Friday, February 25, 2011
Peanut Butter choc chip Whoopie pies
You can probably tell by the pictures that these Whoopie Pies were a valentine treat made with lots of sweet love.
Yup in the lead up to Feb 14th I really think I can put a heart onto anything. But don't worry hearts or not these whoopie pies are actually a perfect anytime treat.
Originally I made the heart toppers and popped them into some mini cupcakes, but alas my valentine does not care for overly sweet cupcakes.
Then someone asked me to make up a batch of whoopie pies for their special valentine and I realised I had my solution (thank you Anna).
I find that the classic marshmallow filling below makes enough to join 2 batches of whoopies cakes, so I made up one plain chocolate chip for my friend and then modified the peanut butter whoopie recipe from "Whoopie Pies" by Sarah Billingsley and Amy Treadwell to incorporate chocolate chips.
Recipe after jump
Monday, February 21, 2011
Cute as a Button Blossom cookie tutorial
Some of you mentioned you kinda liked my button blossom cookies in my last post.
I have to admit I'm a bit taken by them myself, there is something super sweet about button cookies.
Forget cute as a button, I think the saying should be cute as a button cookie.
This cookie was part of a set I designed and made for my sister in law's baby shower. She's an artist and sits more on the quirky cool side of things than traditional, so I thought baby bottles and onesies wouldn't cut it.
They were probably more cutesy than she's used to but hey, I am who I am and I think she was happy with them.
and big thanks to all of you who follow me on facebook and helped me out with these ones. I was unsure of whether to put the stitching around the edges and you convinced me it looked better with the faux stitching.
Some of you also recommended different colours so here you go while doing this tutorial I made up a few of your suggestions.
Blue button with green stitching
Pink button with pink stitching
Yellow button with pink stitching
Yup you get the picture this cookie looks pretty good in a variety of colours.
As a thank you I've done up a little tutorial to show how I made them.
Cute as a Button Blossom Cookie
Equipment and Ingredient for blue buttons with blue stitching
Cooked blossom cookies CLICK HERE for chocolate cookie recipe (my blossom cutter was 5.3cm or 2.1")
White ready to roll fondant
light blue (or colour of choice ready to roll fondant) I coloured mine with a little Wilton sky blue
Small rolling pin
Paintbrush and water
2 different sized round cutters (I used my the wrong ends of 2 wilton piping tips one of the big ones like a 134 and a #2 but just use anything you have on hand if you have a set of small round cutters perfect)
Edible writing pen in blue (optional)
Roll out white fondant cut out blossom shape using the same size cutter as you used for the cookie and adhere fondant to cookie using a small amount of water. Using the small rolling pin gently roll the fondant to make it the same size as cookie. Repeat for all cookies
Roll out light blue fondant and using the larger size circle cutter cut out enough rounds to place in the middle of each cookie. Adhere blue rounds to the center of each cookie with a small amount of water.
The Wilton tips in this picture are a little different that the ones I suggested as I was making a different size, like I said use what you have.
Using the slightly smaller round cutter press lightly into the larger round fondant cutout to leave an impression. Using the end of the paintbrush gently push 4 indents to replicate the holes in a button.
If you would like to add 'stitching' in edible pen I recommend allowing the fondant to dry a little. Then draw on the stitches using short stokes all around the edge of the cookie.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Chocolate sugar cookie recipe
I have been missing in action for the last week and oh so busy. I'm not sure what is going on but since mid January I have been desperately trying to catch up and just when I think I might just about be there something else comes along.
This week I had 3 days to design, bake, decorate and pack 6 different batches of cookies which doesn't seem so hard but was a struggle for me with 1 day mostly a write off as I had put my name down to help out at my daughter's pre prep school and afterwards had swimming lessons for the kids.
Lucky for me I have a couple of easy, no fail cookie recipes, which is actually the point of this post.
Yes there is a point to this rambling post and it is to share my super easy extra delicious chocolate cookie recipe for cut out cookies.
They have a lovely chocolate flavour and result in a flat well shaped cookie, just perfect for decorating.
Chocolate Sugar Cookie Recipe
114 g unsalted butter (4 ounces)
3/4 cup caster sugar (superfine sugar use regular white sugar if you can't locate superfine)
1 large egg (a large egg is approx 55g in weight - not a jumbo or extra large egg)
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups plain flour (all purpose flour)
1/3 cup cocoa (unsweetened)
Sift together flour and cocoa.
In a large bowl cream butter and sugar add egg and vanilla and mix until well blended. Add flour and cocoa mixture and mix well.
Refrigerate dough until firm enough to roll (at least one hour).
Roll out cookie dough on a lightly floured surface. Some people roll out between 2 pieces of parchment paper to reduce sticking, I don't do that I just lift the dough between each roll to stop it sticking, like you do with pie dough. Use what ever method works for you.
Cut out shapes and place on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.
Gently knead the remaining dough and roll out again to cut more shapes until all dough is used or you have enough cookies.
Place cookies in fridge to chill while you preheat the oven to 160C (325 F).
Bake cookies until the middle is set, you should be able to tell by looking that it no longer looks wet, or there should be no indentation when pressed gently - this is tricky as you can't judge by the golden colour. Depending on the size of cookie it could be between 7 to 20 mins.
Leave on tray a few minutes and then remove to a wire baking rack to cool. Once cool decorate as desired.
Unbaked dough can be wrapped and frozen in an airtight container or refrigerated for a few days.
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