Hi again friends!  Here is my latest baking video on my youtube channel.  They are chocolate cutout cookies!

I was so sure that for the first time ever, I would bake and decorate a cutout cookie that could  be easily identified.  Sadly, I don’t think that is the case.  (as long as it  it tastes good, who cares what it looks like, right) 🙂  Anyway, I present my recipe for chocolate cutout cookies.  The traditional sugar cutout cookie  is always tremendous, but I like that have some other recipe options  too.  And this chocolate version is one of them.

Btw, the one on the left is a shamrock, the one  on the right is a basketball.  :0 (today is St. Patrick’s day and the first Friday of the NCAA tournament)

Ingredients – 1 cup of butter (softened at room temp for a few hours), 1 3/4 cups sugar, 2 eggs, 2 tsp vanilla, 2 3/4 cups flour, 3/4 cup baking cocoa, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp baking powder.

Directions – preheat oven to 350.  cream butter and sugar.  Add eggs and vanilla.  Fold in dry ingredients.   Flour a countertop or table with flour.  Roll a mount of dough out 1/2 inch thick.  Cut out your cookies.  Place on a cookie sheet, lined with a nonstick baking liner.bake for 8 to 10 minutes.  (Cookies will be slightly soft)  let cool.  Frost with your favorite frosting.

Frosting – 1/2 cup butter (melted), 4 cups powdered sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, milk or cream

Combine butter and powdered sugar.  Add vanilla.  Add milk or cream, 1 tbs at a time, until you get the desired consistency.

These are for my husband, Rob, to thank him for shovelling our driveway, as well as a path on the deck and though the backyard for Charlie, during yesterday’s storm.  To show my appreciation, I made these brownies.  I am Italian and I thank people with food. 🙂

Ingredients  1 brownie mix, 2 eggs, 1/2 cup oil, 1  individual Friendly’s sundae cup (I used chocolate chip cookie dough) 1 container  hot fudge.  * (see note at end)

Directions – preheat oven to 350. Grease an 8″ square pan.  Combine brownie mix, eggs and oil.  Blend in Friendly’s sundae and 1/2 cup hot fudge.  Pour into pan.  Bake 25 to 30 minutes (until toothpick pick inserted in center comes out with a few crumbs).  Heat up remaining hot fudge and pour over warm brownies.  Let cool completely.   Store in covered container. 

*you can also add  1 cup of chocolate chips (or any flavor), nuts or coconut to the brownie batter.

I have a ton of chocolate chip cookie recipes in my “rotation.”  Each one is a little different,which is good for me, because I never like making the same things over and over. The unique ingredient is active yeast.  One more thing, the cookies are large, so this recipe makes only 15.  You can double the recipe to make more, or you can make the cookies smaller.  If you make them smaller, adjust your cooking time to 6 to 8 minutes. 

Ingredients – 1/2 cup butter, 1/4 cup butter (cubed, then slightly softened ),      2 1/4 cups flour, 3/4 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp active dry yeast, 3/4 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 egg, 2 tsp vanilla, 1 cup chocolate chips.

Brown 1/2 cup of the  butter – this takes about 5 to 8 minutes.  Stir occasionally.   Once you see it turn a little brown, remove it from the heat and put it in a bowl.  It should look like this.

In another bowl, combine flour, baking soda and yeast, and cut in the 1/4 cup cubed butter.  I used my pastry cutter.

You can use a fork if you want.  I liked to have the butter softened because it is easier to work with.

In another bowl, combine browned butter, sugar and brown sugar. 

Add eggs and vanilla

Fold in dry ingredients, then mix in chips.

Grab your ice cream.scoop, cookie scoop, coffee scoops or spoon

Scoop out 3 -4 tbs of dough and roll into balls. I like puffy cookies, so I left kine in ball form.  If you want them flatter, gently press them down.. they don’t spread much.  Chill dough a few hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 375. Place on baking sheet lined with non stick baking liners.  Bake 9 to 12 minutes.  Once completely cooled, store in covered container.

hello!  I wanted to share my latest baking video from my youtube channel for peanut butter cookie cups!

I love the rainbow chip/funfetti cake mixes… so bright and cheery.  Instead of making a cake to bring to work, I opted to make cookie sandwiches and I used a brown sugar frosting as the filling.   

Cookies  – 1 funfetti or rainbow chip cake mix,  2 eggs, 1/3 cup oil.

Directions – preheat oven to 375.  Mix cake mix, eggs and oil.  Roll 2 tbs dough into balls.  Place on cookie sheet, lined with a nonstick baking liner.  I put 6 on each sheet.  Slightly flatten the cookies.  Bake 6 minutes.  Let cool completely.

Frosting/filling – 1/3 cup brown sugar, 1/3 cup butter, 3 tbs heavy cream, 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Cook brown sugar and butter over low heat until it boils.  Remove from stovetop.  Add cream.  Let cool 30 minutes.  Add powdered sugar.  You can add extra cream if you want to thin it out a little more.

Place frosting between cookies.  My cookies are on the large size, so I cut the cookie sandwiches in half.  You can make the cookies smaller if you want and make more of them.

I know cookie cups are big sellers at mall cookie shops, but rest assured, what I make is far superior.  I GUARANTEE I would win a bakeoff!

Peanut butter cookie cups were my dad’s favorite treat.  Whenever my mom and in would go shopping at the McKinley or Galleria Mall in Buffalo when I was home on break from Geneseo, we always made sure to bring my dad a few of these from the Original Cookie Company.  He loved them!   But who doesn’t love peanut butter and chocolate?  March 12th is the 4th anniversary of my dad going to heaven after a long, excruciating battle with MS, so that is another reason I made these treats.  He was just the greatest, in so many ways.  Some of the most important things he taught me -, the importance of faith (no matter what you go through),  how to throw like a boy, and  what it means to be loyal.  How else can I explain my devotion to the Bills after all these years? 🙂

Ingredients – 1 cup butter (softened), 1 1/2 cups peanut butter, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup brown sugar, 2 eggs, 1 tsp vanilla, 3 1/2 cups flour (scooped from flour container into measuring cups so you get the right amount), 2 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt, 4 tbs milk (or more if necessary)

Directions – preheat oven to 350.  Spray muffin tins with pam.  Cream butter and peanut butter.  Mix in sugar and brown sugar.   Add eggs and vanilla.  Fold in dry ingredients.  You may want to add the flour gradually.. that way it’s easier to blend in and you don’t have flour flying everywhere!  Add milk.  The dough is really thick, so if you want to add a little more milk, feel free. 

Scoop out 3 or 4 tbs of dough and roll it a ball.  Light press into muffin tin.  Bake 12 to 18 minutes.  Will be lightly golden in spots on top.  Let cool completely.  Frost with your favorite frosting (homemade or canned).  Or you could even top with melted hershey kisses, chocolate chips, etc.  Store in a covered container.

If you still have one or both of your parents around, you are very lucky.  Cherish your time with them.

hi there!  I just posted my latest baking video if you want to check it out on youtube. Blueberry Cupcakes!  even though they not chocolate, my work people still loved them!

A while back I asked on Facebook for requests of treats to make for my blog and baking videos.  The blueberry cupcakes suggestion caught my eye.  It is also the subject of my latest baking video on YouTube. 

 Blueberries always remind me of my grandma (my mom’s mom).  When I was little, my mom, gram, Aunt Nancy and i would go blueberry picking and then bake muffins and pies with them.  I just remember that being so much fun.

My grandma is just amazing person.   91, so sharp and she loves the Buffalo Bills.  She asked me last week if I heard anything about the team’s plans for Tyrod Taylor.  (I hadn’t). She knew the deadline for the team to decide is March 11 (I didn’t).  It reminded me of the time about 6 or 7 years ago when she was talking to me about the Bills 3rd  string quarterback being injured at training camp.  I didn’t even know who their 3rd string qb was!  She is also one of the kindest, sweetest souls I have ever met.  

This recipe  calls for buttermilk, but it you don’t have it, combine 1/2 cup milk wit 1/2 tsp lemon juice or white vinegar and let it sit for 5 minutes before using.

Ingredients – 1  yellow cake mix (or you can use white cake mix),  1/3 cup oil,  3 eggs, 1/2 cup buttermilk, 3/4 cup blueberry greek yogurt (you could sub in plain or vanilla greek yogurt or sour cream if you want), 2 cups blueberries (I used a 12 oz bag, frozen)

Preheat oven to 400.  Place baking cup liners in muffon tins.  Combine eggs, oil, buttermilk and yogurt.  Blend in cake mix.  Fold in blueberries. 

Fill muffin cup liners 2/3 full.  Bake 5 minutes at 400. Then, without opening oven door, reduce heat to 350 and bake another 7 to 10 minutes until an inserted toothpick comes out basically clean.  (Using two different temps makes for puffy top or domed cupcakes). 

Let oven heat back up to 400 before putting in subsequent batches of cupcakes. Bake  minutes, reducing heat to 350, oven door closed, for 7 to 10 minutes.  

If you don’t want puffy top cupcakes, and prefer flat tops, then just bake them at 350 for 15 to 18 minutes. (Toothpick comes out basically clean)

Let cool completely.  Frost  with your favorite  frosting. Store in covered container.

I was trying to come up with something different to bake for work and stumbled across this recipe in my cookie index – chocolate black and white cookies.  They come out huge!  Not that anyone at the worldwide leader will complain about that!   I messed up the frosting part though.  I put the frosting on top, but the correct way is to flip them over and frost them on the bottom. 

These call for cake flour.  If you don’t have any, you can make it.  Add 4 tbs cornstarch to 2  cups of flour and sift it a couple of times.  And voila!  Cake flour.   

1/2 cup sugar,  1/2 cup brown sugar,  1/2 cup shortening,   1 egg,  2 tsp vanilla,    1 cup milk,  2 cups cake flour, 4 tbs cocoa,  1 tsp salt,  1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 350.  Cream shortening, sugar and brown sugar.  Add egg and vanilla.  Stir in milk.  Fold dry ingredients.  Scoop out 3 tbs of dough and place on a baking mat on top of a cookie sheet. Leave plenty of room between cookies because they spread.  I fit about 6 on a sheet and I made 20 cookies.  Bake 10 minutes.  Let cool on sheet 5 minutes.  Remove from sheet

Vanilla frosting 

4 tbs butter, 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar,  tl1 tsp vanilla, 3 tbs milk.   

Combine.  You can add more milk if you want a little thinner frosting.

Fudge frosting  

1/2 cup chocolate chips,  1/2 tbs butter,  2 cups powdered sugar,  1 tbs corn syrup,  2 tsp vanilla, 3 tbs boiling water

Melt chocolate and butter.  Mix in rest of ingredients.

Frost half of cookie with white frosting and the other half with chocolate frosting.