Lemon Cream Cheese Cookies

My family was needing a little comfort food tonight, and these cookies were the perfect fix.  They're tangy and sweet and so addictive.  They're soft, chewy, and melt in your mouth!! I frosted mine with Martha Stewart's Swiss Meringue Buttercream (my newest obsession!)  This icing complements these sweet little cookies perfectly and I strongly suggest using it with this recipe!

Yields 36-48 cookies

You will need:
1 8oz. package of cream cheese
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 large egg
3/4 cup almond meal (sifted)
5/6 cup (1/2 plus 1/3 cup) all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 cup confectioners sugar

To begin:
1. Your cream cheese needs to set out for 25 to 30 minutes before being used.  If it's not soft enough, it will cause the batter to be clumpy. Pre-heat oven to 325 F and line two 9x13 cookie sheets with parchment.
2.  Once the cream cheese is soft enough, cream it together with the sugar, lemon juice, and egg.  Mix well until there are no clumps.
3.  In another bowl, combine the sifted almond meal, flour, baking soda, and confectioners sugar. Add a quarter of the dry mixture to the wet mixture at a time.
4.  Drop dough balls 1 1/2 inch away from each other. The dough should be a little runny, so once it hits the cookie sheet, it will spread itself out.  Bake for 20-23 minutes or until slightly golden on the edges.
5.  Let the cookies cool before removing them from the parchment. If you try to take them off too soon, the bottoms will fall out of them.
6.  Once the cookies are completely cool, ice them with the Swiss Meringue Buttercream.  This icing is extremely sensitive to heat, so make sure you've allowed your cookies enough time to sit.

I love these cookies! They're fun to personalize and decorate, not to mention soooo tasty! I hope you found this recipe helpful and simple!! Happy baking!

Coconut Crepes

I just recently a recipe for crepes (see here), but the other day I was feeling creative and decided to jazz them up a bit!

You will need:
1 cup flour
1 tbsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1  1/3 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. imitation coconut extract
3 eggs
3 tbsp. of melted coconut oil (Melted butter will work fine)
Additional sugar for sprinkling.

To start:
1. In a small bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, and salt.
2. Pour the milk into a medium sized measuring bowl. You'll want to let the milk sit out for about 10-15 minutes before adding oil. Add the coconut, vanilla, eggs, and oil and whisk with a fork. When hot oil comes into contact with cold milk, the oil thickens and ruins the consistency of the mixture.
3. Pour the dry ingredients in with the wet and whisk until there are no lumps.
4. Grease a small frying pan and turn your stove to medium heat.
5. Once the pan is heated, pour about a 1/4 cup of the batter into the pan. Tilt the pan until the batter is spread over the whole pan.
6. Let it cook until you can see it solidifying and the edges are slightly brown. Sprinkle some sugar over the surface of crepe then, using a spatula, flip the crepe. Sprinkle more sugar on the other side.
7. Once the crepe is fully cooked on both sides (it should look a lot like a flour tortilla), flip it once more to make sure the sugar melts on both sides.

These coconut crepes are absolutely heaven! They don't even need any toppings because they are already so sweet! Not a fan of coconut? Not a problem! You can use whatever kind of flavouring you like! Almond, coconut, or strawberry extract can all be found on the baking aisle, among other flavours. I hope you found this recipe helpful and enjoy your crepes!

Happy cooking!

Crepes, ooh la la!

I absolutely love making crepes! They're basically just French pancakes. They're very simple to make and delicious to eat! This recipe makes 12-14 crepes, depending on the size of your pan and how thick you make them:)

You will need:
1 cup flour
1 tbsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1  1/3 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla
3 eggs
3 tbsp. of melted butter
Additional sugar for sprinkling.

To start:
1. In a small bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, and salt.
2. Pour the milk into a medium sized measuring bowl. You'll want to let the milk sit out for about 10-15 minutes before adding butter. Add the vanilla, eggs, and butter and whisk with a fork. When hot butter comes into contact with cold milk, the butter thickens and ruins the consistency of the mixture.
3. Pour the dry ingredients in with the wet and whisk until there are no lumps.
4. Grease a small frying pan and turn your stove to medium heat.
5. Once the pan is heated, pour about a 1/4 cup of the batter into the pan. Tilt the pan until the batter is spread over the whole pan.
6. Let it cook until you can see it solidifying and the edges are slightly brown. Sprinkle some sugar over the surface of crepe then, using a spatula, flip the crepe. Sprinkle more sugar on the other side.
7. Once the crepe is fully cooked on both sides, flip it once more to make sure the sugar melts on both sides.

You can eat these plain or with toppings! Some like jam or chocolate sauce, but I drizzle honey over them and sprinkle cinnamon sugar over that. You can serve them with fruit for breakfast, lunch, or dinner! They're simple to make and so tasty! I hope you found this recipe helpful and easy to understand.

Happy cooking!

Cinnamon Raisin Bread

Hello! I'm so excited about this new raisin bread recipe! I've made it three times already this week. Its so sweet and has a warm taste. I've gifted it a few times and have gotten great responses! It's a fairly simple recipe and I hope you enjoy it!

You will need:

1/2 cup applesauce
1/3 cup oil (or melted butter)
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. of cinnamon
1 tsp. of baking soda
1  1/2 tsp. vanilla
a pinch of salt
1  1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup of raisins
OPTIONAL: Cinnamon sugar for sprinkling.


To start:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Mix the brown sugar, applesauce, egg, and oil together on low speed.
3. Next, blend in the cinnamon, vanilla, salt, and baking soda. Use a rubber spatula to smooth out any clumps that might form.
4. On medium speed, blend in the flour.
5. Mix in the raisins on low/medium speed.
6. Grease a loaf pan. OPTIONAL: Sprinkle cinnamon sugar on the sides and bottom of the loaf before pouring the batter. Once batter is poured, sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top as well.
7. Bake for 35-40 minutes.

Happy Baking!

The BEST Sugar Cookies.

If you love sugar cookies, this is the recipe for you! It's perfect for Christmas cookies and they're super easy to make (not to mention SO YUMMY!)  This recipe is great when using cookie cutters and they're easily decorated. :)

 You will need:

8 ounces (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature (salted or unsalted.)

1 3/4 cups granulated sugar

1 large egg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 3/4 cups flour (plus some for sprinkling.)

OPTIONAL: 1 tbsp. milk

 

Getting started:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees F.

 2. First, leave the butter out for about 30 minutes so it can get soft. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla.  For drop cookies, add some milk to this step.

3. Next, add in the flour. If it's too much to add in all at once, feel free to add about a half cup at a time. *You may need to knead the dough with your hands. 

4. Sprinkle some flour on a clean surface. Rub some flour on a rolling pin and roll out some of your dough to about a half inch. Using a cookie cutter of your choice, cut out some shapes and move them to a greased cookie sheet. 

5. Put in cookie sheets in the oven for about 10-12 minutes or until edges are golden brown.

6. Decorate your cookies with cookie frosting. Click here for the recipe.

I love this recipe so much and it yields about 36-42 cookies depending on the size of your cutter. It's great for Valentine's, Christmas, or any time of the year. I don't think I'll ever use another sugar cookie recipe again! I've made them several times and everyone absolutely loves them! I hope you found this recipe helpful and enjoy making these sweet cookies:)  

Happy Cooking!

The Best Banana Bread

I made this today and it was a huge hit! If you like banana bread, you're sure to love this!

You will need:
1. 3-4 ripe bananas
2. 1/3 cup melted butter
3. 1 cup sugar
4. 1 egg
5. 1 tsp. vanilla
6. 1 tsp. baking soda
7. A pinch of salt
8. 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour

OPTIONAL: For a healthier alternative, can use Splenda instead of sugar. I did and it tastes heavenly.

To start:
1. Pre-heat oven to 350 F.
2. Mash up bananas in medium bowl and mix with butter.
3. Next, add in the sugar, egg, and vanilla.
4. Now, mix in the baking soda and salt.
5. Lastly, mix in the flour.
6. Grease a small loaf pan and pour contents of the bowl into it.
7. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

This recipe makes one loaf, but you can double it for two. I definitely recommend using Splenda. It's light and sweet: total yum-fest! I hope you enjoy this recipe! Happy Cooking!

The Best Brownies EVER. (forreal)

These seriously have to be the best brownies I've ever tried. I made a batch for my family to taste and they were so good I just had to make another!

You will need:
1. 2/3 cup un-sweetened cocoa powder
2. 2 cups of white granulated sugar
3. 4 eggs
4. 1 cup all purpose flour
5. 1 cup vegetable oil (melted butter will suffice)
6. 2 tsp. vanilla extract
7. 1/2 tsp. Baking powder
8. 1/2 tsp. salt
9. Two large bowls
10. Two large spoons

To begin:
1. Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Grease a 9x13 pan.
3. In one large bowl mix the eggs, sugar, oil, and vanilla.
4. In the second bowl mix flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt.
5. Pour the dry mixture into the egg mixture about a half cup at a time and stir.
6. Once thoroughly mixed, pour into greased pan.
7. Bake for 35-45 minutes.
8. Once finished baking, let cool for about 3 minutes.
9. Cut and enjoy!

I love these brownies because they're better than a box-mix and you get satisfaction of knowing you made them from scratch! I hope you found this recipe helpful and easy. If these aren't the best brownies you've tasted, post your recipe in the comment section:)

Happy Cooking!

Plain Jane Tea Cookies

These cookies are super easy to make and yummy! They're good with coffee, tea, or by themselves! They are also great because they're made of five basic ingredients that you may have already!

Ingredients:
1 cup margarine
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup corn starch
1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Supplies:
Cookie pan(s)
Two large bowls
Two large spoons

To start:
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. In one large bowl cream margarine and powdered sugar.
3. In the second bowl mix flour, baking powder, and corn starch.
4. Mix the dry ingredients into the first bowl a half cup at a time.
5. Once the dough is thoroughly mixed, roll into quarter-sized balls and place on greased pan.
6. Put the pan(s) in the oven and bake for 8-10 minutes or until edges are golden.

I hope you enjoy this simple but tasty recipe! I made it with a group of 3rd and 4th graders. That's how easy it is! Have fun with this!

Happy cooking!