Sugar Cookies For The Win!

Ok here is cookie post number three. I decided on sugar cookies because they are also a classic christmas cookie staple. I have to be honest, sugar cookies are my least favorite cookie ever. I would say I like them a little better than oatmeal raisin. Actually out of all the christmas cookies, sugar would definitely be on the bottom. Since I enjoy baking for others, I chose sugar because I know people like them, and I figured I could practice more with royal icing. I also wanted to split the dough and do something different and make red velvet sugar cookies. Red velvet flavored anything to me screams Christmas and it is a flavor that I enjoy. I love red flavored things. I think they came out great.

Yummy Sugar Cookies

Sugar Cookie Dough

• 1 cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature (226g)
• 1 cup sugar (200g)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (315g)
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt

Combine butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer (or in a large bowl and use an electric hand mixer) and beat until creamy and well-combined.

Butter Butter Butter

Add egg and vanilla extract and beat until completely combined.

There is an egg in there you just can't see it.

In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.

Gradually add dry ingredients into wet until completely combined.

Lay out a large piece of plastic wrap and transfer approximately half of the dough onto the wrap (dough will be quite sticky at this point, that's OK!).

This is where I added some red velvet emulsion for flavor and color to the remaining dough

Cover with clear wrap and mold into a disk.  Repeat with remaining cookie dough in another piece of cling wrap.  Transfer dough to refrigerator and chill for at least 2-3 hours

Once dough has finished chilling, preheat oven to 350F (175C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Set aside.

Generously dust a clean surface with flour and deposit one chilled cookie dough disk onto the surface.  Lightly flour the dough and roll out to 1/8" (for thinner, crispier cookies) or 1/4" (for thicker, softer cookies).  Continue to add flour as needed both on top of and beneath the dough so that it doesn't stick.

Use cookie cutters to cut out shapes and use a spatula to transfer shapes to prepared baking sheet.

I had leftover dough so I marbled it together to make these

Squirrel Friend

I really love these cut outs

Bake on 350F (175C) for 9-10 minutes, or until edges just begin to turn lightly golden brown.

Allow cookies to cool completely on cookie sheet before moving and frosting.

Now Decorate

cute squirrel with a scarf

moose with a scarf

snowy trees

close up of the sprinkles

snow moose cookies

I love these sugar crystals

Pretty Sugar Cookies

Raspberry Linzer Cookies

Now enjoy some yummy christmas cookies, next cookie will be Thin Mints.

Raspberry Almond Linzer Cookies For The Win!

So it is cookie month, and last week I made gingerbread cookies, which were a hit. I wanted to make another cookie that would be delicious and represent christmas time. I went with a linzer cookie. I think these cookies look beautiful, especially with the dusting of powdered sugar and that peek of jam in the center of each cut out. I've never made Linzer cookies and decided to make them for this post. The hardest part was deciding on the shape. I went with a circle and a star cookie. The flavors were spot on, almond and raspberry go really well together and I did also zest a bit of lemon in for some brightness. It really took these cookies over the top. I still have to decide on next week's cookie. I think I'm going with sugar cookies. Here's how the Linzer turned out.

Beautiful Raspberry Almond Linzer Cookies

Linzer Cookies

• 2 sticks (1 cup) of room temperature butter
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup of granulated sugar
• 1 cup of almond meal (ground almonds)
• 2 cups of flour
• zest from one lemon
• 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract
• 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 2 egg yolks
• 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar for dusting tops
• 1/2 cup raspberry jam

First sift your flour, almond flour, 1/4 cup granulated sugar, cinnamon, and salt together in a large bowl and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl take your room temperature butter and 1/2 cup of granulated sugar and beat until pale and fluffy

Add in your lemon zest, vanilla extract, almond extract and egg yolks and beat until combined

Gradually add in your flour mixture and mix just until dough forms

 
Wrap dough in plastic wrap and place in fridge for about 1 and a half hours (dough will be a little crumbly sort of like a shortbread dough) (that's why chilling is a must)

Dust your work surface and roll dough out to about 1/4 inch thickness and cut out your shapes. These cookies need a top and a bottom, so don't forget that. For your top cookies remember to cut out a mini shape.

Bake cookies in 350F oven for 12 minutes or until edges become golden brown


Let cool completely on cooling racks

Place all the tops together on a wrack and dust generously with powdered sugar.

like snow

On the bottoms spread raspberry jams on each cookie

I love raspberry jam

Now take your powdered sugar tops and place them on top of each raspberry jam cookie

Circles

stars

*I placed some more jam in a piping bag and filled each cut out with more jam*

Raspberry Almond Linzer Cookies

Ok, here are the delicious Raspberry Almond Linzer Cookies,  I think these look really pretty and remind me so much of Christmas. Bake these for your family and friends this holiday season.

Peanut Butter & Jelly Cookie Cups For The Win!

I've been thinking about what to bake and I really haven't baked a classic cookie. I was thinking about either an orange flavored short bread, a lime coconut shortbread cookie, or a peanut butter cookie. I had a ton of peanut butter in the pantry (when it's a buck you stock up) so I decided on peanut butter cookies. I've been craving peanut butter cookies for a while anyways. When I thought about the end result of a peanut butter cookie, I felt like they look too plain (peanut butter cookies aren't the prettiest cookies in the cookie universe), so I decided to go with a peanut butter and jelly masterpiece. I also had raspberry preserves from mother's day that I needed to use because I was tired of seeing a half empty jam jar in the fridge. I think the cookie cups are cute and I tried one last night and they taste amazing. I made a peanut butter cream cheese filling and it's the stuff dreams are made of.  When assembled together it reminds me of my favorite childhood snack, which was these PB&J Oatmeal Pies that Little Debbie made. My mom would have a little snack basket for us when we came home from school which would have all of your 90's essential snacks; Dunkaroos, Gusher's, Fruit Roll Ups, Cosmic Brownies, literally every cool snack but I would always go for those PB&J Oatmeal Pies. I think next time I will make an oatmeal cookie cup and use the same fillings, to recreate them. Back to the Peanut Butter & Jelly Cookie Cups, they are really delicious and fairly easy to make and you probably already have everything in your pantry to make them. Just look at them

Peanut butter cookie cup with peanut butter cream cheese filling and a raspberry sauce

I could have made them look a lot prettier but it was getting late and I was a little tired, but they still look wonderful. Oh and if you did not want to make them into cups you still will have a yummy peanut butter cookie recipe to keep with you.

So Let's get started, here's what you will need:

Peanut Butter Cookie Cups:

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 1/4 cup smooth peanut butter smooth (not natural)
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar 
• 1 large egg (room temperature)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Filling:

• 8 oz cream cheese softened
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup powdered sugar (depends on how sweet you'd like it)
• 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter (not natural)

Topping:
1 cup raspberry jam preserves (actually whatever jam you have on hand)
Crushed peanuts for garnish

simple ingredients

First preheat your oven to 350°F.

Spray a regular sized muffin tins with cooking spray and set aside for later.

Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt and set aside.

Beat butter and peanut butter until smooth.

I just zapped the butter in the microwave for about 15 seconds

so creamy

Add in both sugars and beat on med-high until pale and fluffy (approx. 2-3mins).

all fluffy

Reduce speed and add egg and vanilla. Beat until combined.

Add flour mixture and mix until just combined.

start really slow so you don't get flour everywhere then finish mixing with a spatula

peanut butter cookie dough

Using a large cookie scoop, scoop dough into muffin tins, press down to flatten slightly.

the pan looks super oily but I sprayed a lot to insure nothing sticks

Bake for 10-12 mins or until lightly browned and mostly set.

Remove from oven and immediately use a small jar or container to press firmly down in the center to create a well. Cool in pans for 10 mins, then place on wire rack to cool completely.

remember peanut butter cookies are soft and then they firm up, so if they look underdone thats fine

While the cookies are cooling you can make the peanut butter cream cheese filling.

First take your softened cream cheese and peanut butter and blend together for about 3 minutes

Peanut Butter + Cream Cheese

Now start with 1/4 of a cup of powdered sugar and blend until combined. Remember to taste as you go, I didn't want this too sweet because I used a honey peanut butter and wanted to taste the peanut flavor, so if you find you need more sugar add more.

taste and adjust sweetness as needed

When your mixture is sweetened you should place it in a piping bag or a ziploc bag to fill your cookie cups

this filling taste like the inside of a reese's peanut butter cup just smoother.

In a microwave safe bowl, heat raspberry jam to thin out. 20 second intervals. I then strained the mixture to remove the raspberry seeds.

After running this through a fine mesh sieve to get rid of the seeds.

Spoon 1 to 1 1/2 tsp of raspberry jam into each cookie cup. (I used a pastry brush to get the jam all inside each cookie cup) Then place in the fridge to chill for 20mins.

brush on the raspberries

Pipe the peanut butter cream cheese filling on top of raspberry jam.

pipe in the filling

you can eat these as is.

Top with additional raspberry jam and chopped peanuts to complete the Peanut Butter Jelly Cups

I was a little sloppy with the raspberry

top with honey roasted crushed peanuts

So Cute

Place these in the fridge to set for a few hours, I think these taste best cold.

Peanut Butter & Jelly Cookie Cups

You should probably eat these within 2-3 days. Or freeze them for up to 4 weeks. Again this is a customizable dessert so you could use any jam, or add chocolate on top for like a Reese's cup cookie cup.

So Yummy