Archive for Cookie Time
Baking For Good!
I recently came across this amazing website worth sharing. It’s an online bakery called Baking For Good. Here’s what makes this online bakery so unique… 15% of all proceeds made from each order go to charity, AND you can choose which charitable organization (from a HUGE list on their website) that you would like to support. What an awesome concept!
As for baked goods, you have lots to choose from. Iced cookies, drop cookies, brownies, bars, allergy free treats and even event favors. There’s gift boxes, corporate gifts and gift cards as well. Click here to look at the extensive treat list!
I had the opportunity to speak with the CEO of the Company, Emily Dubner a couple weeks back. Turns out she and I had a surprisingly similar background! We both grew up in Massachusetts baking treats for our classmates all through elementary school. Both went to college in Cambridge, MA and graduate the same year. And, we both have a HUGE passion for baking and doing good deeds! I hope at some point to get involved with the company, just because I so believe in the cause and the efforts Emily has put forward. We’ll have to wait and see if this could be a possibility!
So check out the bakery, tell your friends and place an order!
Happy Baking!
-Kristy
35 Cookies
I’ve been doing lots of cookie party favors lately, and wanted to share one with you. My fab sister decided to throw her hubby a surprise 35th birthday party. Her parties are pretty awesome too– she pays attention to every little detail… for example- this party’s theme was black and white– so not only should you have dressed in black and white cocktail attire- but all the invitations, decor, food and beverages were black and white: A black and white striped birthday cake, Samual Adams Black Lagar and White Ale were served along with a Black Martini made with Black Blavod Vodka and a White Dirty Martini– ahh I wish I could have been there!
As my contribution to the party since I could not travel cross country to Boston for it, I made sugar cookies with 35 written in black sugar- they were uber cute- a bit time consuming, but totally worth it. I seriously love making custom cookies and think they are an awesome personal touch to any party or celebration. These were served alongside the other desserts, but also could have been fab as party favors too.
After doing these cookies I got to brain storming a bit- which seems to be a constant state of mind for me at the moment as I am forever trying to figure out my life–I love parties and I love cookies… so why not develop a portfolio and a new page on my website specializing in cookie favors and party treats… hmm… I think its a fab idea! It’ll take me some time to develop- but I think its a good start in a good direction.
Happy Baking and Cookie Decorating!
-Kristy
LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG Over Due!
Hello there!
This blog post is LOOOOOONNNGGG Overdue! My sincere apologies readers. I have no good excuse what so ever, but I am back… SO.. please forgive my absence, and I promise to never to do it again unless I am on my dream month long honeymoon in Fiji (which would also mean I have to get engaged first… and as much as I love my BF- marriage for us is quite a few years down the road!) Anyways, didn’t take me long to start babbling…. But I have SOOO Much to fill you in on!
First of all, I got some awesome cookie orders during the holiday season. I lost track around the 300 cookie mark and made every cookie you could imagine. Chocolate chip, mint chip, peanut butter, jelly button, M&M and sugar just to name a few… my kitchen permanently smelled of cookies. I was actually approached by a neighbor of mine who informed me the smell wafted into her apartment— luckily she didn’t mind so much! I also developed a new frosted cookie to my repituar (thanks to a little help from my lady Martha Stewart and her awesome December issue of Martha Stewart living) and I will have a post about it later this week!
I can’t wait to share my Christmas Dinner with you too! I made my first prime rib roast… and she was such a beauty! And of course was super tasty! I had a bit of a misshap… there was lots of smoke involved… but with lots of fans I was able to save the day!
Lastly, I have lots of Will Bake for Tuition news to share… a few changes and some re-crafting needed to be done, but it seems like a solid plan has been made. I really look forward that update too!
It is so nice to be back to blogging! Check back for exciting updates! and Thanks so much for your support!
Happy Baking!
-Kristy
Another Week Gone… But I Went Shopping!
Yes, it has been yet another week since I have submitted a post and I hope everybody had a lovely Thanksgiving. I am happy to report I am fully recovered from my sushi-sickness, but was burnt out from working 6 days in a row. Today was my first day off and I was completely lazy until I traded my PJ’s for jeans around 2pm. It was utterly delightful! I watched trashy TV, drank too much coffee and had cake for breakfast. Yippee!
Anyways, I have lots to update you on. I baked for almost 6 hours straight last Wednesday Night and will share each of my treats I baked with you over the next few days. But today, I wanted to share with you what I rewarded myself with for having such long work week. I had a $50 gift card to World Market that had been sitting on my night stand for months and today was the perfect day to use it!
Initially my boyfriend and I had discussed using the gift card to go toward a new furniture purchase for our living… but today I thought otherwise. I quickly passed the furniture section not seeing anything all that appealing and headed straight for the kitchen section! To the typical person, these purchases aren’t all that exciting… but they made me very happy!
It all began with a new cookie sheet! Seeing that I bake so many cookies, probably thousands a year, a shiny new cookie sheet is a very exciting thing! The next purchase was a flour sifter. Again, nothing uber thrilling… but I will now have fluffier cakes and smoother frosting! Awesome! On to the cookie cutters… I was hoping to stock up on some awesome holiday cookies cutters, but World Market hadn’t got them in yet, so I got a circle… simple yet versatile! My last purchase in the kitchenware section was an awesome microplane. It’s got a zester, a scoring blade and garnish cutter all in one! I can’t wait to use it!
I meandered from the kitchen center to the expansive wine section of the store (one of the many reasons why I LOVE this store!) I stumbled upon a bottle of wine called “Layer Cake” and this was an instant must buy for me simply because of the name. For an inexpensive red wine, it was quite delightful. The write up on the back of the bottle equates it preparation and taste to eating a luscious layer cake and I surely agree! The flavor was rich yet smooth and yummy! My final purchase was a wine stopper and pourer… a neat little gadget that allows you to fully seal your wine- yet make it easy to pour when you are ready for another glass! A perfect kitchen gadget for this wine drinker!
Today was totally about pampering myself after a long week… with a little AM indulgence and laziness and some afternoon retail therapy, I think I am ready to face another week on the psych. unit! (Good thing its only a 4 day work week!)
Happy Baking and Indulging!
-Kristy
12 Days of Cookies!
How Exciting! Starting November 30, the Food Network will again begin it’s 12 Days of Cookies Email Newsletter Series! (Sign up by Clicking here!) Many of your Food Network Fav’s will share awesome cookie recipes, stories and of course fab. baking tips for the upcoming holiday season. Click here and you can check out a few holiday cookie videos and see cookie recipes from past years 12 Days of Cookies! I obviously LOVE testing out new cookie recipes, so I am totally looking forward to this! Hope you are too!
Happy Baking!
-Kristy
Jelly Button Cookie
Jelly Button Cookies are one of my favs. Actually, I think sometimes I prefer them over chocolate chip! They are so simple to make, adorable, and super tasty. The recipe I have for Jelly Button Cookies is one that has been in my family for years. My grandmother had the recipe, which I suspect she got from her mother, who was off-the-boat Italian. And, one thing I know about for sure about anyone that is Italian is that they have their desserts down to a science! So I assure you, this is a great recipe!
I decided to send some cookie packages out this week and opted to change things up a bit. Usually I send just chocolate chip cookies, because they are the most popular cookie that I make within friends and family, but I opted to include some Jelly Button Cookies just for variety. I made a Blueberry Jam Jelly Button Cookie. I tend to stick with raspberry or strawberry jam for the filling, but since I was recently sent some straight-from-Maine-homemade-blueberry-jam, it was a must try!
First of all, this jam is AMAZING! It had a wonderfully thick consistency, which is great for using in these cookies. The flavor was so boisterous and fresh tasting. Having grown up summering in Maine, you really begin to learn the distinction between freshly picked blueberries and shipped-in grocery store bought blueberries. And, there is no doubt in my mind that the blueberries used in this jam were super fresh. Click here to learn more about the Jam I used and order your own!
Second of all, the cookie are AMAZING! The batter for these cookies is not overwhelming sweet (it only has 1/2 cup of sugar) and I think made for a great combo with the naturally sweet and robust flavor of the blueberry jam. The simple flavors meshed so well together, that I think I am going to make the Blueberry Jam Jelly Button cookie as much of a regular as the raspberry or strawberry jelly button cookie. Yippee for new and wonderfully delicious discoveries! Here is the recipe for your enjoyment!
Jelly Button Cookies
- 1/2 lb. butter (2 sticks)
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/8 TSP salt
- 1/2 TSP vanilla
- 2 egg yolks, beaten
- 2 cups flour
- Your favorite jam
- Optional: Confectioners Sugar
Directions
- Cream butter and sugar. Add salt, vanilla and egg yolks. Add flour 1/2 cup at a time. Mix well until dough ball forms.
- Roll dough into 1 inch scant ball and place on cookie sheet. Press tip on index finger into center on the ball to create a small well and fill well with approximately 1/4 TSP of jam.
- Bake at 350F for 15 minutes. Sprinkle with confectioners if desired. Make 3-4 Dozen
I make my cookies a touch bigger (yes, I like ‘em big!) so I tend to get about 2 and 1/2 dozen and bake them a couple extra minutes (just be sure to keep a close eye on them!). I also find that the cookies are sweet enough as is, so I add the confectioners sugar infrequently. These cookies are also super fun to make with kid because their tiny little finger make the most perfect sized well in the cookie! Hope you find the cookies as enjoyable and tasty as I do!
Happy Baking!
-Kristy
Pie Recipe, Round Three!
Today’s Pie Recipe is for the Mini Ice Cream Sundae Pie. Out of all the pies I made for the Pillsbury Bake-Off Monthly Challenge, this one was, by far, the most adorable. Its this little dessert, that fits in the palm of your hand, made out of cookies, ice cream and chocolate… really whats more adorable than that! Like I’ve said before, I like my desserts to both look good and taste good… and this one meets both of those criteria easily!
Before I give you the recipe I submitted to Pillsbury, here are a couple tips and options for creating these mini pies. I used Chocolate Chip Cookie dough to create my crust, but you could really use any kind of cookie dough… sugar 
would probably be delish, so might a ginger or chocolate cookie doughs. I also opted to stick with vanilla ice cream for the filling, but again you can substitute any flavor you like. I kept my toppings minimal, adding just whipped cream and sprinkles, but of course there are many options! Lastly, I think this recipe is a simple and great way to bring ice cream to a party or event, or even a great way to always have dessert in the freezer and have it in moderation for the little ones in your life. Overall… its one recipe with many options and advantages!
Anyways, I babled long enough so here is the recipe! I would love to hear if any of you readers have any tips or suggestions or other creative ways to use this recipe!
Mini Ice Cream Sundae Pie
Ingredients:
- 1 pkg. Pillsbury Ready to Bake Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, 24ct.
- Vanilla Ice Cream
- Magic Shell Ice Cream Topping
- Whipped Cream
- Your Favorite Ice Cream Sundae Toppings
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 12-count cupcake tin with foil liners. Roll 2 ready-made dough cookies into one, and then press the dough ball into bottom and up sides of each cupcake cup using your fingers or spoon to create your mini piecrust. Repeat for all 12 cupcake cups. Bake for 10 minutes, remove pan from oven and use a spoon to reshape cookies into the crust form if the cookie has risen significantly during baking. Return pan to oven to bake for an additional 3 to 5 minutes. Remove shells from oven and let cool completely in the pan.
- 30 minutes prior to serving, remove ice cream from freezer to soften. 15 minutes prior to serving, add approximately 1 heaping tablespoon scoop of ice cream into each cookie piecrust. Be sure crust is full and ice cream is level with the top of the cookie piecrust. Add Magic Shell sauce to cover top of all 12 mini pies, and return to freezer for 10 minutes to allow sauce to harden.
- When ready to serve, remove the mini pies from the cupcake pan, top with whipped cream and your favorite Ice Cream Sundae Toppings. Enjoy!
Happy Baking!
-Kristy
Memories from Maine!
I grew up in New England and my family was lucky and fortunate enough to have a summer house on the coast of Maine (thanks to my wonderfully smart grandparents!). I’ve haven’t been able to visit our summer home in well over 3 years now, and I miss it terribly! There is something about how simple, relaxing and enjoyable summer life is this vacation town. Your biggest decisions of the day are which beaches to go to and where to go get your evening ice cream sundae. I love falling asleep to the sounds of the surf rather than the howell of cop sirens. I love the smell of the salty air and watching the sail boats drift along the water while I eat my breakfast on our back porch every morning. I love that the street our cottage is on has no street lights, and stars at night are overwhelmingly abundant. Believe me.. the list of my the many things I love about Maine could go on and on, but I’ll stop here for now! Oh Maine… we have been apart far too long!
Today I received a package from my parents full of wonderful little delights from the small but lovely town of York Beach, ME. There were T-Shirts, photos, post cards, fresh blueberry jam and the best part, was the Salt Water Taffy from The Goldenrod, called Kisses. The Goldenrod is a landmark of York Beach. Its a restaurant, ice cream parlor and candy shop all rolled into one (really, it couldn’t appeal to me more!). You can get a delicious sandwich with a freshly made Raspberry-Lime Ricky, followed by a traditional Banana Split and on your way out pick up a pound of Taffy. It been in the same place since 1896 and the salt water taffy is made the same way now as they did when it originated. You can watch the taffy being made from the sidewalk outside the restaurant and the sweet smell of the hot sugar wafts a few blocks down attracting lots of onlookers (Mmm… it smells soo sweet and delicious!). As a child, my brother, sister and I used to watch the process for hours, and try to guess which kind of taffy was being made. I was seriously always mesmerized by it!
As soon as I opened the package I dug right into the taffy! My parents sent me a mixed box, so I have lots of variety. I opted for a strawberry, followed but a peppermint. The taffy was light and airy, and sweet and delicious! Sometimes taffy is so sticky and chewy I feel as if it would pull my teeth right out, and I hate that. But this taffy is NEVER like that! Its perfectly chewy, without being ridiculously sticky! My favorite flavor growing up was the peanut butter, and I have decided to save those for last! The peanut butter taffy has a wonderfully rich and nutty flavor, and has a creamy peanut butter center. Okay, I might just have to have one peanut butter kiss to start… Mmmm… Pardon me while I take another bite!
It amazes me how the flavor and smell of a particular food can make me so nostalgic! Thank so much for listening… or I mean reading along with my little mental trip back to one of my favorite places in the world! I hope you enjoyed the ride!
Happy Baking and Taffy Tasting!
-KM
The Cookie That Made Me Famous!
Two of my good friends from grad. school, Jackie and John are getting married next month and Jackie’s bridal shower from all her grad. school buddies was just a couple weeks ago. Since the shower was in Florida, and I am here in LA, I was obviously unable to make it. (Bummer! She’s such a blast to party with!) But prior to the shower one of the organizers contacted me to see if I would bake and send cookies for the party. Of course I agreed and made the couple’s fav… the classic chocolate chip cookie! (Random fact… I once paid John with cookies to wash and detail my car! I will gladly pay anyone here in LA with cookies for the same favor! Any takers!?!? Please?!?!)
My Chocolate Chip Cookies are freaking amazing and are the only thing I will out right brag about my ability to bake. I have been making them for so long that I don’t have to measure a thing anymore, don’t have the recipe written down, yet every batch always comes out perfect! It the midst of baking the bridal shower batch, I realized I have yet to make any kind of post about the infamous chocolate chip cookies that made me famous and formed my online company. These cookies are what got me into baking. These cookies cause people to do rash things such tell me to drop out of college and just bake… as well as had random teachers promise me an A for bringing in cookies to class (clearly I’m not beneath bribery!) I even brought these cookies, along with milk, to my thesis defense in grad school hoping they would appease my committee and cause them to go easy on me! My committee told me they were pleased with my work… now was that for the cookies or for my year of research?!?! Who knows, but I’m hoping it was for both!
Just to share a random cookie story with you… For the holidays I tend bake tons and tons of cookies… all shapes, sizes and flavors and give them out as gifts for family and friends. For my boyfriends family, I make a HUGE platter of these cookies and bring over on Christmas Eve or for Dessert on Christmas Day. (His family legit, fights over these treats! Its hysterical!) Apparently a couple years back, my boyfriends sister-in-law was munching on a chocolate chip cookie from the platter and grew silent at the table. My boyfriend’s mother noted the change from her usual very outgoing and sweet nature and asked what was wrong. Christina then confessed she stays awake at night thinking about how I make the cookies… weather I use Crisco or butter… whether I add cinnamon or not… how many eggs go in the recipe, what temperature to bake them at, for how long, how many cups of chocolate chips?!?!?! It was apparently driving her nuts (Mmm… I love walnuts in cookies too!) as this cookie recipe is the only one I don’t share with other! She also admitted to dreaming about the cookies from time to time! Ha! Luckily my boyfriends mother and Christina were able to have a good laugh over the fact that Christina was losing sleep over a cookie and shared the funny story with me. And, I took it as a total compliment, although I made time to reassured Christina my cookies were nothing to lose sleep over!
As I mentioned above, I don’t share the recipe for this particular cookie. My feeling is that if everybody could make these cookies on their own, they would lose some of their appeal and excitement. There is something about a food or a treat that only comes around from time to time such as good apple crisp in the fall to my mother homemade fudge at Christmas. I think it makes people savor and enjoy the cookie or treat that much more. I also think it lends for a more memorable eating experience. I am totally a believer in the quality trumps quantity, so I of course will only serve the best of the best of my chocolate chip cookies and take pride in every cookie I bake! It really give me so much pleasure to bake for my friends and family, and I love how excited people get for something as simply as a cookie.
Now, the question does arise… will I ever pass this recipe on to anyone? And the answer is yes, eventually. My mother always told me how my grandmother was an amazing house hold chef and baker, but had very few of her recipe’s written down or kept in safe places. So now that my adorable Italian grandmother is no longer with us, neither are her amazing traditional Italian recipes. There’s no more Grandma’s homemade pasta, no more cheesy risotto or homemade Italian pastry. BUUMMMERRRR! So to prevent the loss of the recipe what I have decided to do this… I will write recipe down (at some point!), leave it my Will, mark it as top secret and once I am long gone my family members and close friends can enjoy the recipe. Yes, this might seem touch ridiculous (I’m okay with being a bit dramatic or ridiculous from time to time!) since I am only 25 and quite healthy if I do say so myself, but it feels appropriate! I know my special chocolate chip cookie recipe will always be in good hands! And, thus kept a special secret for a long long time! How do you plan to keep your secret recipe safe?!?!
Happy Baking!
-KM
Fun with Food Coloring!
Last week I somehow found the time to have a little bit of fun with food coloring. I have a special place in my heart for sugar cookies, and they offer the perfect cookie dough to color with food coloring. As my collection of high quality food coloring is still minimal yet growing, my colors choices were a bit limited… I opted for Magenta and Sky Blue (I freaking love the color pink… always have.. always will!) I added the Food coloring to the dough while I was still creaming the butter and sugar. This worked out pretty well as the color got mixed in consistently with the stand mixer.
My initial idea was to create two rolled out sheets of dough cut to the same size. Then, stack the two pieces of dough, roll them up together, and cut in slices to form my cookies. In theory and in my head, this process would create a jelly roll pattern on the cookie and of course would turn out perfectly… in reality it was a bit of a blunder. Ever though I had let the dough chill in the fridge, it either didn’t let it chill enough or it was still too hot in my kitchen. The dough got super soft super quick and was difficult to work with. When I cut the cookies, the colors smeared over each other, and you could no longer really see the neat jelly roll pattern I was hoping for. Bummer!
Despite the blunder, something super exciting did come out. Even though the cookies were odd shapes and the swirl was so not clear, when you took a bite, they had this awesome striped, almost zebra like pattern, that appeared on the inside! It was so neat! When I took my first bite and made the discovery, I was so freaking proud of myself! If only I had a fellow baker home with my to share my excitement, as my boyfriend did not share the same enthusiasm over my new discovery! I ended up by frosting these cookies with some butter cream frosting to mask the silly looking top and brought them into work. Of course, any 2pm offering of sugar goes over well, and a few of my co-workers were just as excited about the zibra stripes as I was!
This experiment will totally be tried again soon and hopefully I will perfect the swirled cookie!
Happy Baking and Coloring!
-KM
