alipyper

Category: alipyper likes to bake

  • Easiest Cookies EVER

    Want to know what to do with leftover frosting from your cake or cupcakes? Or if you’re in the mood for cookies but you don’t want to bake?

    Slather homemade frosting in between two graham crackers, et voila! Instant sandwich cookie!

    Best after chilling in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

    Simple Frosting
    1/4 cup butter, room temperature
    4 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
    2 Tbsp milk
    1/2 tsp vanilla
    powdered sugar (about 2 cups)

    Cream butter and cream cheese together. Add milk and vanilla. Slowly add powdered sugar until you get a thick icing consistency. Add milk if the frosting is too thick, add powdered sugar if it’s too thin.

    Variations on a theme:
    Substitute 2 Tbsp coconut milk and 1/2 tsp coconut extract for the milk and vanilla. OR, substitute 1/2 tsp. almond extract for the vanilla. OR, substitute 4 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice for the milk and vanilla for a tart lemon frosting. OR, substitute 1/4 cup peanut butter for the butter. OR, substitute 1/3 cup cocoa powder for some of the powdered sugar.

    NEVER, I repeat, NEVER use 1000 year shelf life, nasty tasting, store bought frosting (yes, I’m shouting). Yuck!

  • Gingersnaps – National Cookie Month

    So, despite having every intention of making cookies everyday – what better excuse than a national month-long cookie holiday?! – I’ve made what appears to be EVERYTHING but cookies so far this month. Two huge apple pies for a family Sunday dinner, four loaves of whole wheat bread, two pumpkin pies (because it’s autumn and I had a massive craving), TWO coconut cakes and a repeat on the Surprise Cookies. Oh, I guess I did make cookies!

    We’ve had GORGEOUS autumn weather the last week and the trees on the mountains are turning brilliant fall colors. It’s making me think of the coming Holiday Season (hence the pumpkin pie this week) and all the yummy baking that I love to do. Nothing smells to me like autumn and early winter like the smell of gingersnap cookies!

    The flavors of fall, wrapped in a sugar coating? Delicious!

    Gingersnaps (adapted from my mother, Kaye Wallace‘s recipe)
    Makes about 25 cookies

    3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
    1 cup sugar, plus extra for rolling
    1 egg, slightly beaten
    1/4 cup dark molasses
    2-1/2 cups flour
    2 tsp baking soda
    1/2 tsp salt
    1 Tbsp ground ginger
    1 tsp ground cinnamon

     Preheat oven to 350º F.

    Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and molasses. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Scoop out small balls and roll in hands, then roll in sugar. Bake on a parchement lined cookie sheet for 8-10 minutes, or until edges are slightly golden and the tops of the cookies have cracked. Remove from oven and transfer to a cooling rack.

    This recipe is easily doubled, tripled, and quadrupled. Believe me – a quadruple batch is in your future! Great the same day you cook them, they are UNBELIEVABLE the next day after the flavors have blended. Crunchy on the outside, chewy on the inside, and every morsel a reminder of the lovely Holiday season to come!

    Kaye Wallace’s Gingersnap Recipe

  • October is National Cookie Month!!

    Martha Stewart Surprise Cookie and Tazo Wild Sweet Orange Herb Tea

    October is now officially my favorite month. A whole month dedicated to celebrating cookies?!?

    These Surprise Cookies are some of my very favorites. A soft, dense, cake-like cookie topped with marshmallows and chocolate frosting. We always include some kind of sprinkle – it’s a family tradition now. {G} was telling me the other day her first memory of these cookies…I made them when we hosted her first friend sleepover 6 years ago.

    I have a feeling October is going to be super yummy!

  • Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Pancakes

    Our family LOVES this recipe for whole wheat pancakes. {I} especially likes his with chocolate chips baked inside with peanut butter and maple syrup on top. Decadent, I know, but a growing boy needs something to stick to his ribs! {G} likes hers with peanut butter as well. {K}? He likes his with butter. The Mr. likes his with raspberry jam and syrup.

    I like my pancakes with fresh fruit. The peaches have come on late this year, so I’m enjoying a taste of summer even as the leaves begin to turn and autumn is arriving.

    Make up a double batch and freeze the extras. Pop them in the toaster for a fast, easy and nutritious breakfast!

    Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Pancakes

    2 cups sour milk (I never have sour milk, so I squeeze half a lemon into the milk and let it curdle for a few minutes)
    2 cups whole wheat flour
    1 tsp. baking soda
    1 tsp. baking powder
    1/2 tsp. salt
    2 eggs
    2 Tbsp. melted butter
    1/2 cup chocolate chips

    Sift the flour, baking soda and powder, and salt together. Add to the sour milk and mix gently. Next add eggs and mix. Fold in melted butter.

    Ladle pancake batter onto hot, buttered griddle. Sprinkle chocolate chips onto batter, then cover chocolate chips with a little bit more batter. Flip to other side when pancake starts to bubble. Cook until golden brown. Store warm pancakes in a tortilla warmer, or sandwiched between a clean kitchen towel.

    Makes 10-12 pancakes.

  • peanut butter cookies with reese’s peanut butter cups

    Of all the cookies that I make for friends and family, THIS cookie recipe is the one I get the most requests for. The combination of a soft and chewy peanut butter cookie topped with a decadent Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup is just about the perfect combination.

    I can only make these if I plan on giving most of them away, because if they are left in my house I’ve been known to polish off a whole batch by myself! I know, very naughty!

    Peanut Butter Cookies

    1 cup butter, room temperature
    1 cup natural peanut butter (NO substitutions – only peanuts & salt, my friends)
    1 cup white sugar
    1 cup packed brown sugar
    2 eggs
    1 tsp. vanilla
    3 cups flour
    1 tsp. baking soda
    1/2 tsp. salt

    Preheat oven to 375º F.

    In a large mixing bowl, thoroughly mix butter and peanut butter. Add sugars, and beat until mixture lightens in color. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Add dry ingredients and mix until cookie dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

    Using a medium-large ice cream scoop (or using a 1/4 measuring cup, roll cookies into large balls) drop 8 cookies onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies are slightly brown.

    Remove cookie sheet from the oven to the top of your oven range (or other heat-proof surface). Immediately press a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup onto the top of each cookie, coming quickly back a second time to press the candy level with the top of the cookie.

    Allow the chocolate to melt, then smooth the top of the peanut butter cup with an offset spatula, or back of a spoon.

    Transfer cookies to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely. If you plan on stacking the cookies, cool in the refrigerator (to harden the chocolate).

    Makes 24 large cookies. You might want to make an extra batch, because they’ll disappear quickly!

  • coconut cake

    Okay. Sometimes you see a recipe for something and you just know in your gut that it is going to be good. I had that feeling when I saw the recipe for this cake. I had to make it and *BONUS* I had all the ingredients in my pantry! It was fate. And fate, my friends, tasted really, really good this last week. TWICE.

    Coconut Cake

    4 large eggs, separated, room temperature
    1 c. butter, room temperature
    1 3/4 c. white sugar
    1 c. unsweetened coconut milk
    2 1/2 c. all purpose flour
    1 tsp. baking powder
    1/2 tsp. baking soda
    1/2 tsp. salt
    1 c. buttermilk, room temperature
    1 tsp. coconut extract

    Preheat oven to 300º F.

    Butter two 9 inch cake pans. Line pans with parchment paper circles and butter parchment. Coat pans with all purpose flour, shaking off excess. Set aside.

    Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.

    Combine buttermilk and coconut extract. Set aside.

    In a clean bowl, beat egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff. Set aside.

    In a large mixing bowl, cream butter. Add sugar, 1/4 c. at a time, until butter is pale yellow. Add coconut milk and egg yolks and mix until fluffy. Alternately add dry ingredients and buttermilk/extract with your mixer on low speed. Gently fold egg whites into the cake batter. Pour batter into two 9 inch pans and bake in oven for 75 minutes. After 60 minutes, check cake with toothpick. Cake is done when your toothpick comes out clean.

    When cakes are done, remove from oven and carefully loosen from sides of pan. Flip cakes out of pans onto a cooling rack. (OPTIONAL: While cakes are still warm, poke small holes in cakes, without poking all the way through. Reserving 2 Tbsp. of coconut milk for your frosting, drizzle remaining coconut milk on the tops of cakes) When cakes are cool, wrap in plastic and freeze several hours or overnight.

    Frosting

    1/2 c. butter, room temperature
    8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
    1 to 2 Tbsp. coconut milk
    1 tsp. coconut extract
    1 to 1 1/2 lbs. powdered sugar

    Toasted Coconut

    Spread about 3 cups of sweetened coconut in a single layer on a parchment lined baking sheet. Place in a 325º F oven for 8 to 10 minutes. Watch closely! Coconut is done when some, but not all, of the coconut is golden brown. Cool and mix the toasted coconut together.

    In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add 1 Tbsp. coconut milk and coconut extract. Add 1 lb of powdered sugar and mix well. Continue adding up to 1/2 lb. additional powdered sugar for a stiffer frosting. Add more coconut milk if it gets too stiff.

    Remove coconut cakes from freezer and frost cakes immediately, using a generous amount of frosting between layers. Press toasted coconut all over cake. Allow cake to come to room temperature before serving.

    * I used unsweetened coconut milk instead of cream of coconut called for in the original recipe to cut down the sweetness a little…it was perfect. The cake was very moist, but firm (this would be a great cake for a wedding!). You can use cream of coconut (like Coco Lopez) instead of the unsweetened coconut if you want more sweet. Usually I want more sweet, but I thought the coconut milk was marvelous.