Long Time No See!

Hey gang!  Sorry for the radio silence but with the new job and lack of funds there have been no new projects for me to share.  Right now we are working on a plan to make a shelf in the laundry room and a bookcase in the study but until we have the funds to get all the materials those projects are waiting in the wings.  Its not really a bad thing though because my creative juices havent really been flowing lately and I havent been inspired by anything either :(

What I have been doing is cooking...probably too many desserts but who cares!!  To make up for the absence...(well not really since its just one dessert post, but its a good one) I want to share with you a cookie I made a while back and have been waiting to post about it.  These are tasty and light and not too terribly bad for you...as far as cookies go that is.  I think this is more a holiday time cookies, but I dont think any cookie (save eggnog cookies for obvious reasons) should only be made 1 time a year!!  I hope you try these and love them

Lemon-Coconut Snowballs

(A Myrecipies.com recipe)

Servings: 2dozen   Prep Time: 25min     Cook Time: 20min      Cool Time: 35min   Difficulty: Moderate

Ingredients

·         1 cup unsalted butter, softened (if you only have salted butter just leave out the salt!)

·         1/2 cup powdered sugar

·         1 teaspoon coconut extract

·         1 teaspoon vanilla extract

·         2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

·         1 1/2 tablespoons grated lemon rind (I used jarred since I dont keep fresh on hand and it worked fine)

·         1/2 teaspoon salt

·         1 cup sweetened flaked coconut, lightly toasted

·         1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Instructions

Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy; gradually add 1/2 cup powdered sugar and extracts, beating well. Add flour, lemon rind, and salt, beating until combined. Stir in coconut. Cover and chill dough 30 minutes.

Shape dough into generous 1" balls; place 1" apart on parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden on bottom, but pale on top. Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool 5 minutes.

Place 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar in a bowl, and roll warm cookies in powdered sugar, coating well. Cool cookies completely on wire racks. Roll cooled cookies in powdered sugar again, coating well.

My husband took these to work and they liked them...not as much as my fantastically awesome sugar cookies but they did like them.  My problem when I made these was I cooked them about 2 minutes too long so they were a little dry.  In my opinion its better to cook a little less, you can always add more time later.  I also used my silicone baking sheets rather than the parchment paper so the bottoms didnt brown.  Nothing wrong with parchment paper I just prefer the silicone baking sheets for a more even color.  

I hope you enjoy these!!

-Rachael 

Foodie Friday #21

Let me tell you...I am sooo excited to share this recipe with you today!  I have been working on it for about a month now and I think I have it to where I like it.  Im also super excited to share with you what came in the mail yesterday...

(you can buy this here)

Can you guess what today's recipe is going to be yet?  No...well here is another hint.  I made my own vanilla sugar, check it out...

I had to label it otherwise my husband would use it for his coffee and thats not cool!  This container holds a little less than a small bag of sugar.  When I first put the vanilla beans in there you could smell it but it hadnt really penetrated the sugar yet.  Now its been in there for a little over a month and when you open it you are hit in the face with vanilla sugar goodness.  I didnt cut the beans open or anything, I just stuck them in there and wow its awesome how great it smells!

I also bought some silicone baking mats and they make a WORLD of difference.  Recently I bought some new cookie sheets that would fit better side by side in my oven, but they were darker than my old cookie sheets so they kept getting dark on the bottoms too quickly.  This mat not only solved that problems but gives me the perfect light gold color cookie.  It was $10 for each mat, but the amazingness that it provides makes it well worth it.

(you can buy them here)

The last awesome baking item I want to share with you is LorAnn baking emulsions.  I have 4 of them now (Red Velvet, Buttery Vanilla, Sweet Dough, and Princess) and the latest one, Princess, I think is going to be my all time favorite.  Its basically a combination of butter, vanilla, almond, and lemon...all flavors that I have used to try and get the perfect flavor...but now I dont need to experiment, I have the ultimate flavoring!  A word of warning though...these babies are really hard to find.  I got my Red Velvet flavoring from Marshalls Home Goods, but the other 3 I had to buy on amazon.com so if you find them in a local store scoop them up!

(you can buy it here)

So I bet you know by now what we are going to make today...The perfect Sugar Cookie!!  I have gone through many different sugar cookie recipes in my day, but the basic recipe from Bake at 350 is my ultimate favorite.  The best part about it is the fact you dont have to refrigerate it for 1 hour, I hate waiting.  Her royal icing is also my all time favorite.  So here it is, my absolute favorite cut-out sugar cookie and royal icing recipes, see notes at the bottom.

Vanilla Sugar Cookies

(A Bake at 350 blog recipe, modified by Project Housewife)

(dont judge me on the icing, I didnt get my cookie decorating kit until yesterday and these were for Easter)

Servings: 3dozen     Prep Time: 15min      Cook Time: 10min       Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

• 3 c unbleached, all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 c sugar (I use sugar that I've stored vanilla beans in)
•  2 sticks (salted) butter*, cold & cut into chunks
•  1 egg
•  3/4 tsp pure vanilla extract or 2tsp vanilla bean paste (I prefer the paste it has a richer taste to it)
• 1/2 tsp extract of your choice, I've used almond, Princess, Buttery Vanilla, and a mix of almond and lemon...Princess is my favorite followed by lemon.

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350.

Combine the flour and baking powder, set aside. Cream the sugar and butter. Add the egg and extracts and mix. Gradually add the flour mixture and beat just until combined, scraping down the bowl, especially the bottom.

The dough will be crumbly, so knead it together with your hands as you scoop it out of the bowl for rolling.

Roll onto a floured surface and cut into shapes. Place on parchment lined baking sheets and bake for 10-12 minutes. Let sit a few minutes on the sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack.

*salted butter is a must here, but if you dont have salted butter add about 1/4 tsp of salt to the mix.  I have found that not having that salt will leave a bit of an after taste and no one likes that!

Royal Icing

(A Bake at 350 blog recipe)

Servings: about 4 cups    Prep Time: 10min        Cook Time: 0min       Difficulty: Easy


Ingredients

• 4 TBSP meringue powder
• scant 1/2 c. water
• 1 lb. powdered sugar
• 1/2 - 1 tsp light corn syrup 
• few drops clear extract (optional*)

Instructions

Combine the meringue powder and water. With the paddle attachment of an electric mixer, beat until combined and foamy.

Sift in the powdered sugar and beat on low to combine. Truth be told the first time I did sift but the the second time I didnt and I really didnt see much of a difference, so try it and see what works best for you.

Add in the corn syrup and extract if desired*. 

Increase speed to med-high/high and beat for about 5 minutes, just until the icing is glossy and stiff peaks form.  (You should be able to remove the beater from the mixer and hold up and jiggle without the peak falling.) Do not overbeat.

This "stiff" icing is perfect for outlining and even for building gingerbread houses and monogramming. To fill in your cookies, add water to your icing a teaspoon at a time, stirring with a rubber spatula, until it is the consistency of syrup. This technique of filling a cookie with thinned icing is called "flooding."

Cover with plastic wrap touching the icing or divide and color using gel paste food colorings.


*I always add the extract to the icing I love the extra kick of flavor...I have tried almond and wasnt crazy about that, lemon was great, butter vanilla was great and I actually have added a dash of cinnamon and that was surprisingly interesting.  Im still perfecting the flavor of the icing but thats just what makes a basic royal icing fun!


I want to encourage all of you to go to Bake at 350 and read her Royal Icing 101.  Anytime I dont know what Im doing with cookies I go straight to her blog and see what she's got for info.  Also, the Royal Icing 101 has pictures and tips that Im not going to share here because, well they are her's and while Im sharing the recipe here I cant at all take credit for her tips that she has compiled over dozens and dozens of cookie making session.  So if you want to learn some great cookie stuff, go check Bridget out at Bake at 350 (all Bake at 350's are links back to the site in case the links dont stand out)


What do you think???  Going to run home and make these cookies??  Are you going to follow Bake at 350 (because really you should, I love this girl, she comes up with some amazing stuff!)??  Are you just going to droll over these cookies and ask me to make some for you (because really Im fine with that I love making these cookies)??  Whatever you decide thats cool with me!


Project Housewife Out!


Im Linking Up!  Come check me out at Tidy Mom, Bacon Time, Hope in Every Season, Petals to Picots, Addicted 2 Decorating, Six Sisters Stuff, Alderberry Hill, Add a Pinch, Positively Splendid, Blissful & Domestic, Flour me with Love, Tip Junkie, Crazy for Crust, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Not Just a Housewife, Romance on a Dime, Ginger Snap Crafts, Southern Lovely, My Girlish Whims, Lil Pink Pocket, DIY by Design, Michelle's Tasty Creations, Beyond the Picket fence, Made Famous By

Cookie Questions?!

For a while now I have been on the quest to figure out what kind of icing Frost Bakery uses on their cookies.  I dont know how many of you live in The Woodlands area, but if you do get your butt over to Frost (2 locations now) and get a cookie...or a cupcake, I mean it is a cupcake store but I love the cookies.

Anyway, I love their cookies and they have an awesome icing on their cookies that normal royal icing just doesnt replicate.  I went to the store the other day and asked the girl what kind of frosting it was and she said it was a buttercream base but wasnt sure what else was in there since she had just started there.  Dang it she was new, but that was more than I had before I walked into the store so props for that!

 (source)

My problem is I have no idea how to get buttercream to be the consistency of royal icing...I thought maybe mix the two together but if buttercream has shortening in it then that may be why it doesnt get hard.  So I throw it to all of you out there on the internet...how can I get a buttercream/royal icing baby?!  I am dying to be able to make this at home and try my hand at decorating cookies for real (up until now I have just been slapping it on with a knife but I want to make pretty cookies dang it!).  HELP!!!!!

Side note---this will no way impact me buying cookies from Frost, they will still get plenty of my business because I love them and they do have great cupcakes too, I just want to be able to make it at home is that so wrong!  Oh and Frost was featured on Cupcakes Wars...I dont have cable so I havent seen the episode but how cool is that?!  And all the words "Frost" are a link to the website so you can drool all over their amazing flavors.  The one below is the snickerdoodle, which I have tried and it was awesome!

(source)

How did I find this awesome bakery you might ask?  Well when I was working at AVIA (now Hyatt Market Street) they brought some mini-cookies by as a sample if we wanted to use them for our turn-down amenity.  I thought they were awesome cookies and really pushed our Director to use them, but he went with the Chocolate Bar downtown instead (which has amazing chocolates).  But I was hooked and now go as often as I can, it used to be far away but now that they have a location at the Waterway I could get in major weight trouble!

So #1---HELP...how can I make a royal icing consistency buttercream frosting

#2---get your butt over to Frost and tell them how awesome they are so they stay around for a long time, support Local!!

Project Housewife Out!

Pin-Stration

Going off of yesterday's pinterest post...we all have like a million pins on pinterest but dont end up doing hardly any of them.  I decided that Im going to share with you some of the things Ive made that have been inspired by something I pinned on pinterest.  The first pin-stration (pin inspiration...you get it right lol) I want to share with you is something I was actually a little reluctant to pin in the first place. 

Let me explain...while I have an awesome dog named Oreo, Im really not a huge fan of the cookie itself.  I know Im weird, but another shocker is Im not really a huge fan of chocolate in general.  So it was with a little reluctance that I pinned "Birthday Oreo Stuffed Brownies".  Main reason I pinned these is because...Birthday Cake Oreos?!?  That sounds awesome actually, and the other reason...its from Bake at 350 blog and I love that girl and her awesome blog.  Love of Harry Potter aside she has some great desserts over there, so go check her out.  On to the pin...

Like I said its Birthday Oreo Stuffed Brownies but I have a confession, I love to take short cuts when it comes to brownies.  As I said I dont love chocolate so I dont love making that from scratch, plus a brownie mix box is only like $2 so why bother!  Of course Bridget has an awesome brownie recipe that Im sure is awesome and if you love chocolate should try it. Here is the recipe so you can see for yourself...oh and a link to the actual post so you can see all her awesome pictures.

Birthday Cake Oreo-Stuffed Brownies
{from bakeat350.blogspot.com}

1 cup dutch-process cocoa (such as Hershey's Dark)
1 tsp. coarse salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 c. unsalted butter
2 cups sugar
1 TBSP vanilla
3 eggs, lightly beaten with a fork
1 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour
20 Birthday Cake Oreos (or regular Oreos)
1 tsp. corn syrup
1 tsp. water
sprinkles

Preheat oven to 325.  Grease a 9x13" baking pan.  

In a medium bowl, whisk together the cocoa powder, salt, and baking powder.  Set aside.

In a medium saucepan, heat the butter over medium-low, until melted.  Add the sugar and stir to combine.  Continue heating about 1-2 minutes, until hot.  

Remove the pan from the heat and add the cocoa mixture, stirring until combined.  Add the eggs and vanilla; stir until totally combined.

Add the flour and stir again until smooth.  

Spread half of the batter into the prepared pan.  Top with 20 Oreos.  Cover with the remaining batter; spread gently with an offset spatula.

Bake for about 30 minutes, until the brownies are done, but the center still looks soft.

{The Oreos will make the brownies a little bumpy....that's ok.}

Set the pan on a wire cooling rack and let cool 10 minutes.  Meanwhile, stir together the corn syrup and water.

After 10 minutes, lightly brush the corn syrup mixture onto the cooled brownies.  Scatter on the sprinkles.  (Adding them before baking will cause the sprinkles to discolor and become misshapen.)

Let the brownies cool completely before cutting.  (A bench scraper is the perfect tool for cutting brownies.)



For the brownie mix from a box the 9x13 baking dish, in my opinion was a little too big so if you have one size smaller you should use that.  Check out the "awesomeness" that is my brownies.

 So you can see by awesome I dont mean pretty, the awesome really refers to the tastyness.  Dont judge a book by its cover right!  See there isnt enough brownie mix to cover all the tops of the Oreos so thats why I say use the smaller pan so you can make them a little thicker.

You cant see the Oreo until you bite into it but trust me its there and its tasty.  I know its not the best picture, but I wasnt planning on doing this post then last minute (ok today) decided I put this up here.


Get out there and try it...or just try something from your Pinterest boards, Im sure we all have a lot to choose from (easiest to try is food...just sayin!).


Project Housewife Out!

Gingerbread Mess

As you may know I made an Advent Calendar that has Christmas experiences for us to do every day.  Over the weekend was "Make a House so sweet" otherwise known as make a gingerbread house.  On Black Friday my husband and I bought the gingerbread village set from Target (I would give a link but its not on their website).  Oh what a clever idea, instead of making one house we will make a little village.  How quickly I forget that the simple tasks become my arch nemisis.  Here is the project and supplies all laid out for you to see just how "easy" this is going to be.

Oh now nice, they give you the icing in a nice bag and the houses are all in pre cut squares...oh you are so wrong my friends!!  First off, of the the houses is already cracked.  You can see a better view here.

The icing bag was a piece of crap and burst open after the first house.  The green and red icing bags didnt even have the nice tip on them so you could draw nice straight lines so they were all messy and crappy.  And when my husband tried to bread apart the already broked house he broke it even more.  Good thing icing is like cement because it can hid many sins.  I tried to do the construction of the houses but once the icing bag broke I was done with that.  I tried to decorate them and realized how evil the red and green icing bags were so I resorted to putting the icing on my fingers and using my fingers.  Im sorry if that grosses you out, but hey you arent eating it so dont worry about it :)  I think the houses turned out ok, but man next year I will do 1 house not a village, no matter how cute that village looks.  And I will NOT do the santa sleigh or train gingerbread...I know I will end up throwing those out the window, no sir I wont even think about those!

So here is my little message patched together village.  Its kinda cute but next year I will be doing one house and one house only.  Merry Christmas from my little Christmas village.

Project Housewife Out!