You guys know that I’ve been on a sugar cookie and decorating kick recently.  I am far from an expert, but I have picked up a few tips and tricks along the way. This post focuses on the actual cookie baking portion rather than the decorating. I figure, no matter how pretty a cookie is, the only thing that really matters is that the cookie tastes good! I’ve included the recipe I use and a few tips that will help you make soft and delicious sugar cookies.

1. Don’t overmix your dough. Once you add the flour, mix just until combined. Overmixing causes tough cookies.

2. Refrigerate your dough for at least an hour or two prior to rolling and cutting. The other day I tried to roll out dough I’d refrigerated for less than an hour and it turned into a sticky mess.

3. Use a Roul’Pat. These pastry mats have made my cookie baking experience so much better. It’s a nonstick countertop mat that is perfect for rolling out cookies or kneading bread dough. The mat sticks to your countertop so it doesn’t slide around and it has a nonstick surface so you can use less flour rolling out your cookies. Plus it’s easy to clean!

4. Use Rolling Pin Rings. These rings allow you to roll out the dough evenly to the exact thickness you want. I used to end up with cookies where half of the cookie was thick and perfectly cooked and the other half was thin and crispy and burnt. I have been using these rolling pin rings for a few months and they make it so simple to roll out dough to an even thickness.

5. Don’t roll your cookies too thin. I use the largest rolling pin ring that came in my set and I’d guess the cookies are about 1/2 inch thick. This makes them soft and chewy and a nice stable surface for the icing.

Sugar Cookies and Glaze Icing

Ingredients:

Cookies:

• 1-½ cup unsatled butter, softened
• 2 cups Sugar
• 2 whole Eggs
• 2 whole Eggs Yolks
• 6 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 cups All-purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1 teaspoon Baking Powder

Icing:

• 1 cup confectioners sugar
• 1 drop lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp light corn syrup
• ~1Tbsp milk

Directions:

For the Cookies:

1. Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat until well combined, about 2 minutes. Add in the eggs, yolks and vanilla and mix until combined.
2. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Slowly add flour to the butter mixture and mix until combined. Do not overmix. Transfer the dough to saran wrap and wrap well. Refrigerate for at least one hour.
3. When you are ready to bake, pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Roll the dough out to 1/2 inch thickness, cut out cookies, and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until cookies are set and just starting to brown around the edges.

For the icing:

1. Combine powder sugar, corn syrup, and lemon juice in a bowl.
2. Add milk until you get the consistency you want. If you need a thicker frosting for outlining cookies, add less milk.
3. For flood icing to fill in your cookies, thin the consistency by adding milk a few drops at a time.

from I am Baker

*Note: there are Amazon affiliate links in this post

Tacos are one of my favorite quick and easy weeknight meals. It’s so easy to brown some ground meat, throw in some seasonings and serve  – with lots of cheese and salsa of course!  It’s also a great way to sneak in some extra vegetables. I usually add plenty of diced peppers and onions into the ground meat mix as I’m cooking and Mike hasn’t complained yet. Actually, I don’t even think he’s noticed.

Time and again I would find myself having to make a last minute stop at the store for a packet of taco seasoning mix before heading home to fix a quick dinner.  I never questioned what was in the packet, or thought about the fact that I could most likely season taco meat with what I already had in my kitchen. Well, those days are over. This recipe for taco seasoning mix is quick to put together, contains spices you most likely already have in your kitchen, and is easily adaptable. I have no idea why it took me so long to do this, but I don’t think I’ll be buying those little packets anytime in the near future – this is what works for me.

Taco Seasoning Mix

Ingredients:

• 3 Tbsp chili powder
• 5 tsp paprika
• 4 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1 Tbsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp corn starch

Directions:

1. Mix ingredients together.
2. Divide into 4 equal amounts and store in 4 separate plastic bags.
3. Each bag can be combined with 1 lb of meat.

*Note: This mix is very low on salt, so you may also want to season the meat with salt and pepper while cooking it.

To make tacos:

1. Season 1 pound of ground meat with salt and pepper and brown 1 in a nonstick skillet.
2. Drain excess fat.
3. Add 1 package of taco seasoning mix and 3/4 cup water.
4. Bring to a boil.
5. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes or until liquid is reduced.

adapted from a newsletter I received in the mail

I spent a long time thinking that beautifully iced cupcakes were out of my reach. Sure other bloggers and bakers could do it, but me and my lack of artistic talent sure couldn’t. Imagine my surprise when I realized that it’s really not as hard as it looks! In fact, it’s even easier than using a knife to spread the icing on.

All it takes is a pastry bag and the right tip. It took me a long time to figure out that the missing key was the right tip. For big swirls like you see on these cupcakes, you need a tip with a big opening.  Eventually I went to Michael’s, stood in the cake decorating section and pondered my choices. I finally figured out that the easiest thing to do was search a decorating book for the look I wanted, find out what tip the decorators used, and just buy what they recommended.  My tip of choice for what you see here is a Wilton 1M tip, but any star tip with a large opening will work.

To get the look of the above cupcakes, first attach your tip to your pastry bag and fill the bag with frosting. (I like to hold the bag loosely in my hand and fold the excess out over my hand to make it easier to fill.)  Then, simply start from the outside of the cupcake and make a swirl of frosting around the top of the cupcake, working from the outside to the center. If you think it seems complicated, it’s actually much easier than it sounds. It might take one or two cupcakes to practice, but I promise you’ll have professional looking cupcakes in no time.

Mini Colorful Chocolate Cupcakes

To make the icing “roses” you see above, I did the same thing I just described, but started the icing in the center of the cupcake and swirled out around it. Still simple, and it gives you a slightly different, daintier look.

Good luck, and let me know if you have any other tips for fancy icing!

If you’re looking for more inspiration, Katie from Good Life Eats posted a great kitchen tip on cupcake piping last week, and Jen from My Kitchen Addiction has a great picture tutorial for frosting cupcakes. I learned the “rose” design from Amanda from I am Baker who has a great rose cake tutorial on her site – can’t wait to try that one!

Oh, and I also posted a review about the Wilton cake decorating class that I attended.  In short – I loved it and learned a lot! You may want to consider it in the future if you haven’t gone!

Black Magic Cream Filled cupcakes

Strawberry Shortcake (and slightly over-whipped cream)

This week’s works for me wednesday post comes from Mike’s family. Apparently this was a little trick his grandmother used to use, and now the whole family uses it.  I can’t believe I never thought of this, because it just seems like common sense. (Although if you ask Mike, I tend to be lacking in common sense on occasion).

There’s nothing like the flavor and texture of homemade whipped cream. When I use the whisk attachment on my KitchenAid to whip cream, it works perfectly. I just pour in the cream, start up the mixer, step away for an appropriate amount of time, and all of a sudden I have whipped cream. However, if my KitchenAid is otherwise occupied (or more likely, in the sink and I’m too lazy to wash it), I have to resort to my hand mixer. My hand mixer will eventually achieve the desired result, but not without splattering the whole kitchen with cream. Seriously, I’ve had to clean cream from the strangest places. That’s where this little tip comes in so handy. Use either a paper plate or a paper towel (for photography purposes I chose a paper plate), and slip it over the beaters so that it makes a nice little cover for the bowl while you’re whipping the cream! I watched Mike’s aunt whip cream this way over Thanksgiving and I was in awe! So simple, and yet so very useful.

*Once I tried to whip cream by hand with a whisk. 20 minutes and one tired arm later I was left with liquid cream. It was not a success.

Whipped Cream (from the Joy of Cooking)

Begin with chilled heavy whipping cream, bowl and beaters. You can stick the bowl and beaters in the freezer for about 10 minutes to chill them. Beat cream with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until the cream begins to thicken. Add sugar and flavorings, if using, and lower the speed. Continue beating, watching carefully to avoid overwhipping. Stop beating when the cream is just stiff enough to hold itself up.

*I like using 1 cup of heavy whipping cream, about 2 Tbsp of sugar (or powdered sugar) and 1/2 tsp of vanilla.

This is a great little tip I learned a few years ago. I’m sure a lot of you already know this, but as I’ve come across a few people recently who hadn’t heard this before, and because I’ve found it so useful, I figured I’d share it. 🙂

I used to never keep buttermilk on hand. Instead, I always used one of the quick tricks* to fake it. Those worked fine for the most part, but I really preferred the consistency and creaminess of real buttermilk. After one too many times of buying buttermilk for a recipe and letting the rest of the carton go bad in the refrigerator (why can you never buy a small enough carton of buttermilk??), I learned this valuable tip.

Buttermilk Waffles – recipe coming soon!

You can freeze buttermilk! How did I not know that before? Now, when I buy buttermilk, I use what I need for my recipe, then portion the rest out into one cup increments to store in the freezer. Then, when I need some in the future, I just thaw my pre-measured portions and use them. This is what works for me.

*If you run out of buttermilk (and don’t have any frozen) and need it for a recipe, the following will work to substitute for 1 cup of buttermilk:

• Put 1 Tbsp vinegar into a measuring cup and add milk until you reach 1 cup. Let sit for five minutes
• Put 1 Tbsp lemon juice into a measuring cup and add milk until you reach 1 cup. Let sit for five minutes.
• Stir together 1/2 cup plain yogurt and 1/2 cup of whole milk.  (You may have to adjust your proportions depending on the thickeness of your yogurt or if you use skim or 2% milk)

For this week’s works for me wednesday I thought I’d share some easy ways to sneak more vegetables into your diet. I love snacking on fruit, but with vegetables it can be a little hard to get your recommended number of servings.  After all, you can only eat so many carrot sticks before you’re sick of them. Over the past couple years I’ve learned that the following tips not only help me eat more vegetables, but also help Mike eat them as well, sometimes without even realizing it. 🙂  This is what works for me.

1. Green Smoothies – We make smoothies every morning for breakfast, which is great for getting some fruit in. But to add some vegetables, I always add spinach to my smoothie. I posted about this a long time ago, but figured it doesn’t hurt to post an update. The secret is to just throw a couple handfuls of spinach in with your normal smoothie ingredients. You can’t taste it (although it does sometimes turn it an interesting color), and it’s added healthiness!

If you’re looking for something easy and healthy to try right now, one of my current favorite combinations is 1 banana, 1 cup of milk, a handful of ice, and a little bit of sugar (or 1 splenda packet). This is what’s pictured above. It’s more of a liquid consistency than a typical smoothie, but it tastes great and it’s good for you!

2. Soups – We pretty much live on soup in the winter. I make a big pot every couple of weeks and store leftovers in the freezer. Soups are a great way to get in a lot of vegetables (and a way to make them taste good!). I tend to fill my soups with carrots, celery, onion, etc. I have a lot of soup recipes on the blog (see all soup recipes), but some of my favorites are roasted vegetable minestrone (pictured above), tortellini vegetable soup, carrot parsnip soup, and creamy chicken and wild rice soup.

3. Stir-fry – This is another favorite of mine. I’m planning a post on stir-fry in the near future, but it’s a great way to have a quick tasty dinner with a lot of vegetables! Also, the varieties are endless.

4. Store cut-up vegetables in your refrigerator. This is probably common sense, but I end up eating a lot more vegetables when they’re washed and cut and just waiting for me in the refrigerator. I try to take 20 minutes during the weekend and cut up some celery, carrots and cucumbers for quick snacking during the week and to pack in lunch boxes.

5. Create a fun dip. Vegetables are always more fun to eat when you can dip them in something creamy and tasty. The picture above is an avocado ailoi dressing I found on my friend Donielle’s blog, Naturally Knocked Up. (Donielle and I met through a West Michigan blogging group and she has some great healthy recipes on her blog.) This one is so simple – you just use your food processor to mix up an avocado, some plain yogurt, salt, basil, garlic and a small amount of apple cider vinegar. This is an easy recipe to play around with, but if you want the measurements I started from, check out Donielle’s recipe for avocado aioli dressing.  Mike loves this recipe, and after the vegetable photo shoot he ate all the bagel chips pictured above, dipping them in the avocado dip. He left the vegetables behind, somewhat defeating the point, but I promise they taste good together!

What are your secrets for eating your vegetables? Share in the comments please! 🙂

This week’s Works for Me Wednesday tip is a simple little tip that has revolutionized my baking. Now maybe everybody else already knows this, but up until a few years ago I had no idea how easy this was – and I can’t be the only one right?

How many times have you decided to bake cookies, checked for ingredients, gotten all excited about the delicious outcome, and then changed your mind because the butter was hard as a rock in the refrigerator? When you want cookies now, who has 2 hours to wait while the butter sits on the counter coming to room temperature? This has happened to me more times than I can count. And of course when I would try to microwave it, inevitably I left it just a little too long and ended up with a bowl of liquid butter. And liquid butter is most likely not what you want. (Unless you’re making these – yum! Oh, or these! But most of the time, liquid butter is not conducive to good cookies.)

Well, I’ve learned the secret – the secret to perfectly soft butter in the microwave that is. Are you ready? 30% power! It sounds so simple doesn’t it? I just put my butter in the microwave for 7 seconds at 30% power and test it. If it’s not quite soft enough yet, I flip it over, and do it for a few seconds more, still at 30% power. The exact time will vary depending on your microwave, how cold your butter is to start, and how many sticks you are softening. But perfectly softened butter in just seconds is worth a little trial and error don’t you think? Try it and let me know how it works for you! Or are you already doing this and am I the last to know? Please tell me – it’s best to be aware of these things.

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I think I’m going to start counting how many times I write about how much I love to eat soup in the cold weather. What can I say – I tend to talk about what I like. One thing I love about soup as an evening meal is that not only is it generally pretty healthy, but it’s also usually pretty inexpensive. Although the one exception to that rule seems to be chicken broth. I didn’t realize how expensive it was (to get the good stuff) until I started making soups that called for at least 6-8 cups of chicken broth.

So what’s an aspiring “make everything from scratch and keep it as cheap as possible” cook supposed to do? Make chicken broth at home of course. One problem. I seem to have no free time for long, laborious, stand over the stove recipes. Enter: The Slow Cooker. This has revolutionized my soup making.

(*Note: I have absolutely zero idea if this is the “correct” way of making chicken stock. I read about it on numerous blogs, have tried it myself successfully, and have made some delicious soup. I’m speaking from experience and nothing else).

This really couldn’t be easier. I like to start with the bones of a chicken – most likely a roasted chicken I bought from the grocery store (although my mom is teaching me to roast a chicken this weekend! Updates soon). We generally have chicken for dinner that night, then I pick the rest of the meat off to freeze for future recipes. Once I’m left with the bones of the chicken the steps are as follows:

1. Put chicken carcass (ha, who uses the word carcass in a recipe?) in the crockpot
2. Add whatever seasonings you want and cover with water – I usually add some fresh thyme, oregano, parsley, and some salt and pepper. I also read that if you add some vinegar to the pot at this point and let it sit, it helps get all the minerals into your broth. Sometimes I remember, sometimes I don’t.
3. Add your vegetables – I usually add carrots, celery, and onion. You can also add these halfway through, but again, I tend to forget, so I just add everything at once.
4. Cover, turn crockpot on high until it comes to a boil and skim off whatever comes to the top.
5. Turn crockpot to low and simmer for 12-24 hours.
6. Let the broth cool and strain it into containers to freeze. I like to strain it into a large bowl, then place it in freezer bags in 2-cup quantities. Freeze the bags flat on a cookie sheet so that they’re stackable in the freezer.

It seems complicated, but it’s really not. And the best part is that the broth just cooks away while I’m doing something else. I like to start it on a Friday evening after dinner, let it cook all night, and then deal with it on Saturday morning.

Homemade broth really does make the best soups, and best of all you can control the ingredients in it. It’s cheap, healthy, easy and delicious. This is what works for me.

Inspired by Donielle at Naturally Knocked Up

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This weeks Works For Me Wednesday post is a little different than usual. It’s more of a “this didn’t work for me” post. Or even a “don’t let this happen to you” post. And it’s in story form. It will be fun, I promise. 🙂

If you’ve read my blog for any length of time, you know that I’m semi-obsessed with my KitchenAid. (anyone else out there with me on that?) I use it for pretty much any and all baking that I do – using it to knead bread, mix cookies, and even mash potatoes. And I attribute much of my baking success to that wonderful machine.

hmm…not the cleanest my house has ever been…sorry.  Please try to ignore the slowly dying herbs in the background.

Well…on Saturday I was using it to mix up some of my favorite ciabatta bread. The recipe calls for the dough to be kneaded for 7 minutes in the mixer. So I turned the mixer on, set the timer, and went downstairs to start some laundry.

I had been downstairs for 5 minutes or so when all of a sudden I heard a huge thud from upstairs! Imagine my shock and horror when I raced up the stairs to see the following:

*re-enactment*

Yes, my KitchenAid had kneaded itself right off the counter and onto the floor! And the amazing thing was that it was just laying on its side still kneading the bread dough! I just stared at it for a second, calmly picked it up and put it back on the counter to finish the job. The dough was fine, the mixer seemed fine, I just pretended it didn’t happen.

beautiful loaves of ciabatta bread kneaded by the errant mixer

It was only later that I saw (ok, Mike searched for and found) the following gouges in our wood floor.

Those mixers are heavy! Unfortunately at that point I also realized the locking switch on my KitchenAid was bent as well. My mixer may not have emerged completely unscathed, but the fact that it had only a minor bruise after a huge fall to the floor is pretty impressive. Although, I do still have the ask the question – it shouldn’t have been able to knock itself off the counter in the first place, right?

And so, my Works For Me Wednesday tip is this: Learn from my mistakes. Don’t leave your KitchenAid unattended on the counter while kneading bread!

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I’ve set a goal for myself to learn to decorate cookies. If you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time, you know that I basically have zero artistic ability (exhibit one).  And yet, when I see the beautiful creations that my blog friends have made (exhibits two, three, four), I can’t help but want to learn. So with the help of some talented cookie decorators out there in the blog world, I’m teaching myself. And I’m not very good at it. But in case any one else is interested in learning to decorate cookies, this is what works for me.

The biggest thing that gave me the confidence to start was the video tutorials on the University of Cookie website. I had no idea where to begin and words like “outline”, “flooding”, and “royal icing” inspired more fear than excitement. Start in their basics section and you’ll find everything you need to start making beautiful cookies. For the actual recipe, I’ve been using the cookie and icing recipe from Amanda (I am Baker). It’s really easy to throw together, the cookies taste great, and I always have everything I need already in my kitchen. I’ve also been stealing her decorating ideas. This lady is talented! I can’t seem to come up with designs of my own, so I’ve been practicing with hers. Although I think I have a long way to go.

Amanda’s Cookies

My cookies – clearly I still need a little practice.

This is only my second attempt at this type of decorating, and you might not believe it, but this is definitely an improvement over the last time. I plan to keep practicing and my goal is to make beautiful wedding cookies for my sister-in-law’s bridal shower. I’ll try to keep you updated on the progress…unless I’m embarrassed by it, in which case, I’ll just quietly forget that I ever brought up this topic.

Good luck, and let me know if you’ve ever tried this type of cookie decorating!

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