Tag: baking

Healthy & Easy Lemon Lavender Shortbread Cookies Using the Cutest Squirrel Cookie Cutter

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by Myles Katherine

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lemon lavender shortbread cookies

I picked up some culinary lavender from the farmer’s market on Saturday and couldn’t wait to use it in a recipe. I’ve actually never cooked with lavender since my husband thinks it’s too “flowery”. But I did catch him sneaking a few bites of the dough so he must not hate it that much!

These cookies were perfect for a breezy Sunday. I’ve also recently gotten into drinking matcha tea instead of coffee, and the cookies were a perfect treat to have on the side. The only downside is that I couldn’t stop eating them! But I made myself feel better by reminding myself that lavender is supposed to lessen anxiety and help calm the nervous system.

I was also looking for a recipe that didn’t include granulated sugar, and the maple syrup adds a lovely flavor to the cookies. You can pick up an adorable squirrel cookie cutter here!

INGREDIENTS

  • ½ cup butter, at room temperature OR coconut oil, softened
  • ½ cup maple syrup {or liquid sweetener of your choice}
  • ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp fresh squeezed lemon juice
  • dash of salt – I used a Sea Salt and Lemon blend
  • 2¼ cups flour (I used a combination of millet flour – for a more powdery texture – and unbleached all purpose flour)
  • zest of 1 lemon
  • 1/2 to 1 tbsp culinary lavender (depending on how flowery you’d like your cookies – I used a whole tbsp!) – I got mine from Dancing Light Ranch

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. Prepare a rolling area with two additional sheets of parchment paper for that, and have your cookie cutter(s) handy.
  2. Place butter in a large mixing bowl and whip it with a mixer until it’s creamy. Add sweetener, vanilla extract, lemon juice and salt and mix once again to combine. Add in flour, lemon zest, and lavender (I used a mortar and pestle to grind the lavender first to bring out the flavor), and use a wooden spoon to mix. Then get in there with your hands and mix everything together by working the dough until you can shape it into a ball {note: as depending on the flour mix you use there may be a slight variance, know that the consistency of the dough should not be sticky but should press together when pinched — be sure to knead it really well first for some time — if it’s a little sticky, add a little more flour (try 1-2 tbsp); if it’s a little dry add a little more sweetener (try 1 tbsp)}. Shape the dough into 2 balls and then flatten each into a disk.
  3. Roll out one of the dough balls between two sheets of parchment paper to ⅓” – ½” thickness. Use a cookie cutter to cut out the cookies. Carefully transfer to a prepared cookie sheets, spacing them ½” apart {they won’t spread as they bake}. Gather up any dough scraps and repeat until all dough is used up. Repeat the process with the second dough ball. Sprinkle the uncooked cookies with a sea salt and lemon blend.
  4. Bake in a pre-heated oven for approximately 10-12 minutes, until the edges just begin to become golden. Remove from oven and place on a cooling rack. {Note: cookies will harden a little within minutes of cooling, so don’t overbake}. Allow the cookies to cool for 10 minutes and enjoy!

Recipe adapted from the Unconventional Baker

You can find this cute matcha bowl here and the fun Kate Spade cake plates here!

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting (AKA the best cupcakes you will ever eat)

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Guys. I made the most delicious cupcakes in the entire world and want everyone to make them and eat them and love them as much as I did.

Last winter, Sprinkles in Washington, DC offered different cereal-based cupcakes and I tried the Cinnamon Toast Crunch one and fell head over heels in love with it. Sadly, these were only weekly specials and were discontinued. So I looked up recipes online for an attempt to recreate the magic of these cupcakes and came upon a recipe that tasted even better. I made these for my boyfriend’s birthday in August and even though he always claims he “isn’t a dessert person” – a phrase that I will simply never understand – he ended up loving them too!

The recipe I used was adapted from here and I followed the recipe very closely. I don’t even mind that they aren’t entirely made from scratch (it requires boxed cake mix), but I’m sure you could improvise if you know a recipe for a standard cake you like to make!

One thing I was surprised about and had never considered was dipping the top of the cupcake (before frosted) into butter then cinnamon sugar. This was seriously a game changer and gives these cupcakes a churro-like taste as well. It can’t be beat!

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Ingredients for 24 Cupcakes

  • 1 box, French Vanilla Cake Mix
  • 1 small box (3.4 oz) vanilla instant pudding mix
  • 1 1/4 cups milk
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 1/4 cup sour cream
  • 3 large eggs
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Cinnamon Sugar Coating:

  • 4 tablespoons salted butter, melted
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting:

  • 1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, softened
  • 8 oz (1 block) cream cheese, softened
  • 2/3 cup heavy cream
  • 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 6 cups powdered sugar
  • 2 cups Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal, for garnish

Baking Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 and line 24 muffin tins.
  2. In the bowl of your mixer, combine cake mix, pudding mix, milk, vegetable oil, sour cream, eggs, and cinnamon. Mix on low speed for 30 seconds. Scrape the sides of the bowl and increase mixer speed to high. Beat for 2 minutes.
  3. Stir a few times with a big wooden spoon, then fill prepared muffin cups 2/3 of the way full.
  4. Bake for 15 – 20 minutes, until tops spring back when lightly touched in the center. Remove from oven and let cool in the pans for 5 minutes before removing to wire rack to cool completely.
  5. In a small bowl, combine granulated sugar and ground cinnamon. In another bowl, add the 4 tablespoons of melted butter.
  6. Dip the top of a baked cupcake in the melted butter, then dip into the cinnamon sugar mixture. Repeat with remaining cupcakes. Set aside remaining cinnamon sugar for topping.
  7. For the icing, beat butter and cream cheese on medium speed until smooth and combined. Scrape the sides of the bowl. Add vanilla and heavy cream, beating on medium speed until smooth. With the mixer on low speed, slowly and carefully add powdered sugar until just barely combined. Increase mixer speed to high and beat for two minutes.
  8. Generously frost cupcakes. Top with a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar and stick cereal into frosting as you wish.
  9. Keep these cupcakes refrigerated if they are not served immediately.
  10. Enjoy these amazing cereal cupcake creations!

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Strawberry French Cake

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Baking always seems to be a little bit more challenging than cooking for me, because I feel like it’s harder to improvise and I never enjoy following recipes and measurements step-by step. But this Strawberry French Cake recipe was perfect and is at the top of my list for favorite things I’ve ever baked. I followed the recipe exactly, but couldn’t resist adding a thin layer of Belgian Speculoos Cookie crumbs at the base of the pan and a light sprinkle on top. It is designed to be moist, almost custard-like in the center so be sure not to over-bake!

Ingredients:

  • 1 stick unsalted butter softened
  • 1 1/4 cup granulated sugar divided
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 16 ounces fresh strawberries sliced

Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9-inch round cake pan with cooking spray and set aside.

  2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, whip together the butter and 1 cup of the sugar until pale and fluffy, 5 to 7 minutes.

  3. Add the eggs, one at a time and beat well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla.

  4. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Gradually add the flour mixture to butter mixture alternately with sour cream, beginning and ending with flour mixture, beating just until combined after each addition.

  5. Fold in strawberries. Spread the batter in the prepared cake pan.

  6. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar evenly over the top of the cake batter.

  7. Bake until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean, 35-40 minutes.

  8. Let the cake cool completely in the pan and slice and serve the cake from the pan.

 

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Please bake this, you will definitely not regret it! ❤

Holiday Caramel Apple Trifle

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Without one tiny, minuscule doubt, if you make this dish for dessert you will be the hit of the party. It’s so easy and so tasty, and will make you want dessert even after you’ve filled yourself up on an overwhelming amount of turkey, ham, rolls, potatoes, etc, etc. I would certainly recommend making this for any holiday occasion, because its fun to make, pretty, and can serve a lot of people.

I found a recipe on Pinterest (here) and improvised by making a yellow cake mix from Fresh Market and also bought the most delectable caramel sauce from Fresh Market as well, which I recommend everyone buy and eat it on pretty much anything and everything. It’s seriously life changing.

Ingredients:

  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • 4 cups chopped peeled granny smith apples (about 5 medium)
  • 1 cup chopped walnuts (I also added chopped hazelnuts)
  • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon apple pie spice, divided
  • 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
  • 1 jar (12-1/4 ounces) caramel ice cream topping, divided
  • 1 carton (12 ounces) cool whip, thawed, divided
  • 1 box of yellow cake mix baked according to the recipe (or pound cake or angel food cake)
  • Additional apple pie spice to sprinkle on top!

Directions:

  1. In a large skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Stir in the apples, walnuts and hazelnuts, brown sugar and 1/2 teaspoon apple pie spice. Cook and stir for 8-10 minutes or until apples are tender.
  2. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Beat in 1/2 cup caramel topping and 1/2 teaspoon of apple pie spice. Fold in 2 cups of the whipped topping.
  3. In a trifle bowl or glass serving bowl, layer a third of the cake cubes, cream cheese mixture and apple mixture. Repeat layers twice. Garnish with remaining whipped topping and drizzle with remaining caramel topping. Sprinkle with additional apple pie spice if desired. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving.
  4. Yield: 14 servings.

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Crema Catalana

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Inspired by the Spain Box from Try the World, I made the Crema Catalana recipe from their online magazine with my own twist to it.

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The original recipe is below:

INGREDIENTS

  • 4 egg yolks
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • 2½ Tbsp. cornstarch
  • 2 cups plus 2 Tbsp. milk
  • Grated zest of ½ orange (or in my case honey!)
  • Pinch of salt
  • 4 Tbsp. P. Listo jam
  • 4 Tbsp. sugar

DIRECTIONS

1. In a small bowl using a hand held mixer, beat together the egg yolks and sugar until pale and creamy, about 5 minutes. In a separate, larger bowl, whisk together the cornstarch and 2 tablespoons milk until the cornstarch dissolves.

2. In a saucepan, combine the remaining 2 cups milk, orange zest, and salt. Heat over moderate heat, stirring constantly, until small bubbles form along the edge of the saucepan. Once the bubbles appear, lower the heat to keep warm.

3. Add the egg and sugar mixture to the cornstarch mixture and whisk until homogenous. Slowly pour in the warm milk, whisking constantly, until smooth and homogenous, then pour back into the saucepan. Heat the mixture over low heat, stirring constantly with a spoon, until it thickens, 10 to 12 minutes. Do not allow to boil.

4. Pour the mixture into 4 ramekins, then cover and chill in the refrigerator until firm, at least 3 hours.

6. Remove the ramekins from the fridge and spoon 1 tablespoon of the jam onto each custard. Sprinkle with the sugar, then broil until the tops are caramelized, about 5 minutes. Serve immediately.

Note that instead of using orange zest, I added about a tablespoon of an organic lavender honey that I have newly acquired and which is absolutely delectable.

I had never cooked with ramekins before, so I bought mine from Crate & Barrel (only $2.95 per dish!)  on the way home from work one day and am so excited to have them as a new addition to my kitchen!

I’m disappointed because I didn’t have a torch to really get the sugar bubbled and crispy, instead I broiled mine in the oven for a few minutes. They were still sweet and delicious though!

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Enjoy ❤