Knockoff Swig Sugar Cookie

Everyone knows how much I love my Swig sugar cookies. I found this recipe and of course it's not as good as an actual Swig cookie, its pretty darn close and its pretty darn good! 

Cookie Ingredients:

1 C Butter (room temperature)

3/4 C Vegetable Oil

1 1/4 C Sugar

3/4 C Powdered Sugar

2 T Water

2 Eggs

1/2 t Baking Soda

1/2 t Cream of Tarter

1 t Salt

5 1/2 C Flour

Cream together butter, vegetable oil. sugars, water and eggs. Combine dry ingredients and slowly add to butter mixture. Mix until everything is combines. Your dough should be a little crumbly and not sticky at all. Roll a golf ball sized ball of dough and place it on your cookie sheet. Now it's time to give these babies their signature rough edge. Put 1/4 cup of sugar and a pinch of salt in a dish. (this is in addition to the salt and sugar listed above.) Stick the bottom of a class in it. This will be your cookie press. Firmly press it into the center of your dough ball. You want your dough to spill our over the sides of the glass. If there is a lip it's even better. Bake at 350 for 8 min. They should just barely be browning on the bottom. Move cookies to a cooling rack. Once they are cool put them in the fridge. 

Sour Cream Frosting:

1/2 cup room temperature butter

3/4 C Sour Cream

Approx 1 2lb Package of Powdered Sugar (I never use the whole thing but love having extra on hand just incase I add to much milk!)

1 t salt

1/4 C Milk

Red Food Coloring

Start by creaming together butter and sour cream and salt.  Slowly add powdered sugar.  When it gets so thick its not frosting like add a splash of milk (I never had to add milk but if your frosting gets to thick you can add milk.)  Alternate this process until your frosting is the desired consistency.  Add 1 drop of red food coloring and whip on high for 1 minute.

Keep cookies in a sealed container until they are ready to serve.  The magic of a Swig Sugar Cookie is that the cookies are cold and the frosting is room temperature.  Frost right before serving 

Moist Pumpkin Scones

In our monthly Relief Society newsletter there is usually a recipe from someone in the ward.  I haven't ever really paid attention to the recipes before, but this one caught my eye and sounded good and fairly simple, so I made them for FHE.  I loved them!  My little ones didn't care for them, so maybe it's a more sophisticated taste…or not.  Even with the glaze these are not super sweet, which I liked.  I thought they were a great breakfast with milk.  I also think the pumpkin flavor is mild, not too strong.

 I think these could be frozen and warmed whenever you wanted one.  I love recipes that can be frozen so you don't feel like you have to scarf them down before they get stale.

The most important thing with scones is to make sure the butter is super cold.  When they bake, the steam that the cold butter lets off while baking is key to making the scones moist and not dry and flaky.  Also, don't overwork the dough.  You might think it looks too dry and that it needs to be mixed longer, but don't do it!  It will make the scones dry and heavy.  Here's a quick tip:  grate the cold butter with a cheese grater.  It will incorporate much easier and you don't have to handle it too much, which would make the butter too warm.

One last thing…the picture at the top is just some random picture I googled, but the scones look exactly like this, and I like to see a picture with a recipe that I am considering trying.

Moist Pumpkin Scones

Ingredients:

4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
3 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup cold butter
2 eggs
1 1/4 cups canned pumpkin
3/4 cup milk, divided

Glaze:

2 cups confectioners' sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

In a large bowl, combine the first seven ingredients.  Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  In another bowl, whisk the eggs, pumpkin and 1/2 cup milk.  Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.
Turn onto a floured surface; knead 10 times.  Divide dough in half.  Pat each portion into an 8-inch circle; cut into 8 wedges.  Separate wedges and place 1-inch apart on ungreased baking sheets.  Brush with remaining milk.
Bake at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.  Remove to wire racks; cool for 10 minutes.  Combine the glaze ingredients; drizzle over scones.   Yield: 16 scones.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Okay, so I started a new blog. Not that I'm abandoning this blog, but I saw so many "Mommy" blogs out there and I wanted to try to do one too. So, this is one of my posts on that blog. I haven't shared it with anyone yet. I wanted to just get a bunch of content on there first, because who wants to visit a blog with like 3 posts? Anyway, you should check it out. You guys can even become my first followers.
I have to admit I am so tired of seeing pins all over pinterest claiming to be the best chocolate chip cookies. They can't all be the best, especially because I actually have the best recipe right here in front of me. That's right, I hold in my hands the best recipe for chocolate chip cookies known to man. They are phenomenal. The original recipe comes from Our Best Bites. I have loved almost every single thing I have made using their recipes, but these cookies are, in my opinion, their masterpiece, and maybe also their pizza crust, but that's a post for a different day.
For the most part I like to stick to a recipe. I am not an amazing chef, but I can follow directions really well. The main thing I changed about this recipe was to half the amount of butter and margarine. I have found that by halving the butter I get  more of a puffy shaped cookie instead of a flat cookie. Growing up my mom always made very flat cookies, and while they tasted great and I love my mom, I always wanted the puffy cookies that my friend Cami made. So, half the butter if you want a puffy cookies. I can't tell a difference in taste, and in my mind, it makes eating these cookies almost as healthy as eating an apple.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 C Butter (I used 1/4 C)
1/2 C Margarine (I used 1/4 C)
3/4 C White Sugar
1 C Brown Sugar
2 Eggs
1 t Vanilla
3 C Flour
3/4 t Salt
3/4 t Baking Soda
12 oz. Chocolate Chips (I usually half this too.)

Cream the butter, margarine, sugars, eggs and vanilla together. In another bowl mix together flour, salt and baking soda, then add to creamed ingredients. Mix together and add chocolate chips.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Let them sit on the pan for just a minute or two after taking them out of the oven, then cool on a wire rack. I usually get about 3 dozen cookies out of this recipe.

*Side note- I have read on several blogs and heard from friends who are much better cooks than I am, that you should use a kitchen scale to measure your ingredients to get more accurate measurements. I'm a little lazy, so I don't often do this. But, I hate measuring our brown sugar and packing it into the cup. I just hate it. So when I am using brown sugar I pull out my kitchen scale, set my mixing bowl on top, tare off the weight of my mixing bowl and then just pour the brown sugar in straight from the bag. 1 Cup Brown Sugar = 7 oz. It is so much easier.

Berry Cobbler

I made this berry cobbler last night, and no exaggeration, it was probably the best cobbler I've ever had.  It was so yummy! And that is why I can never make it again.  I could eat the whole thing by myself.   I hope that I wouldn't, but it's that good!  What made it so good?  The lemon zest, so don't leave it out.  And the tip to grate the cold butter instead of cutting it in was genius! 

Berry Cobbler
Recipe by Our Best Bites
3 c. all-purpose flour, lightly spooned into the measuring cup and leveled with a knife
1/4 tsp. table salt
2 1/2 Tbsp. baking powder
1 1/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. (1 stick) salted butter
2 eggs
1 c. heavy cream
zest of one lemon or orange (optional)
4 c. berries (I like the three-berry mix, blueberries, raspberries & blackberries)
1/2 c. brown sugar
Streusel Topping:
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c. + 1 Tbsp. flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
4 Tbsp. butter at room temperature
Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease a 9×13″ baking dish and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, sugar, and citrus zest. Set aside.
Using a cheese grater, grate 1 cold stick of butter. Lightly toss the butter with flour mixture until it’s mixed evenly and crumbly (don’t over-mix here). Whisk the eggs and then lightly toss them with the flour/butter mixture until evenly absorbed. Add in the cream and mix until combined; the mixture should be quite sticky and a little lumpy (kind of like biscuit dough). Lightly press about 1 1/2 c. of the dough mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan and set it aside.
Toss the berries with the brown sugar and spread it over the prepared “crust.” Drop the remaining dough over the berries and set aside.
Whisk together the sugar, flour, and cinnamon for the struesel topping. Cut in the butter until the mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle over the dough and bake for 45-55 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the crust is cooked through. Serve warm with sweetened whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Chocolate Caramel Pretzels

This pretzels are the best things ever. After Mom made them for my wedding, people talked about them for a long time. These are the ones Mom and I made for Amy's baby shower. We did the pretzel rods instead of the twisty pretzels because we could fit more onto a pan and they take up less caramel. They kind of look like clubs, but the important thing is that they taste good. Mom bought the long rods and we just broke them in half and covered the broken end with the caramel and chocolate.

Ingredients:
Pretzels
Milk chocolate melting chips-Mom just bought the chocolate chips from Michael's that is used for candy making. It was only a few bucks for a package.
White chocolate melting chips

Here is the caramel recipe. It comes from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook.

Ingredients:
1 C Butter
2 1/4 C Packed Brown Sugar
2 C Half and Half or Light Cream
1 C Light-Colored Corn Syrup
1 t Vanilla

In a saucepan melt butter over low heat. Add brown sugar, half and half, and corn syrup and mix well. Cook and stir constantly over medium-high heat until the mixture boils. Put a candy thermometer on the side of the pan and reduce heat to medium. Continue boiling and stirring until the mixture reaches 248 degrees.
Remove from heat. Remove thermometer and stir in vanilla.

Prepare a cookie sheet with wax paper sprayed generously with non stick spray. The caramel may still stick, but it is a lot easier to coax it off if it has been sprayed.

Once the caramel is ready dip part of your pretzel in and place it on the cookie sheet. Put caramel pretzels in the fridge to cool (It only takes a few minutes.). While they are cooling, heat up the chocolate in the microwave according to the package directions.

Dip each of the caramel covered pretzels in the melted chocolate and put them back on the pan and back in the fridge to cool and solidify. While they are setting up you can melt the white chocolate in the microwave. This is just drizzled over the top to look pretty. The pretzels will need to go back in the fridge for a few minutes while the white chocolate sets up and then they are done.

Heath Bar Cookies

These cookies have quickly become a favorite of mine and will be making an appearance on my Christmas treat plates this year. Also, you can make them and freeze them and they are just as good out of the freezer.

*Note: I use butter Crisco instead of butter, I like how it turns out better.
*Note: This recipe requires chilling the cookie dough for at least 30 minutes, so plan ahead!

*Makes about 4-5 dozen cookies

INGREDIENTS:
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups chopped Heath Bar pieces (Eight 1.4 ounce bars) or 1 (8-ounce) package of chocolate-covered or regular toffee bits

DIRECTIONS:
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Set aside. In a large bowl (or the bowl of an electric stand mixer), with an electric handheld mixer, beat together the butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs and vanilla and mix until the mixture is very light in color and creamy. Add the flour mixture and stir to combine. Once it is about halfway combined, add the heath bits and mix until all the ingredients are mixed together. Chill the cookie dough for 30 minutes to an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. On cookie sheets lined with parchment paper or a Silpat liner, scoop the cookie dough into about 1-inch balls. Place the dough about 2 inches apart on the cookie sheets (these cookies have a bit of spread to them!). Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the edges are just starting to brown. Remove from oven and let the cookies cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Norwegian Sugar Cookies

I love these cookies. These are Grandma Campbell's sugar cookies. They bring back so many memories. I don't make them very often because they are a crunchier cookie and Sterling only likes soft cookies, so I was glad when Mom made them for Amy's baby shower.

Ingredients:
1 C Sugar
1 C Shortening
1 Egg
1/2 t Cream of Tartar
1/2 t Baking Soda
1 t Vanilla
2 C Flour

Set aside one cup of sugar in a bowl for later.

Directions:
Cream sugar and shortening together. Mix in beaten egg and vanilla. Add dry ingredients. Mix. Roll into small balls then roll in the bowl of sugar. Place the ball on a cookie sheet. Dip the bottom of a mug in the sugar and press it down on the ball to flatten it. Bake at 350 degrees until they are only the tiniest bit browned on the edges. If the edges are very browned, you have gone too long.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate chip cookies are probably some of the most difficult of cookies to make look appetizing. At least for me, my chocolate chip cookies taste pretty good but don't usually look very good. Well these cookies are a different story. These are the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever eaten. They are moist and fluffy and not to mention they look pretty darn good! This recipe is great for so many reasons! The only disclaimer to this recipe is that its a pretty small batch. I made mini cookies so I got a good amount but if your wanting to make a lot of regular sized cookies you may want to double the recipe. Also, this recipe is incredibly easy.

Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp cornstarch

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl (a stand mixer works best), cream together butter and sugars until fluffy and light in color. Add egg and vanilla and blend in. Mix in flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt. Stir in chocolate chips. Using a cookies scoop or a tablespoon, drop dough onto a prepared cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 min until edges are barely golden brown (tops will not brown, but do not NOT cook longer than 10 min). Let cool on cookie sheet for a few min before removing to finish cooling.

Recipes- Pumpkin Churros

There is this blog I used to follow called Rookie Cookie, I loved looking at her recipes and she always had great ideas. Than she decided to be done and stopped updating her blog but kept it up so you could still see the recipes. Now she is taking down her blog in the next 2 weeks so I have been copying and pasting recipes into a file so I can still look at them. Until I got the brilliant idea to post them on here- A) so we can all see them and B)so it looks like I am a great poster and cook ( I do cook but never have a recipe or picture to post). So if you are all ok with that I will just start posting some as I have time and as they sound good.

So here is the first one I wanted to post since it is fall and there is nothing better in fall than baking with pumpkin.

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup sugar

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp nutmeg

2 cups water

2/3 cup vegetable shortening

3/4 cup pumpkin puree

4 eggs

Oil for frying

In a medium bowl, combine the cinnamon and sugar. Set aside for tossing the finished churros in cinnamon sugar. In a small bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. Whisk to combine and set aside. Pour vegetable oil into a large pot fitted with a clip on thermometer, having the oil come 2 inches up the side of the pan.

In a medium pan over high heat, add the water and shortening. Bring to a boil. Pour in the flour mixture and stir quickly with a wooden spoon until a ball forms. Remove pan from heat and allow to cool for a few minutes. With a hand mixer, stir in the pumpkin and eggs until smooth. With a rubber scraper, put the dough into a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip. Fry the churros at 325 degrees. Pipe the dough into the hot oil, using scissors to cut each churro. Fry until the outside is browned and the inside is slightly cooked, but still soft, about 5 minutes. Once the churros come out of the oil and let drain on paper towels. Transfer the churros to the bowl of cinnamon sugar and toss gently until coated. Serve warm.

Rookie's Notes: When I say cut each churro with a pair of scissors, I want you to have the pastry bag in one hand and scissors in the other. Apply pressure to the bag and start piping the dough in. Continuously pipe and use your other hand to cut each churro as you go.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars

Combine: 1 pkg yellow cake mix

1 stick butter, melted

1 cup creamy peanut butter

2 eggs

press into a 9x13 pan, reserving 1 1/2 cup of the mixture to crumble on top.

1 (12 oz) pkg chocolate chips

1 can sweetened condensed milk

2 Tbsp butter

Melt on low heat in a small pot. Remove from heat and add

2 tsp vanilla

spread chocolate mixture over the mixture in the pan and crumble reserved cake mixture on top. Bake for 20-25 min and 325 degrees. Cool completely before cutting into bars

Oreo Cupcakes

I've been on a bit of a cupcake kick ever since I started watching Cupcake Wars. Sterling has been begging for Oreo cupcakes so here they are. They were so yummy. I got lots of compliments on them. Also, I haven't been able to get my visiting teachees to return my calls and after I left these cupcakes on their doorsteps they both called me that afternoon. I think they have magical powers. I got this recipe from www.justapich.com.

Ingredients
1 pkg. Oreos, regular size (I used the store brand)
1 pkg. mini Oreos for decoration (I didn't do that.)
1 Chocolate Cake Mix
8 oz. Cream Cheese, room temperature
8 T Butter, room temperature
3 3/4 C Powdered Sugar
1 t Vanilla Extract

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix cake mix according to package, but don't bake yet.
2. Line cupcake tins with liners, place a regular sized Oreo cookie in the bottom of each one.
3. Take 1/2 of the remaining cookies and chop them coarsler and add to the cake mix.
4. Fill the muffin tins. Bake for 15 minutes, or according to package directions.

Frosting Directions
1. Cream together butter and cream cheese. Add vanilla, the slowly add powdered sugar until well blended.
2. Chop remaining regular sized Oreos and add to frosting.
3. After cupcakes are cooled, frost them and top with a mini Oreo.

My only complaint about this recipe is that you can't taste the Oreo in the batter very well. It does add something to it, I just wish it added more.

Amazing Chocolate Bunt Cake

Several of you have had this delicious cake before, so here is the recipe. I am not a big cake lover, but this is definitely an exception. It is so moist and delicious, not to mention super easy to make. This is the one Sterling made me all by himself for my birthday. I got the recipe from my sister-in-law Wendy.

Ingredients:
1 Yellow Cake Mix
1 Small Box Instant Vanilla Pudding
1 Small Box Instant Chocolate Pudding
1/2 C Sugar
3/4 C Oil
4 Eggs
1 1/2 C Water
6 oz. Chocolate Chips

Mix all ingredients well with a mixer. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes on cooling rack before turning out of bunt pan.

Tip: You've got to grease the heck out of the bunt pan to make sure it will come out clean. I use cooking spray.

Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars with Streusel Topping

Ok I guess it is my turn to post something, I guess I need to start cooking things that are worth posting about. I have made this before and it was delicious everyone that I shared it with loved it (well besides Brian it just isn't his favorite kind of dessert). I made it last fall and it was great and super easy to make. I used some ice cream carmel sauce instead of making it and it was still good but probably would be better with the home made carmel sauce.

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Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars with Streusel Topping

from melskitchencafe.com

Base:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

Cream Cheese Layer:

2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Apples:

3 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and finely chopped

2 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Streusel Topping:

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1 cup all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup quick cooking oats

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

1 cup caramel sauce (homemade recipe below)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a small bowl, stir together chopped apples, two tablespoons sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine all the streusel topping ingredients and mix until crumbly. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine flour and brown sugar. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or two forks until mixture is crumbly but combined. Press evenly into a 9X13-inch baking pan lined with aluminum foil. Bake for 10 minutes or until lightly browned.

While the crust is baking, in a large bowl, beat cream cheese with 1/2 cup sugar until smooth. Then add eggs, one at a time and then the vanilla. Mix well. Pour over the warm crust.

Spoon the apple mixture evenly over the cheesecake layer. Sprinkle the streusel topping over the apples. Bake for 30 minutes until the filling is set.

Cool the bars to room temperature. Drizzle with the caramel topping (or plate individual slices and drizzle with topping one by one).

Caramel Sauce:

4 tablespoons butter

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

½ cups half-and-half or cream

Pinch of salt

1 tablespoon vanilla

Mix butter, brown sugar, half-and-half or cream, and salt in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Bring the mixture to a simmer and cook while whisking gently for 5 to 7 minutes, until thickened slightly. Add the vanilla and cook another minute to thicken further. Turn off the heat and pour the sauce into a jar. Refrigerate until cold. If the caramel sauce has cooled in the fridge long enough to harden, warm slightly before drizzling on bars.

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Rolo Cookies

These cookies are so yummy and would be easy and fun to do with kids!

1 box Devils Food cake mix

2 eggs
1/3 cup oil

1 bag Rolos

sugar for rolling

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix cake, oil and eggs together in a medium bowl. Make little balls out of the dough and shove a rolo in the center. Roll the ball in sugar and place on cookie sheet. Bake 6-8 minutes.

Just a side note: the dough is VERY sticky so before rolling it is a good idea to rub flour on your hands.

Best Chocolate Cupcakes and Pink Icing

Many of you know about the special chocolate cake with pink icing that he always got for his birthday when he was growing up. Well the frosting came in a powder mix called Betty Crocker's Fluffy Whit Frosting, that is no longer sold in stores. We have gone in with his sisters a couple of times to special order the mix. Then one day a miracle occurred, I found a recipe on a friend's blog for Fluffy White Frosting. So I gave it a try. I think it tastes exactly the same as the mix from the box. Hallelujah, we never have to order the mix again. I make it to go on top of these delicious chocolate cupcakes that I found on Mel's Kitchen Cafe blog.

Cupcakes
1 Box chocolate cake (Devil's food works best.)
1 Small ox chocolate or vanilla pudding
4 Eggs
1 C sour cream
1 C vegetable oil
1/2 C warm water
1 C chocolate chips
Mix all ingredients together and bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. Makes 24-30 cupcakes.

Fluffy White Frosting
1 C white sugar
1/3 C water
1/4 t Cream of tartar
2 Egg whites
1 t Vanilla extract

In a saucepan, stir together the sugar, water and cream of tartar. Cook over medium-high heat until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is bubbly.
In a medium mixing bowl, whip the egg whites and vanilla to soft peaks . Gradually add the sugar mixture while whipping constantly until stiff peaks form, about 7-10 minutes.

It says it is for 12 cupcakes, so I doubled it for 24 cupcakes and it was way too much. Probably one batch would frost all 24.

I found that you need to keep it refrigerated because otherwise the frosting seems to separate and become very grainy.
My frosting never sets up very well. I think I didn't whip the egg whites for long enough and I didn't add the sugar gradually. I just don't have enough patience and I'm okay with runny frosting.