Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing

The cyclist has been after me for years to make a sugar cookie with royal icing. I think royal icing is fine, but my preference is a tangy cream cheese frosting.

Well, he finally realized that if he wanted anything done around here, he was going to have to do it himself.

After much study and deliberation, he chose the "Baked" sugar cookie. (Love this cookbook. LOVED this cookie.)

He entered them into the COOKIE PARTY 2010 lineup and won for "Prettiest Cookie".

Not the most masculine prize, but he's taking what he can get.

Classic Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing
From "Baked"

1 3/4 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 T cold vegetable shortening
2/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and baking powder. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, shortening, and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until just combined. Add the flour mixture and mix until incorporated. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

Preheat the oven to 325. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Dust a work surface with a sprinkling of flour. Unwrap the chilled dough and put it directly on the work surface. Roll the dough 1/4 inch thick. Use your favorite cookie cutter to cut shapes in the dough and transfer the cookies to the prepared baking sheets.

Bake the cookies for 12 minutes, until they are set but not browned. Remove from the oven and place the baking sheet on a cooling rack for 5 minutes. Use a spatula to transfer the cookies to the rack to cool completely.

Make the Royal Icing

2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
2 large egg whites
2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
food coloring (optional)

In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, egg whites and lemon juice until the mixture is completely smooth. The mixture should have the texture of a glaze. If the mixture is too thin, add a bit more sugar. If it is too thick, add a few drops of lemon juice.

The best way to ice sugar cookies is with a pastry bag fitted with a small or medium tip. First, outline the cookie or design, then fill it in. Let the icing harden before serving.

Peanut Butter No Bake Cookies

This weekend, we made our annual trip to Jackson.

Can I just say I love this trip.

For me, it entails a nine to ten hour drive in an air conditioned Suburban with some great girl friends.

Sure there are some mad dashes to the feed zones, several frenzied hand-offs of musette bags, lots of yelling (and whistling) out the window at men in tight shorts...Who's complaining?! But the drive was also spent enjoying excellent company.

When we arrived in Jackson, we met up with our husbands, who treated us to a nice dinner and then took us to a fancy hotel (props to Jenn, the hotels are a lot nicer now that she is booking them).

The cyclist, however, has a different idea of fun when it comes to road trips. You see, he spent those same nine and a half hours ON A BIKE.

206 miles.

Over a lot of hills.

Just for fun.

On a bike. Did I say that already?

The kind you pedal.

handsome, huh?

Oh well, I guess it doesn't matter how he gets there. Just as long as he meets me at the finish line. Jackson's no fun without him.

This year, he found these tasty little cookies in his feed bags.

Peanut Butter No Bake Cookies

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup butter

pinch of salt

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup creamy peanut butter

3 cups quick one minute oats

Combine sugar, milk, butter and salt in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Let boil 1 minute. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla, peanut butter until peanut butter melts. Add oats. Stir until mixture begins to stiffen a little (a minute or two). Drop by rounded clusters onto foil or waxed paper. Let set.

Mini Cheesecakes for The Cyclist

I bought the new Martha Stewart Cupcake cookbook. So many cupcakes, so little time! That's where the cyclist found his birthday treats this year.

These little cheesecakes are so good. They are baked in a water bath (simple, don't worry) which makes them wonderfully creamy. They have a homemade graham cracker crust (again, simple, don't worry). Maybe you're thinking that the Nilla Wafer in the bottom is so easy, why make the graham cracker crust? Let me tell you--the homemade crust whips up in minutes. And the results? A rich, buttery, crunch. You'll be converted after one bite.

Marble Cheesecakes

adapted from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes

1 1/2 cups finely ground graham crackers (about 12 sheets; use a mini chopper or food processor)

3 T unsalted butter, melted

1 1/2 cups plus 5 T sugar

1 container (6 ounces) fresh raspberries (I made half with raspberry, half blueberry)

2 pounds cream cheese, room temperature

pinch of salt

1 t pure vanilla extract

4 large eggs, room temperature

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line standard muffin tins (makes 24) with paper liners. Stir together ground graham crackers, butter, and 3 T sugar. Measure 1 tablespoon of crust mixture into each lined cup. Flatten with the back of a plain (not measuring) spoon. Bake until set, about 5-7 minutes. Transfer tins to a wire rack to cool.

Process raspberries (or blueberries) in a food processor until smooth. Pass through a fine sieve or mesh strainer into a small bowl, pressing with a flexible spatula to remove as much liquid as possible; discard solids. Whisk in 2 T sugar.

With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat cream cheese until fluffy, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. With mixer on low speed, add remaining 1 1/2 cups sugar in a steady stream. Add salt and vanilla; mix until well combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until just combined after each.

Spoon filling mixture evenly (about 4 tablespoons each) over crust in each cup. Dollop 1/2 teaspoon of berry puree in a few spots over each. With a toothpick, swirl sauce into filling.

Prepare your water bath. (I made them twice and this way was the easiest). Put large rimmed cookie sheets (half sheet pans) in oven. (I put them on two different racks). With pitcher or teapot, fill each about half way with hot tap water. Place each tin in a cookie sheet.

Bake, rotating pans halfway through (carefully...try not to slosh the water), until filling is set, about 30 minutes. Carefully remove tins from water bath and transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Refrigerate (in tins) at least 4 hours (or out of tins up to five days in airtight containers). Remove from tins just before serving.

Spicy Pumpkin Soup for the Fall Harvest Smackdown

The doctor-in-law invited us to participate in an iron-chef inspired recipe showdown at his place. The cyclist and I were a team. The D-I-L distributed a bag of fresh produce from his garden (think mostly hot peppers and juicy tomatoes). He then revealed the secret ingredient. Fresh pumpkin. I love to bake and I love pumpkin, however, I had never cooked with it. I always use the trusty canned stuff. My eyes have been opened. Have you ever roasted a fresh pumpkin? (Pie or Sugar Pumpkin, not the Jack-o-Lantern variety). Boy does it smell good!

This was the cyclist's entry in "the soup category".*


4 Tbsp unsalted butter

2 medium yellow onions, chopped

2 teaspoons minced garlic

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

2 teaspoons curry powder

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

pinch cayenne pepper
6 cups of chopped roasted or pumpkin (To make pumpkin purée, cut a sugar pumpkin in half, scoop out the seeds and stringy stuff, lie face down on a tin-foil lined baking pan. Bake at 350°F until soft, about 45 min to an hour. Cool, scoop out the flesh. Freeze whatever you don't use for future use.) 
or 3 (15 oz) cans 100 percent pumpkin
5 cups of vegetable broth
1 cup milk
coarse salt and freshly ground pepper to taste


Melt butter in a 4-quart saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onions and garlic and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 4 minutes. Add spices and stir for a minute more.

Add pumpkin and 5 cups of broth; blend well. Bring to a boil and reduce heat, simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.

Transfer soup, in batches, to a blender or food processor. Cover tightly and blend until smooth. Return soup to saucepan. Or use an immersion blender in the soup pot.

With the soup on low heat, slowly add milk while stirring to incorporate. Adjust seasonings to taste. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

*Did I mention he won?

Stay Tuned for more delicious recipes from the Party.

His Chocolate Chip Cookies

I told you I would post The Cyclist's chocolate chip cookie recipe. He made them for me when we were dating. Try them and you will see why I married him (plus the fact that he is H-O-T.)

I thought it was only fitting to post these now since we are in Jackson Hole this weekend while he rides his bike. Hopefully someone will be making Brunch for us this Sunday morning.

2 C sugar
2 C brown sugar
2 C shortening
4 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. almond extract
2 tsp. baking soda
3 tsp. salt
5 C flour
24 oz. chocolate chips

Cream sugars and shortening. Add eggs, vanilla and almond. Sift together soda, salt and flour. Add dry ingredients to sugar and shortening. Fold in chocolate chips. Bake on greased cookie sheets for 8-10 minutes in a preheated 350 degree oven.

This makes a ton (6 dozen) of cookies. If you don't need one ton, you can easily half or quarter the recipe. We like to make the whole batch and freeze some dough for later. Just roll it into cookie shape balls, place on a cookie sheet and put it in the freezer until they are very firm (about an hour). Once they are frozen, drop them all into freezer bags. When you are craving cookies, take out some dough balls, let them sit on your counter for 20 minutes or so, and bake.

Make sure you have plenty of cold milk on hand.

It's Too Hot for the Oven

Anything the cyclist decides to do, he does well. Including dessert making. Between this dutch oven cake and his chocolate chip cookies (I'll post someday), he's baked his way right into my heart.

Dutch Oven Chocolate Cherry Cake

1/2 stick of butter, cut into 1/2" cubes
2 cans pie filling (we like cherry)

Cake Batter: we mixed in half of the chocolate chips, and sprinkled the rest over the top.

Sprinkle butter cubes in the bottom of a clean, seasoned dutch oven (ours is a #12). Cover bottom of oven with pie filling. Spoon cake batter over all.

Light the charcoal (we used our metal fire-pit) and wait until it starts to ash over a little bit. Put twice as many charcoals on top of the lid as there are under the dutch oven. We used 4 on bottom and 8 on top. Cook for about 30-40 minutes and then take off the lid and check the cake with a toothpick making sure it comes out clean. Be careful when taking of the lid not to spill ash in the cake. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

When it's hot outside and you don't want to heat up your kitchen, this is the perfect way to have a homemade cake. It's also a great recipe to take camping. With the new baby, we've been doing all of our camping in the back yard.

However, this can also be made indoors using your dutch oven. Preheat your regular oven to 350. Assemble the cake. Put the dutch oven into your oven and bake as directed.

P.S. For all you trivia buffs, the Dutch Oven is the state cooking pot of Utah. Who knew?

I Attempt to make the Birthday Boy Smile

If you talk to the cyclist today, wish him a happy birthday. He's already had one brother call this morning and forget.

He doesn't have the best birthday track record. There was the year when his work brought in a birthday lunch. He ordered his usual smothered bean and cheese burrito from Cafe Rio (he is a vegetarian, you know). Someone goofed and his was chicken. So he tried to calm his hunger pangs with a bite of licorice (I think it was a red vine). That's when his tooth chipped. He called the dentist and spent a good part of that afternoon getting a root canal. At that point, he knew his day was shot, so he went and stood in line at the DMV to get his drivers license renewed.No one should look this hopeless on their birthday.

This year didn't look promising. He got a jury summons in the mail last week. He was told to report on Monday, June 30th at 7:40 a.m. Luckily, his case was dismissed.

He's at work now and he will spend the evening at the girls swim meet.

Cross your fingers everyone.
Hey babe, Here's hoping today doesn't suck! There will be hot cookies waiting for you at home!

The Cyclist's Cookies

2 1/4 cups flour

1 t baking soda

1 t salt

1 cup softened butter

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 t vanilla

1/2 t almond

2 large eggs

cinnamon/sugar

Combine flour, soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, sugars and extracts in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Chill dough thoroughly.

Preheat oven to 375. Roll dough into balls. Dip in cinnamon sugar mixture. Bake on un-greased cookie sheets for 9 to 11 minutes, or until lightly golden. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes, remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Post Pregnancy Guest Blog

The least i could do for Megan after giving birth to her fourth daughter and coming home and mowing the lawn the next day is to make her breakfast on Sunday.
We didn't have any pancake mix and we have cereal every other meal as it is, so i made pancakes.
I got to thinking that the name "pancakes" is just a "cake" made in a "pan". I pulled out some Betty Crocker french vanilla cake mix and made as the box directed and then cooked them on the griddle. I had to turn the heat all the way down to 200 degrees for them to cook evenly but they were good. Almost like we were eating cake for breakfast. That is generally our goal here.
We did use syrup and fresh fruit instead of frosting, but i was tempted just to make up some frosting for them. I am used to carbo-loading for big rides and races so i have a tendency to over do it a little bit.

the cyclist