Football cookies

I wanted to make football shaped cookies for the Superbowl.  The only problem?  I didn't have a football-shaped cookie cutter.  I went into a store or two looking for one, but they were sold out.  So I decided I needed to head to my baking store looking for one, but with their hours, it would be difficult to work it out.

So, the Wednesday before the Superbowl, I finally got my hands on a football cookie cutter.  And helmet, pennant, and jersey ones, too, but I'm saving them for later.  Honestly, at that time I didn't even know what I was doing for the Superbowl, but at least at that point I knew I'd be able to bring some football cookies :)

I decided to try a new cookie recipe, too, because I was intrigued by it for two reasons.  First off, it used almond extract.  Yum!  Then, it used powdered sugar instead of granulated.  My interest was piqued!  The almond flavor was faint but I really enjoyed it.  Despite the recipe saying so, I didn't really notice a change in the texture with the powdered sugar.  These were really tasty!

I wanted to ice them with royal icing, but with the still-busted Kitchen-Aid, it was going to be really hard to make the icing.  Then I thought about covering them in chocolate and piping the laces on in white chocolate, but I figured that those would end up being too similar to the chocolate football lollipops I made.  Someone had suggested covering them in fondant, so on my second run to the baking store in one week, I picked up some colored rolled fondant for the cookies.  I scored the fondant with a toothpick and then covered over it with a little bit of white chocolate for the laces.  (I also think they'd be great with royal icing,)

Almond Flavored Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar (I even sifted it this time!)
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

In a mixer or using a hand mixer, cream together powdered sugar and butter until light and fluffy.
Add egg, and almond and vanilla extracts, and mix until combined.
Sift together flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar.
Add flour mixture to sugar mixture, and mix until well combined.

Divide dough into two disc shapes, and wrap in plastic wrap.
Refrigerate for 15 minutes (or up to 3 days).

Roll out dough to 1/8-1/4" thick and cut into cookie shapes.
Place on lightly greased of silpat covered cookie sheet (I used a parchment lined cookie sheet, ungreased).

Bake for 7-8 minutes (my first batch took 7 minutes, the second were more golden and were only in for about 6 minutes).
Remove and cool on cookie sheet.

Assembly:

Frost with royal icing or cover with fondant.
(I adhered the fondant to the cookies with a little bit of water on the fondant, and then slight pressure to affix it to the cookie.  Don't press too hard, the cookies with crack.)

Decorate with white chocolate "laces."

Superbowl football lollipops

Although I made football cookies for the Superbowl, I didn't want to stop there (that post will be up soon).  So I pulled out my football chocolate lollipop mold that I bought 2 years ago when I had a Superbowl party, and decided to make some lollipops!  I also had a helmet lollipop mold, but decided that with the colors of the teams this year, it would be difficult to get chocolates some of those colors (bright lime green?!  I actually think I saw Wilton Candy Melts in that color once, but I didn't buy them...and didn't have time now...and couldn't dye white chocolate that color).  Luckily for me, I had white, dark, and milk chocolate here...and footballs are brown!  So I made some dark chocolate footballs and some milk chocolate footballs, and did the detailing in white chocolate.

Usually, when I detail chocolate lollipops, I do the detailing in the mold first, let it dry, and then fill in the rest/background afterwards.  However, this mold was a little different, and the cavities for the detailing were convex instead of concave (translation: they didn't have a little cavity to fill), so I made solid lollipops and then waited until the lollipops were hardened, removed them from the mold, and did the white "laces" detailing then.

I think that they turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself!

Moustache treats for Father's Day

Usually, I don't have the ability to delay gratification.  You see, I bought these Moustache cookie cutters in January 2012, and still haven't used them!  So unlike me!

But then a few weeks ago, when I had gone to the baking store to buy some things for graduation, I came across a moustache lollipop mold.  I had to have it!  But of course - more fitting of my typical behavior - I made some of those right away!  In milk and dark chocolate.

 

So now, for Father's Day, I decided on moustache treats.  I think it's fitting since my dad has had a moustache (and beard) for my whole life. 

Dark and milk chocolate moustache lollipops, and butter and chocolate sugar moustache cookies.  Except I decided on making chocolates ones only.  And I was going to decorate them with royal icing, but the week got away from me, and that didn't happen.  I also put some of the cookies onto sticks, so that they could (hopefully) be used as props for Father's Day pictures.  Unfortunately, I won't be able to make it to Father's Day dinner, since I'll be working, but I'll be sure to let my sister know of my intentions for the cookies-on-a-stick!

Chocolate Roll-Out Cookies
(from none other than SmittenKitchen.com)

Ingredients:
3 cups (375 grams) all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon (3 grams) salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup (225 grams) lightly salted butter, softened (Smitten's note: I don’t really see “lightly salted” much these days, so I used one stick salted, one stick unsalted - which is what I did, as well)
1 1/2 (300 grams) cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa (Smitten's note: approximately 60 grams — weights can vary a bit depending on brand. I use the “good” stuff–Droste, Galler or Valrhona –but I can assure you that my mother only used Hershey’s growing up, so your choice.   I used Hershey's Dark and they were decadent and rich and delicious!)

Direcctions:

Preheat oven at 350 degrees.
Whisk dry flour, salt and baking powder in bowl and set aside.
Mix butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla and cocoa in mixer.
Gradually add flour mixture, and mix until smooth.
Wrap in plastic and chill for at least one hour.
Roll out cookie dough on floured counter. Cut into desired shapes, brushing extra deposits of flour off the top. (It does disappear once baked, though, so don’t overly fret if they go into the oven looking white.  Sorta.  Some of my cookies had a whitish coating, on the right). *This is when I added the cookie sticks*

Bake on a parchment-lined baking sheet for 8 to 11 minutes (the former for 1/8-inch thick cookies, the latter for 1/4-inch cookies) until the edges are firm and the centers are slightly soft and puffed. 
Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Father's Day golf ball cake pops and cake balls

The second installment of Father's Day golf-themed treats are golf ball cake balls and cake pops!  I had an idea for these a while ago, but couldn't come up with a way to make the cake balls and pops to look like gold balls.  Simply coating them in white chocolate or vanilla CandiQuik wouldn't give them the textured look of golf balls, and sitting there and indenting them with the end of a lollipop stick did not seem like the way I wanted to spend hours of my weekend.  Then, I came across this idea: use a golf ball lollipop mold, and fill them with cake balls.  Genious!  So I naturally went out and bought two molds (they're also available online).

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there!

Father's Day cupcakes

My dad is a (recreational) golfer.  When we were kids, he used to play every weekend, but he plays less often now.  Regardless, when it came time to making treats for Father's Day, I thought a golf theme would be great!  I have a two golf-themed desserts for Father's Day, but the others will be featured in another blog post shortly.

Since I am not going to be home for Father's Day, I made these cupcakes a few days early and delivered them to my parents when I went home on Friday night to take my dad to an early Father's Day dinner.  Since the other treat involved cake pops (which I made from cake mix), the cupcakes and icing are not from scratch - but these would be even better if made with homemade cupcakes and icing!

Check out these adorable labels I made - golfcarts!

The greens and sand and water traps are made out of white fondant that I dyed with gel food coloring.  I cut the "holes" in the greens with a straw.  And the golf balls are large white sprinkles.  The golf club and the flaps on the flags are made from chocolate putty (which I bought months ago and was about to reach it's expiration date).

I think (despite the cake mix and store-bought icing) these came out pretty cute!

Father's Day

So I'm sure you've all been wondering where I've been.  It's been more than a week since I've posted anything and, well, that's just very un-JulieBakes.  Here's the answer: I've been busy.  Uber-busy, actually.  I'm in the midst of a crazy hectic 5-week-but-they're-trying-to-fit-everything-from-a-regular-16-week-semester-in semester.  And this past weekend I was up in Massachusetts for my (gulp!) 10-year college reunion!

But fret not!  Father's Day is just 4 days away and I've got some great golf-themed treats coming your way.  Keep your eyes peeled!