Kamis, 31 Januari 2013

Little Miss (cookie) Sunshine

I want you to run out to your store right now and look for Meyer lemons...
...THEN, even if you don't buy them, I want you to pick up a bag and inhale. Ahhh. Yes, people will stare, but you won't notice.  You'll be too busy reveling in the aroma of the ML (Meyer lemon).

They're like sunshine in a bowl.

So naturally, cookies made with them are like sunshine cookies.  And you know what else takes these cookies right over the top?

Brown Butter.  Oh yeah.

If you've never made brown butter, hop on over to How Sweet It Is for a great tutorial.  It's super easy and transforms butter into this deep, nutty thing of beauty.  It's not just for baking...this week we had a pasta with roasted broccoli, peas, and brown butter.  It was scrumptious.  That's not a word I use to describe broccoli very often.

The cookies?  Soft, a little tangy, and oh, that cream cheese frosting...it just begs you to sink your teeth in and take a bite. 


Meyer Lemon-Brown Butter Cookies (with lemon cream cheese frosting)
{makes about 24}

for the cookies:
1 stick unsalted butter
7 ounces plain Greek yogurt (I like Fage 2%)
1/2 cup Meyer lemon juice
zest from 1 Meyer lemon
2 & 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup sugar

for the frosting:
1 stick salted butter, room temperature
8 ounce package cream cheese, room temperature
1 lb. box powdered sugar
zest of 1 Meyer lemon
2 TBSP Meyer lemon juice

Brown the butter in a small saucepan.  (For detailed instructions on how to do this, click here.)  Pour into a container, and refrigerate until cooled and solidified.

Line two cookie sheets with parchment.  Preheat oven to 350.

Stir together the yogurt, zest, and juice.  Set aside.
{Meyer lemons are really thin-skinned, so I like to use a micoplane for zesting.}

In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.  Set aside.

Beat the brown butter and sugar together until well combined.

Stir in the yogurt mixture.  Add the flour in three additions, stirring between each until combined.

The dough will be soft and resemble biscuit dough.  Let the dough rest for 15 minutes for the puffiest cookies. (Oh, and the dough is SO yummy...if you're into the raw dough thing like I am.)

Use a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop to drop the dough onto the cookie sheets.

Bake for 15 minutes, or until done.  Remove from the pans to wire racks to cool completely.

make the frosting:
With a paddle attachment of an electric mixer, beat the butter and cream cheese until smooth. 

On low speed, add in half of the powdered sugar and the lemon zest.  Beat until combined.

Add the other half of the sugar and the lemon juice.  Beat on low until combined, then increase the speed to medium until smooth.

Use an offset spatula to frost the cookies.  Store in the fridge.

{Alternately, make a glaze instead of the frosting.  Combine powdered sugar and Meyer lemon juice to the consistency you'd like and pour over the cookies.)

Good day, Sunshine! ♥

Selasa, 29 Januari 2013

All You Need is...

...LOVE (cookies).

When I saw this cookie cutter in the Fancy Flours catalog, I knew immediately that I must have it.

You're probably familiar with this image.  It was originally created by aritst Robert Indiana for a Christmas Card and was recreated into sculptures.  I've always loved it...and you just might live near one.  (Here's a list.)

Because we're friends.  Because I trust you have embarrassing pictures in your photo albums.  Because this outfit must never be recreated.  I'm going to show you a picture of when my sister & I had our picture taken with one of the statues.
I know. The year was 1988-ish.  This orange and white fiasco was my FAVORITE OUTFIT.  (I'm not even kidding.)  What you can't see?  I completed the look with orange lipstick and nail polish.  Oh, and the HAIR!!!  Totally high-as-the-sky mall claw in front, crazy highlighted curls in a triangle shape the rest of the way around.  Lovely.

{I wonder why I didn't date much?}

I was so deep in thought, wondering if I should share that picture, I forgot to take pictures for a cookie tutorial.

Luckily, it's a simple outline and flood with royal icing.  I used AmeriColor Super Red, Deep Pink, Soft Pink & Electric Pink.  And, here's a link to the cookie cutter again.

All you need is love...
and possibly a shredder for all photos from the 1980's.


Sur La Table 120x600 11.27.07

Sabtu, 26 Januari 2013

I Just Blogged to Say I Love You (Vol. 5)


1. Let's start with Downton Abbey.  I know I'm late to the party on this.  Officially.Obsessed.  Seasons 1 & 2 down, I just started Season 3....no spoilers, please!!!  Also, Maggie Smith.  I love you. ♥ 

2. This mascara.

3. Can a person fall in love with quiche?  I believe, yes. 

4. Have you *had* Jeni's Ice Cream?  If it is available to you, please eat a pint for me.  I promise, the calories won't count.  Never heard of it?  Pop over, see where a few of us visited (and possibly sampled every single flavor), and drool.

5. Now that we've eaten our ice cream, let's be sensible with 2-ingredient pancakes: banana + egg.  Seriously.  I can't wait to try this...and top them with chocolate chips, or maybe Nutella.

6. Wasabi Noodles.  I need you in my life.

7. Gingham cake stand.  I need you in my life, too.

8. I've gone through several books lately that I *haven't* really enjoyed...but this one, I did.  Silver Girl by Elin Hilderbrand.  Not heavy, not difficult, just a good read...I looked forward to tucking into bed with it every night.

What are you loving lately?



Rabu, 23 Januari 2013

Hello (polka dot) Kitty!

I've always been a "cat person."  If you follow me on Instagram, you might think I'm more of a "crazy cat lady" given the amount of pictures of our kitties.

When I was 6, I fainted in music class.  I remember being in the hospital for several days...they thought maybe I had a brain tumor.  (And worse, when I went back to school, a girl in my class told me that they all saw my underwear.)

Anyway...as my mom hovered around my hospital bed, she asked if I would like something special once we got home.  I asked for a cat.  (At the time, my mom was NOT a cat person.)

Turns out, my fainting was just due to low blood sugar or lack of chocolate, something along those lines.   
I still got that kitty.  Lesson for you kids: faint in class, hospital stay, ask for cat. 

I'm happy to report that since then, there have always been kitties in our lives.  Even my parents were converted to bona fide cat people.

For the cookies, I sometimes get in trouble trying to be too literal with cookies.  If I tried to make actual, realistic cat cookies, I have a feeling they'd look weird.  Therefore, I bring you polka dot kitty cookies...I know the 6-year-old me would have loved them.


To make the cookies, you'll need:
Use a #2 tip to outline the shape of the cookie in grey icing.

Thin the grey and white icings with water, a bit at a time, stirring with a silicone spatula, until it is the consistency of a thick syrup.  You'll want to drop a "ribbon" of icing back into the bowl and have it disappear in a count of "one thousand one, one thousand two." Four is too thick, one is too thin.  Count of 2-3 is good.  Cover with a damp dishcloth and let sit for several minutes.

Stir gently with a silicone spatula to pop and large air bubbles that have formed.  Pour into squeeze bottles.

Working 6-8 cookies at a time, fill in the outlines with the thinned grey icing, using a toothpick to guide to the edges and to pop large air bubbles.

Starting with the first cookie flooded, drop dots on top of the wet icing with the thinned white icing.

Let the cookies dry 1 hour.

Use a #1 tip to add a pink bow.  (I intended to pipe pink whiskers, but then the dots looks like eyeballs...weird eyeballs.  So, bows it was.)

Let the cookies dry 6-8 hours or overnight.

Are you a cat person?  Dog person?  Bunny person? 




Sur La Table 120x600 11.27.07

Selasa, 22 Januari 2013

Love in cupcake form, with the help of Harry & David

Every year about this time, I start dreaming of strawberries.  Sure, I love Honeycrisp apples and Clementines, but for me, strawberries are perfection.  Perfectly red, perfectly sweet with just the right amount of tart...*sigh*.
So, you can imagine it took about a nanosecond for me to say YES when Harry & David asked if I'd like to try their chocolate-dipped strawberries.

Chocolate-dipped strawberries.  I think this is the way God intended them to be eaten.  I'm not sure, but that's my hunch. 

The strawberries arrived in a big, red heart-shaped box tied with a red satin ribbon.  I was pretty much a goner from the box alone.  You see...I have a "thing" for hearts:


You open the box to find the prettiest chocolate-dipped strawberries ever.
 
And more than pretty, they are divine.  Bright red throughout, so flavorful and so fresh...you might want to forget your Valentine and order them for yourself.  In fact, I'd highly recommend it.

And, if you feel so inclined, how about making some chocolate-covered strawberry cupcakes?!?

For the cupcakes, I used a recipe for the Sprinkles strawberry cupcakes.  Yes, Sprinkles.  They shared it with Oprah...I'm sharing it with you.



Chocolate-Covered Strawberry Cupcakes
{makes 12}

for the cupcakes:
1 cup fresh whole strawberries
1 & 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1/4 cup whole milk, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
2 large egg whites, room temperature

for the frosting:
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup dutch-process cocoa, such as Hershey's Special Dark
1/4 cup natural cocoa
2 & 2/3 cup powdered sugar
pinch coarse salt
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
chocolate dipped strawberries 

make the cupcakes:
Preheat oven to 350. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners; set aside.

Place strawberries in a small food processor; process until pureed. Measure out 1/3 cup and set aside.  Reserve the remaining for another use.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the sifted flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. In a small bowl, mix together milk, vanilla and strawberry puree; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter on medium-high speed, until light and fluffy. Gradually add sugar and continue to beat until well combined and fluffy. Reduce the mixer speed to medium and slowly add egg and egg whites, scraping down the bottom and sides of the bowl as needed, until just blended.

Add half the flour mixture, and beat on low; mix until just blended. Add the milk mixture; mix until just blended. Add remaining flour mixture, beating on low, scraping down sides of the bowl with a spatula, as necessary, until just blended.
Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups. Transfer muffin tin to oven and bake until the tops bounce back when lightly pressed, 22 to 25 minutes. Transfer muffin tin to a wire rack and let cupcakes cool for 15 minutes.
Remove from the pan and let cool completely on the wire rack.

make the frosting:
Beat the butter until light and fluffy.

Meanwhile, sift together the cocoa powders, powdered sugar, and salt.

Beat in half of the cocoa mixture, followed by half of the milk.  Repeat, adding the vanilla with the last addition of the milk.  Beat until smooth and combined.  The frosting will be thick and fudgey.

Spoon into a piping bag and trim off the end.  Pipe the frosting by squeezing the bag over the middle of the cupcake.  Release the pressure and pull up.

Top each cupcake with a chocolate-dipped strawberry.  Store in the refrigerator and let sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes before serving.

{This post was sponsored by the lovely people at Harry & David.  All opinions are my own.  And no, I'm not sharing my strawberries.}

 
Strawberries + Chocolate.  A match made in heaven. ♥ 

Selasa, 15 Januari 2013

Shades of...Pink! (Works for Me Wednesday)

Pink!  Pink, pink, pink!  PINK!!!
Forget Fifty Shades of Grey; we're talking PINK, people.  {PS...having not read FSoG, but having *heard* about it, it totally creeps me out to sit next to someone on an airplane who is reading it.  I rather NOT know that about you, total stranger.  Airplanes are for John Grisham or Michael Crichton. The end.}

OK.  Pink.  Did you know that you had so many choices?  I'm showing you here four pinks.  All AmeriColor brand. I love, love, love AmeriColor.
  • soft pink
  • dusty rose
  • deep pink
  • electric pink

Most often when I'm making pink cookies, I'll reach for Deep Pink.  It's vibrant, bright, and perfect for almost everything.  I think it has a little bit of a blue undertone. (But what do I know?)

Soft Pink is, well, softer.  In the pictures, I'm showing it pretty saturated, but I use it when I want a light, not to vibrant pink. It looks to have more yellow in it than the Deep Pink.

Dusty Rose.  Just those words remind me of tea time and wallpaper from the 1980's.  Shown here, it's really saturated, but a little lighter and is makes a *perfect* ballet slipper color.  And...roses.

Electric Pink.  This is a really fun color.  I use it when I want my cookies to SCREAM pink.  Not neon, but definitely bright.  It's Deep Pink kicked up a notch.

Of course, the colors will vary depending on the amount of icing and the amount of color you use. I never measure out icing and food coloring, but the colors you see here are a heaping 1/4 cup of royal icing mixed with about 1/8 teaspoon food coloring.  Give or take. :)

Pink...works for me!




Minggu, 13 Januari 2013

The Newlywed Cookbook (for not-so-newlyweds, too)

It wasn't until Mr. E & I were married that I really fell in love with cooking. (Him, I loved. Cooking? I needed help. I'd been living on a steady diet of bagels, pudding cups, and fried rice from a can.)

I started married life armed with a recipe box from my mom, a Hershey's cookbook, one of those awesome "best recipes collection" cookbooks from a school in Tulsa, and a subscription to Cooking Light magazine. 
We lived in an old duplex in Dallas with the cutest vintage stove...that only held the *smallest* cookie sheets.  It was such a fun time...trying new recipes...and spending a small FORTUNE buying every spice and condiment to stock our little kitchen. 

When BHLDN asked if I'd like to take a look at a new book in their stores, The Newlywed Cookbook by Sarah Copeland, all of those sweet memories came flooding back.

First....if you're not familiar with BHLDN, let me tell you, it's DREAMY.  We're lucky enough to have a store in Houston, and I almost cried from happiness when I went in.  It's feminine, and frilly, and romantic, and so much fun!  Here's a description from BHLDN themselves:

"BHLDN, Anthropologie’s sister brand, is a specialty occasion & wedding retailer that specializes in creating the perfect apparel, accessories, and décor for your soiree. From gorgeous wedding dresses to elegant wedding decor, BHLDN has uncommon products to add that certain special touch to any ceremony, big or small.

For those of us not planning a special occasion, many of their products are perfect for every day: from a pair of sparkly heels to spice up your party look or a swoon worthy cake stand that’s almost as beautiful as the cake itself!"

Even if, like me, you have a few years of married bliss under your belt, you're going to love BHLDN!  A few of my most favorite items?  I am *in love* with this locket, this jadeite cakestand, and how cute are these bride & groom coasters?!?

Alright, let's talk about The Newlywed Cookbook.  It's gorgeous.  Beautiful cover, photographs, fonts, you name it....gorgeous.  The recipes are beautiful, too!  Not your typical meatloaf and mashed potatoes, you'll find recipes like cheddar-cornmeal biscuits, gnocchi with summer beans, and  bittersweet chocolate tart.

Recipes include everything from breakfast, to romantic meals for two, to sips, to desserts.

First on my list?  Well, you know I'm heading straight for dessert and trying the carrot cake bars with cream cheese icing.  (Soon to come in a future post.)

***The lovely folks at BHLDN would love to send a book to one of you as well...newlywed, or not! ***

To enter, visit the BHLDN website, come back here and tell me one (or more) item you've fallen in love with.

For an extra entry, leave another comment stating whether you are married and if you are, how long you've been hitched. ;)

(If you are reading this post via email, click the post title to open in a web browser.  The link to leave a comment is at the bottom of the post.)

WINNER: Kara, who said, "I've been married for 16 years! Wow time flies!"  Yay! 

Comments will be accepted through 11:59pm CST,  January 16th.  Good luck!!!