Whipped shortbread cookies

For the holiday pajama party that B and I went to this weekend, the theme of the drink-making contest was "night cap."  B and I decided on a White Russian.  One of our favorite bars in our neighborhood -- which we haven't been to in quite some time --  serves their heavenly White Russian with a cookie on the side.  I thought it was a biscotti, but B reminded me that it was more of a shortbread cookie (he was, in fact right).

So with all of the ingredients for our cocktail packed away to bring out to Long Island, I set about trying to find the perfect shortbread cookie recipe.  I literally had to look no further than Instagram to find a recipe posted this morning!  The recipe was for whipped shortbread cookies, which sounded delicious to me.  And seeing as I had the forethought to take some butter out of the fridge before we left to run errands this morning, I was ready to go when I got home.

It also happened to be that today was the first snow in NYC.  There's nothing that I love more than baking on a snowy day, with the warmth of the oven keeping the apartment toasty, and having cookies to sample warm out of the oven.

This dough is meant to be piped out onto the baking sheet with a piping tip and bag.  You can use a variety of tips.  Since I had the intent of serving these cookies on the side of our drink tonight, I used an Ateco 898 tip, which some people use to ice cakes.  I used the ridged side up for a little detail.  I think they came out adorable, and that they'd be perfect to rest on the top of the glass for a classy presentation!

P.S. I halved the recipe and I got over 5 dozen cookies

Whipped Shortbread Cookies
Recipe from SprinkleBakes

Makes 6 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

3 cups (6 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped (or you can substitute 2 tsp vanilla extract)

Optional decorations:
Assorted holiday sprinkles and candies
4 oz semisweet or dark chocolate, melted

Directions:

Combine butter and confectioners' sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.
Mix on high speed until mixture turns pale, about 2 minutes.

Add flour to butter mixture in 3 additions, mixing well on medium speed after each addition.
When flour is incorporated, add salt and vanilla seeds.
Beat on high speed for 5 minutes -- the dough should be pale and thick.
Transfer dough to piping bags fitted with decorating tips.  You can also used a small cookie scoop.

Line two or more cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Pipe or place mounds of cookie dough on prepared pans, spacing then a least 1 inch apart.
Add sprinkles, if using.
Transfer cookies on baking sheets to refrigerator to chill for 10 minutes or until cookies are firm to touch.

While the cookies are chilling, preheat the oven to 275F.
Bake cookies 30-35 minutes, or until cookies are lightly golden around the edges and still pale in the center.  Since I piped my cookies thinner than the cookies on the original blog post, I started watching my cookies after 20 minutes.  They ended up taking 21-22 minutes to achieve desired doneness.
Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
Drizzle with chocolate if using.
Store cooled cookies in an airtight container.

Lemon bars

I've been baking for a long time.  I estimate I've been baking from scratch for at least two and a half decades.  I started baking on my own before that for friends in high school, with boxed mixes, even before that.  I've made countless brownies, cupcakes, cakes, fudges, and enough cookies to feed a small army.  One thing I've never made, until today?  Lemon bars!

I honestly don't know why it's taken me this long to bake them.  I think the actual idea got planted in my head when I was shopping at Trader Joe's recently, and they had candied lemon slices. I (obviously) bought them without thinking about it, and then was trying to figure out what I could use them for.  Originally I thought about using them as a garnish on a lemon cupcake, but then the thought came to me: lemon bars!

I have to say that these lemon bars are super easy to make.  Make the shortbread dough, and while it's baking in the oven, prepare the lemon filling.  Then, pour the filling over the hot shortbread crust and pop them back in the oven.  That's it!  The hardest part wasn't actually hard, it was more time consuming -- I had tiny lemons and had to juice them all by hand.  The real hardest part is waiting over 2 hours before being able to cut into them!  (Don't worry, I cheated to taste them -- they're delicious!).

I made these for a baby shower that my friend L and I hosted for our friend E, who is expecting a baby girl at the beginning of February.  The ladies at the shower loved and devoured them!  I had a few leftover at the end of the shower that went to the soon-to-be-daddy, my dad, and B.

I really recommend these lemon bars -- the super thick lemony layer is the real proverbial icing on the cake (or rather filling on the bar ;-))

Thick Lemon Bars
from Little Sweet Baker

Ingredients:

Crust

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 Tbsp corn starch
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

Filling

3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
zest of 1 lemon
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (about 2 large/regular sized lemons)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour

Decorations

Powdered sugar for dusting
Lemon slices or dried lemon slices

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F.
Line an 8x8" square baking pan with parchment paper (I don't have an 8x8" pan so I used my trusty 9x9" pan).

Toss flour, powdered sugar, and cornstarch together.
Cut in the softened butter using a fork or pastry cutter until mixture is crumbly.  You can also pulse with a food processor.
Press into the prepared baking pan.
Bake for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, whisk together he eggs, sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice.
Slowly add the flour, whisking to prevent lumps.
Pour the mixture over the hot crust.
Bake for another 25 minutes or until the lemon filling is set.

Let stand at room temperature to cool.
Chill in the fridge for 2 hours.

Dust with powdered sugar and top with lemon slices.

Note: Lemon bars can be refrigerated in an airtight container

Mini pumpkin spice crumb muffins

I've been looking forward to this weekend for a few weeks, since my friend and I are hosting a baby shower for another friend of ours!  There were a thousand things I wanted to bake, but only a day or two to get things done (work schedule is packed and I work super long days three days a week now).  These muffins definitely made the list, though!

Now I've said it before and I'll (have to) say it again: I hate pumpkin spice.  Like ugh, gross, despise it.  But almost everyone else loves it, including the mom-to-be, who told me she was "bad" when she got a pumpkin spice latte (caffeine is OK when pregnant, so I'm not sure why she thinks she was "bad," but I digress....).  So when hosting a baby shower for 13 women, including at least one who has confirmed her love for pumpkin spice, these muffins were a given!  Plus, they have the most heavenly looking crumb topping.  [I debated making these pumpkin spice latte cupcakes, but wanted something more breakfast/brunch-y.  And again, remember, crumbs!]

I ended up making mini muffins, since they were being served before lunch.  I halved the recipe since I didn't want to have an insane amount of muffins, and as it was I got 27 mini muffins with a half recipe.  I didn't, however, half the crumb topping since I figured mini muffins = more surface area, and I'd probably need extra crumbs.  As it ended up, I had leftover crumb topping, but that's fine.  Better to have too much than not enough!

* Full disclosure, it took me a long time to post this blog post, despite having written it and staging the photos at the time I baked them.  When I went to put the final edits on the post and add the recipe, the original link I had was defunct.  When I searched the blog again, I came across this recipe, which from my recollection is the same * 

Pumpkin Crumb Cake Muffins

From Sally's Baking Addiction

Ingredients:

For the muffins:

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour (spooned and leveled)

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed light or dark brown sugar

1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin puree

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1/4 cup milk, at room temperature

For the crumb topping:

3/4 cup all purpose flour (spooned and leveled)

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup packed light or dark brown sugar

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

6 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted

For the (optional) maple icing:

1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

2 Tbsp pure maple syrup

2 Tbsp milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425F.

Spray a 2 x 12 count muffin pan with nonstick spray or line with cupcake liners.  This recipe makes 15 full sized muffins, so you'll need a second pan. (I made mini muffins, and used a 24-cavity mini muffin pan, but chose to use liners instead of spraying it; I halved the recipe and got 27 mini muffins, so you'd need do to this for at least 2 muffin pans).

Prepare the muffins.

In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and salt together until combined.
Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk the oil, granulated sugar, brown sugar, pumpkin puree, eggs, and milk together until combined.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry.

Fold everything together gentlyy, just until combined and no flour pockets remain.

Spoon batter into liners, until almost full.

Make the crumb topping.

Whisk together the flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and pumpkin pie spice until combined.

Using a fork, lightly mix in the melted butter until crumbs form.

Do not over mix.

Spoon crumbs evenly on top of the batter and gently press them down into the batter.

Bake for 5 minutes at 425, then while the muffins are still in the oven, reduce the temperature to 350F.

Bake for an additional 16-17 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
For my mini muffins, I baked at 425 for 5 minutes, then lowered the heat to 350F and baked for 8 more minutes.  The newer version of this recipe says to bake mini muffins for 11-13 minutes at 350F the entire time.

Allow the muffins to cool in the pan for 10 minutes as you make the icing.

To make the icing, whisk the milk, maple syrup, and confectioners' sugar together until combined and smooth.  

Drizzle over muffins and serve warm.

*These can be stored at room temp for 1-2 days, in the fridge for up to a week, and can be frozen (with or without the icing, though I generally recommend freezing without icing and icing them once they've thawed).

Almond, tahini, and honey cookies

The fall is upon us, and while the fall may be synonymous with everything pumpkin spice for most, to me it means that the Jewish holidays are coming.  Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish new year) starts on Wednesday, September 20th this year, and so I've started in on my holiday baking today.

First up were these almond, tehini, and honey cookies.  Honey is used in a lot of Rosh Hasahanah treats since it symbolizes a sweet new year.  Apples and honey, to be exact.  And while these cookies lack apples, they're full of sweet honey.  Another thing they're missing?  Gluten (so if you're looking for a gluten-free recipe on this blog, this may just be the first one -- or at least the first one labeled gluten-free). 

This dough comes together in literally a manner of seconds.  Whisk together the dry ingredients in own bowl, the wet in another.  Then, add the dry to the wet and mix together -- I did this with a whisk and some upper arm strength (thanks to my barre workout this morning).  Seriously, it took seconds!  They also bake up in no time!

Honey Almond Tahini Cookies
By The Gush Gourmet
Makes about 28 cookies

1.5 cups almond flour (finely ground almonds)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 Tbsp tapioca starch OR 1 Tbsp corn starch (I used corn starch)
1/2 cup well-mixed tahini
1/2 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1/3 cup sliced almonds (The recipe called for slivered almonds but I think she actually meant sliced almonds, but I bought slivered.  I actually went out and bought sliced almonds since I thought they looked pretty on her cookies.  Go with sliced almonds.)

Directions:

Whisk together the almond flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and starch in a bowl.

In a separate bowl, mix together the wet ingredients: tahini, honey, egg, and vanilla.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix well.  I added mine in 3 additions.

Place in the fridge for a few hours or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Place small scoops of the cookie dough on a parchment lined baking sheet.
Make sure there is plenty of space between each one (they spread a lot!).
Sprinkle a little bit of sliced almonds over each cookie, pressing down slightly so they adhere.  Don't be shy with the sliced almonds -- since the cookies spread, they too will spread out as the cookies bake.

Bake for 8-10 minutes until lightly golden brown.
Remove from the oven.
Cool completely before removing from the baking sheet.

Fruity rum bundt cake

I saw this recipe for this fruity rum cake almost a year ago.  I had wanted to make it for New Year's Eve last year, but with my work schedule and the fact that bundt cakes take a long time to bake, well, let's just say it wasn't in the cards.  I thought about it on and off since then, but never had an occasion to make it.  Until now.

Rosh Hashanah is upon us.  The season of apples and honey and all things sweet for a sweet New Year.  But wait?!  There aren't apples or honey in this cake!  Blasphemy!

I decided that golden raisins and dried apricots and dried (ok, these are tart) cherries are definitely sweet, and therefore totally appropriate for Rosh Hashanah!  The only adjustment I made to this recipe is that I used 1/2 tsp cinnamon instead of cloves, because I utterly hate them.  Since cloves are, in my opinion, stronger than cinnamon, I used a little more.  And I have to say, the flavor of this cake was Ah-maz-ing!  B and I were devouring the cupcakes I made with the extra batter!

When I served it at the holiday meal, it was met with a resounding round of approval.  My father, who doesn't like rum, said the cake flavor was great and there was just a hint of rum that was delicious.  My grandmother, who is (rightfully so) a critic of baked goods, said it was delicious, and even took home a piece to enjoy the following day!!!  This cake is a total winner!

Fruity Rum Bundt Cake
From Bon Appetit

This cake calls for a 12 cup bundt pan.  If you have a 10 cup bundt cake pan (like I do), the recipe recommends reserving 2 cups of batter and baking into 8 cupcakes.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup chopped dried apricots
1/2 cup dried tart cherries
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp gold rum, divided
3 Tbsp plus 3 cups all purpose flour, plus more for pan
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
5 tsp baking powder
1.5 tsp Kosher salt
1/4 tsp ground cloves -- I used 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon instead
2 Tbsp vegetable oil (believe it or not, they did not have vegetable oil at my Whole Foods.  I used Canola oil)
1 1/4 cups plus 2 Tbsp (or more) sour cream -- I ran out of sour cream and ended up using 1 cup sour cream plus 1/4 cup applesauce....by the time I iced the cake, I was able to pick up more sour cream for the icing
2 cups raw sugar, plus more for serving
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
7 large egg yolks
1 large egg
1 cup powdered sugar
Gold sugar, for a festive touch

Directions:

Combine apricots, cherries, raisins, and 1/2 cup rum in a small bowl.
Let sit for 30 minutes to allow fruit to rehydrate.
Drain, reserving the rum.
Sprinkle the fruit with 3 Tbsp flour and toss to coat.
Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Thoroughly butter the pan (don't skimp!), making sure to get into all the curves and grooves of your pan.
Dust with flour (do this even if your plan has a nonstick coating).
Whisk together the baking powder, salt, cloves (or in my case cinnamon), and 3 cups of flour in a medium bowl to combine.
Whisk reserved rum, oil, and 1 1/4 cups sour cream (in my case sour cream + applesauce) in another medium bowl to combine.

Using an electric mixer (I used my kitchenaid), beat 2 cups of raw sugar and 1 cup of butter in a large bowl until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes.
Scrape in seeds of vanilla bean (reserve pod for another use.....vanilla sugar, anyone?!).
Add yolks and egg, 1 at a time, beating to blend after each addition.
Beat until mixture is light and very fluffy, about 4 minutes.
Reduce speed to low.
Add dry ingredients in 3 additions, alternating with sour cream mixture in 2 additions, starting and ending with dry ingredients.
Fold in reserved dried fruit.

Scrape batter into prepared pan.
Smooth top of cake.
Tap pan firmly a few times on the counter to force batter into the edges of the pan.

Bake cake until golden brown and a tested inserted into the cake comes out clean, 60-70 minutes.
Transfer pan to a wire rack.
Let cake cool in pan for 15 minutes.
Invert cake onto a serving plate and carefully remove the pan.
Brush the warm cake with the remaining 2 Tbsp of rum.
Let cool completely, about 3 hours.

(I froze my cake, since I was serving it a few days later.  I recommend freezing the cake wrapped in saran wrap and tin foil, uniced.  Thaw cake before serving and ice cake.)

Mix powdered sugar and remaining 2 tbsp sour cream in another small bowl.
Thin with more sour cream if desired, until smooth.
Drizzle glaze over cake, working along the center of the top of the cake for even coverage,
Sprinkle with raw and gold sugar.
Let sit 10 minutes for glaze to set before slicing with a serrated knife.

Yellow cupcakes

It's not every day that I get an American holiday off from work.  A day off where others have the day off, and make BBQs and have pool parties and general day-off fun shenanigans.  Sometimes I make it to the tail end of the festivities after my day of work.  But no, not this year!  This year the stars aligned, and not only did I get Labor Day off, I even got invited to B's friend's home and had a BBQ.

So what to do I do when I'm invited somewhere (just about anywhere?!)?  I bake.  And bake I did.  And it was exceptionally momentous because I christened my new Kitchen-Aid!!  It was sitting on the kitchen counter so lonely for over three months, since we got married, just begging to be used.  And today was it's lucky day!

I bought some super cute red, white, and blue star sprinkles for whatever treat I baked for our Labor Day BBQ, and I ultimately decided on cupcakes because, well, cupcakes are fun BBQ food, and I also haven't baked cupcakes in what seems like forever!  I was going to use my go-to yellow cake cupcake recipe but I couldn't, for the life of me, find my cake flour.  So I set off onto the internet to find a yellow cake recipe that didn't use cake flour.  I found it in the form of Brown Eyed Baker's yellow cake, which I turned into cupcakes.

One thing I'll say about these cupcakes is that they rise a lot, so filling them 2/3 of the way like I did with my first batch yielded cupcakes that overflowed a bit.  I filled them about 1/2 way for the second batch, and they didn't overflow.  I recommend filling them halfway -- with my first 18 cupcakes being filled 2/3 of the way and the rest being filled 1/2 way, I got 28 cupcakes.  My guess is you'll get closer to 33 to 3 dozen if you filled them all 1/2 way.

Yellow Cake Cupcakes
Recipe from Brown Eyed Baker, cupcake directions by me

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup buttermilk

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350F.
Line cupcake tin with cupcake liners.
Set aside

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Set aside.

Using an electric mixer or stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 to 5 minutes.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, beating for 1 minute between each addition.
Beat in vanilla extract.

Add the dry ingredients all at once.
Beat on low speed until just combined.
Add the buttermilk and beat on low for 1 minute.
Increase speed to medium and beat for 3 additional minutes.

Divide the batter evenly between prepared pans.  I recommend filling them halfway....more than that and mine overflowed.  You may need to bake them in two batches.
If filled 1/2 way, as recommended, bake for 16-18 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the center of the came comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached.
Remove from the oven and cool for 10 minutes in the pans.
Remove, and place on wire racks.

Cool completely before icing.

Use the icing of your choice.  I went with this vanilla icing.  

Pipe icing onto cupcakes.
Top with sprinkles of your choice, if desired.

Sugar cookie bars with flower buttercream

I came across a sugar cookie bar I really wanted to make, but didn't have sour cream at home.  We won't talk about the fact that I was at Trader Joe's earlier today -- before I found this recipe -- and reminded myself I wanted to get sour cream in case I made chocolate cupcakes later.  Great reminder, since I left the store without it!

But I digress.

I couldn't make the original sugar cookie bars I wanted to make, but that didn't stop me.  A quick internet search yielded a few other bar recipes (one used cream cheese, which I also didn't have), and I ended up choosing one from Lauren's Latest (remember those recent to die for chocolate chip cookies?  Yeah, those were hers, too, so I knew these bars had to be good!).

I made one and a half times the recipe for the icing, though, because I bought myself a little birthday gift today.  Well, really a few.  I've been eyeing those Russian flower piping tips for a while, and today at the baking store I bought myself 2 sets of them!  I decided that these would be the perfect decoration for the sugar cookie bars, and after I made a HUGE amount of frosting, I divided it up and dyed it different colors, so that I could have a flower garden on top of my sugar cookie bars!  Now all I need to do is perfect my icing leaves!

Sugar Cookie Bars with Flower Buttercream
Recipe from Lauren's Latest, Icing decorations by me

Ingredients:

For the Cookie Bars:

1 cup softened butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1.5 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon almond extract
3 cups all purpose flour,
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

For the icing (remember, I 1.5 times'd the recipe, listed below is the original recipe):

1/2 cup softened butter
1 pound powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3-4 Tablespoons milk
Sprinkles, if desired

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Line a 9 x 13 inch baking pan with parchement paper.
Lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
Set aside.

In a large bowl, stir butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Stir in egg, vanilla, and almond extract.
Whip until fluffy.
Scrape the sides and stir again briefly.
Stir in remaining dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated.
It won't come together as a dough initially, but if you can grab a handful, it should hold it's shape.
Spread dough into prepared pan and press down evenly.
Bake 20-25 minutes or until edges are golden brown.
Remove from oven and cool completely.

Make the frosting.

Stir all ingredients together until smooth and fluffy, except for milk.
Start by adding 3 tablespoons of milk and work up from there until frosting is the desired consistency.
If making bars as I did, continue below at the *.
If making the bars as intended, Spread icing over cooled cookie bars.
Add sprinkles if using (if you can believe it, I didn't use sprinkles this time).
Cut into bars and serve.

Funfetti muddy buddies

Birthday treats are continuing with these funfetti muddy buddies.  Interestingly, this is the 3rd installment of my birthday treats, and it's also the third sprinkle-laden treat of my birthday treats (and the 4th birthday treat, if you include B's birthday galaxy vanilla fudge!).  I guess #sprinkles(reallydo)makeeverythingbetter -- even more so when they're fancy sprinkle blends!

Just be warned: These muddy buddies are HIGHLY addictive.  Like insanely can't-get-my-hand-out-of-the-bag, walk-back-into-the-kitchen-even-though-I-walked-out-because-I-needed-to-stop-eating-them addictive.

Go ahead and make them.  Just don't say I didn't warn you....

Funfetti Muddy Buddies
A JulieBakes original!

Ingredients:

6 cups chex (I used all rice chex, but any plain chex flavor, or a combination, would work)
12 oz vanilla candiquik
4 Tbsp sprinkles/sprinkle medley
3 Tbsp nonpareils, divided
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Directions:

Place cereal in a large bowl.

Melt CandiQuik in it's tray (or a microwave safe bowl) and microwave in 30 second increments.
Stir.
Continue microwaving and stirring every 30 seconds until completely melted.

Pour melted CandiQuik over cereal.
Stir carefully to coat it.

Immediately 4 tablespoons of sprinkles and 2 tablespoons of nonpareils.
Toss/Stir to coat.
Next, toss on the powdered sugar and mix until coated.
Toss last tablespoon of nonpareils.

I placed mine on a wax paper lined baking sheet so that the CandiQuik could dry.

If you feel that yours need a little more powdered sugar, add 1 tablespoon at a time until all of the muddy buddies are coated in powdered sugar.

Funfetti sprinkle cookies

When something isn't broken, you really don't need to fix it.  But play around with it a little, make some modifications, and make something different-but-similar?  That's totally OK!

See, I loved the flavor and texture of those heavenly chocolate chip cookies I made a week or so ago (and also a few months ago...you can read about it here), but I wanted to make something a little more *festive* for my upcoming birthday (although I'm not so excited about the actual day...you can read about that here).  So I thought FUNFETTI!  But, although I've seen recipes for chocolate chip funfetti things, I didn't want chocolate chips to overpower the flavor or pretty colorful specks of sprinkles.  So I opted for a funfetti/sprinkle cookie, and left the chocolate chips out.

The only question?  How much many sprinkles should I use?  A cup seemed way excessive (but it's only half the volume of the chocolate chips), but I definitely wanted a pop of color!  So I started with 1/3 of a cup of sprinkles and went from there...eventually I ended up with 2/3 cup sprinkles.

Funfetti Cookies
modified from Lauren's Latest

Ingredients:

3/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup sprinkles

Directions:

Stir melted butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until well combined.
Add in egg, egg yolk, and vanilla.
Mix until light in color.
Add in the flour, baking soda, and salt.
Scrape the sides of the bowl and the bottom really well to ensure the batter is well mixed.

Hand stir the sprinkles into the batter.
Let dough stand for 20 minutes to let the flour soak into the rest of the batter.

Preheat the oven to 325 while the dough is resting.
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Scoop cookie dough onto prepared pans using a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop.

Bake 10-11 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through baking (I totally skip this step.....shhh!).
When you take the cookies out of the oven, they will look cooked around the edges and undercooked in the center.

Leave the cookies on the hot baking pans for 5-7 minutes or until you can remove them without falling apart.  I let mine completely cool on the baking trays.
Place onto cooling racks.
Cool to room temperature before storing in airtight containers.

Birthday Cake Fudge

I hate to admit it, but I'm a little bit depressed about disinterested in my birthday this year.  I don't know why; I can't put my finger on it, but I just am.  (And I know that I have so much to be thankful for.  I'm just not digging this birthday.)  You know what's making it a little bit more tolerable?  Baking.  So, despite being depressed about my birthday, I'm going to be making treats in the ten days leading up to my birthday.  And I'm actually going to post them on time (that's my birthday present to you!).

First up is this.  Birthday cake fudge.  Because I've been eyeing it for a while, and wanted to make it for B's birthday last week (I made him this galaxy vanilla white chocolate fudge instead, because vanilla fudge is his favorite kind of fudge).  Plus, I ordered a huge shipment of adorable Sweetapolita sprinkles for B's birthday and I've been dying to use them all (I used the galaxy ones for B's birthday fudge).  And because it's called birthday cake fudge, and it is, after all, almost my birthday.

I absolutely loved the way Sweetapolita made her fudge look, with the thicker white chocolate layer on top of the semisweet chocolate "crust" that I made it her way -- and posted the recipe that way, too.  If you want to make it the original way (even white chocolate and semisweet layers), go to the link below and follow that recipe as is.

Birthday Cake Fudge
from Sally's Candy Addiction by way of Sweetapolita

Note: even if you love nonpareils as much as I do, they aren't recommended to mix into the white chocolate layer as their color can bleed.  They are, however, perfectly acceptable to sprinkle on top of the fudge (in copious amounts, if you so choose....which you should.  Just saying.).

Ingredients:

Chocolate fudge layer:

1.5 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 of a 14 oz can of full-fat sweetened condensed milk
2 Tbsp marshmallow creme

White fudge layer:

3 cups white chocolate chips
1 cup + 2 Tbsp (1 14 oz can) full-fat sweetened condensed milk
4 Tbsp marshmallow creme
2 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup (not nonpareils) + 2 Tbsp sprinkles (nonpareils are OK for this portion), rainbow or any color, divided

Directions:

Line an 8x8" square baking pan with aluminum foil (I used a 9x9 inch pan since I STILL don't own an 8x8" pan), leaving enough overhang on the sides to easily remove the fudge once it has set.
Set aside.

Make the chocolate fudge layer:

Combine the semisweet chocolate chips, sweetened condensed milk, and marshmallow fluff/creme in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
Stir constantly with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon as the chocolate chips melt.
Once the mixture is smooth and the chips have melted, remove pan from the heat.
The mixture will be extremely thick.
Pour into the prepared pan.
Smooth down the top to make 1 even layer.
Set aside.

You can either wash, dry, and reuse the same saucepan for the next layer or use a new, similar-sized saucepan.

Make the white fudge layer:

Combine the white chocolate chips, sweetened condensed milk, marshmallow fluff/creme in a medium sized saucepan over medium heat.
The mixture will be extremely thick.
Stir in the vanilla extract.
Once fully combined, very gently fold in 2/3 cup of the sprinkles (remember, no nonpareils here!).
Do not stir too much or the color of the sprinkles cold bleed.
Pour on top of the chocolate fudge layer.
Smooth down the top to make 1 even layer.
Decorate with the remaining 2 Tbsp sprinkles while the fudge is still warm and wet.

Cover pan with aluminum foil.
Refrigerate for 4 hours or until set -- or you can let the covered fudge sit out at room temperature overnight to set (I don't recommend this during the summer months in NYC....).

Once set, remove the fudge from the pan by lifting out the foil.
Invert the fudge from the pan and onto a cutting board, peel away foil, and turn the fudge back over (or you can just lift it out of the pan, and peel the foil back, like I did).
Using a large sharp knife, slice the fudge into 1 inch squares.  If the fudge is too firm, allow it to sit at room temperature for 20 minutes before cutting.

Ooops...I did it again!

I have a confession.  In the nearly 6 years that I've had this blog, I've never unintentionally made the same recipe twice...Until now.

In February, I made these soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies.  They were good.  Really good.  But then I forgot about them.  Let's blame wedding planning and the wedding.  But really, I don't know why.  You should always have a great chocolate chip cookie recipe up your sleeve -- and this one is really a winner because despite being super delicious, they don't require waiting for the butter to come to room temperature!

So, when I was looking at recipes recently, this aptly named actually perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe came across my eye again (I realized I had copied down the recipe before, just not that I had made them!).  And I made them right away.  And you know what?  It was worth it!  They were actually even better than I remember them this time.  Maybe it's because I used chocolate chips instead of chunks this time?  Or maybe they're just as delicious as last time?  Either way, this recipe is definitely a keeper!

Actually Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies
from Lauren's Latest

Ingredients:

3/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup milk chocolate chips (I used semisweet chocolate chips....although in retrospect I think I only ended up using 1 cup of chocolate chips total...but I'm not 100% sure....)

Directions:

Stir melted butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until well combined.
Add in egg, egg yolk, and vanilla.
Mix until light in color.
Add in the flour, baking soda, and salt.
Scrape the sides of the bowl and the bottom really well to ensure the batter is well mixed.

Hand stir the chocolate chips into the batter.
Let dough stand for 20 minutes to let the flour soak into the rest of the batter.

Preheat the oven to 325 while the dough is resting.
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Scoop cookie dough onto prepared pans using a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop.

Bake 8-9 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through baking (I skip this step).
When you take the cookies out of the oven, they will look cooked around the edges and undercooked in the center.

Leave the cookies on the hot baking pans for 5-7 minutes or until you can remove them without falling apart (I let mine cool completely on the tray before removing them)
Place onto cooling racks.
Cool to room temperature before storing in airtight containers.  Honestly?  They won't last that long!

Galaxy vanilla fudge

It's been a LONG time since I've posted anything on this blog, and I have no one to blame but myself.  I've even been baking (a little), I just haven't been posting.  There have been lots of reasons, and I can list them for you if you really want, but frankly I just need to be better about posting.  I mean we did get married 6 weeks ago, we had guests in from out of town, and we've been trying to get the apartment in order.  But today, I'm turning over a new leaf.  I'm going to be better about posting.  I'm even going to go back and post some of the treats I've made between my last post and today.  But first let's talk about this...

Let me tell you about this fudge.  I saw it posted as unicorn fudge.  I wanted to make unicorn fudge.  I even bought all of the ingredients for it a while ago.  And then they sat.  But see, my husband's birthday (I still can't get used to saying that, my husband!) is in 3 days, and I wanted to make a treat.  But my husband probably wouldn't want unicorn fudge, so I changed it up a little.  I used these awesome new sprinkles I just got -- which are aptly named Galaxy Twinkle Sprinkles -- which I figured were more "manly" than unicorn sprinkles.  I used the original purple color that they recommended, but any color would work.  I even thought about swirling a few colors, but figured I'd start off simple.  I'm pretty sure I'll be making this again, so I have time to test out all of my new theories!

The best part of this fudge?  It's vanilla white chocolate.  And B loves vanilla fudge!

It's also super easy to make.  Like one bowl, straight into the pan, and then chill.  Easy peasy.  And delicious, too!

Vanilla Fudge with Sprinkles
Recipe from Sprinkles for Breakfast

Ingredients:

24 oz white chocolate chips
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Purple food coloring (you can use any color, really.  I went with purple gel coloring, and used 4 drops to get the shade of purple I liked)
Sprinkles -- lots of sprinkles.  I didn't measure mine out, I just shook and shook until the entire top of the fudge was covered.

Directions:

Prepare an 8x8 inch pan with parchment (I used a 9x9 inch pan since that's what I had).

Place white chocolate, heavy cream, and vanilla extract into a microwave safe bowl.
Melt in 30 second intervals, stirring between, until smooth.

Add in a few drops of purple (or whatever color you choose) food coloring.
Keep adding until you get the desired color.

Pour into prepared pan.
Smooth with a knife or an offset spatula.

Add sprinkles.
Press lightly into the fudge.

Place into the fridge for at least an hour.
Cut into squares.  I recommend small squares -- it's super sweet!

Let fudge come to room temperature before serving.

Funfetti cookies

It's been a while since you've heard from me.  Like nearly two months.  I blame a lot of things.  There was the absence of me baking during the Whole30 (plus the 10 day reintroduction, which no one really seems to mention until you finish the Whole30 and then go "wait, what?!  I still can't eat most of those foods for the next. ten. days?!").  There are the full weekends devoted to wedding planning.  And there was Passover.  And a weekend away with my girlfriends for my bachelorette party, and one at a conference in Boston.  Oh, and I got strep somewhere in there, too.  Oh, and I have an actual full time job?  Right, there's that, too.  Anyway, I can blame a lot of things.  But the thing I need to blame the most.....is me.  I could've found the time to bake, and share the goodies with you, but I just didn't.  I have no one to blame but myself.

But....

Things are getting festive and celebratory around here in JulieBakes-land.  Like we're getting married in 38 days.  Thirty.  Eight.  Days!!  That's just over a month, people!  And because when things get exciting and festive, I like to bake.  And because I like to bake festive things for celebratory events, I decided to use sprinkles because, well, they're festive, and frankly #sprinklesmakeeverythingbetter.

Enter the funfetti cookie.  Chock full of not only sprinkles but also nonpareils (the recipe called for a total of 5 tablespoons....I rounded up), these cookies scream "PARTY!!!"  Because, we're getting married soon!!!!

** Update: I made these cookies three times.  The first time I was unimpressed with the way they looked, but they tasted great.  I made them a second time, but didn't refrigerate the dough as the recipe stated to.  The third time I made them was for guests we had coming over, three days after the wedding! **

Funfetti Cookies
Recipe from Sugar Spun Run

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 2/3 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups flour
2 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3 Tbsp sprinkles -- I used 4 Tbsp
2 Tbsp nonpareils -- I used 3 Tbsp

Directions:

Place the butter in a microwave safe bowl.
Microwave in 15-second intervals (stirring between) until butter is completely melted.
If the butter is too hot, allow it to cool for a few minutes before the next step.

Stir in the sugar.
Add eggs and vanilla extract.
Stir well.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Gradually stir the dry ingredients into the wet, until completely combined.
Stir in sprinkles and nonpareils.

Transfer bowl of dough to the fridge.
Allow dough to chill for at least 30 minutes.  Once, I skipped this step.  Another time, I chilled the dough but then let it come to room temperature before baking it.

Preheat the oven to 350F.
Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Once the dough has chilled, scoop in into 2 Tbsp-sized balls (I rolled them and then slightly flattened them, so they were like a thick disc).
Place at least 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet.
Bake for 1 minutes (I took mine out after 11 minutes, so watch them).  The cookies will still seem slightly underdone; this is OK, they will continue to cook on the cookie sheet as they cool.

Allow cookies to cool completely on the cookie sheet before enjoying.

Soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies

I'm a sucker for a good chocolate chip cookie.  I prefer soft and chewy ones (although recently I did have a delicious crispy one, too), so when I caught a glimpse of these aptly named "actually perfect" chocolate chip cookies, I knew I had to try them.

And trust me when I tell you that I was right!

These cookies are perfectly soft and chewy in the center, with just the slightest crisp at the edges, and packed with chocolate chips (I used half chunks, half chips).  They are actually perfect.

Of course, I already have a few ideas on how to doctor these a little (browned butter?  a sprinkling of sea salt?  a dash on cinnamon?), but for now I'm just going to enjoy these in all their perfectionism in their original state.  And then I'm going to promptly package them up for B to bring to work and some going away parties he has :-)

Actually Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies
from Lauren's Latest

Ingredients:

3/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup milk chocolate chips (I used semisweet chunks instead)

Directions:

Stir melted butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until well combined.
Add in egg, egg yolk, and vanilla.
Mix until light in color.
Add in the flour, baking soda, and salt.
Scrape the sides of the bowl and the bottom really well to ensure the batter is well mixed.

Hand stir the chocolate chips into the batter.
Let dough stand for 20 minutes to let the flour soak into the rest of the batter.

Preheat the oven to 325 while the dough is resting.
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Scoop cough dough onto prepared pans using a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop.

Bake 8-9 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through baking (I didn't read that part before baking).
When you take the cookies out of the oven, they will look cooked around the edges and undercooked in the center.

Leave the cookies on the hot baking pans for 5-7 minutes or until you can remove them without falling apart.
Place onto cooling racks.
Cool to room temperature before storing in airtight containers.