Super Soft Sugar Cookie Bars Recipe

I LOVE soft sugar cookies with buttercream frosting, but seriously dislike the time it takes to roll out the dough, cut into cute shapes and continue repeating until there is but a scrap of dough left. Then when you are finished doing all of that, which takes quite a bit of time, there is the frosting and finding enough room and plates to lay out all of those cookies so they can set enough to find a place to store them all. Are you still with me?? Seriously the pain is real! 

I was SO excited when I found the recipe for these sugar cookie bars over at Somewhat Simple. While their recipe is fabulous I decided to give it my own little twist.  By the looks of it, this recipe has been tweaked a few times as it has been passed around through Blogland. That is the great thing about recipes, you can make them your own!

Here is what you need:

Sugar Cookie Bar:

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour1/2 tsp baking powder1/2 tsp salt1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened1 cup sugar1 large egg2 heaping TBS sour cream1/2 tsp vanilla extract1/2 tsp lemon extract 

Buttercream Frosting:
1 cup butter, softened
3 cups powdered sugar 
1 tsp vanilla
2 TBS heavy cream

Beat butter, slowly adding powdered sugar then add vanilla. Use as much heavy cream as needed to reach desired frosting consistency. BONUS: Taste as you go, to make sure it's to your liking. 

Cookie Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place a sheet of parchment paper in the bottom of a 9" x 13" baking dish or pan, set aside. In a mixing bowl mix together flour, baking powder and salt, set aside. In a different bowl whip together with an electric mixer the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the egg, sour cream, vanilla and lemon extracts until blended. Slowly add dry ingredients to the wet, until combined and form a dough. Gently press the dough onto the parchment paper in the pan so that it covers the bottom. Bake for 15-20 mins until the edges are lightly golden. Cool completely, then frost,  cut into squares and decorate if you like. Note: If you don't have parchment paper you can simply butter the bottom of your baking dish. I like parchment so I can pull the entire cookie out once baked, making it easier to frost and cut. 

I don't think I will ever do cut out sugar cookies again after making these. So easy and it takes such little time to put them together. PLUS, there are so many ways you can decorate these babies, which makes them perfect for any occasion! Give these a try and let me know what you think. 

DFTBA,

Pamela

The Most AMAZING Chocolate AND Peanut Butter Cupcakes {RECIPE}

Seriously what could possibly be better then the combo of peanut butter and chocolate??? I have made chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting before, but this time I decided to kick them up a notch with a layer of semi sweet chocolate. 

First I made the cupcakes with the recipe below:

Vegan Chocolate Cake

Yield 30 cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Combine in a large bowl

3 C Flour

2 C Sugar

6 Tablespoons Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

2 Teaspoons Baking Soda

In a separate bowl combine

2 Teaspoons Vanilla

2 Tablespoons White Distilled Vinegar

2/3 C + 1 Tablespoon Vegetable or Canola Oil

2 C + 1 Tablespoon Water

Pour wet mixture into dry mixture and combine until smooth. Place cupcake wrappers in cupcake pans.  Poor 1/4 C of batter into each cup. Bake for 16-18 minutes and test with toothpick. Let cool for 5 minutes on a wire rack them place in a container, cover and put them in the freezer until ready to frost. 

Next, the frosting:

Peanut Butter Frosting

Combine until smooth

1 C room temp Butter

1 C Creamy Peanutbutter

1 C Marshmallow Cream

Add

2 C Powdered Sugar

2 Tablespoons Heavy Whipping Cream

Next fill the cupcakes...

Since I made my cupcakes the day before and froze them, they were pretty solid.  I used a melon baller to scoop out a "well" in each cupcake for the frosting to go. Using a SMALL (maybe a tablespoon) ice cream scoop I added a heaping dollop of the frosting to the hole in the cupcake. I used the back of a spoon to push the frosting down into the hole a bit more and then smeared the extra around the top of the cupcake. 

Next, the melted chocolate topping

After I had all of the cupcakes filled with frosting I placed them in the freezer to set up. Using a double boiler I melted approximately 1 1/2  cups of semi sweet chocolate chips over low heat. Once chocolate was melted and smooth I pulled the cupcakes out of the freezer and added a tablespoon of melted chocolate to the top of each cupcake. 

When finished topping store cupcakes in refrigerator until ready to serve. The top will be nice and crunchy like a candy bar, the frosting will be creamy and the cake will be moist and flakey. You may want to eat this with a fork! 

So whatever shall you do with all of those scooped out holes of chocolate cake? Well you could use them to make cake pops OR do like I do... eat them with a spoonful of frosting! YUMMY!! 

Go ahead and give them a try.

DFTBA!

PS

Super Moist Gluten Free Cherry Chocolate Cupcakes

Over the weekend I needed a dessert that our friends would enjoy, that was gluten free. I had made gluten free chocolate cupcakes before using King Arthur Flour's chocolate cake mix, but decided to add a little kick of flavor with Duncan Hines Comstock Pie Filling.

Here is how I did it...

Super Moist Gluten Free Cherry Chocolate Cupcakes

Yield 24 - 30 Cupcakes

1 box of King Arthur Flour Chocolate Cake Mix

1 21oz can of Duncan Hines Comstock Cherry Pie Filling

4 eggs

Mix these three ingredients in a bowl until combined, trying not to mash all the cherries. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full. Bake per instructions on the box. 

The Creamiest Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

2 3/4 C Powdered Sugar

6 tablespoons Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

6 tablespoons room temperature Butter

5 tablespoons Heavy Cream

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

*2-4 tablespoons of Milk (to loosen frosting if too thick)

Whisk together sugar and cocoa powder. Add butter, heavy cream and vanilla. If frosting is too thick, loosen with a tablespoon at a time of milk. 

Enjoy! 

DFTBA,

Pamela

Spring Oreo Cake

One of the most popular images on my blog according to Pinterest is the photo I took of the Oreo cake at Martha Stewart's Blogger's Night Out back in 2010.

Back to the cake, when I see my photo pinned there are usually comments like, "how was this put together?" or wouldn't this be fun on a smaller scale. SO I am sharing what I have learned from doing this myself.

Here is what you need:

3 packages of Spring Oreos ( they have yellow filling and some of the cookies have "Spring" time images on them).
An 8" in diameter cake plate or cake stand

Step 1. Starting on the outside place 10 qty Oreos around the edge of the cake plate so that they create a circle and are all touching on the sides. fill in the center with approximately 3-4 Oreos (I used the chipped or cracked ones for the inside since you won't see them).
Step 2. Start your next layer on the outer edge placing each cookie on top of where the bottom two cookies touch each other. Just like you would lay bricks. Keep going all the way around and fill up the center too.
Step 3. Repeat the process until you have 6 layers of cookies.

Just like the cake at Martha's event, nothing holds it together, just the weight of itself. How do I know, well because I watched a lady back into the cake and half of it fell on the floor. LOL I also tried going a bit smaller in diameter and it just didn't look right, I am sure it's a math thing LOL. Maybe you could go smaller if you use the mini Oreos, but that would take a of cookies! I want to say the original cake at Martha's took 30-40 packages of cookies, but I could be wrong. I know it was a TON though.

I am definitely going to do this smaller scale cake again for a party here at home and serve small glasses of milk with it.  I will also make it with the Mint Oreos, how pretty would that be with the dark brown and mint green...YES!

Have fun trying this and please share if you do! Don't limit yourself to Oreos, you could play with any sandwich type cookie.

DFTBA,
PS