Happy Stuff-Your-Face-With-Chocolate-Hearts Day!

Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes with Truffle Filling

For those of you who don't follow, that's Happy Valentine's Day!

I'm taking a short bit of time to share with you some of the different cookie sets I've made for Valentine's Day this year. I tried out a delicious new recipe for chocolate sugar cookies, found on Sweetopia's site. Easy to come and hold together, easy to roll out, holds it's shape nicely when baked, stays beautifully soft, and has a delicious and rich chocolate flavour. My new favourite.

Minis in a mason jar, cute! Only problem with these babies is that because they're bite-sized... you can gobble up the whole jar in... well let's just say a very short time. But great for little fingers!

Conversation heart cookies! These are so great, because they can really be personalized to say whatever you like! And they really take very little time to make. They make a great gift when you pair them with a cute little bucket and wrap it all up!

Lastly, how stinkin' cute are these?? For the doggy-lovers out there, these dog-themed Valentine's Day cookies are perfect. Love how they turned out.

Ok, just one more, because when all packaged up, these puppy cookies take the adorable-ness factor to a whole other level.

In the mood to check out some more Valentine's Day goodies? Take a look at some of these!

Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes with Truffle Filling 
Soft Heart Sugar Cookies
Whoo do you love Sugar Cookies
Cherry Chip Rose Cupcakes
Strawberry Cupcakes
Red Velvet Cupcakes
Valentine's Day Sugar Cookies

Hope every one gets to spend Valentine's with someone/somebodies special. But just remember, you don't need a 'special' day once a year to tell/show someone you love them. Telling/showing them on a random day for no real reason makes it SO much more special and meaningful. In my opinion. :) Pin It

Soft Sugar Cookies

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I hope that everybody is taking the time to show the ones they love just how much they care :).

Whateverrrr.... frankly, I think it's kind of lame that people feel they need a *holiday* to express their love, because I'm pretty sure if you love someone you should show it everyday... but to each his own. And as I mentioned before, I'm a big fan of the copious amounts of candy and chocolate that I frequently receive on this holiday (*cough, from my Mother... whatever, don't judge), so I guess I'm OK with it. Somewhat.

Anyways, here are some nice soft sugar cookies that you can share with your significant other, family and/or friends. They're simple to make, and I like that it's a roll-out dough so you can choose whichever shape you want! Many of the recipes for soft sugar cookies I looked at are more drop-cookie style, so the fact that you can roll this one out was what drew me to it. However, I would make one slight adjustment to this recipe. Instead of using vanilla extract in the dough, I would swap it for almond. I doubled the amount of vanilla, and the cookies still came out somewhat plain. If they hadn't had the buttercream on top, they would have been too flavourless for my liking. But baking is about whatever you like, so you use whichever extract suits you!

Yield: just over 2 dozen
Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons almond OR vanilla extract
3/4 cup sour cream

For the Buttercream Frosting:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-3 cups powdered sugar
Pinch of salt
2 tablespoons heavy cream
Food coloring, optional
Sprinkles, optional

Directions:
In a medium blow, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until just incorporated. Add the extract and sour cream and mix until just combined.

Add the dry ingredients and mix at low speed until the dough starts to form, scraping down the bowl as needed. The dough will be a little sticky; that is normal. Flatten the dough into a rectangle about 1 1/2 inches thick, then wrap in plastic wrap. Chill in the refrigerator for at least two hours, or overnight.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpats; set aside.

Lightly flour the counter top and the top of the dough. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out to about 1/4 inch thickness. Using desired cookie cutters, cut out the cookies and place on baking sheets. Bake for 7 minutes, or until cookies are just slightly golden around the edges. Immediately transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool. Cool completely before frosting.

To make the frosting, in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and vanilla extract. Slowly beat in powdered sugar and pinch of salt. Once smooth and creamy, add in heavy cream. If you don't have heavy cream, milk or normal cream works as well. Beat in 1 tablespoon at a time until the frosting reaches your desired consistency. Then beat at medium-high speed for a minute or two until the frosting is light and fluffy. If desired, add food coloring and mix until combined.

Once cookies are completely cooled, frost and decorate as desired. Allow the frosting to set (it will form a crust), then store in an air-tight container for up to 3 days (the cookies actually last longer, I've had mine for about a week, but they start to get a bit stale and just don't taste as good. They're definitely the best in the first two days.).

Source: Two Peas and Their Pod


If you're interested in other treats for Valentine's Day, check these out:
Whoo Do You Love? Sugar Cookies 
Red Velvet Cupcakes 
Strawberry Cupcakes 
Valentine's Day Sugar Cookies 
 

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Whoo do you love? Sugar Cookies

So it's that time of year! The time for corny lines, sweet gestures, 'I love you's, an overload of heart shaped candies, pink and red, and 'I HATE Valentine's Day!' for all the single people out there or haters of Hallmark created holidays. And while I am not a huge lover of Valentine's Day, and the expectation of spending money, buying cards, giving flowers, etc. (of course I know you can do sweet things for your special someone that doesn't cost money... a-hem, like massages, extra chores around the house, etc. ;) wink wink nudge nudge) I AM a huge fan of the opportunity to make SUPER CUTE OWL HEART cookies and yummy cupcakes, and in general stuff my face with gazillions of heart shaped candies... which I may have started today. Bulk barn got the best of me.

I have been DYING for the opportunity to make cookies with owls on them, and while I'm sure that I could have done so in the past few months, I'm glad that I waited because I LOVED these! I mean, how could you not love those big eyes staring at you, with little hearts floating around and messages saying 'Owl always love you'. I think my two ultimate favourites were the middle one with the owl on the swing (so sad I only made one), and the owl in the middle of the word LOVE. Too adorable.

 

If you'd like to see my recipe that I use for sugar cookies, check my post on Baby Shower Cookies.

For additional Valentine's Day treats, check out these:
Valentine's Day Sugar Cookies
Red Velvet Cupcakes
Strawberry Cupcakes

As a final note: I've decided to stop apologizing for the long periods between posts. I've come to accept that right now in my life, it is what it is. Doing my Masters and working at placement while also being a TA may not be as crazy busy (currently, although I'm sure it will be shortly) as I was a year ago, but I was also doing different things. I admire women that are super duper like Annie from Annie's Eats, but sadly, I'm not. I know I could be if I wanted to, but frankly, my blog is not at the top of my priority list right now. I know that I will pick it back up at some point, but for right now, there may be times that I may not post for nearly a month (or over!), and I'm ok with that. I hope you are too. And I also hope that you know that despite my lack of posting, I will always welcome any comments or questions. Pin It

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Mmm, will you look at those? YUM! This was my first time ever making AND eating red velvet cake. Where have you been all my life? Why have we not met before? For those of you who don't like Red Velvet (i.e. Jaylene), you're crazy. This was the most delectable cake I have ever had in my life. Incredibly moist, flavourful, vibrant in colour... and that icing? What can go wrong with cream cheese frosting? I can't say enough good things about these cupcakes, they were to... die... for. I am looking forward to the day when I can make them again, or even a full cake! You gotta try these.

Yield: about 24 cupcakes
Ingredients:

For the cake:
2½ cups cake flour
1½ cups sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tbsp. cocoa powder
1 tsp. salt
2 large eggs
1½ cups vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk
2 tbsp. (1 oz.) liquid red food coloring
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. distilled white vinegar

For the frosting:
8 oz. cream cheese (about 1 block)
5 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 tsp. clear vanilla extract
2½ cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line cupcake pans with paper liners. In a medium bowl, combine the cake flour, sugar, baking soda, cocoa powder and salt; whisk to blend. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the eggs, vegetable oil, buttermilk, food coloring, vanilla and vinegar. Beat on medium speed until well blended. Mix in the dry ingredients on low speed and beat until smooth, about 2 minutes. The batter has a very odd texture- something I've never encountered before. It's almost... goopy for lack of a better word, like a runnier putty. Perhaps it was just the way I made them as I have nothing to compare it to, but either way they turned out fantastic.

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared liners. Bake, rotating the pans halfway through baking, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 18 minutes. Let cool in the pans 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the frosting, combine the cream cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat on medium-high speed until well combined and smooth, about 2-3 minutes. Mix in the vanilla extract. Gradually beat in the confectioners’ sugar until totally incorporated, increase the speed and then beat until smooth. Frost cooled cupcakes as desired. 

*If you enjoy large amounts of frosting, you might consider increasing the quantities by 50%. This is what I did for this batch and often do for cupcakes; I'd rather end up with too much than too little.

Source: Annies Eats, originally adapted from other sites.

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Valentine's Day Sugar Cookies

Having made sugar cookies with royal icing for the first time at Christmas, I was eager for an opportunity to try them again. There's something special about these cookies; they allow for SO much creativity! And if you don't mind spending the time it takes to make them, they can be a lot of fun and incredibly rewarding when you see the finished product. Especially when all your friends comment on how amazing they are ;). The problem was, I couldn't decide what to make. I had seen so many ideas on different blogs, so I settled on 2 different batches to make. The first is the one seen above: classic vanilla sugar cookies decorated as conversation sweet hearts. The second is seen below: a more romantic valentine's day chocolate sugar cookie.

This was also my first time using the 'wet-on-wet' technique- more on that later. One of my favourites was the lips cookie that have S.W.A.K. on them- Sealed With a Kiss!! Love it.

Let's start with the conversation heart cookies first. You can refer to my directions in this post: Baby Shower Cookies. In that post I used almond extract, which I prefer to vanilla. Use whichever according to your own preference, but I find that the almond gives it a more unique taste, and I've found through the feedback of eager tasters that the almond is the preferred flavour.

Onto the chocolate sugar cookies. With the royal icing on these, they tasted like a firmer oreo cookie. I can't decide which I prefer- vanilla or chocolate! What I will say is that the chocolate cookie dough is not nearly as nice to handle as the vanilla. It was a bit crumbly and difficult to work with, which resulted in me throwing out more than I normally would have at the end. I think in the future I will try a different recipe to hopefully get something a little more moist. Nonetheless, the final product was yummy. Give them away as Valentine's Day treats or enjoy them yourself, I won't judge!

Ingredients:

2 & 1/2 c. all-purpose, unbleached flour
1/2 c. dutch-process cocoa (I don't have dutch-process, and so just use normal cocoa powder)
1/2 tsp. coarse salt
1 c. unsalted butter
1 c. sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Whisk together the flour,cocoa, espresso powder and salt; set aside. Cream together the butter and sugar until light an fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla until well combined. In 3 additions, add the flour mixture at low speed. Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl as needed.

Roll the dough on a lightly floured and cocoa-ed surface. (I mixed the 2 of these, then spread on my rolling surface, on my rolling pin, and used it to dip my cookie cutters.)

I put my baking sheets into the freezer for about 8 minutes before going into the oven to help prevent spreading. It works out quite well- when 1 pan is in the oven, another is in the freezer, while another is what I'm currently working on. Every 8-10 minutes or so (how long it takes to bake the cookies) all the pans get rotated.

Bake 8 minutes. Let cool completely before moving onto icing.
Source: adapted from Bake at 350

You can find my recipe for royal icing in this post: Baby Shower Cookies Pin It