Gingerbread Men and Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies

I wanted to squeeze in a couple of cookies before Christmas, so I wanted to make a classic gingerbread cookie and Paula Deen's Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies!

First off, I must say that this year has flown by! I can't believe it's Christmas Eve and there is a week left in 2011! Where has the time gone!? Hopefully next year won't fly by so quickly...

So this holiday season, I have decided not to do gifts in order to get my bills paid. As Mrs. Lovett said: "Times is hard." So instead of making meat pies out of alley cats, I'm making cookies!

For the Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies, I used Paula Deen's recipe. This was quick and easy since the base was chocolate cake mix.

• 1 8-oz brick cream cheese, room temp
• 1 stick butter, room temp
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 18-oz box moist chocolate cake mix
• confectioner's sugar, for dusting

1) Cream the butter and the cream cheese until smooth.

2) Beat in the egg, then the vanilla, then the cake mix.

3) Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours so the dough is easy to roll.
4) Once chilled, preheat the oven to 350. Roll the dough into tablespoon-sized balls.

Then roll the balls into some powdered sugar...

And place on an ungreased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart.

5) Bake for 12 minutes and dust with additional sugar after completely cooled, if you want.

And these little guys will be eaten up in no time! They have a brownie- cakey- cookie- type of quality, and they are so good! Using exact tablespoons, I got about 4 dozen instead of the 2 dozen the recipe said it would make! :)

Chocolatey goodness!

Next up is a classic gingerbread cookie recipe. Instead of a teaspoon of lemon zest, I put in about a teaspoon and a half of orange zest (I think orange tastes much better with ginger).

• 3 c all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp ginger
• 1 3/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp cloves (I substituted nutmeg)
• 6 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temp
• 3/4 c dark brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 c molasses
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp lemon zest (or orange)

1) In a bowl, whisk the dry ingredients together until blended.
2) In a mixer, beat the butter, brown sugar, and egg on medium speed until blended.

3) Add molasses, vanilla, and zest. Mix well.

4) Gradually stir in dry ingredients until blended and smooth

Yum!

5) Divide dough in half and wrap each half in plastic. Then let stand at room temperature for at least 2 hours.
6) Preheat oven to 375. Grease or line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
7) Place one portion of the dough on a floured surface and roll out to 1/4" thick.

*The dough will look dry, but keep working at it, and it will come together!*
Cut cookies into whatever shapes you choose.

8) Space cookies 1 1/2" apart  and bake for 7-10 minutes.

I had some royal icing left over from the gingerbread house party, so I mixed that up and added some color. That was not a good time to find out I was out of red! Grrr! Green and blue worked fine, though! I had some basic gingerbread men...

Then some clothed ones...

Then some stars...

And some decorated circle shapes...

And I got a little snacky, so I got creative...

Following the recipe, I got a little under 4 dozen with this recipe as well! Nice! The cookies were a bit soft because I baked them for exactly 7 minutes. If you want crispier cookies, roll them thinner or bake them a bit longer.
These cookies are going to go in cute little Christmas Chinese food boxes for gift-giving!

I hope all of you have a very Merry Christmas and a happy holiday season! Be safe, and have fun!

Gingerbread Party!

Last night, my Betrothed and I had a few guests over for a Gingerbread and Apple Cider Shindig. This was a ZS gathering, so do not be alarmed by the ZS names mentioned later. We simmered a huge pot of apple cider mixed with spiced rum, and I had some egg nog with Bacardi (delish!) The gingerbread creations varied greatly, and now I have a delicious-smelling little town on my table!

I made a traditional little house...

Gayne had a train kit...

Voltage made a mini village...

...and Firebird added a little shack to it.

I think the most epic gingerbread construction was Guardian's castle. He employed the help of graham crackers as well. Ahhhh...

This party was a first, and I think it was a success! I'm thinking Second Annual Gingerbread and Cider Shindig next year! It was nice to see some faces I hadn't seen in a while. My Betrothed had just returned home for winter break, so it was definitely nice to see him again, too! Now what to do with that leftover egg nog... Expect to see some delicious baked goods soon!

Almond-Caramel Cake Bombs!

Hello, all! As the holidays are quickly approaching, I am working on some delicious holiday-inspired treats to share with you! But first, I have to tell you about these delicious cake bombs I made a little bit ago. They're compact desserts for a party, so they would definitely work for any Christmahannukwanzakuh or New Year parties you may have coming up.

I love, love, love the combination of almond cake and caramel icing, so I started with a box of white cake mix and almond extract. I baked it in a 9 x 13 pan and let it cool completely before breaking it up into tiny crumbs.

Then I added 1 whole 16oz can of Duncan Hines Caramel frosting.

Then I got in there with my hands and mixed it all up until it had a doughy consistency. I rolled out balls that measured about 3 tablespoons each (I didn't measure them out). This method produced 33 bombs. After all of the rolled balls were placed on cookie sheets, I chilled them in the refrigerator for an hour. I melted 16 oz of semi-sweet baking chocolate and coated the cake bombs using two forks.

Back on the baking sheets they go and back into the fridge to chill for at least twenty minutes.

Yummeh!

A drizzle of a little white chocolate (optional!) and voila!

They were a hit at the party! However, the next time I make them, I'll use a small ice cream scoop to make smaller and more consistent cake bombs.

And why are they called Cake Bombs? Because it's something different from balls, pops, truffles, and bon-bons... And they're the bomb! Right? Right???

Don't hate...

Yeast - free Cinnamon Rolls

This week, my Betrothed briefly graced me with his presence. He has been studying hard for exams at law school, and it was nice he took a break between exams to drive back and pay me a visit. We usually have our brunch on Sundays, but since he wasn't here this past weekend, we made up for it on Wednesday morning. At first I wanted to make pumpkin cinnamon rolls, but the pumpkin I had left over was a lot older than I thought (ew). So regular cinnamon rolls it was! But then after looking through different recipes, I saw that the preparation and bake time added up to about 3 hours... Hmmm...

Luckily, I found a quicker, yeast-free recipe here! The site I found also included a recipe with yeast, depending on how much time you have. Apparently these recipes are a combination of the best of several different other recipes, so I had some faith in this endeavor (since I've never made cinnamon rolls before!)

For the rolls:

• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour, plus some extra for the counter
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 cups buttermilk
• 6 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted

For the filling:

• 3/4 c packed dark brown sugar
• 1/4 c white sugar
• 3 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted

1) Preheat the oven to 425. Spray a wire cooling rack and a 9" round pan with vegetable spray.
2) Make the filling, and mix all the ingredients together until it looks like wet sand.

3) In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk and 2 tablespoons of melted butter.

4) Mix the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients with a wooden spoon until absorbed (about 30 seconds). The dough will look shaggy.

5) Turn the dough out onto a generously floured surface and knead until smooth (about 1 minute).

6) Press the dough into a 9x12- inch rectangle and brush the dough with 2 tablespoons melted butter. Then press the filling onto the dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border on all sides.

7) Loosen the dough from the counter using a scraper or metal spatula and roll the dough tightly, starting on the long side. Pinch the seam together.

8) Slice the roll into 8 even pieces and place in the greased pan and brush with the remaining 2 tablespoons of melted butter. Then bake for 20-25 minutes. Edges will be deliciously golden brown.

Turn the rolls over onto the greased cooling rack then turn them back over to cool for 10 minutes before frosting.

Oh yes!

For the cream cheese frosting, I whipped up the same recipe I've been using as of late, but the site had a similar recipe:

• 8 oz cream cheese
• 1/2 c butter
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1 Tbsp milk

The frosting went very well with the rolls! So delicious! The rolls were pretty dense, but I was a fan of it. (I want to try the yeast recipe as well, though!)

Definitely not a low-fat recipe!

And, of course, Roger loved them.

 He's a great help in the kitchen. I wish him the best of luck on his exams! :)

Double Birthday Week! My Brother's Redskins Cake

For my brother's birthday cake, I had no clue what to do at first! Then I remembered his favorite football team-- The Redskins! He hasn't had a Redskins cake in over 10 years, so I thought it was safe to choose that design. I started with 2 8-inch layers of strawberry cake (his favorite) and iced it with the leftover fluffy cream cheese buttercream from my mom's carrot cake. I chilled it in the freezer for half an hour, then I started to score the logo onto the top of the cake. At first, I had gotten the Redskins logo mixed up with the Chicago Blackhawks logo, so I thought I had to mix a bunch of different colors! I'll give you guys a moment to shake your heads...

So after I figured out what the right logo was, I scored the design on the top then mixed up my colors. I filled in the scored design then used an offset spatula dipped in hot water to smooth out the surface. I used my brother's mug as a reference.

I think mine looks a bit angry. Oops!

I added the burgundy curls on the sides to sort of hide the transition from white to golden yellow. It worked out well!

My brother was surprised by the design, and he loved it!

Oh, and my family calls him Junior because his name is George, which is the same as my dad's name. Yes, our names are George and Georgette. Now, I'll give you a moment to chuckle...

Double Birthday Week! Mom's Carrot Cake

This past week, both my mother and brother celebrated their birthdays. My mom turned 60 on Sunday, so I had to make her favorite--carrot cake! I was short on time, but I wanted the cake to have an authentic feel, so I decided to try Duncan Hines' deluxe carrot cake mix. It had a pouch of carrots and raisins to add to the batter!

My mom doesn't like raisins, so I diligently picked all of those pesky raisins out. (so much for saving time, right?) While the cake baked, I worked on a different cream cheese buttercream recipe I had found.

• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temp
• 8 oz cream cheese, room temp
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 cups powdered sugar

1) With a whisk attachment, beat the butter until fluffy (about 5 minutes).

2) Add cream cheese and vanilla and mix on low for a minute or so.

3) Add powdered sugar, one cup at a time, and mix on low to combine after each addition. After all of the sugar is combined, whip the buttercream on high for about a minute or two.

Nice and fluffy!

I chopped up about a cup of walnuts and covered the sides of the cake then I decorated with orange flowers. Then I added the final touch- white chocolate numbers. (beats those number candles!)

My mom loved it!

And the cake was super moist with visible carrot shreds, so it definitely looked scratch-made! One qualm: the cake didn't rise as much as I wanted, so I would use two boxes for a double-layer 8 inch cake.

Quick and Easy Thanksgiving Cupcakes

Today is the second annual ZS Thanksgiving. It is a time for the Zombie Squad to gather from near and far and spend quality time with each other while eating good food and drinking until merry. I, of course, was responsible for the dessert. I didn't have much time, so I went with a cake mix-based recipe that turned out as moist and delicious as a scratch-made recipe. I also needed to find an alternative to cream cheese buttercream, since some people attending the feast have dietary restrictions. I searched through my notebook of flavor ideas and found Honey-Ginger Buttercream. The recipe for the cupcakes are as follows:

• 1 box Duncan Hines space cake mix
• 1 box (3.4oz) Jello Pumpkin Spice pudding mix
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup canned pumpkin

1) Preheat the oven at 350 and place paper cups in cupcake pan.
2) Mix all ingredients for 30 seconds on low, then stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl (as well as the paddle). Continue to mix for 2 minutes on medium. Scoop 1/4 cup of mixture into each baking cup.
3) Bake for 18 to 23 minutes or until a butter knife comes out clean.

Yummy!

While the cupcakes were cooling, I started on the Honey-Ginger Buttercream. The recipe I used makes about 4 cups of icing, which is just enough to make 24 roses with leaves.

• 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter, softened
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 cup honey
• 2 tsp freshly grated ginger
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

1) Beat the butter until creamy, then add the powdered sugar and beat on high until smooth.

2) Add the honey and ginger.

Love the smell of fresh ginger!

*spray the measuring cup with pan release before measuring your honey!*

3) Beat for another minute or so before adding the vanilla. Then continue to beat on high for 3-4 minutes until nice and fluffy.

The consistency of the buttercream is kind of like a stiff Swiss Meringue without all the muscle involved. So it was perfect to hold a rose shape.

And 23 more...

After I made all of the roses I needed, I used the rest to make leaves. It worked out perfectly, and I didn't have much buttercream left over.

I only used two teaspoons of ginger because I didn't want the flavor of the ginger to overwhelm the honey flavor. Feel free to add another teaspoon if you're feeling spicy!

And of course these cupcakes aren't specifically for Thanksgiving. They are perfect for any fall occasion, or if you're a pumpkin-hoarder like me, they are perfect for any time of the year!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! (and have a safe Black Friday!)