Lulu's Recipe Box

Sugar Cookies with Vanilla Butter Frosting

Happy Valentine's Day! I know it's probably too late to whip up a batch of these sugar cookies for your loved ones today, but I thought I would still share the recipe for upcoming holidays like Easter and St. Patrick's Day. I had been eager to use my heart cookie cutters, so I set out to find the perfect sugar cookie recipe on the Internet. Turns out, I just needed to call my sister. She recommended this Cook's Illustrated recipe to me and I knew it had to be good. I used a vanilla butter frosting and gel paste food color (from Michael's) to tint the frosting pink for Valentine's day. Even though sugar cookies can be a little time consuming to make and decorate, they will be well worth it when my husband and I are eating them for dessert tonight! Have a wonderful day with your loved ones!

Rolled Butter Cookies (Sugar Cookies)

Ingredients:

1/2 lb. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup superfine sugar (or granulated sugar processed in food processor for 30 seconds)

1/2 tsp. salt

1 large egg, plus 1 yolk

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for work surface

Directions:

1. With an electric mixer, cream butter, sugar and salt until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes wth mixer set at medium speed. Add yolk and beat well. Then add whole egg and vanilla. Continue beating until well incorporated. Add flour and beat at low speed until flour is just mixed in. Divide dough in half and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour. (Can be refrigerated up to 2 days or double-wrapped and frozen for 1 month.)

2. Adjust oven racks to upper and lower middle positions and heat oven to 375 degrees. Remove on disk of dough from refrigerator and cut in half. Return unused portion of dough to refrigerator until ready to use.

3. Lightly flour work surface; roll dough to 1/8 inch thick, using thin metal spatula to loosen dough. (You could roll thicker than 1/8 inch if you prefer). Sprinkle surface lightly with flour as needed to keep dough from sticking.

4. Cut or form dough into desired shapes. Place dough shape 1/2 inch apart on parchment-lined cookie sheet (I use my silpat). Bake, reversing cookie sheets (from top to bottom and back to front) halfway through the baking time, until evenly golden brown, about 6-8 minutes.

5. Use thin bladed spatula to immediately transfer cookies to cooking rack. Cool to room temperature. Decorate cookies, if desired, and transfar to airtight container (can be stored up to 3 weeks).

***Recipe from Cook's Illustrated

 

Vanilla Butter Frosting

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened

4 cups confectioners sugar, sifted

1 tsp. vanilla

4 T. milk

Assorted food coloring or gel paste food color (if desired)

Directions:

Using an electric mixer or hand mixer, beat the butter until smooth.  With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the confectioners sugar. Add the vanilla and milk and beat to combine. Then, on high speed, beat frosting until it is light and fluffy. You can always add more milk if you want the frosting to be thinner or add more confectioners sugar if you want the frosting to be thicker. The recipe is very forgiving. Tint with food color if using. If not using right away, cover with plastic wrap to prevent the frosting from drying out.

***Recipe from Joy of Baking

 

 

Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Everyone has their favorite, classic chocolate chip cookie recipe. Once you find a cookie recipe you love, it's hard to stray from that one and try new recipes. This has been my all-time favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe since my sister introduced the recipe to me years ago. I remember baking them with her in her tiny kitchen in Los Angeles back when I was in college. She was giving me baking pointers along the way. I still remember those tips today, like, don't overmix the dough, be precise with your measurements when you are baking. She was and still is a wonderful baker so I take her advice to heart.

I made these today and realized that I had blogged about the recipe a long time ago but I wasn't happy with the picture. Much happier with the pictures I took today in the natural light. And how cute are the plates that I got from Target?! I love the blue pattern for summer!

If you are still searching for the "ONE" chocolate chip recipe, bake these immediately. You as well as the people you are baking them for won't be disappointed. We are having friends over tonight and I'm thinking it's the perfect summer night to make ice cream cookie sandwiches for dessert! Vanilla ice cream sandwiched between two chocolate chip cookies! Sounds delish to me! Have a great weekend everyone!

Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

2 cups plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour

½ tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

12 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted and cooled until warm

1 cup brown sugar, packed

½ cup granulated sugar

1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 ½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325°.  Line your cookie sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat (which I use).

Whisk dry ingredients together in a medium bowl; set aside.  With electric mixer, or by hand, mix butter and sugars until thoroughly combined.  Beat in egg, yolk, and vanilla until combined.  Add dry ingredients and beat at low-speed just until combined.  Stir in chocolate chips.

Roll a scant half-cup of dough into a ball.  Holding dough ball in fingertips of both hands, pull apart into two equal halves.  Rotate halves 90 degrees and, with jagged surfaces facing up, place formed dough onto cookie sheet, leaving ample room between each ball.  Bake, reversing position of cookie sheet halfway through baking, until cookies are light golden brown and outer edges start to harden yet centers are still soft and puffy (approximately 11-14 minutes).  Do not overbake. (the cookies will look slightly underbaked when you take them out)

Cool cookies on sheets until able to lift without breaking.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool. 

This dough freezes very well. I wrap the dough in siran wrap and put the dough in a zip-loc freezer bag.

***Recipe from Baking Illustrated

 

Holiday Party 2010

It's difficult to top our Holiday party of 2008, the day TC proposed to me, but last night was great fun celebrating the upcoming holidays and the last week of classes EVER for TC and his classmates.  They deserved a night of fun after their stressful semester. I love any excuse to entertain and try new recipes, so it was fun for me too! The last hour or so is always chaotic putting all of the appetizers in the oven and setting up all of the food, but the stress is worth it when I see everyone enjoying the food. My goal was to have no leftovers and we barely had anything left! I made way too much for our first party so I cut back on the amount of appetizers. It's always hard to know how hungry people will be and what they will enjoy. Here is the menu of appetizers, desserts and beverages below. I have links to a few recipes and I will post some others this week! Hopefully you will get some great ideas for appetizers and desserts to try for your holiday parties with friends or family!

Beverages:

Wine

Soda 

Beer

Assorted liquors for mixed drinks

Appetizers:

Crudites with dip

Shrimp with cocktail sauce

Brie and Manchego cheeses with red grapes, assorted olives, crackers and salami

Jalapeño Popper Dip with tortilla chips (I'll post this recipe)

Pigs in a blanket (Click on the link for the recipe)

Stuffed Mushrooms (I'll post this recipe)

Pigs in a blanket are the easiest appetizer to make and definitely the most popular. I think I made close to 50 of these because I knew they would be gobbled up and they definitely were! I like to serve them with a nice mustard or fruit preserves to make them seem a little more classy. : )

A cheese tray is simple to put together and most of your guests will enjoy one of the cheeses you display. I used my slate cheeseboard for the first time to display the cheeses, salami, grapes and assorted olives. It comes with chalk so you can write the names of the cheeses right on the board. Love that!You can find it at Williams Sonoma or Crate and Barrel if you are interested in buying one.

Desserts:

Peanut Butter Blossoms (click on the link for the recipe)

Oreo Truffles

Red Velvet Bon Bons

This was the only dessert that I made. I had a few other girls help me out with desserts because I knew I wouldn't have time to get everything done. Peanut butter blossoms are one of my favorite Christmas cookies. I posted the recipe last year so if you would like it, just click the link above under the dessert menu. 

Our friend Becca brought these decadent red velvet cake bon bons covered with milk or white chocolate. They were sinfully delicious. I have the link to the recipe above.

Our friend Devon brought oreo truffles which were also rich and yummy. I'm a chocaholic so these were right up my alley. The recipe is above as well, just click on the link!

 

I'll be back this week with recipes for the dip and stuffed mushrooms! I felt they were worthy of their own posts! Happy Monday!

 

 

 

Gingersnaps & Grandma's Tips for Freezing

Gingersnaps are another one of my grandma's specialties. This recipe was also featured in the Better Homes and Gardens Christmas Cookies magazine. The traditional gingersnaps are sprinkled with coarse white sugar but to jazz them up for Christmas, you can use red and green sugars.

If you would like to freeze these gingersnaps or any other Christmas cookies until your guests arrive this year, here are some of my grandma's tips for freezing. My grandma is the master at freezing cookies and well just about anything else. I have fond memories of my cousins and I sneaking down to the basement in my grandparent's house to steal cookies (and mini Snicker's bars) from her freezer. Here are her tips for keeping your cookies fresh and delicious right out of the freezer!

1. Store cookies in plastic-lined tin cans. My grandma is famous for storing her cookies in old metal coffee tins, but any tin container will do. My grandma believes that plastic containers absorb odors and take the moisture out of the cookies. 

2. Make the cookies taste fresh by freezing different types of cookies in separate containers. This prevents cookies from taking on different flavors. 

 

 

Printable Version

Ingredients:

1/2 cup oleo (80 percent vegetable oil margarine) or you can use butter

1/4 cup shortening

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

2 tsp. ground ginger

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp. ground cloves

1/4 tsp. salt

1 egg

1/3 cup mild-flavor molasses

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup coarse white or colored sugar

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine oleo (or butter) and shortening. Beat with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar, brown sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and salt. Beat until combined, scraping bowl occasionally. Beat until combined, scraping bowl occasionally. Beat in egg and molasses until combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Using a wooden spoon, stir in any remaining flour. Cover and chill for 2 hours or until dough is easy to handle.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place the coarse sugar in a small bowl. Shape dough into 1-inch balls; roll balls in sugar. Place balls 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake in a preheated oven about 10 minutes or until tops are crackled and edges are firm. Transfer cookies to a wire rack; let cool. 

Thanksgiving & Candy Cane Cookies

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Even though we weren't able to go home to Iowa, TC and I had a wonderful Thanksgiving day. I made all of the traditional food fixings for the two of us, and we put up all of the Christmas decorations. It was nice to stay home and relax together. Here are a few pictures from our meal. If you would like the recipes from our meal, go here! For the pumpkin pie recipe, go to Martha Stewart's website. I used a different pie crust recipe but the filling is from Martha Stewart. 

 

 

 
I'm a little behind on my Christmas Cookie countdown. I didn't get around to baking last weekend so I'm going to have to post two recipes this week to catch up. Today I made one of my favorite Christmas cookies. Candy cane cookies have been a family tradition since I was little. I would always look forward to making these with my mom. They are so fun to make and taste delicious with the almond extract and the crushed candy canes on top. 

 

    

 

Printable Version

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened

1/2 cup shortening

1 cup powdered sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 tsp. almond extract

1 tsp. vanilla

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp red food coloring

1/2 cup crushed candy canes (I put the candy canes in a Ziploc bag and use a hammer to crush)

1/2 cup sugar

Directions:

Mix all ingredients through vanilla. Then mix in the flour and salt. Divide dough in half. Set one dough half aside. Put the other dough half back in your mixer with the red food coloring. Mix until combined/the dough is completely red in color.

Chill the dough for at least a few hours. 

When ready, roll out both the red and white dough into thin ropes. Cut into approximately 4-5 inch ropes and place 1 red and 1 white rope side by side. Press together lightly and twist to form a candy cane shape. Don't worry about the dough breaking while you form the candy cane shape. It's easy to repair as you form them. 

 

 
Mix together the sugar and crushed candy canes in a small bowl and set aside.

Put on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for about 9-12 minutes or until set and very light brown brown. Once out of the oven, sprinkle the cookies with the sugar/peppermint mixture. Let cool on pan before moving to cooling rack, otherwise they will break easily. 

Grandma's Old-Fashioned Sugar Cookies

We are on week two of my Christmas Cookie Countdown, where I will be sharing a favorite Christmas cookie recipe every week until Christmas. Last week I featured the first Christmas cookie, peanut butter blossoms. Christmas cookie #2 is a favorite of mine that my grandma bakes. I don't know what it is about her sugar cookies that makes them so special. Maybe it's the way she slices them very thin, making them perfectly crisp and melt in your mouth delicious! 

My grandma is a wonderful baker. This year has been very special for her because she was not only featured in Better Homes and Gardens Christmas Cookies magazine (which I blogged about here), but she was also interviewed by her local newspaper for a four page spread on her Christmas baking. This old-fashioned sugar cookie recipe was featured in both the magazine and the newspaper. I absolutely loved the newspaper article because they shared the stories behind all of the cookie recipes and they have several quotes from my grandma talking about all of the preparation that she puts into her Christmas baking. I learned so many new things from this article. My grandma starts her Christmas baking for the family the first week of October, baking one type of cookie each week and freezing them until Christmas (starting first with the cookies that freeze the best). Now that I think about it, you would have to start that early if you were baking for 6 children, 13 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren!  She also spends one full day in December with my grandpa, packaging the cookies and sorting them out for each family. She puts a lot of hard work and love into her Christmas baking, and that's why getting a sack full of her cookies at Christmas is so special to not only me, but the entire family. 

I will have a few more cookie recipes of my grandma's to share in the coming weeks, and I'm also going to do a separate blog post this week on her tips for freezing cookies. Meanwhile, I hope you will try her old-fashioned sugar cookie recipe and share them with your family this holiday season!

 

I decided to roll some in sugar and keep some plain

 

 

 

 

Printable Version

Ingredients:

1 cup margarine 

1 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 egg white, lightly beaten (optional-only need if rolling in nonpareis/sprinkles)

Colored nonpareils/sprinkles (optional)

Directions:

In a large bowl, beat margarine with an electric mixer on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar. Beat until combined, scraping bowl occasionally. Beat in egg and vanilla until combined. 

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Stir the flour mixture into the oleo mixture. Divide dough in half.*Shape each portion of dough into a 12 inch long roll (about 1 1/2 inches in diameter). Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for three to four hours or until dough is firm enough to slice. 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brush chilled logs with beaten egg white, then roll in colored nonpareils to coat.(optional)** Cut rolls into 1/3 inch thick slices. Place slices 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. 

Bake in a preheated oven for six to seven minutes or until edges are firm and bottoms are lightly browned. Cool on cookie sheet for one minute. Transfer cookies to a wire rack. Let cool. Makes about 64 cookies.

*For cutout cookies, instead of rolling dough into logs, cover each dough half and chill for 3-4 hours or until dough is easy to handle. On a lightly floured surface, roll half the dough at a time to 1/4 inch thick. Continue to chill remaining dough. Using 2 1/2 - 3-inch cookie cutters, cut into desired shapes. Place cutouts 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. If desired sprinkle cutouts with colored sugar and bake as above. Makes about 48 cookies.

**For frosted cookies, prepare cookies as directed above, except don't roll and sprinkle with sugar before baking. Bake and cool cookies as directed. Frost cookies as desired. 

Peanut Butter Blossoms

It's hard to believe that Christmas is only 6 1/2 weeks away. How did it sneak up on us so quickly? I love the holiday season so I'm not complaining, but I just can't believe how quickly October flew by. I'm looking forward to doing lots of Christmas baking this season, now that I have my Kitchen Aid mixer! It's amazing how much easier baking is with that machine. I have decided to bake a different Christmas cookie every week until Christmas and I'm going to feature each cookie on my blog. Hopefully by the time Christmas is here, you will have some new Christmas cookie recipes to bake and share with your family and friends. I was a little worried about taking on this project at first because my first question was, how will I stop myself from eating all of these cookies!? My answer is the freezer. My grandma has taught me that the freezer is my friend, so I'm going to freeze the cookies, and then make up cookie plates for all of our friends for the holidays. 

To start off our Christmas Cookie Countdown, we have the delicious Peanut Butter Blossoms. These are one of my favorites because they combine two of my favorite sweets, peanut butter AND chocolate. Basically, they are heaven! These actually didn't make it to the freezer because we ate some the other night for dessert with our friends, I sent some home with our friends, and well, TC and I ate the rest for breakfast this morning. ; ) I guess I'll just have to make another batch next weekend! Enjoy the first cookie recipe of my Christmas Cookie Countdown!

 

Printable Version

Ingredients:

Makes approximately 30 cookies.

2/3 cup shortening

1/2 cup peanut butter (smooth)

1 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

white sugar for rolling

Hershey Kisses

Directions:

Cream together the shortening, peanut butter and brown sugar. Mix in the egg and vanilla. Add dry ingredients last. Roll the dough into balls and then dip in white sugar. Bake at 375 degrees for 8 minutes. Top each ball with a hershey kiss. Return the cookies to the oven for an additional 2-5 minutes or until lightly brown. 

Grandma's Christmas Baking

Better Homes and Gardens did an article on my Grandma Petersen and her Christmas baking last fall and it's finally coming out on newsstands today! My mom, sister and niece are also in the pictures with my grandma as a whole generation of Petersen women who enjoy baking. It is a special edition magazine from BHG called Christmas Cookies. It's an exciting event for my grandma as she also turns 85 in just a few days. How fun to be featured in Better Homes and Gardens for your birthday! 

My grandma loves baking, especially for her family. She has passed on her love of baking to all of the women in the Petersen family. You can always count on her to have cookies for you when you visit. What I love most about her cookies besides their yumminess, is that they are miniature size. My grandma's baking really comes to life at Christmastime. She wraps up all of her Christmas cookies for every family. Some of my favorite cookies are featured in the magazine, like the sugar cookies, gingersnaps, and chocolate drop cookies! If you would like to share in my love for my grandma's Christmas cookie recipes as well as get her tips for packaging cookies for Christmas, pick up a copy of Better Homes and Gardens Christmas Cookies magazine! 

Here is a picture of the first two pages of the article. I love the picture of my grandma and niece Julia rolling out the cookie dough together. 

Peanut Butter Crisscrosses

One of the cookbooks on my wish list right now is Baking:From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. I have seen so many cooking blogs dedicated to trying her recipes. I figure she must be a good cook if everyone in the blogging world raves about this book and her recipes! I recently found this peanut butter cookie recipe on Annie's Eats and they looked so good. 

One unique thing about this recipe is adding chopped peanuts. I wanted to try them with the peanuts, but next time I will omit them. I think I would rather have a completely smooth texture rather than the added crunch of the peanuts. You can also use any brand of peanut butter, just not all-natural. The full recipe makes A LOT of cookies so be prepared to share them with friends, co-workers etc. or just cut the recipe in half.  

Ingredients:

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. baking powder

¼ tsp. salt

pinch of grated nutmeg

2 sticks (8 oz.) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup peanut butter (crunchy or smooth)

1 cup packed light brown sugar

¾ cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 ½ cups chopped salted peanuts (optional)

about ½ cup sugar, for rolling

 

Directions:

Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 350°.  Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

Whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and nutmeg.

Working with a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed for a minute or two, until smooth and creamy. Add the peanut butter and beat for another minute.  Add the sugars and beat for 3 minutes more.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition.  Scrape down the sides and the bottom of the bowl and, on low speed, add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they just disappear.  Mix in the chopped peanuts.  You’ll have a soft, pliable (mushable, actually) dough.

Pour the ½ cup of sugar into a small bowl.  Working with a level tablespoonful of dough for each cookie, roll the dough between your palms into balls and drop the balls, a couple at a time, into the sugar.  Roll the balls around in the sugar to coat them, then place on the baking sheets, leaving 2 inches between them.  Dip the tines of a fork in sugar and press the tines against each ball first in one direction and then in a perpendicular direction – you should have a flattened round of dough with crisscross indentations.

Bake for about 12 minutes, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back at the midway point.  When done, the cookies will be lightly colored and still a little soft.  Let the cookies sit on the sheets for a minute before transferring them to cooling racks with a wide metal spatula.  Cool to room temperature. 

Repeat with the remaining dough, making sure to cool the baking sheets between batches.