Mini Gingerbread Cookies: Autumn Leaves

Posted in food & flavor & recipes by Rosemary Lynn

It’s Fall! So I made my Mini Soft Iced Gingerbread Cookies, but instead of tiny Christmas shapes, I made autumn leaves.

Mostly because I love these flavors alllllll season long. Not just in December.

Look at all the yumminess!

Cinnamon, ginger, molasses…. this is a good lookin’ list.

It’s starting to come together now.

I love showing all the flavors that combine to make these cookies so special.

I used the smallest of the nesting cookie cutters from the Wilton Leaves and Acorns 9-Piece Cookie Cutter Set.

Which, incidentally, I also used to make my Fall French Toast.

So many cookies!

My kids helped me make these. They loved cutting them all out.

My girls also helped me to decorate them. We dipped them into the icing, which is quicker than spreading it on.

(Make sure to click on the recipe link to see the full directions.)

Yum!

I used regular chocolate sprinkles for some, but to get the yellow and orange combination, I had to pick the ghosts out of the Wilton Halloween Ghost Mix Sprinkles.

It’s amazingly difficult to find sprinkles in Thanksgiving/Autumn colors in the stores. But the Ghost Mix is pretty easy to find around October.

So once again, here is the recipe:

Mini Soft Iced Gingerbread Cookies

Happy Baking!

12Apr2016

Triple Chocolate Iced Scones

Posted in food & flavor & recipes by Rosemary Lynn

I recently made some Sweet Honey Scones (they’re awesome btw, you should try them) and I was still in the mood for scones, but also really in the mood for chocolate.

This was my solution.

And a pretty darned great one, if I do say so myself.

These Triple Chocolate Iced Scones are thick and crumbly like a biscuit, but moist too and so very chocolatey.

I’ve been eating these for breakfast and dessert.

I love versatility. ;)

They’re freshest within the first 2 or 3 days, but that shouldn’t be a problem. They are SO easy to eat.

Oh, and the “triple” in the name comes from them being chocolate scones with chocolate chips throughout and topped by a decadent chocolate icing. *drools*

Getting set up.

After you mix together the dry ingredients, you’ll cut in the cold butter.

Then comes the cream and vanilla (yum!) and the chocolate chips.

Looks good once it all comes together, no?

Knead it gently to pull it together. Overworking the dough will make it tough.

And sprinkle some cocoa powder instead of flour over your work surface to keep it from sticking.

Shape the dough with your hands into a circle or a square.

A circle will make 8 large wedges. The squares above come in a count of 16, but as you can see in the photo below, I further cut these squares down by slicing them diagonally to make small triangles.

Which made it easier to eat two or three or four at a time…….

The dough is just slightly sticky enough that you may have to reshape it after cutting, especially if you use a pizza cutter like I did.

But that’s okay. They reshape easily with your fingers. Just press the dough where you want it to go.

The icing is optional, technically, but such a nice touch.

Just blend the cocoa powder and powdered sugar and stir in a little vanilla and water until you’ve got smooth ribbons of chocolate easily dripping from your fork in thin ribbons.

The baked scones, pre-icing.

Try not to over bake them or the bottoms will burn. The bottoms will be a little darker than the rest anyway, but keep an eye on them towards the end.

They’ll be done when they look puffy and solid, and there’s no indent left behind when you touch the top with your finger.

How wonderful do these things look covered in icing??

Cover your work space with waxed paper or something similar to catch the drips of icing.

To decorate your scones like this, scoop the fork into the icing and then wave it back and forth over the scones to drizzle them generously with the liquid yummy-ness.

Let the icing dry completely before storing. I usually let things like this sit for at least an hour (or more) to make ultra-certain that the icing is hardened all the way through and won’t get smooshed when I stack them in a container.

Triple Chocolate Iced Scones

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/3 cup cocoa powder
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (one stick) cold unsalted butter, sliced
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips

Icing:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon vanilla
2 to 3 tablespoons water

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

Whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Use a pastry cutter or two knives to cut the cold butter into the flour mixture until it resembles large crumbs.

Add the cream and vanilla to the dry mixture and stir until just moistened. Add the chocolate chips. Knead it gently with your hands to pull it all together. Do not overmix.

Sprinkle a little cocoa powder over your work surface, and shape the dough with your hands into a circle or square about 8 inches across and one inch high. Cut the circle into 8 large wedges or cut the square into 16 smaller squares. If you’d like mini triangles, as shown in the photos, cut the 16 squares in half diagonally to make 32 pieces. Place them an inch apart on a baking pan lined with parchment paper.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until the dough is set and leaves no indent when you touch the top. Let rest on pan for two minutes then transfer to a cooling rack.

Make the icing by mixing the powdered sugar and cocoa powder with a fork. Add the vanilla and 2 tablespoons of water and stir well. Continue adding water a teaspoon at a time until the icing smoothly drips from the fork in thin ribbons. Drizzle the icing over the completely cooled scones.

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To print the free PDF of the recipe click here:

Triple Chocolate Scones

Happy Baking!

21Aug2015

ABC Teacher Thank You Tags and Cut Out Cookies (Free Printable)

Posted in food & flavor & recipes, free worksheets & printables by Rosemary Lynn

Well, now that the school year is starting again, I am reminded that I never posted about the Teacher Thank You tags that I made for my kids’ teachers at the end of the last school year.

Better late than never, amiright?

Anyway, I printed these up so that we could make some letter-shaped sugar cookies for their teachers and put them in little baggies. This way the teachers would get a gift the girls made themselves and one that wouldn’t take up a bunch of space somewhere.

These tags obviously work best for teachers in preschool or kindergarten, but I think they would be pretty cute to give to a high school teacher too….. or is that just me??

Plus, I left a spot for your kids to sign the tags. And that photo at the top of the post? That scribble is actually how my 3yo was signing her name at the time. I just wrote out her name on the back so that the teacher could remember who it was from.

All you have to do is print out the tags, punch a hole in them, and tie them to whatever gift you’re giving.

I picked up these snack baggies at Target and the string at the dollar store.

We made A B C cookies to match the tags.

Well, actually, we made A, B, C, D, and then the first letters of both of my girls’ names.

And we used these Wilton cookie cutters.

And the recipe I used was the same one I made last year to make some autumn leaves.

I just used different cutters and icing colors this time around.

I love baking with my girls. They enjoy being in the kitchen and cooking is a great way to learn all kinds of concepts, though mostly we just enjoy eating the food we make. :)

Remember to roll out the dough extra thick so that you get nice, soft cookies.

And don’t over-bake them – they’ll appear “almost” done when they’re actually done.

Mix up the icing using some Meringue Powder to make it nice and shiny.

This stuff is great. It smells good and it lasts forever.

You can do just one color. If you do multiple colors, please remember that you don’t need a lot of food coloring in each dish. Unless you want super bold colors, like mine.

I had intended to go for a pastel look….. but I didn’t get there, obviously. Can I blame it on my kids? They WERE the ones distracting me after all…….

Anyway, the best way to ice them cookies is by just dipping them into the bowl of icing.

Make sure you stir the bowl between each cookie and let the excess drip off (or scrape it off the sides with the fork if it’s a LOT of excess).

Then just put them on the racks and let the icing harden.

See how thick they are?

*drool*

It makes plenty. So you’ll totally be able to save some for yourselves. Store the extras in a covered container.

And feel free to experiment with the icing – my 5yo did a few tie-dyed cookies.

So, first, here are is the PDF of the printable tags:

ABC Teacher Thank You Tags

And here is the cookie recipe that I used. It’s the same one I used to make some colorful autumn leaves (scroll down for printable PDF):

Soft Sugar Cookies with Icing

Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla (or almond) extract
1/3 cup sour cream
3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

Icing:
2 cups confectionery sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons meringue powder
1 teaspoon vanilla (or 1/2 teaspoon almond) extract
3 to 4 tablespoons water

Cream together the butter and sugar with a mixer until light and fluffy. Mix in the egg, sour cream, and extract until smooth. In a small bowl, combine the flour, salt, and baking powder, then slowly mix into the wet ingredients until just combined. Do not over mix. Separate the dough in half and roll each piece out between two sheets of waxed paper to a thickness of about 1/2 inch. Refrigerate dough for an hour.

Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Remove dough from refrigerator and cut out desired shapes with cookie cutters. Gently gather scraps and reroll on a floured surface. Place cookies an inch apart on parchment lined cookie sheets and bake for 9 to 11 minutes. Do not over bake! Take them out when they appear just about to be done, and before they brown. Let cool completely on a wire rack before icing.

Mix all of the icing ingredients together with a fork. Start with 3 tablespoons of water and add more, about a 1/2 teaspoon at a time, until you reach a consistency where a thick line of icing slowly and smoothly drips off of the fork when lifted from the bowl. Dye it your desired color, dividing it between separate bowls first if using multiple colors.

Dip the tops of the completely cooled cookies into the icing. Gently pull out the cookie and use a fork or skewer to scrape off excess icing without touching the cookie itself. Set cookie on top of a wire rack that’s positioned over waxed paper or foil and allow to harden completely, letting the cookies sit for at least an hour. Store covered.

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And click here for the free, printable PDF:

Soft Sugar Cookies with Icing

There you go! Happy Gifting (…and eating!)

1Jun2015

Lemon Oatmeal Cookies

Posted in food & flavor & recipes by Rosemary Lynn

Lemon Oatmeal Cookies

At first, I wasn’t really sure how these Lemon Oatmeal Cookies were going to turn out, but – on the heels of my Easy Iced Lemon Cake Mix Cookies – I was still on a lemon kick and wanted to try something a little different.

Luckily, these were a hit.

They’re a bit thick, but soft and deliciously lemony.

You also only really need one lemon to make them, but I threw a few more into the photos since I had them on hand.

Lemon Oatmeal Cookies

If you like lemon and oatmeal, these are a must.

Plus, if you don’t really like icing {I could practically live off of icing} you could still eat them without it. I like how the icing adds a tart sweetness to an otherwise mellow cookie.

Lemon Oatmeal Cookies

The icing can be stirred together in two minutes while the cookies are cooling.

Just don’t put those lemon seeds into the icing. :)

Lemon Oatmeal Cookies

You could flatten the cookies more, I suppose, but I liked the thickness of them.

It makes them softer.

And the powdered sugar on the bottom of the glass that you use to flatten the dough adds a nice, subtle sweetness.

Lemon Oatmeal Cookies

Again, if you didn’t want the extra lemon flavor in the icing, you could just top the cookies with a sprinkle of powdered sugar right before serving.

I like the icing, though, for a few reasons. Aside from the nice flavor, it also make the cookies ready-to-eat right out of the bag or tub that you keep them in.

Which is especially nice if you’re bringing them to a pot luck or something similar.

And, really, they’d be wonderful at a brunch event.

Lemon Oatmeal Cookies

Lemon Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1 ½ cups old fashioned rolled oats
1 egg
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 cup powdered sugar (for dusting)

Icing:

1 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon fresh-squeezed lemon juice
3 to 5 teaspoons water

Beat the butter and sugar until creamy. Add the flour, oats, egg, lemon zest, and vanilla and mix well. Chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Put the 1/8 cup powdered sugar in a small dish.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten the cookies by dipping the bottom of a drinking glass in the powdered sugar and pressing the glass down on the dough.

Bake cookies for 11 to 13 minutes or until the edges begin to turn golden brown.

Cool for one minute on the cookie sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Combine the powdered sugar, lemon juice, and 2 teaspoons of water in a small bowl. Stir with a fork, adding a half-teaspoon of water at a time until you reach your desired consistency. It should drip slowly but smoothly from the fork.

Drizzle the icing over the cooled cookies and allow it to set. Store covered. Makes about 2 dozen.

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Click to print the free PDF version of the recipe:

Lemon Oatmeal Cookies

And if you like lemon, be sure to check out these recipes and crafts:

Happy Baking!

Roaming Rosie Signature

4Jan2015

Mini Soft Iced Gingerbread Cookies

Posted in food & flavor & recipes, holidays by Rosemary Lynn

Mini Iced Gingerbread Cookies

So my daughter came home from school with one of those individually wrapped, soft, iced gingerbread men cookies that had red and green sprinkles on it.

I love those things.

And I suddenly realized I hadn’t made gingerbread cookies in years. Seriously: years.

So I tweaked an old recipe, rolled out the dough thickly, and dipped them in some royal icing that got a touch of sugar sprinkles.

Uh… YUM.

And I made them miniature. I did this mostly because I was looking for an excuse to use the miniature cookie cutters I bought on clearance last year, but it turned out to be a wonderful idea.

Bite-sized deliciousness.

Mini Iced Gingerbread Cookies

Look at all the spices and all that sweetness!

You can just tell they’re going to be awesome.

Mini Iced Gingerbread Cookies

It’s a soft dough.

This means it needs to go in the fridge for at least 2 hours before you roll it out.

And you’ll need to sprinkle lots of flour over the counter before you roll it out, and flour the rolling pin, and probably add a little more as you’re rolling.

But that’s okay: there isn’t that much flour in the recipe itself, so using the extra flour to roll it all out without sticking makes it just the right consistency.

Mini Iced Gingerbread Cookies

And you really need to roll them out quite thickly to get that pillowy softness in the finished cookie.

Nearly a half-inch. At least a quarter inch. At minimum.

Mini Iced Gingerbread Cookies

Once the cookies are cooled, just dip them in the royal icing.

Use a fork to stir the icing in between dipping the cookies, and also to scrape excess icing off of the cookies just after dipping them. You don’t need to scrape the fork directly across the surface of the cookie – just close to it. If there’s too much icing, it’ll ooze all of the edges and make a mess.

A thin coating is really all you need. And it spreads as it sits.

Mini Iced Gingerbread Cookies

Be sure to add the sprinkles before the icing starts to harden.

I usually dip about 3 or 4 cookies before sprinkling them.

To make my red and green sprinkles, I simply mixed some red and some green sugar sprinkles together in a small bowl ahead of time.

Mini Iced Gingerbread Cookies

Don’t they look yummy?

I could seriously have eaten all of the cookies by myself.

Luckily, I had help. :)

But the recipe makes a ton. Like 12 dozen miniature {1-inch} cookies. Enough to feed an army. Or 2 or 3 over-stressed moms.

Either way – seriously worth a try.

Mini Iced Gingerbread Cookies

Mini Iced Gingerbread Cookies

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup molasses
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Icing:
2 cups confectionery sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons meringue powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 to 4 tablespoons water
Red and green sugar sprinkles

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves until well combined. In a large bowl, beat butter, brown sugar, and egg with a mixer until creamy. Add the molasses and vanilla and mix until well blended. Gradually add the flour mixture, switching to mixing by hand. Divide dough in half, wrap each half in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Generously sprinkle flour over prep space, including the rolling pin. Remove one portion of dough from refrigerator and roll it out to about 1/2-inch thickness, using extra flour if necessary to avoid sticking.

Use mini cookie cutters (or regular sized cutters, if desired) to cut shapes from dough. Place on cookie sheets and bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Let cookies sit on baking sheets for 2 minutes, then remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Mix together the powdered sugar, meringue powder, and vanilla extract. Add water, one tablespoon at a time, until you reach a consistency where a thick line of icing slowly and smoothly drips off of the fork when lifted from the bowl. Dip cookies into icing, wiping off excess with fork while cookie is still upside down over bowl. Immediately sprinkle with a mixture of red and green sugar sprinkles.

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For the free printable PDF version of the recipe, click here: Mini Iced Gingerbread Cookies

Enjoy!

Roaming Rosie Signature

24Nov2014

Cutout Cookies: The Easy Way!

Posted in food & flavor & recipes by Rosemary Lynn

easy cut out cookies

I recently made Chocolate Almond Mummy Cookies.

They were REALLY good.

So when I was craving some homemade cookies the other day, this recipe was still fresh in my mind and I was totally thinking that I could use some more iced chocolate almond cookies. So I made a batch.

I did not, however, feel like cutting out the cookies. So I simplified the entire process by using a pizza cutter to cut the rolled out dough into a bunch of squares.

Didn’t even measure.

I did re-roll the uneven outer cookies and re-cut them to make nicer looking squares… but that only took and extra minute or two.

I had some fun with the decorating. Just poured the icing into a plastic baggy, snipped off the corner, and drew. Played around with patterns and letters.

And then, the important part: I ate them. :)

Roaming Rosie Signature