happy st. patty's day

my mom bought me some pretty "lucky" emerald sprinkles, so I made some cupcakes for st. patrick's day today. I added green food coloring to a box mix and then iced then with my favorite chocolate buttercream icing recipe. hope you had a wonderful weekend! 

lemon icebox cookies

for those of you with an overabundant supply of lemons from lemon trees this season, this martha recipe is a very easy & tasty cookie recipe. I used meyer lemons, but any lemon will do. and the best part is, you have to freeze the dough, so you can make it a month ahead & have it ready to go when your sweet tooth calls or when guests pop by.

ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour, (spooned and leveled)
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 2 large egg yolks
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar, for rolling

directions:

1. In a food processor, pulse flour, confectioners' sugar, salt, and lemon zest until combined. Add butter and process until sandy. Add egg yolks and lemon juice; pulse until dough comes together. Divide dough in half and form each into a 1 1/2-inch-wide log. Wrap in plastic and freeze until firm, about 2 hours (or up to 1 month).
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, with racks in upper and lower thirds. Spread granulated sugar on a piece of parchment; roll logs over sugar to coat. Slice logs into 1/4-inch-thick slices and arrange, 1 inch apart, on two parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake until cookies are golden brown around edges, about 15 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool.

happy november

to welcome november, I made some of of these pumpkin whoopie pies with a maple marshmallow cream filling. here's the recipe if you're interested (or check out the chocolate peanut butter ones I made last november). the recipe is from the two fat cats bakery in portland, maine. robert & I were lucky enough to get to visit the bakery last summer while visiting some friends (see photos here). their whoopie pies are delicious & I was really happy with how these turned out. they were really moist & delicious, with just the right amount of pumpkin flavor. happy fall, ya'll!

ice cream sammies

the perfect snack on a hot summer day. I used this recipe. hope you had a wonderful long weekend!

tea & scones

going through the photos from our high tea at kensington made me wish I was still over there. so I thought I'd bring some london to florida. last weekend I made a clotted cream with this recipe (ok I cheated; real clotted cream takes like days to make & let's face it- I don't have the skill or patience). and scones with this recipe - and then threw in a handful of semi-sweet chocolate chips. I just closed my eyes & pretended it wasn't 100 degrees. 

gender cake pops

I made bakerella's cake pops for a baby shower last week (and also some for an adorable first birthday for a very sweet little boy). the couple is keeping the gender a surprise (I love that!), so I thought it would be fun to make the cake pop filling a surprise, too. for the "boy" cake pops, I used a vanilla recipe and added blue food coloring. and for the "girl" cake pops, I made red velvet cake (although next time I'll probably use vanilla cake and dye it pink). people had fun predicting their future baby's gender. and the couple both got blue cake pops on their first try, so we're convinced it's a boy. robert says the cake pops don't lie.

been bakin'

I've been bakin' up a storm these past few days for a baby shower, first birthday party & june's cake. hopefully I'll have some cute stuff to show you next week (really crossing my fingers that this stuff turns out ok!). 

irish soda bread

my mom got to visit ireland a few years ago. when she came back, she made us all irish soda bread, which she had eaten a lot of over there. I made some this weekend to get us in the st. patty's day spirit. it's delicious for breakfast with jelly or butter (we like apple butter), or even nutella. I used this recipe.

peppermint bark

I usually have my christmas baking staples, but this year I made something new: peppermint bark (recipe here). it's pretty easy to make & is perfect for gifting.

{I packaged my bark in mason jars. graphic from tiny prints}

{step 1: crush up peppermints}

{step 2: melt white chocolate & sprinkle crushed peppermints on top. let cool.}

{step 3 & 4: follow with a chocolate layer, cool, then follow with another layer of white chocolate & sprinkle w/ peppermints}

{step 5: after it's completely cool, cut up into pieces}

{this dessert is easy to package. use tins, baggies, or jars}

linzer cookies

one of our neighbors, gisela, is this sweet little german lady with the coolest accent (think a grandma heidi klum). she just retired, so I wanted to take a little something over to congratulate her. but the problem is... she is an incredible baker & I highly doubted there was any way I could impress her with my mediocre american baking skills.

but as I was looking through around online & in my baking books, I came across this recipe for raspberry linzer cookies, which is a version of the very famous austrian dessert, the linzer torte (& heck, austria & germany are practically the same, right? right?). I've always thought linzer cookies were beautiful, so this was the perfect opportunity to make them.

they were quite a bit of work, I must confess, but they turned out really beautiful & delicious. gisela appreciated the fact that I made something from her home country.
if you would like to give the cookies a try, I basically used this recipe. the dough is the trickiest part - it's hard to roll because it crumbles easily. but in the end, it was worth the effort.

snowflake sugar cookies

I made & decorated some sugar cookies for a work party last week & they got such great reviews, I thought I'd share. I recommend making the cookie dough a few days in advance, only because it will make the whole process feel like a lot less work! I use this recipe for the dough and this recipe for the royal icing. 

{snowflake cookie cutter found at michaels, which robert said looked like phallic symbols. I must agree}

{roll out dough & cut cookies. work fast, the dough must be cold}

{using an offset spatula, spread royal icing on the cooled cookies. you can also outline them first with icing in a bottle & then fill, if you are patient enough- obviously, I wasn't}

{decorate with sprinkles and nonpareils}

whoopie!

do you remember when I visited maine over the summer & tried all of the delicious whoopie pies? well I decided to make some for my agency's thanksgiving potluck, using this recipe. they were easy & so cute. next time I'll be more generous with the creamy peanut butter filling.

{the batter is pretty simple to make. then just drop it onto a cookie sheet}

{this is what they look like once they've baked & cooled}

{pipe the peanut butter frosting onto a bottom}

{top it with a lid & squish}

{add sprinkles if you're feeling festive & enjoy}

“hembakat är bäst” {"homemade is best"}

as if ikea isn't cool enough, they now have a new baking book called, “hembakat är bäst” {"homemade is best"}. isn't the food styling brilliant? evelina bratell did all of the styling & carl kleiner photographed the book. these images should hang in a modern art museum!

whoopie pies

so apparently maine is known for their whoopie pies. and the locals argue on whose are better: cranberry island kitchen or two fat cats bakery. so of course I had to try both so I could make a fair assessment.

{two fat cats}

{delicious, creamy, fresh whoopie pies}

{cranberry island kitchen- as seen on martha}

{the expresso-flavored pie was delicious. & all are shaped like clams!}

I'll have to call it a tie. 

mint chocolate chip cookies

I made & packaged these mint chocolate chip cookies for some friends & they all said they really enjoyed them. I just used my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe & substituted the plain chocolate chips for a bag of mint chocolate chips. to me, nothing beats an original chocolate chip cookie; but these were a nice change.

happy 4th of july!

we attended a couple of fourth of july cookouts yesterday & I wanted to make some sort of cutesy patriotic dessert to take. luckily, my mom whipped out her "fourth of july" recipe folder & had a photo of these cute lemon bars torn out from a magazine in 1996 (seriously). they were fairly easy to make & everyone loved them. if you do decide to make these, I recommend making them the day before & then decorating the day of. happy 4th!

lemon cheesecake flag bars

crust:
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

lemon filling:
8 oz light cream cheese, softened
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons freshly grated lemon peel
1/3 fresh lemon juice

topping:
1 1/2 cups reduced-fat sour cream
1/3 cup granulated sugar
garnish: fresh blueberries, rube of red piping gel or icing

1. heat over to 350f. line a 13x9-inch baking pan with foil, letting ends extend above pan 1-2 inches.
2. crust: in food processor or with electric mixer, process butter, flour & confectioners' sugar until mixture holds together & forms a dough. press evenly over bottom of prepared pan. bake for 15-20 minutes or until light golden & firm when touched.
3. lemon filling: beat cream cheese & sugar in large bowl with an electric mixer on high speed until smooth. reduce mixer to medium & beat in eggs, lemon peel & lemon juice just until well blended. pour over crust & spread in an even layer. bake 20 minutes until top is almost set.
4. topping: mix sour cream, sugar & vanilla. carefully pour & spread mixture over top. bake 10 minutes longer.
5. remove pan to a wire rack. cool, then refrigerate at least four hours before cutting.
6. lift foil by ends onto a cutting board.
to decorate as flags: cut into bars & arrange on a serving tray. pile blueberry "stars" in top left corner, then pipe horizontal red "stripes" with piping gel or icing. 

tweet treats

I am definitely going to have to pick up this "tweet treats" cupcake set from urban outfitters. so cute!