Vanilla Icing

Quick Bread for a Busy Day

The last few days I've been feeling a bit scatter-brained.  Yesterday, I decided enough was enough and I began a reduce and reorganizing project in my home.  I've always putting things in order to be a sure way to get me re-focused. 

Yesterday, I made inroads on the living room and dining room and today is the kitchen.  Every morning I use the treadmill (regardless of any things like rollerblading or biking I might do later in the day) and I thought that I'd pop something in the oven to bake while I was exercising.  Then, I'd take it out of the oven and jump in the shower while it cooled.  By the time I was cleaned off, the bread would be cooled and then I could start the kitchen part of this project.

                                        Cinnamon Quick Bread

A rich vein of sugary cinnamon runs through this bread.  It is very easy to make and tastes good warm out of the oven or even two days later.  If it lasts that long!  My mother gave me this recipe some years ago and I don't know where she got it from.   I don't fiddle with the recipe when I make except...sometimes...I double the cinnamon topping.

Cinnamon Quick Bread

2 cups flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/3 cup oil
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup buttermilk (or a splash of vinegar or lemon juice added to slightly less than 1 cup of milk)

Topping:  2 tbsp sugar
               1 tsp cinnamon
               2 tsp butter

1.  Preheat the oven to 350.  Grease and flour a 9 by 5 loaf pan.  Combine the topping ingredients in a small bowl until crumbly and set aside.

2.  In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.  Add the wet ingredients and beat for 3 minutes.

3.  Pour the mix in the pan and sprinkle the topping on top.  During baking, some will sink into the bread to form a the sugar-cinnamon vein.  If you double the topping, most of it will sink to the bottom which is delicious too.

4.  Bake at 350 for 45-55 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.  Be sure to insert the toothpick into the bread and not the sugar-cinnamon vein!  Remove from pan and serve warm or cool  Store under a glass dome or in a plastic bag.

Winner of Cookie Week Giveaway

          Dinner at my sister-in-law and brother-in-law's home on Sunday

Please forgive my absence; we were out of town all weekend and I was unable to access a computer as I thought.  But we're home now and here's the winner:

Congratulations Mo!!!   Please contact me at [email protected] with your mailing address and I will have that out to you very soon.

Thank you everyone for participating.  I hope everyone had a very nice holiday and as we were out of town we will be celebrating quietly at home today.  See you tomorrow!

Raspberry Hearts

Today is the fifth day of cookies and I've been saving the best for last.  Be sure to scroll ALL the way down for details on today's giveaway.

At least I think it's the best.  These are my favorite cookies of all time.  Light.  Crisp.  Almond. Raspberry.  Bit of Sweet.  What's not to love?

These cookies are multi-step cookies; they require mixing, refrigeration, rolling out, baking, cooling, glazing, filling and sprinkling.  But this doesn't mean they are difficult they just require a bit of time and patience.  The most difficult thing is making sure you have the same number of tops as you do bottoms and I'm pretty sure if you are baking you can count.

Filling the cookies is done by making the simplest of glazes--lemon juice and powdered sugar--and coating the bottoms.  Then you add the tops, let it dry and add a dollop of raspberry preserves.  A quick sprinkling of powdered sugar and you are done!

                                           

Raspberry Hearts

And if you decide to eat two or three of these sandwich cookies right away, don't worry I don't think you are actually eating four or six cookies and neither will anyone else.   That's why we have exercise--it's to make payment for the yummy things we eat.

Oh!  And I forgot to tell you the best part!  Children usually don't like these cookies.  The intensity of the raspberry preserves can be a little off putting to children who prefer things milder.   Finally a cookie that you don't have to share!

Raspberry Hearts
           by Michelle

3/4 cup soft butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp almond extract
1 egg
dash of salt
1/2 cup finely ground almonds
1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup powdered sugar
4 tsp lemon juice

raspberry preserves
additional powdered sugar

1.  Combine the butter, 1/2 cup powdered sugar, extract, egg, salt, ground almonds and flour.  Mix well.  Cover and refrigerate for 30-45 minutes.
2.  Preheat the oven to 375.  Dust a rolling pin and a work surface lightly with flour.  Working with half of the the dough at a time, roll it out to 1/8 inch thick.  Cut out hearts.  Cut out the center of half of the hearts.  Repeat with remaining dough making sure you have the same number of bottoms (solids) and tops (holes).
3.  Bake on parchment lined sheets, first the bottoms for 8-10 minutes OR until the edges are just barely beginning to turn golden.  Bake the tops for 7-8 minutes OR until the edges are just barely beginning to turn golden.  Cool completely on a wire rack.
4.  Make the glaze by combining 1/2 cup powdered sugar with the lemon juice.  Spread the glaze lightly on each bottom (cover the whole thing--don't worry about where the hole from the top is) and place a top on top.  Allow to dry.
5.  Fill cookies with raspberry preserves.  Be careful not to overfill.  Sprinkle or sift additional powdered sugar over the cookies.

These cookies can be made and 'glued' together several days ahead of time and stored in an airtight container.  Fill cookies with preserves on the day you plan to serve them.

Today's giveaway is simple but contains a few of my favorite things.  One lucky winner will receive all of this weeks cookie recipes handwritten on recipe cards plus my 'top-secret' sugar cookie recipe.  He or she will also receive a set of three heart cookie cutters--perfect for making Raspberry Hearts!  Icing tints in my three favorite shades of blue which you could use to make these.  Lastly, I've included Pearl Dust which is something I've only discovered more recently and love.  I use it any time I want to add a special touch to cookies or cakes.  Squint hard and you can see it on the fairy's wings.

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on this post!  Couldn't be easier, right?  You have until tomorrow at 3 pm (Eastern Standard Time) when I will close the comments and use the random number generator to select a winner.  I'll post the winner and all he or she has to do is contact me privately with his or her mailing address.  Then, on Monday, I will ship out the prize.

Even if you never left a comment before don't let that stop you!  This is a perfect time to come out of hiding.  Good luck!  =)

Thumbprint Cookies

Today's cookie is not usually anyone's favorite cookie but it's a cookie that I enjoy from time to time.

      Thumbprint cookies with Peach Preserves & Homemade Strawberry Jam

The main difference between my thumbprint cookies and OPCs (Other People's Cookies) is that I do NOT bake the jam in my thumbprints.  Sure, it makes for potential for more mess--cookies sticking together if you don't keep them in a single level, jam tumbling out of the cookie--but it's a mess that's worth it.   A friend pointed out that baking the jam concentrates the flavor of the jam but it also makes the jam turn gummy and have that 3 years old mouth feel.  Blah.  Not for me.  I like my jam to be bright and fresh tasting in my thumbprints.

If you prefer the 3 year old jam feel take the cookies out halfway through the baking time, fill with jam and return to the oven.  Otherwise, follow my recipe below.  The recipe easily halves; I like to make a couple dozen when I make these because I don't make them that often.

Thumbprint Cookies
        by Michelle

1.5 cups softened butter
1 cup sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla
4 egg yolks
3.5 cups flour

4 egg whites, lightly beaten
2.5 cups finely chopped/coarsely ground walnuts

Jam or Preserves of your choice*

1.  Preheat the oven to 350 and line baking sheets with parchment paper or lightly grease baking sheets.  In a bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

2.  Beat in the vanilla and yolks until well combined.  Slowly mix in the flour.  If the dough seems too soft, cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes or until easy to handle.  I've found that I am always able to handle the dough immediately as long as my butter was room temperature and not too soft.

3.  Shape the dough into 2 inch balls, dip in the beaten egg white and roll in the walnuts.  Place on baking sheet.  Using your thumb, press an indentation into the center of the cookie.  Shape the remaining dough, place each cookie about 2 inches apart.

4.  Bake at 350 for 13-17 minutes or until the edges are lightly browning on the edges.  Remove the baking sheet from the oven and let the cookies cool for a minute.  They will have puffed slightly in the oven and you will need to use your thumb or finger to press down the indentation you made prior to baking. 

5.  Fill each indentation with jam or preserves and then place cookies on wire rack to cool.  Serve or store cookies in an airtight container in a single layer.

*A couple thoughts about filling thumbprints:  Some people like to fill their thumbprints with icing which is fine and often tasty but I feel the walnuts are really complimented by using homemade or high quality jam or preserves.  Also, I think this is a fine way to use up the last couple of tablespoons in various jam and preserve jars as you certainly don't need to fill them all with the same type of filling.  I'm not the only one with more than one jam open in my refrigerator, am I?

Butter Cookies

                                            

Butter Cookies

Not unlike shortbread, these crisp buttery cookies will melt in your mouth.  Add the sparkling sugar for looks and to add an additional satisfying crunch.

Butter Cookies
         by Michelle

1 cup of softened butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 1/4 cups flour
Sparkling Sugar (Optional)

1.  Preheat the oven to 275. Line  baking sheets with parchment paper if desired.  Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the salt, baking powder and flour.  Add the flour to the butter mixture and beat until it comes together.

2.  Form the doughs into balls.  If using the sparkling sugar, pour some into a small bowl.  Take each ball and flatten it until it's slightly less than 1/2 inch thick in the sparkling sugar.  Place the cookie on the sheet sugar side up and continue until all cookies have been shaped.  If not using the sparkling sugar, simply flatten the balls and place them on the sheet.  This cookie puffs up slightly but does not spread which means you can put the flattened disks about an inch apart on your baking sheet.

3.  Bake at 275 for 35-40 minutes.  The edges won't be gold but the cookie will be firm and the underside will be golden.  I prefer a crisper butter cookie and I bake mine for 40 minutes.  Cool completely and serve or store in an easily accessible cookie jar!

Cadbury Mini-Egg Cookies

Once a year, Cadbury makes one of my favorite candies: Cadbury Mini-Eggs.  Unfortunately for me, I seem to have no self control with these candies--I will eat them until my tummy aches and it pleads no more!  And I'll oblige that tummy, oh, I'll treat it nice....but the minute that it's no longer aching, I'm right back at it eating more Cadbury Mini-Eggs.

It gets so bad that I'll eat a handful of them with a Diet Pepsi and call it breakfast.  And lunch.  But not dinner because then I'll have witnesses to my obsessiveness.  (You won't tell anyone about breakfast and lunch, will you?)

                               Cadbury Mini-Egg Cookies

Then, I got the bright idea that if I were to wrap these precious-once-a-year-only candies in something--say a cookie (I thought about decorating cupcakes with it but knew I'd just pluck the candies off)--then it would slow down my consumption of Cadbury Mini-Eggs.  Or at the least it would take my stash out of hiding and put them in a form readily available to the rest of the family.

Cadbury Mini-Egg Cookies
              by Michelle

1/2 cup softened butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup crushed Cadbury Mini-Eggs (I put them in a plastic bag and bashed them with a wooden mallet being careful to leave big chunks because that's the way I like it)

1.  Preheat the oven to 375.  In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and the sugars.  Beat in the egg until well combined.  Add the vanilla, baking powder and salt and mix well.  Slowly stir in the flour and the Cadbury Mini-Eggs.

2.  Form the dough into balls about the size of a ping pong ball and place on baking sheet that has been covered with parchment paper.  You can place them directly on the sheet if you prefer.  Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes being very careful not to overbake.

3.  Slide the parchment paper of the baking sheet directly onto a wire rack.  Or if you didn't use the parchment paper, allow the cookies to cool for an additional minute or two on the baking sheet to prevent the soft cookies from slipping through the bars of the wire rack.  Cool completely.  Makes about 2 dozen.

I'm really sorry if anyone doesn't have these candies available at their local stores!

Snickerdoodles

This weekend we were fortunate to have two sunny not-to-cold days.  Tristyn and Maia took full advantage of the nice weather and all day Saturday (and most of Sunday) they and their friends were running in and out of the house.  With all of these children scampering about there was nothing for a mother to do but whip up some cookies that could be easily grabbed.  Grabableness is real important to children on the move; they don't like to sit down with their treat if they don't have to.

I didn't want anything too sweet (they had energy enough!) or anything that would send scatters of crumbs everywhere (the mud from their shoes were enough!) so I decided to make some Snickerdoodles.  I've never really liked Snickerdoodles but I had a few ideas to make them a little more to my liking.  I wanted them soft, not too sweet and with just the right amount of cinnamon.

                                              Snickerdoodles

They turned out to be a real hit!  Snickerdoodles flew out of my kitchen in handfuls; I don't think they lasted even two hours.

Edited: October 5, 2011  This is not the snickerdoodle recipe to use.  I have since perfected the Snickerdoodle cookie and you can find it here: Snickerdoodles!

Snickerdoodles
     by Michelle

4 ounces softened cream cheese
1/3 cup softened butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon of cinnamon

1.  Preheat the oven to 375.  Cream the cream cheese, butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.  Beat in the egg and vanilla.

2.  Quickly whisk the baking powder and flour together and add slowly to the butter mixture.  Mixture will be soft, but not too sticky.   In a separate bowl, combine the 1/4 cup sugar and the cinnamon.  Add more or less cinnamon to taste.

3.  Shape the dough into rounded tablespoons and roll each ball in the cinnamon-sugar mixture.  Place on a lightly sprayed cookie sheet and bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes.  Watch carefully--you want the edges just beginning to turn a light golden brown.  Cool on a wire rack.

Over the weekend, I have also tried to make some updates to Vanilla Icing that would allow people to find my recipes.  According to google search, I get a lot of traffic to my site by people looking for recipes for certain things.  Add in a timely request for a search feature by Francesca and I knew it was time to change things up around here. 

This week will be Cookie Week here at Vanilla Icing to 'celebrate' the changes around here.  There aren't many give aways that a baking blog can have--baked goods don't ship very well when they are free of preservatives!--but I'll be having a small giveaway at the end of the week.   That will be a prime time for anyone lurking to come out of the dark and comment  The prize will be a set of hand written recipe cards with this week's cookie recipes.  But wait!  There's more!  That one lucky person will also get a recipe card with my coveted-never-truly-revealed Sugar Cookie recipe on it.  And there might just be one or two other little things tucked in as well.  =)

Kaiser Rolls

                        Mesquite Smoked Turkey on Kaiser Rolls

I have tried for a while now to get the 'perfect' Kaiser Roll to come out of my oven.  I think I finally have done it!  Kaiser Rolls combine some of the best elements of bread.  You have the soft inside of a good sandwich bread, the hard crust of a hearth bread and the visual of an artisan bread.   I have plenty more to say but I'm afraid this sandwich is sitting next to me tempting me and I can't resist any longer.  It's time for lunch!

(Okay, I didn't actually resist at all but sending showers of poppy seeds all over Little Mac isn't good)

Cupcakes!

             Strawberry Frosted Cupcakes

Chicken Stew with Tarragon & Thyme

The days are slowly lengthening and becoming a little warmer each day.  Do you know what that means?  That means there aren't many more days left to enjoy hearty winter dishes like casseroles and stews!   Don't worry, there's still time to get a few more in before it's time to switch to lighter, fresher summer menus. 

Chicken Stew with Tarragon and Thyme is a recipe that's been slowly coming together in my mind the last few days and today I finally decided to give it a try and see how it turned out.  I was very happy with the results; tender chunks of chicken in a unbelievable creamy sauce with highlights of tarragon and thyme and undertones of earthy mushrooms.  I served it over Wild Rice but I think it would be equally good over any type of rice or even egg noodles.  What do you think?

       Chicken Stew with Tarragon & Thyme

Chicken Stew with Tarragon & Thyme
                           by Michelle

1 cup diced onions
2 cups sliced carrots
1 cup sliced celery
2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 generous tablespoon finely minced garlic
2 cups cubed chicken, white or dark   (I used 2 breasts and I pounded them with wooden mallet to ensure tenderness)
5 tablespoons butter
Olive oil
White Wine
1/2 teaspoon tarragon
1/2 teaspoon thyme
3 cups chicken broth
1/3 cup flour
salt and pepper to taste

1.  In a sauce pot, melt 3 tablespoons of the butter with one small 'glug' of olive oil.  Make a soffrito of the onions, carrots and celery.  The olive oil will help keep the butter from burning but be careful and don't rush it by turning the heat too high.  It will take 8-10 minutes.   Stir frequently as the pot will be crowded!  Add 1 tablespoon of butter and the 2 cups of mushrooms and cook until the mushrooms are beginning to take on a nice color.  Add the garlic and cook for another 1-2 minutes.

2.  Remove the vegetables from the pot to a bowl.  Add the remaining tablespoon of butter to the pot and add another small 'glug' of olive oil.  Cook the chicken, stirring occasionally until cooked through.  Add a splash of white wine and scrape up any brown bits on the bottom of the pot.  Continue cooking the wine until the liquid is reduced by half. 

3.  Place the vegetables back in the pot, add the chicken broth, tarragon and thyme and bring to boil.  Whisk in the flour.  To avoid lumps I like to do this:  Put the flour into a glass and using a fork, whisk in just enough cold water to make a thick--lump free!--paste.  Then, whisk the flour paste mixture into the hot bubbling liquid.  Allow it the stew to boil for a few minutes to get rid of the flour taste.  The stew will thicken some as it cooks but you may wish to add a little more flour to get a consistency you prefer. 

4.  Lower heat to a simmer.  Continue cooking  and stirring occasionally for 15-25 minutes or until the chicken is very tender.  Salt and pepper to taste and serve hot over rice of your choice.

Here's my list of March Baking for those interested   I made it to 41 items this month!