Pumpkin Sugar Cookies

Last October I made these cute pumpkin cookies that got some rave reviews. They are sugar cookies dipped in an orange flavored chocolate with green sprinkles for the stems. I thought they turned out really cute. I am sure I will make these again in the future.  

Chocolate Coconut and Bananas Foster Cupcakes

I was asked to make cupcakes for a monkey themed 1 year old birthday party over the holidays so I decided to make some coconut and banana cupcakes. Not just any coconut and banana cupcakes would do, oh no, I had to amp them up a bit for some pizzaz! So I made chocolate coconut cake with a coconut frosting topped with coconut flakes and bananas foster cake with a rich caramel frosting topped with a chocolate dipped banana chip. It was a little time consuming but well worth it as the final results looked so cool. Who knew monkeying around with coconut and bananas would be so fun!

 

Tip: Too much coconut flavoring will burn your lips. Add cautiously.

Vanilla Cupcakes

I made these cute little pink cupcakes for my neice's birthday back in November. (See failed attempt below) One of her favorite colors is pink so, alas, pink frosting. This is a vanilla cupcake with silky vanilla frosting. Mmmmm.....my mouth is watering. Enjoy.

Pink Velvet Buttermilk Cupcakes

Here are some Pink Velvet Buttermilk Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting. They were supposed to come out as a bright flourescent pink but they pretty much turned out red. I originally made these for my niece for her birthday in November because her favorite colors are hot pink and purple, but since they didn't turn out I fed them to my colleagues at work and made some different cupcakes for her. Enjoy.

4th of July Cupcakes

Like I said, I am playing catch-up with a bunch of cupcakes I made last year so this is back from July! I made Flag Cupcakes for the annual 3rd of July celebration with family! Unfortunately I never made it to the party because my back went out but they still got eaten! They were made out of yellow butter cake, vanilla buttercream frosting, strawberries and blueberries.  :)  Enjoy.

Valentine's Cookies

Sorry it has taken me so long to post my valentine cookies I made for....wait for it....you guessed it!Valentine's Day! It was a new experience for me and a ton of fun! I loved it. I will definitely be making some more designer cookies soon!

Ok, well these aren't cookies but I did try to make some petit four hearts and it was a complete disaster! These were the only few that looked even remotely decent. I'll try them again. I don't give up that easy.

Now onto the cookies!

Sorry the pictures look so bad. I tend to do my baking at night and so I have artificial lighting.....plus I know close to nothing about cameras. Boo.

Designer Sugar Cookies

Ingredients

⅔ cups Shortening

¾ cups Sugar

4 tsp Milk

1 tspVanilla

1 wholeEgg

9 oz (2 cups) Flour

1½ tsp Baking Powder

¼ tsp Salt (I use fine crystal sea salt)

Mix the shortening and sugar with a mixer until well blended. Add the milk, vanilla, eggs and blend. Gradually add the rest of the dry ingredients until the mix forms a soft dough. More flour may be needed for rolling out the dough.

Roll out to about ¼ to 1/3 inch thickness. This makes 12 large cookie shapes. Bake at 350 degrees for 7 minutes (for small cutters) to 9 minutes (for large cutters). You can freeze these in airtight containers for several months before icing and serving.

Royal Icing by sweet Dani B:

Yields: 2.5 cups

¼ cup meringue powder

1/2 cup cold water

1 lb powdered sugar

Squeeze bottles

Food coloring gel

Using a handmixer, beat together the meringue powder and the water until you see good trails where the whisk has been. Slowly beat in sugar until well blended and you see trails again. Mix food coloring in to desired shade.

For writing, add more powdered sugar until correct consistency is achieved (so it doesn’t run) and use a small writing tip.

The natural color is off-white. If you want this icing to be white you have to color it white with a food color dye.

Sugar Cookies

I had my hand at some sugar cookies the other day at Ben's request. I tried a new recipe and didn't care for it. I will stick with the tried and true. Enjoy.