It’s Thursday! Parks & Rec day! I’m not sure if tonight’s episode is new or if it’s a re-run. How many of you are fans of the show? One of my favorite episodes is the one involving the now-famous phrase, TREAT YO SELF! These cookies made a brief appearance on the show, so I decided to make them when I had some extra cookie dough.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Here are my suggestions for a yummy St. Patrick’s Day! A celebration of all things green and/or Irish..
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
My obsession with ombre continues. You may remember that I made a pink ombre cake for Valentine’s Day. This cake is similar, but I used a box mix this time! You can do ombre with any color – don’t feel restricted to green! I chose green because St. Patrick’s Day is approaching.
Green Ombre Cake
Print Recipe
Cake:
2 boxes white cake mix (plus required oil, eggs)
Green gel food coloring (I used Wilton’s Leaf Green)
6″ cake pan(s)
1. Make the cake batter according to box directions. If you have a bowl large enough, make both batches together.
2. Add a small amount of green coloring; mix to achieve a pale green batter. Fill one cake pan with this batter. Add more green coloring to achieve a slightly darker green batter. Fill another cake pan with this batter. Repeat these steps until you have cakes varying from pale to vibrant green.
3. Bake according to box directions and cool cakes completely before frosting.
Frosting:
Recipe source: therepressedpastrychef.blogspot.com
1 stick salted butter – room temperature
1 stick unsalted butter – room temperature
1 cup shortening
1 tablespoon clear vanilla extract**
2 pounds confectioner’s sugar (powdered sugar, 10x)
4-6 tablespoons very cold milk
(The CLEAR extract is very important if you want WHITE buttercream. Most buttercream tends to have a yellow-ish tint if you use real vanilla extract)
1. Cream the butter and shortening in the bowl of an electric or stand mixer.
2. Add the clear vanilla extract and combine well.
3. Begin adding in the sugar and mixing thoroughly after each addition.
4. After all of the sugar has been added and mixed thoroughly, begin adding the very cold milk… one tablespoon at a time, combining very well after each addition (mixer on medium-high to high speed) until you reach the desired consistency.
Assemble cake layers and place a thin layer of frosting between each layer. Cover the entire cake in white icing. If you’d like, tint some of the frosting green and decorate with polka dots or stripes.
I made cookies very similar to these last year. But since I’ve become more familiar with royal icing, I decided to make these again — this time decorating them with royal icing. I bought my rainbow and cloud cookie cutter from amazon.com — though I’m sure Copper Gifts (a GREAT cookie cutter source) would have something similar as well.
Rainbow and Cloud Cookies
Cookie recipe: Bake at 350
Print Recipe
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup sugar
2 sticks (salted) butter, cold
1 egg
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Combine the flour and baking powder, set aside. Cream the sugar and butter. Add the egg and extracts and mix. Gradually add the flour mixture and beat just until combined, scraping down the bowl, especially the bottom.
3. The dough will be crumbly, so knead it together with your hands as you scoop it out of the bowl for rolling. (She’s not kidding – it is c-r-u-m-b-l-y! Don’t let that scare you though. Just warm the dough with your hand and knead it, it will come together)
4. Roll onto a floured surface and cut into shapes. Place on parchment lined baking sheets and bake for 10-12 minutes. Let sit a few minutes on the sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack.
White Royal Icing
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 Tablespoons meringue powder
5 Tablespoons water
Directions:
Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until the sheen has disappeared and the icing has a matte appearance (about 7-10 minutes). Transfer the contents of the mixing bowl to an air-tight container. This will be the stiffest consistency of the icing, and at this point it is still too stiff to use for decorating. Add water a very small amount at a time and stir by hand until fully incorporated. Continue until the icing has reached a consistency appropriate for piping.
I made 2 batches of this icing to ensure that I would have enough. I divided out the icing and dyed each batch red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple using Wilton gel colorings. I outlined and flooded the white clouds first, then completed the rainbows working my way from red to purple.
[I will promote this tutorial for the rest of my life — if you’ve never used royal icing before, read this post from Annie’s Eats. I don’t want to re-invent the wheel, so instead of writing my own tutorial, I’ll just point you in Annie’s direction for the how-to!]
The Oreo turns 100 today! The company was founded on March 6, 1912 in New York City. A little Oreo trivia, courtesy of Wikipedia:
Oreos have always been my favorite cookie – especially the Double Stuf variety! Happy birthday, Oreo!
