Lemon Almond Poppy Seed Scone Sticks

This is my entry for the Bake it With Rodelle Contest!

The contest invited bakers to share their take on the delicious recipe they posted for 

Lemon Vanilla Poppy Seed 2-Bite Scones and below is my take on their creation.

One winner will receive a Rodelle prize pack filled with gourmet baking supplies, the best vanilla on the market, and international spice blends. The chosen winner will also receive a 12" Convection Digital Countertop Oven and aArtisan® Series 5-Quart Tilt-Head Stand Mixer - both in beautiful Cobalt Blue!

• Lemon Almond Poppy Seed Scone Sticks
• Scones
  1 cup all-purpose flour
  1 cup white whole wheat flour
  1/4 cup sugar
  2 tablespoons brown sugar
  1 tablespoon baking powder
  4 teaspoons poppy seeds
  Scant 1/2 teaspoon salt
  1 large egg
  1/2 cup buttermilk, plus extra to brush the dough
  2 tablespoons lemon zest
  2 teaspoons almond extract
  1 teaspoon vanilla
  1 stick cold butter, diced
  Glaze
  1/2 cup powdered sugar, sifted
  3 tablespoons vanilla flavored coffee creamer
  
  
  Add all dry ingredients to your KitchenAid Stand Mixer with the paddle attachment and mix on the "stir" (lowest) setting until well combined.
  In a separate bowl, combine the egg, buttermilk, zest, almond extract and vanilla. Whisk lightly and set mixture aside.
  Add cold, diced butter to the stand mixer and mix on the lowest setting for approximately 60-90 seconds. The butter should start to break into smaller pieces but not fully combine with the flour. Do not overmix!
  Stream the wet mixture into the dry ingredients while the mixer is on low ("stir") until a dough forms. This should take about 5-10 seconds of mixing.
  Turn off mixer, using a spatula, fold any remaining flour to the top and mix for a few more seconds. Do not overmix.
  Turn dough onto a well-floured surface and gently knead into a ball. If the dough feels overly sticky before kneading, heavily sprinkle with flour before kneading. Split into two even pieces and place one in a bowl in the fridge.
  Gently roll out or shape the dough with your hands into a rectangle about 3/4-inch thick. The rectangle should be approximately 4"x8". You will see pieces of butter in the dough and this is what you want - it will make your scones flaky and delicious.
  Cut rectangle into even slices and place on a parchment lined baking sheet with about 1/2 inch or so spacing between them. Repeat preparation steps with the remaining, refrigerated dough.
  Place scones on the pan in the freezer for 10 minutes.
  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  Lightly brush scones with buttermilk and bake for 12-15 minutes, until the edges are a deep golden brown and the tops are light golden.
  Let cool for 10 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack and let completely cool.
  Drizzle on 1 - 1 1/2 teaspoons glaze over each cooled scone. Top with extra poppy seeds if desired.
  For the Glaze
  Stir ingredients together until well combined. Mixture should be pourable but not too thick or too thin. 
• • 
    

The Sweet Taste of Summer

 Today is Pre-K graduation for Marshall,

the beginning of summer and pushing us even closer to Kindergarten next year!

I wanted to make a sweet treat as a goodbye for the friends in class and to thank his teachers for the great job that they have done throughout the year. I've seen these flip flop cookies all over pintrest and on multiple blogs and I thought I could doctor them up to hand out today. I hope they are enjoyed!

 It is so simple to make these, you just dip nutter butter cookies in candy melts

I used green, blue, purple and pink and let them dry on wax paper

 While the cookies were drying I decided to make some sand out of ground gingersnaps and brown sugar. I also had these chocolate rocks so I added those too. Kids always get a kick out of  eating gross things like bug candy, chocolate dirt or rocks and to tell you the truth, so do I!

Once the cookies were dry and the sand was ready I finished off the flip flops with piped white chocolate and little flower sprinkles

 I am really happy with how they came out!

 I hope Marshall has fun handing them out to all of his sweet classmates!

 We are so proud of the great year he has had!

From boredom to Biscoff Buttercream

Do you still have any Girl Scout cookies lying around? 

Every year those little temptresses come around with their wagon of cookies and if you are anything like me you just can't say no. Especially to new cookies. This year the new flavor was "Shout Outs" and the description was a buttery caramel crisp cookie. Well, when I read that I instantly thought of Biscoff cookies and spread that I'm seeing pop up all over foodie blogs everywhere. And then I just had to get them. The problem was, after I ripped open the box and dug in, I was a bit dissapointed.

They were just meh.
Boring.

Not great, but not horrible either.
It felt like they needed something

So I dipped them in Nutella- that was good

Then I dipped them in Biscoff- that was even better

Then I made a deliciously dark chocolate cupcake, whipped up a Biscoff Buttercream icing and shoved one of those cookies in the top- that was heavenly

 

It's just what the cookie needed 

Absolutely perfect!

Biscoff Buttercream

5 Tablespoons room temperature butter

1 cup powdered sugar

1 cup Biscoff spread

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

4 Tablespoons heavy cream

Place all ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer. With the paddle attachment, combine the ingredients on low speed until just combined and then raise speed to medium and whip until fluffy and fully incorporated. Pipe onto cake layers, cupcakes or spoon in your mouth. No judgement here.

It's Raining Cats and Dogs

 I made these Iced Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies for a sweet little girl that was turning two. Her party was Hello Kitty themed, and these were the favors for her guests!

The cream cheese in the sugar cookie dough gives them a little hint of extra flavor and keeps the cookies really soft and delicious. The bows were my first try at royal icing transfers, and I was so pleased with the results!

 It's been a big weekend at our house! Here is the latest edition to our family:

Roux

we got her on Saturday and the kids are truly smitten

 best friends already!

 Here's what I'll be making this week:

Monday: Chicken Pot Pie with buttered corn        

   Gingered Toffee Pear Cake

Wednesday: Broccoli Cheese Soup and Garlic Bread

Friday: BBQ Spaghetti with a green salad

Chocolate Kahlua Cookies

When I saw a recipe recently for frosting cookies, I saved it immediately. With all the baking I do I always have extra frosting, and this looked like a great way to use it up. The frosting I had was chocolate and I thought the kahlua would be a great combo with it. Who doesn't love coffee and chocolate together?!

Chocolate Kahlua Cookies

adapted from here

for cookies:

1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup chocolate frosting
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon homemade kahlua
1/4 cup sugar

for glaze:

4 teaspoon kahlua

1 teaspoon heavy cream

1/2 cup powdered sugar

Heat oven to 350. Grease a cookie sheet or line with a silpat.
In a medium bowl, mix the flour, salt, and baking soda.
In a separate bowl, mix the frosting, egg, kahlua, and sugar on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until well combined.
Drop cookies by large tablespoon fulls onto prepared cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until edges of cookies are lightly browned.
In a small bowl combine kahlua, heavy cream and powdered sugar and whisk until smooth.
Allow cookies to cool for 15 minutes before glazing. 
Drizzle glaze liberally over cookies and allow to set 30 minutes before serving.

Here's what I'll be cooking up this week:

Monday: Chicken Enchiladas Verde with green salad

Wednesday: Low Fat Cheesy Stuffed Shells with Parmesan Roasted Cauliflower

Friday: Corn and Potato Chowder with Garlic Bread

Nuts for Nutella

Do you remember these?

The brownie roll out cookies I made for Valentine's Day? 

Well, they were delicious and I was really happy with how they came out for Marshall's teachers and friends at school. After I baked them I couldn't help thinking how good they would be filled with something....jam, marshmallow cream, buttercream or Nutella.

When I made the dough, I split it in half and froze the half I didn't use. Well wrapped, cookie dough can stay stored in the freezer for a couple months and when I defrosted the dough I kneaded it quickly and was ready to roll, cut bake and fill. 

Since two of the people that would be trying these cookies adore Nutella, that's what I went with and I thought they came out delicious!

Since they were so good I used them as bribery. 

It is nearly impossible to get a picture of both of my children together, smiling, looking at the camera and staying still so the picture isn't blurry and now I know how to get them to cooperate, SCORE!

Happy Valentine's Day!

In my son's class today they will be exchanging Valentine's and having a Valentine's Day party. I thought it might be a little sweeter to pass out something homemade to his classmates instead of the typical sucker and card combo. My kids had a lot of fun helping me bake these and I love any reason to bake! I hope everyone has a great Valentine's Day!

On The Menu this Week:
Monday: Roasted Eggplant and Zucchini Baked Rigatoni with Cucumber and Tomato Salad

Wednesday: Tacos Al Pastor with Pico de Gallo Rice

Friday: Meatloaf with Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Lemon Steamed Broccoli

If you would like to order any meals this week, or get on the weekly e mail list just let me know!

Away in a Manger

Today was my son's Christmas play and class party. He was Joseph, and he did so well! He loved practicing his song and I'm so glad he didn't get nervous with all the parent attention and camera flashes!For the party I made browned butter sugar cookies and decorated them with royal icing. I really hope the kids enjoy their sweet reward for such a good performance.

Holly Jolly Christmas Treats

I have been busy baking up a storm lately! Here's a preview of all the sweet things I've been making

Four dozen cupcakes for a good friend's work event
Apple Pecan Cupcake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Icing topped with homemade Pralines

Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Icing

Gingerbread Cupcake with Molasses Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting

White Vanilla Cupcakes with Dark Chocolate Icing and edible Snowflakes

Later in the week, I hosted a cookie swap for our playgroup and I decided to make chocolate s'more cookies
before being baked:

after:
as if the cookies weren't enough I also made an Orange Vanilla Yogurt cake to snack on that morning
over the weekend we went to a small get together and I brought cake truffles and cupcakes
the first are gingerbread truffles, here they are ready to be dipped
gingerbread truffles decorated for Christmas
and chocolate, strawberry cream cheese cake truffles
I also have been baking a variety of cookies to pass out to neighbor's and for my son's teachers
Here are Rum Raisin, Cranberry Coconut Cookies and Nutella Swirls- I think both of these were my favorites this year! SO buttery and delicious
Browned Butter Sugar Cookies
Coconut Krispie Snowball Merinues
Peanut Chocolate Krispies- honey peanut butter krispie treat covered with chocolate

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!