With Sprinkles on Top

Yesterday I featured pineapple cupcakes, today I’m featuring pineapple cookies. Can you tell I’m obsessed with pineapples? The next week or so will feature whale cookies, rainbow cookies, palm tree cookies, octopus cookies, and sunshine cookies. Can you tell I’m experiencing a little cabin fever?!

If you are a new to decorating with royal icing, here are some helpful tips and links:

• I used my grandma’s sugar cookie recipe, which is listed below.  Another good cut-out cookie recipe can be found at Bridget’s wonderful Bake at 350.
• I used a royal icing recipe from Annie’s Eats, which is listed below.
• If you are new to decorating with royal icing, please visit this post by Annie’s Eats, which will teach you about outlining and flooding.  Bake at 350 is also a great resource for cookie decorating and ideas (I love Bridget’s book, too!).

Here are the specifics on how I made these cookies:

• I bought my pineapple cookie cutter on Amazon.
• You will need the following food colorings: yellow, orange, and green. You could also use brown in place of orange. I use Wilton gel colorings.
• These cookies are very simple to make. Outline and flood the yellow base of the pineapple first — allow them all to dry completely. Then pipe the green leaves and the orange detailing. I used a small round tip for the detailing.

Omi’s Sugar Cookies
Print Recipe
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon nutmeg

Beat butter and sugar. Add egg, sour cream, and nutmeg. Add dry ingredients gradually. Chill the batter overnight or for at least 4 hours. Roll out dough and cut with cookie cutters. Bake at 350F until golden (in true fashion, my grandma didn’t give a specific baking time. I baked the cookies for about 8 minutes). The yield will depend on the size of your cookie cutter — I made a few dozen pineapples with this recipe.

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.

Note: depending on how many cookies you make, you may need to make two batches of this icing.

Pineapple is my favorite fruit (despite the fact that it gives me heartburn like whoa) and will forever remind me of family vacations to Hawaii. Aside from pineapple upside-down cakes, I haven’t found many baked goods that feature my most beloved fruit. Then I found these!

Over the next week or so I will be featuring tropical treats on my blog. My spring break is next week and I’ll be in cold, wintery Wisconsin — but I’ll be dreaming about being somewhere warm.

Pineapple Cupcakes
Recipe source: Your Cup of Cake
Print Recipe

For the cupcakes:
1 box yellow cake mix
1/3 cup melted butter, cooled
3 eggs
1-1/4 cup crushed pineapple with juice
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the cream cheese frosting:
1/2 cup butter, softened
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 to 4 cups powdered sugar
Maraschino cherries, pineapple slices, and umbrellas for decoration

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line pans with cupcake liners.
2. Sift cake mix into a small bowl and set aside. In a large bowl combine butter, eggs, pineapple and vanilla extract. Stir in cake mix until smooth.
3. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full and bake for 17-22 minute or until and inserted knife comes out clean. Allow to cool completely.
4. Make the frosting: beat butter and cream cheese for 2 minutes until smooth. Add vanilla extract and slowly add powdered sugar until you reach your desired consistency. If it becomes too thick, add milk or cream.
5. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes and top with a cherry, pineapple slice, and umbrella.

About a month ago I received a request to feature a recipe for yellow cake. My one problem is that I don’t like to make cakes — mainly because they go to waste in my house. It’s easy to bring cookies, bars, or cupcakes to school or work, but the same isn’t true for a cake (which involves cutting pieces, needing plates and forks, etc.) So I decided to make yellow cupcakes for this post instead. The recipe can be easily adapted into a cake — just use cake pans instead of a muffin tin, and increase the baking time a bit!

Yellow Cake Cupcakes
Recipe source: Tasty Kitchen
Print Recipe

1 box yellow cake mix
4 whole eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/3 cups vegetable oil
1/4 cups sugar
1/4 cups water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract (optional; but I like almond flavored cake!)

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line muffin tins with liners.
2. Mix eggs, sour cream, oil, and sugar in a large bowl.
3. Alternate adding cake mix and water. Mix in extracts.
4. Fill the liners half-full with batter. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.

Chocolate Buttercream Icing
Recipe source: Sally’s Baking Addiction
Print Recipe

1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
3-1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 Tablespoons heavy cream or milk
Rainbow sprinkles (optional)
A disposable pastry bag + large star tip

1. Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on high speed until smooth and creamy – about 2 full minutes.
2. Turn speed to LOW and slowly add 3 cups of confectioners’ sugar, the cocoa powder, and salt. Beat until sugar/cocoa are absorbed into the butter, about 2 minutes.
3. Turn mixer to medium speed and add the vanilla and cream. Once added, turn the mixer to high speed and beat for 1 minute. Add the last 1/2 cup of confectioners’ sugar if you’d like to increase the frosting’s thickness.
4. Pipe the frosting onto cooled cupcakes and decorate with sprinkles.

My favorite video game of all time is Tetris. It’s simple, addicting, and oddly soothing. My love of the game was intensified when the tetriminos were colorized. Each tetrimino has a color and I stayed true to that with these cookies. I’m not overly thrilled with these cookies because my icing was more watery than it should have been — and the end result is a bit bumpy. But I try not to be one of those baking bloggers who only posts treats that turn out to be “perfect” — so here these are!

If you are a new to decorating with royal icing, here are some helpful tips and links:

• I used my grandma’s sugar cookie recipe, which is listed below.  Another good cut-out cookie recipe can be found at Bridget’s wonderful Bake at 350.
• I used a royal icing recipe from Annie’s Eats, which is listed below.
• If you are new to decorating with royal icing, please visit this post by Annie’s Eats, which will teach you about outlining and flooding.  Bake at 350 is also a great resource for cookie decorating and ideas (I love Bridget’s book, too!).

Here are the specifics on how I made these cookies:

• I bought the Tetris cookie cutters from Amazon. They come in a set, which costs about $15.
• I used Wilton gel dyes – red (for the Z piece), orange (for the L piece), yellow (for the O piece), leaf green (for the S piece), sky blue (for the I piece), royal blue (for the J piece), and violet (for the T piece).
• I outlined the cookies using white icing first — making the little compartments on each piece. When the outlines dried, I flooded the cookies with the corresponding colored icings.

Omi’s Sugar Cookies
Print Recipe
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon nutmeg

Beat butter and sugar. Add egg, sour cream, and nutmeg. Add dry ingredients gradually. Chill the batter overnight or for at least 4 hours. Roll out dough and cut with cookie cutters. Bake at 350F until golden (in true fashion, my grandma didn’t give a specific baking time. I baked the cookies for about 8 minutes).

You’ll get about three dozen Tetris pieces using this recipe. I’d suggest doubling the batch if you want more cookies.

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.

You will most likely need to make two batches of icing for this project — because of all the colors involved.

I’m a total sucker for novelty treats. Like these cookies that look like cupcakes. Or treats that are a miniature (balloon cookies!) or giant version (giant Oreo cake!) of their true selves. Or treats that just make no sense (like TV dinner cupcakes!). I hope you’re all having a great week!

If you are a new to decorating with royal icing, here are some helpful tips and links:

• I used my grandma’s sugar cookie recipe, which is listed below.  Another good cut-out cookie recipe can be found at Bridget’s wonderful Bake at 350.
• I used a royal icing recipe from Annie’s Eats, which is listed below.
• If you are new to decorating with royal icing, please visit this post by Annie’s Eats, which will teach you about outlining and flooding.  Bake at 350 is also a great resource for cookie decorating and ideas (I love Bridget’s book, too!).

Here are the specifics on how I made these cookies:

• I bought a large cupcake cookie cutter on Amazon. These cookies ended up being about 5 inches tall.
• You will need the following food colorings: no-taste red, sky blue, yellow, and pink. I used Wilton gel dyes for all of these. I made two shades of blue, yellow, and pink for the cupcake wrappers. Just use a little bit more dye for the darker shade.
• You’ll also need sprinkles — the kind you use is up to you! I used round, pastel quins.
• I outlined and flooded the wrapper portion first, then outlined and flooded the white portion. As soon as you flood the white icing, add your sprinkles.
• Once the wrapper portion has dried/set, I piped the detailing in the darker shade of icing.
• The cherry on the top was the last thing I did — and I used a slightly larger round tip to make the cherries.

Omi’s Sugar Cookies
Print Recipe
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon nutmeg

Beat butter and sugar. Add egg, sour cream, and nutmeg. Add dry ingredients gradually. Chill the batter overnight or for at least 4 hours. Roll out dough and cut with cookie cutters. Bake at 350F until golden (in true fashion, my grandma didn’t give a specific baking time. I baked the cookies for about 8 minutes).

The yield will depend on how large your cookie cutter is. I used a really large cupcake cookie cutter and got about 12-16 cookies out of this batch of dough. If you need more dough, this recipe can be easily doubled.

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.

Note: you will likely need more than one batch of this icing. But again, it depends on how many cookies you are making!