cookies – Page 3 – Jennifer Michie

May 15, 2010 / 1 Comment

Button Mushrooms

I found this adorable recipe on the Bake it Pretty Blog and I thought I would share. I love making shortbread, usually I just mould it into a pie shape and then cut it into thick wedges to have alongside a nice cup of tea. These would be perfect for a “Gnome Tea Party”, with Bake it Pretty’s gnome or mushroom sprig cake toppers placed on cupcakes and their gnome or snail shaped cookie cutters used for sugar cookies or to shape tea sandwiches. The possibilities are endless and I know I am already getting carried away with the ideas buzzing around in my head…

The use of a beer bottle dusted with cocoa powder is a fantastic idea to create that sweet squat mushroom stem. How inventive! Since I am in a shortbread baking kind of mood this weekend I thought about trying this recipe if we can squeeze it in to the crazy weekend that will be happening…

I have included their recipe if you want to try it for yourself:

Ingredients:

Preheat oven at 350 degrees – yields approx. 42 cookies

1 – 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 cup (two sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon table salt

One empty soda or beer bottle (cleaned and dried)
Cocoa powder (about 1/4 cup)
Water

Recipe:

Sift together flour, cornstarch, powdered sugar and salt. Add softened butter and vanilla, and mix thoroughly until a thick but light dough is formed. It should be soft but not too sticky, and easy to handle.

Roll the dough into 1″ balls and place about 1″ apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper or silpat mats. Place about 1/4 cup of cocoa powder into a small bowl, and about 1/4 cup water in to a separate small bowl.

Dip the top of the soda/beer bottle into water and shake off any excess. Dip the bottle into the cocoa powder and tap the side to shake if any excess. Gently press the bottle straight into one of your dough balls, pressing just barely into the dough, only about 1/4″ inch, then pull the bottle away.

Continue with the rest of your cookies, dipping your bottle into the cocoa between each pressing. If it gets too light, do another water-dip then keep going.

Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Take them out when they are just done, and barely the tiniest bit brown on the bottom. Let cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes.

*Details:

– You can substitute flour for the cornstarch if you like, it will make the cookies a little more dense and toothsome. I definitely reccomend using the cornstarch if possible, it really adds to the delicate and crumbly nature of the cookies.

(All images and recipe text copyright Bake it Pretty, cookie cutter image embellished by J. Michie)

May 3, 2010 / 0 Comments

Tea Party

We went shopping this weekend and I came across these silicone tea cups:

Unfortunately, the store was out of stock, they just had an empty display box, stating more stock would be in soon. I thought that this would be an adorable idea for a children’s tea party, or even a grown-ups tea party for that matter. To have delicious cupcakes baked in these pipped with twirly-whirly swirls of icing in a rainbow of colors and sprinkles.

And you could serve them alongside these yummy lemon raspberry sandwich cookies:

These little ham & cheese thumbprints:

Mini cucumber sandwiches made with my Mom’s mouth-watering cucumber and carrot spread and a selection of delicious vegetables with a homemade buttermilk ranch dip. I am getting hungry just thinking about it!

The day started out rainy this morning, but now has gone sunny and deliciously cool, the perfect tea party day, for bunting strung in trees, white tableclothes billowing in the breeze, good music floating through the garden and a group of friends to enjoy the afternoon with as day slips into night.

When these get back in stock, they might just jump into my hands, because I think this is a truly cute idea!

(Click on the cookie and thumbprints pictures to be taken directly to the recipe, tea party girl by Belle & Boo)

October 2, 2009 / 0 Comments

Gnome is Where the Heart Is

Well, as you may or may not know I love gnomes! I think they are just cute, whimsical, funny and kitsch. While searching for a particular cupcake item, I went to one of my favorite sites, “Bake It Pretty“, it has an array of goodies and lots of those hard to find retro/vintage looking cupcake picks. They were established before “Layer Cake“. Although, they have some product cross over, I think each have their own unique qualities.

I started going through their cookie cutter section while I was there and came across this guy! I thought he was too cute for words. He would be adorable iced with a little red or blue hat. Maybe even a little beard piped on with a small star tip.

When I was in high school, our local baking supply store was holding a Wilton Cake Decorating course and being the nerd that I am, I set aside some babysitting money and my mom let me sign up!

I love to bake and cook and I thought this would be a way to expand on that. I had so much fun, making roses, learning how to make the clown bodies to stick the clown head pick in for cupcakes or cakes, and best of all, you got to take home your finished products and eat them, now that alone was worth it for me, a guaranteed chance to have scrumptious cake once a week with that heavenly “wedding cake” icing, mmm!

You can buy him on this own or in an adorable “Pretty Magical Forest” set. Which gives you a really nice shaped mushroom that you could easily decorate to go along with him. He will need a place to sit on and rest of course!

This little gnome was too cute not to share and so sweetly photographed against the yellow gingham, I felt something needed to be said about this little character. If looking at these sites doesn’t make you want to run out and start whipping up cupcakes with the cutest toppers to put on them, I don’t know what will!

(All Images from “Bake it Pretty” website)

June 19, 2009 / 0 Comments

The Cookie Jar

Food, like music, is a cultural transcendent. We bond over food. In looking at our cultural and geographical diversities we do have similar dishes to one another. The smell, look, taste and even thoughts of food conjure up very powerful memories for me. For better or for worse, food makes me happy. I have only to think of Paris and I can see the patisserie my sister and I visited near the apartment we were staying in. What could be better than sugar for breakfast? We feasted like Marie Antoinette on pastel colored cakes, éclairs, iced in chocolate, with billowing clouds of pastry cream oozing out and strawberries delicately sliced on top.

The aroma of something delicious wafting out of an oven door or an open window brings to mind childhood reminiscences. I grew up in an unusual household, in that both of my parents are excellent cooks. Through them I have learned to cook and to trust my instincts in the kitchen, to know if something is “right” by the smell, the look, the taste.

The food was just as important as the company. We all ate dinner together. That was our time to talk, to be. It took time to make the meal and therefore it should take time to enjoy it. We caught up on our day, on what was coming up for us in school, in work. Both of my parents worked and yet we still ate healthy balanced meals and they made time to be with us, no matter how tired they were.

It is a sad comment on today’s society that food companies are now making commercials to encourage us to prepare their particular meal in the hopes that we will have a “family night” once a week to enjoy it. Family night is every night. It should be the core of your household; the kitchen is after all the “heart of the home”. But, maybe the problem lies with us instead, with the busier we get as a society and the more media based we become, possibly the only option is for the media to encourage us to get back down to family basics.

As I was doing a little research I came across an old Susan Branch newsletter pertaining to some of her cookie recipes. I have always loved her illustrations, wishing I had that talent. I have given her books to friends in the past knowing they will thoroughly enjoy thumbing through them with a good cup of hot cocoa or tea, but at the same time, I am sad to not be keeping it for myself as my own little treasure to go back to again and again.

Having made some of her recipes in the past I wanted to share this link with you; I am not sure which I enjoy more the recipes or just staring over the charming illustrations surrounding them. As Julia Child says, “Bon Appétit”!

Please Click on the Cookie Jar to go to Susan Branch’s Website.

(recipe card image taken from “Recovered Recipes“)