Spiced Brown Sugar Cookies- The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap 2013

I recently participated in my first ever food blogger cookie swap. I found it from other bloggers who had participated in past years and was thrilled to be a part of this fun event! So basically, everyone makes a huge batch of a favorite cookie recipe to total 3 dozen cookies. These cookies get divided into three packages of one dozen cookies each and then sent to three different people. Therefore each participant gets to receive three packages of cookies from other bloggers! Isn't that a great Christmas treat to surprise you on your doorstep?

I had the joy of getting cookies from three lovely, talented bakers all across the US (literally... Florida, Texas, and Cali) and each one was unique and delicious! Here's a quick peek at what I got in the mail this past week....

First cookie delivery- A medley of Christmas cookies from Laurie at Food is Love. I had the pleasure of enjoying red and green velvet cookies, banana split cookies, and caramel brownie cookies. It was such a nice surprise after a long day to come to these on my doorstep!

Second cookie delivery- Delicious Rugelach from Emily at Totes Delishy. These were my mom's favorite! She tasted them and tried to steal them all! These were waiting for me in the morning so I decided they could count as a special breakfast treat!

Third cookie delivery-  Peanut Butter Cup cookies from Diana at Life Tastes So Good. Peanut butter cups are one of my all time favorite foods so needless to say, I was a big fan of these cookies! They made for a perfect snow day snack!

Now finally onto the cookies I shared for the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap! I made these spiced brown sugar cookies which were similar to a snickerdoodle mixed with a cinnamon-gingersnap cookie. And they were so good! 

3 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 sticks butter, softened

1 egg

2 tsp vanilla

Green and red sugar crystals

1. Beat butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add in egg and vanilla and continue to beat. 

2. Mix flour, baking powder, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and salt in a separate bowl.  Slowly add dry mix while beating on low.

3. Wrap ball of dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 15 minutes. Take out of fridge and roll into balls then flatten with your hand. These cookies retain their shape well.

4. Place on parchment lined sheet and sprinkle with red and green sugar crystals. Bake on 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Allow a few minutes to set on baking sheet and them remove to cool.

Adapted from : Annie's Eats

Apple Cupcakes

Good morning! I'm soaking up the last month of my favorite season! I love everything fall! The trees, the leaves, the orchards, the weather, the hoodies, the campfires. It's so fun! And not to mention the  fall themed food that go right along with this season, all things caramel, cinnamon, apple, cider, nutmeg, and pumpkin. It's literally all my favorite things.

So in celebration of my favorite season, I made some fall treats for my husband's work. His coworkers do this tradition called a friendship plate. The staff is divided up into list and each list gets cute dish which the first person must fill with sweet treats and then pass to another person on your list. After you enjoy your treats, you fill up the plate with sweets and pass it on to someone else. By the end of the year everyone has been gifted a dish of goodies. Isn't that so sweet?

In honor of fall I made snickerdoodle blondies, which were heavenly to say the least. Yes, I did try some of the scraps before wrapping up the rest of them and yes, I will post the recipe soon. And I made cupcakes shaped like apples. This is so easy and so cute, I had to share how to make your own apple cupcakes on here. 

 The cupcakes can be homemade, box, whatever. I happened to get a caramel apple box mix on sale for 88 cent last week so I cheated this time. I added cinnamon and caramel extract to help it out. Then choose your favorite icing and simply spread it on evenly to make a nice dome shape. 

Now here's the fun part. Take white sugar and put it in a ziploc bag. Add a few drops of red gel food coloring. Zip the bag and smush! Knead the sugar, toss the sugar. Just keep mixing it until all the dye has been well mixed into the sugar and the sugar is now completely red.  
Then pour the sugar in a small, shallow bowl (I used a coffee cup) and dip the frosted cupcake in upside down, paying attention to fully cover all the icing with red sugar. 

When you are done insert a popsicle and add a green mini m+m for decoration and there you go.

Stuffed Shells

My poor hubby had to have a procedure last week, and any of you who have had one know that you can not eat for 24 hours before most procedures. My husband basically thought this was the end of the world.  "Umm...No food for how long?" was all he could talk about. Gatorade, Italian ice, and broth were not acceptable forms of food for Robert. So he kept "reminding me" me that he would loooove stuffed shells as a reward for going through his difficult time. Well what could I say? Of course, I made him stuffed shells for dinner that night.


1 box large shell pasta
Sauce
1 lb ground beef, cooked and drained
2 lb ricotta cheese
Fresh parsley, chopped
2 eggs
3/4 cup Pecorino or Parmesan cheese
1/2 tbsp salt
1 tbsp pepper
1 lb mozzarella, shredded and divided

1. Boil shells until slightly undercooked, or al dente. Drain and set aside. Don't worry! They will bake in the oven and finish cooking later.

2. Set aside some mozzarella cheese for topping. Stir ground beef into sauce.

3. Mix ricotta, eggs, parsley, most of the mozzarella, pecorino, salt and pepper in a large bowl to blend.
Using a spoon, open the shell and fill with cheese mixture.

4. Pour a tiny bit of sauce to coat bottom of large glass baking pan. Place stuffed shells opening up into baking dish and continue until all shells are filled.

5. Pour sauce over the tray full of shells and top with mozzarella.

6. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes. Let cool and enjoy!

Rum Raisin Cinnamon Scones

For the month of October, we were challenged to make scones by Jaida from Sweet Beginnings! I'm a big fan of starbucks cinnamon chip scones so I immediately decided to try to make something like that and they turned out fantastic.  However my husband requested scones with raisins so I combined two recipes to make one awesome scone, rum raisin cinnamon scone! And it turned out delicious!!

Scones:

2 cups flour

3 tbsp brown sugar

2tbsp white sugar

1 tbsp cinnamon

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter, cold

2/3 cup whole milk

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp rum

1 egg

1/2 cup raisins

Filling:

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp heavy cream, and some more for brushing

Icing:

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tbsp heavy cream

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp corn syrup

1. Mix all dry ingredients for scones together in a large bowl.  Cut in cold butter using a pastry cutter or two forks until the mixture resembles course crumbs.

2. Add in extracts, milk, egg, and rum. Mix well. Gently fold in raisins. Pour mixture onto a large piece of wax paper to form a rectangle (about 5 by 10 inches).

3. Mix brown sugar, cinnamon, and heavy cream in a small bowl for filling. Spread across the top of half the scone dough.

4. Using the wax paper, fold the dough in half by putting the dry scone dough over the side with filling. Press dough down sealing in the filling and stretching the dough out into a large 12 by 6 inches rectangle.

5. Using a sharp knife dipped in flour, cut the rectangle into 8 squares and then cut each square diagonally to make 16 triangle scones.

6. Place on parchment lined baking sheet and brush with cream. Bake on 400 degrees for 13-16 mins.

7. While scones cool, make icing by combining all ingredients in a bowl. Drizzle icing over scones and let it set.

Sources: Adapted from Stella B's Kitchen and Created by Diane

Cinnamon Sugar Topped Banana Raisin Muffins

My husband refuses to eat breakfast in the kitchen like a normal human being, unless it's the weekend. It could have something to do with his crazy long commute. I guess waffles and syrup in the car could lead to some sticky situations...

So therefore I need to have all portable, easy to grab and eat while driving type foods for his breakfast. It does limit many of the classic breakfast foods. Since he's a huge fan of banana bread, I decided to try this muffin variation on classic banana raisin bread, which usually gets sliced and put into individual baggies. It's definitely easier to pop in your mouth while holding a steering wheel. My husband also really loved the cinnamon sugar crusty tops. Hope this makes your breakfast commute a lil easier!


Muffins:

3 Bananas, well-ripened
1 cup of sugar
1/3 cup corn oil
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cup raisins
2 cups water (for soaking raisins)
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)

Topping:
3 tbsp butter
3 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar

1. Heat 2 cups of water in microwave or stove top. Add in raisins and set aside to plump.

2. Mash bananas in a large bowl and add all other ingredients.

3. Remove raisins from water and pat dry. Gently fold raisins into batter.

4. Fill muffin tins, lined with wrappers or greased with cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

5. Melt butter in microwave.  Pour sugar and cinnamon into a separate small bowl.

6. Dip the cooled muffins into the butter and then immediately into cinnamon sugar. Eat hot or cold, either way they are great!