February, 2012

  1. The Academy Awards Oscar Cookies

    February 26, 2012 by Mike

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    The Academy Awards were on tonight.  Did you watch?  I love the Oscars, but I have to admit I only saw one of the films nominated for Best Picture. (2011 was a busy year for me.) Anyways, The Help was a great movie and I thought Octavia Spencer deserved her win.  In honor of tonight’s awards show I made Oscar trophy cookies.

    I was a little nervous the design of this cookie might look like gold camouflage.  Being an all gold statue, there wouldn’t be a lot of contrasting colors when drawing it out on a cookie.  I opted to do a shaded version of the trophy showcasing lowlights and highlights.  I think if you squint your eyes you can see the bald man proudly holding his sword.  Overall, I think the cookies came out pretty good.

    Here’s a summary of tonight’s award results.  Congrats to all the winners!

    Category: Cookies, Movie Themed
    Tags: , ,
    5 Comments

  2. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Heart Cookies

    February 13, 2012 by Mike

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    Remember back in elementary school, for St. Valentine’s Day everyone would give cartoon-themed cards to their classmates? I had fond memories of making our own paper mailboxes and filling little envelopes with little valentine cards for everyone in the class.  (Do kids still do this in school?) Here’s an example of what I’m referring to:

    With Valentine’s Day coming up, I wanted to do a throw-back to valentines from my childhood days.  I made heart-shaped Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle cookies.

    I think any kid growing up in the late 80′s could relate to these heroes in a half shell.  Their red, blue, orange, and purple masks were so iconic, yet so simple.  I figured the mask would work out great on a the chocolate heart cookies I made a few days ago. Cowabunga!

    Category: Cookies, Holidays, TV Themed
    Tags: , , , , , , ,
    23 Comments

  3. Chocolate Roll-Out Cookie Recipe

    February 10, 2012 by Mike

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    I’ve been scouring the Internet for a chocolate version of a sugar cookie and I think I can call off the search. I found an AMAZING recipe from Lila Loa. The dough bakes beautifully and tastes great! Best of all, the cookies hold their shape with barely any spreading.

    Ingredients

    • 1 c. butter
    • 1/4 c. shortening
    • 1 1/2 c. granulated sugar
    • 2 eggs
    • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
    • 3/4 tsp. baking powder
    • 2/3 c. cocoa podwer
    • 3 c. all-purpose flour

    Instructions

    1. In a mixer, cream together butter, shortening and sugar. Add eggs, vanilla, and baking powder. Mix until it is all well incorporated.
    2. Add the cocoa powder in small amounts at a time, to the butter/sugar mixture until fully incorporated.
    3. Add the flour one cupful at a time, to the mixture.
    4. Chill the dough for at least 30 minutes.
    5. Roll to 1/4 inch thickness and chill again before cutting into shapes.
    6. Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes.

    Makes about 2 1/2 dozen cookies.

    I know some people out there are shortening-phobic. The recipe says you can leave it out if you want. However, I left it in and the cookies were softer and spongier than my basic sugar cookies. I’ve dropped some of these cookies (on the counter, not on the floor) while handling them and they held together nicely. (these cookies sure can take a beating!) I like to believe the shortening had something to do with softening the blow.

    This dough was great to work with. The consistency was smooth, which made cutting out shapes really easy.

    The cookies really hold their shape when baking. They remained nice and flat and had a great texture to them once they cooled off. This recipe will definitely be my go-to recipe when I want a darker background for my designs. You can tell from the pics that I’m gearing up for a Valentine’s themed batch. I’ll post the finished cookie in the next few days.

    Category: Recipes, Roll-out Dough
    Tags:
    7 Comments

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