Cookie Cups

looks good

Today I wanted to do something quick and easy. My friend gave me some cookie dough she didn’t need and I have some left over cream cheese so I am going to make cookie cups.

Ingredients

½ roll of cookie dough

1 ½ ounces cream cheese softened

½-1 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons butter softened

¼ teaspoon vanilla

Food coloring (optional)

Sprinkles (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 

Pinch off some cookie dough and roll into a ball and place in a mini cupcake pan. If you have any empty cups feel with water, it helps keep the pan from burning.

you can also do this with brownies

Before you put them in the oven press your thumb into the dough to create the cup.   

While they are baking for about 6-10 minutes, I’m going to make the same cream cheese icing I made for the Red Velvet Cake balls.  

cream cheese icing

Make cream cheese icing by mixing butter, cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until all ingredients are fully blended. Start with ½ cup of powdered sugar then add more if the icing is soupy. Make sure the butter and cream cheese is just softened not melted or you will have to refrigerate. 

little dark but still good

Let the cookie cups cool some then repress in the cups. Then take out of pan and cool completely. I had to use a knife to get them out of the pan. 

 

Dye the icing if you like. I would dye mine, but I left my food coloring at a friend’s house.

 

Put the icing in a bag and cut the edges. I attempted to cut it in a fourth so that it looked close the start tip.

Then sprinkle if you want. All my sprinkles are at my friend’s house, too.

Mardi Gras Inspired Cupcakes

So Pretty

Today is my friend’s Birthday and I decided to make him Mardi Gras inspired cupcakes. I used a vanilla recipe I had then added cinnamon to it, to give it that King Cake feel.  I didn’t want to make a lot so this recipe only makes about 8 cupcakes.

Ingredients

6 table spoons butter softened

½ teaspoon vanilla

½ teaspoon cinnamon

½ cup sugar

1 cup self rising flour

3 tablespoons milk

Food coloring

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients in large bowl with a mixer, if you have one, or spoon until all lumps are gone or mostly gone.  

Look at that cinnamon

Add to lined cupcake pan. 

 

Bake for about 20 minutes. Then let cool before icing.

Mardi Gras colors

 

I 4th my icing recipe because there were only 8 cupcakes. Then I divided it into thirds and dyed them. To stick to the Mardi Gras theme I dyed the icing green, purple and yellow or gold. 

This was so much fun

 

I piped a strip of each color then spread with a knife and sprinkled with white sugar sprinkles.

They looked and smelled amazing, but they were a little denser then I would have like. They were still amazing and my friend enjoyed them.

Girl Scout Cookie Parfaits

love

look at all the layers

It’s Girl Scout Cookie season. I decided to make parfaits with Caramel Delights or Samoas (depending on where you live) and Thin Mints.

Ingredients

Instant pudding (I used chocolate)

Cookies

2 cups Milk

1 cup Heavy whipping cream

½ teaspoon Vanilla

2 tablespoons Sugar

Miniature chocolate bar (optional)

Fruit (optional)

But a bowl and whisk or fork if you’re like me and live at school in freezer to chill.

In a medium or large bowl mix pudding and milk for two minutes with a whisk or fork. 

Chill for 5 minutes.

While pudding is chilling get bowl and whisk/fork from freezer and add cream, vanilla and sugar. Whisk until it is fluffy and stiff. This will take a while. Just keep at it and it will eventually fluff up and become whip cream. 

taste better then store bought

Then take out pudding and layer in a parfait bowl or a regular class bowl. Then layers with cookies (I broke the cookies up). Then with whip cream. After that you can start to layers again. You could also add a layer of fruit. Strawberries would have been really good.

for caramel and cocoanut lovers

for mint lovers

To garnish the top I graded chocolate pieces using a  serrated butter knife and a mini Hersey bar.

Then it’s ready to serve and enjoy.

plenty to share

Cookies my Way

So colorful

I wanted to make something easy his weekend.  So I decided to make cookies, but I wanted to have a lot of fun with it. I decided to make what I call Cookies My Way. I get the store bought break and bake sugar cookies and bags of chocolate chips, reese's chips, butterscotch chips and whatever else I think will be good in a cookie.

This is something you can do with friends are kids. I have done it with both.  Everyone gets to make the cookies they like.  This time I made it with my best friend and her sister.

What you will need.

Break and bake sugar cookies

Food coloring

Assortment of baking chips (this time I used chocolate, reese's and butterscotch)

Any other candy (mm's, snickers, ect.)

Sprinkles

Powdered sugar

Milk

Preheat the oven to 325.

Break off a piece of cookie dough and roll into a ball. 

I had so much fun

If you want to dye it add one drop or less if possible and mix in. your hands will get messy. I tried doing this in a baggy and it did not work. The dye will come of your hands in about a day with soap and water. Finger nail polish should help get it off quicker.  

 Then if you want add chips, about 8 chips is good for each cookie. Make it fun and add multiple types to the same cookie.

Add sprinkles or wait until they are cooked

can't eat it yet

Add to the cookie sheet and bake for about 13-15 minute a little longer if you want crispy cookies. 

 Once they come out of the oven let them cool on sheet then on a rack 

Make a glaze icing by starting with about 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar and ½ a teaspoon of milk in a sandwich bag. I have to adjust this all the time and don’t normally measure just make sure the glaze isn’t soupy and add more powdered sugar to make it thicker or milk to make it thinner.  You can also dye the icing I would start with one or two drops.  Close the bag and make sure to get most of the air out then mix it together then cut a corner off and drizzle over cookies. I only added the icing to the cookies that were plain.

 After icing add sprinkles then enjoy. They go fast. 

This is what our hands looked like after one washing.