Archives for December 2015

Pound Cake Muffins

December 26, 2015 By Katie 18 Comments

Pound Cake Muffins

I took one of my favorite recipes for pound cakes & made it in muffin form. Why? Well I hate waiting 1 hour for the pound cake to cook in the oven when I make it in a traditional bread loaf pan & with muffins these were done in under 20 minutes! I’m excited, now when I’m craving pound cake or I need a quick dessert I can make these muffins.

Pound Cake Muffins

I think they would be great to use for making little strawberry shortcakes too!

Pound Cake Muffins

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

18 mins

Total time

28 mins

Recipe type: Dessert

Serves: 10-12

Ingredients

½ cup (1 stick) salted butter
½ cup brown sugar, packed
¼ cup sugar
1 egg
½ teaspoon baking powder
⅛ teaspoon baking soda
1 cup all purpose flour
½ cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
-----------------------------------
powdered sugar for dusting (optional)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a muffin pan or line with muffin liners, set aside.
Cream butter & sugars together, add in egg. Mix in sour cream & vanilla. Add the flour, baking soda, & baking powder & mix well.
Pour into prepared muffin pan, filling ¾ of the way full.
Bake for 18-22 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center of one comes out clean.
Let cool in pan for 15 min. then transfer to cooling rack or plate, dust with powdered sugar (optional).

Snowball Cookies (Without Nuts)

December 14, 2015 By Katie 31 Comments

Snowball Cookies (Without Nuts)

I love Snowball Cookies, they look so appealing with all that fluffy powdered sugar coating. However, I don’t like nuts in my baked goods plus there are several people in my family with nut allergies so I wanted to make these with no nuts added. I didn’t know if it was possible but after looking at the recipe I noticed that it’s just a basic shortbread cookie with nuts in it. I omitted the nuts & it turned out just fine.

If you still want to make Snowball Cookies with nuts just add 3/4 cup nuts to the recipe & you can have traditional Snowball Cookies still.

You Roll the dough into 1″ balls. I used a non stick baking mat because it helps to keep the cookies from spreading out when they bake but its not required.

You don’t want to over bake the cookies, take them out when they are set, the bottoms will be a light golden color. Mine were done in 9 minutes.

Snowball Cookies (Without Nuts)

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

10 mins

Total time

20 mins

Recipe type: Dessert

Serves: 35-40

Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, soft (I used salted)
½ cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2¼ cups all purpose flour
+ 1 cup powdered sugar for coating

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Using a large mixing bowl, mix butter & powdered sugar together. Add in vanilla extract.
Add flour & mix until soft dough ball forms.
Roll dough into 1" balls & place on ungreased cookie sheet (I used a nonstick baking mat).
Bake for 8-10 minutes or until cookies are set but not browning.
Remove from oven, let cool for a few minutes then roll in a bowl of powdered sugar. Place on cooling rack to cool, then roll in powdered sugar again.

recipe adapted from Betty Crocker

Christmas Shortbread Bars (4 Ingredients)

December 12, 2015 By Katie Leave a Comment

Christmas Shortbread Bars (Only 4 Ingredients)

Easy Christmas Dessert Recipe? Yes, Please! I love making these shortbread bar cookies! It literally took me two minutes to whip these up & put them in the oven. I used my sisters 4 Ingredient Sugar Cookie Bars Recipe & topped it with Christmas colored sprinkles.

You can easily make 1/2 a recipe if you want a small batch, just bake it in a 8×8″ pan & reduce baking time to 22-25 min.

Christmas Shortbread Bars (4 Ingredients)

Cook time

30 mins

Total time

30 mins

Recipe type: Dessert

Serves: 18

Ingredients

1 cup soft butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
½ cup sugar
2½ cups flour
sprinkles for decorating!

Instructions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees
Cream butter, sugar and vanilla together. Add flour and mix until it all sticks together.
Press dough into 9x13 pan (I use the back of a spoon).
Take a fork and poke holes all over the top. Put sprinkles on top.
Bake for 30-35 mins, just until the edges start to get slightly golden.
Let cool before serving.

Sour Cream Spritz Cookies

December 9, 2015 By Katie 2 Comments

Sour Cream Christmas Spritz Cookie Recipe

I love spritz cookies! Every year we make spritz for Christmas. Last year I posted my families traditional Christmas Tree Spritz cookie recipe. There are so many variations of spritz cookies so this year I decided to be adventurous and try a new kind. Well my sister had the same idea so last week she made the sour cream spritz recipe that comes with the mirro cookie press. She was not impressed, she thought it was bland & too salty so I was glad I didn’t make that recipe. I decided to switch up the recipe completely & make several changes. My sister asked me which recipe I liked better, the traditional or this one, I honestly can’t decided, I like them both!

Recipe makes around 80 cookies depending on how big you make your spritz & which disc shape you are using. Be careful that you push out enough dough for each cookie or it will not stick to the cookie sheet like it should. If the dough is giving you problems you could try chilling it for 20 minutes or so in the refrigerator. I never have any trouble with mine coming out nicely but I know some people do.

If your looking for a cookie press Amazon has the Oxo Good Grips Cookie Press & the Wilton Cookie Press both come with several pattern discs.

Sour Cream Spritz Cookies

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

10 mins

Total time

20 mins

Author: Katie

Recipe type: Dessert

Serves: about 80

Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, softened
¾ cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
⅓ cup sour cream
2¾ cups + 2 Tablespoons all purpose flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder
+sprinkles for decorating

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 F. degrees
Mix softened butter & sugar together. Mix in egg, vanilla, & sour cream. Add in flour & baking powder & mix until well combined.
Add to cookie press fitted with a disc (tree, flower, wreath, etc.). Use cookie press to press dough onto ungreased cookie sheet. Top cookies with sprinkles.
Bake 10-12 minutes

This post contains amazon affiliate links.

Ritz Chocolate Thin Mint Cookies Recipe

December 7, 2015 By Holly 2 Comments

These cookies really do taste like the girl scout thin mints, and they are super easy since they are no bakes. Just melt the chocolate, add the mint and dip the crackers.

A little tip for these cookies: Store them in their own container. If you put any other cookies in with them the other cookies will taste minty too.

Ritz Chocolate Thin Mint Cookies Recipe

Prep time

10 mins

Total time

10 mins

Author: Holly

Recipe type: Dessert

Serves: 18

Ingredients

15-20 Ritz Crackers
4-5 squares of Chocolate Almond Bark
½ teaspoon Mint Extract
Sprinkles (optional)

Instructions

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Melt the chocolate almond bark as directed on package, then add the mint extract and stir until combined. Dip each cracker in the chocolate covering both sides and place on baking sheet. Add sprinkles before chocolate gets hard.

Christmas Peanut Butter Cookies

December 7, 2015 By Katie 4 Comments

Easy Christmas Peanut Butter Cookies using mini Christmas cookie cutters & sprinkles!

The count down to Christmas is on. How did Christmas creep up so fast? I’d love to say I was one of those people that has my Christmas shopping done by June…but I’m not. I’m still looking for the perfect presents for people on my list, hoping to find something before I run out of time. I love shopping for Christmas gifts for other people though. What’s that saying: “it’s far better to give than to receive”. How true!

Sugar cookies are hands down my favorite kind of cookie, my sister on the other hand would say that Chocolate Chip cookies are her favorite. However my second favorite cookie is peanut butter. I’ve been trying to brainstorm how I could make a Christmas style peanut butter cookie & this morning I finally came up with the answer. I used my go to peanut butter cookie recipe that I make all the time & I used mini Wilton cookie cutters. I just placed them on top of each cookie & sprinkled the inside of the cookie cutter with colorful sprinkles. So easy!

PS. No rolling out dough for this recipe! You just roll the peanut butter dough into balls & use the bottom of a glass to press them down.

I used mini Christmas cookie cutters to make these cookies. I just placed them on top of the cookie, pressed them down slightly (to leave an outline), put sprinkles inside & removed the cookie cutter.

Amazon has the Wilton Mini Christmas Cookie Cutters & Target had them online & in stores too.

Christmas Peanut Butter Cookies

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

10 mins

Total time

20 mins

Ingredients

½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup packed brown sugar
½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened (microwave for 25-30 seconds)
½ cup smooth peanut butter
1 large egg
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
+Sprinkles for decorating

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a medium sized mixing bowl add sugar, brown sugar, & butter together & stir until creamy. Add peanut butter, egg, & vanilla & stir until smooth & creamy.
Add flour & baking soda & stir until well combined.
Scoop or roll dough into 2 inch balls & place on ungreased cookie sheets. Flatten each ball using the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar to about ¼" thick. Place mini Christmas cookie cutter in the center & coat with sprinkles, remove cookie cutter & repeat with rest of cookies.
Bake for 10-12 minutes or until edges start to slightly brown.

Links to 2 different Wilton Mini Christmas Cookie cutters on amazon: Wilton Mini Cookie Cutter set of 12 & Wilton 5-piece Mini Cookie Cutters (This post contains amazon affiliate links)

Archives for December 2015

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