Christmas Star Sugar Cookies

The other day my husband, Brian, was talking about his best friends mom's sugar cookies and how she used the soft, creamy frosting and they were his favorite cookies growing up. He mentioned that I was always using the "hard" frosting, and while they looked pretty, they weren't as tasty as the soft frosting. Now I can't have my husband dreaming about someone elses cookies, or be shown up by some childhood cookie dream,  so for my Christmas cookie platter I decided to put the royal icing and fancy cookie decorating aside and use plain old frosting and sprinkles to top my Christmas star sugar cookies, all in hopes to win my husband back!

I think my plan worked, and I will admit I do love the soft frosting better than the royal icing, as far as taste goes, but there is no comparison with the decorating. It's impossible to decorate a cookie with non royal icing as well as with royal icing. Note the photos, my cookies have looked better. So you must choose. Taste or looks, and for a husband who prefers taste to looks I was glad I could make him a Christmas cookie that I hoped rivaled those of his childhood dreams.

Sugar Cookie Frosting
1 pound box powdered sugar
6 Tablespoons butter
1/4 cup heaving whipping cream
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Food coloring

(Add more cream to thin, or powdered sugar to thicken.)

Butter Toffee

 

As it is two days before Christmas, I should be sitting on my couch writing this by the glow of my tree, Hallmark Christmas movies playing it the background and the house smelling of every kind of Christmas goodies. Notice I said should, not am. Instead, I'm sitting at my kitchen table, which is piled with junk, listening to a loud carpet cleaner and smelling the strong stench of cleaners that are trying to undo the musty smell coming from my wet, soggy carpets. Crazy, right? Turns out, not only do Southern Californians not know how to deal with the rain, but apparently my house wasn't build for it either. We've had a week of straight rain, and it all decided to somehow get under our house, through cracks in the cement, and soak our carpet and pads, creating a nice moldy/musty smell. I'm not surprised, as this same thing happened last year, but I'm quite mad that my landlord didn't fix it all the way last year. Anyway, hopefully it will all be taken care of by today, temporary fix anyway, and Brian and I can have a cozy Christmas morning here.

{Thanks Eduardo for helping me with this mess!}

Now that I got that out of my system, on to the butter toffee. I did a majority of my Christmas baking on Monday, before my house was torn apart. I was for sure making caramel, but thought why not give toffee a chance too? After all I already kind of did it once when I was experimenting with caramel, and this recipe made it look super easy. It totally was a no brainer. As long as you have a candy thermometer that works (see caramel post for my sad story) and a strong hand to stir with I'm sure you can make this work. I actually made this right before the caramel, and my thermometer managed to stay attached to the pot.

This is called butter toffee, I'm assuming, because of the 16 ounces of butter it calls for. That's four cubes! And the only other ingredients are water and sugar. The recipe is written in weight, and because I don't have a food scale (I know! Shame on me!) I did some research and some calculations to figure out how to measure using measuring cups and spoons. My toffee turned out amazing, so I'm thinking these measurements worked out just fine. (Listed below)

For the chocolate I used the Wilton baking chips, my go to chocolate. I would have loved to use some good quality candy making chocolate, but I already had these, so I figured I'd just use them and they worked out great. And they are so easy to melt, you don't really have to temper them. But they key to melting these is to not let them melt entirely in the microwave. Take them out every ten seconds or so and stir, and then remove them when there are still chunks of chocolate. Continue to stir and the hot chocolate will melt the rest of it. That way you don't get white, streaky chocolate. It tastes the same, just doesn't look so pretty.

I poured the toffee onto parchment paper in a cookie sheet. I had enough to do one full sheet and maybe half of another. I couldn't spread it as thin as the recipe says to because I didn't know it would fill the pan so much. But it didn't matter. One pan I put chocolate on the top and bottom, and the other just on the top. And I topped some of it with chopped walnuts.

Everyone I've given this too has loved it. I'm putting the rest of the toffee on my cookie platters for Christmas day dessert. It's going to look really pretty!

Butter Toffee Recipe from Pioneer Woman

Butter Toffee Recipe
(My measurements based on measuring cups and spoons, not weight)
4 cubes of butter,
2 cups + 4 Tablespoons Granulated Sugar
1/4 cup + 1/8 cup water
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 bags Wilton baking chips, dark chocolate

*Necessary Equipment: Candy Thermometer*
Combine butter, sugar, water, and salt in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.
Cook over moderate heat, stirring gently, until candy thermometer registers 298 degrees.
Remove from heat and stir in vanilla until well combined.
Pour the mixture onto a silicone baking mat or good parchment paper. Use a heatproof rubber spatula or offset spatula to spread quickly before the toffee sets. Spread thin.
Allow toffee to cool completely. Blot to remove excess oil from the surface. Coat surface with half of the melted chocolate and immediately sprinkle with topping.
When chocolate has totally set, carefully flip over (it’s okay if it falls apart a bit) and coat other side with the rest of the chocolate. Sprinkle on topping.
Allow to set, then break into bite-size pieces.
Store in an airtight container.

Caramel

{Sprinkled with sea salt}

Homemade caramel is so tasty. Quite a few years back, when I was still in college I was introduced to this recipe around the holidays and took it home to my mom and had her help me make it. It's not that I think making candy is hard, but it was my first time, plus I love making stuff with Mom. The first time we made it we ended up cooking the candy mixture too long and instead of soft, chewy caramels, we got hard, crunchy toffee. Although not what we were going for, it sure was tasty. We knew we were on to something, we just needed to try again. We didn't get around to trying again until the next year. We over compensated a bit too much for the toffee texture of the previous year, and went for the soft ball texture. Turns out that is not what we wanted either. The caramel would hold it's shape as long as it was cold and in the fridge, but as soon as it reached room temperature it was oozing all over the plate. But once again, it tasted amazing, despite the lack of firm texture. (We should have dipped apples in it!) I had even dipped some of the caramels in chocolate while they were cool, but once they warmed up they broke through the chocolate shell and came oozing out!

It's been about three or four years since that last caramel incident, and I consider myself much more experienced in the kitchen now, so I thought it time to try again. With my mom out sailing the Florida Keys right now, I was on my own. So I did some research on what temperature to cook caramel to, was it soft ball or hard ball? No one really said, but I thought I had a handle on things and took my new Sunbeam candy thermometer out of the packaging. The thermometer came with a little case that had suggested temperatures for cooking candy to the different stages. And then, there it was, not hard ball or soft ball, but right in between, firm ball. The answer to my past two caramel let downs. Firm ball is between 240-250 degrees F. I was beyond thrilled at my new discovery and loving my new thermometer.

So off I went, stirring the sugar, Karo syrup and cream until my hand went numb. All the while carefully watching my thermometer making sure to get it at the right temperature. I decided, after reading a few blogs, I would stop cooking at 248 degrees. I had to keep wiping condensation off the thermometer so I could, again, make sure not to miss my rising temperature reaching the perfect cooking point. While I was stirring away my aunt called, so I pick up and start talking, and stirring, and then all of a sudden my, no longer favorite, candy thermometer broke loose from the clip holding it to the pan, and the clip and thermometer fell into the pot of boiling sugary syrup. After a few seconds of trying to figure out what to do, I quickly got off the phone, dug some tongs out of the drawer and fished out the thermometer and clip. But now what? The thermometer was covered in an almost caramel substance that was starting to harden and I couldn't see the temperature. So I get a paper towel and try to wipe it off, but the paper just starts to stick to the sticky, almost caramel covered thermometer. (This is so something that would happen to me.) I did manage to take the pot of caramel off the hot stove so it didn't burn while I was dealing with all this. So finally, I managed to get the thermometer cleaned to where I could read it, although it was difficult because the caramel was so hot! I put the pot back on the stove and cooked it to what I think was 248 degrees.

I'm not sure if the interruption in cooking did anything to the caramel, but this year it actually turned out. I cut it, left it a room temperature, dipped it in chocolate, wrapped it in wax papers and it managed to keep its shape. It's still on the softer side of caramel and perhaps it will just take more tries to get it 100% right. But no matter what the texture has been, this recipe always produces a very tasty caramel.

Caramel Recipe
In a large pot mix:
2 cups sugar
1 cube butter
1 3/4 Cup karo Syrup
1 cup heavy cream
Turn heat to low until butter is melted. Then turn up heat to boil.
When mixture boils add:
1 cup heavy cream
Continue to boil until mixture reached firm ball stage around 248-250 degrees F.
Take off heat and add:
1 teaspoon vanilla

Have a Tupperware or glass pan buttered or lined with parchment paper, you can butter the parchment paper too, pour mixture into pan to cool. (I put mine in the frigde)
To serve cut into squares, use a knife or buttered pizza cutter. You can sprinkle with sea salt, wrap in wax paper or dip in chocolate

{A little bit of caramel oozed out, but they didn't break the shells}

Snowflake Sugar Cookies

I think these are the only sugar cookies I'm going to get to this season. Which is ok because they turned out so cute. I did have a ton of other ideas I wanted to try, but they will have to wait until next year. I made these for a friend who requested ten treat bags to pass out to his neighbors. Isn't he sweet? I loved the white cookies with the red ribbon and tag. I hope he and his neighbors like them. Making them was a little bit of a process though because I was having some trouble  getting the frosting to the right consistency. If you can do that, the piping and decorating is so much easier. I finally settled for a consistency that would work, but it was still a little runnier than I would have liked. I need to work on that skill. After I got the frosting figured out, I tried something new with these. I outlined the cookie, did maybe five or six, and then went back and filled them in while the outline was still wet. By filling them in while wet you don't get the border around the outside of the cookie, which I have decided I like better. I still used a thicker frosting to pipe and a thinner frosting to flood.

Another thing I loved about making these cookies is that they are white. I love not having to color frosting. Not having to mess with that makes these cookies all the more my favorite. Snowflakes are all different and imperfect, so I took that approach with these. They didn't need to be perfect, just sweet, snowy and white. I so wish it snowed in my part of California. Well, maybe just for Christmas!

 

Sugar Cookies Recipe 

Royal Icing

Cookie Tins

I have been passing out some Christmas goodies this past week and wanted to share a quick idea for using a tin. I bought some tins at the end of the season last year and was excited to fill them with a variety of cookies. I think I mentioned that I went to a cookie exchange last week and I came home with seven dozen different cookies. I started to pile them into the tin, but I didn't think they looked very pretty and I thought the cookies might all get broken. I so made a little divider out of card stock! I just cut a long strip and folded it in the shape of an x. I then had four neat little sections to divide my cookies into. I lined the tin with parchment paper first, placed in the divider and loaded it up with goodies. Just a thought! Happy goodie giving.

Christmas Party Favors

 

My super talented sister, Brittany, had a client who was throwing a Christmas party. She asked Brittany to do the flower arrangements. She (I don't even know her name) also asked Brittany if I would be interested in making some party favors with my "best cookie" for her guests. She must have found my blog through Brittany's and thought I'd do an ok job. I was so excited. Any time someone pays me to bake for them I just think how I wish this was my full time job. Although I'm happy to report that me and my 175 eighth graders are getting along pretty well these days. For the party favors I put four orange coconut cookies, dipped in chocolate in a clear bag and tied them up with a gold bow, to match the color scheme of the party. I finished them off with a simple happy holidays tag. I hope they were well received. I had such a fun time doing them. I just got an order for 10 more holiday goodie bags. I just love baking this time of year!

Snickedoodles

How is it already December 10th? My last post was about Thanksgiving! I always wonder how time flies but when I'm back at school the weeks take forever to end! So tonight I was taking pictures off my camera and realized how much baking I've done in the past two weeks. Apparently I was too busy baking to blog about it. But there is such fun holiday baking going on right now I want to share mine. I've had such a great time looking at the pictures everyone else has posted.

Last Saturday Brian left me for a whole six days to attend a MLB job fair in Orlando. Usually it's me leaving him home alone, so I always make him a treat before I go. But this time he was leaving me, but I wanted to make him a treat for his long plane ride. He had been talking about these snickerdoodles his mom use to make and she would roll them in candy canes for the holidays. So I emailed my mother in law, got her recipe and whipped up a batch for him to take on his trip.

Whole ball rolled in candy canes

Only the top with candy canes

This was the first time I'd made snickerdoodles, and do I dare admit that I'd never used cream of tartar for anything before? So that was new, but these turned out great. The only issue I had was actually rolling them in the crushed candy canes. The first batch I didn't spray the pan and I rolled the whole ball of dough in the crushed candy canes. That was bad news. Not only did the cookies stick, but the candy canes melted and then hardened on the pan. They tasted good, but they were definitely not pretty by the time I scraped them off the pan. I kept asking Brian if I was doing it right, but he said he hadn't had them since he was a kid, so I had to figure out a plan B. I decided to spray the pan with Pam, always a good move, I supposed I could have also used parchment paper, but I was out. And then my genius move was to only roll, or press the top of the cookie in the candy canes, therefore less melting and sticking on the bottom of the cookie. That worked like a champ. (For some reason I didn't take a picture of the finished product, sorry. I think the first ones were so ugly that I forgot!)

The next day I was attending a cookie exchange and decided to make regular snickerdoodles. Since this recipe was new to me I wanted to try out the original way. The recipe says to use one cup of shortening, but for my second batch I only had 1/2 a cup, so I did half shortening and half butter. I noticed that the dough was softer, but overall taste was the safe. So you can pick. Each batch made about three and a half dozen, which was great for me since I needed seven dozen for the exchange. These were great cookies, soft, and easy to make. As long as you know you need that cream of tartar stuff, you should have everything else on hand! Thank Kathleen for sharing another great recipe.

Snickerdoodles
1 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 3/4 cups flour

Cream shortening and sugar: add eggs and vanilla..  Add sifted dry ingredients gradually.  Roll into balls the size of a small walnut.  Roll in mixture of 2 Tablespoons sugar and 2 tsp. cinnamon.  Bake 8 to 10 minutes at 400 degrees until brown but soft.

Packaging Goodies

You would think with two weeks off for Christmas vacation I would have a lot of time to write some good blogs. But that hasn't exactly been the case. Busy, busy holiday season. But I have been baking while being home with my mom, and all the recipes and pictures will be posted shortly. But I do have a few pictures of the home made goodies I gave away to the teachers I work with. Super easy, found the boxes, used red tissue paper to separate the cookies, and finished it off with cute labels. I put the chocolate dipped coconut and orange cookies in the boxes and mini loaves of bread (harvest loaf and banana bread) in red cellophane with green ribbon and star gift tags. Simple, easy and looks oh so cute!

Cinnamon Roll Packaging

It's the Christmas season, which is so perfect for baking! I can give away all my goodies and not eat them all myself. My husband went to the gym tonight, but I passed. Probably shouldn't have, but I'd rather bake and package up my goodies in cute, festive wrappings. I came up with this packaging to individually wrap my cinnamon rolls because I already had 200 of these boxes lying around. Last June when I was doing my wedding favors I accidentally ordered up the wrong size box for my favors. I didn't want to pay a restocking fee to return them, so I just keep them thinking I'd find something to do with them. I dare say they're coming in handy now! I'm so excited to give these away to neighbors and friends.

Christmas Cookie Exchange

For the first time ever I participated in a cookie exchange. I made eight dozen cookies and went to exchange them with eight other girls who did the same thing. A little shout out to Jennifer for hosting a lovely evening with the ladies. At the end of the night I came home with eight dozen different cookies that I could package up and give to friends to spread a little Christmas cheer.

When deciding which cookies to bake I took into consideration the fact that I had to make eight dozen. I had made a recipe from Food Networks “Ask Aida” for Orange Coconut cookies about a month before and remembered that they made a lot of cookies! I only had to double the recipe to get my eight dozen. And you have to put them in the refrigerator before you cook them, so it’s a great make ahead cookie. Besides tasting amazing, these cookies are very impressive to look at. I dipped half of them in chocolate, like the recipe says, and they just look so festive! I still have a hard time using chocolate chips to dip things with. It never works right, so this time, because I needed it to work, I bought Wilton chocolate baking chips from Michael’s. It worked like a champ! Perfect on every cookie, dried hard and smooth.

A few tips on the cookies, if you like a crisper cookies, just cut them thinner, which makes sense. But I like them a bit softer so I cut the cookies a little on the thicker side. Also, I toasted my coconut by putting it in the oven on a cookie sheet and watching it until it was barely brown. But like I said, this is a great make ahead recipe or one to use when you need a lot of cookies. Happy Baking!
Toasted Coconut and Orange Cookies Recipe