Peanut Butter Buds!

Peanut Butter Buds! They're chewy, crunchy, chocolaty, peanut butter drops of goodness, or in one word delicious. I found the recipe on the blog, 17 and Baking, and I just love her approach to baking. Seriously, check out her website.

Anyways, I followed her recipe, which you can also find a similar (OK, its pretty much the exact same thing,) recipe for Peanut Butter Blossoms, the big version of what I made today, on Hershey's website using larger cookies and Kisses for the chocolate.

Anyways you combine the ingredients in normal cookie fashion. You then make smaller-than-bite-size balls using ,yes, only a quarter teaspoon! You then roll it in sugar. I first tried using coarse sanding sugar that was multicolored but I didn't think it looked like it should be on peanut butter cookies. I then used Sugar in the Raw, or turbinado sugar, which worked well until I ran out, so I ended up using just plain table sugar after that. Then you bake them for about 5-6 minutes although mine were all over the place, some took 7 minutes. Another batch took 4 minutes, but that is my oven for you.

When they are out put a chocolate chip in the center of each one and press lightly, then let cool so the chocolate can re-harden. I used 3 types of chocolate chips on mine: semisweet, white, and milk chocolate.

The recipe says it makes 15 dozen but my entire recipe only made barely 10 dozen, although, that could because my cookies were a little on the large size.

Either way, the cookies taste delicious and even if you make them full size, they will still taste delicious.

Peanut Butter Buds

Originally posted by Elissa at 17 and Baking

States it makes 15 dozen small cookies, varies depending on size

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup shortening
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 egg
3 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Granulated sugar for rolling
Chocolate chips (any type)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
   
2. Beat peanut butter and shortening until well mixed, then beat in the two sugars until light. Add the egg, milk, and vanilla and beat until fluffy.


3. Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together, then add in 3 batches to the peanut butter mixture, beating well between additions.


4. Using a 1/4 tsp, roll dough into 1/2 inch balls. Roll in granulated sugar and place on ungreased baking sheets. I recommend using parchment paper or a Silpat mat.


5. Bake 5-6 minutes, on until slightly golden brownand remove from oven. Immediately press a chocolate chip into the center of each cookie. Let cookies cool a minute, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. [Note: the chocolate chip will be warm and gooey for some time, so be careful before stacking them.]


6. Alternatively, roll heaped tablespoons of dough in sugar and place onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake as directed. When baked press a Hershey's kiss into the center, in the fashion of the chocolate chips for Peanut Butter Blossoms.

The cookies will keep for several days at room temperature in an airtight container.

Cookies!

Well I made the cookies this weekend,no two weekends ago. I did make them in ice cream cone/cupcake shapes, however I only took pictures of the final cupcake ones although the ice cream cone ones were just darling [cuter than the cupcakes]. I made them out of the recipe I got from Cookie Craft [seriously, pick up a copy of this-its like the bible of cut-out cookies and all you can do with them].

The recipe calls for the zest of a whole lemon, and usually I like my sugar cookies slightly lemony but once you add the royal icing which has lemon in it [more on that later,] they turn into lemon cookies not sugar cookies, however the texture is just right they didn't spread at all in the oven and didn't burn easily. The book also includes a chocolate recipe, and nut cookie recipe.

Now onto the icing. I also used the royal icing recipe used in the book although usually I use the one out of my Martha Stewart's Cookies book. The one from Martha is only made with meringue powder, while in Cookie Craft they give you a recipe for meringue powder, liquid egg whites, and powdered egg white. I would have used any of them but meringue powder was what was in my pantry. In Craft, they also include two different quantities for each egg product, and a different recipe for flood and piping icing, which is something most recipes don't do. Martha's recipe only includes one quantity, and one consistency.
They also include the very helpful hint of how long you must beat your icing. Wow! I had been doing it very wrong. They recommend beating your icing for 5 minutes with a Kitchenaid, or like product, and 10 minutes with a hand mixer, which really really makes a difference in both your piping and flooding icing, although it is a pain in the butt to hold up your feeble hand mixer for 10 minutes.

Speaking of which, I so wish I had a Kitchenaid stand mixer. At first, I was being picking saying I wanted the Artisan model mostly for the colors [Hello, pink or baby blue!] ,but also for the bigger bowl and power.I used the ones in our school kitchens and they were a pain to get the bowl out because to lift it up you got the stuff on the spoon again. They had a crank-lift head. So now I have decided I just want a Kitchenaid even if it is their low end Classic model [ but still expensive in these times $150].
However I want an Artisan model for my birthday in July so hopefully I will get that because I have been baking at least once a week and using the hand mixer [ a cheap model I got for my birthday last year] for that. I have also been using the argument that the Kitchenaid will last a lifetime and is a great investment.
See my parents have a stand mixer, I think a Sunbeam, that is straight out of an 80s wedding catalog, almond and brown color scheme and all, that's also broken and badly designed. So I cant use that. Seriously, a kitchenaid is not an appliance, its a tool, and it has the quality to last. Yay! I finally got one for my birthday!

Love Cupcakes and Cookies!

Hi. Wow I am excited for this! I have been wanting to make a baking blog for about a year now. I kept putting it off because it seems like so much work! Well, after some much needed motivation and insisting by my friends and family, I bit the bullet and started it. Now on to the Baked Goods ( why you are probably here in the first place)!

Love Cupcakes and Cookies!

OK, well, they were actually valentines cookies and cupcakes, but, well I have been goin' non stop since V-day so this is really my first chance to post these. So now they are just baked goods for love! It still fits though, I know this will sound cheesy but one of the best ingredients in anything is L-O-V-E!

So I used Pillsbury Dough Sheets already floured and rolled, bought right from the store. I always have such chance with roll-out cookies. I have tried using sugar cookie cut out recipes and the bag mixed variation to roll out, but alas with each no luck. I tried these however, not to make nice cookies but for a project where I needed a smooth surface to use Cookie Markers ( I did not know the wonders---and perils, but that's another post!--of Royal Icing) and thus cut them into shabby squares and drew on them. Anyways I realized they did not spread whatsoever when baking (as a good cut out cookie should) and was thus drawn to them.

You can only get them at holiday times unfortunately! I have seem that at V-day, Halloween, Christmas, and Easter. And you can only freeze them for two months but I still stock up when I see them in store. They may or may not come with pre-made packets of icing as I have seen them both ways. The packages with icing come with 2 dough sheets about 1/4 inch thick and about a foot by 6 inches. The packages without icing come with 3 sheets the same size. The dough can be rerolled after the initial cut just make sure to use flour because it will stick and will spread more.

I do not have pictures of the rolling process or the dough sheet as this is a backdated post but in future posts I promise I will!

The royal icing recipe I used came straight from the Pages of Martha Stewart's Cookie book. Royal icing was as well I was having a hard time getting the recipe quite right. Do I use egg whites from an egg, egg whites from the bottle, or egg whites from a can? Do I use cream of tarter or lemon juice or vanilla extract or none at all? So many questions and so many different answers, it was hard to come up with a general consensus. I used 4 different royal icing recipes with none with total success-- one never harden, one was too thick and then too runny, one would not take on color and the other recipe made absolutely no success. I tried the one in the book and I'm not gonna lie I was skeptical, but it worked perfectly and tasted nice (well as nice as any royal icing can taste) and took on color perfectly. The consistency was right too! So I would recommend that recipe, which I think you can find Martha's Website, marthastewart.com.

For the cookies I used various heart cutters of all sizes and in smooth and crinkly--you will see in the pics. I outlined and decorated with a pastry bag and filled and flowed with a squeeze bottle.

I am not by any means an experienced baker or even a careful baker. My lines are sloppy, my edges are drippy and my work area is messy. These may not be up to the level of some of the baking bests, i.e. Bakerella over at her blog ( seriously check her out, her baked goods are art and everything she does is so classy and sophisticated much like the other baking best, Martha Stewart. I mean I already mentioned one of her books so you know I must like her style. Anyways my point was, please, pardon my imperfections and mistakes. And my wordiness! :)

Anyways, now on to the cupcakes.

Again, these were made from a mix. I always buy the holiday funfetti cake mix- frosting combos because they are so cute and you get free sprinkles (again I will elaborate on another post). It was the day after V-days and I felt guilty for leaving a Valentines mix in the pantry when it was after V-day, so I whipped them up in about 30 minutes and change so the little box of mix wouldn't go unused and unloved.

I also broke out the holiday cupcake liners and sprinkles. I decorated the cupcakes simply, although I am a fan still of the ornate ( just not the time consumption). Luckily, the mix made exatly 13 cupakes which is just right for my cupcake stand I bought to display my works. See I never really understood the rule of 2/3 fill cup. Is 2/3 in the cupcake liner or 2/3 in the actual cup in the pan becuase there is a big diffrence so I have never gotten the full 24 cupcake load.

I tried using a gradient technique that I atleast had not heard of until I thought of it. Basically what you do is you put a sweep of thick icing in one color in the pastry bag and then a sweep of the other color(s) and then you pipe it out and you get a gradient tecnique that can be unpredictable but beautiful. It however did work out quite as obviously as I would have liked. See the icing out of the can was already a light pink and I wanted a gradient to hot pink but it was not that noticable. Oh well, it still turned out relatively nice. I also just used a cut ziploc bag for this as I did not want to waste a pastry bag for non-intricate designs.