Ceylon Leaf Cookies

Bakinspiration.

Ok, ok.. I know that's not a word but I retrieved a print from Lily & Val! Valerie is an incredible artist and hand draws these images with chalk on a chalk board then digitizes them. I was so excited to get this in the mail. 

Today was really gloomy and this print got here just in time. Life is what you bake it is probably going to be my new life motto!

I decided to take a basic earl grey cookie recipe and use ceylon tea instead.

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons grated orange zest
• 2 cups flour
• 2 sticks unsalted butter
• 1/2 confectioner's sugar
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 tablespoons crushed ceylon leaves (or tea of your choice)

1. Zest the orange! 
2. Crush the tea leaves!
3. Cream butter with sugar and add orange zest
4. Mix dry ingredients together
5. Gradually add dry ingredients to butter mixture
6. Cut the dough in half and roll into logs on parchment paper 
7. Wrap parchment paper around logs and place in freezer until the logs are firm
8. Cut the logs into slices and place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper
9. Bake for 13 -15 minutes or until edges are golden brown

Review: Delicious and buttery. The orange zest is a subtle but great addition to the taste. 

Regrets: I didn't crush the tea leaves as much as I should have 

Royal Icing Experiment- Lessons Learned

Instagram is really a cool platform. I'm constantly finding so many talented people. Recently I keep stumbling upon cookie decorators. These ladies are amazing! The cookies they create are almost too pretty to eat. One of my favorite accounts is @tinykitchentreats! I found this lovely profile and found out that she makes these extra special sprinkles...so of course I had to get some to use on my cookies!

"Slumber Party sprinkles"  - There are mini donut sprinkles in this pack!

For the cookies I used the same recipe I used in "Tea Party cookies". I've reading a lot about royal icing and comparing these decorating videos to my experiences with royal icing...something wasn't right. Apparently there are two schools of thought: meringue powder and egg whites. 

Many use meringue powder just to be safe and others say egg whites taste better and if using pasteurized eggs there shouldn't be any concerns about getting sick . ** This excluded pregnant women and people with weak immune systems**

This time I decided to try egg whites. Literally royal icing is powdered sugar and either egg white or meringue powder, some recipes call for a little bit of water as well. I was trying to achieve the "flooding" consistency which is supposed to dry almost immediately. Check out how the cookies turned out. Note: Regardless of appearance, the were delicious :) 

They're a bit sloppy. I would like to be able to outline them and then fill in the rest of the cookie. I learned that I need to make the consistency a bit more stiff AND most importantly get a different icing bag. My icing bag tip cam off and spilled icing on one of my cookies and it doesn't have enough variety for tip size. 

Other lessons: Donut shaped cookie cutters are the best and slumber party sprinkles make them look more appetizing than regular donuts!

Coconut Chocolate chip cookies- My OWN Recipe!

Recipe by me!

My step father's mom is an excellent cook AND baker. Grandmere makes a MEAN rhubarb pie. One summer day she asked me if I wanted to help her make rhubarb pie for dessert that night and I've been hooked on baking ever since. It's such an amazing process, like a chemistry experiment and it brings so much joy to the people I share it with. 

I've always wanted to make up my own recipes but never knew where to start. There are so many recipes that I've made over and over again where I don't even need to look at the proportions because I know them by heart. I decided to start small with a twist on chocolate chip cookies!

What You'll Need

2 1/4 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (maybe a bit more)

2 eggs

1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips, 1 cup semi sweet mini chocolate chips

1 cup shredded coconut

If you're a coconut lover, use more

Directions: 

• Preheat oven to 375 F
• Put the chocolate chips and coconut aside to use at the end
• Combine all the dry ingredients in a  small bowl
• Cream the butter and sugar in a larger bowl. Add the eggs and vanilla
• Beat in the dry mixture into the larger bowl
• Add chocolate chips and coconut
• Place tablespoon size or a bit larger balls on the baking sheet a few inches apart
• Bake for 7-9 minutes or until golden brown

These have a slight coconut taste, not overly saturated. 

Tea Party Cookies!

It's time for a tea party.

I ordered a 3 pack of tea cookie cutters from amazon, thanks Wilton! I got a teapot, a teacup and a muffin. I decided to make sugar cookies and decorate them a bit :) 

Recipe

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

*I used orange*

2 sticks of unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cup granualted sugar

*I used dark brown sugar*

1 Egg

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

Preheat Oven to 400°F. Cream the butter with sugar in a mixing bowl until it's light and fluffy.

Beat in the egg along with the vanilla and orange or almond extracts.

Add the flour and salt one cup at a time, mixing after each addition. Do not chill the dough and divide into two. On a floured surface roll out each ball. Make sure to cover the cookie cutters in flour before using. 

Place cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 6-7 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned.

A tea and chocolate filled Valentine's day!

Baking up a storm. 

I decided to make a bunch of heart shaped treats for my family this valentine's day. I used silicone baking cups to make the mini heart shaped brownies. Marshalls provided an excellent decorating tool! I used all sorts of sprinkles and shapes. Check out what I made!

For breakfast I made my sweetheart some loving breakfast :) 

I went with a group of couples to Max Brenner's chocolate bar after dinner and had the most delicious treats! I tried a white chocolate chai tea which is essentially chai tea with white chocolate ganache. Although I'm not a huge fan of white chocolate this tea was so delicious. I highly suggest it!

The cutest superbowl sweet treats

Football shaped brookies. 

Oh my. Do you ever have trouble choosing between cookies and brownies? Brookies are here to save the day! 

Check out yet another amazing recipe from A Cozy Kitchen! Am I a fan girl? Kinda. Yes. 

After putting a mound of batter on the parchment paper I simply took my fingers and shaped it into a football. Not to worry, the batter isn't as solid as you'd like but even if the shape looks messy they still come out pretty well!

I let these cool completely before taking some store bought icing (I know shame on me) and made little football designs. 

These are super rich, sweet and delicious!

The Superbowl wouldn't be complete without plenty of beer! Flying Dog is a local MD brewery and they just keep knocking it out of the park with their new beers! These two were exceptionally good.

Send me a comment with your favorite superbowl treat or drink!

Miso White Chocolate Chip Cookies - Baking Failure

Sometimes I fail. 

I took an interest in baking back in middle school. At the start, I failed all the time. I soon discovered that baking is a lot like chemistry, you have to be precise. There is a reason to add baking soda versus baking powder or both etc. Once I got the hang of it I usually did well, except last night. EPIC FAIL :)

The last time I remember messing up was making my mom a raspberry torte. It was an extremely complicated recipe and I did not bake the genoise correctly, it was delicious but it was no genoise. 

I had come across A Cozy Kitchen's miso white chocolate chip recipe and was intrigued. Not really a fan of white chocolate but in cookies it's usually YUM. I have also never baked with miso before. The recipe was simple enough but in the process of baking I messed up. 

The bottom of the cookies kept burning. Thankfully the batter was a large batch so that I could experiment. Here is what I tried and what finally worked. 

-First I tried doubling up on the parchment paper...burned bottoms

-I tried lowering the oven temp to 300 from 350 and bake the cookies for 10 minutes instead of 12...burned bottoms

-I kept the above changes and moved the baking rack down a notch. This was the closest I got so far, the bottoms were browned instead of burned but the cookies weren't the right shape. 

-FINALLY, on my last batch I increased the size of the balls I was putting on the sheet and flattened them a bit. I checked them after 8 minutes and left them in for 9 total I believe. They finally came out right, on the last batch :( 

Of course it was frustrating to fail so many times but humbling as well. I took a few pictures to show you the process and difference in cookies!

The ones on the right were still yummy yummy but a bit too browned. 

Lesson learned. 

Cardamom spiced Flourless cake.

Winter storm Jonas 2016 baking. 

The east coast was hit by a blizzard this weekend and in Takoma Park we got a bit over 2 feet!

My boyfriend and I bravely went outside in an attempt to dig out our cars (which were completely buried) while it was still snowing. We gave up and I came in and started searching for a recipe!

I went back through Bake and found a flourless cake recipe which was perfect because I didn't have a lot of flour. 

Here's the recipe!

Basically, you melt the butter and chocolate together in a double boiler first. If you don't have a double boiler you can easily make one. I used a pot of hot water and placed a sauce pan on top, worked perfectly. 

In a separate bowl you mix all the other ingredients together. Once the melted chocolate and butter has cooled for 10 minutes you mix them together. 

If you don't have parchment paper I buttered a cake pan (or you can use spray) and the cake came out nicely. 

This recipe says to bake for and hour and 10 minutes at 325 but I would check it before hand. I think mine was cooked through at about 40 minutes!

My cake came out a little broken but it was still delicious! I think what happened is that the pan I was using was a bit too small. My boyfriend, sister, brother in law and I ate this with whipped topping. The cake is very rich so don't forget to pour yourself a glass of tea !

NOTE: I ground the cardamom by hand and the smells brought back memories of my childhood. It was so wonderful. We used to eat this hard candy Ahb-Nabat and it had cardamom seeds in it. So cool how this smell reminded me of that memory. 

Freshly ground cardamom.

Cardamom candy!

Cinnamon Swirl Muffins

Cinnamony swirl goodness. 

I was looking in my bake magazine and found a recipe for muffins! 

I didn't have pecans so I used walnuts. I didn't have buttermilk so I combined one teaspoon of lemon juice with almond milk. 

Check out the ingredients below!

Preheat oven to 425. 

Combine the baking powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl combine the sugar and butter. Once that's light and fluffy add the eggs and vanilla. Alternate mixing in the dry mixture and the buttermilk. 

Making the topping mixture with sugar, cinnamon and pecans (or walnuts). 

Fill the baking cups half way then spoon in some of the toppings mixture. Fill in the rest of the batter then take a toothpick shaped tool and swirl the ingredients. Top off everything with the cinnamon sugar mixture. 

Bake for 5 minutes then lower heat to 350 and bake for about 20 - 30 minutes. 

Let cool on a wire rack. 

DEVOUR. 

Chai Spice Snicker doodles

Chai Spice. 

Move over pumpkin spice....Chai spice is here to take over! 

If you're a fan of chai tea or anything with spices ...you're in for a treat! I'm a huge fan of A cozy Kitchen and her recipes! I saw this recipe for chai snicker doodles and I had to try it!

I substituted some of these ingredients but Ill give you the original recipe. These turned out delicious and spicy! These were wonderful with tea. 

When this is baking your whole house fills up with the smell of cardamom, cloves and cinnamon! 

Tip: keep an eye on these so they don't burn. If you like cookies to be chewy, I would take them out a minute or two early! 

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and warm
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 large egg
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of cardamom

Bake these babies:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, allspice and pepper.

In the bowl of your electric mixer, add the sugar, cream cheese and butter. Beat until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Beat in the oil. Add the egg, milk and vanilla extract untiled combined and smooth. Add the flour in two additions.

Mix together the topping ingredients (sugar, cinnamon, cardamom). Roll the dough into balls and roll in the topping then place on the baking sheet. Flatten the cookies then sprinkle  some of the toppings on each cookie. 

Bake the cookies for 11 to 12 minutes.