Snickerdoodles

After baking two cakes in a row (only one of which I posted about here obviously), I figured it was time to move on to a different type of dessert. I decided that snickerdoodles would be my next project since I not only had all the ingredients, but had been meaning to bake some for my friend for a while.

Snickerdoodles and I have something of a love hate relationship. I love the way they taste, but I absolutely hate how messy they are to make. Yes, baking in general can be very chaotic at times, but since I’m so pampered I just can’t stand getting my hands dirty. It’s something that I’m just going to have to grow out of… someday… Until then, snickerdoodles will be a rare treat in my household.

The recipe that I like to use comes from Simple Old-Fashioned Baking, but I tweeked it a bit.


For this recipe I used unsalted butter, eggs, flour, sugar, cream of tartar, baking soda, ground cinnamon, and almond extract. I tend to throw in almond extract into a lot of recipes since the bottle I have is so darn big, but trust me when I say that it works very well to compliment the cinnamon sugary taste of snickerdoodles.

Combine flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt together in a bowl and then set it aside. Next, in a medium mixing bowl, cream together butter, sugar, almond extract, and eggs. Stir in flour mixture and then place dough into fridge for at least one hour. Believe me when I say that it’s best to chill this dough, because the next step works best when its firm.

Preheat your oven to 350°F and in a small bowl blend together four tablespoons of sugar and one teaspoon of cinnamon (you can add a little more if you want, but keep in mind that one teaspoon can go a long way). Take dough out of fridge.

Now here’s where things get messy. Take two spoons and gather a small bit of dough, then roll the dough into a ball. Place your ball of dough into the cinnamon sugar mixture and roll it around making sure to cover every inch with powdery goodness. Next place the balls on a cookie sheet, two inches apart, and then flatten them with the bottom of a jar, glass, etc. Don’t overdo it or your cookies will turn into crepes. Basically your cookies should go from this:

To this:


Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, rotating your trays midway through. And then you’re all done! Yummy cookies to share with your friends. All you need now is glass of milk.



Snickerdoodles

Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 ½ cups plus 4 Tbsp sugar, divided
2 eggs
2 ¼ cups flour
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp almond extract

Directions

Combine flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt together in a bowl. Set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl, cream together butter, sugar, almond extract, and eggs.

Stir in flour mixture and then place dough into fridge for at least one hour. Believe me when I say that it’s best to chill this dough, because the next step works best when its firm.

Preheat oven to 350°F and in a small bowl blend together four tablespoons of sugar and one teaspoon of cinnamon. Take dough out of refrigerator then roll into a ball. Place your ball of dough into the cinnamon sugar mixture and roll it around. Next place the balls on a cookie sheet, two inches apart, and then flatten them with the bottom of a jar, glass, etc.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, rotating your trays midway through. Yields approximately 4 dozen cookies.

Strawberry Buttercream Frosting

After weeks of debating on names, struggling with design options, and general procrastination, this blog is now officially up and running and what better way to start things off than with a post dedicated to my mom. My mom is the original baker in my life and since today is her birthday, I decided to bake and decorate a cake just for her. The cake: chocolate with strawberry frosting.

Last week I had a hankering to try my hand at making strawberry frosting. I found a recipe that seemed ideal, went out and bought all the ingredients, and then came home only to realize I had forgotten the most important part: the cream cheese. Needless to say, I panicked. I couldn’t go back out again so I went online and tried to find a good strawberry frosting recipe that didn’t involve cream cheese. Sadly, my results were not promising, so I decided to just alter a buttercream frosting recipe that I normally use instead. The experiment worked out perfectly. The frosting was absolutely delicious (although a bit too loose) and my mom adored it. Thus, I decided to recreate it for her birthday cake.



For this recipe I used butter, shortening, almond extract, powdered sugar, fresh strawberries, and salt (not pictured).

First, I’d like to start off by saying that when working with powdered sugar, be prepared for a mess. Not enough people mention this, but even if you’re being careful powdered sugar can get everywhere, so I recommend putting down some paper towels on the counter tops or even wearing an apron because it may get on your clothes.



Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, go ahead and measure out your powdered sugar. You’ll need between five to six cups. The bowl in this picture had five cups worth, but when I made my frosting I found that the result wasn’t a consistency I liked, so I ended up adding a few more spoonfuls. I recommend just using six. Set that aside and go to work on your strawberries.

Many recipes will tell you to use a food processor to dice them up, but I didn’t feel like pulling mine out so I just sliced them and then mashed the pieces with a fork. Now it’s hard to say exactly how many strawberries you will need since the berries can come in a variety of shapes and sizes. I used about seven, most of which were fairly small, but six could work as well.





Next, place your stick of butter, half cup of shortening, and pinch of salt in a mixing bowl and cream them together. While still mixing, add in almond extract. Then carefully begin adding powdered sugar, blending well with each addition (powder may fly, so be prepared for that).



When you’re done adding the sugar, the mixture will be a thick, tight wad. Don’t worry! The strawberries will work their magic and thin it out. Just be sure to scrap the bottom and sides of the bowl in order to be certain that all the ingredients have blended together.



Now you’re all done! Lovely strawberry frosting that you add to your favorite cake or cupcake recipe. Here’s the finished product on my mom’s cake. Yeah, I’m not great when it comes to decorating, but you get the idea.



Strawberry Buttercream Frosting (adapted from this buttercream frosting recipe)

Ingredients
½ Cup unsalted butter (softened)
½ Cup shortening
⅛ tsp salt
1 ½ tsp almond extract
5 – 6 Cups powdered sugar
½ Cup chopped strawberry

Directions

Wash and rinse six to seven fresh strawberries. After cutting off the stems slice strawberries into a smaller size and then use a fork to mash them into a paste. Place in a liquid measuring cup, making sure that the paste is ½ cup, and then set aside. In a large bowl cream, together butter, shortening, and salt until they are light and fluffy. While stirring, add in almond extract. Add powdered sugar, one cup at a time, blending well after each addition. Add in strawberry paste and beat well.