M.I.A

Ok so I have been M.I.A for quiet sometime now and mostly because I have been trying to start my own business and at the same time trying out new recipes and ideas and boy has it been keeping me busy!! But I am glad to say that I am back and I have my first client with my new business which I am VERY excited about!! Hopefully she will keep my busy this holiday with lots of orders!! So sorry if I havent been around I promise I will put more stuff up and more pictures!! ;o)

Black and white cookies...classic and yummy!!

So I had my first attempt at my favorite cookie the black and white!! So my Grandma Rachel used to buy these for me from the kosher bakery like all the freakin time now these are slightly different then the ones Grandma bought me but defintly just as good maybe even a bit better!! So I googled black and white to find out a bit about my favorite cookie and discovered ITS NOT EVEN REALLY A COOKIE!! Its considered a drop cake cause its moist like a cake but its just the shape I think that makes everyone think that its a cookie. But back to the ones I used to get as a little girl..They were way more like a cookie then a cake they were crunchy on the outside and slightly harder then the ones you make from home so I preffer the ones you make from home they are moist and delicious and arent super sweet which I love about them so much its the frosting that gives them there sweetness which i love about them!! They are just as good without the frosting as they are with it!!

My vanilla icing...

My chocolate icing....

My first attempt at frosting...not perfect but could be worse I guess!!! LOL

Ok still not exactly half and half but not bad for my first try and not only where they super easy to make but super tasty me and my son each had 2!! LOL Enjoy making these and the cool thing about them you can flavor them with any extract not just vanilla in the icing and if you really wanted to jazz them up tint the white icing a different color!!! Thats what I am gonna do for a friends babyshower I am gonna be baking for!! I actually got this recipe from an old gourmet magazine article I found online so try it out if you like black and whites you will love these!!

RECIPE FOR THE COOKIES...

1 1/4 c. AP flour

1/2 t. Baking soda

1/2 t. Salt

1/3 C. Buttermilk well shaken

1/2 t. Vanilla

7 T. Unsalted Butter softened

1/2 c. granulated sugar

1 large egg

preheat oven to 350 degrees F

This says butter 2 large baking sheets I used parchment and it worked just fine!

Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt in a seperate bowl

stir together the buttermilk and vanilla in a cup (FYI I forgot the vanilla in mine and it tasted fine! but will make another batch and see if there is a difference in taste)

Cream butter and sugar in mixer on medium high till pale and fluffy about 3 minutes, then add the egg beating until combined and dont forget to scrape your bowl down and on the bottom to make sure the egg and butter is thourghly combined.

Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture and buttermilk alternatly in batched starting and ending with dry and mixing till smooth.

so the recipe says to drop rounded teaspoons of batter onto cookies sheet I personally piped mine with a bag and plain tip and it is easier then trying to get the batter off the spoon without making a mess!!

Bake about 6 to 8 minutes or until golden around edges and they spring back when you touch them. This is supposed to yield 5 dozen small cookies I didnt make that many cause I did some bigger ones as you can see from the pictures BUT I imagine if you make them perfectly the same size you would get that yield. I believe I got about half that and that was making about 2 or 3 meduim size cookies.

NOW FOR THE ICING...

2 3/4 c Confectioners sugar

2 T. Light corn syrup

2 t. Fresh lemon juice ( i didnt have any so i used bottled works just as good) ;op

1/2 t. Vanilla

4 to 6 T. Water

1/4 c Unsweetened dutch- process cocoa powder

and a small offset spatula

Make the icing while the cookies cool:

Stir together cofectioners sugar, corn syrup, lemon juice, vanilla, and 2 T. Water in a small bowl until smooth. If icing is not easily spreadable , add more water 1/2 t. at a time till desired consistancy. Then transfer half that to another bowl and add cocoa powder adding a bit more water until the same consistancy as the vanilla icing. Cover surface with dampened paper towel then cover bowl with plastic wrap to keep from crusting and drying out.

ICE COOKIES

with offset spatula, spread white icing over half the cookie on the flat side of each cookie. then starting with the cookies you iced first spread the other half of those with chocolate icing.

Once the icing drys you can keep then layered between either parchment or wax paper in an airtight container at room temp for up to 4 days.

Well have fun making these tasty cookies I hope you like them as much as I do!!! Until next time or I should say my next project I will see you guys later!! HAPPY BAKING!!

All Things Cupcake - #1 Cupcake Site, Updated Daily - All Things Cupcake Related. Birthday Ideas, Vegan Cupcakes, Cupcake Accessories, Cupcake Artwork, Cupcake Tattoos & More!

All Things Cupcake - #1 Cupcake Site, Updated Daily - All Things Cupcake Related. Birthday Ideas, Vegan Cupcakes, Cupcake Accessories, Cupcake Artwork, Cupcake Tattoos & More!

Hello blogging world...I am Rebecca and I am addicted to baking

Ok so I am new to all this blogging but I figured hey give it a shot see how you like it and see if anyone else responds to what I am saying so here I am its 1030 and I am the only one in the house who is awake right now. Today I attempted my first try at French Macarons...and boy what a challenge it was!!! This leads me to tell you a bit more about myself and a little more about the thing I love doing more and that is baking...Cause just like my blog title says baking really does make life sweeter..so now back to my macaroons I have to admit it seems so much easier then it really is and people are right its not just some recipe you follow its a technique. So I just graduated from Le Cordon Bleu Las Vegas and you feel like you can do anything now that you are now titled "Pastry Chef" but in the end I still have a lot to learn!!! So I am here to share my thoughts and experience and my triumphs and "failures" (aka trial runs ;o) with anyone and everyone intersted in all the things that I am...and thats EVERYTHING BAKING!! I mean come on I didnt go to school to learn this stuff for nothing even though most of my love for baking came from watching my family mostly my grandma baking cookies for the holidays or making that very family favorite "garbage candy" which really is just candied grapefruit peels but I have to admit some of the simpler things are my favorite! So the basics about me is I am 26 almost 27 and am a single parent of a 4 year old boy named Jacob. Like I said earlier I graduated from Le Cordon Bleu Las Vegas a few weeks ago one of my bigger accomplishments OTHER then becoming a mother and I am so glad I did cause there is nothing better then getting paid to do what I love and that is making yummy little goodies for everyone and anyone willing to eat what I make! So now that I have told you a little about myself and my passion I hope that you will come back and see my stuff as soon as I start putting stuff up!! Like pics of my first attempt at macarons and possibly some stuff I made while I was still in school to show some of you what we learned and hopefully inspire you to either try your hand at some of these things or maybe even inspire you to go to school!! So thank you for listening to me ramble on and see you again!!