Sweets for a Saturday #76

1. Lemon Crinkle Cookies - The Royal Cook



2. Bubble Gum Cookie Truffles - Back 4 Seconds



3. Patriotic Moon Pies - Home is Where the Boat Is



4. Caramel Cake - Picture Perfect Cooking



5. Cosmic Brownies - Amy's Cooking Adventures



The Rules:

1. Please link up to the URL of your post, not the URL of your main blog. When it asks for "Name", type in the name of your treat.
2. Please leave a link back to this post in your post or Grab My Button.
3. Share your delicious sweets from this week. If you've made more than one during the week, feel free to link them all up.
4. Leave me a comment telling me that you've linked up.
5. Please visit at least two others and comment on their wonderful additions to this party.

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Sweets for a Saturday #75

1. Birthday Cake Crispy Treats - The Royal Cook



2. Peanut Butter Frosting - The Royal Cook



3. No- Bake Chocolate Pie - My Judy the Foodie



4. Mini Raspberry Cheesecake Dessert Cups - Cookin' Up Good Times



5. Red White and Blue Cake - Happier than a Pig in Mud


The Rules:

1. Please link up to the URL of your post, not the URL of your main blog. When it asks for "Name", type in the name of your treat.
2. Please leave a link back to this post in your post or Grab My Button.
3. Share your delicious sweets from this week. If you've made more than one during the week, feel free to link them all up.
4. Leave me a comment telling me that you've linked up.
5. Please visit at least two others and comment on their wonderful additions to this party.

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Lemon Raspberry Cookie Cups

I love, love, love lemony treats. I love them as much as chocolatey ones, maybe even more. In fact, if I had a lemon tree in my backyard, I'd be one super happy person. Just imagine an unlimited supply of lemon curd, lemon bars, lemon cookies, mmmm.


Speaking of lemony cookies, my love for all things lemony meant that I absolutely had to make a lemon cookie cup. Lemon goes really well with raspberries and, since I had a jar of raspberry jam from another cookie cup experiment, I decided to put a dollop of it into these cookie cups. Then, for extra lemony goodness, I topped the cups off with some lemon cream cheese frosting.


One bite, one bite and ohhhh I can't describe how delicious this truly was. It fulfilled all my lemony dreams and that bit of raspberry jam added just the right contrast. I cannot keep my hands off of this one and it was torture to hold off long enough to take pictures of them, cause goodness knows I wanted to eat them all right then and there. If you're a lemon lover, then these are the cookie cups for you. Just make sure you make a big batch.


Lemon Raspberry Cookie Cups (created by Sweet as Sugar Cookies)

1 c. unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 c. sugar
2 Tbsp. + 1 tsp. lemon zest
1 egg
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 1/4 c. all-purpose flour

6 Tbsp. raspberry jam

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting:

4 oz. cream cheese, softened (you can use 1/3 less fat)
2 Tbsp. butter, softened
2 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. lemon zest
1/2 c. powdered sugar

For the cookie cups:

Rub the lemon zest into the sugar with your fingers until sugar is moist and fragrant. Cream the lemon sugar with the butter. Add the egg and beat well. Mix in the baking soda, salt, and flour until incorporated.

Grease mini muffin tins. Fill each muffin cup 3/4 full with batter. Bake at 350F for 12-15 min. until a toothpick comes out clean. If the cookie cups have risen over the muffin cups, use a spoon to flatten them down slightly to make them level with the tin. While still warm, make a well in the center of each cookie cup with your finger or a small spoon. Chill the tins in the fridge for 30-60 min. before removing the cookie cups.

For the frosting:

Beat the cream cheese with the butter until smooth. Add the lemon zest and lemon juice. Beat in the powdered sugar until fluffy.

For the assembly:

After the cookie cups have chilled, remove from the tins. Spoon in 1/2 tsp. of raspberry jam into each cookie cup. Pipe in the frosting on top of the raspberry jam to cover it completely. If desired, add a dot of raspberry jam to the frosting in the center of each cookie cups to make it look pretty.

Makes 36 cookie cups

Sweets for a Saturday #74

Welcome to another sweet Saturday! Here are your Top 5 from last week:

1. Amazing Mint Brownies - The Royal Cook



2. Strawberry Coconut Cake - Flour Me With Love



3. I Want to Marry You Cookies - Yummy Healthy Easy



4. Pig Sty Cake - Amy's Cooking Adventures



5. Butter Tart Bars - All is Amazing



The Rules:

1. Please link up to the URL of your post, not the URL of your main blog. When it asks for "Name", type in the name of your treat.
2. Please leave a link back to this post in your post or Grab My Button.
3. Share your delicious sweets from this week. If you've made more than one during the week, feel free to link them all up.
4. Leave me a comment telling me that you've linked up.
5. Please visit at least two others and comment on their wonderful additions to this party.

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Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cookie Cups

Somewhere in the middle of my cookie cup craze, I got an e-mail from my good blogger friend, Katrina from Baking and Boys. She suggested that I come up with a chocolate-raspberry cookie cup. Well, you don't need to ask me twice for that one. I have loved raspberry chocolates ever since I was a kid. Whenever we got a box of chocolates, I'd take a knife and cut them all open looking for the one elusive raspberry filled chocolate in the entire box. Lucky for me, my family didn't mind and their favorite chocolates were ones with different fillings, so it was all mine.



Originally, I figured on making a chocolate cookie cup and filling it with raspberry buttercream. But, then I remembered that I still had some chocolate ganache in my freezer from a cooking class I recently took. I also had a jar of raspberry jam. I decided to make a cookie cup in homage of my favorite chocolate - a Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cookie Cup.



So, I took some of that chocolate ganache and filled the cookie cups halfway with it. Then, I dolloped on the raspberry jam and drizzled it all over with white chocolate. One word - decadent!!! I know that I keep saying that this one or that one is my favorite cookie cup of all, but this time, I really mean it. These are my all-time favorites!!! I made only a small batch of them as an experiment, but after tasting it, I lamented the fact that I hadn't made more. Oh boy did I ever want more, lots more. Memo to me - make another batch of these next week, and maybe the week after that, and maybe the week after that. Chocolate raspberry rules! If you make these, and I hope you will, then I hope you're the only chocolate raspberry lover in your family because you will want them all to yourself. Otherwise, hide them. :)

And Katrina, can't thank you enough for the great inspiration. I think you'll love these.

Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cookie Cups (created by Sweet as Sugar Cookies)

1 c. salted butter, at room temperature (if using unsalted, add 1/2 tsp. salt)
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c. + 2 Tbsp. brown sugar
2 Tbsp. powdered sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2/3 c. cocoa powder
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda

6 Tbsp. chocolate ganache
6 Tbsp. raspberry jam
melted white chocolate, for drizzling

Cream the butter with the sugars. Add the egg and vanilla and beat well. Mix in the cocoa powder. Add the flour, baking powder, and baking soda and mix to combine.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease mini muffin tins. Fill each muffin cup about 3/4 full with the dough. Bake for 10 min. or until a toothpick comes out clean. If the cookie cups have risen above the muffin cups, simply use a spoon to flatten them down so they are level with the muffin cups.

While still warm, make a well in the center of each cookie cup with a small spoon or your finger. Chill the muffin tins in the fridge for 30-60 min. before removing the cookie cups.

After the cookie cups have chilled, fill each one with 1/2 tsp. of chocolate ganache. Top that off with 1/2 tsp. raspberry jam. Alternately, you could do the raspberry jam first and then top with the ganache. Drizzle with melted white chocolate.

Note: I don't have a recipe for the chocolate ganache, since I don't have permission to share the one from my class. But, any recipe for chocolate ganache will do.

Butterfinger Cookie Cups

Butterfingers, in my opinion, are one of the best candy bars ever. And, I've found that they also make for some delicious cookies. So, why not make some Butterfinger Cookie Cups?

At first, I tried to create my own recipe for the cookie dough. It didn't work. Somehow or other, the Butterfingers all liquefied while they baked causing the cookie dough to spread way too much and then promptly deflate once I took them out of the oven. Yeah, that's not quite what I had in mind. So, then I figured, why reinvent the wheel and I turned to a recipe for Butterfinger Peanut Butter Cookies that I had made before from the blog, Goddess of Baking. This time - sweet success!


I then made a buttercream frosting and added some crushed Butterfingers, which turned the frosting a lovely light shade of orange. Added to these peanut buttery, Butterfingery cookie cups and you'll find yourself saying, "Nobody better lay a finger on my Butterfinger Cookie Cups!"

Butterfinger Cookie Cups (created by Sweet as Sugar Cookies)

For the cookie cups (adapted from Goddess of Baking)

1 1/2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2/3 c. peanut butter (I used crunchy)
1/2 c. butter, unsalted
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 Butterfinger Bar (2.1 oz.), chopped

Butterfinger Buttercream Frosting:

8 Tbsp. butter, softened
2 1/2 c. powdered sugar
crushed Butterfingers

crushed Butterfinger Snackerz or more crushed Butterfingers (for sprinkling)

For the cookie cups:

Beat the peanut butter, butter, sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Add egg and vanilla and mix until combined. Combine the dry ingredients and add, mixing until just combined. Stir in the chopped Butterfinger candy.

Grease mini muffin tins. Fill each muffin cup 3/4 full with the dough. Bake at 350F for 10-12 min. or until a toothpick comes out clean. While still warm, make a well in the center of each cookie cup with a small spoon or your finger. Chill the muffin tins in the fridge for at least 30-60 min. before removing the cookies.

For the buttercream frosting:

Beat the butter with the powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in the crushed Butterfingers.

For the assembly:

When the cookie cups have cooled, remove from the tins. Pipe in the Butterfinger buttercream frosting. Sprinkle with more chopped Butterfingers, if desired.

Makes about 36 cookie cups

Take 5 Cookie Cups

Have you ever tried a Take 5 candy bar? I haven't. But, hey, it has pretzels, caramel, peanut butter and chocolate - what's not to love? Sounded like a good combination to me and perfect for my next cookie cup creation.


So, I made a peanut butter cookie base to start with. Then, I filled it halfway with a dollop of caramel ice cream topping, covered that with my chocolate-peanut butter mixture, and sprinkled some crushed pretzels on top. Voila - a Take 5 Cookie Cup.


It was a very neat eating experience to have so many different flavors all at one time. The only thing I'd change is to use actual melted caramel in place of the caramel ice cream topping since the topping was a little more liquidy than I would have liked. I think using real caramel would also help to deepen that flavor and also make the cookie cup more like the Take 5 candy bar itself. Still, I gotta say, it was good!


Take 5 Cookie Cups (created by Sweet as Sugar Cookies)

Peanut Butter Cookie Cups (adapted from Beantown Baker and Magnolia Bakery Cookbook)

1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. unsalted butter, softened
1 c. peanut butter
3/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. light brown sugar
1 egg
1 Tbsp. milk (I omitted this)
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. chopped peanuts (I added this)

Chocolate Peanut Butter Filling:

1/2 c. semisweet chocolate chips
1/3 c. creamy peanut butter

Melt the chocolate chips with the peanut butter in a double boiler or in the microwave. Stir together to combine.

For further assembly:
caramel ice cream topping
chopped pretzels

Preheat oven to 350F. Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

Beat the butter and peanut butter together until fluffy. Add the sugars and beat until smooth. Add the egg and mix well. Add the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and beat thoroughly. Stir in the chopped peanuts.

Grease a 12-cup muffin tin. Scoop up the dough, 3 Tbsp. at a time, and fill each muffin cup. Bake for 20-25 min. until a toothpick comes out clean (the time may vary, depending on your oven).

Remove from oven, and, while still warm, make a dent the size of a mini muffin in the center of each one with a spoon or your finger. Chill the muffin tin in the fridge for at least 30-60 min. before removing the cookies.

After the cookies have chilled, remove them from the tins. Fill the bottoms of the cookie cups with a little caramel ice cream topping. Pipe in the chocolate-peanut butter filling. Top with the chopped pretzels. Set in the fridge to chill so the chocolate filling can set.

Sweets for a Saturday #73

A little late, but better late than never. And with that, I give you your Top 5 from last week:

1. Healthy Blueberry Oatmeal Bars - Newfangled Housewife



2. PB Fudge w/ Reeses Pieces and Marshmallow Bits - Dreaming of White Chocolate



3. Patriotic Cookie Dippers - Lady Behind the Curtain



4. Cinnamon Toffee Chex Mix - Back 4 Seconds



5. Buttermilk Fudge Cake - Pastry Chef Baking



The Rules:

1. Please link up to the URL of your post, not the URL of your main blog. When it asks for "Name", type in the name of your treat.
2. Please leave a link back to this post in your post or Grab My Button.
3. Share your delicious sweets from this week. If you've made more than one during the week, feel free to link them all up.
4. Leave me a comment telling me that you've linked up.
5. Please visit at least two others and comment on their wonderful additions to this party.

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Caramel Apple Cookie Cups

I'll admit that I'm not crazy about caramel apples in general. All that super sticky caramel makes me worry that my fillings are going to pop out, and I would NOT like that to happen.


But, that doesn't mean that I don't still like the flavor of a caramel apple. This got me to thinking about creating a Caramel Apple Cookie Cup, especially when I saw some dried apples at the grocery store. I'm sure all food bloggers are the same way - you see some sort of foodstuff at the store and instead of thinking, "I want to eat some of that," you think, "What can I make with that?" Isn't that true?


Anyway, back to the cookie cups. I added the chopped apples to a lightly cinnamon spiced cookie base and filled them with a caramel buttercream. And, because you can never have too much caramel, I drizzled them with a little more. The warm flavors came together so wonderfully. One bite and you'll be in autumn-y ecstasy. And, I promise that when you eat these, your fillings (if you have any) will stay put.


Caramel Apple Cookie Cups (created by Sweet as Sugar Cookies)

1 c. unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 c. light brown sugar, packed
1 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
2 tsp. cinnamon
pinch nutmeg
dash allspice
1 tsp. baking soda
2 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. chopped dried apples

Caramel Buttercream Frosting:

8 Tbsp. butter
2 c. powdered sugar
1/4 c. caramel ice cream topping

For the cookie cups:

Cream the butter and brown sugar. Add the vanilla and egg and beat well. Combine the dry ingredients and add, mixing well. Stir in the chopped dried apples.

Grease mini muffin tins. Fill each muffin cup about 3/4 full with the dough. Bake at 350F for 10-12 min. until a toothpick comes out clean. While still warm, make a well in the center of each cup with a small spoon or your finger. Chill the tins in the fridge for at least 30-60 min. before removing the cookies.

For the buttercream frosting:

Cream the butter with the powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in the caramel ice cream topping. You can add more caramel if you want a stronger flavor.

For the assembly:

After the cookie cups have chilled, remove them from the tins. Fill them with the frosting and drizzle with more caramel, if desired.

Makes approximately 40 cookie cups

Gingerbread Scones - SRC

For this month's Secret Recipe Club, it was my pleasure to be assigned to our sweet host's blog, The Heritage Cook. She had so many amazing looking recipes on her blog that I ended up with a list of about 20 different things and then had to take on the difficult task of narrowing it down. But, I finally decided on the Gingerbread Scones.


I did make a few changes to the recipe. First of all, I increased the amounts of the spices to 1 1/2 tsp. ginger powder and 1 tsp. of cinnamon. I also increased the amount of brown sugar to 4 Tbsp. In addition, since I was using a rather strong brand of molasses, I added only 3 Tbsp. of it to the recipe and used 2 Tbsp. of honey to make up the rest and mellow the taste. Finally, I drizzled the scones with some melted white chocolate and sprinkled some candied ginger on top.


These scones were delightful. I literally can't stop nibbling on them. I'm really glad I upped the sugar and spices because the flavor was spot-on gingerbready. Plus, the scones were so soft and moist right out of the oven, no dry hockey pucks here. I'm totally glad that I picked these for this month's assignment. Thanks Jane for one lovely recipe.

Gingerbread Scones (adapted from The Heritage Cook)

2 c. all-purpose flour
3 Tbsp. brown sugar (I used 4 Tbsp.)
1 tsp. ground ginger (I used 1 1/2 tsp.)
1/2 tsp. cinnamon (I used 1 tsp.)
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt (I used salted butter and omitted this)
1/4 c. cold butter
1/3 c. molasses (I used 3 Tbsp. molasses + 2 Tbsp. honey)
1/4 c. milk (I used skim milk)
1 egg, separated

melted white chocolate, for drizzling
chopped candied ginger

Preheat oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Cut in the butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. In a small bowl, combine the molasses, milk, and egg yolk until smooth; stir into the flour mixture just until moistened. Turn the dough onto a floured surface; knead gently 6-8 times. Pat into an 8-inch circle; cut into 12 wedges and place 1 inch apart on prepared baking sheet.

Beat egg white until frothy; brush over scones. Bake for 12-15 min. or until golden brown. Remove from pan to wire rack. Serve warm. If desired, drizzle with melted white chocolate and sprinkle with candied ginger.

Sweets for a Saturday #72

Hope you had a fun Memorial Day this past week filled with food, family, and fun. Here's to another great Sweets for a Saturday with your Top 5 from last week:

1. The Best Banana Pudding - Piece Love & Cooking



2. Peanut Butter Treasure Cookie Dough - My Sweet Creations



3. Peanut Butter Oreo Cups - My Sweet Creations



4. Cookie Dough Monster Cupcakes - Back 4 Seconds



5. Boston Cream Pie - Cupcakes with Sprinkles



The Rules:

1. Please link up to the URL of your post, not the URL of your main blog. When it asks for "Name", type in the name of your treat.
2. Please leave a link back to this post in your post or Grab My Button.
3. Share your delicious sweets from this week. If you've made more than one during the week, feel free to link them all up.
4. Leave me a comment telling me that you've linked up.
5. Please visit at least two others and comment on their wonderful additions to this party.

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Peanut Butter Honey Cookie Cups

I don't think I ever tried the combo of peanut butter and honey in a sandwich until I was around 19 years old. Before that, peanut butter and jam or peanut butter and chocolate chips were the only PB sandwiches I had ever eaten or liked. As for honey, I tried it once, found it to be odd, and didn't ever intend to eat it again (now I use it so much, I can't live without it). But, that first PB honey sandwich was an eye-opener for me. It was so good! And, with that, I added a new flavor combo to my repertoire of faves.


So, when I found myself with some leftover peanut butter cookie dough from my last cookie cup experiment, I felt inspired to do a peanut butter-honey combo. I whipped up a honey buttercream frosting, used it to fill my cookie cups, and dug right in. The honey flavor is not at all overpowering and adds a light sweetness to the frosting. Add that to a super peanut buttery cookie and it's mmm, mmm, good. Granted, it's not as awesome as peanut butter and chocolate (few things are), but it's still got a special place in my heart.


Peanut Butter Honey Cookie Cups (created by Sweet as Sugar Cookies)

Peanut Butter Cookie Base (adapted from Beantown Baker and Magnolia Bakery Cookbook)

1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. unsalted butter, softened
1 c. peanut butter
3/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. light brown sugar
1 egg
1 Tbsp. milk (I omitted this)
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. chopped peanuts (I added this)

Honey Buttercream Frosting (Sweet as Sugar Cookies)

6 Tbsp. butter
3 Tbsp. honey
1 1/2 c. powdered sugar

For the cookie cups:

Preheat oven to 350F. Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

Beat the butter and peanut butter together until fluffy. Add the sugars and beat until smooth. Add the egg and mix well. Add the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and beat thoroughly. Stir in the chopped peanuts.

Grease mini muffin tins. Fill each muffin cup 3/4 full with the cookie dough. Bake for 10 min. until a toothpick comes out clean. Do not overbake or cookies will be too hard.

While still warm, make a well in the center of each cookie cup using a small spoon or your finger. Chill the muffin tins in the fridge for at least 30-60 min. before removing the cookie cups.

For the buttercream frosting:

Cream the butter with the honey. Beat in the powdered sugar until light and fluffy.

For the assembly:

Remove the chilled cookie cups from the tins. Pipe in the honey buttercream frosting. If you so desired, you could also sprinkle on some chopped honey roasted peanuts (I would have done it if I had any at the time).