Halloween Sugar Cookies

I love the holidays because it means that I can make festive sugar cookies or any decorated cookie. I am not really artistic, but somehow the cookies always end up looking okay. Although the ones I made today, I told my mom (who was taking them to work) to tell everyone that they are ‘abstract halloween cookies”  because they were not so pretty!

I’ve been on the hunt for a good sugar cookie recipe, and still haven’t found one. I guess this one is okay. Everyone else said the cookies tasted really good but I thought they weren’t as good as they could have been. Maybe I just don’t like sugar cookies and keep thinking they are something they reall aren’t.  But these stay soft in the middle but are strong enough to not fall apart. Overall, with the icing on them, I liked them!

Rolled Sugar Cookies

1 1/4 cups of unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/4 cups of cups icing sugar, sifted
1 1/4 cups of regular granulated sugar
5  large egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 1/4 cups pastry flour, sifted
1/2 tsp salt

Whip the butter until smooth with the paddle attachment of your stand mixer. Add in the sugars and mix until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks, one at a time and beating until each is fully incorporated. Then add the vanilla.
In a separate bowl, sift together the flour and salt.
Mix the flour into the butter/sugar/egg mixture until it forms a dough.
Remove from the bowl and knead the dough a little bit until it’s smooth. Then divide it into 2 discs and wrap in saran wrap. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
Preheat the oven to 325F. Chill your cookie sheets lined with parchment paper or a silpat. (I find that when I use the silpat, the cookies pretty much don’t spread at all. But when I use parchment paper they do spread. Not so that they are unrecognizable, but just enough that you can tell. )
Knead the first disc of dough a little bit until manageable. Cover your work surface with clour and roll out to around 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch thick. However thick you want the cookies. I like mine to be 1/2″. Cut out the desired shapes, and then pop the tray of cookies into the freezer for a few minutes. Then bake in the preheated oven for about 10-12 minutes (if your cookies are 1/2″ thick. use less time for thinner thickers, and more for thicker cookies.)

Continue the cycle until your dough is gone! But remember not to put the raw cookies on a hot or even warm cookie sheet because then they will spread for sure!

Use your favourite icing to ice them. I used a royal icing recipe I found somewhere on the internet.

Royal Icing Recipe

Ingredients:

6 oz (3/4 cup) of warm water
5 Tablespoons Meringue Powder
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 kilogram (2.25 lbs.) powdered icing sugar

*** Note; if your meringue powder has no vanilla flavour (vanillin powder) in it, add a teaspoon of clear vanilla to this recipe.

Directions:

In mixer bowl, pour in the warm water and the meringue powder. Mix it with a whisk by hand until it is frothy and thickened…about 30 seconds.

Add the cream of tartar and mix for 30 seconds more.

Pour in all the icing sugar at once and place the bowl on the mixer.

Using the paddle attachment on the LOWEST speed, mix slowly for a full 10 minutes. Icing will get thick and creamy.

Cover the bowl with a dampened tea-towel to prevent crusting and drying.

Tint with food colourings or thin the icing with small amounts of warm water to reach the desired consistency.

I didn’t particularly like the icing that much. It was really really thick at first and I had to spend a lot of time thinning it out and even then after sitting for a few minutes it was still too thick. Maybe I just didn’t make it properly!  I usually use a different icing recipe almost every single time I make cookie.  I like experimenting with all the different recipes.

Super Easy Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

If you are a fan of soft and ooey gooey chocolate chip cookies, these are the babies for you. I borrowed my boyfriend’s book of vegan cooking, and these were staring me in the eye just CRYING out to me to make them. And I did. And I was not disappointed. I thought they were amazing! They actually stay soft the whole time. Even if you leave them uncovered. They are awesome, and great for anyone who may have egg allergies or anything of that sort.

Ingredients:

1 cup of nonhydrogenated margarine
1 1/4 cups of sugar
1 tablespoon of molasses
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups of unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of salt
1 1/2 cups of your favourite chocolate chips, or chunks.

Preheat the oven to 350F.
Cream together the margarine and the sugar until light and fluffy.
Beat in the molasses and vanilla. (It’s the molasses that acts as the binding agent in this recipe. You don’t really taste it in the cookie though, so don’t be put off by this.)
Add the flour, baking soda, salt, and mix well. Fold in the chocolate chips and anything else you might want (coconut, pecans, almonds, walnuts, m&m’s, anything!)
Drop by spoonfulls onto a baking sheet either lined with parchment paper or a non-stick mat.
Bake for about 8-10 minutes until they are just the tiniest bit brown. You don’t want to overbake these beauties.
Let them cool for about 3-5 minutes and then DIG IN!  Delicious. I like them best when they are room temperature.

The Beginning: Salted Chocolate Cookies

I love to bake, I am an aspiring pastry chef and I have loads of recipes that are just laying around. So I decided to keep them all up to date and organized on the computer. And what better way to do that than to share them with the world at the same time?

This first recipe is one of my favourite cookie recipes. If you love the combination of salt and chocolate, these cookies are for you. They are packed with chocolate intensity and are soft! And they STAY soft! Enjoy : )

Ingredients:

1 cup of unsalted butter
1 cup of brown sugar, packed
1 cup of granulated sugar
2 tsp of good vanilla
2 eggs
2/3 cup of good unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups of all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

Directions:

Cream together the butter and the sugars until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and the eggs one at a time and mix until well combined. Add the cocoa powder and mix. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt and add to the chocolate mixture. If you are using a stand mixer, only let it go for a few seconds, then turn it off and switch to either a wooden spoon or a spatula. Do not over mix this batter or else your cookies will turn out semi-hard and cakey. Drop the cookie dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silpat mat. I like to use a tool specifically for cookie dough, but an ice cream scoop works well too to assure you get even sized cookies. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 13 minutes. (The original recipe says 15 and no more, the cookies will seem underdone. I find 15 is too long in my oven and the cookies end up more like a flat hard cake. So just keep an eye on the cookies. They WILL seem underdone. When they come out of the oven and are still kinda hot I like to flatten them slightly with my full length of my (clean) fingers, I like the texture better this way and they end up more fudgey, and plus they get a fun little pattern on them.

These cookies are great to use for ice cream sandwiches, or to crumble over a sundae, or to just enjoy on their own with a cold glass of milk. Enjoy!

♥ Tara
(*the picture used is not mine, it’s just temporary until I make these later today and get to take a picture of them. The ones in the picture have white chocolate chunks in them. I’ve tried it and it’s yummy!)