Perfect sugar cookies

So a friend asked me to do some baking for her bridal shower, I of course jumped at the chance and probably took on a little too much with such a sort time limit but oh well! So these cute little sugar cookies were one of the things I chose to do for her shower. Nila was very excited about the whole thing and could not stop coming into the kitchen asking for "cake" so I guess the wedding cake look really worked out! 

So anyway! These sugar cookies are so good! They are soft and perfect and the royal icing I make has a wonderful glossy top and tastes so good! They are very addictive so be forewarned! They are also extremely easy to make and my kids definitely love them! So here's how to make them! 

First in the bowl of your stand mixer add the sugar and softened butter.

Put the mixer on medium and mix until combined.

Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl while mixing so everything gets combined well. 

Next add the vanilla and almond extract.

Then add the egg and baking powder.

Mix until everything is completely combined.

Now begin adding the flour in a cup at a time. Place the mixer speed on low or else the flour will get thrown out of the bowl.

Once everything is combined nicely remove from mixer and stir by hand to make sure everything is mixed well. 

Take out a bit of the dough and form it into a ball. (It is going to work best if you work it in your hands a bit to make sure the dough isn't too crumbly.) 

Flour your surface and top of the ball generously and begin rolling it out.

For these cookies I used circle cookie cutters but you can do whatever you want if you aren't planning on making little cakes. (I ended up using the large end of my icing tip for the top layer of the cookies, I started with a bigger one but wasn't happy with how the cookies looked once put together so I baked another batch of the small ones) I then laid the cookies out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and baked them at 350F for about 5 minutes. (It all depended on which batch of cookies I was baking, the really small ones took a lot less time to bake then the big ones so of all depends on the size of your cookie.)

Once they were done I left them out to cool completely on a wire rack.

While the cookies cooled I began making a batch of icing. I ended up making 6 or 7 batches to cover all my cookies but I also made 3 batches of cookies. First place the icing sugar in a mixing bowl.

Add in the almond extract.

Next you have to add in the corn syrup. But obviously this picture is not corn syrup, this is a great trick for anything that is really sticky. Spray a little Pam on the measuring utensil and whatever is on it will slide right off! 

You can see from this picture that the corn ship is just sliding off, which was really convenient since I was making so many batches so that meant less scrubbing of sticky dried corn syrup!  

Next add in the milk. Start with the smallest amount and add more as you go to get your desired consistency. 

If you want the icing to stay in place (which why wouldn't you??) it will usually be perfect with just the 1/8 cup of milk. You can test it by scooping some out and letting it fall back into the bowl, if the icing slowly melts back into itself then it's perfect. If it melts back to fast you need more icing sugar, if it's too slow you need more milk. 

Once you have finished the icing, take a plastic bag or piping bag and a small round tip.

If using a plastic bag, cut a small hole in the corner of the bag.

Push the tip through the corner and screw the adapter together.

Next take a cup and place the bag in it and begin filling it with the icing. 

Whenever the bag is facing down the icing will leak out so try and keep it upright. Also to make sure it doesn't harden it's good to wet a paper towel and wrap it around the tip when not using it. 

Now to the most time consuming part of the whole process, decorating! I first had to ice each layer of the "cakes" and let them completely dry. (It's best to let them dry over night) Once dried place a small dot in the middle of each cookie and put the other layer on top. The icing will end up acting like glue once it dries. 

These are the three layers all done. After this I placed little dots around each level to give the cookies a little extra. I also had left over buttercream icing from cupcakes I was making so I added a little pink flower on the top of each cookie. And since I changed my mind about the sizes of the cakes I had a bunch of bigger circles left over to so I used some black buttercream icing to make monogrammed cookies.

These cookies were such a huge hit and always are! They are so soft and taste so good and are good for any occasion! I hope you all enjoy these! 

Funfetti cheesecake

So this was my big Easter dessert this year. I haven't made a cheesecake for awhile so I had to make one even if I couldn't show it off at my moms Easter dinner. So instead I decided to bring it to my husbands moms Easter dinner. It was very tasty and easy so here's the recipe. 

First empty 1 cup of graham cracker crumbs into a medium bowl. 

Melt 1/4 cup of butter in a microwaveable bowl. 

Add the butter to the graham cracker crumbs and mix.  

Then take a springform pan and some parchment paper, and trace and cut out the bottom of the pan.

Then after putting the pan together cut a long piece of parchment paper to go around the pan. (This step is not necessary but I like to do it so the cake comes out smooth) Another tip is to wet the parchment paper on the sides to make it stick down better. 

Once you have lined your pan empty the graham cracker butter mixture into the bottom and flatten it out. Bake it in the oven for 5 minutes just to set it.

Next we move onto the cake part. Normally I would use 3 bricks of cream cheese but I was making a smaller cake then usual so I just used two. So take your cream cheese and put it in the bowl of a stand mixer.

Add the sugar.

The eggs.

And vanilla extract.

Then mix it all together on medium speed.

It should have no lumps and be creamy like this!

Since this is a funfetti cheesecake next I added the sprinkles. 

My suggestion is to not use the little ball ones because the colour really runs but it was all I had so it's what I used! So the best thing to do is to gently mix the sprinkles in so it doesn't run as much. 

After that pour the batter on top of the graham cracker crust. 

I then added more sprinkles on top to make it look better! 

Then bake the cheesecake for 30-50 minutes depending on your oven and the size of cheesecake you are making. Usually the top will start to crack a little when it's done. This is the baked cheesecake which looks just like the pre-baked cheesecake because of all of those sprinkles that are hiding all the imperfections. 

Once the cheesecake has cooled on the counter for about an hour cover and put it in the fridge to chill overnight. Then take it out and remove the spring form pan. The parchment paper should make it come out perfectly. 

Now to the decoration. I can never have a cheesecake without whipping cream so I always decorate it with that! Pour about a cup of whipping cream into a bowl, container or anything you want (I used the little container that came with my hand blendr) and add in 1/4 cup of icing sugar. Mix it with a hand blender (or whip it with a regular mixer or even by hand if you really have to) keep mixing until it gets really stiff. I then always put it in a bag with a pastry tip to make it fancy, this one I just used a round tip because I wanted to keep it simple but you can do whatever you'd like. 

Decorate the top with the whipping cream, anyway you'd like! 

Since I was making this cake for Easter I had to add a bit of Easter flare to it so I put little egg m&m's on each whipping cream puff! Which I think turned out pretty cute! Hope you enjoy this yummy cheesecake! 

Funfetti cheesecake 

Crust 

Ingredients

1 cup graham cracker crumbs

1/4 cup melted butter

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a spring form pan with parchment paper. In a small bowl melt the butter in the microwave for 30 seconds. In another bowl pour the Graham cracker crumbs and add the butter. Mix until combined and pour onto the prepared pan. Pat down so that the crumbs are even and place in the oven for 5 minutes to set.

Filling

Ingredients

2 250g packages cream cheese

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup sprinkles

Directions 

In the bowl of a stand mixer add all ingredients but sprinkles. Mix on medium speed until combined and creamy. Gently mix in sprinkles and pour on top of prepared crust. Add extra sprinkles on top of cake and then bake it for 30-50 minutes depending on your oven. (Mine took about 35 minutes to cook) Once done remove from oven and leave on counter for an hour to cool. Then cover and place in the fridge over night.

Decoration

Ingredients

1 cup whipping cream 

1/4 cup icing sugar

Directions

Pour whipping cream and sugar into a container and mix with a hand blender until stiff. Place in a bag with a pastry tip and decorate the top of the cheesecake and enjoy! 

Vanilla cupcakes

Alright so Easter is this Sunday and as I said before my sister is getting to make the dessert for our family dinner but luckily for me I have my husbands side too, so I'm making desserts for that dinner. I have made a cheesecake that I'm going to post later but since not all of them like cheesecake I decided to make cupcakes as well. I have a chocolate cupcake recipe that I usually use that is pretty good but I don't have a vanilla one that I really like so I began searching the Internet for the prefect one. There was nothing that really jumped out at me so I did a quick glance of a couple and decided to make up my own.

I was very nervous starting this little journey because I know lots of times cupcakes or cakes can turn out pretty dense and I hate that. They always taste great right out of the oven but after a little while they are thick and chewy, exactly what I am trying to avoid. So after doing some research I realized that there are some tricks that you can do to make them more moist. One is to use 3 egg yolks instead of 2 whole eggs, but I don't have time to make macarons with those egg whites and I refuse to throw them out so that little hack is out. Then I read that some people use buttermilk instead of regular milk, which is totally do-able except that it's good Friday and I have no buttermilk and I never really trust that just add vinegar to regular milk and it turns to buttermilk, so again that hack is out. But then I read that some people add sour cream, now on the recipes I saw they used sour cream instead of milk and it was about 1/2 a cup or so but when I went into my fridge I realized that I only had about two tablespoons of sour cream, so that's all these cupcakes were going to get. So here's what I did.

First I put the flour, baking soda and baking powder in a medium bowl.

I then have them a quick mix and set the bowl aside.

Next I cracked two eggs into the bowl of my stand mixer.

I added in the sugar.

Then I beat the two together until they reached a soft yellow colour.

I then added in the chunks of softened butter.

I beat that for awhile.

Then I added in the vanilla. And gave it another mix.

I then added the flour mixture to the bowl and mixed it until just combined.

At this point the batter was very sticky and hard to deal with.

I then added in the milk.

Stirred the whole thing until combined. Now I know you can see chunks of butter still in there, that's okay, the butter melts and makes them even more moist! 

I then added my two tablespoons of sour cream and mixed it in.

I then took my lined muffin tins and grabbed my ice cream scoop and started filling. Using an ice cream scoop is a little trick I've learned, it makes it so you don't have to bang the spoon on the side or anything because you and clear it out with the handle and it also helps to make sure that your cupcakes are even. 

So I scooped all my batter and filled them about 3/4 of the way. Then I popped them in the oven for about 8-10 minutes, if you think your oven is going to heat faster then that then keep an eye on them. The longer the cupcakes cook the more moisture that they loose so if you want really soft fluffy cupcakes pay attention to how long you cook them for.

Once they were baked I took them out and let them cool in the pan for a minute or so and then took them out and placed them on a wire rack to finish cooling. I then moved on the making the buttercream icing for the top of these little beauties. 

I first put the chunks of softened butter in the bowl of my stand mixer.

Then I added the cut up shortening.

Add in the vanilla, for this icing I used clear vanilla extract because I wanted the icing to be as white as possible. If you don't have clear it's not a big deal because of the shortening the icing ends up being pretty white no matter what but I just wanted to be sure. 

Next cream everything together, start the mixer on low speed or else the butter and shortening will be flying all over your kitchen, and then increase the speed as everything begins coming together. Once it is creamed scrape down the sides. 

Then add a bit of the icing sugar, mix and add more and continue this until you have used all the icing sugar. Be sure to scrape down the sides as you go so that everything gets combined. Next add the milk to get the right consistency. 

And there is your perfect buttercream icing! Now since these were Easter cupcakes I had to add a little extra, so I got some sprinkles and some marshmallows and had some fun! 

I first poured the sprinkles into little cups big enough that I could dunk the marshmallows in. 

Then I cuz the marshmallows in half diagonally and dipped each side into the sprinkles to make the ear effect. After o had finished the "ears" I put my icing in a pastry bag and decorated the cupcakes one at a time so that the icing wouldn't harden in between and not hold the marshmallows. I also added an m&m on the back to act as a little tail! 

And there is the finished product. These cupcakes turned out to be exactly what o wanted, they aren't too sweet, they are fluffy and moist and the buttercream icing makes them have that little extra sugar that you're missing from the cupcake itself. And they are just so darn cute.

Recipe

Cupcakes

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup flour 

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

2 large eggs

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup softened salted butter 

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup whole milk

2 tbsp sour cream

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F. In a medium bowl whisk together flour, baking soda and baking power and set aside. In the bowl of your stand mixer crack the two eggs and add the sugar, beat on low until it turns a soft yellow colour. Add in the cut up butter and beat again until combined. Next add the vanilla and beat.  Then add in he flour mixture and mix until just combined. Add in the milk and stir until the batter becomes smooth and is jo liger sticky. Then add in the sour cream and mix. Empty batter into a prepared muffin tin using a ice cream scoop. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 1 minute and then remove and place on a wire rack for the remainder of cooling. Ice when completely cooled. 

Buttercream icing

Ingredients 

1/2 bag icing sugar

1/4 cup butter 

3/4 cup vegetable shortening 

1 tsp vanilla

1/8-1/2 cup of whole milk

Directions 

Cream butter, shortening and vanilla together in the bowl of a stand mixer with  the flat beater attachment on. Once completely mixed begin adding the icing sugar slowly. Continue to mix on low speed until completely combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and continue to mix. Add the milk until you reach your desired consistency.