat to combine.

Add the lemon juice, followed by the milk, and beat on medium for 3-5 minutes. Set aside.

Once the dough has chilled, heat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line baking sheets with parchment paper or bakers' silicone.

Scoop the dough with a tablespoon-sized spoon or scoop, positioning the cookies so there is at least 1.5 inches between them. Bake for 12-15 minutes.

Once the cookies are golden, remove them from the oven and cool on the pans for 5 minutes, then remove them from the pans and finish cooling on a wire rack.

Once the cookies have cooled, apply the cream cheese drizzle with either a piping bag, spoon or fork. Do not stack, because this will smear the cream cheese.

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Cupcake Friday’s 2013

31 Dec

That’s a snippet of my 2013 year in blogging report from JetPack (a plugin I use for my site). It still floors me that people keep going back to the original Sriracha Chocolate Cupcake recipe, though at least now you’re redirected to the improved recipe. Folks looooove sriracha (me included).

So what else? Sure, I wrote 103 posts, but what does that break down into?

  • 13 cakes baked (some with recipes, some without)
  • 21 cupcake recipes: some brand new, some reworked from previous years, and some to raise money for charity
  • An Evening of Sweets & Treats, which I co-hosted with Melissa T. of Cupcake Smash Coordinator fame and helped raise money and awareness for the Philadelphia Food Trust
  • 6 breakfast pastry recipes
  • 5 cookie recipes
  • About a half dozen anatomical sugar cookies baked for Mary Roach in honor of her Gulp book tour (and I got to give them to her myself!)
  • 1 Cupcake Smash competition, where I gained a lot of compliments for a cupcake that really tasted like a bloody mary (sadly, no trophy).
  • 216 cookies baked and sold to raise money for Cookies for Kids’ Cancer in Sept. 2013
  • 2 pie competitions, in which I took home ribbons from both
  • 1 blueberry dessert competition, in which I entered my blueberry chocolate truffle cake and won 3rd place
  • $150 raised for She’s the First
  • 1 epic food blogger cookie swap, which raised nearly $14K for Cookies for Kids’ Cancer

Wow. That’s a lot of work. But I love it. I love baking, and I love sharing it with all of you.

So what will 2014 bring? Well, I have a couple irons in the fire (as they like to say), but for the moment I think I’m going to take a slow January to relax. I’ll still be posting, since I have a couple of recipes I want to share, and I definitely plan on baking myself a beautiful birthday cake.

I hope 2014 brings all of you the right amount of joy, inspiration, and challenges. Try new things, and always know that if you have a baking question you can reach out to me. I love helping people out and want you to realize that, yes, you can bake. It’s not magic.

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Top 4+ stocking stuffers for bakers

18 Dec

With Christmas on the horizon, you’ve probably been Christmas shopping, but have you been thinking about what baking goodies to stuff the stockings with?

If you haven’t, don’t fret! You can have a lot of fun coming up with creative stocking stuffers, and I’m here to help.

Baking Extracts (Faerie’s Finest, ranging from $3.99 to $21.99 depending on size): I love getting extracts from Faerie’s Finest, and with 128 flavors to choose from, there’s something for everyone. I really appreciate that the majority of the extracts are all-natural, and the quality of their product really shows. Slip a couple of the 2 oz bottles in the stocking and you’re sure to see smiles, especially if you select a flavor your baker has never worked with before, like hibiscus or bergamot.

French Rolling Pin (Crate & Barrel, $9.95): I’ve wanted a French pin for awhile, and earlier this month, Ray surprised me with one and I LOVE IT! The longer size makes rolling out doughs a breeze, and it’s easy to keep your pressure even. The rolling pin might stick out of the stocking a bit, but your baker will be thrilled to see it.

Sprinkles and Colored Sugars (Sweet! Baking & Candy Making Supply, price varies): Sweet has a MASSIVE list of sprinkles and colored sugars, with everything from sixlets to coarse and regular sanding sugar, jimmies to sugar pearls. And so many colors to choose from.

For the cookie baker in your life, these Dia de Los Muertos sugar skull cookie stamps are a colorful and fun addition to their baking tool arsenal.

Other quick stocking stuffer ideas for bakers:

  • A high quality chocolate bar—everyone enjoys just a treat for themselves! Lindt has a wide variety of flavors, or go to your local candy store and support small business!
  • Cupcake wrappers—we can never have enough.
  • Piping bags—just like cupcake wrappers, these are key and it’s always nice to have extras.
  • Ornament—an adorably-themed baking ornament will make anyone smile.

Am I missing anything? What goodies do my bakers out there want for Christmas? Let me know!

Otherwise, things will be a little quiet around the CFP headquarters as I settle in to celebrate the holidays with my family. Take care, keep baking, and I’ll see you in 2014!

Disclosure: I selected these items based on my own opinions; none of this is a paid promotion. In many cases, I own some of these items and think they’re just really spectacular.

 

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Top 5 gifts under $60 for your favorite baker

16 Dec

Christmas is next week, have you finished your shopping? Better yet, do you have the perfect gift for the special baker in your life? Sure, gifting a KitchenAid standmixer in one of the many delicious colors it’s available in is a classic Christmas gift, but what about something a little different? Something that won’t break the bank this holiday season.

I’ve gone through and curated this list of beautiful gifts that almost any baker would love to receive. And the best thing? Every gift is $60 or less! Because it’s not about the money you spend … it’s the thought and creativity.

Handcrafted Jadeite Glass Cake Plate ($55, Provisions by Food52): I can just picture some of the beautiful cakes I could make and place on this cake plate. This is a stunning show piece that is as functional as it is lovely.

Best Ever Cupcake [Frosting] Kit ($19.50, Bake It Pretty): I have this kit and I use it all the time—the extra large round tip is my favorite.

Baking Books from Quirk (ranging from $15.95 to $22.95, Quirk Books): Quirk publishes books that are both fun and beautiful. Some of my favorites are Booze Cakes, The Cookie Dough Lover’s Cookbook, Marshmallow Madness, Sprinkles!, and Pure Vanilla. These are definitely not your grandma’s cookbooks (and that’s a good thing).

Handmade Stoneware Pie Plate ($44, Bennington Potters):  You can’t leave the pie bakers in the cold this holiday! Sure, a simple Pyrex plate is great, but a stoneware plate with the ruffled edge makes every pie look amazing immediately. The black on green agate glaze is my personal favorite.

Customized Box of 1 Dozen Macarons from Dana’s Bakery ($30, Dana’s Bakery): It’s nice to treat sweet-makers with something they can sit back and enjoy (and if they’re anything like me, analyze every tiny crumb). I was really impressed when I ordered from Dana’s Bakery earlier in the year, and love that you can customize the box. Don’t like Red Velvet? No worries! You don’t have to select it. My one suggestion: make sure you take advantage of the seasonal flavors, like White Chocolate Peppermint Bark and Gingerbread Man.

Check back later in the week to see some of my favorite ideas for baking-related stocking stuffers!

Disclosure: I selected these items based on my own opinions; none of this is a paid promotion. In many cases, I own some of these items and think they’re just really spectacular.

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Mulled wine cupcakes

13 Dec

2013 is coming to a close, and I decided that I would keep up my December tradition of making a seasonal, holiday-appropriate cupcake. Holiday cupcakes of the past have been:

2011
Peppermint mocha cupcakes with peppermint frosting
Gingerbread cupcakes with double ginger frosting
Figgy pudding cupcakes with boozy brandy icing

2012
 Cranberry cupcakes with white chocolate frosting
Candy cane cupcakes

For 2014, I decided to make something subtle, yet refined, and not a typical Christmas-time sweet. So I decided to make a mulled wine cupcake.

Mulled wine is very easy to make—I followed the instructions from Gimme Some Oven, with a couple of adaptations (I skipped the brandy, increased the cloves, and used honey). I’d never had mulled wine before, but I have to say, it’s really tasty, and your kitchen will smell AMAZING.

The cupcakes bake up light and fluffy—my one bit of advice is to definitely use a touch of food coloring with this recipe, because otherwise you have oddly grayish-purple cupcakes, and it’s not appealing.

 

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Mulled wine cupcakes

Yield: 26 cupcakes

Ingredients

Cupcake Ingredients
2 3/4 cup (11 oz) cake flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp cloves
3/4 tsp ginger
1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 c sugar
1 tbsp orange zest
4 eggs
3/4 cup mulled wine
2 tsp vanilla

Vanilla Buttercream Ingredients
1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
2 tbsp vanilla

Mulled Wine Syrup Ingredients
3/4 cup mulled wine
1/4 cup sugar

Directions

For the cupcakes, heat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line your cupcake tins with wrappers and set aside

Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, cloves and ginger. Set aside.

Combine the sugar and orange zest in a bowl and stir until you begin to smell the aroma of oranges. Cream the butter in the bowl of a standmixer, then add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs, one at a time.

Alternate the flour mixture and mulled wine and mix until combined.

Note: The color is a bit off in these...a bit of a grayish purple. I added some fuchsia food coloring to improve the look, and I highly suggest you do the same.

Divide the batter between the wrappers and bake for 18 minutes. Cool on a wire rack completely before frosting.

While the cupcakes bake, make the mulled wine syrup so it has time to cool.

Combine the wine and sugar in a wide saucepan over medium high heat. Stir to dissolve the sugar.

Bring the wine to a boil, then reduce the heat so that it simmers. Keep an eye on this, stirring regularly.

Reduce the wine by at least half, checking the texture of the syrup ... it shouldn't be too watery, but also not too sticky.

Once finished, take the syrup off the heat and let it cool for 15-20 minutes before putting it into a container for drizzling.

As the cupcakes and the mulled wine syrup cool, make the frosting. Begin by beating the butter until light and fluffy.

Add the 1 cup of sugar, beating until combined.

Add the vanilla, then the remaining sugar gradually, beating until combined. Once you've added all the sugar, turn the mixer up to medium-high and whip for 2-3 minutes.

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The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap 2013: Dark chocolate caramel corn delights

11 Dec

After having such a great time participating in my first Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap, and having a successful one-woman bake sale to support Cookies for Kids’ Cancer back in September, it was a no brainer to sign up again for the 2013 cookie swap. I love baking cookies, I love raising money for excellent causes, and I love receiving cookies from other bakers.

What’s funny is this year I played around with my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe (again!) and took some inspiration from Joy the Baker (again!). I had pinned Joy’s Buttered Popcorn Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe ages ago, but decided that since I’ve been having so much fun making caramel corn from scratch, why not use that instead of buttered popcorn? It was an excellent decision.

Now, as a heads up, this recipe will yield more caramel corn than you need (about 5-6 oz more). I sent along packets of it to the bloggers I was assigned to send to through the swap, and you can do the same if you gift the cookies—who wouldn’t want a little packet of caramel corn to go with their cookies? If you’re not gifting these, just pack the caramel corn into an air tight container and enjoy in 2-4 days.

I received some really lovely cookies, ranging from lemon-scented thumb print cookies filled with homemade jam from Emily of West of the Loop, hot cocoa cookies from Sara of Sensibly Sara and eggnog cookies from Melissa from Red, White and Blueberries. But most importantly, the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap raised a total of $13,778.40 for Cookies for Kids’ Cancer. We did something amazing.

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 2013: Dark chocolate caramel corn delights

Yield: 48 cookies

Ingredients

Caramel Corn Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup popcorn kernels
6 tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp molasses
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp baking soda

Cookie Ingredients
2 cups plus 2 tbsp (10 5/8 oz) flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
12 tbsp (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled until just warm
1 cup (7 oz) light or dark brown sugar
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla
8.5 oz dark chocolate, chopped into chunks

Directions

Make the caramel corn first. Heat the oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit and line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large dutch oven, combine the olive oil and popcorn kernels over medium high heat. Put the lid on, and pop, shaking the pot from time to time. When the popping stops, remove the popcorn from the heat.

Sort through the popcorn, removing the unpopped kernels. Return the popcorn to the dutch oven, and set aside.

To make the caramel, melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Once melted, add the brown sugar and continue stirring until the sugar dissolves.

Add the molasses, then turn the heat up and boil the caramel for 2-3 minutes until a deep amber.

Stir in the salt and vanilla, then add the baking soda, stirring until dissolved (the mixture will bubble up and lighten in color).

Pour the caramel over the popcorn in the dutch oven and stir to coat.

Pour the caramel corn onto the parchment paper, spread out, and place in the oven.

Bake for approximately 45 minutes, stirring the popcorn every 15 minutes.

Once done baking, cool on a rack for 10-15 minutes before incorporating into the cookie dough.

Note: This will make about 8-9 oz of caramel corn. However, you only need 3 oz (about 2 heaping cups) for the cookies, so you will have extra.

For the cookie dough, heat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit and position the racks upper- and lower-middle positions. Line 2 large baking sheets with bakers silicone or parchment paper.

In a medium bowl combine flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment mix the butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Beat in the egg, yolk and vanilla until smooth.

Add the dry ingredients gradually and beat at low speed just until combined. Stir in the chopped dark chocolate and 3 oz (about 2 heaping cups) of caramel corn. Be gentle ... you don't want beat up the caramel corn too much.

Form about 1 tbsp of the dough into a rough ball. Do not flatten; if anything, make the ball a little taller than it is wide.

Bake until the cookies for 8-9 minutes, then rotate the sheets front to back and top to bottom, baking for an additional 8-9 minutes. Let the cookies stand on the baking sheets for a minute or two, then transfer them to cooling racks.

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