New Year's Cookies

Laying in bed last night... Looking through Pinterest... (DANGEROUS!)

I had no intention of decorating cookies today... Don't really know what I had planned for today... *sigh  Anyways... There I was, looking through Pinterest, and saw some New Year's cookies & thought, "I could do that!" and here I am... Cookies all decorated and drying & I'm collapsed back on the couch. :)

I started with these colours & then added a pink into the mix:

I still have plans to paint the little yellow balls gold... But you never know where time will take you. :)

I hope you have a happy & blessed 2015.

In 2015, BE AWESOME!!

Join our Facebook group: All Things  Cookies. Share your creations!

Root Beer Cutout Cookies w/optional Root Beer Glaze

This morning I took my root beer cookies to church for the coffee kiosk.

I had made some Root Beer Float Cupcakes (http://sugarkissed.net/root-beer-float-cupcakes/) this weekend for our bday celebration tomorrow night in class and had some leftover glaze. I had made only half the glaze & left out the torturous butter (totally not needed).

(Right now as I write this, my little baking helper is demanding my hands.

She'd draped across my chest pushing my hands off my phone. Well, at least she stopped licking my face & I can see again!)

There are a few basic sugar cookie recipes I've been using lately & just adding different flavours to them with great results (Spiced Apple Cider being one of them http://the-metamorphosis-of-me.blogspot.ca/2014/11/spiced-apple-cider-cutout-cookies.html?m=1). This root beer recipe is no exception. 

I took this basic sugar cookie recipe: http://www.inkatrinaskitchen.com/2011/12/best-sugar-cookie-recipe-and-kitchenaid_28.html and instead of using the flavourings they suggested, I added the same amount of root beer flavouring: 1.5 tsp. I baked my 1/4" cookies at 350F for 12-15 minutes and Voilá, root beer cookies. 

Last night, while finishing up the cupcakes, I looked at all the extra glaze, looked at my cookies, grabbed a large square paintbrush (I get mine at the dollar store & never use them for anything but icing), and painted on a layer of yummy glaze.  Because they were going to the church today, I grabbed a clean coffee filter and dumped in my sprinkles and then put half the cookie into the sprinkles. I wanted them to be a bit Christmasy. :)

I left them out overnight & the glaze hardened enough for me to transport them this morning. :)

If you try this version of a basic sugar cookie, please let me know how you enjoyed it. If you experiment with other flavourings, I'd love to hear how they turn out: both good & bad. 

Join us in our Facebook group: All Things Cookies. https://www.facebook.com/groups/529158830552635/

All His best to you!  Happy Baking!

Spiced Apple Cider Cutout Cookies

Who doesn't like the warmth of a mug of Hot Apple Cider on a cold, crisp day? Hands warming around mug, the steam bringing Christmas scents & memories up to your chilled nose, the sweet tartness of apples & cinnamon...  These cookies deliver both the sweet & the tart. :)

A friend recently gave me a whole whack of Alpine Spiced Apple Cider packets & I've been enjoying them almost daily as we quickly approach winter. Not only do I have all the above memories flooding my mind when I make this drink but now I remember Kim's generosity in providing my drink & the wonderful time I spent at her place baking cookies that tasted terrible... But made us laugh... And the yummy cream cheese mints we made (and the Eau de Menthe I could smell on my hands long after I got back home). 

So, sipping my yumminess I began to wonder what that flavour might be like baked into a cookie.  Today I present to you my Spiced Apple Cider Cutout Cookies Recipe. 

I started out with The Kitchn's The Best Cut-Out Sugar Cookies recipe: http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-best-cutout-cookies-38629 (2oz =1/4C cream cheese) but left out the lemon. To the dry ingredients I added 2 packets of Alpine Spiced Apple Cider mix & 1t ground cinnamon. 

I rolled out half the dough between 2 sheets of waxed paper to 1/4" & placed them on a baking sheet & put them in the fridge for 15-30 mins. Remove from fridge and peel away the bottom piece of waxed paper & then lay the dough back on top of it while you peel off the top piece. Cut out your cookies & bake. My cookies were a tad large so I baked them for 14-15 minutes. My huge cookie sheet is causing me some timing issues and I have no idea how long they took to finally get done... But, the regular, air-insulated sheet with my dollar store Betty Crocker Silpat liners took 14-15 mins @ 350F. 

Minor speadage. 

This is the cutey-pie I plan to make with these warm brown oval cookies: http://cookieconnection.juliausher.com/clip/christmas-countdown-day-18

Join us in our Facebook group: All Things Cookies: https://www.facebook.com/groups/529158830552635/

Let me know if you enjoy this recipe. :)

Easy-Peasy Pecan Cream Cheese Cutout Cookies (potential to be Gluten Free)

I cannot believe how easy & fabulous tasting these cookies are!  The reason I say that there's the potential to be GF is because if you use Betty Crocker's GF Sugar Cookie Mix... Voila! Gluten Free Cutout Sugar Cookies that hold their shape!

Recipe here: http://www.tablespoon.com/recipes/cream-cheese-pecan-cookies/09c78228-6424-4a55-b4b3-0eda2536ac69

Here it is in action:

 I took the dough & made 2 discs. 

 This is 1 disc, pre-flattened with the butt of my palm. 

I rolled it out to 1/4" with my cookie slats my hubby made me.  I was also enjoying an afternoon cup of 

Tim Horton's coffee while watching Zumba_Lo's videos on my iPhone. ;)

Place your rolled out dough in the fridge for 15-30 mins to make cutting & moving the raw dough easier. 

Whenever I cut cookies with nuts or fruit in them, I keep the pattern/cutter simple and use a sharp, metal one. Nuts & fruits can play havoc with the edges of your cookies so you want a clear cut. As you're moving them to the sheet, fold any excess around the bottom edge under the cookie. I moved mine while in the cutter so that I could do this. 

I baked my cookies for 12 mins... Not quite enough.  Then I tried 15 (based on how many extra minutes I had to bake the first batch to get them done. Just a touch too much. At this point... Goldilocks showed up and I got distracted and haven't a clue what the timing was that was just right! Believe me, I was trying to focus but by then my foot was hurting too much to really keep my mind on minutes spent standing at the oven when I just desperately wanted to lay down. :( I'm bummed too!

So, base the timing on your oven & preferred level of doneness. When I make these again I will focus better & update with the correct time.

The best part of this recipe is how little they spread and how fabulous they taste! Hubby HAD to have one based on the smell. He was not disappointed. I plan on icing them with a chocolate glaze. :D

Join us in our Facebook group: All Things Cookies https://www.facebook.com/groups/529158830552635/

Let me know if you try this yummy recipe!

Finally that moment arrives... :) Hot Buttered Rum Cookies

For me, the best moment of baking cookies happens when I cannot get another cookie cut from the wee piece of dough that I've rolled, re-rolled, and rolled out again. It's at that moment that I know that I now get to eat that piece of raw cookie dough!!! I can almost hear the choir start singing. :)  Please, no raw egg lectures needed. I've been eating raw cookie & pastry dough since I was a child. I'm still here & I've never gotten sick or even felt unwell afterwards... Just a feeling of sadness because there wasn't more of it to eat. ;)

Today I made the dough for 3 diff batches of cookies. Figured I'd better get to all the room temp butter before hubby started complaining about my taking up the cupboard space with bowls & bowls of softening butter. :)  I made my Coffee Cutout dough http://the-metamorphosis-of-me.blogspot.ca/2014/11/coffee-cut-out-cookie-recipe_20.html?m=1, Sweet Hope Cookies' Hot Buttered Rum cookies http://www.sweethopecookies.com/hot-buttered-rum-roll-and-cut-cookies/, & In Katrina's Kitchen's sugar cookies (which I subbed 1t of Rum flavouring & 1/2t Butter flavouring instead of Vanilla & Almond and added in 3/4t ground Nutmeg) http://www.inkatrinaskitchen.com/2011/12/best-sugar-cookie-recipe-and-kitchenaid_28.html.

I rolled out & put the coffee dough in the freezer to cut & bake tomorrow. Two of the 3 discs from the Hot Buttered Rum recipe are in the fridge till then too (they were awaiting a square cookie cutter that was loaned to me tonight at Zumba class). One of the discs I baked in balloon shapes for a party coming up. The last batch I baked as stars awaiting a genius Christmas design I'll see on Pinterest. 

Here are the results from the Hot Buttered Rum recipe: 

As you can see there is minimal spreadage (well, my spell check doesn't like my word choice... But I do!) and this dough was fairly easy to work with & is quite tasty!

It's definitely a keeper!

Here's what I did with the balloons:

Join us in our Facebook group: All Things Cookies https://www.facebook.com/groups/529158830552635/

If you try these cookies, please Let me know in the comments below. 

Coffee Cut-Out Cookie Recipe

I've had a few requests for my recipe for the coffee cookies I make. I have tried quite a few online and have been disappointed with the results so I took matters into my own hands & came up with the following recipe. These cookies are easy to work with and barely spread, as per the experience that I've had.

I take this recipe: http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-best-cutout-cookies-38629 and alter it a bit. :D

Instead of the flavourings suggested, I use a combo of LorAnn Oils Coffee & Irish Cream Flavors (1t Coffee & 1/2t Irish Cream). NOTE: if you want a lighter coloured cookie, the Coffee flavour is brown and will tint your cookies a bit. 

I add in 2T of coffee grounds (I have a Tassimo coffee maker & I put in 1 Tim Horton's puck as it held approx 2T of coffee grounds). Flavoured coffee may change the taste of your cookies. To date, I have only tried Tim Horton's.

IF you want to use instant coffee (which I did in a previous experimenting recipe) put in 2T but know that this will seriously change the colour of your cookies as it does not maintain its "granules" state when mixed into the dough as they dissolve in liquid.  Another difference is that where coffee grounds have their own flavour, instant coffee will invade the cookie dough with flavour just like flavourings will do.  This may mean that you may want to leave out the Coffee flavouring & just increase the Irish Cream flavouring. Don't be afraid to experiment. 

Instead of 1C White Granulated Sugar I put in 1.25C Icing Sugar. Here's why: coffee is bitter. I do not like bitter coffee]. I do not like a unsweet cookie. I like my coffee sweet. This is why I changed the sugar to icing sugar & increased the amount to produce a yummy cookie. [For now, let's ignore the fact that I used to order a Large coffee with 3 cream, 4 sugars, & 5 sweeteners from Tim Horton's! I've gotten better: 3 cream, 3 sugars, & 4 sweeteners.  See? Improvement!] Also good to know: 2oz cream cheese = 1/4C. 

Cookie recipe recap: I changed the flavourings to coffee flavours, used 1 Tassimo puck of ground coffee to my dry ingredients, & switched and increased the sugar to 1.25C icing sugar. 

I separated my dough into 2 discs, rolled them out between waxed paper to 1/4" and placed them on baking sheets & put them in the fridge for approx 20 mins. Take them out of the fridge & cut out your cookies. I baked mine for 12-14 mins at 350F. 

To make my drawn Christmas tree cookies I used my chopping knife & cut out irregular rectangles. I wanted the cookies to have a more natural look, more artsy than cookie-cutterish [see how I did that there? ;)]. 

This is the recipe I use for Royal Icing: http://sugarkissed.net/royal-icing-recipe/

I prefer this recipe because I have found it to be simple to make, taste the best (that's saying a lot for an RI) & it comes together well. Here are my adjustments: instead of 1t Glycerin I use 1/2t. The icing is still hard enough for stacking & soft enough to eat. I often replace the plain flavourings with Irish Cream as the icing then goes from good to delicious. Where one might lick your finger if regular RI gets on it... One definitely does if any Irish Cream icing does. ;)  I also increase the amount of water to 1-1.5C as this recipe calls for 3/4C and there is nowhere near enough water to start out with for my climate (I live in the Vancouver, BC, Canada area & we're between mountains & the ocean. This part of the country is often referred to as the Wet Coast of BC. This affects icing & cookie decorating. Wet, rainy days with the windows open can affect your icing. Know that the amount of water you add to your icing may be influenced by where you live.). 

NOTE: With the coffee cookies you can't taste the Irish Cream if you add any of that flavour into the cookies. Save your flavouring for another day. If you make your cookies without the IC flavouring then add it to your icing as it will definitely compliment the cookies that way.

A lot of the recipes I use for my cut-out cookies can be found on my Pinterest account: http://www.pinterest.com/Saintly7

I also have a cookie group on facebook called, All About Cookies (https://www.facebook.com/groups/529158830552635/) where I share the projects I'm working on and we talk about cookies. :)