Best Iced Cookies

 This past Sunday, one of our new neighbors (LacyMoss) dropped by for a visit and brought us the best professional looking cookies. She said she learned to make them during the covid quarantine. She purchased some for her husbands birthday and decided she could learn to do that too. One of my coworkers makes fancy decorated cookies too. But while hers look great, they don't taste that great. These are delicious! I think it's the lemon extract she puts in the icing. So I asked her for the recipe. She shared it with me but unfortunately they aren't dairy free. So my next project will be to make them dairy free. Here's what she sent me. 

Sugar Cookies

2 sticks unsalted butter (room temperature)
4 oz cream cheese
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg yolk
3 tsp vanilla extract
2 3/4 cup flour (352 g)
1/4 cup corn starch
1/2 tsp kosher salt

Directions:
Cream together butter, cream cheese, and sugar. Then add the egg yolk and vanilla.
Mix dry ingredients and then add 1/4 cup at a time to mixer. Add additional flour 1TB at a time until it doesn't stick to your finger when you press the dough.

Divide the dough in half and place on a surface (I use a flexible cutting mat) lightly covered in flour or powdered sugar. Cover with a sheet of waxed paper and roll to 1/4" thickness. Refrigerate or freeze until firm.

Remove from refrigerator or freezer. Flip the wax paper, dough, and mat "sandwich" over and gently peel away the dough from the mat and flip back over (this prevents the dough from sticking to the mat and makes it easier to remove the cookies without deforming the shapes). Remove wax paper and cut out cookies and transfer to aluminum cookie sheet covered in parchment paper. Place in freezer until firm.

Preheat oven to 375F and bake for 6-8 minutes (depends on size of cookie). Cookies should not be brown. Leave on warm cookie sheet for at least 10 minutes before removing to cooling rack. Dough can be re-rolled a max of 3 times. 

Royal Icing

2 tbsp meringue powder

4 tbsp warm water

2 c powdered sugar

1 tbsp light corn syrup

2 tsp lemon extract (lemon juice powder is also a great ingredient to use here!)

1 tsp white food coloring (optional, but a very nice touch if you plan on using white icing for your designs!)

desired food coloring

additional water for thinning out the icing to flood consistency or more powdered sugar for thickening the icing.

RECIPE BY OWLBBAKING.COM

In a large bowl (make sure there is no grease or oil residue in the bowl), mix the meringue powder and 4 tbsp of water using a hand mixer on high speed. Mix until completely dissolved and very frothy.

Add half of the powdered sugar. Mix on low until incorporated.

Add the other cup of powdered sugar along with the corn syrup and lemon powder (or extract). Mix on low until combined, and then switch the speed to high and mix for 2 minutes (no less!) Taste the icing and add more lemon flavor if desired.

The icing should be thick and have a little more volume as well. It should hold a soft peak.

Once mixed, grab a spatula and mix in the white food coloring or other colors as desired.

To thin out the icing, add ½ tsp of warm water at a time until desired icing consistency is reached (15-20 seconds for flood icing). Mix with the spatula to avoid more air bubbles.

I usually make the entire batch flood consistency and then stiffen it up with more powdered sugar in smaller batches as needed.

This step is optional but helps with air bubbles, cover bowl with plastic wrap and allow it to rest for 30 minutes. The majority of air bubbles will naturally release as the icing rests, giving you less trouble once your cookies are covered!

Decorate your cookies and allow to dry uncovered overnight.

*A quick note about adding the lemon flavor- when the lemon extract is first added to the thick icing, the flavor can be intense. Once you add water to create 15-20 second flood icing, the intensity of the lemon will decrease. The flavor of a vanilla cookie pairs very nicely with the flavor from the thinned out flood icing. If you are NOT making flood icing, feel free to adjust the amount and use less lemon.

Don't these look great! She used her Silloutte to do an edible print and then painted the arch with food coloring thinned vodka.

Kellie's Homemade Salsa

 We enjoyed a great family trip to go camping with the extended Wright family. We all met at Steven and Kellie's house for dinner on July 4th and then went camping at Flathead Lake and visited Glacier National Park. Before dinner Kellie served us chips and homemade salsa. It was so yummy! I asked her to share her recipe with us. So here it is:

Homemade Salsa
1 can (28 Ounce) whole tomatoes with juice

1 can (10 Ounce) diced tomatoes and green chilies

1/2 yellow onion, chopped (about 1/4 cup)

1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 jalapeño, diced
1 t. sugar
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. ground cumin
1/2 bunch fresh cilantro
1 whole lime, juiced

Put all ingredients in the blender and pulse until it's the consistency you like. Add extra salt if needed and refrigerate for at least on hour before serving.  It is so yummy! I broke chips into it and ate it like gazpacho.

Meatloaf Muffins - Beef Free!

The theme for Abi's bridal shower was Scrabble because she and Myles like games. Jessica arranged for everyone to contribute one of their favorite recipes to go along with a scrabble letter and she put them in a book for Abi. One of the recipes Jessica added is for meatloaf muffins. Last night when I tried to think of something for dinner that everyone would eat and suggested baked potatoes. Adria agreed with that. I thought we needed some kind of meat to go with them. I remembered the meatloaf muffin recipe from the day before and asked Abi if I could take a picture of it. Adria can't eat beef, so I modified it to use ground turkey. We didn't have enough turkey, so I used some pork sausage as well. I think the combo turned out great. Everyone loved them - Even Adria and Pierce ate them! (They have both been picky lately.) Also Ryan has been avoiding regular onions, so I had to use green onions instead. Here's my modified recipe:

2/3 cup cracker crumbs (I used Ritz crackers- recipe said you could use bread or oatmeal too)

1 Pound ground turkey

1/2 pound mild pork sausage

2 beaten eggs

1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1/2 c chopped green onions (green part only)

1 tsp salt

dash of pepper

Sauce:

1.5 Tbsp brown sugar (I just estimated)

3/8 cup ketchup (1/4 c + 1/8c)

3/8 tsp nutmeg (I did a heaping 1/4 tsp)

1 and 1/2 tsp dry mustard

Mix all the ingredients well. Grease muffin tins and fill until each muffin tin is three quarters full. Mix the sauce ingredients and add on top of each meatloaf muffin. Bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees. 

There was only 1 muffin left that I grabbed for my lunch. So the only picture I have is this one that's not very good because I took it during my lunch break at work. LOL - Meatloaf pictures never look great anyway. They taste better than they look!

Butterscotch Monkey Bit

 I found this recipe in a "conference packet" from Deseret Book. The original recipe is cooked in a pressure cooker. But I didn't have pan that would fit inside my pressure cooker. So I modified it and baked it in the oven. We made it twice over Easter/Conference weekend and then we made it 2 more times the next weekend when Myles and Abi came to visit. The best part is that it is dairy-free which is a must around here since Adria can no longer eat dairy. 

16 Rhodes Frozen Dinner rolls
1/2 C chopped pecans
1 (3.5 oz) package cook-and-serve butterscotch pudding (Jello brand in dairy free- check ingredients on others)
1/2 c brown sugar
6 Tbsp dairy free butter, melted

Place Frozen rolls in a zip-lock bag and allow the rolls to thaw for 1.5 - 2 hours at room temp (or overnight in the fridge). Do not let the dough begin to rise.

Spray a bundt pan with cooking spray and sprinkle the pecans in the bottom of the pan. Cut the rolls into 6 pieces and arrange half of them in the bottom of the pan. Mix the butter and brown sugar and drizzle half of it over the rolls. Sprinkle half of the pudding mix over the rolls. Then repeat the layers with the other half of the rolls, butter/sugar mix and pudding. 

Cover with plastic wrap (sprayed with cooking spray) and let rise until double - about 1.2 to 2 hours at room temp or overnight in the fridge. 

Preheat the oven to 350°. Bake the rolls for 25 to 30 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven and invert onto a large serving plate. 

**the last time I made this I had 24 rolls so I made 2 pans. I used double the pecans (half for each pan). I increased the sugar and butter by 50%- and used half the mix on each pan. I only used 1 package of pudding and used 1/2 on each pan (1/4 on each layer). It worked great!**

French Almond Cake

 It's Olivia's Birthday tomorrow! Happy Birthday! Today my family had a bridal shower for Abi. I told Adria I would bring her a birthday cake. So after the shower we sang happy birthday and ate cake. She doesn't like most fruit flavors and I wanted to find a cake she would like. I had a recipe for French Almond Cake and she said she loves almond flavor. The only problem was the recipe also included fresh orange juice and zest and she hates oranges. I asked if she'd like lemon or something else. I suggested cherry. She prefered lemon. So I made altered the recipe to lemon. She took some home to Ben and he said he liked it so much he wants one for his birthday- and he wants to try the cherry version - so I will have to create that one soon. 

For the cake:

1/2 cups sliced almonds
¾ cup plain yogurt or Greek yogurt
1½ cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1½ cups all purpose flour
¾ cup almond flour not almond meal
3 teaspoons baking powder
¾ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
¾ cup canola oil

For the glaze:
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
¾ cup powdered sugar plus more for sprinkling
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon almond extract

Preheat the oven to 350˚F (175˚C). Spray a 9-inch round cake pan (with at least 2 inch tall sides) with baking spray. Line bottom of pan with parchment paper and spray parchment paper lightly. Place almonds in a small baking pan. Spread to a single layer. Bake for 15 minutes or until just beginning to turn pale golden brown, stirring every 5 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, combine the yogurt, sugar, and eggs, stirring until well blended. Add the all-purpose flour, almond flour, baking powder, salt and extracts. Stir to combine. Add the oil and stir well. Keep stirring till smooth. This might take 2-3 minutes.

Pour the batter into prepared pan. Bake for 35-45 minutes, until the cake feels springy to the touch in the center and a toothpick or cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. If the cake is getting too brown near the end and  is still not done, cover loosely with foil sprayed lightly with cooking spray to prevent cake from sticking to the foil. Be careful not to over bake. While cake is baking make the glaze. Cool cake on a wire rack for 10 minutes; then turn it out of the pan onto the rack.

For the glaze, combine the lemon zest, lemon juice, powdered sugar and extracts in a small bowl. Stir with a whisk until smooth. 

While the cake is still warm, using a pastry brush, gently pat the glaze all over the cake. Just keep going over the cake till the glaze is gone. Some of it will drip off, but most of it will soak in. Sprinkle the toasted almonds over the top of cake while glaze is wet and pat gently. Allow cake to cool completely. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve.

Gwen thought this cake looked delicious too!