Chocolate Chip Scones!

This was my first time attempting to make scones and they came out pretty good! I still have to tweak a few things to perfect them.

What I used:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 2 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 8 Tablespoons unsalted butter, frozen
• 1/2 cup heavy cream or buttermilk
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• coarse sugar for sprinkling on top before baking

1. Preheat oven to 400F degrees. Butter and flour the baking sheet.

2. Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Add chunks of cold butter into the mixture and combine.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk the cream, egg, and vanilla together. Drizzle it over the flour mixture and then toss the mixture together with a rubber spatula until everything appears moistened. 

4. Slowly and gently fold in the mini chocolate chips. Try not to overwork the mixture! 

5. Press mixture into the pan and cut into triangles (or whatever shape you want?) Sprinkle sugar on top.

6. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until lightly golden and cooked through. 

Berry Crumble Recipe

My recent baking mood was kickstarted by this awesome dessert I made, a berry crumble! It's super easy to do and can even be made ahead of time.

What I used:

• Ramekins - Found at Bed Bath & Beyond or Crate & Barrel

Crumble Topping

• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon 
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup of oats
• 6 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small pieces

Berry Mixture

• 4 cups of mixed berries - I used blackberries, strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries 
• 1/4 cup of granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons of corn starch

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2. To make the crumble topping - combine flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, salt, oats, and butter. I mixed it all by hand. Make sure to keep it cold until you're ready to use it!

3. For the berry mixture - combine berries, corn starch, and sugar. Toss it all together! 

4. Add crumble mixture to the bottom of every ramekin, divide the fruit evenly between and then top it off with more crumble topping. Don't be afraid to pack the crumble on there because the fruit will cook down and you'll end up with even less crumble topping than anticipated. 

5. Bake until the crumble is golden brown and the fruit has bubbled - approximately 30-35 minutes. You can either serve it warm or cold! 

Mmmonday - Halloween Sugar Cookies!

This past weekend was jam packed with fall and Halloween prep! I went Halloween crazy buying decorations, pumpkins, AND recipe items for my pumpkin themed sugar cookies! I've been in a baking mood lately and I know I have yet to make a baking post so now that the holidays are coming around, I have decided to do some baking experiments and improve on my baking skills.

For my halloween themed sugar cookies, I stopped by Crate and Barrel but they unfortunately ran out of most of the cookie cutter shapes so I decided to continue with a pumpkin themed sugar cookie. It's slightly ironic because I dislike pumpkin flavors... Thus I chose to do only a pumpkin shaped cookie cutter with NO pumpkin flavors (ick). I originally did a test run of a small batch of cookies and then I was able to perfect it on the second try.

You can choose to add any flavoring that you want, decorations, frosting, etc. I'm just posting a basic cookie and icing recipe, along with how I chose to decorate my cookies.

Here is what you'll need:

• Cookie cutter(s), any shape
• Sprinkles

Sugar Cookie Recipe

• 1-1/2 cups softened butter
• 2 cups white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract 
• 5 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt

1. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough overnight.

2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

3. Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

Icing Recipe

• 2-1/2 egg whites
• 2-1/2 cups sifted confectioners sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Beat egg whites in clean, large bowl with mixer at high speed until foamy (use only grade A clean, uncracked eggs). 

2. Gradually add sugar and lemon extract. Beat at high speed until thickened.

To decorate: 

1. After the cookies have been baked and fully cooled, apply a heaping tablespoon of frosting and spread. I could have added orange food coloring but I was inspired by my baby boo pumpkins I got and decided to keep the frosting off - white.

2. I decided to sprinkle black and orange sprinkles all over the frosting! Once you let the frosting sit for a little bit, it will harden with the sprinkles.