Double-decker Bunnies, take two

Two cookies always beat one, yes? 

Last year, I made little double-decker bunnies and thought this year needed some double-decker action as well.  (That sounds weird.)

Anyway...I love the shape of this bunny cookie cutter.  It's just perfect for a "chocolate" bunny.  I do have three egg cookie cutters (everyone needs three, right?), but none larger than the bunny cutter.  So, using the bunny cutter as a guide, I just cut large eggs with a paring knife:

These babies are big...the egg cookie is 6 & a half inches.  Easter is for celebrating.

{Oh, PS. That edible Easter grass?  Cute, but not exactly delicious.}

To make these double-decker bunny cookies, you'll need:

• sugar cookies cut with a bunny cookie cutter and hand-cut with a paring knife
• royal icing, divided and tinted with AmeriColor Sky Blue mixed with Ivory & Chocolate Brown, Bright White
• disposable icing bags
• coupler and tips: #2, #1
• squeeze bottles 
• toothpicks
• small ramekin
• small, clean paintbrush

Use #2 tips to outline both the bunny and the egg.

Thin the blue and brown icings with water, a bit at a time, stirring with a silicone spatula, until it is the consistency of a thick syrup.  (Reserve some of the blue icing for piping details later.) 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 as needed. 

Fill in the outlines with the thinned icing, using a toothpick to guide to the edges and to pop large air bubbles.

Let the cookies dry at least one hour.

Add the details to the bunny cookie, using a #2 tip for the bow and #1 tip for the eye.

Let the cookies dry uncovered, 6-8 hours, or overnight.

The next day, add the "speckles" to the eggs.  Mix equal(ish) parts water and chocolate brown food coloring.  Dip a clean paintbrush into the mixture and flick over the cookies with a GLOVED finger.
(For more details and pictures of the speckling process, click over to this post.)

This will dry in about 15-30 minutes.

Apply piping consistency icing to the back of the bunny cookies...just a bit will do, we don't want oozing.  Gently press in place on the egg cookie.  Let dry for 30 minutes or more to set.

Double-decker, 6-inch tall, speckled eggs & bunnies.  Just one placed in a treat bag and tied with a pretty ribbon makes the perfect Easter gift!

Happy Easter, bunnies! 

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These are a few of your favorite things...

How do I know that these are a few of YOUR favorite things?

Because they're a few of MY favorite things, and well, we're kindred spirits, aren't we?

Let's start with butter. 

All good things start with butter.  (And maybe chocolate, but definitely butter.)

Land O' Lakes had a little webinar recently called "Kitchen Conversations," hosted by my friend, the reigning queen of butter, Ree Drummond.  You know, the Pioneer Woman.

Ree and a few other fabulous food bloggers (Brenda from A Farmgirl's Dabbles, Julie from The Little Kitchen, Sommer from A Spicy Perspective, and Maria from Two Peas and Their Pod) talked about food trends for 2013...a few highlights: meatballs & popcorn.  Can I tell you 2013 is going to be a great year for food?  (Isn't it already?)

OK...let's talk about more of our favorite things.  Butter...yes.  How about Le Creuset?  I dream about Le Creuset.  And, oh, kitchenware from Anthropolgie?  Yes, please!!!  Anthro!  Who loves Anthro?

Here are the giveaway deets:

• one coupon for Land O Lakes Sauté Express® Sauté Starter
• one coupon for Land O Lakes® Butter
• 9″ Le Creuest Enameled Cast Iron Skillet in Flame
• Anthropologie Serving Bowl
• Anthropologie Measuring spoons 
• Anthropologie Butter Dish, perfect for your half sticks of Land O' Lakes butter

See?  I knew these were your favorite things.

Land O' Lakes would love to give a set of these to one of you...they sent a set to me as well, and I can attest that they will make your heart sing!

To enter: leave a comment on this post telling me if you've ever tried Land O' Lakes butter half-sticks.(I happen to love the Olive Oil & Sea Salt variety.)

Giveaway closed! Congrats, Sally!!!

Entries will be accepted through midnight CST, Friday March 29th. (US addresses only, please.)

{Land O' Lakes provided a prize pack to me, but I loved butter long before that. :)}

Carrot Cake Cookies

I won't even go into the "these-cookies-are-good-for-you-because-they-contain-carrots" lecture.
You know that already.

I love, love, love carrot cake.  I'm a chocolate girl through and through, but I think carrot cake wins almost every time.  The carrots ensure its moistness, that little bit of spice makes it intriguing, and cream cheese frosting?  You really can't beat cream cheese frosting.

It all starts with this dough...

....which I could have easily eaten with a spoon without baking one single cookie.

And, then you add the cream cheese frosting...

....hello, gorgeous.

Pipe on generous squiggles of frosting.  Heck, dunk the entire cookie in frosting...I won't tell.

You've got a little carrot cake in cookie form.  Big mounds of carrot and ginger-laden cookies, flecked with toasted pecans and topped with an orange-flavored cream cheese frosting.

They come together really quickly and will be such a welcome addition to your Easter desserts.

I'm sharing the recipe over at Imperial Sugar.  Come get your daily dose of veggies...
...and cookies.

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Caution: these cookies are illegal in NYC

OK...maybe not quite illegal, but I'm sure glad I'm waking up in Texas this morning instead of New York City where I feel sure Mayor Bloomberg would be breaking down my door and hauling me off to jail.

Especially if I served these with a Venti Iced Mocha.

My friend Teresa is to blame for these.  Over the past few days, she's been texting pictures of her Easter candy creations.  (Just hop over to her blog this week to be blown away.)

So, Teresa got me thinking about Easter candy, which led to thinking about Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs, which led to thinking about stuffing those eggs inside of a cookie.
{My brain really wants me to hold onto the 10 pounds I'd like to lose.}

Make them with the regular peanut butter eggs (PLEASE, make them) to risk serving time in an NYC jail, OR make them with the mini eggs for a much more balanced diet.  Either way?  You can't go wrong.

Don't you love those little crinkles? 

Oh, and yes, you're reading the recipe correctly.  There is no flour in the cookie dough.

Reese's Peanut Butter Egg-Stuffed Peanut Butter Cookies

Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs (regular or mini)
2 cups smooth peanut butter (I used Jif)
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons baking soda
sanding sugar

Place the peanut butter eggs in the freezer to chill while you make up the dough.

Preheat oven to 375 and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Beat the peanut butter, sugar, eggs and baking soda together until smooth. 

For the large eggs, scoop out 1/4 cup dough.  Divide the scoop in half and shape one half into an oval large enough to make a "bed" for the egg.

Place the egg on top, them cover with the remaining dough, pressing around the egg to fully cover.  Sprinkle with sanding sugar.

Bake for 12 minutes, cool on the pan for 5 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack to cool completely.

For the mini eggs, scoop out generous teaspoons of dough.  Roll into balls.

Press a mini egg into each one, making sure it is completely covered by the dough.  Re-shape into balls.  Roll in sanding sugar.  Bake for 10 minutes, cool on the pan for 5 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack to cool completely.

My apologies to Mayor Bloomberg.

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Magically Delicious!

These leprechaun cookies are made from a cupcake...cookie cutter. 
See?  Magical!

All I did was flip the cutter upside-down, and trim off the cherry detail with a paring knife once cut out.

I was trying to channel my inner Callye...the queen of creative cookie cutter use.  I remembered she wrote a leprechaun post a couple of years ago using all different shapes.  Guess what?  She used a cupcake as one of her shapes, too.  Maybe I wasn't so original after all. ;)

If you think you don't have time to make these before Sunday, you are wrong, wrong, wrong!  They're really a simple cookie to make...that beard may look fancy, but it couldn't be easier.

To make these decorated leprechaun cookies, you'll need:

• sugar cookies cut with a cupcake cookie cutter and trimmed, if needed
• royal icing, divided and tinted with AmeriColor Leaf Green, Copper, Super Black, Orange, Egg Yellow & Super Red
• disposable icing bags
• coupler and tips: #2, #1, #4 & large star (I used a PME #8)
• squeeze bottles 
• toothpicks
• food coloring pens

Use a #2 tip to outline the hat and face.

Thin the green and copper icings with water, a bit at a time, stirring with a silicone spatula, until it is the consistency of a thick syrup.  (Reserve some of the green icing for piping details later.) 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 as needed.

Fill in the outlines with the thinned icing, using a toothpick to guide to the edges and to pop large air bubbles.

Let the cookies dry at least one hour.

Add the details:

• #4 tip for trim on the hat
• #2 tip for hat buckle
• #1 tip for hair curl
• #2 tip for eyes & hat outline
• #1 tip for smile

Now, add the beard.  First, be sure your icing is stiff enough to hold the ridges of the star tip.  Don't be afraid to test this on a plate...and test different tips to see which you like the best.  If your icing has lost its stiffness, follow these instructions to revive it.

Pipe the beard using a pulsing motion.  I started at the left side, came around the bottom, then started back on the right side and piped down to meet where I stopped.

Let the cookies dry uncovered overnight.

The next day, use food coloring pens to add cheeks and freckles.  Leprechauns have freckles, right?

There you have it...lucky little leprechauns. They're magically delicious!

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Simple Irish Soda Bread

This might be the easiest bread you'll ever make.  Which, in my mind, makes it the most dangerous. 

A bread dough that comes together in less than 5 minutes, bakes for 25, and is ready to be slathered with butter and in my tummy in 30?  Oh yeah, that's dangerous.

The Irish are onto something, my friends.

If you're looking for a delicious meal to serve on St. Patrick's Day, bake up a loaf and serve it alongside this Irish Beer Cheese Soup.  I think St. Patrick would approve.

Simple Irish Soda Bread
{makes 1 loaf}

3 & 2/3 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 & 1/2 cups buttermilk

Preheat oven to 425.  Line a baking sheet with parchment.

Whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda.  Make a well in the center, and pour in the buttermilk.  Stir gently.  The dough will be sticky and soft, but not overly wet.  If needed, add in as much as 1/4 cup more buttermilk.

Dump the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead a few times.  Form into and 8" circle and place on the prepared pan.

Use a sharp knife to cut a cross into the top of the dough.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly before serving.
(This bread is also good totally cooled and served with butter and jam.)

{Adapted from the wonderful: The Complete Irish Pub Cookbook}

What are YOU making for St. Patrick's Day? 

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Cheesecake, anyone?

Imagine this: you pull up in your driveway one day after running errands and notice a box on your front step.  You bring the box inside, open it, and find CHEESECAKE!  Not just one, but TWO cheesecakes!

That is just what happened to me last week thanks to Harry & David.

These petite birds' nest cheesecakes are just perfect for Easter and springtime.
(Side note: when springtime rolls around, I am a sucker for anything resembling a bird's nest.)

How sweet would these be to send to family if you can't be with them on Easter Sunday?  Not only cheesecakes, Harry & David has some of *the cutest* Easter gifts right now.

Each petite cheesecake is piled with chocolate shavings, topped with chocolate eggs, and serves about 4 people.

One of you lucky ducks is going to get a set of these cheesecakes for yourself or send to someone you love.

To Enter: leave a comment on this post telling me who you would send them to...or if you'd keep them for yourself. ;) (I'd totally keep them.)

Entries accepted through midnight CST March 13th. Psst...if you're reading this post in an email, click the post title to open in your web browser, then leave a comment on the post.

Winner: Diana, who said, "As much as I'd love to keep these for myself, there's a five year old in the house that can sense a cheesecake (or any sweets) a mile away so I'd at least have to share with him :)"

Good luck!!! 

{Harry & David sent these cheesecakes to me free of charge.  The calories from consuming them, unfortunately, were not free. ;)}