With Sprinkles on Top

One of my baking goals has always been to make perfect little thumbprint cookies. These are not those cookies. My cookies always crack – anyone know why? But perfect-looking cookies don’t really matter as long as they taste good. And these definitely did.

Apologies that my posts are not particularly wordy lately. I’m finishing up another semester of school and I try to balance school with my baking hobby. Sometimes I just don’t have time to write much. Which is probably alright because most of you just want the recipe, right?! Hope you’re all having a great spring :)

Easter Thumbprint Cookies
Recipe source: A Bowl of Mush
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10 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate (chopped)
1 tablespoons butter

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. With an electric mixer, beat together the butter, sugar, vanilla and salt until smooth. Beat in the flour slowly until the dough has formed.
3. Roll teaspoonfuls of dough into balls. Place on an un-greased baking sheet and bake for 10 mins. Then remove from the oven and press thumb prints into the center of the balls. [I used the end of a large spoon]
4. Place the tray back in the oven for a further 7-9 minutes or until lightly golden. Allow the cookies to cool fully on a rack.
5. Melt the chocolate and butter in a double boiler until smooth. Allow to cool slightly, then pour the chocolate into the cookies little thumbprints.
6. Add a chocolate mini egg on top for a cute Easter look.

I think my favorite seasonal candy of all time is the Cadbury Mini Egg.

They’re just perfect.

I’m sure I’ve rambled on and on for my love of this candy in previous years, but I can’t help it. I will eat them by the handful and always look for recipes involving these yummy little eggs.

Maybe one of these years I’ll branch out and fall in love with a new Easter candy, but until then. . .

Yield: 9-12 bars

Cadbury Mini Egg Blondies

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A perfect treat for Easter brunch!

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 cups Cadbury mini eggs

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325F. Grease a 8×8 or 9×9 baking pan.

2. In a medium sizes mixing bowl sift flower, baking soda and salt together.

3. Melt butter over medium heat. Once melted add to the bowl of your electric mixer. Cream together with sugars.

4. Add in vanilla and eggs mix until creamy.

5. Slowly add in flour mixture until it is incorporated. Fold in mini eggs. [I crushed the mini eggs a bit – but you don’t have to)

6. Spread batter into a greased 8×8 or 9×9 baking dish. Bake for about 40 minutes or until a tooth pick is inserted in the center and comes out clean.

7. Let the bars cool for 30 minutes before slicing.

Notes

Your yield will depend on how big or small you cut the blondies.

Recipe credit: Bakeaholic Mama

Here’s this year’s roundup of St. Patrick’s Day-inspired recipes. Enjoy!

1. Pot O’ Gold Cupcakes
2. Three Layer Mint Brownies
3. Rainbow Cupcakes
4. Mint Chocolate Kiss Cookies
5. Green Ombre Cake
6. Lucky Charm Cupcakes
7. Beer Bread
8. Homemade Thin Mints
9. Rainbow and Cloud Cookies
10. After Eight Cupcakes
11. Green Velvet Cupcakes
12. Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes
13. Blue Moon & Corona Cupcakes
14. Shamrock Shake Cupcakes

St. Patrick’s Day is the holiday of beer. Or so it seems. ;) You can make these cupcakes at any time of the year (they’d be perfect in the summertime or for the Super Bowl), but I decided to make them in honor of St. Patrick’s Day. I’m not a huge Corona fan, but I love Blue Moon, so those were my favorites. But let’s be honest. Anything involving cream cheese frosting is perfect in my book.

Blue Moon & Corona Cupcakes
Recipe source: Erica’s Sweet Tooth
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For the beer cupcakes:
3/4 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature
1-3/4 cups sugar
2-1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp orange or lime zest
1 cup Blue Moon *or* Corona beer
1/4 cup milk

For the citrus cream cheese frosting:
12 oz cream cheese, cold
6 Tablespoons butter, at room temperature
1 Tablespoon freshly squeezed orange/lime juice
1 tsp orange/lime zest
4 cups powdered sugar

For the beer cupcakes:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line 24 muffin tins with cupcake liners.
2. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
4. Add eggs, beating after each addition then add the vanilla and zest.
5. Combine milk and beer and alternatively add this mixture and the flour mixture to the butter/sugar mixture with the mixer on low speed, starting and ending with the flour.
6. Fill the cupcake liners 2/3 full and bake for 18 minutes, or until cake tester comes out clean.

For the citrus cream cheese frosting:
1. Cream together the cream cheese and butter in an electric mixer until smooth and creamy, about 2-3 minutes.
2. Add the citrus juice and zest and gradually add the powdered sugar until well-combined. Beat until smooth for about 2 minutes.
3. Load frosting in a piping bag fit with a large star tip and pipe cupcake tops once cooled.
Recipe yields 24 cupcakes.
4. Decorate as you’d like – I used pressed sugar beer mugs made by Wilton.

Makes about 24 cupcakes.

*Note: I made these a little differently than the recipe above instructs. In the recipe above, you have to choose one or the other for your required cup of beer — and in the frosting, the lime and orange zests are mixed in together to create an overall citrus flavor. But I wanted both Blue Moon cupcakes AND Corona cupcakes. So I made two separate batches. Because I’m crazy and wanted to stress-bake my law school woes away. I also, in turn, made a batch of lime cream cheese frosting and a batch of orange cream cheese frosting. The end result was that I had a batch of cupcakes made with Blue Moon & orange icing — as well as a batch of cupcakes made with Corona & lime icing.

It’s totally up to you how you choose to make these. Most people prefer one of those beers over the other, so go with what you like best – or what you have in the house!

The calendar has flipped to March – the month of St. Patrick’s Day. Every spring I anxiously await the return of the McDonald’s Shamrock Shake. Usually I’m not a big McDonald’s fan, except to pop in to buy a soda or use their restrooms on a road trip. But oh oh, Shamrock Shakes. They are so delicious. Maybe even more so because they’re a limited-time addition to the menu each year.

I wanted to make a cupcake that was reminiscent of the Shamrock Shake — and a cupcake that was easy and quick to make. So you know what that means: I went the semi-homemade route. I used my favorite enhanced box cake recipe and made a big batch of mint buttercream frosting.

Shamrock Shake Cupcakes
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1 box cake mix (vanilla or white, in this case)
1 box vanilla instant-pudding mix (4-serving size)
4 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup water
1 cup sour cream

1. Preheat oven to 350 and line cupcake pans with paper liners.
2. Mix all ingredients together using an electric mixer. Mix until smooth.
3. Pour batter into the lined cupcake pans, filling about 2/3 of each cup.
4. Bake according to box directions; you may have to adjust the baking time because the recipe has been altered a bit. Just keep an eye on the cupcakes and check them with a tester to determine when they’re finished. Mine baked for 20 minutes.

Mint Buttercream
3/4 cup unsalted butter at room temp, cut into pieces
2 cups powdered sugar
2 tbsp milk
Few drops of mint extract
Green food coloring (optional)

1. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Add milk and mint extract and mix well. You may want to add more or less milk.
3. Add food coloring if you wish. I split the batch in half – and only colored one half green.
4. Pipe over cooled cupcakes.