Christmas Sugar Cookies

This year we made 6 batches of sugar cookies and 1 batch of gingerbread! Needless to say, decorating these cookies was not a quick process! But I was very excited to decorate this year and I think they turned out very cute!! These are some of my favorties...

Cranberry Swirl Cheesecake

For Thanksgiving this year, I made a Cranberry Swirl Cheesecake from a recipe I found in the November issue of Cooking Light. (First picture from cookinglight.com)
Ingredients:
4 ounces chocolate graham crackers
3 tablespoons canola oil
Cooking spray
1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup Chambord (raspberry liqueur)
3 tablespoons water
1 cup sugar
2 (8-ounce) packages block-style 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup (4 ounces) block-style fat-free cream cheese, softened
1 cup plain fat-free Greek yogurt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
2 large egg whites

1. Preheat oven to 375°.2. Wrap outside and bottom of a 9-inch springform pan tightly with a double layer of heavy-duty foil.3. Place crackers in a food processor; process until finely ground. Drizzle with oil; pulse until combined. Press mixture into bottom and 1/2 inch up sides of prepared pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 375° for 8 minutes; cool on a rack.
4. Reduce oven temperature to 325°

5. Place cranberries, sugar, liqueur, and water in a saucepan; boil. Cook 8 minutes or until cranberries pop and mixture is syrupy. Cool 20 minutes. Place mixture in a food processor; process 1 minute or until smooth. 6. Combine 1 cup sugar and cheeses in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until smooth. Beat in yogurt, vanilla, and salt. Add whole eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.

7. Place 2 egg whites in a medium bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed until soft peaks form using clean, dry beaters. Fold beaten egg whites into cream cheese mixture. Pour filling over crust. Spoon cranberry mixture over filling; swirl together using the tip of a knife. Place springform pan in a 13 x 9-inch metal baking pan. Add hot water to pan to a depth of 2 inches. Bake at 325° for 50 minutes or until center of cheesecake barely moves when pan is touched.

8. Turn oven off. Cool cheesecake in closed oven 30 minutes. Remove cheesecake from oven. Run a knife around outside edge. Cool on a wire rack. Cover and chill 8 hours. It tasted amazing and was really light, which was nice after all of the turkey and potatoes!

Tis the Sprinkles!

I have sprinkles...lots of sprinkles! In fact, when I started changing out my sprinkles rack, I realized I had enough to fill the whole thing!

Happy cookie decorating :)

Polka Dot Cake

I made this cake last weekend for a vendor show. It would be a great birthday cake for any girl young or old :)

Halloween Cookies

What's better than a chocolate chip cookie with chocolate candy in it? Mmmmm!!!

Halloween Candy Cookies:

3 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/4 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

1 cup butter

1 1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

2-3 cups chopped candy bits (I used Snickers, Peanut M&Ms, Pretzel M&Ms, regular M&Ms, Kit-Kats, 100 Grands, Twix...all great things!!)
Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a bowl. Set aside.

Beat butter and sugars together with a mixer until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add vanilla. Reduce sped to low. Add flour mixture and mix just until combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Stir in candy bits.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Drop dough by tablespoons onto baking sheet. Bake 15-20 minutes. Cool on baking sheet 2 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

My adorable new cake stand from Aunt Erin :)

I also couldn't resist and had to do some Halloween Sugar Cookies!! So cute :)

Nickie's Mint Chocolate Birthday Cake

For my friend Nickie's birthday, I made her a Mint Chocolate Cake. She loooooooves mint chocolate!!

I had no idea Andes made baking chips! They were in the baking aisle right next to the chocolate chips. From Andes website, I found the recipe for this Flourless Mint Chocolate Cake!

My Ingredients:
12 oz. dark chocolate (60% cocoa recommended)

2 cups (10 oz.) Andes Crème de Menthe Baking Chips

3 1/2 sticks of butter

5 large eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

2/3 cup sugar

Pre-heat oven to 325° degrees.

Prepare a removable-bottomed cake pan, 9 inches in diameter, lined with parchment or wax paper and buttered.

In a 2-quart saucepan, over very low heat, gently melt butter, Andes Baking Chips and chocolate broken into small pieces.

Stir occasionally until completely melted and smooth.

Remove from heat and let cool.

Mix eggs, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl with an electric mixer at high speed until mixture becomes three times the original volume (about 3-5 minutes).

Through a strainer, add 1/4 of the chocolate mixture into the bowl.

Using a spatula, mix gently until thoroughly incorporated. Add remaining melted chocolate through strainer to catch any solid pieces and fold in gently until well mixed.

Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake for 12 minutes.

The cake will be slightly soft to the touch, not firm. Don't be tempted to bake it for any longer than this. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan. When cool, cover pan and refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight. Remove pan sides, invert cake onto large plate and remove pan bottom and peel away parchment paper. Invert cake again on another plate or serving platter. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar or cocoa powder immediately before serving.

And I forgot to take a picture of the finished product :(

40th Birthday Cake

I made this cake for a friend of a friend's 40th Birthday Party!

I think it turned out pretty cute!!

Cardinals Cookies

I love Cardinals Baseball and I love sugar cookies, so I decided to make Cardinals Sugar Cookies!

Cap
Cardinal Bird...so cute!!