Peanut Butter Cup Brownie Cheesecake

I can't really take credit for this recipe. At all. I didn't make a single part of it. It wasn't even my idea. I'm pretty sure my only contribution was taking pictures. And eating. But it's so good that whether I had a hand in it or not, I've got to share it.

So my friends and I like the show Supernatural on the CW. And by like I mean completely and utterly obsessed. Show quoting, marathon watching, convention going (DallasCon!) obsessed. When Kelli suggested that we have a Supernatural Marathon weekend, I was totally game. Especially when we decided that dessert was most definitely involved. My vote was for pie (if you watch the show, you understand), while Tommy voted for cheesecake. So, of course, we made both. Sorry Sam and Dean (and Cas. And pie.), you might be the stars of the show, but this cheesecake was the star of the weekend.

Since Kelli doesn't do much in the way of baking, Tommy and I packed up half our kitchens (mixers, waffle irons, ingredients, and all), and took our baking and cooking shows on the road. Pretty sure the neighbors thought I was moving out with the amount of stuff I was hauling to the car. But it was so worth it. We fired up the mixer and the DVR and set off on a Supernatural baking adventure, with Tommy leading the charge, Kelli as sous chef, and me just playing paparazzi.

Layer upon layer of deliciousness. We're talking 8 layers here. EIGHT! In all their peanut butter and chocolate glory. 

Mountains of peanut butter cups. And surprisingly we only sacrificed 3. For quality control purposes only, of course. 

Oh the unveiling anticipation! Pretty sure we opened the fridge to check on it about 85 times in the 4 hours it took to chill.

Brownies + hot fudge + peanut butter cheesecake + brownies + peanut butter cheesecake + whipped cream + peanut butter cups + hot fudge = HOLY MOTHER OF YUM. And don't even try to calculate how many calories are in this. It's probably about a week's worth of the recommended daily amount. So we just won't talk about that.

We ate our slices standing at the counter. If no one was watching, I might not have even bothered with slices. I probably would have just taken a fork and dove in. But I'm a bit more civilized in the presence of company. (Well, that is if you can overlook me standing on a chair like a crazy person taking pictures.. That's just what happens when you invite a food blogger to a party.)

So, whether you're reveling in your fandom with good friends, or celebrating the upcoming Valentine's Day (with company or alone--either way works), this cheesecake is not to be missed! It's easy to throw together, practically no-bake, and honestly, we're probably not still going on that whole New Year's resolution thing, so what are you waiting for? You NEED this cheesecake.

Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta with Blueberry Coulis

Well now doesn’t that just sound fancy—Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta with Blueberry Coulis. We’re stepping it up and putting on our fancy pants over here at The Busty Baker! Sort of..

Until very (very) recently, I had no idea what panna cotta really was. I’d heard of it. I’d seen it around the interwebs. But it just sounded very classy and probably way too complicated to make. So I paid no attention to it, because, hello—I’m lazy. I don’t want to work harder than I have to. (Let's just call it low-key instead of lazy, shall we?) But you want to know a secret? Panna cotta is totally simple. And totally delicious.

Think of it as pudding meets Jello, all dressed up in pearls and a pretty dress. This isn't your lunchbox pudding cup. Smooth and creamy, speckled with vanilla bean seeds, and served up in a fancy glass, it’s an elegant dessert at the end of a meal. And the Blueberry Coulis? Dark and dramatic on top of pure white, it’s the perfect accent to the panna cotta. And no one has to know coulis (pronounced coo-lee) is just a fancy name for blueberry sauce.

I mean really, what sounds more classy and impressive: Panna Cotta with Coulis? Or Vanilla Pudding with Blueberry Sauce? I think we all know which one is more likely to wow and woo.

Both the panna cotta and the coulis can be made ahead of time, so you have plenty of time to pretty yourself up for your Valentine’s date night and enjoy a fabulous dinner, followed by a divine (and totally stress free) dessert!

Chocolate M&M Cookies

You know why I like Valentine's Day? Because everything's pink. The decorations, the cards, the candy. My inner 4 year old (that I very poorly hide most days) positively squees at the idea of Valentine's Day. Cover everything in hearts and glitter--heck, make it look like a unicorn exploded, and I'm one happy girl.

But my very favorite thing about Valentine's Day isn't the pink or the love or the sappy Hallmark cards (which are actually my least favorite part). No. My favorite thing is that Valentine's is a holiday where chocolate is not just encouraged, it's expected. Chocolate. And lots of it. Which is definitely something I can get behind.

Truth: I ate almost half the bag of M&Ms before making these cookies.

Truth: Almost a quarter of the bag was gone within 20 minutes of buying them at Target.

Truth: I almost didn't share these cookies.

This is my very favorite chocolate cookie recipe. I've been making it for years from my Martha Stewart's Cookies cookbook. They're a bit crunchy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside, and oh-so-perfectly chocolatey. And each and every time I make them, I have a hard time not eating the entire batch myself. (Are we noticing a lack of self-control theme here?) These cookies had my coworkers asking what sort of black magic I use because they can't possibly be that easy and still be that good. But they are. Easy. And good. And perfect for the class party. Or your Valentine. Or just for yourself. Share. Don't share. It's completely up to you.

Looking for more Valentine's ideas? No fear! I've got you covered. 

Peppermint O's

How is everyone doing on their New Year's Resolutions? Still going strong? Good for you! I'm proud of you! And I totally apologize for this post.

I made you Peppermint Oreos. Well, they're not exactly like Oreos, so we'll just call them O's. And O-my are they delicious. (See what I did there?)

Oreos aren't safe in my house. I can't tell you how many packages I've bought with the intent to make something, only to end up devouring the whole package before they ever make it to the baking stage. One here, one there, and suddenly I'm reaching in to find only crumbs. I can't be alone on this, right?

This homemade version doesn't have quite the crispy-crunch of regular Oreos, but that won't stop you from twisting the tops off and licking the peppermint cream from centers (because we all know that's the proper way to eat an Oreo.)

These come from the gorgeous Bouchon Bakery cookbook by Thomas Keller and Sebastian Rouxel. Part cookbook, part coffee table book, this thing is a sight to behold. I spent quite a while just turning through the pages in awe of the beauty within. With so many delicious sounding things, it was hard to choose what to make first--but I finally settled on the famous TKOs.

I'm not sure where the blame lies on this, but for me, my initial attempt at the recipe as it's written did not work. I don't know if it's error on my part or from within in the recipe, but my original dough was completely unworkable. It bore more of a resemblance to sand than cookie dough. We're talking arid Sahara desert level dry. The directions of pushing the dough together into a block to chill was laughable; it wouldn't even hold together when I squeezed it! It just crumbled into a million pieces. There was no way it was going to hold together enough to roll out and cut. Luckily I've done enough baking to be able to think on my feet and try to remedy the situation on my own. With the addition of an egg to bind it, the dough came together at last. From that point on, it was smooth sailing. The tweaked dough rolled and cut beautifully and turned into the most delectable little cookies, even without the filling!

Maybe it's because my house is desert-like in the winter, or maybe it's because I measure by volume rather than weight. Maybe I was just having a bad day--or maybe I was just trying a faulty recipe. Who knows why the original recipe didn't work, but I'm more than pleased with my adaptation, so we'll call it even. It's still a gorgeous book, and I'm going to give it another shot with another recipe before I write it off as a book that's a bit beyond me.

But until then, I'm going to enjoy dunking some of my Peppermint O's into a big glass of milk.

Chocolate Cherry Cookies

Sometimes you just need a fuss-free, quick and easy treat to throw together at the last minute. A "hurry--the guests will be here in an hour!" snack for your holiday party. The nearly midnight "I forgot I was in charge of dessert for the office potluck tomorrow!" treat. Or maybe you just need chocolate. Now. Right now. Right this instant, or else. Whatever the reason, sometimes you just need these cookies.

I've come to love these pantry cleaner types of cookies. They're always good in a pinch, when the urge (or necessity) to bake strikes with limited time and supplies. Just pull out whatever you have, throw it in the mix, and reap the deliciousness that will come forth from your oven in a short amount of time.

Almost brownie-like cookies studded with tart cherries and gooey chocolate chips--they're meant to share. You won't want to. You'll want to hide in a corner and eat the entire batch alone, but trust me. You should probably share.  

The most wonderful part of these cookies is that they're very flexible. No cherries? Try cranberries. Throw in some crushed candy cane bits and use peppermint extract instead. Perfect for the season! Make them festive with red and green M&Ms. Or leave out the extras entirely, and just have the perfect chocolatey chocolate cookie. You can't go wrong. Just be sure to serve them with a big glass of milk because these cookies and milk are total BFFs.

Blackberry Crumble Bars

The sunshine outside right now is deceiving. It looks absolutely gorgeous, but there’s still a bit of a chill in the air. I shouldn’t complain because it’s beautiful for early April. But after a few weeks of way above average temperatures that felt more like May than March, I want the almost 80s back! I want to grill out for dinner. I want to sit outside on my brand new patio furniture. I want to ride my new bike. I want to frolic in the sunshine in a tank top and a skirt! But I guess I’ll have to settle for staring at the emerging green outside my back door from the couch and eating some summer berries to trick myself into thinking it’s almost warm.

Is there anything better than juicy, ripe berries? I’m a terrible eater when it comes to fresh produce (I hate nearly every vegetable on earth), but I can pack away fruit like it’s my job. It’s the main reason I love summer. Because I certainly can’t stand the heat.

The grocery store has been having sales on summer fruit for the past couple weeks now. While I held off on the cheap, but not-so-great looking strawberries, I couldn’t resist the perfect blackberries. They just called to me, and at $1 a carton, I couldn’t stop myself.

I also couldn’t stop myself from eating these bars. I didn’t even share! Warm from the oven or room temperature with a bit of whipped cream, they were hard to say no to. Sweet and tart with just a tiny hint of cinnamon spice, these helped convince me that I’m officially over my aversion to baked fruit. I’m ready to try these bars again when the big hauls of summer fruit come rolling in. I think they’d be amazing with a mix of raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries.

Oh Summer, please hurry!

Red Velvet Sandwich Cookies

What’s Valentine’s Day without a little Red Velvet? It’s my favorite cake flavor, so of course I had to sneak it in again this year. After last year’s not so stellar cupcakes, I went for a different approach this time. Instead of the usual cake, why not Red Velvet cookies? Sandwiched with delicious cream cheese frosting, they’re hard to resist!

And you don’t even have to tell anyone it’s a box mix.

That’s right. A box mix. So even the busiest of us can whip up a special treat for our Valentines! While I’m not generally a fan of mixes, these are pretty darn good. They’re just a bit crisp and crunchy around the edges and soft and chewy in the center. And it’s got the added bonus of not having to smear red food coloring all over myself and my kitchen in an attempt to achieve the perfect brilliant hue. I will say that when I was rolling them into balls before baking, they looked SO oily I thought I had messed up. But they baked up just fine.

Want an even quicker and easier treat? Opt for canned frosting to fill these, and you'll be serving them up in no time! I went for the homemade cream cheese frosting, and man is it good. Much better than the frosting I attempted for a batch of ill fated orange cupcakes last week. It ended up looking exactly like cottage cheese, and didn’t taste much better. But this frosting—it’s smooth and creamy and delicious!

And if you don’t like Red Velvet, you can substitute any cake mix you prefer. Devil’s Food cookies with a strawberry frosting would be an equally delicious and fun Valentine’s treat. To dress it up even more, use a heart cookie cutter to cut out shapes in the baked cookies for the perfect festive look!

Are you making anything special for the sweeties in your life?

Strawberry Scones

I’m not a morning person. I don’t do well getting up before the crack of noon. I get home from work at nearly midnight, and usually don’t get to bed until at least 1am or later. Which means I sleep until at least 10am every day. But today? I was willingly up at 4am. The only thing that could get me up that early? Watching a real life fairy tale.

As part of a generation raised on a steady diet of fairy tales and Disney Princesses, the idea of a Royal Wedding fascinates me. How many little girls around the world have dreamed about finding Prince Charming and becoming a princess? How many not so little girls still try to emulate the ideal for their own special days? For those of us 30 years and under, this is our first real experience with a true Royal Wedding. Not just one we’ve seen in an animated movie. I think for a lot of people, Kate represents the little part of us that dreamed about what it would be like. Except she actually gets to live it.

The wedding itself didn’t disappoint. What can I say about it that hasn’t or won’t be said a billion times over? The dress—classic and stately—was beautiful. But come on. Kate could wear a garbage bag and still look elegant. (Although I won’t lie. Elaborate and a bit more over the top would have been okay in my book too.) The setting was GORGEOUS. Westminster Abbey just solidifies my love of Gothic architecture. The ceremony was lovely and the music was fantastic. (How much do you think it would cost to hire the choir of cherub faced little boys to follow me around singing all day?) And all the hats? Well, the British sure do accessorize. All of it was fantastic and so worth getting up well before dawn for.

To celebrate the Royal event, I made scones! Tender scones bursting with fresh strawberries and a hint of lemon, they’re the perfect toast to the newlyweds. They’re not too sweet, for those scone purists, but I might add a touch more sugar to it next time. Or at least sweeten the strawberries beforehand. I finally got to use the trick I saw in the America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book-- pressing the dough into a cake pan before turning it out onto a floured counter, making it much easier to shape and cut the scones! I think I’ll spend the day munching these and talking with a fake British accent. Now if only I liked tea and knew what the heck clotted cream was, I could feel like royalty myself. Cheers!

Red Velvet Cupcakes: Now with 100% More Flavor!

I know it’s not Valentine’s Day anymore, but bear with me for a few more Valentine’s Week posts.. These were supposed to go up LAST week, but unfortunately, they either didn’t turn out right, or didn’t get made, so Valentine’s Week has been extended to 2 weeks! Why not show a little more love?

I finally got the Red Velvet Cupcakes right! Or at least got closer to right than I was. I had this great idea last week to post delicious red velvet cupcakes with fluffy cream cheese frosting, topped with a beautiful bouquet of fondant roses.. Absolute perfection for Valentine’s Day. I ended up with tasteless red cake, frosting that was good, but not good enough to save the cake, and mediocre roses that just looked kind of sad sitting on top of the mess I had made of my idea. I didn’t even give them away. They sat on my kitchen table for 3 days, taunting me, until I just threw them away. Talk about disappointment.

I think I’ve trained my coworkers a little too well to expect treats on holidays, because all weekend long, without even knowing about my disappointing attempt, they kept asking me, “Where are the cupcakes?” One even said the only thing she thought about on her walk to work was that there were bound to be cupcakes waiting for her when she got there. And she was sad when there weren’t. So Monday morning, I got up and tried Red Velvet Cupcakes one more time. To MUCH better results.

They were super moist (almost a little too moist for my liking, but Boyfriend raved) and actually had a taste to it! Even though they were up against a delicious chocolate cake another coworker had brought in, they disappeared within an hour and a half—and there were harsh words yelled when the last one was nabbed. I’ll take that as a good sign.

So was it the oil rather than butter that made the second attempt taste so much better than the first? Was it 2 tablespoons of cocoa instead of 1? Cake flour vs. AP, or white vinegar vs. cider vinegar? Who knows. It could’ve been one or all of the above that made the difference, but at least I feel a bit more redeemed. Hope you had a great Valentine’s Day!

P.S.- Excuse the rather awful pictures.. I was half asleep when I took them and I only made it through about 10 tries before I gave up and just ate the cupcake for breakfast.

♥ Happy Valentine's Day!! ♥

Happy Valentine's Day!! 

Hope your day is filled with lots of love! Even if that love is just for yourself.

A Valentine's Idea

Well. Today was supposed to be a post about Red Velvet Cupcakes. I had this great idea, but unfortunately, the finished product didn't end up quite as great as it did in my head. So I'll just leave you with an idea to create your own.

So far this Valentine's week we've covered the hearts and the chocolate. But what about flowers? Those grocery store roses are seriously overpriced and end up dying within 2 days, so why not give some flowers that won't break the bank. Why not put them on top of cupcakes?

Okay so they don't look quite as pretty as I'd hoped. I pictured this pretty bouquet of flowers atop a vibrant and delicious red velvet cupcake. What I got were hastily made wimpy roses sitting on subpar bland cupcakes. (The roses were totally my fault. I attempted to make them this morning while distracted by Glee on Hulu. The cupcakes.. I won't take credit for that one. And I'll leave names unmentioned.) But! I still like the idea. I think it could work out really well with the right recipe (or even a box mix.) For much prettier roses check out the little "how to" I did awhile back. Those turned out MUCH better! Or if that's a little more effort than you want to put into it, simply cut strips of fondant and roll them up to make ribbon roses. (See this quick video at CakeJournal for a visual.)

I was a bit disappointed with the way my roses looked on the cupcake, so I decided to break out my little heart cutter I used to cut the center of my Linzer cookies with and make little heart toppers.

Much cuter!  I added the diamond pattern to it by pressing my bench scraper (or a knife) lightly onto the hearts in a criss cross shape. The sprinkles are actually crumbled up cupcake that I sacrificed, but you could certainly use any kind of sprinkle you like.


Hopefully I'll have better luck tomorrow with the one thing I've been absolutely terrified of making.. caramel.

Valentine Brownie Cut Out Cookies

Yesterday we had the hearts. Today, there are hearts and chocolate! Valentine’s week rolls on!

Ah, my pride and joy. The humble beginnings of my baking obsession. The one thing I used to make more than anything else in the world—the cut out cookie. It’s the first “from scratch” thing I ever truly mastered. The single baking entity that made me think, “Wow. I can actually do this!” And it makes me sad that it’s taken me more than a year to revisit it. But we’ve finally reunited. And making them for Valentine’s Day reminded me why I loved making them in the first place. And also why it’s taken me so long to come back.

I’ll be completely honest. I’m a picture stalker. I spend half my time online just looking at sites like Tastespotting and Flickr, somewhat for inspiration, and a lot for just the sheer pleasure of it. There are some really talented people out there, and I love seeing what everyone has to offer. Over the holidays, the sites were bursting with beautiful holiday cookies, and it made me ache for those hours I spent thinking about designs, setting out my piping bags and tips like a surgeon, and eventually ending up covered in sugar and smeared with color, staring proudly at the only art I knew how to create. But at Christmas, there just wasn’t time. So I had to wait until the next big holiday.

The wait didn’t stop me from obsessing over it though. I’ve been studying hard these past few months, reading blogs, watching videos, and bookmarking design ideas. It was finally time to put it all to the test. I woke up yesterday ready to take on the world. And quickly realized that meant taking on the grocery store first. I was out of confectioners’ sugar—the main ingredient in my icing. It also meant a separate trip to take on the cake supply store when I ran out of red food coloring—the main color of my icing. (My kitchen looked like a crime scene, yet my icing wouldn’t go any darker than a mocking pink.) Luckily I checked my supply of black coloring and realized I’d need a whole lot more of that as well before I set out. Otherwise it would’ve meant yet ANOTHER trip. So much for all my planning. (And next time, I’ll stock up on red and black well before Valentine’s Day. They were completely cleaned out of the Americolor brand I wanted.)

Once I finally got around to decorating, I realized why it had taken me such a long time to get back into it. I’m a mess. Along with the red food coloring splattered across my kitchen, I had icing smeared across every surface, including myself. My fingers were stained, my arms were sticky, my jeans were wrecked. It would’ve been easier to just take a hose to my kitchen (and me) rather than scrubbing endlessly at dried icing. But when I finally finished piping the last detail at midnight, I remembered why I loved doing it despite the mess.They were beautiful.

I loved the way these turned out. There are a few little flaws and I still need a bit of practice on the whole icing consistency thing, but all in all, I’m proud. And I even deviated from my usual! Instead of my tried and true sugar cookie recipe, I decided to go a chocolate route instead (because what's Valentine's Day without chocolate?) and man I’m glad I did! The icing looks beautiful on the dark cookie and the taste is great. But while these are delicious, I’m having a hard time eating them. They’re just too pretty and I can’t decide which one deserves the sacrifice. So I’ll pack them up and give them away, so I don’t have to feel the pain of biting into my work of art.

If you want to create your own masterpieces, or just want to get better at it, I highly recommend checking out University of Cookie. It’s a fantastic resource, built by food bloggers who excel at the decorated cookie. There are all kinds of tips and tricks and videos to help you out.

• My personal fave? Marian of Sweetopia’s trick for the right icing consistency. Instead of creating a stiff icing for outlining, then thinning it down to flood, she makes it halfway between the two—thick enough to hold a line, but thin enough to still spread. She just outlines, goes back and fills in, then shakes the cookie around to smooth it out. And it works perfectly! Plus, it’s one less step to hassle with. (Here’s a good example in the video for her marbling technique.)

• Another trick I found was for filling my piping bags. It comes from Karen’s Cookies. Instead of putting the icing right into the piping bag, put it on a piece of plastic wrap first, roll it up and twist, and then put it in your bag! Makes clean up MUCH easier! (Again, watch the video. [Start at 1:00 if you want to skip to the bag filling part] It totally blew my mind. And it works! Although it is a little scary flinging your frosting around.. I thought for sure I was going to wear it.) 

• For sheer viewing pleasure, be sure to check out The Sweet Adventures of Sugar Belle. This girl is A-MAZING at decorating. Like blow your mind amazing. She's the inspiration behind a lot of these designs. But she does it 1000x better. Complete and total eye candy.

Linzer Cookies

Hearts. Chocolate. Flowers. That can only mean one thing—It’s Valentine’s Week! What are you making for your sweetie?

Maybe a batch of beautiful Linzer cookies? These jewel-like pretties are a great way to score some Valentine’s points. A sweet almond cookie filled with ruby red jam and cut into cute little heart shapes? What’s not to love!

Be warned, this dough is a little dry and crumbly. I had to add another egg to the original recipe to even get it to stick together. Comparing it to other Linzer recipes, it only has half the eggs and butter of almost every other recipe for the same amount of dry ingredients. Too bad I didn’t notice that until I already had everything mixed! But once I threw the extra egg in, it worked itself out and ended up really tasty! (Well.. still a little dry in my opinion. But good nonetheless.) And they turned out beautiful. I love the way they look! And I can only imagine how pretty they would be all wrapped up in a box for your Valentine. Too bad my Valentine doesn’t like raspberry. Oh well. All my Valentines at work enjoyed them instead!

How To: Making Fondant Roses

After making the beach scene cupcakes for a manager at work, I was asked by another coworker if I would make cupcakes for a party her daughter was having. Every year her daughter hosts a tea party for several girls before the start of school. It’s a very girly affair, complete with dresses and hats, and of course tea and fancy desserts. When I first heard about it, I thought of fun little Fancy Nancy type cupcakes for younger girls with lots of pink frosting and cute little butterfly toppers—until I realized her daughter was 17 and the girls she had invited were her classmates, not the kids she babysat. Maybe cute little butterflies wouldn’t go over so well. I decided to go the more mature route and make fondant roses instead. They’re elegant, pretty, and don’t look like they’re meant for a 4-year-old’s birthday cake. And best of all? They’re a whole lot easier to make than you think. Seriously. Let me show you.

Strawberry Cream Cake

I’ll make this short and sweet. Let’s just say the sunshine outside is making it impossible for me to sit still today, so I’ll get right to the point. This Strawberry Cream Cake? It should be called Strawberry Dream Cake. It’s amazing. And so easy! It may just be the perfect thing to grace your table for Easter dinner.

Brownie Bites. Or Not.

Another snowy day, another chance to play around in the kitchen! Last week, during a trip to the grocery store, I saw these adorable little bite-sized brownies in the bakery section. They looked so moist and fudgy, and totally easy to replicate with a mini-muffin pan in my own kitchen. They became my snowed-in goal today--adorable little Valentine Brownie Bites. Sadly, I failed. Not a complete, utter, epic fail. But a fail nonetheless. It was a bit of a mixed bag with what I got from my batch..

There were some that looked decent. But what was hiding under those perfect tops?

Red Hot Velvet Cupcakes

We're less than a week away from the big day. Valentine's is almost here! Have you made your plans yet? Called for your dinner reservations? Hinted to your significant other about how much you'd love a beautiful bouquet of flowers? Or at least a nice card and a box of chocolates? Whether you're going all out for a fancy dinner or opting for a romantic homemade meal, hopefully your day includes some of IronCupcake: Earth's theme for February--Passion! Bake up some passion this holiday, because nothing says "I love you" like homemade dessert. Although, some Red Hot Velvet Cupcakes might be saying a little more than "I love you"... ;)

Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner it’s time to start baking something sweet for your sweetie! While Boyfriend gets to taste test nearly everything I make, it’s not very often that I make something specifically for him. (I know, I know. I’m a terrible girlfriend.) So in honor of Valentine’s, I made cupcakes just for him that I knew he would like—Chocolate Peppermint.

Conversation Heart Sugar Cookies

Sugar cookies are so simple to make. The recipe has 6 ingredients. Six. That's it. So easy! And the royal icing to decorate--three! Well four if you count water as one of the ingredients. Super simple.

Conversation Heart Sugar Cookies
From Martha Stewart Baking Handbook, page 82
(This is the full recipe--I usually halve it.)

4 sticks (1 pound unsalted butter), room temperature
3 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
5 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
Colored sanding sugar or sprinkles for decorating (optional)
Royal Icing (recipe follows; optional)

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, vanilla and salt; mix on medium-high speed until combined. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour in two batches, mixing until just incorporated.
2. Turn out the dough onto a clean work surface. Divide in half, and pat into flattened rectangles; wrap each in plastic. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to a week.
3. Preheat oven to 350°F, with racks in the upper and lower thirds. Line large baking sheets with parchment paper. On a lightly floured Work surface, roll out one rectangle of dough to a scant 1/4-inch thickness. Using cookie cutters, cut out shapes. Using a small offset spatula, transfer shapes to prepared sheets, placing about 2 inches apart. Chill in freezer or refrigerator until firm, about 15 minutes. Set scraps aside. Repeat process with remaining rectangle of dough. Gather all the scraps, and roll out again. Chill 15 minutes; cut out more shapes and place on sheets.
4. Decorate cookies with sanding sugar or sprinkles, if using, before baking. Bake rotating sheets halfway through, until cookies are golden around the edges and slightly firm to the touch, about 15 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. Decorate with royal icing, if using. Top icing with sanding sugar or sprinkles, if using. Cookies can be kept in an airtight container, layered between sheets of waxed or parchment paper, at room temperature for up to 3 days.

(This way makes about 3 dozen for a full recipe. I usually roll mine thinner than 1/4-inch thick, so I get about 6 dozen thin crispy cookies out of a full recipe. I also lower my baking time to 11-13 minutes for thinner cookies.)

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Royal Icing
Also from Martha Stewart Baking Handbook, page 389
Makes about 2 1/2 cups
(I usually halve this as well if I'm only making a half-batch of cookies)

1 pound (4 cups) confectioners' sugar
5 tablespoons meringue powder
liquid or gel-paste food coloring (optional)
(I usually add in 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract as well to give it flavor, but you could add any extract you choose to give it your desired flavor)

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine sugar, meringue powder, and a scant 1/2 cup water on low speed. Beat until mixture is fluffy yet dense, 7 to 8 minutes.
2. To thin the icing for flooding (filling in areas with a thin layer of icing), stir in additional water, 1 teaspoon at a time. Test the consistency by lifting a spoonful of icing and letting it drip back into the bowl; a ribbon should remain on the surface for 5 to 7 seconds.
3. To tint icing, dip a toothpick or wooden skewer into food coloring, and gradually mix it in until the desired shade if reached.

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Happy Valentine's Day! It's a day for love, romance, and most importantly, sweet treats! Okay I guess the love part of it is most important, but hey-- I love sweets! That counts right? As with almost all holidays with a theme, I had to make cutout sugar cookies. It's standard for me. I can't not make them. I tried. In the weeks before Valentine's day, I tried a couple different shortbread cookie recipes to change it up a bit this year. I learned after the 2nd recipe that I really don't care for shortbread that much. So I stuck with my tried and true sugar cookie recipe from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook (page 82). (I know, I know. I need to get away from Martha. At least for a little while. So don't worry. The next recipe I have in mind to try has nothing to do with Martha.) I've used this recipe for almost every holiday, birthday, and party I've baked for in the past 3 years. I adore cutout cookies, and have amassed quite a collection of cookie cutters. You name it, I probably have it. So of course, I had to include them in my Valentine's cookie baking even though I've made them so many times before.


I debated how to decorate them, until I was flipping through my February issue of Living magazine (again with Martha! I swear I'll stop soon..) and saw a picture of cookies they had decorated to look like those candy conversation hearts you get at Valentine's day (page 128). I'm not a fan of candy hearts by any means. I find them to be rock hard and too sweet for my taste. But candy heart cookies? That's more my style. They had used an interchangeable-letter stamp and food coloring to print the letters on the cookies. Sounded simple enough to me, so I was off on what proved to be a bit of a Valentine cookie adventure.

Making the cookies themselves went without a hitch. Well. 1 minor hitch. I baked the last batch a minute too long, so they came out a bit more golden than I would have liked. Oh well. My icing went rather smoothly, other than rushing through it to finish in time to get to work. I ended up with a few bumps and bubbles and imperfections, but all-in-all, fairly decent. Now all I had to do was to let them dry and start the fun part of decorating them--the stamps!

The next morning, I made a quick run to Michael's Craft Store to pick up my interchangeable-letter stamp set. And yes.. it was part of the Martha Stewart craft line. It came as two parts. The stamp mount, and the actual stamps themselves. Even with two 40% off coupons which the cashier so graciously let me use even though it was supposed to be one per customer, it set me back almost $15 for both. When I got home, I opened them up and realized I had to do a little prep work. The stamp mount handle had to be glued on with the tiny tube of glue that came with it. Okay. No problem. I cut the tip off the glue and spread a thin layer like it tells me. I press the handle to the mount and hold it for 10 seconds. Great. I go to let go, and I've glued a tiny portion of my finger to the mount too. A little tug and it comes off.. No big deal. I pick up the bottle to put the cap back on, and I apparently was a lot messier with it than I thought, because now I've got my hand stuck to the bottle too! I rip it off my hand, throw it in the drawer, and go to put my scissors away. They won't close. When I cut the tip off, some glue must have squirted out, because my scissors are now glued into an open position. 5 minutes of prying and feeling like I'm going to break the scissors in half before I break the seal and they finally come apart. I now offically hate superglue, and I'm well on my way to being slightly irritated. Now to figure out the stamps.

The only instructions on stamps themselves are, "peel selected stamps off the acrylic sheet. Press stamps onto acrylic stamp mount, smooth side down, in reverse reading order." Guess what. They don't peel off. Well they might--as one full sheet of letters. They don't come off individually. They seem like they're supposed to.. some look slightly perforated. But they don't come apart without cutting them. I assume they are supposed to be reattached to the thick hard plastic backing they're stuck to and not the flimsy thin plastic sheet that lined the back part of the original packaging, so I'm stuck as to how to get the letters from the middle apart from their surrounding counterparts.. I start hacking away at them with a kitchen knife before I decide it was way too time consuming and irritating to continue and thought if they'd stick to the flimsy plastic well enough, then hard plastic be damned, I'm cutting through it. I'm not sure if it's what Martha intended, since she didn't leave clear instructions, just a "bright idea" at the bottom suggesting I store the stamps on the acrylic sheet provided, but it worked well enough and saved about an hour of cursing.. By now I'm horribly irritated and I haven't even started the actual stamping yet!

Getting color onto the stamps and ultimately onto my cookies was a whole new chapter in my Stamp saga. Theoretically you should be using an ink pad with these stamps, but I wanted them to remain edible, so red food coloring was my alternative. The magazine, in its tiny caption, suggested using "a paper towel damp with food coloring." It didn't specify what kind of food coloring. So I dug around in the cupboard and found a box of liquid food coloring that had been hanging out for awhile unused and poured a few drops onto it. The dry paper towel just sucked the food coloring up. It wasn't damp enough to stamp. So I added quite a bit more. Still no good. I then tried a damp paper towel with food coloring on it. Finally damp enough to get the color to stick, but not much. I tested on a piece of paper first to see how it would come out. Barely legible. So I threw some more on there. Still too light. If it wasn't showing up on a white piece of paper, you'd never see it on colored cookies! So apparently liquid food coloring was not the way to go. I grabbed my gel food coloring and smeared a thin layer onto the already saturated paper towel and stuck my stamp down in. Success! It picked up color, and more importantly put it back down in a deep red on my paper! When I tried it on my cookies, it was a little light, but definitely there! I slathered a thicker layer on the paper towel, and it worked almost perfectly. I had to reapply a few times cause it would start to dry out while I was working on cutting out my next phrase, but even after all the drama and hassle, it worked out pretty well. Better than I initally thought, but I'm still not entirely sure it was worth the time and money.

I took both the Conversation Heart Sugar Cookies and the Chocolate Sugar Cookie Bites into work with me on Friday. About 50 cookies in all. By the time I was done with my shortened 4-hour day, there were 3 left. Everyone really seemed to enjoy them, and that made me really happy. With all the drama surrounding these two kinds of Valentine's cookies, I was glad they went over well. They seemed to go over well with my boyfriend who received them as part of his Valentine's present too. So all in all, so much hassle and headache, but seemingly a success. Now how long do I have to recover before the next holiday?

A side note: On the page for the Conversation Heart Cookie idea on Marthastewart.com, they have a helpful hint at the bottom of the page: "We used a Cosco 2000 Plus Custom Stamp Kit (No. 614107), $24.99, from Staples. " I guess Martha had issues with her own stamp set too.