How to Decorate Christmas Cookies

December 18, 2014 by Beeb Leave a Comment

Sample provided.

My parents and I moved from England to the US when I was 5, so a big part of the holidays was calling our family back home and seeing what Grandma had sent in her annual Christmas package. Every so often, you’d find a small packet of Walkers Shortbread tucked in with the toys and goodies; so it reminded me of those packages when a box of Walkers showed up at my door this month!

I had never seen these Festive Shapes before, and I thought they were really sweet! These are the perfect canvas to dress up however you see fit – so if you want to show your kids how to decorate Christmas cookies, this is an easy way to start! Try this idea:

Decorative Icing

Recipe provided by Walkers Shortbread.

Ingredients:

4 C sifted confectioner’s sugar
3 to 4 TBSP water or fresh lemon juice
Food coloring

Directions:

Mix the sugar with the water or juice, a little bit at a time, until your desired consistency is achieved. Separate the icing into different bowls and add drops of food coloring to each one to your liking. Keep icing covered with cling film when not in use.

I had to scale down the recipe quite a bit because, ahem, I ate most of the cookies before I decorated them. 😉 To decorate, I put the icing into sandwich bags, folded them up, and snipped off the end with scissors; it was a little messy, so if fine designs is what you’re going for, you might want to bust out a formal decorating tube. But if you just want to have fun with the kiddos, I wouldn’t sweat it – Santa will love them either way! Merry Christmas!

Quick & Easy Gluten Free Immaculate Baking Mixes

October 17, 2014 by Momstart Leave a Comment

Samples Received

I love to bake but can’t always find the time to bake. Cooking from scratch sometimes takes more time because you have to first have all the right ingredients, then second measure them all out, put them all away and it can be a process. Boxed or prepared mixes are reliable and convenient. But when you bake from scratch, you know exactly which ingredients were used to create the cakes, cookies and other baked goods your family and friends are consuming. It’s a choice.

Just in time for the busy holiday baking season, Immaculate Baking now offers eight new scratch mixes that marry convenience and great taste with simple and carefully selected ingredients. Their scratch baking mixes include the same ingredients you would choose if baking from scratch.

I’m super excited they sent me these mixes because I haven’t had time to bake and I’ve been craving some cookies. I have been sick since Wednesday and on Sunday I was REALLY craving some cookies. I picked up the Gluten Free Chocolate Cookie mix, added two eggs and some oil and voila instant cookies. Easy to clean up too, just put the bowl and cookie sheets in the dishwasher when finished baking and my kitchen was clean and I had good cookies with little effort.

The new offerings, made from wholesome, natural ingredients include:

• All Natural Chocolate Cake Scratch Baking Mix

• All Natural Yellow Cake Scratch Baking Mix

• All Natural Brownie Scratch Baking Mix

• Organic All Purpose Flour

• Organic Pancakes & Waffle Mix

• Gluten Free Double Chocolate Cookie Mix

• Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix

• Gluten Free Sugar Cookie Mix

All of Immaculate Baking’s convenient baking solutions are made without use of GMOs and have been enrolled for Non-GMO Project Verification. Currently, over half of Immaculate Baking’s products are Non-GMO Project Verified; Immaculate Baking anticipates its entire lineup will be Non-GMO Project Verified in the near future.

ABOUT Immaculate Baking:

Immaculate Baking began with a cookie. While some kids were forming garage bands, Scott Blackwell used his garage to manifest a simple dream with dogged determination. He resolved to create, perfect, and share his mouth-watering, wholesome, homemade cookies, like the classic Chocobilly. Welcome to Immaculate Baking.

10 Halloween Inspired Cookie Recipes

October 16, 2014 by Momstart 1 Comment

Halloween is the beginning of baking season and that’s my favorite time of year. Here are 10 different Halloween inspired cookie surprises.

1. MONSTER COOKIES
2. Gingerbread Vampires
3. Halloween Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies
4. “Candy Corn” Cookies
5. Pumpkin {Shaped} Cookies
6. Chocolate Peanut Butter Spider Cookies
7. Candy Corn Cookies
8 Jack-o-Lantern Oreo Pops
9 Gooey Monster Cookies
10 Witch Hat Peanut Butter Cookies

Truvia Baking Star Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies

September 15, 2014 by Momstart Leave a Comment

This is a partnered post as part of my Truvia Ambassadorship.

As a Truvia Ambassador we receive new products before they hit the shelves and we received the new Truvia^® Brown Sugar Blend to use. So we made cookies, Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies using the new Truvia^® Brown Sugar Blend. Since we are partnering with Truvia on this post we also wanted to share with you their new Truvia Baking Star contest.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies Recipes:

Ingredients:

4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup Truvia Baking Blend
1/2 cup Truvia^® Brown Sugar Blend
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 (16 ounce) can solid pack pumpkin
1 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, both Truvia blends, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.

Next add the pumpkin, oil, eggs, milk and vanilla.

Mix the mixture on medium speed until well mixed.

Then stir in chocolate chips.

Drop by tablespoonful onto greased baking sheets.

Bake at 375 degrees F for 13-14 minutes or until edges just begin to brown.

Cool for 2 minutes then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Truvia^® Baking Star starts today Monday, September 15^th. Visit truviabakingstar.com to see videos of of YouTube’s top foodies, including a gourmet chef and healthy living expert, to launch the Truvia^® Baking Star contest. Gaby Dalkin, Byron Talbott, April Moore and Joanne Ozug created a series of recipe videos which all use the new Truvia^® Brown Sugar Blend and encourage fans like you guys to enter the contest.

Truvia^® Baking Star Contest Timeline:

· September 15 – October 7, 2014: Participants can submit a video which showcases their baking talents and highlights an original recipe featuring either the NEW Truvia^® Brown Sugar Blend or the Truvia^® Baking Blend via TruviaBakingStar.com.

· October 15 to October 29, 2014: Fans can vote for their favorite of 10 semi-finalists. The highest vote-getters will be notified that they have won a spot in the final round and an all-expense-paid trip to New York City with a guest.

November 19, 2014: The finalists’ baking skills will be judged live by the YouTube Star judges and the Truvia® Baking Star Contest winner will be announced. The winner will receive a professionally produced & promoted video.

Spring Time Jam into Thumbprint Cookies Recipe

April 21, 2014 by Momstart 4 Comments

It’s spring and the fruits are in season. While I was at Costco yesterday it was so hard to pass up the crate of strawberries. The only reason why I did was because we get a weekly box of produce sent to our house and I can’t wait to see what’s in it. With fruit being in season it’s really easy to make your own low sugar Jam with Truvia use this Balsamic Strawberry jam recipe and substitute the sugar for Truvia low calorie sweetener by cutting the amount in half 2 cups sugar = 1 cup truvia, or you can always use jam from the store.

While I was with Smuckers last November we made these Thumbprint cookies. JUST DELISH!

Classic Thumbprint Cookies

Makes: 4 Dozen

Preparation Time: 40 Minutes

Cooking Time: 17 Minutes

Ingredients

· Crisco® Original No-Stick Cooking Spray
· 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
· 1 Crisco® Baking Sticks Butter Flavor All-Vegetable Shortening, cut into slices
· OR 1 cup Crisco® Butter Flavor All-Vegetable Shortening
· 3 large eggs, separated
· 2 tablespoons water
· 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
· 1/4 teaspoon salt
· 2 cups Pillsbury BEST® All Purpose Flour
· 2 cups finely chopped pecans
· 1 cup Smucker’s® Strawberry Preserves, or any Smucker’s® Preserves, Jam or Jelly

Directions

1. HEAT oven to 350°F. Adjust rack to middle position. Coat two cookie sheets lightly with no-stick cooking spray.

2. BEAT brown sugar and shortening in medium bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed for 2 minutes or until fluffy. Scrape down sides of bowl. Add egg yolks, water, vanilla and salt. Beat until well combined. Add flour on low speed until well blended.

3. BEAT egg whites in a shallow bowl until foamy. Place pecans in a separate shallow bowl. Measure about 2 teaspoons dough for each cookie. Roll into balls. Dip each dough ball into egg whites, then roll into pecans. Place on prepared cookie sheet. Using the back of a teaspoon or your thumb, make a rounded indentation in the top of each cookie.

4. BAKE 10 minutes. Remove from oven. It may be necessary to create the indentation once again with a spoon. Place about 1 teaspoon preserves into the indentation of each cookie.

Great Recipe: How To Make Turbo FAST Cookies #StreamTeam

April 8, 2014 by Momstart 2 Comments

WE love watching Turbo and having a series on Netflix makes it easier to watch it regularly. Snail up for the next installment featuring five brand new episodes of DreamWorks Animation’s Turbo FAST (Fast Action Stunt Team) available now, only on Netflix!

Turbo FAST Cookies

All you need is food coloring, basic sugar cookie dough, toothpicks, mini marshmallows, colorful candy of your choosing, icing…and your imagination!

Check out DreamWorks Animation’s Pinterest page for inspiration: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/39969515417476354/.

Turbo FAST is an outrageous, high-octane ensemble comedy series teaming the world-famous super-powered snail Turbo with his posse of adrenaline-junkie buddies to form the Fast Action Stunt Team (FAST). Together, they amp up everything to the extreme: extreme adventure, extreme challenges and extreme excitement. No matter how wild things get, the Fast Action Stunt Team always has each other’s backs. Snail Up! Anytime, anywhere, only on Netflix.

For more information, visit TeamTurboFast.com and Netflix.com/Turbo.

Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Bars Recipe

February 13, 2014 by Momstart Leave a Comment

My daughter wanted so cookies and I had to be a good mom and make her some right? That’s what good moms do. I kid, a little, I was in the mood for cookies too, but I’m almost always in the mood for cookies, so I made these Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Bars and yep I used Truvia. (I am a truvia ambassador)

Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Bars

Ingredients

· 1/2 cup Butter softened
· 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
· 1/4 cup Truvia Baking Blend (or 1/2 cup sugar)
· 1 large egg
· 2 tablespoons milk
· 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
· 1 cup All Purpose Flour
· 1 teaspoon baking soda
· 1/2 teaspoon salt
· 1 cup Chocolate Chips
1 cup Butterscotch Chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325

Cream the butter, then add the egg, then the Truvia & brown sugar.

Mix in the remaining wet ingredients in a blender

Mix all the dry ingredients in a separate bowl (except the chips)

Then slowly stir in the dry ingredients into the wet ones

Press the dough into a 13 x 9 x 2 pan

Cook for about 18 minutes or until toothpick comes out dry

Cut into bars

Tofu Chocolate Rosemary Cookies Recipe

February 7, 2014 by Momstart Leave a Comment

This recipe is Created by Debi Mazar & Gabriele Corcos, stars of Cooking Channel’s show Extra Virgin.

Debi & Gabriele’s Tofu Chocolate Rosemary Cookies. These unique treats combine House Foods Premium or Organic Tofu Soft with rosemary, chocolate chips and walnuts for a spin on the traditional that will definitely sweeten up your sweetheart!

INGREDIENTS:

1 ½ cups all purpose flour

½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

1 tsp dried rosemary, crushed, plus more for sprinkling

½ package (7 oz) House Foods Premium or Organic Tofu Soft, patted dry

1 large egg

¾ cup granulated sugar

½ cup canola oil

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

4 oz 60% bittersweet chocolate, chopped

4 oz semi sweet chocolate, chopped

½ cup chopped toasted walnuts

DIRECTIONS:

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Line a sheet tray with parchment paper or a silicone-baking mat.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and rosemary. Set aside.

Add the tofu, egg, sugar, oil, and vanilla to the bowl of a food processor and puree until smooth.

Combine the tofu mixture with the dry ingredients and stir well (batter will be thick). Once smooth, stir in the chocolate and nuts. Lay out a 24-inch sheet of parchment paper. Spread the dough across the middle (leaving about four inches on each side of the dough to twist) then roll up the dough into a log, twisting the ends of the parchment to close.

Place in the freezer to firm up for at least 1 hour.

Slice the dough with a serrated knife into ½ inch rounds, place on the sheet tray, patting into perfect rounds, if necessary, then sprinkle the tops lightly with more rosemary. Bake for 14 minutes, until set, and lightly golden around the edges.

Molded Scottish Shortbread Recipe

December 29, 2013 by Momstart 2 Comments

I love to bake and this Holiday Season I went crazy with the cookies. And I have half the guilt because I use Truvia. I’m A Truvia Ambassador and compensated for my time with my own opinions. If you want to win prizes and find other fun information head on over to the Truvia® Sweepstakes Page at www.facebook.com/truvia, and “like” it. Check out more recipes from apple crisp, pumpkin pie, gingerbread men, to red velvet cupcakes, and more! This is my Molded Scottish Shortbread Recipe.

Molded Scottish Shortbread Recipe

Ingredients:

two and two thirds of a tablespoon truvia baking blend
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
1 egg

Directions:

Preheat oven to temperature recommended by shorbread mold manufacturer. Spray 10-inch ceramic shorbread mold with nonstick cooking spray. This mold I received last year from Good Cook. (350 degrees F)

Combine flour and salt in a medium bowl. Beat butter and Truvia in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add egg; beat until well blended. Gradually add flour mixture. Beat at low speed until well blended.

Press dough firmly into mold. Bake cool and remove from mold according to manufacturer’s directions. (18 – 20 minutes)

These are great, not too sweet.

Funfetti Stuffed Cotton Candy Cookie Recipe

Decorative Icing

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies Recipes: