Snowflake Sugar Cookies

     This was a fun one.  I wanted to make cookies, but I didn't have an occasion, so I searched around my cookie [cutter] jar (a gift from my sister!), and I found a great snowflake-shaped cookie cutter than I have had yet to try!  I whipped up sugar cookie dough like a pro... found a great recipe online http://allrecipes.com/recipe/the-best-rolled-sugar-cookies/.  I rolled out the dough, and as soon as I started to use the cookie cutter, I realized right away that I would have a new challenge.

     The snowflake was so intricate that it would be hard to get the cut dough from the wax paper onto the tray!  After cutting 5 snowflakes, I carefully picked up the entire piece of wax paper and flipped it as fast as I could onto the tray.  Then I realized that there was no way I could maneuver it so that all the cookies would wind up sitting perfectly.  I decided to do 2 snowflakes at a time (having to re-roll pieces of the dough for each 2 cookies). This took a while, but it was worth it.  All of my snowflakes were intact!  I cooked each tray for 5 1/2 minutes (30 seconds less than the recommended 6-8 minutes).  


     The next day, it was time to tackle my biggest challenge yet... whipping up a sugar cookie frosting that would be easy to decorate with.  I found the following recipe online:

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• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 2 teaspoons milk
• 2 teaspoons light corn syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• assorted food coloring
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•      This recipe got 4 1/2 out of 5 stars (with almost 2,000 reviews).  Seemed like a winner.  I bought the ingredients.. (An aside:  A lady at the supermarket stopped me to ask me what I was making with the Caro Light Corn Syrup.  She had apparently worked for the company and that was one of their "least popular" products.  How random).  Anyway, I bought the ingredients, blended them together by hand, and wound up with yet another clumpy mess.  I must have made it wrong, I thought.  I made 2 more servings- this time blending in my mixer.  Same problem.  I reread some of the reviews, looking for some guidance.  Most said the frosting was "perfect as is," but someone did say they had to play around with the amounts to get the right consistency.  And another person said they doubled the milk and corn syrup.  So I thought to myself, I can fix this!  I combined the servings to make 3, and I added dashes of milk and corn syrup until the consistency looked right.  At this point, it actually looked great!  I split the frosting into 2 bowls to make dark blue and a light blue frosting.  The consistency of this frosting actually came out perfect for decorating my snowflakes.  I wish I can remember exactly how much I put of everything!  That's a task for next time I suppose.
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•     As for the taste, the sugar cookie itself it quite delicious, and I'm not sure I want to change a thing.  For the frosting, the jury is still out on using almond extract.  I think next time I make that frosting, I will use vanilla extract and try to compare.  I need some more taste testers before I can make a final decision.        
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•     As for the decoration, I will let the picture speak for itself!
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Eleni's New York

I took a walk with my hubby and pup (Justin and Topanga) this weekend, and I came across an unexpected surprise.  We passed an adorable bakery called Eleni's New York.  I went inside (bought a coffee so I didn't like a weird stalker girl staring at everything), and fell in love.  The style, the pink and white colors, the hundreds of sugar cookies in the window... exactly the kind of bakery I would love to have.  

     Although they sell cookies, cupcakes, and coffees, the primary focus of the bakery is sugar cookies, decorated in a hundred different ways.  They had pre-made boxes with themes... (10 cookies that had to do with ballet, 20 cookies for a birthday etc.) packaged perfectly with a clear top and a ribbon.

Here is a picture I took of the store's main counter.

     After leaving the bakery and chatting with Justin, I came to a revelation, and a new direction for this blog.  For now, I'm going to focus on sugar cookies, and sugar cookies alone.  I'm going to perfect the recipe for taste (cookie and icing too), and perfect the style and technique for the decorating.  Once they are perfect, I'll start with variations.  From now on, even though I haven't yet tasted their cookies, Eleni's New York will be my inspiration.

   

Peanut Butter Follow Up

Here's the finished product of the peanut butter cookies.  Still a bit dry, but the chocolate frosting definitely helped the taste!  One of my friends even called them "addicting" :)

Peanut Butter Cookies

     Well.. I knew it wouldn't be long before I hit my first hurdle.  Tonight was the night.  I wanted to bake something new for my New Year's in Vermont this year.  After checking out my new Martha Stewart book Cookies (a Chanukah gift... people are starting to note my interest in baking!), I decided on a peanut butter cookie.  I mainly chose it because it has a smooth top, and I wanted to add some decoration on something other than a sugar cookie.  I was excited to try my new baking decorating tools (thanks to my lovely hubby, also a Chanukah gift!).  

If anyone knows an easier way to fix
this, please leave a comment!

     The trouble started when I pulled out the brown sugar.  Instead of being grainy and soft, it seemed to be all stuck together as a solid hard block.  I literally had to chop bits of the sugar off the block, until it filled up the 1/2 cup... It took me about 45 minutes and two knife selections.  Quite a tribulation, but it would be worth it, so I thought.
      The rest of the cookie baking went pretty smoothly... some peanut butter, peanuts, butter, flour, vanilla, and 1 egg later, my cookies were ready for the oven.  In they went.  No smoke alarms this time, but when they were ready I started to notice that the cookies were falling apart quite easily.  Maybe they were still too hot?  After waiting some time, they started staying together a little more, but after a quick taste test, could tell that these cookies were not how I pictured them to be.... they tasted a bit dry with the feeling there was something missing.  I checked the recipe list and noted that I had followed it pretty closely, with the exception of using imitation vanilla and not sifting the flour.  I'm going to guess the flour was my downfall.  Next baking item I need to pick up is a sifter.
       On the plus side, I picked up a tip during this baking quest to give the cookie a nice flat shape (read it in the book).  After you put a spoonful of batter on the baking tray, dip the bottom of a drinking glass (or the top of the no-stick baking spray in my case) in flour, and push down on the cookie to flatten.  I'll remember that one.

      I'm still deciding if it's worth it to decorate the cookie.  The icing may help the taste.  Stay tuned to find out...

Chanukah Swirl Cookies

     Ok here we go.  My first attempt at baking since I started this blog.  I wanted to make something special for my family's Chanukah party this year... especially since I know they are anxiously waiting to see what I will be bringing.  My idea was to make a cookie with two different colors using a swirl pattern I had seen in my trusty baking book (which I'll talk about during a later post).  Then, I'd melt chocolate into these silicone dreidel molds I found at Duane Reade, and press them into the middle of the cookie.
     The idea was great... the follow through, of course, did not go as planned.  I molded the chocolates and whipped up a sugar cookie dough from scratch.  I was on a roll.  I split the dough into two equal pieces, and used food coloring to make one blue and one yellow. When the dough was ready, I placed one on top of another (well really, I dropped one unevenly on another and had to carefully reshape the whole thing... but I worked it out)  Then I turned the dough into a tight pinwheel.
After freezing for about an hour, I cut thin slices, and put my first batch in the oven (The smoke alarm went off, but the cookies were not burned at all). The dreidels were huge, and covered the beautiful shape of the swirl.  Plus they melted from being on the warm cookie.  This was clearly not the way to go.  I nixed the dreidels.  I will be presenting them alone at the party.  The second batch was ready for the oven.  The smoke alarm again??  But my cookies were not burning... I figured there must be something else burning in the oven.    I decided to self clean the oven.  Had no idea how long it would take.  Three hours??  Two hours and fifteen minutes later, I had enough waiting.   My neighbor let me use her oven, which, she said, never has a problem.  Two batches and one smoke alarm later, I realized it was not my oven.  It was the wax paper I was using on the cookie tray.  These cookies came out quite burned and will not be presented with the others.  Now my husband and I have a snack this week.   My oven was finally ready, and I couldn't wait to get back to work.  I used non-stick spray on the pan this time.  Not one smoke alarm.  And I finished the cookies with ease.

         I have to say, I still think that my work looked a lot more impressive before it was cooked.  After cooking, you can barely tell the yellow part was colored, and although the swirl came out very even, it didn't look as professional as I would have hoped.  But for my first attempt at a swirled cookie, I'd say it was not half bad.  I hope it's a hit at the party!

Welcome to my blog!

Born and raised in New York City, I love living with my husband (we're newlyweds!) and 6 lb yorkie on the Upper East Side.  I work as speech language pathologist at a school for children with autism.  While I'm passionate about my job, I find nothing makes me happier than to come home and bake for my new husband, friends, and family (and for myself too of course!).  One of my dreams has always been to work at a bakery, making those gorgeous cake and cookie creations that I see on TV... but the truth is, I love working with those kids too much to give it all up.  So that's why Betty Crocker boxes and pre-made pie crusts have been a common theme in my baking abilities up until now.  But that's all over.  I'm ready to learn some skills which could take me to the next level.... I'll probably never work in a bakery, but maybe I can learn enough to trick people into thinking I do!  How I'm going to do that.. I'm not yet sure.  And by the way... I couldn't be more clumsy, but I'm also one of the most creative people I know.   I figure that's a pretty good basis for some hilarious blog posts as I document my experience.