Christmas Cookies - Part Two

I work at Starbucks currently. It is the job that I kind of fell into last August. I had worked there previously back in 2008 in between highschool and college, so it was a coming back to the old stomping ground kind of thing for me. Some of the regulars back in 2008 are still regulars now in 2012. It blows my mind how some people just have the same routine year in and year out. I think I am too antsy for that.

I digress.

So around Christmas I was making some cookies [like a boss obvs] and decided that I have been working at Starbucks for way too long. It was truly apparent that I have been working there far too long because I zoned out for a half hour, and this is what came to my vision after zoning back into reality. 

Yikes. All my gingerbread men were wearing Starbucks aprons and holding Starbucks' red Christmas cups. Two of them were even wearing bowties like my manager does. 

It seems kind of funny, but the gingerbread man above even had an injured foot* like my manager. What are the odds? 

The last kicker in all of this? One of the barista gingerbread ladies has an uncomfortable look on her face, very similar to how I look at work ALL THE TIME! This is truly a creepy coincidence. 

Thankfully after I snapped out of it and stopped icing cookies with Starbucks aprons, I was able to salvage some Christmas trees.

Maybe next year I will have gingerbread men who aren't trying to over-caffeinate the masses with concentrated espresso. Just maybe it will be a Christmas miracle.

And if you are looking for a kick-butt gingerbread recipe, look no farther than Martha Stewart's website. It was the second gingerbread recipe I used during Christmas, and they really turned out so tasty and wonderful. I recommend it highly.

*Chad's foot isn't actually injured, he just wears thrifted boots, which is practically a form of injury.

Christmas Cookies - Part One

What was supposed to be a relaxing day off in December quickly turned into a cookie fest. As it turns out, December is filled with parties and get togethers. It was requested that I turn out a bajillion cookies in order to appease the hungry holiday guests that amass at these various events. My mother is just too popular for her own good and has to be invited to every single event within a twenty mile radius of our home.

I made what was supposed to be sugar cookies. Interestingly enough, they ended up turning out like a mix between sugar cookies and shortbread cookies. They shaped well but crumbled just slightly after they had cooled. They were just delicious. 

Perfect Cut-Out Sugar Cookies

2 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup superfine sugar (just whipped 1 cup sugar in the food processor until it was blended and then measured out 3/4 cup)
1/4 teaspoon salt
16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2″ pieces & softened
2 tablespoons cream cheese, softened
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1) Whisk the flour, sugar, & salt together in a large bowl. Set aside.

2) Beat the butter into the flour mixture, one piece at a time using an electric mixer on medium-low speed, then continue to beat until the mixture looks crumbly and slightly wet, 1 to 2 minutes.

3) Beat in the cream cheese & vanilla until he dough just begins to form large clumps, about thirty seconds.

4) Knead the dough in the large bowl by hand a few times until it forms a large, cohesive mass. Turn the dough out onto a clean counter, divide it in half, and shape it into a two four inch disks. Wrap the disks tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate until they begin to firm up, 20 to 30 minutes.

5) Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 375. Work with one disk at a time, roll out the dough to a 1/8″ thickness (or however thick you prefer your cookies) between two sheets of parchment paper. Slide the rolled dough and parchment onto a baking sheet & refrigerate again until firm.

6) Working with one sheet of dough at a time cut out shapes using cookie cutters and lay on two parchment-lined baking sheets, spaced about 1″ apart. Bake the cookies until light golden brown, about ten minutes, rotating the baking sheet halfway through baking.

7) Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for two minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely, about thirty minutes. When cooled, the cookies can be decorated as desired.

Sugar Cookie Frosting

4 cups confectioners sugar
1/2 cup shortening
5 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Food coloring

In a large bowl, cream together confectioners sugar and shortening until smooth. Gradually mix in milk and vanilla with an electric mixer until smooth and stiff, about five minutes. Color with food coloring if desired.

The frosting worked quite well for decorating and such. It held its shape well, and it was very smooth. My only qualm with it was that it tasted like shortening to me. If I were to do anything different next time, it would be to either add more vanilla extract, or find a frosting recipe that didn't involve shortening. It just seems to affect the over all taste.

Taste of Childhood

I did it. I did what every person should do at least once in their lives. You know, just to say that they did.

I made Moon Pies.

Are you impressed? Or confused. Probably confused. 

Moon Pies are more of a southern thing. I know that I technically live in the south, but come on now, Maryland is really part of the central Pacific states. I think I may have just made up that term. 

Growing up I remember my mother loving moon pies. Whenever we could get a special treat at the store, she would pick one of those. Honestly, that habit was a bit curious seeing as she is from California.

I've been on pinterest for a while, and it has sucked a lot of time away from me. One thing it has done, however, is lend itself to giving me new recipe ideas. Moon Pies popped up on my adventuring one day, and I knew that I must make them.

I found the recipe at this lovely little blog. And the recipe proved to be delicious.

I did not in face document the entire moon making extravaganza, I just captured the end result. And badly. Meaning the pictures I took were mediocre.

It was a pretty involved process. But it was worth it to eat a moon pie with homemade graham crackers and marshmallow.

Since they are my mother's favorite treat, they were gone in a few days. I recommend them for school snacks, or a really special treat. But why can't that be one in the same?

Strawberry Goodness

Can you believe that it is almost Christmastime? Can you believe that Maryland suffered an earthquake [okay, so that was back in September]? Can you believe that the seasons change so quickly? You blink once and fall is practically over. I am a bit ashamed at my lack of blogging-ness as of the past few months. I've been focusing on other things I suppose. Time has passed quickly, however. 

I just want to show off some delicious-ness that I baked up for my sister's birthday in September. She turned 14. She is generally quite awesome. Quite the little artist. And by little artist I mean that she kicks artistic butt. She is incredibly talented at what she does, and I can only imagine that she will grow in leaps and bounds in the next few years as she develops her talent. Well done, sister.

So, the few days before her birthday I was brainstorming cakes. I almost always make chocolate cakes. It is like I am incapable of baking anything else. Legitimately. It's sad. It's just that when I think of dessert I always think of chocolate. That's what I would like to eat when I am indulging [or on a regular basis really]. So I thought to myself, "what can I whip up that isn't chocolate for once?" The answer? Well, I wanted to do something simple. So I opted for a cake layered with strawberries. But that's not all. I then thought that I should incorporate red velvet cake in there somewhere. And probably white cake. So why not both? Throw some cream cheese frosting in there and we are good to go.

The cake ended up being a monster of a thing. But isn't that the way most of my baking escapades end up? [If you don't know the answer to that question, it is an undeniable yes]

Did I say I was pleased with the results? Cause I was. The white cake recipe I found was especially wonderful. It was so fluffy and perfect. I never knew that whipping meringue into a cake works wonders for the consistency! Joy and joyness abounded in my heart at one am in the morning.

The final result included frosting the outside of the cake with a thin layer of cream cheese frosting. I'd like to claim that I did that on purpose, but the real reason was that I ran out of frosting and was too lazy to make more. So it got the "rustic look." And lots of sprinkles.

I found fantastically long candles at Michaels which claimed to be those re-lighting sparkler candles. They didn't re-light so well. Also, my sister tried to blow them out with her nose. Disgusted yet? They were pretty though. I like using them despite their inability to cause surprise. I think they look distinguished on huge cakes.

I told Jannie to look nice for the picture. This is what I got:

Then I told her to look excited for the cake. This is what I got:

Obviously other members of the family were more enthused about the cake. Clearly.

I do have to show case the intense inside of the cake in order that you understand how tasty this thing was despite the lack of chocolate.

 Also, I have a weird habit where I get my picture with almost all the cakes I have baked. I say almost because now someone is going to fact check that statement and discover that I have not in fact gotten a picture with all of them. So to cover my rear end I inserted the word almost. Works like a charm every time.

And in case you forgot what the Bigelow girls look like, here's a picture. I am the midget of the family, and I embrace that fact. And fact checkers, you can check that fact because I am 99.9% sure that it is true. Unless we are counting dogs, then not so much and I retract my former statement.

Baby Eliot

My dear friend Abi had a baby back in March [I think]. He is just the cutest, sweetest thing ever. Very good natured and happy. I got to visit him [and her] in June. The visit was too quick. Time seems to just seep out of my hands. I have no control in elongating it or making days go by quicker.

Eliot James Noble.

I think I've said this before, but Eliot's name exudes a famous life. He will be some poet laureate or the next great American novelist. His name says that to me.

I miss Massachusetts. I've been trying to find a time to go visit soon, and I think the soonest I can go is the beginning of November. I requested the time off from work today, so hopefully I will be able to venture up there to see friends.

Tye Dyed CupCakes

Baking is a hobby of mine. I love it. Someday I hope to own my very own bright yellow Kitchen Aid Mixer. I'm hardcore like that. And legitimate. 

So wanted to make funfetti cupcakes as requested by older [and quite needy] sister. She loves white cake. And she especially loves it with sprinkles throughout. 

I think I got a little too sprinkle crazy, however, as my cupcakes turned out essentially tye dyed. Waaawaaaa. They didn't just have a few different colors throughout, they were almost completely a different color.

They were pretty though. Like a picture. Like a picture of a cupcake taken by someone who was really bored and had nothing else to take pictures of.

Now I'm hungry. Fantastic. Celery just doesn't cut it.