Royal Icing 1 0 1 . . . .Works For Me Wednesday

♥♥♥PLEASE visit my updated post on Royal Icing: Royal Icing 102, or 202, or whatever! ♥♥♥

For cookie decorating, I use Royal Icing. I've seen cookies decorated with fondant and just recently heard of rolled buttercream, but Royal Icing works for me.

Royal Icing is an icing that dries hard and opaque, so cookies can be stacked and icing stays pretty when cookies are packaged. It's easy, too...it only takes 3 ingredients: meringue powder, water and sugar (flavoring is optional).
To start, you'll need meringue powder. Ateco and Williams-Sonoma are my favorites...I think I've tried them all. :) Ateco is a little hard to find, so any meringue powder will work. Follow the instructions for Royal Icing that come with your meringue powder. Here's a recipe to try with any meringue powder:

Royal Icing
(this will cover approximately 3 dozen 3.5 inch cookies)

1 pound powdered sugar
5 TBSP meringue powder
scant 1/2 c. water
a few drops of extract (optional)

Combine the meringue powder and water with a whisk attachment using an electric mixer. Beat until peaks begin to form. Sift in the powdered sugar and beat on low to combine. Increase speed to high and beat until stiff peaks form. (You should be able to remove the beater from the mixer and hold up and jiggle without the peak falling.) If using an extract, add it then beat for a few more seconds to incorporate.
Cover with plastic wrap touching the icing or divide and color using gel paste food colorings.

{The most important step: sift the powdered sugar! Believe me, I've tried to shortcut this step...it doesn't work. My favorite powdered sugars are Domino and C & H, but as you can see from the picture, any will do. Imperial is easier to find in the 1 pound boxes.}

This "stiff" icing is perfect for outlining and even for building gingerbread houses and monogramming. To fill in your cookies, add water to your icing a little at a time until it is the consistency of syrup. This technique of filling a cookie with thinned icing is called "flooding." Click here for more details.

Happy cookie decorating!

Be sure to check out all of the Works for Me Wednesday ideas at We are THAT Family.

♥♥♥Don't forget the CHOCOLATE GIVEAWAY going on right now!!! TWO Bake at 350 readers will win!♥♥♥

More WFMW posts:

• kitchen must-have
• making icing ahead of time
• organizing cookie cutters
  

Chocolates for Mom...a giveaway for TWO!!!

{Update: the winners are: Sarah {SCS: Sairabee} and Dessert Obsessed. Congratulations, ladies!}

Just in time for Mother's Day... See's Candies is offering TWO Bake at 350 readers $25 gift cards!!! Woo-hoo!!!
Why I think chocolate is the perfect Mother's Day gift...

1. It's never the wrong size,
2. It's already wrapped,
3. If you give it in person, mom has to share!

To enter...pop on over to See's Mother's Day Gifts and tell me...what would you pick for mom (or for yourself)? Let me know in a comment and be sure to link to a blog or leave an email.

I'm thinking....Cafe Latte Pops and Travel Mug...

...the Keepsake Collection...

...of course, you can never go wrong with Nuts & Chews!

Drawing will be held Saturday, May 2nd at 5pm central. Good luck! :)

Once Upon a Lime...

I'm a chocolate girl at heart, but sometimes a citrus-y dessert is just the ticket!

Have you tried Lime Oil or Natural Lime Powder? King Arthur Flour carries both of them in their online shop and I am so happy to have tried them.

First up....Luscious Lime cookies! The recipe can be found on the King Arthur website and they are exactly as described. Luscious little bites of lime. They're made with both the lime powder and lime oil. The cookies are tart and sweet and covered in a generous dusting of lime powdered sugar.

Don't wear black while eating them! ;)


Second...Key Lime Pie Ice Cream

This is the creamiest ice cream I've ever made! The lime flavor is kicked up a notch with the addition of a little lime oil. I can't wait to make this again...it was a hit!

Both of these recipes would be perfect for Cinco de Mayo parties and warm weather cookouts!

Key Lime Pie Ice Cream
(inspired by Bruce Weinstein)

1 & 1/2 c. heavy cream
6 large egg yolks
1 (15 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 c. key lime juice (or regular lime juice)
1/4 tsp. lime oil
4 full sheets graham crackers, crumbled
2/3 c. marshmallow creme

Bring the cream to a simmer. Place egg yolks in a medium bowl. Slowly whisk the hot cream into the yolks. Pour the mixture back into the pan and heat over low heat, whisking or stirring constantly. Heat until the custard has thickened slightly. (Don't boil.)

Remove from heat and pour custard through a strainer into a large bowl. Cool slightly and then whisk in the sweetened condensed milk, juice and lime oil. Cover and refrigerate overnight or 8-12 hours.

Stir the custard and add to your ice cream machine. About 2 minutes before the ice cream is finished, add the graham crackers. Spoon into freezer safe containers, adding the marshmallow creme in large dollops throughout. Press plastic wrap onto the ice cream, cover and freeze for a few hours to harden.

Want more?
I scream, you scream. We all scream for ice cream:
....Turtle Ice Cream Pie!....

Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24: Modernizing Mom's Mediterranean Meal

Do not panic....there is dessert at the end of this post!!!

I am really excited to be part of Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24 this month. Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24 is an event where 24 food bloggers host 24 meals in 24 hours. The date just happened to fall when my sister was coming for a visit, so I thought I'd try updating a couple of my mom's recipes.

Coming from a family that was extremely proud of our Irish roots, it may seem a little strange that one of my mom's "company dishes" was cabbage rolls and tabbouleh. According to my dad, this stems from a few steakhouses in Tulsa where they (and my grandparents and aunts and uncles) would eat. I remember growing up thinking these restaurants....Eddy's and Jamil's...must be so exotic. The children were never brought along and they served mysterious sounding dishes like tabbouleh, hummus and cabbage rolls.

My meal adventure started at Hubbell & Hudson. It's a wonderful new-ish market in The Woodlands. If you are anywhere in north Houston, I strongly recommend making a trip. Even their produce section is drool-worthy...and I don't usually drool over veggies!

So, we started our evening with hummus. This is a great recipe from Martha Stewart. I've made it several times and one wonderful thing about it is that you can make it ahead of time. We ate this with veggies and homemade pita bread. This recipe is from King Arthur Flour and is so easy and SO much better than store bought!

{We were so busy eating it, I only got a picture of the dough!}

To go with the cabbage rolls, there was tabbouleh. I don't know why I don't make this more, it's so fresh tasting and there's no heating up of the kitchen. Unfortunately, I don't have my mom's recipe for tabbouleh, so the recipe is another goodie from Martha. I use curly parsley in mine because that's the way I remember it. :) My only tip is, make it several hours before serving to let the bulgar soak up the olive oil and lemon juice.

The cabbage rolls...just the smell of them make me think of my mom. Mom's recipe is really good, but it needed a little tweaking...here's why...

Every time I see this recipe card, I crack up: MSG!!! Can you even buy it these days?

Here's the tweaked recipe:
Mom's Cabbage Rolls

For the rolls:
12 large cabbage leaves
1 & 1/2 lbs. ground beef (round)
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 c. green bell pepper, minced
1/3 c. onion, finely chopped
1/8 tsp. black pepper
1/2 c. cooked long grain rice
dash cinnamon

For the sauce:
2 and 1/4 c. tomato juice
2 TBSP. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. garlic salt
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
3 TBSP. picante sauce
1 tsp. cinnamon

Cook the cabbage leaves in boiling salted water for 5 minutes (add a few more leaves than you need in case of tearing). Drain. Rinse lightly under cold water.

Mix the ground beef, salt/pepper, cinnamon, bell pepper, onion and rice with your hands in a mixing bowl.

Fill each cabbage leaf with the meat mixture. Fold in edges and roll. Secure with a toothpick.

In a large skillet, combine the sauce ingredients. Place the cabbage rolls in the sauce. Cover. Bring to a steaming point on med-high heat. Reduce to low and cook for 45 minutes.

They were delicious! My dad went back for seconds and my husband had thirds! Even my 10-year-old who was a little hesitant about "cabbage rolls" liked them! I will make these more often!

OK....dessert! Are you still with me? I made this Honeyed Yogurt and Blueberry Tart with Ginger Crust. It was really the perfect ending to the Mediterranean meal! The yogurt was rich and tangy and the ginger crust was amazing! (The only changes I made were using 2% yogurt instead of non-fat and baking the crust for only 15 minutes.)

The evening was a success! Fun was had by all...lots of food, wine and even a little American Idol video game playing! :)

Thank you, Foodbuzz for letting me be a part of this month's 24, 24, 24! It was a treat! And thanks to my mom, for the great recipes and the inspiration!

Bowl me over

My sister and nephew are coming for a visit tomorrow! :) My nephew is 2...here he is...

....go ahead. Awwwww!

His great love....bowling! Santa even brought him a bowling ball for Christmas. So, I made some bowling cookies for him.

I used a vintage-y cutter that I found on eBay. It was fun to finally use it, although it is one of those cutters that is closed on the top. You know what I mean? It wouldn't cut all the way through the dough...it wasn't deep enough, so I had to go around the shape with a paring knife.

Other than the cookie cutter issue, these are really easy cookies to make. I just outlined and filled the shapes with black/white icing and added the pin stripes using a #4 tip and the finger holes with a #3. Easy Peasy!

I hope he likes them!!!

More sports cookies:

• baseball cookies
• a sweet swimmer
• Forty-LOVE tennis cookies
  

Good Morning, Sunshine!

Oh, happy day!

I love English muffins. I could eat them every morning for breakfast...a little butter, maybe a little strawberry jam. For summer lunches, I love them with veggie cream cheese, big tomato slices and cucumbers.

What I don't love? That English muffins from the store have 25 ingredients! I find myself buying them less and less. Every recipe I've seen for them calls for special equipment...and I'm lazy...and cheap! :) But NOW....I found this wonderful recipe from The Knead for Bread (an amazing, drool-worthy bread blog).

Chuck's recipe calls for cookie cutters! Those, I have!

Here they are just cut out and getting ready to be covered for a 2nd rise.

And...on the griddle....

I couldn't decide...butter or butter with jelly. I went for one of each.

Anyone else own an English muffin splitter? This was a gift from my in-laws; it's wonderful. Although, the picture on the left makes me think of Hannibal Lector...yikes!


You know how store-bought English muffins are terrible unless they are toasted? These are delicious! I made a little turkey sandwich on one for lunch.

I kept thinking to myself...I made these!...they made me proud. :) Trust me, you'll want to make them, too! Happy eating!

Hungry for more? Check these posts:

• Vanilla Bean Pound Cake
• Meyer Lemon-Vanilla Scones
• Chocolate Eclairs
  

Teddy Bear's Picnic

Don't hate me, but I've never been a huge fan of the teddy bear. I know, I know...I feel bad about it! I loved my Rhett Beartler and Scarlett O'Beara bears that I had in high school, though. Did anyone else have those? I wonder where mine are....

These bears, I like. I modeled the bears' faces from the Build-a-Bear mascot. I just drew them on using an AmeriColor Gourmet Writer in black.

The sprinkles are my favorite part of the cupcakes! They are great for a class party...a lot less messy than real cupcakes! :) The candle doesn't ship all that well, though, so they are not the best for mailing.

I'll leave you with a link to my favorite teddy bear...for the life of me, I can't remember his name, but he "sings" Teddy Bear's Picnic with Trout Fishing in America (my favorite!). If you've seen them in concert, you know what I'm talking about. :) If you haven't...check out their calendar and GO...they are so great! {update: I think it hit me...RoBear! Am I right? Anyone? Anyone?}

More birthday ideas:

• Scottie Dogs cookies
• Dad's cookies

Organizing cookie cutters...Works For Me Wednesday

I outgrew my cookie cutter basket years ago. Not only was it overflowing, but it was a pain to dig for the right cutter.

In our last house, my husband came up with this plan...a shoe rack. He attached it to the back of one of our doors and I just popped the cookie cutters on in alphabetical order.

When we moved, there wasn't a good "cookie cutter door," so I'm using this rack of wire baskets and baggies to organize my cutters. Baggies aren't the prettiest, but they work!

They, too, are in alphabetical order. Can you guess which letter has the most baggies? The letter S wins with 3 baggies full and 23 cutters!

Hearts get their own bag. :)

The top drawer is my favorite. It has ribbon, cookie bags, gift tags, etc. I wish the rest of my life was this organized.

Check all of the amazing ideas over at Works For Me Wednesday at We are THAT Family.

A few of my previous WFMW entries:

• Making icing ahead of time
• My main squeeze
• Perfectly red icing

Cookie decorating with the boys . . .

Last week as I was debating cookie ideas, my son said, "can we make some just to have around the house?" He never asks for cookies (I think he's eaten too many of my mistakes), so I jumped at the chance to make some together.

We decided to try out some mini Easter cutters and just do simple outlines and sparkling sugar.
I just love seeing that BOY'S ARM and digital watch cutting cookies! And boy, did we have cookies!!!

Hubby decided to join us for decorating. They actually had fun! (I was a little worried. Never fear, they are getting their "man time" in now watching Star Wars Clone Wars.)

Total concentration....notice the arched eyebrows! :)

I love the face on this little guy!

How about these? I can't decide which is my favorite....the bunny with the glasses or the "surprised" one.






One day left for Easter baking! Need some inspiration?

• Good Eggs
• Easter Baskets
• Easter Chick Flicks

Today (Saturday) Bake at 350's pantry is being featured at The Perfect Pantry. Go on over and check out Lydia's blog. It's full of great recipes, info and yes, pantries! :) Thanks, Lydia!

And, before I forget again....the winner of the King Arthur Scone giveaway was Lorie. Thanks for entering! :)

Have a Happy Easter!

Vanilla Bean Paste

After posting about va-va-vanilla cookies and meyer lemon-vanilla scones, I received A LOT of email about vanilla bean paste.

Vanilla Bean Paste is something I just started using within the last year. I love it!!! It really makes baked goods look and taste special. I thought it was going to come in a squeeze tube or something, but it is actually like a really thick extract filled with vanilla bean seeds. It can be used 1:1 in place of vanilla extract. You can also use it in place of vanilla beans! Ice cream, cakes, cookies, cupcakes...oh, the possibilities!

I'll leave you with a recipe for Vanilla Bean Pound Cake that we have devoured this week. We've eaten it for breakfast, dessert and even made French Toast with it. :)

Vanilla Bean Pound Cake
(adapted from the King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion)

1 c butter
1 c sugar
3 TBSP light brown sugar
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 TBSP vanilla bean paste
1 tsp baking powder
1 & 3/4 c unbleached, all-purpose flour
4 large eggs
For the glaze:
1/2 c sugar
1/4 c water
pinch salt
1 TBSP vanilla bean paste

Preheat oven to 350°. Using the paddle attachment, mix together the butter, sugars, salt vanilla and baking powder until smooth & fluffy. Add the flour and mix well. Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping the bottom after each addition.

Spoon the batter into a lightly greased 9 X 5" loaf pan. Bake for 50-55 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Let cool in the pan 10 minutes.

Once the cake is out of the oven, make the glaze. In a small saucepan, bring the sugar, water and salt to a boil. Boil 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla bean paste.

Remove the cake from the pan and place on a cooling rack set over a cookie sheet. Poke the cake all over with a cake tester or toothpick. Slowly drizzle and/or brush the glaze all over the cake...until all of the glaze is used. Cool completely before slicing.