Sand Dollar Sugar Cookies

For teacher appreciation week we gave all the staff a message in a bottle with these attached.  Yummy and easy.  The recipe comes from http://www.mamamiss.com/2012/07/31/eats-sand-dollar-cinnamon-sugar-cookies/

(All the notes in the recipe come from her.)

Ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter, softened (15 sec in the microwave & another 5 sec will get you there, if you don’t want to wait for butter to soften on its own – HA – it is like watching paint dry – it’s simply fascinating ;)

2 cups powdered sugar (mmm mmm mmm…can taste the sugary goodness already!)

2 eggs whole

2 eggs separated (yolks in one bowl/whites in another – c’mon it’s fun!)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 pinches of kosher salt

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

cinnamon sugar (this gets sprinkled on top)

sliced almonds

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and powdered sugar; Mix until very creamy. (I may or may not have taken a lick after this step – HA! ;)
3. Add the 2 whole eggs and 2 yolks only (reserve the whites for later from the egg separation above); Beat until well combined.
4. Add vanilla and salt; Blend well.
5. Add flour and baking powder; Stir until the dough is very soft.
6. Form a ball with the dough; Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours (I left mine in the fridge overnight).
7. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
8. Roll out the dough to 1/4" thick on a floured surface and cut out 2 5/8” circles.(A mason jar lid is the perfect size.)
9. Brush the circles with the reserved egg whites.
10. Sprinkle each circle lightly with cinnamon sugar and press 5 almond slices into the center of each circle to make a sand dollar (like the pic above).
11. Bake at 350° F for 3 minutes.
12. After 3 minutes, remove the baking sheet from the oven and press the almonds in again, making slight indentations in the circle.
13. Add more cinnamon at this point too, if need be, to adjust the overall coloring of the final cookie.
14. Place the baking sheet back in the oven and bake until the edges are golden brown, another 10 minutes (this time will vary depending on how thick you cut the circles, so just keep an eye on them around the 7 minute mark).
15. Remove from oven; Let rest on baking sheet for 3 minutes.
16. Transfer to cooling racks to cool completely.
17. Dig in!!!
18. Store in an airtight container to keep up to 5 days (Yeah right, these won’t last 5 minutes!)

Notes

Makes 4 dozen

Adapted from Delicious Inspiration

Shaylie's Strawberry Cheesecake

 

This recipe comes from http://allrecipes.com/recipe/222588/strawberry-cheesecake/
Shaylie requested strawberry cheesecake for her birthday this year, so I did a web search and found this one.  It was just as gorgeous as the picture shows and a winner for sure!

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 2 (10 ounce) packages frozen sweetened sliced strawberries, thawed and drained
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch

• 3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 eggs
• 1 tablespoon water (optional)

Directions

1. Combine graham cracker crumbs, sugar, cinnamon, and butter in a bowl. Press onto the bottom of an ungreased 9-inch springform pan. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
3. Place strawberries and cornstarch into a blender. Cover and puree until smooth. Pour strawberry sauce into a saucepan.
4. Bring to a boil over high heat. Boil and stir until sauce is thick and shiny, about 2 minutes. Set aside 1/3 cup strawberry sauce; cool. Cover and refrigerate remaining sauce for serving.
5. Beat cream cheese in a mixing bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy; gradually beat in condensed milk. Mix in lemon juice and vanilla extract, then beat in eggs on low speed until just combined. Pour half of cream cheese mixture over crust; drop half of reserved strawberry sauce by 1/2 teaspoonfuls on cream cheese layer. Carefully spoon remaining cream cheese mixture over sauce; drop remaining strawberry sauce by 1/2 teaspoonfuls on top. Cut through top layer only with a knife to swirl strawberry sauce.
6. Bake in preheated oven until center is almost set, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around edge of pan to loosen; cool 1 hour longer. Refrigerate overnight. Serve reserved strawberry sauce with cheesecake. If the sauce it too thick, stir in water.

Salted Caramel Popcorn

Yes, this is as good as it sounds!  This recipe comes from Laura Harris who found it at http://cookiesandcups.com/salted-caramel-popcorn/#_a5y_p=1602723

 

Makes about 16 cups of caramel corn

Ingredients

• ½ cup unpopped popcorn kernels (about 16 cups popped corn)
• 1 cup salted butter
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• ⅓ cup light corn syrup
• 1½ - 2 tsp kosher or sea salt, divided

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 300°
2. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Set aside.
3. Pop popcorn kernels using air popper into a large bowl.
4. In a small saucepan melt butter, brown sugar, corn syrup and 1 tsp salt together over medium heat. Bring to boil. Boil for 4 minutes without stirring.
5. Pour caramel mixture over popcorn and stir to coat evenly.
6. Pour popcorn into lined pan, sprinkle remaining salt on top (1/2 tsp - 1 tsp depending on your personal taste preference) and place in oven. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.
7. Allow popcorn to cool on a parchment lined counter.

Notes

You can add in 2 cups of nuts to the un-coated popcorn if desired! Coat with caramel as states!

Blueberry Lemon Cupcakes

These are spectacular!!  They were served at a teacher appreciation luncheon and I shamelessly hunted down the chef until the recipe was in my hands.  Now, I'll put it here so I can find it next time.  Thanks to Jennifer Roth!


1. Make Lemon Cupcakes as directed in the recipe below except - place paper baking cup in each of 24 regular-size muffin cups, toss 1 cup of blueberries with 1 tablespoon of flour, divide batter evenly among muffin cups, filling each about 1/2 full, and sprinkle berries over batter in each cup. Bake and cool as directed in recipe.
2. In medium bowl, beat frosting ingredients with electric mixer on high speed about 4 minutes or until smooth and well blended, adding more milk 1 teaspoon at a time, if needed. I personally would double this recipe. I am much better at piping icing than frosting icing.


Lemon Cupcakes:
1 1/3 C all purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 C butter or margarine softened
1 1/4 C sugar
3 eggs
2 tbsp grated lemon peel
1 tsp vanilla
2/3 C milk

1. Heat oven to 350. Place baking cup in each of 24 regular-size muffin cups.
2. In medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
3. In large bowl, beat butter with electric mixer on medium speed 30 seconds. Gradually add sugar, about 1/4 cup at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping bowl occasionally. Beat 2 minutes longer. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in lemon peel and vanilla. On low speed, alternately add flour mixture, about 1/3 of mixture at a time. and milk, about 1/2 at a time, beating just until blended.
4. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups, filling each about 2/3 full.
5. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown and toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean. Cool in pan for 5 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan; place on cooling racks until cool. Frost with desired frosting.

Frosting:
1 1/2 C powdered sugar
3/4 C unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp grated lemon peel
1/2 tsp kosher (coarse) salt
1 1/4 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp. milk

Garnish:
1 cup fresh blueberries
Lemon peel twists, if desired
Fresh mint leaves, if desired