Seven Layer Cookie Cups

Posted on May 19, 2012 by Ruthanne

Confession:  I’ve never had or made 7 layer bars.  But ever since I created the salted caramel cookie cup recipe, my friend Dawn (and her husband Rex!) have been asking me to try a cookie cup filled with 7 layer bar ingredients.

Now that I’ve tried them, I am in love with 7 layer bars.  The bars are very easy to make and there are tons of recipes online for them.  There are many variations of ingredients, but I made my cups with Dawn’s favorites.  The cups are a little more time consuming than plain bars– but very, very fun!  The cookie cup holds all the yummy ingredients together and adds a dense sweet layer to the typical bar recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 tube of refrigerated sugar cookie dough
  • 1c. of finely crushed graham cracker crumbs
  • 1/2 c. chopped pecans
  • 1c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1/4c. butterscotch chips
  • 1c. shredded coconut
  • 1 can of sweetened condensed milk

(yep, thats 7 ingredients!)

DIRECTIONS:

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • Using clean hands, knead together graham cracker crumbs and cookie dough until all crumbs are incorporated.
  • Divide dough evenly among 12 (standard size) muffin cups.
  • Bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 14 minutes
  • Press centers of baked cookies in, forming a cup. I use a mini tart shaper for this and it makes it SO easy- you can use the end of a wooden spoon too, if you want.  The inside of the cookies might still be a little undercooked at this point — that is ok!
  • Layer the remaining dry ingredients in each cookie cup, saving some coconut aside.
  • Place sweetened condensed milk in a zip top bag, clip a corner and drizzle the condensed milk into each cup over and around all the ingredients.  I went to each cup twice, as the liquid seeped down into all the layers there was room for more on top.
  • Sprinkle top with shredded coconut and place back in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10-15 minutes.  Watch for your coconut to brown on top– that is your cue to pull them out!
  • Cool completely in pan.  
  • Use a small knife to run around edge of each cup and pop it out of pan when cooled.

My thoughts:  I love them!  You could experiment with ingredient variations to this if you don’t like nuts or coconut for example. I like them as is.  Since I’d never had a 7 layer bar, I was depending on Dawn and Rex to judge the taste- they give them a thumbs up!  If you want gooey chocolate and coconut then this is YOUR dessert!  Enjoy!


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Bubble Gum Cupcakes

Posted on May 10, 2012 by Ruthanne


A perfect dessert for kids! Fun blue cupcakes topped with creamy pink bubble gum frosting and a gum ball!

Remember bubble gum ice cream? When I was a kid, one of our summer treats was to go to Cornwell’s Turkey Farm near Marshall, MI. It wasn’t too far from home and you got turkey sandwiches (the chunky “thanksgiving left-over” kind of sandwich) for lunch and then an ice cream cone from their old-fashioned ice cream parlor. They had bubble gum ice cream back in those days. I rarely got it, but my younger brother always did. He’d spit all the pieces of gum into a pile on a napkin (soooooo gross..) and then chew all of them after the ice cream was gone.  Who thought to put gum in ice cream?  To my knowledge it is impossible to eat them together….?

Anyway, when I saw the flavors of Duncan Hines new Frosting Creations, “bubble gum” caught my eye.  What kid (and maybe adult!) wouldn’t want to try a bubble gum cupcake?

I want to try a bubble gum cupcake….!

Pair that thought with an incredibly busy week and you have SUPER EASY and QUICK bubble gum cupcakes that will make your kids cheer at their next party!!!
Here we go:

INGREDIENTS:

  • One boxed white cake mix (with oil, eggs and water to make according to package)
  • Blue food coloring- I use Wiltons icing colors for bright color that doesn’t change the consistency of things.
  • One packet of Frosting Creations Bubble Gum Flavor
  • 1 stick of salted butter
  • 1 stick of unsalted butter
  • 1 1/2 c. powdered sugar
  • 1 t. vanilla
  • 18-24 gumballs

DIRECTIONS:

  • Make cake mix according to package, add food coloring and fill 18-24 cupcake liners (in a cupcake tin) with batter. (most cake mixes say they make 24 cupcakes….I like big cupcakes so I usually aim for 18!)
  • Bake according to package and cool completely.
  • Beat together (softened!) butters with vanilla and powdered sugar.  Beat on high until light and fluffy frosting develops.
  • Add bubble gum flavor packet to frosting and beat until well combined.
  • Cut a corner off a large zip-top bag and press a large Star shaped decorating tip into the hole.  
  • Spoon frosting into bag and seal top.
  • Carefully pipe frosting evenly over cupcakes (this recipe frosts 18 cupcakes perfectly as pictured— you will need to use a little less to cover 24).
  • Top each cupcake with a fun and colorful gumball

My thoughts:  I loved serving these…. it made me smile to watch adults lick all of the frosting off the cupcake 1st.  When one of my friends exclaimed, “It tastes just like bubble gum ice cream!” I knew I’d hit the mark.  Note: I used the Duncan Hines flavor packet in my own buttercream frosting because I wanted light fluffy frosting that would pipe a pretty swirl on top.  The packets are made to be used with a special can of frosting made by Duncan Hines.  If you want REALLY easy just use that.  Either way, these are so much fun!!!!  Enjoy!


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Peanut Butter Cup Layer Cake

Posted on May 1, 2012 by Ruthanne


Chocolate cake filled with layers of fudge and whipped peanut butter- yum!

INGREDIENTS:

  • One chocolate cake mix (with water, eggs and oil to make according to box)
  • 1 c. creamy peanut butter
  • 8 oz. Philadelphia Cream Cheese (softened to room temperature)
  • 1/2 c. sugar
  • 8 oz. Cool Whip topping
  • One tub of ready-made chocolate frosting (I used dark chocolate..mmmm…)

DIRECTIONS:

    • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
    • Spray 2- 8 or 9 inch round pans with cooking spray.
    • Cut a circle of parchment paper to fit the bottom of both pans and spray this with cooking spray.
    • Make cake mix according to package and pour evenly into two pans.
    • Bake according to package.
    • Tip cakes over onto a cake rack to cool completely.
    • Make filling by beating together peanut butter, cream cheese and sugar.
    • Gently fold in the container of whipped topping.
    • Make fudge sauce by spooning pre-made frosting into a microwave-safe bowl and heating in microwave for about 30 seconds (until smooth and creamy when stirred).
    • Prepare cakes by leveling the tops using a large serrated knife, then cut each cake into 2 layers using the same serrated knife or a Wire Cake Slicer .
    • Place one layer onto serving plate, top with 1/4 of peanut butter filling
    • Place second layer of cake on top of 1st, spread a layer (about 1/3 of the total amount) of frosting fudge over cake, top with another 1/4 of peanut butter filling.
    • Place 3rd layer of cake on top of 2nd, spread 1/4 of peanut butter filing over layer.
    • Top with final layer, rest of peanut butter filling and then pour remaining frosting fudge over the top, pushing it over the edges.  Sprinkle with mini peanut butter cups and chill before serving.

My thoughts.  Really easy cake and fillings.  The hardest part is simply cutting the cake into layers.  I really like this cake served cold…it doesn’t have to be…that’s just how I like it— chilled peanut butter cup cake- yum.  Enjoy!!

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Chocolate Cookies – New Zealand Style!

Posted on April 27, 2012 by Ruthanne


Tiny, crunchy chocolate and coconut cookies with a delicious chocolate glaze- SO good!

I love food blogs- particularly ones that major in fun desserts!  One of my favorite Saturday morning activities is to read through all my favorite blogs and enjoy the photos.  This past weekend Aimee from Clever Muffin posted a recipe that I simply HAD to try.  This doesn’t happen very often, as I prefer creating to copying–but the photos of these little cookies just screamed MAKE ME!!!  So I did.

I love them– truly LOVE these cookies.  They are so light and crunchy and cocoa-y.  I will be adding these to my permanent recipe collection and making them again….soon.

These are called Afghan Biscuits.  One of the things I love about Aimee is that she’s from Australia and she calls cookies “biscuits”, powdered sugar “icing sugar”and her mom her “mum”.  I also love that the world is such a small place that I can get a recipe from a friend in Australia and here I am 3 days later eating New Zealand-ish “biscuits” in my living room.  So. Much. Fun.

Anyway, Aimee has the history of these cookies on her blog.  She says they were invented in the 1940’s, possibly as a means to send cookies to loved ones away at war in WW2.  She says they “post” (so cute!) beautifully.  I know several of you have ones you love far away from you– here’s a great idea for a cookie that keeps well in the mail.   Are you ready for the recipe???  I’m really excited to share it with you!

INGREDIENTS:

Cookies:

  • 14 T. butter -softened (I know, awkward measurement…had to convert 200 grams for you though and the alternatives were 1.76 sticks of butter OR 0.88 cups of butter….so yeah….you choose.)
  • 1/2 c. sugar
  • 1 t. vanilla extract
  • 2 T. cocoa powder
  • 1 1/2 c. flour
  • 1 c. lightly crushed cornflakes
  • 1 c. shredded coconut

Icing:

  • 1 c. powdered sugar
  • 2 T. cocoa powder
  • Water (1-3 T.) to make a good spreading consistency.
  • Almond slivers (to garnish)

DIRECTIONS:

  • Heat oven to 250 degrees.
  • Place 1 c. shredded coconut on a small cookie sheet and place in oven for 10-15 minutes until it is dried and crunchy— not browned– just dry and crunchy.  Remove from oven and cool.
  • When coconut is cool, use your hands to crush it up  into smaller pieces, set aside.
  • Heat oven to 350 degrees.
  • Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
  • Use an electric beater to cream sugar and butter together, add vanilla.
  • Add flour, cocoa and coconut, beating until well combined.
  • Add cornflakes and beat on low speed until just combined.
  • Use a small cookie scoop to spoon batter onto parchment paper.
  • Bake at 350 degrees for 12-16 minutes.
  • Allow cookies to cool before frosting.
  • Make icing by combining  powdered sugar, cocoa and water until you have a smooth glaze that doesn’t run off the edges of the cookies.
  • Top cookie with icing and one almond sliver.


My thoughts:  These are SO good.  SOOOOOOOOOO good.  Many thanks to Clever Muffin for the inspiration!  Go check out her blog– you will love it!  Enjoy!!!!!!  -r

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Sweet Lime Tartlets

Posted on April 21, 2012 by Ruthanne


These tiny squares of graham crust filled with tart lime pie and whipped cream are a refreshing and fun party treat!

Yes, I finally got the Chicago Metallic Lift & Serve Squares Pan and I love it!  This recipe can be made as a plain lime pie in a pre-made graham crust (and it is really, really good)- but its just so CUTE made in these little squares– again, kudos to the creator of this pan- I love how the bottoms pop out and I’ve got so many fun ideas for this pan!

**Note: this recipe makes 24 squares.  Since the pan only makes 12 at a time you will need to use it twice.  I wanted to halve the recipe for you, but 1/2 a can of condensed milk AND 1/2 an egg???  Just easier to use the pan twice and have 24 pieces of yumminess!

INGREDIENTS: (double for a pie in a pre-made graham crust and eliminate crust ingredients)

  • 1 can of sweetened condensed milk
  • 1/2 c. lime juice
  • 1 egg
  • 9 full sheets of graham crackers (one sleeve or about 1 and 1/2 cups)
  • 1/4 c. sugar
  • 1/4 c. melted butter

DIRECTIONS:

  • Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
  • Crush graham crackers into fine crumbs and mix well with sugar and melted butter.
  • Place metal bottoms into each square opening in the pan and lightly spray with non-stick spray.
  • Scoop about 1 to 2 T of crumbs in each square well of the pan.  (You will have half left for your next batch).  Press into bottom and sides of each square using your fingers or a Mini tart shaper.
  • Mix together condensed milk, egg  and lime juice.  Spoon about 1 T of mixture into each crust (you should have half left).

  • Bake at 325 degrees for 15 minutes.  
  • Remove from oven, allow to cool, carefully press up on bottom- popping square dessert out of pan.  Remove metal bottom from crust. 
  • Repeat to make 24 total squares.
  • Chill several hours.  Top with whipped cream, graham crumbs, raspberries or other fruit— be creative!
  • Enjoy!!!

My thoughts:  This lime filling is simply delicious- the perfect blend of tart and sweet.  If you don’t mind the time involved, these squares are really cute– but if you just want a quick and easy dessert, buy a graham crust, double the filling recipe (2 cans of condensed milk, 2 eggs and 1 cup of lime juice).  Bake for 20 minutes instead of 15 and there you have it- yummy lime pie.  However you choose to make it, Enjoy!

 

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Mango Smoothie Pops

Posted on April 15, 2012 by Ruthanne


These creamy mango popsicles are filled with fun fruit and ice cream– a perfect summer treat!

A few weeks ago I shared a recipe from my travels to Mexico- Leche de Chocolate and this week I want to share another favorite with you.  One of my trips to Mexico involved 10 days of digging a foundation for a new church building in a little town in Sinoloa.  We used pick-axes to dig twelve 5-foot deep holes that eventually had cement footers poured into.  By noon it was over 120 degrees and one of our favorite treats was when the local kids would bring us “helados” or homemade fruit ice cream in plastic bags.  I was a little hesitant at first, but after I bit the corner off of the bag and had a taste, I was addicted!  SO refreshing and delicious!  I asked my friend Clarissa for the recipe and she graciously wrote it out for me:

I’ve made it many times since and it always makes me smile when I remember those long hot (incredibly fun!) days.

A few days ago I came across some really fun popsicle molds called Volcano Pops.  The centers of the popsicle can be filled with things and I just imagined the creamy mango pops filled with coconut, or ice cream or berries…..endless possibilities!  So I had to try them!  SO much fun!  Here’s the recipe:

INGREDIENTS:

  • 2 cups of cubed fresh mango (about 2 medium mangos)
  • 1 can of evaporated milk
  • 1/4 c. sugar (use more or less depending on how sweet your fruit is)

DIRECTIONS:

  • Combine all of above ingredients in a blender (I used an Oster Smoothie Maker– I got it for Christmas and I LOVE it– it makes smoothies right into a cute to-go cup.  These ingredients fit perfectly into the cup and made my clean up really easy!)
  • Blend until smooth.
  • Pour into  popsicle molds (or into sandwich bags– then just knot the top) and freeze overnight.
  • Remove popsicles from mold (and fill if you used Volcano Pops) or clip a corner off the bag and ENJOY!

My thoughts:  Only one— the mango pop filled with vanilla bean ice cream?  Oh.  My. Word. 🙂

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Black Raspberry Cream Cupcakes

Posted on April 6, 2012 by Ruthanne


These chocolate cupcakes have a creamy black raspberry filling and are topped with the BEST buttercream frosting I’ve ever tried.  Ever.

When my recipes get pinned on Pinterest and I want to be entertained, I go and read the comments on them.  My favorite are the ones about how incredibly unhealthy my recipes are.  One person figured out how many carbs there were in my Salted Caramel Cookie Cups and was APPALLED.  (If you aren’t counting carbs I really think you’ll like them though!)  We are not dedicated to healthy dining here….not even pretending.

My other favorite comments are from the people who are horrified that I use cake mixes instead of baking things from scratch.  I love cake mixes- LOVE them (EASY baked- right?!?).  We recently had a local bakery that went on Cupcake Wars and (of course!) we had to try some of their cupcakes.  They made a chocolate blackberry cupcake that was beautiful- but dry….all I could think was– this would have been SO much better if it had been a cake mix–and then I had an idea……

A few weeks ago I made a gender reveal cupcake using Betty Crockers new “Fun da-middle” cupcake mix and I wondered if a dab of black raspberry jam in the middle would work (and not leak out).  I decided to experiment and I loved the results.

Frosting…..I also had a recent comment here from someone who “loathes” American buttercream frosting. I’ve never “loathed” ANY frosting, but I wondered about a good buttercream recipe for these cupcakes.  I called my friend Megan over at Happily Ever After Cakes since she sells cupcakes for special events and she gave me her favorite recipe.  She got it from a friend in England and had to convert the measurements.  It is the BEST frosting I have ever had- incredibly smooth and creamy.

Ready to make these?  Here we go:

INGREDIENTS:

DIRECTIONS:

    • Make cupcakes according to package.
    • Distribute white cream filling according to package
    • Place 1/3c. black raspberry jam in a zip top bag.  Clip a corner and pipe about 1 t. over cream filling in each cup.
    • Finish distributing batter over the top, according to package.
    • Bake according to package.
    • Cool completely.
    • Place both sticks of (room temp!!!) butter in a mixing bowl with the powdered sugar, and flavoring.
    • Beat on high until creamy, smooth and thick.
    • Add coloring until desired frosting shade is reached.
    • Clip the corner of a zip top bag and insert a piping tip (or use a piping bag if you want).  Fill bag with frosting and pipe over cupcakes (Megan recommended this video on You Tube for piping techniques).
    • Place a washed and DRY Blackberry on the top of each cupcake and sprinkle with edible glitter. (The glitter didn’t show up well in my pictures but it adds SO much to the finished product– I loved it!)
    • Store in a cool dry place- mine were just as good three days after I made them as they were on day one!   ENJOY!!!

My thoughts:  Every once in awhile I hit a recipe that I like more than any of the others.  This is one of those recipes.  It is easy (but looks complicated) and MOST importantly, it is soooo yummy.  I’m not kidding you about the frosting.  It is AMAZING.  Many thanks to Megan and Happily Ever After Cakes for sharing the recipe with me!!!!   Enjoy!  r-

Ok– I’m adding a note to this post because I just tried the yellow/white filling Fun-da-Middle mix with Raspberry jam, and the yellow/chocolate filling mix too.  I made them for a birthday party and just couldn’t resist adding a couple of pictures here for you– this is my new go-to cupcake recipe, I just love them!

Red Raspberry Cream Cupcake

Happy Birthday Megan!!!!!

(I love this Wilton’s cupcake display — it holds 23 cupcakes, which is perfect for 2 dozen– it leaves one cupcake without a place so you don’t feel guilty eating it up (which is exactly what I just did!)

A note on the new advertising:  I was invited to try WordPress’ new ad program- WordAds this week.  I signed up with reservations as I am more committed to getting recipes into your hands without annoying pop-ups and distracting ads (honestly, I leave sites that have too much of this).  I am trying it for a few months though (baking ingredients are expensive!).  If you are distracted by it or find anything about it offensive (we don’t get to choose the ads)- please let me know.  I’m hoping this works out well for all of us- but if it doesn’t I will opt out.  Thanks!! -r

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Creamy Coconut Cheesecake

Posted on March 30, 2012 by Ruthanne

Chewy layers of coconut covered in dark chocolate cheesecake make this dessert irresistible!

A few months ago I made coconut macaroons– yum. I love coconut. I kept thinking that the macaroons would be good with chocolate. I used Nestle’s new Dark Chocolate Morsels in a Triple chocolate cheesecake a few weeks ago and decided then and there that the dark chocolate cheesecake would be perfect with the coconut macaroons. I didn’t get too creative with this recipe- I just used the coconut macaroon recipe and spread it in the bottom and used the dark chocolate cheesecake recipe over the top—-fingers crossed and YUM! It worked wonderfully!

This recipe is not hard, but it is going to take you some time, so you will want to make it ahead.

INGREDIENTS:

  • Oreos (2 to 2 1/2 cups, finely crushed)
  • 1/4 c. butter (melted)
  • 2 egg whites (beaten until soft peaks form)
  • one (14oz.) bag of sweetened shredded coconut
  • one can of sweetened condensed milk
  • 2 (8oz.) packages of Philadelphia Cream Cheese (softened)
  • 1/2c. sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 c. Nestle Dark Chocolate Morsels (melted)
  • 1 c. whipping cream
  • 3 t. vanilla

DIRECTIONS:

  • Finely crush Oreos and mix with melted butter. Press into bottom of a 9-Inch Round Springform Pan.
  • In a medium bowl combine egg whites, coconut and sweetened condensed milk. Press this macaroon mixture gently over the top of the crust (if you are too vigorous in spreading this it will pull up your Oreo crust).
  • In a large bowl, cream together cream cheese and sugar.
  • Add eggs one at a time, beating with mixer between each egg.
  • Add remaining ingredients and beat until smooth.
  • Pour over coconut layer.
  • Set springform pan on a cookie sheet and allow batter to settle at room temperature for 30 minutes (this will help prevent cracks). Preheat your oven to 325 degrees at this time.
  • Bake cheesecake at 325 degrees for 1 hour. At one hour, turn oven off, crack open the oven door and allow cheesecake to sit in oven for another 30 minutes.
  • Remove cheesecake from oven and cool at room temp for 30 minutes.
  • Carefully run a sharp knife around the edge of the springform pan to loosen the edges (I found that this cheesecake tended to stick on the edges just a little because of all that gooey coconut- you might want to try a little parchment paper on the sides and bottom to make it easier.)
  • Remove edges of pan and allow cheesecake to set until it is room temperature.
  • Refrigerate overnight before serving.
  • Serve with some whipped cream or sprinkle with coconut….yum!

My thoughts: They have a cheesecake at The Cheesecake Factory called Coconut Cream Pie Cheesecake and I LOVE it. Originally I thought I would try to copy it exactly, but the chocolate cheesecake is SO much better than vanilla. I didn’t top this cheesecake with any fancy chocolate or drizzles because it is already SO rich…but you certainly could top this with a ganache- or even a caramel sauce. (Especially if your top cracks a bit and you want to hide that). All of my other cheesecake recipes have toppings on them if you need some topping inspiration 🙂 Enjoy! -r

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Celebration!!!!

Posted on March 27, 2012 by Ruthanne

One year ago today easybaked was born.   I don’t have a recipe to share with you today, but I wanted to sum up the year and thank those of you who have encouraged me and taught me SO much about blogging.

One year ago, I decided to try this and I was LOST- what is a widget?  What is HTML?  Why would I want to link something? How do I add a picture?  I had a few recipes and pictures ready, so I chose a header from these and this is how it looked:

My 1st post was for my chocolate chip cookies- a recipe I was anxious to get online so I could stop fielding requests for it!  I honestly thought that the only people that would read this blog would be friends and family.  I figured it would be a perfect place to keep a recipe book of sorts that I could send friends to when they asked for a recipe.

My mentor at the beginning was a friend from the Real Women of Philadelphia site (kind of like a facebook for people who love food and cream cheese).  Her name is Rebecka Evans (and if you click on her name it will take you to her blog).  She taught me the basics (like what is the difference between blogger and wordpress?)  She, along with a whole group of bloggers from RWOP introduced me to “link parties”.  I linked up many of my 1st recipes and met some of my 1st friends in the blogging world.

One day, I came across a link in the sidebar of a friends blog that said “Foodgawker” and when I clicked on it I was taken to the most amazing site filled with beautiful food photography.  I decided to submit my best photos and was soundly rejected for a variety of reasons (lighting, composition, exposure etc….) I was really ticked off that my photography was not good enough for this site, so I set out to get at least one photo accepted on Foodgawker.  I’m a very competitive person and I had over 60 rejections before I finally had one picture accepted:

Nutter Butter Flip Flop cookies.  I was visiting friends and used their camera to take this picture.  I realized a couple of things….I needed a better camera and I needed to read up on light and exposure.

I borrowed a great camera from my sister-in-law and started reading books and asking questions.  My friend Brie is a photographer so she answered lots of things for me.  I took almost every picture that followed this one outside.  It was summer and I would obsess about getting that perfect light– the sunny yet hazy feel that would provide enough light without giving a glare.  My neighbors were entertained by my running around the backyard with cupcakes and a camera trying to find that perfect light. (They already thought I was crazy…this just confirmed it).  My photos were about 30% right—and about 70% waaaay wrong with this method.

I realized that I needed to figure out a way to standardize my lighting.  My dad (bless him!) got me some halogen lamps from Big Lots (you know – the kind you use in the garage) and I made a DIY light box with a huge cardboard box and vellum paper.  My 1st photos in the light box were of my grandmas gingerbread cookies.  She had just passed away and making the cookies was my way of remembering her.  The box and lights worked beautifully, and the rest is history.

I’ve still so much to learn about photography.  I’ve had 100 photos rejected and 29 accepted on Foodgawker….not a very good percentage, but it makes me smile because I’ve come so far.

Along the way I began training in graphic design and my friend and mentor Sarah helped me design a new header and logo and the old (embarrassingly fuzzy and underexposed cookies) header was history!

Another friend and mentor came along in October.  Her name is Kit Bennett and she has a site called Kids Parties 123.  She is also the editor in charge of the parents site on the Webkinz website, and she asked if I would contribute recipes periodically for that site.  In return she has answered SO many questions for me about the blogging world and given me so many pointers about getting my recipes out there on the search engines for people to find.

Many thanks to each of you who have encouraged  and taught me along the way this year.  I am just astonished by how many of you are following this little blog and how many of you visit each day.  When I get messages from you about how much you loved a recipe or how it made your birthday/ anniversary/ party so much happier- well, it just makes my whole day.  That’s why I continue to share recipes here.

So a few stats.

My 1st month had 126 visits.  This month I’ve had 117, 500 so far.

We have 691 of you following  (what?!?- I don’t even know 691 people!)

My busiest day was Feb. 23 when I had 23, 879 views.  That was CRAZY.  I had friends over and we just sat around my stats page hitting refresh to see how many hundreds I’d get in a minute.  I know that sounds really lame to those of you with huge blogs– but for us it was AMAZING.  I felt like I’d better go back and proofread all of my recipes so I wouldn’t have 23,000 people mad at me for a typo. lol!

My most viewed recipe:  Strawberry Lemonade layer cake— 103,754 views (insane!)

My favorite recipe posted this year (people always ask me what my favorite is—hard question!)  I have to go with Raspberry Truffle Tart.  Its so rich and creamy…and I love raspberry with chocolate.

So, with all of that said, many thanks to each of you who are following this blog and adding these recipes to your lives.  Thank you for your comments and kind words of encouragement.  Here’s to another year of creating recipes together (and then taking a picture of what we’ve created)!!!!

Enjoy!  -r

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Easy Lemon Cut-out Cookies

Posted on March 25, 2012 by Ruthanne

These brightly colored Easter cookies have a hint of lemon and a creamy sweet filling.  This cut-out recipe is REALLY easy to roll out and I used Linzer cookie cutters to make them into fun sandwich cookies.

Cookies:

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 c. margarine
  • 1 c. sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 t. vanilla
  • 1 t. lemon juice
  • 2 T. whipping cream
  • 3 c. flour
  • 1/2 t. salt
  • 1/2 t. baking powder

DIRECTIONS:

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • Cream together margarine and sugar.
  • Add egg, vanilla and whipping cream and mix.
  • Add lemon juice and mix until completely combined.
  • Add dry ingredients and mix well.
  • To color the dough:  I divided the dough into 3 smaller bowls and colored it using Wilton Icing Colors.  I love this food coloring…it says its for icing but I use it in everything– it makes things SO bright and doesn’t change the consistency of what you add it to.
  • Use a little additional flour to make your dough a good rolling consistency.  Using a flour-coated rolling pin, roll the dough out on a flour-coated surface.
  • Cut your cookies using any cookie cutters you like.  I used Springtime Shapes Linzer Cookie Cutters and I just LOVE the way they turned out.  Just cut solid cookies for the backs and for the tops use the tiny shapes to cut bunnies and chicks and flowers from the center of each cookie.  It IS a little fussy, but worth it in the end!
  • However you choose to cut them, place the cookies on parchment paper- covered cookies sheets and bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes (check for a slightly browned edge).
  • Cool and frost.

Frosting:

INGREDIENTS:

DIRECTIONS:

  • Cream together the powdered sugar and Crisco.
  • Add the milk and blend until a smooth spreadable consistency.  Divide frosting and color in as many colors as you want.
  • Frost and enjoy!

My thoughts:  I love these Linzer cookie cutters.  I got them last fall when I made cookies for both Halloween and Christmas and I’ve been waiting for spring to arrive so I could try this set out– they are just so much fun.

I really think you will like this dough– it rolls out beautifully even with no refrigeration ahead.  If you want an easier cookie, just use traditional cookie cutters and have fun with all the bright colors!   Enjoy!  r-

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