Monday, October 31, 2011

Happy Harvest

Since I've had very few orders recently......I've been busy making all kinds of special harvest/fall cookies that have been swimming in my head. The only bad. thing about "playing" with cookies so much is when I have to go back to making what people ask me to make. ;)

's another of my harvest collections........









Happy Harvest to you all!

The land yields its harvest; God, our God, blesses us. Psalm 67:6

Friday, October 28, 2011

Sweets for a Saturday #41

Last week's Sweets for a Saturday was spook-tastic. The Halloween treats were so cute and so creative and I just had to feature them this week. Here were my favorites:

1. Frankie Frankenstein Cupcakes - Purple Chocolat Home

Frankenstein never looked so lovable.


2. Oreo Mummy Pops - The Sweet Swiper

Simple to make and super fun to eat.


3. Scaredy Cats - The Seven Year Cottage

What darling little kitties.


4. Jack-O-Lantern Smile Cookies - Munchkin Munchies

These smile cookies will put a smile on your face too.


5. Icing Spiders and Sugar Webs - Sugar Beams and Other Half-Baked Adventures

Oohhh, creepy.




The Rules:
  1. Please link up to the URL of your post, not the URL of your main blog. When it asks for "Name", type in the name of your treat.
  2. Please leave a link back to this post in your post or Grab My Button.
  3. Share your delicious sweets from this week. If you've made more than one during the week, feel free to link them all up.
  4. Leave me a comment telling me that you've linked up.
  5. Please visit at least two others and comment on their wonderful additions to this party.



SweetasSugarCookies














Caramel Apples (Tutorial)

I've always wanted to do some form of caramel apples in a cookie.....so last week was my chance. And along with the fun shape, I decided to do three different flavors of cookies/shapes. It was a much bigger undertaking than I imagined. I'll save the multi-flavorings information for another time soon, but for now.....I want to show you how I made the caramel apples.

Trying to save time, I decided to color my dough red. That way, I wouldn't have to decorate the bottom part of the cookie.....plus no worries about red bleeding. :)

I chose to flavor my caramel apples with caramel flavoring from Spices Etc. Yum! I put the flavoring in both the dough and the icing.



 To decorated, use a medium brown color.....as close to caramel color as you can get. I think it helped to add gold Americolor to the brown icing. Outline the top of the cookie with a drippy caramel look....and then fill it in. If you'd like to add nuts over the top of the caramel, now is the time to do it.

 Let the cookies dry a bit, before adding the sticks. The sticks are a little tricky.....especially when you have really thick cookies like mine. I put a line of icing down the bottom of the stick and set my apple cookie on top. The larger ones wanted to flop over on one side of the stick, so I used folded paper towels to prop them up while they dried. The smaller apples didn't give me this problem. Please excuse this dark photo.....it was evening by then. ;)

And t you have it....caramel apples on a stick. Yum!

Lots more harvest/autumn cookies to come. So much to show you.....so little time.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Chili Chocolate Cookies


The idea of combining chocolate and chili pepper has always intrigued me. When I lived in Brazil, there was a very popular soap opera on tv called "Chocolate e Pimenta" (Chocolate and Chili Pepper). As a result of this, at least I'm guessing, there was a chocolate and chili pepper cake mix being sold in the grocery stores. Unfortunately, I forgot to buy a package of it and never did get to try it. Which brings me to today's 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies and these treats that combine, what else, chocolate and chili pepper.



The cookies baked up like little chocolate pillows, soft and cakey. Unfortunately, the taste wasn't everything I had hoped for. I would have liked them to be more chocolatey for one thing. Also, the tiny bit of heat at the back of my throat just doesn't suffice for someone like me who usually thinks that "five-alarm" is just right.


I haven't given up on the chocolate-chili combo, though. I'll just have to find another chocolate cookie to try it with.



Chili Chocolate Cookies (Splendid Things)

2 sticks butter
1/2 c. sugar
3/4 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
2/3 c. unsweetened cocoa
1/2 tsp. coarse salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. ground chili peppers

Cream butter and sugars. Mix in vanilla and eggs one at a time. In another bowl, combine cocoa, salt, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and chili pepper powder. Mix this flour mixture into the creamed mixture until just barely incorporated. You should still see some streaks of flour in the dough. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto a cookie sheet and bake at 350F until just barely set, about 12-15 min. Allow to cool on pan for one minute and then remove to plate to cool completely.

Notes:
1. The original recipe did us a chopped up Chili Chocolate Bar, which I did not add. Perhaps if I did, the cookie might have been spicier.

2. I used New Mexico Ground chili peppers like Splendid Things did, but I'd probably use chipotle pepper with a dash of cayenne next time.


Monday, October 24, 2011

Apple Crumble Loaf


Now that autumn is here, apples are on sale all the time and you know what that means - it's time to bake some apple-y goodies. I've had this Apple Crumble Loaf from Sweet Twist of Blogging bookmarked for practically forever and now was definitely the time to make it.

This bread was different from other apple ones I've made before because it not only has streusel on top, but it also has a layer of it running through the middle. Plus, it also has the apples in layers rather than mixed throughout the loaf itself.

I did run into one problem while making these. The recipe says to use melted butter when making the streusel. Against my better judgment, I did so and ended up with streusel goop, not at all the "crumbly" texture I was going for. Now is it just me or does this happen to you too?


I didn't want to waste it after I'd made it, but I also still really wanted that crumbly look, at least on the top of my loaves. So, I made another half batch of the streusel using chilled butter, and voila! I think this is more what it was supposed to be like.


Now you put it all together - batter, apples, streusel, more batter, more apples, and more streusel. We're talking six layers of goodness here.


Into the oven they went and baked up beautifully.


Well, okay, there was one casualty. I may have put a little too much batter into one of the pans and it overflowed. No worries though, since I had put all the pans onto a cookie sheet. This just meant that I got to eat the scraps which is always a good thing.


Now, slice these up and look how pretty it is.


And it tastes as good as it looks too.


Apple Crumble Loaf
(Sweet Twist of Blogging)

Streusel:
1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. rolled oats
1/2 c. packed light brown sugar
1/2 c. butter (softened, not melted)
2 tsp. cinnamon

Apples:
2 medium apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2" pieces (I used Fuji apples)
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
2 Tbsp. sugar

Cake:
2 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. cinnamon (I'd double this next time)
1/2 tsp. salt
2 large eggs
1/2 c. butter, melted and cooled
1/2 c. skim milk

Heat oven to 350F. Grease a 9x5x3" loaf pan or three mini loaf pans.

For the streusel: Put all dry ingredients into a medium bowl. Cut in the butter until the mixture is crumbly.

Toss the apples with the cinnamon and sugar.

For the cake: Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl and stir together. Beat the eggs and whisk in the butter and milk. Add to the flour mixture and fold just till ingredients are moistened. Spoon half into prepared pan; spread to cover bottom. Sprinkle with half the apples, then top with half the streusel. Add remaining batter on top of the streusel and spread to cover. Sprinkle with the remaining apples, then the rest of the streusel. (Note: If you're doing this in mini loaf pans, use about 6 Tbsp. of batter + 1/3 c. apples + 1/4 c. streusel for each layer.)

Bake for 1 hour, or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack for 10 min. Run a knife around the sides; invert the loaf onto a rack and then revert side up. Let cool completely.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Hurry.....Fall is Passing By

I love fall.....but it just doesn't seem like it lasts long enough. And now with my half century of life.....it seems like things fly by even faster. DISLIKE! ;)

So October is almost over and I've got tons of fall cookies I need to share. I guess I need to push it up a notch, huh?


Trying out painting food coloring gel on top of dried icing. I love the effect!
 I especially love how it gave this pumpkin such dimension. This is probably my favorite pumpkin of the season.......but I'm planning to do a ton of pumpkins this week, so hopefully I can top it. =)

Not super happy with how this SCAREYcrow turned out, but I tried again this week and felt it came out better. That's how we learn and grow.....always challenging ourselves to do better.

I had lots of fun with this one. :))))

My second fall collection of 2011....

More coming.....so stayed tuned. :)))))))

Friday, October 21, 2011

Sweets for a Saturday #40

Here are your Top 5 from last week:

1. Pumpkin Pie Spice Graham Crackers - Piece, Love & Cooking

Pumpkin AND spice - my favorites!


2.
Autumn S'mores - Piece, Love & Cooking

I'll have some more of these s'mores!


3.
Nutella Scones - Cats and Casseroles


Breakfast will never be the same again.


4.
Fudge Candy Corn - Something Swanky

Gorgeous treat!


5.
Candy Corn Parfaits - Home is Where the Boat Is

The cutest Halloween idea ever.


The Rules:
  1. Please link up to the URL of your post, not the URL of your main blog. When it asks for "Name", type in the name of your treat.
  2. Please leave a link back to this post in your post or Grab My Button.
  3. Share your delicious sweets from this week. If you've made more than one during the week, feel free to link them all up.
  4. Leave me a comment telling me that you've linked up.
  5. Please visit at least two others and comment on their wonderful additions to this party.



SweetasSugarCookies










Push Pops!

As promised......push pops.

We were challenged at cookie camp to design cookies (and decorate the outsides) to dress up push pops. Mind you......we did not have the push pop in hand, only the dimensions. Yes, it was challenging! We had to envision it, bake up the cookies and bring them to camp....and then try to create it in a hurry once we got to t .

I had brilliant ideas.....but when I implemented them, I was very disappointed.
Some how what I envisioned in my mind was far from what transpired. :(

I made some plaid narrow cookies to have a vertical look in the push pop.



Unfortunately, my thick cookie size didn't work with the dimensions of the push pop.....so I had to saw the back off of the cookies....which made them very fragile. Plus, they looked awful. AND.....my decorating skills are minimal.....so decorating the outside of my push pops was a bust.


I guess my second attempt was better......but I still felt like it was so lacking....especially when I saw the other entries.

I decorated these cookies on both sides (let first side dry overnight and then turned them over and decorated the other side). Since it was important that you see the decoration on these tiny cookies and no control over w they "landed" in the push pop, it was essential.

But some how.....the actual result was lacking. :(

's all the push pop entries lined up together. It was so fun to examine each one and see incredible creativity in the group!

T was a tie for 3rd place.....first this adorable ocean themed one from Tricia:

And the other 3rd place winner was Lisa's wonderful S'mores!

Second place went to Kim's adorable bride and groom set..........


And first place went to Johnna for her INCREDIBLE cheeseburger set. :)

Now next week I have to get busy and share a bunch of fall cookies with you.....I've made tons, but time has prevented me from showing them to you. Before you know it, it will be November and Thanksgiving will be fast approaching. How do we slow down this train! ;)

Many thanks go out to Daniela and Aileen for allowing me to use their photos. :)