Vanilla Bean Buttercream

I have been looking for a vanilla frosting recipe for cupcakes that would make a pretty swirl. I recently made some strawberry cupcakes with a strawberry buttercream frosting. No matter how much powdered sugar I added to the frosting it was just too liquid-y. Don't get me wrong, it was delicious, but it melted right off the cupcakes. I only frosted a few of the cakes before I stopped and set out to find a stiffer buttercream. I went back to The Cupcake Project and tried out her 'favorite vanilla buttercream.' It is now MY favorite vanilla buttercream.

The only adaptation I made is to use the scraped seeds from two vanilla pods instead of the 2 tsp. of vanilla bean paste. (only because that's what I had on hand)

It was fantastic on the strawberry cupcakes. I've also used it on homemade oreos (will blog soon, I have to make them again because I didn't get pictures the first time), Sugar Cookie Bars (again, need to blog this one), and most recently, oatmeal cookie sandwiches.

For the Oatmeal Cookie Sandwiches I used my usual recipe and baked the cookies for 12 minutes in my new fancy Whoopie Pie Pan. Once cooled, I filled with the vanilla bean butter cream. These sandwiches were so amazing, I kept one and immediately got rid of the rest because I knew I would have devoured them all.

Vanilla Bean Buttercream Frosting

From: The Cupcake Project

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup butter (room temperature)

2 tsp vanilla bean paste

1 tbsp milk

Directions:

Mix butter and sugar til well combined. Add in vanilla and milk. Add more sugar to make the frosting stiffer, or milk to make it less stiff.

Oatmeal, Cranberry, White Chocolate Chip Cookies

I was looking for recipes to use up a giant bag of Craisins I bought and found this one in my recipe box. I have no idea where it came from (if you recognize it, please let me know so I can give credit). I do know that these cookies are moist, chewy and delicious. I love the pairing of white chocolate chips with cranberries, and the oats add great texture.

Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
3 cups rolled oats
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup white chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In your stand mixer or with a handheld mixer, cream butter and sugars until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, then vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients. Slowly add to butter mixture. Add cranberries and chocolate chips and stir until well combined.

Roll dough into balls slightly larger than a golf ball and place on parchment lined baking sheet. Bake about 10 to 12 minutes, or until lightly golden. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet before transferring to a cooling rack.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

I found this recipe a while back and it has been one of our family favorites. I get requests for it pretty often. I have done a few variations including using cinnamon chips instead of ground cinamon.

These cookies are thick, chewy and delicious.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
From: Baking Blonde

Ingredients:
2 sticks butter, softened

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 cups Quaker® Oats
1 cup raisins

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.

Soak raisins in a bowl of warm water with a dash of vanilla. Let sit while you mix other ingredients. Strain before using.

In large bowl or mixer, beat butter and sugars until creamy. Add eggs one at a time, then vanilla. Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well. Add oats and raisins, stir until well distributed.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to wire rack.

Maple Bacon Shortbread Cookies

I know, I know - bacon cookies??? Using bacon in cookies and desserts sounded like a strange trend to me, but there are so many people blogging and raving about it, that I decided I had to try it.

I sent a few recipes to my husband and some friends asking what they thought. Everyone pretty much said the same thing. It sounds gross, but intriguing. After looking at several chocolate chip bacon cookies and bacon cupcakes, I decided on this recipe. I wasn't sure if I (or the people I'm cooking for) was ready for the chocolate/bacon combo. I thought a savory shortbread cookie might just be fantastic.

The cookies took a while to come together since you have to bake the bacon first and let it cool, then make the dough and chill it. I ended up letting the dough chill overnight, making it a 2 day process.

They turned out REALLY good. I could have just eaten the uncooked dough, but they were even better baked. They were a little too flour-y for me so next time I will probably cut back the flour a little bit. Over all they were great though. Definitely worth a shot!

Without further ado!

Maple Shortbread Cookies with Candied Bacon

From: Stumpymunchies

Candied Bacon:

Ingredients:

10 slices of thick cut maple bacon

brown sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400F

Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Lay the bacon strips down and top with brown sugar. Bake for 10 minutes.

Transfer bacon to clean sheet of parchment paper and throw away the used one. Flip bacon over and top the second side with brown sugar. Bake for another 10 minutes.

Let bacon cool on cooling rack. Once bacon has cooled, dice it into small pieces. At this point you can bake it again for another 4-6 minutes for extra crispy bacon.

Cookies:

Ingredients:

3 sticks unsalted butter - softened

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup + 2 tbsp maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla

3 1/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp salt

Directions:

Cream butter and sugar in a stand mixer. Add maple syrup and vanilla. Add flour one cup at a time. Add diced bacon. Divide dough into 2 equal portions. Turn out onto waxed paper. Roll into logs and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Cut into slices 1/4in thick. Bake on parchment lined baking sheet for 11+ min. (15 in my oven) until lightly golden brown. Transfer to a cooling rack

Sugar Cookies

I finally found a good recipe for un-iced sugar cookies. I was never a huge fan of sugar cookies – especially the iced ones. The catering we had at work always included these amazing, soft sugar cookies. I haven’t stopped thinking about them.

So I’ve been testing recipes and sending them to work with my husband. His co-workers have liked them all, but I still wasn’t satisfied. Until I came across this recipe for Soft Sugar Cookies.
They turned out so good. The only change I made to her original recipe is that I chilled the dough for an hour and between batches because the first batch (of unchilled dough) came out flat and crispy.

Sugar Cookies
From Delish

Ingredients:

2 cups granulated sugar

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

14 Tbsp (1 3/4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

2 large eggs

Directions:
Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350°F. Spread 1/2 cup of the sugar in a shallow dish for coating and set aside. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together and set aside.

Beat the butter and remaining 1 1/2 cups sugar together in a large bowl using an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3-6 minutes. Beat in the vanilla, then the eggs, one at a time, until combined, about 30 seconds, scraping down the bowl & beaters as needed.
Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly mix in the flour mixture until combined, about 30 seconds. Give the dough a final stir with a rubber spatula to make sure dough is combined.

Chill dough for 1 hour

Line large baking sheets with parchment paper. Using wet palms, roll 2 tablespoons of dough at a time into balls, then roll in sugar to coat. Place balls on parchment-lined baking sheets, spaced 2 inches apart. Flatten cookies with the buttered bottom of a drinking glass, then sprinkle with more sugar.

Bake cookies, one sheet at a time, until the edges are set and just beginning to brown but the centers are still soft and puffy, 10-12 minutes, (13 minutes in my oven). Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 10 minutes.

Source: Adapted from America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook, 2006.

Gooey Butter Cookies

St. Louis is the birthplace of a fantastic dessert/coffee cake called Gooey Butter Cake. If you have never had one, you need to look up a recipe and make it stat. One day I will steal my sister’s recipe and blog about it, but until then you’ll have to settle for gooey butter cookies. These are simple to make and really delicious.

Gooey Butter Cookies

Ingredients:
1 box Butter Recipe Yellow Cake Mix
1 stick butter – softened
1 8oz block cream cheese – softened
1 large egg
powdered sugar for coating

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl – I use my hands, which can be real messy. Let dough chill for a few hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350. Roll dough into balls – about 2 tbsps each. Roll the ball in powdered sugar and place on parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 16 minutes. Remove from oven and slide parchment paper with cookies still on it onto a cooling rack.