Cinna-spin Cookies

Last Thanksgiving, I made chocolate turkey cupcakes. They were just about the cutest things ever, and they were definitely pretty tasty. However, much to my dismay, no one at my Thanksgiving family party actually ate them. My middle school aged cousin ate a couple, I ate a couple, someone else ate half of one, and that was about it.

When I asked my mom why no one ate them, she replied, "Well, adults don't really like cupcakes." As an almost 20 year old, I don't exactly consider myself a little kid anymore. I know I'm not a "grown-up" by any means, but I'd like to think my food tastes aren't going to change drastically in the next 10 to 20 years. I hope I'll still enjoy a cupcake now and then, but I guess you never know.

My dessert tastes aside, at our next holiday party, Christmas, I was determined to make something my relatives would actually eat. In case they were worried about all the calories in such a big cupcake, I chose something small: cookies. And in case they didn't like the cupcakes' cutsey demeanor, I chose something relatively simple: cinna-spin cookies.


Cinna-spin Cookies from Betty Crocker

Ingredients

1 pouch (1 1b 1.5 oz.) sugar cookie mix
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tbsp milk
1/4 tsp vanilla

Directions

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. In large bowl, mix cookie mix and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Stir in butter and egg until soft dough forms.

2. On a piece of waxed paper, shape 1 tablespoon into a line about 5 inches long. Using floured fingers, shape 1 tablespoon of dough into a rope 5 inches long. Press one side of dough rope into cinnamon.

3. On ungreased cookie sheet, coil dough rope tightly, cinnamon side facing center, into cinnamon-roll shape. Press end of roll into rope to seal. Repeat with remaining dough. Place cookies 2 inches apart on cookie sheet.

4. Bake 7 to 10 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 15 minutes.

5. In small bowl, mix glaze ingredients until smooth. Drizzle over cookies.

Mexican Hot Chocolate Brownies

I haven't actually baked anything in three weeks. While trying out every single pastry and dessert possible in Belgium has been a fun experience, I miss making my own treats. As I am definitely a novice baker, the baked goods I've been getting almost daily from the boulangeries are much more intricate and impressive than anything I've ever baked. However, there's just something about creating your own desserts that just isn't the same when you purchase them from a shop.

It always amazes me when I make things from scratch. You throw all these ingredients in a bowl or other baking apparatus, mix them up, shove them in an oven, and you end up with something delicious (hopefully). I like to see my treats go from start to finish and I like to know I had a hand in making something so good.

The last recipe I was able to make before I left my dorm for Belgium was Mexican hot chocolate brownies. My boyfriend and I had made Mexican hot chocolate cookies earlier in the year, and we never actually drank any of the Mexican hot chocolate we had left over. In need to get rid of the remaining baking products left in my kitchen before I left the country, I decided to use up most of the hot chocolate in some kind of recipe. After searching on Food Gawker, I found The Food Librarian's Mexican chocolate brownies made with Ibarra (I used Abuelita hot chocolate instead). While she was not crazy about the brownies, I really enjoyed them. I would recommend eating them fresh out of the oven or microwaving them before eating because the warmth made a huge difference in the experience.



Mexican Hot Chocolate Brownies
3 circles Mexican hot chocolate
2 oz. unsweetened chocolate
1 1/2 sticks butter
1 1/8 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

1. Melt both types of chocolate with the butter in a saucepan (or in the microwave, as I did, since I had no access to a saucepan in my half moved-out apartment). Let chocolate/butter mixture cool for ten minutes.

2. Beat in brown sugar. Then beat in the eggs, one at a time.

3. Fold in dry ingredients.

4. Bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees

5. Decorate however you choose.

I used some melted white chocolate baking bars I had left over to decorate and then topped them with some left over Marble Mix-Ins.

Cookie Pizza

Pretty much everyone loves pizza. Pretty much everyone loves cookies. Put the two together, and you've got a pretty awesome treat!


Cookie Pizza, from Betty Crocker's Chocolate Cookie Pizza

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2 tbsp butter or margarine
3 tbsp milk (I used Vanilla Soymilk)
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup pecan halves
1/2 cup M&Ms or similar chocolate coated candies
2 oz. melted white chocolate baking bar

1. Heat over to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, mix 1/2 cup butter, the brown sugar, the granulated sugar, vanilla, and egg until well-blended. Stir in flour and baking soda.

2. Pat dough in ungreased 12-inch pizza pan (or any other pan it will fit on). Bake about 15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for about 30 minutes.

3. In a 2-quart saucepan, heat chocolate chips, 2 tbsp butter, and milk over low heat. Stir occassionally, until chocolate is melted. Remove from heat. Stir in powdered sugar. Beat with wire wisk until smooth, glossy, and spreadable.

4. Spread chocolate frosting mixture over baked layer. Immediately sprinkle with M&Ms and pecan halves (press lightly). Drizzle with melted baking bars. Let cool until frosting hardens.

Ice Cream Cake

I love ice cream. And I love anything crunchy. Therefore, ice cream cake has always seemed like it would be a perfect dessert for me. However, I'm generally not a fan of store-bought ice cream cakes. They just seem to be missing something. So I decided to make an ice cream cake of my own. I got a base recipe from AllRecipes.com that I used to help me decide how to make the cake.



Ice Cream Cake, adapted from Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Cake

Cookies (from the back of the Nestlé Tollhouse chocolate chips bag):
1 1/8 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
6 tbsp granulated sugar
6 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanila extract
1 egg
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels

1. Preheat oven to 375 F.

2. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

3. Bake for 11-13 minutes. You want the cookies to be on the crunchy side because they're going to be crushed up to make the base of the cake.
Makes 30 cookies.

Cake
18 chocolate chip cookies
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 cup hot fudge topping
2 quarts ice cream (I used Edy's Slow Churned Fudge Tracks)
1 cup french vanilla whipped cream, or other flavor if desired
16 maraschino cherries

1. Crush 10 of the cookies to make crumbs. Combine crumbs with melted butter/margarine and place into the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan or pie plate. Stand remaining cookies around edge of pan. Spread 3/4 cup fudge topping over crust (You probably want to heat it first...I didn't but I feel like that would make it a lot easier). Freeze 15 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, soften 1 quart of ice cream in the microwave or on a countertop. After crust has chilled, spread ice cream over fudge topping. Freeze for 30 minutes.

3. Scoop remaining ice cream into balls and arrange over first ice cream layer. Freeze until firm, 4 hours or overnight. To serve, garnish with remainder of fudge topping, whipped cream, an cherries (I also added sprinkles).

Spring Polka Dot Cupcakes

To celebrate the onset of spring, I decided to make some pastel colored cupcakes.

These are another Betty Crocker recipe, pretty much straight from the book, besides some decorating tweaks made by my boyfriend.



Spring Polka Dot Cupcakes, from Betty Crocker

Ingredients:

Cake
1 box white cake mix
Water, vegetable oil, and egg whites called for on box
1 box (4-serving size) orange-flavored gelatin

Bright Buttercream Frosting
3 cups confectioner's sugar
1/3 cup softened butter or margarine
1 tsp vanilla
2-3 tbsp milk (I used vanilla soymilk...it makes the frosting sweeter)
Yellow, red, and blue food colors
1/3 cup white baking chips

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 375°F (350°F for dark or nonstick pans). Place paper baking cup in each of 24 regular-size muffin cups.

2. Make cake batter as directed on cake mix box, adding gelatin with the water. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups (about 2/3 full).

3. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pan to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, in medium bowl, beat powdered sugar and butter with spoon or with electric mixer on low speed until well blended. Beat in vanilla and 2 tablespoons of the milk. Gradually beat in just enough of the remaining milk to make frosting smooth and spreadable. Divide frosting among 4 small bowls. Stir 6 drops yellow food color into frosting in one bowl. Stir 4 drops red food color into frosting in second bowl. Stir 6 to 8 drops blue food color into frosting in third bowl. Stir 4 drops yellow and 2 drops red food color into frosting in fourth bowl.

5. Frost and decorate cupcakes to your liking :)

Watermelon Cake

A little while ago, I decided I wanted to make a cute, vanilla cake with my favorite icing. While browsing the Betty Crocker website, I came across a watermelon cake. I decided to opt out of using the suggested green jelly beans on the side because I'd have to buy too many bags of jelly beans to get that many green ones. I also decided to use my mom's vanilla frosting recipe instead of using the packaged stuff suggested on the site...vanilla cake with super-sweet vanilla frosting is one of my favorite desserts of all time.

Unfortunately, I was unable to find any red watermelon flavored drink mix, and I really wanted the inside of the cake to be pink, so I opted for strawberry out of personal preference instead.

If you make this recipe, the frosting amount may not yield enough frosting. I made this awhile ago, and I remember having to make some extra frosting but I'm not totally sure how much I made in the first place so I can't modify it correctly. It's really simple to just make a little more anyway, though.

Here is what the finished product looks like:



This is the recipe I used:

Watermelon Cake, based on Betty Crocker's Watermelon Cake

Cake
1 box white cake mix
1 1/4 cups water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 egg whites
1 package (0.13 oz) strawberry flavored soft drink mix (or any other red soft drink mix)
1/2 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1.Heat oven to 350°F. Grease bottoms only of two 8- or 9-inch round cake pans with shortening or cooking spray.

2. In large bowl, beat cake mix, water, oil, egg whites and drink mix with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds; beat on medium speed 2 minutes.

3. Stir in 1/2 cup of the chocolate chips. Pour into pans.

4. Bake as directed on box for 8- or 9- inch pans.

Frosting
8 cups confectioner's sugar
8-12 tbsp milk (I used vanilla soymilk but plain milk works just as well)
4 tsp vanilla
Green and red food colors
2 tbsp miniature semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Add sugar, 8 tbsp milk and vanilla in large bowl.

2. Mix with an electric mixer (you probably can do it without the mixer, but it will be harder). Add extra milk (if necessary) until desired consistency is reached.

3. In small bowl, stir about 1/2-1 cup of the frosting with 10-12 drops green food coloring.

4. Stir 10-12 drops red food coloring into the remaining frosting.

Putting it all together:

1. Frost sides of cake with green frosting and top and middle of cake with red frosting.

2. Press 2 tbsp chocolate chips into top of cake as "seeds."

Now you have a watermelon cake!