Best Decorating Cookies

Every year since our teens, my sister and I would make "masjid cookies" around the Eid holiday. However, the cookie base is critical because shape matters, especially on the minoret's of these cut outs. This recipe gives you a buttery, tasty, easy to shape, and easy to decorate cookie. You can make any shape as you desire and you can decorate with your frosting or sprinkles of choice! Note: prepping the dough ahead of time is critical as this recipe requires at least 1 hour of refrigeration and at least a 1 hour period for cooling off the hot cookies.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup (1 and 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
3/4 cups granulated white sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 and 1/4 cup all purpose flour

Instructions:

Following these instructions exactly will provide the best results.

1. Using an electric hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until you get a light and fluffy texture. This takes about 5 minutes.
2. Add the egg, vanilla, baking powder, and salt. Mix until all ingredients are fully combined.
3. In 1/2 cup increments, add in the flour. Once each 1/2 cup of flour is fully integrated into the dough, add the next 1/2 cup of flour.
4. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate the dough for 1 to 2 hours.
5. Once the dough has chilled, roll out the dough to a 1/4 inch thickness with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface. It often helps to flour the rolling pin as well.
6. With cookie cutters, make your desired shape. The smaller the cookie shape, the less cook time you will need. Re-roll and cut until all dough is used.
7. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes. The sides will just barely begin to turn golden brown. Let the cookies cool for 5 minutes before removing them from the cookie sheet.
8. Do not decorate the cookies until the cookies are cooled COMPLETELY. This will take at least an hour.
9. Decorate with your frosting and sprinkles of choice. Enjoy these cookies and store any extra at room temperature in a sealed container. These usually stay fresh for a few days. I have refrigerated these cookies before and they can last even longer. However, if you decide to refrigerate, you should let them warm to room temperature prior to serving.

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Cookie Dessert Pizza

My nephews absolutely love chocolate. Leave them alone with a chocolate chip cookie for less than a minute . . . and all you'll find are a couple of crumbs. This recipe is PERFECT for kids as it looks exciting and colorful. Not only that, every kid I know would want to put toppings on his or her own dessert pizza! The best part about the below recipe is that you can add or omit the toppings as you please. For example, my recipe uses freshly whipped cream for the sauce, but just imagine if you decided to use Nutella instead. Drooling...well, let's get baking!

Ingredients:
For the cookie "crust":
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted but cool
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1 and 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cups chocolate chips

For the "sauce":
1/2 cup chilled heavy whipping cream
1/4 powdered sugar
Alternative sauce options include, but are not limited to: Nutella, Cookie Butter, etc


For the "toppings":
1/4 cup toasted shredded coconut
1/2 cup M&M's
Alternative toppings include, but are not limited to: crushed oreos, chopped nuts, crushed graham crackers, Heath candy pieces, Reeses pieces

Instructions:

Feel free to be creative with this recipe! It is hard to go wrong with this!

1. Whisk butter, vanilla, egg, cooled melted butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until thoroughly mixed.

2. Add in baking soda and flour and mix. The dough will be hard (this is intentional as you are trying to get a "crust"). Stir in the chocolate chips.

3. Pat the dough down onto a foiled 12 inch pizza pan.

4. Bake the cookie at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until the cookie is a light golden brown. Do not overbake! The cookie should look like this:

5. Let the cookie cool.
6. Prep your whipping cream: combine the powdered sugar and heavy whipping cream. Whip the cream (I recommend using an electric hand mixer) until the cream doubles in size, is smooth, and forms soft peaks. This takes about 4 to 6 minutes.
7. Refrigerate the heavy whipping cream until you are ready to serve the dessert pizza (the rest of the steps are very fast). If you choose to do a different sauce like Nutella, there is no need to do this step.
8. Once ready, spread the heavy whipping cream over the cookie as if it were a sauce.
9. Sprinkle the toasted shredded coconut and the M&Ms over the top. Please do feel free to add or omit other toppings as you see fit.
10. Cut into wedges using a standard knife (no need to use a pizza cutter) and enjoy!

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Fluffy Pretzel Buns

My husband introduced me to Costco's Pretzel Slider Buns / Rolls a year ago and I could not have enough! But, why buy from Costco when you can make it yourself?! By taking tips from Sally's Baking Addiction and Like Mother Like Daughter, I can successfully say that I won't be going to Costco for these buns anymore!

These are so fluffy, soft, and easy to make. I highly recommend making these even if you are a first-timer. The steps are not difficult, but they do require a very crucial step of boiling the buns for 20 to 30 seconds in baking soda water prior to baking.

If you end up trying out this recipe, please do let me know how it goes! 


Ingredients:
1 and 1/2 cups warm water (not hot, and about the temperature of warm bath water)
 2 teaspoons yeast
1 teaspoon white table sugar
2 tablespoons melted margarine plus additional for brushing the tops of the buns
1 tablespoon brown sugar
3 and 3/4 cups all purpose flour
Salt for topping
Oil for greasing pan

For boiling bath:
1/2 cup baking soda
9 cups water

Instructions:

Following these instructions exactly will provide the best results.

1. In a bowl, mix warm water, yeast, and white table sugar together. Let the solution stand for about 5 minutes. The solution should become foamy and expand. If this does not happen, your water may have been too hot or your yeast is no longer active. Do not take shortcuts on this step!

2. Mix in the melted margarine (warm, but not hot) and tablespoon of brown sugar.

3. Add in one cup of all purpose flour and mix until dough is the consistency of a pancake batter with no clumps. Then, add in the second cup of all purpose flour. At this point, begin mixing with your hands. Once thoroughly mixed, add in the third cup of all purpose flour. The dough should now be somewhat sticky. Add in the remaining 3/4 cups of flour and knead until all flour is combined. The dough will be somewhat stiff. Continue kneading dough for about 3 to 5 minutes.

4. Shape the dough into a ball and place back into bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 45 minutes in a warm place.

5. The dough will be double its size. Take off the plastic wrap and punch down the dough. Knead dough a few times in the bowl and break the dough into 12 equal parts. Roll each part into a ball.
6. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Foil and grease a 9x11 pan. Set aside.
7. In a large saucepan, combine the baking soda with 9 cups of water. Bring to a boil.
8. Once ready, drop one to two dough balls into the boiling baking soda bath. Boil for 20 to 30 seconds (but, not longer as flavor could be compromised). Remove bun(s) with a slotted spatula or spoon. Allow any excess liquid to drain. Place bun(s) on the foiled and greased pan. Repeat until all 12 buns have been dropped into the baking soda bath and placed on pan (it is okay if the buns touch). Sorry, no shortcuts on this step!!!
9. With a knife, make a few slashes in each bun. Do not worry if your buns look ugly, they will look great after baking!
10. Melt 1 to 2 tablespoons of margarine and brush on top of each bun. Sprinkle salt (any type --- I used plain table salt, but other recipes have used course salt).
11. Bake buns at 400 degrees for 25 minutes. The buns should be a darker golden brown.
12. Remove from oven and enjoy!

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Brown Butter Sugar Cookies

These crunchy, yet soft, cookies are your simple sugar cookie with a twist. Instead of using plain butter, the recipe requires brown butter. It makes quite the difference in flavor! Try it out and let me know your thoughts!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) of butter
1 and 1/4 cup all purpose flour 
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For sugar coating:
4 tablespoons brown sugar
4 tablespoons granulated white sugar

Instructions:

Following these instructions exactly will provide the best results.

1.        Make brown butter (Credit to Sally's Baking Addiction): Break butter into pieces and place into a light colored pot or skillet. Melt the butter over medium heat and stir occasionally. Butter will begin to foam (this is normal). Keep occasionally stirring and stay near the stove at all times. After 5 or so minutes, the butter will begin to appear golden. Keep occasionally mixing. The butter will be "brown butter" after a couple of more minutes when the butter transforms into a toasty brown and you will see little specks begin to form at the bottom of the pan. The butter will smell nutty. WATCH THE BUTTER CAREFULLY as the butter can quickly go from brown to burnt!!!

2.       Let the brown butter cool.

3.       In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add the cooled brown butter and whisk until smooth. Add the egg and vanilla and mix thoroughly. The  dough mixture will be very oily to touch.

4.       In a separate bowl, combine the sugars for the sugar coating. Roll a teaspoon or two of dough into a 1 inch ball. Roll the ball in the sugar mixture. Place ball on an ungreased baking sheet. Repeat until all dough is used and make sure that the cookies are at least 1 inch apart.

5.       Bake cookies for 8 minutes at 350 degrees and until the cookies are a light golden color. Allow the cookie to cool on the baking sheet to prevent breakage.

6.      Enjoy!


Note: If you make your cookies larger, you will need to increase cooking time by a few minutes.

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