Without an open-minded mind, you can never be a great success.
Martha Stewart
I never really considered myself to be a baker, but it is always fun to try new things. Winter is an awesome time for baking in then kitchen and baking with friends. So that is exactly what I did over these past couple weeks. I got a red velvet cupcake stuffed with mini chocolate chips recipe from my sister. She is an AMAZING baker and you can see all her special treats HERE. I gave it a whirl and it made me feel like I was at home with her again! Next, I also made some oreo truffles for fun since that was one recipe I was able to share with my sister in return. Then, mother-in-law C. had a work charity bake sale at city hall, and asked for my help with some baked goodies. There was this interesting recipe I found on pinterest so I thought that was a great opportunity to try it out with my friend, Esther. I made “Cookies ‘n Cream cheesecake bars” inspired by another blogger. Her recipe can be found HERE. I put my own little twist on it by cutting them into heart shapes. The bake sale was a success and they sold out! Lastly, Mr. C. had a work holiday pot luck party, so I decided to make Snickerdoodle cookies from scratch. They actually came out with just the right consistency. Not too hard, and not too soft, but right in between. Mmmm…. I love cinnamon. I totally recommend this recipe by Martha Stewart. Since I loved it so much, I will re-share the recipe below.
Martha Stewart’s Snickerdoodles
makes about 30 cookies.
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp coarse salt
1 cups (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
Preheat oven to 350F. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Put butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in eggs. Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in flour mixture.
Stir together cinnamon and remaining 2 tablespoons sugar in a small bowl. Shape dough into 20 (1 3/4-inch) balls; roll in cinnamon sugar. Space 3 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until edges are golden, 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks. Cookies can be stored between layers of parchment in airtight containers at room temperature up to 3 days.
Onward to my latest experiment: TWINKIES! Yes… TWINKIES! Ever since Mr. C. told me about the unfortunate Hostess’s end of an era… I knew I had to relive some of my childhood favorites just for a little bit longer. Mr. C. was so nice and drove me to 5 different stores (10pm at night in freezing… literally .. temperatures just so I can find my stash and stock up! Thank you, Mr. C. I really appreciated that! To brighten up my night even more, my friend, Diana, stepped in and said “Have no fear! An even better solution is here!” We can make our OWN twinkies! So we met up lastnight and that is exactly what we did! The recipe can be found here: Twinkie Recipe.
This was a memorable night to say the least. the instructions required that we make our own foil molds. So we let the husbands do that while we did the baking. We realized we also needed shortening, so they boys make a quick market run, and we had a brief Facetime session to make sure they got us what we really needed. hehe. We could not find pound cake mix ANYWHERE so had to settle for Golden cake mix instead. Maybe it is only a USA thing… who knows. The taste was actually pretty good though! It was not overly sweet and that made it extra nice. We had a nice laugh about which is the real twinkie when we did a side by side comparison (ours is on the right… uncanny right? =P). We also found out they sell silicone molds JUST for twinkies. Maybe, we will invest in one in the future. Nonetheless, the night was great fun!
Eye For Inspire 