L.O.V.E

I FINALLY found a sugar cookie recipe that I absolutely LOVE. These are just regular frosting with an amaretto frosting. They turned out really adorable. But if i were to do them again I would have cut them a little thicker. Here is the cookie recipe,

2 Cups of Butter, softened
2-1/3 Cups sugar
6 Egg yolks
4 Whole eggs
7 Cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Start off by mixing the butter and sugar until fluffy. (My little brother was helping me make these cookies and asked how you know when the mixture is "Light and Fluffy" this is when the mixture looks almost like frosting and is able to mix easily, for everyone that has ever been confused at this step)  Then add the eggs slowly as you continue beating the mixture. mix in vanilla. Add all dry ingredients and stir SLOWLY this is a lot of flour and it will fly out the sides of your mixer if your not careful (which im sure we have all found out the hard way.) when your dough starts actually looking like sugar dough cover in plastic and refridgerate for an hour. I know I claim to not follow this particular part in recipes but this is the first tip my grandma taught me and it really does make all the difference when your rolling out your dough. When your dough has chilled roll about 1/3 of an inch thick and pick your cute little shape to cut out. Bake at 375 for about 10 minutes. And frost with whatever frosting you can come up with. I cant give out frosting recipes unfortunately. Enjoy!

Valentines Day!

Happy Valentines Day!! I made these strawberries over the weekend, I thought they turned out really cute. I hope you don't need a recipe for strawberries but if you do... I would look somewhere else. But for these I used guitard chocolate apeels which is a really delicious dipping chocolate which you can find at most cooking stores. My particular favorite is Orson Gygi in Salt Lake.

Sopapilla Cheesecake bars

These bars are hands down the best cold day treat you can imagine... They are a pastry dough topped with a cream cheese filling and cinnamon sugar. I was in a hurry the day I made these so I found this easy recipe

3 packages crescent roll dough
2-8oz packages cream cheese
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup butter (melted)

Start off by pressing half of your dough into the bottom of your 11 x 13 pan. Then whip the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla together until it looks fluff. Spread the cream cheese mixture over your dough and cover with the rest of your dough. Pour your melted butter over the top of your pan and sprinkle cinnamon sugar allllll over the top. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes. Check it at 20. If your dough is cooked all the way through than its done.

When you take your bars out the middle is going to be super gooey. Don't stress this is normal. You can eat it at this stage if your crazy about warm desserts like I am. Or if your planning on serving them somewhere wait till they cool before trying to cut them. I know it's lazy of me to put crescent dough instead of making it from scratch so I will be making dough later on this week and will let you know how that goes!
Happy Baking!

Cookies & Dream

These are my Cookies and Dream cupcake. They are a moist chocolate base with a cookies and cream frosting, and an adorable mini Oreo dipped in chocolate as the garnish. These are a crowd pleaser for any occasion. Who doesn't love cookies and cream? These particular cupcakes are for a going away party for ms. Marla Nelson. She is an assistant coach of mine who just accepted a new coaching job. These cupcakes are nothing compared to what she has done for our team and we will miss her very much! Well my cupcake recipes are a secret but a tip when you're trying to make moist cupcakes is.... I know this sounds weird but trust me.... sour cream. If your googling a recipe make sure it has sour cream because it will make your cupcakes fantastic!

2012

Might as well eat what you want while you still can! These are mini Nutella creme cupcakes. They are a vanilla cupcake filled with bulgarian creme topped with Nutella frosting and raspberries dipped in chocolate. These are my families favorite cupcakes. Unfortunately I cant share cupcake recipes but it wouldn't be fun if I told you how to do everything.

Tis The Season.

Christmas is my FAVORITE time of the year. I love the family and all that but we are here to talk about the food. So I was home for the weekend last week and started the season off with a little gingerbread. I used a soft gingerbread recipe because I am NOT a fan of crispy gingerbread men...

Gingerbread Cookies

6 cups all-purpose flour

1 Tablespoon baking powder

1 Tablespoon ground ginger

1Tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 cup butter

1 cup molasses

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1.  In a bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, and all spices.

2.  In your electric mixer (you can mix by hand if you are up for the challenge), beat butter until smooth.  Add brown sugar, molasses, eggs and vanilla. 

3.  stir in the dry ingredients until all ingredients are mixed making a dark brown mixture.
4. Some recipes tell you to break the dough up into small balls and refrigerate for like 3 hours. I am not that patient so I just go for it right out of the bowl. But if you want to get all technical refrigerating the dough will make your cuts come out cleaner and your dough a little bit softer. (I tried the refrigerating path just for you recipe followers.) 
5. Bake cookies at 325 for 10 minutes (time may vary depending on cookie size) id say until they are brown butttt..... the dough is already brown. So bake until the dough is firm but not hard :)
6. FROST AWAY!

The Beginning

My name is Ambryn McCallson Im from Salt Lake born and raised. I created this blog as an attempt to get my name out there because I want to start a bakery in the future. I will be posting all sorts of treats and some meals if I think they are too pretty to pass up. EVERYTHING posted is homemade and a potential Amby's store item so PLEASE comment if you have anything to say negative or positive! I will try to post AT LEAST one item a week and add the recipe if possible. But be patient with me because I am a poor college student and cant always make extravagant treats and meals. <3