Double Delight Peanut Butter Cookies

After realizing that I haven't let my boyfriend try any of the last 3 things I've baked, I decided to make him his favorite dessert, peanut butter cookies! Now I tasted these cookies for the first time a couple of months ago. They were made for me, as part of scavenger hunt where one of the tasks was to out-bake me! I thought the cookies were really good and I took note of the recipe so I could remember to make them in the future.

So here I am today a few months later still really impressed with the cookies. The double delight peanut butter cookie recipie is found here. Or you can find it below.

Instead of using the pre-made refrigerated cookies as described by the recipe in the link, I decided to use the bag mixture peanut butter cookie mix and stir in some of the chopped peanuts, to make it even more homemade.

 In the oven almost ready!

Ingredients

1 bag peanut butter cookie mix

1 egg

3 tablespoons veggie oil

1/4	cup finely chopped peanuts
1/4	cup granulated sugar
1/2	teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2	cup creamy peanut butter
1/2	cup powdered sugar

Directions
1. Prepare peanut butter cookie mix as stated on the bag, and mix half of the chopped peanuts into the mixture, and chill until ready to use. 

2. Heat oven to 375°. In small bowl, mix chopped peanuts, granulated sugar and cinnamon; set aside. 


3. In another small bowl, stir peanut butter and powdered sugar until completely blended. Shape mixture into 24 balls, about 1 inch each.

4. Take peanut butter cookie mix from fridge. Take about 1 inch balls and roll around peanut butter mixture, covering completely. Repeat with remaining dough and balls.

5. Roll each covered ball in peanut/sugar mixture; gently pat mixture completely onto balls. On ungreased large cookie sheets, place balls 2 inches apart. With hands gently press down balls until aproximently 1/2in thick.

6. Bake 7 to 12 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets to cooling rack. Store tightly covered.

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Mmmmm... Doughnuts

Ok so I had changed my mind and I decided that I want to open a doughnut shop. But... after looking into the details I realized that I would probably severely hurt myself being around hot frying oil all day. So after that quick revelation I decided to stick with cookies.

I was looking at the Decorated Cookie Blog last week and I saw these cookies on the blog. I liked them so much that i put a bookmark on my browser to save the idea for later. Well today was later. I decided that since I wasn't entirely too busy tonight I should try to make them. The recipe she has on her page calls for granulated sugar, and since I learned that lesson earlier this week I searched online for a sugar cookie recipe that called for regular sugar. I clicked on the first one I found, and it sounded really good so I decided to make it.

I rolled out the cookie dough to about 1/4in thick and I used a plastic cup to cut the outside of the doughnut and to cut the inner circle i used t the cover of my pepper shaker (cleaned of course).

After they were done cooling I used a jar of Betty Crocker Chocolate icing to cover my cookies. First I put a large spoonful into a ziploc bag and piped rings of icing around the inside and out side circles. I then took the rest of the icing and microwaved it for 10 - 15 secs, until it was nice and smooth. I used a spoon to pour the melted icing into the outlines i made above. Once they were nice and smothered I sprinkles them with rainbow sprinkles. For full instrustions on how to make the doughtnut cookies check out the Decorated Cookie Blog.

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Pink Champagne Cupcakes

Today I attempted to make pink champagne cupcakes. I found the recipe  in my Betty Crocker Cupcakes cakes & more recipe book and I was a little hesitant at first because the recipe called for champagne to be mixed into the batter and icing. But I finally got the guts and made it. 

At the end I was a little disappointed. The cupcakes ended up tasting like regular boxed vanilla cupcakes, and the icing turned into an absolute mess. I didn't have enough powdered sugar for the icing, and I only need 1/2 cup more (it calls for 4), so i decided to substitute the remaining 1/2 cup with regular sugar.

Apparently I was really wrong. The icing was super grainy and it just tasted horrible. I ended up scraping all the icing off all the cupcakes, and running to the Quick Mart down the street and buying a normal tub of vanilla frosting. The cupcakes ended up looking great, and tasting good. They are just missing the homemade taste that I wanted them to have. Lesson Learned:  Never substitute regular sugar for powdered sugar, especially in an icing recipe!

 

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Midnight Zebra Cookies

In my effort to get this blog started I baked about 3 different times in under 4 days! Honestly I'm a little impressed with myself.

While looking threw my cook books to decided what I wanted to bake next, I had to find something that I already had the ingredients for. I stumbled across Midnight Cookies inside my "1001 cupcakes cookies & other tempting treats" cookbook.

Ingredients (makes approx 25 cookies.)
9 Tablespoons Butter
1 Cup Sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 tsp baking soda

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Place butter and sugar in a large bowl and beat together until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanialla extract and mix until smooth.
3. In a small bowl mix together, flour, cocoa, and baking soda. Slowly add the flour mixture to the large bowl and beat until well mixed.
4. With hands, roll 1in diameter pieces of dough into smooth balls.
5. Sprinkle 1/4 cup sugar in a small bowl. Roll each ball of dough in the sugar. Then place on baking sheets, spaced well apart.
6. Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes, or until set. Let cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
7. I used my extra white chocolate left over from the cake balls to decorate the cookies and make them look extra delicious.

Chocolate Covered Funfetti Cake Balls

I first saw these about two weeks ago on the Bakeralla Blog. They looked completley different and I had to try them . They were an instant success. I took them with me to school and they were gone in just a couple of hours. The recipe makes approximately 40 cake balls, so they are great if you want to bake for a lot of people.

I followed this recipe. I only had funfetti cake mix laying around the apartment so that's what I used instead of red velvet. I dipped half of them in white chocolate and the other half in milk chocolate. They turned out amazing and they looked totally professional!

Maybe one day when I open a bake shop these will be one of the things I sell!

Strawberry Covered Chocolate Tarts

Here is the recipe that inspired this blog! I found the recipe in my Betty Crocker "cupcakes cakes & more" book that I bought the other day at HEB. It looked super adorable and delicious so I had to try it!

Ingredients
1 pouch double chocolate chunk cookie mix (1 lb 1.5oz)
1/4 cup veggie oil
1 egg
2 tablespoons water
1/3 cup strawberry jam
1/2 cup whipped topping (like cool whip)
1 cup strawberry frosting
miniature semisweet chocolate chips for topping

Instructions1. Heat oven to 350F. Place miniature paper baking cup in mini muffing cups pan.
2. In medium bow, stir cookie mix, oil, egg and water until soft dough forms. Drop dough by teaspoonfuls into baking cups.
3. Bake 8-10 minutes or until edges are set. With a wooden spoon gently press a small depression into the cups. Cool completely.
4. Spoon jam into each depression of the cookie cups.
5. In medium bowl, fold whipped topping into frosting until well combined. Using a decorating bag, or ziploc bag with corner cut off ,to pipe frosting onto cookies cups. Top with chocolate chips.

The first post...

Ok so i've never done this whole blog thing before but i decided i wanted to start blogging about all the baking i do. Its one of my favorite past times and i really want to share it with every one out there!

So here it goes. Sit back and enjoy the ride!