Cupcakery Review: Minicakes by Tasha

Minicakes by Tasha - visited November 29, 2014, Saratoga, CA

I’ve mentioned before that I don’t watch that much TV since (nerd alert), I prefer to read a book instead. But I do have a small handful of shows I watch, mostly Masterpiece Mystery (I’m a sucker for those British detectives), a crime show here and there (Person of Interest, NCIS) and, most importantly, I’m a slavish follower of Cupcake Wars. Every episode is extremely formulaic and I can be counted on to watch the same show multiple times and never remember who actually won until it’s announced (again). But that’s okay. I have a low threshold for amusing myself when it comes to anything food related.

One of the things I like about watching the show is finding out who the contestants are, what their bakeries/cupcakeries are and where they’re located. I’m particularly interested in any who are in my area. That’s how I first discovered Sift. And, last year, Minicakes by Tasha. Tasha won her episode (I can’t remember what the theme was) so I was particularly interested in trying her cupcakes. Back then she only had an online bakery and I tried ordering from her website for a Thanksgiving gathering. Unfortunately, she wasn’t open for the day I needed the cupcakes so we never did business.

However, I was looking for businesses to support for Small Business Saturday last month and I recently looked up Minicakes by Tasha again. I was pleasantly surprised to discover she had opened her own retail storefront last August. It was a little farther away than I normally go but I don’t mind going a little out of the way to support a local small business so I headed over there after Thanksgiving. 

The cupcakery was of comparable size to some of Kara’s Cupcakes or Sprinkles bakeries with the front half of the retail space being where you could enjoy your cupcakes and the back half containing the entrance to the kitchen and the display cases of cupcakes. As is typical with most cupcakeries, there are certain flavors available every day and some flavors are only available on certain days of the week. On the Saturday I went, I picked out a red velvet cupcake (available every day) and a Toffee Crunch cupcake that’s only available on Saturdays.

Minicakes by Tasha also offers, appropriately enough, mini cupcakes in the same flavors as the regular size cupcakes. Mini cupcakes are 2 for $4 and regular cupcakes are $3.25. If you’re a frugal, value minded cupcake consumer, you might notice the size of the regular cupcake isn’t that big. It’s actually the size of what a home baker would make, similar in size to Kara’s and smaller than Sprinkles. That’s actually not a bad thing if you don’t want to consume a lot of cupcake calories but some people like bigger sizes for their $3.25. I don’t mind the relatively smaller size of the regular cupcakes as it’s automatic portion control and $3.25 is a standard price for cupcake boutiques.

I thought the packaging was really clever. Tasha herself put the two cupcakes I bought in a clear cellophane bag with a clear plastic cupcake holder inside that would hold both cupcakes nicely in place. A Minicakes by Tasha sticker sealed the bag closed and it was just a nice, clean, simple package that showed off the cupcakes which I appreciated.

I also appreciated the cupcakes once I got home. The red velvet was nice but I have to admit I felt like I could make it myself. It was good but didn’t really stand out as anything different from what a good recipe could offer a home baker

But the Toffee Crunch was divine. It was a chocolate cupcake with “salted caramel swiss meringue frosting, ganache, and chocolate covered toffee pieces”. I know I can make a good chocolate cupcake and I could buy my own Heath Bar milk chocolate-covered toffee bits but the swiss meringue couldn’t be beat and certainly something I’m not likely to make as well. And remember I’m not a frosting person. But yup, I ate the whole thing, frosting and all. Normally I scrape off half the frosting from any cupcake (I did with the red velvet) but not this one. It was delicious.

Now I have to plot on how I can go back on a Wednesday for the Sweet Potato Cupcake, on a Thursday for the Salted Caramel Mocha, Friday for the Snickerdoodle, and Sunday for the Lemon Vanilla Bean. She’s closed on Mondays. If you live in the area, you might want to stop by Minicakes by Tasha and enjoy the calories before those new year's diet resolutions kick in. 

Caramel Almond Fudge

Caramel Almond Fudge - made December 13, 2014, adapted from Crazy for Crust

Christmas is over but I'm still catching up on posts for desserts I made over the holiday season. Fudge is another one of those once-a-year things I make this time of year. Partly because of my spotty history with fudge (failure, failure, success, failure) and partly because a little fudge goes a long way so I only need to make 1 recipe and it goes into more than half a dozen baked gift packs with some leftovers for work. Which makes it perfect for baked gifts to add variety with relatively little time sink.

I’d had a recipe for 100 Grand Fudge from Crazy for Crust pinned to my pinterest board for months now. It called for fudge swirled with caramel and dotted with rice krispies like the 100 Grand candy bars of my childhood (that my parents never bought me and I could only long for but….we won’t go there).  Anyway, I tried out Dorothy’s recipe with high, high hopes. Surely my fudge curse was broken with last year’s successful Almond Nutella Fudge. Er, maybe.

The fudge itself was easy to make, the caramel was flowy and promising and of course I love the Rice Krispies crunch which is what makes my Nutella Crunch topping in brownies such a favorite. But erk, something went wrong. Unlike with the Nutella crunch topping, the rice krispies softened up in the fudge mixture. I don’t know if it’s because the sweetened condensed milk had far more moisture than the melted chocolate chips and Nutella of the Nutella crunch topping but snap, crackle and pop they did not. Instead, I was left with chewy rather than crunchy rice krispies that had the texture of something that had been left to stale for too long then got rained on. Sigh. Once again the fudge gods laughed cruelly at my expense.

Not to be deterred, however, I tried it again and this time left out the rice krispies entirely and substituted whole toasted almonds instead. I know, that defeats the “100 Grand” candy notion but it was that or stale Rice Krispies with no crunch – you decide. This version turned out decently well but this is cheater’s fudge. Meaning sweetened condensed milk and chocolate chips melted together to form fudge is a pretty basic form of fudge. It had the requisite sweetness but I noticed once it had cooled completely, it had pretty much lost its gloss. It wasn’t dry but I can’t say it was visually appealing either. I did like the fudge, caramel and almond combination though so I think I would substitute in my friend Jez’soriginal fudge recipe that I had modified last year and just add the caramel. Because, you know, fudge needs way more calories than it already has.

1 can sweetened condensed milk

2 cups milk chocolate chips
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
¾ cup whole toasted almonds
1 cup Caramel Bits (from an 11 ounce package)
3 tablespoons whole milk

1. Line a loaf pan with foil and spray with cooking spray. Set aside.
2. Add caramel bits and heavy cream to a small, microwaveable bowl. Heat for 1 1/2 minutes on HIGH, stirring every 30 seconds until melted and smooth. (It may take up to 2 minutes.)
3. While caramel is melting, add chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk to a medium saucepan. Heat over low heat, stirring until melted together. Add vanilla and almonds and stir to combine.
4. Add half the chocolate fudge mixture to the loaf pan (and then return the rest to the stovetop). Spread the mixture in the loaf pan and spread the melted caramel on the top. Give the fudge mixture that’s left in the pan a quick stir, then pour and spread over the top of the caramel. 
5. Let sit for a few minutes on the counter; then transfer to the refrigerator to cool completely before cutting.

12 Days of Christmas Cookies - Day 12: Nutella & Caramel Stuffed Double Chocolate Cookies

Nutella & Caramel Stuffed Double Chocolate Cookies - made dough on December 13, 2014 from Jacquelyn Clark

Merry Christmas Eve! To cap off the series of Christmas cookies, in case you were wondering, you can stuff Nutella, chocolate and caramel inside a chocolate cookie. Yup, I looked into it for you. Merry Christmas :).

In other words, here’s the recipe for you if that’s something you find interesting. I personally found it fascinating. The chocolate and caramel portions of the combo are achieved by cheating with Rolos or cut up Milky Way caramels. Make the cookie dough, chill briefly if it’s too soft and sticky, portion out the chilled dough into dough balls, flatten a dough ball in the palm of your hand, drop a dollop of Nutella in the center (having 3 hands help but if you have to make do with two, just go slow), place a Rolo or chunk of Milky Way caramel over the Nutella then draw up the sides of the cookie dough to pinch the seams closed and form a ball that fully encloses the Nutella and the candy.

If you don’t want to cheat, you could drop dollops of Nutella and melted caramel in the center then put a handful of chocolate chips over them but be warned it’s potentially harder to keep this neat and fully enclosed. Take my advice and cheat. It’s okay. Time these cookies because you don’t want to overbake them and these don’t give off the normal “I’m done” signals in terms of how they look. They won’t look dry or crack or puff up. Just time them and take them out at the 9-10 minute mark.

1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup good quality cocoa powder
2 eggs
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking powder
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chunks
flaky salt (fleur de sel or maldon), for sprinkling
nutella (for stuffing)
16 caramel-filled chocolates (I used Rolos and cut up Milky Way Caramels)

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. 
2. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter. Remove from heat and stir in sugar & eggs. 
3. Add the cocoa, salt and baking powder and stir until combined.
4. Add the flour and stir well until combined. Fold in chocolate chips.
5. Using your hands or a cookie scoop, form 2" balls of dough. Make a hole in the center of each and stuff a rolo within the hole. Spoon approximately 1/2 a teaspoon of nutella into the hole, and seal everything within. Sprinkle with the flaky sea salt (if desired) and bake for 8-10 minutes.

12 Days of Christmas Cookies - Day 11: Orange Sandwich Cookies

Orange Sandwich Cookies from Shugary Sweets

Orange cookies may not seem like an obvious choice for a cookie to be included in a Christmas line up but I like mixing up flavors in my holiday baked gifts and because I do plenty of chocolate desserts, I also throw in some flavor contrasts. This is especially good during winter because it's a refreshing taste amidst all the rich chocolate I tend to do this month.

Bonus that the dough is quick and easy to make as is the filling. Although the original directions say otherwise, you can also chill or freeze this dough so it's easy to make ahead of time. I like to make each cookie a bit small and flatten into discs rather than rounded dough balls to make sure the finished cookies will be more dainty than behemoth; remember you're eating 2 cookies in one.

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon orange extract (I substituted another 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract)
1 egg
1 generous tablespoon orange zest
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
pinch of salt
2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Cream Filling
1/2 cup butter
2 cups powdered sugar
2-3 tablespoons orange juice (less or more depending on your preference for the consistency of the filling)

1. For the cookies, cream butter and sugar until smooth. Add vanilla and orange extracts and egg. Beat about 2 minutes. Beat in zest of two oranges (about 1 heaping tablespoon) and 2 tablespoons of fresh orange juice. Scrape sides of bowl and add in dry ingredients.
2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Drop by (flattened) tablespoon and bake in a 350 degree oven for 9-11 minutes. Allow to cool completely.
3. For the filling, beat butter with powdered sugar.  Add enough orange juice to achieve desired consistency/ Spread filling between two cookies of like size. Store in airtight container.

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake-Swirled Brownie Bites

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake-Swirled Brownie Bites - made December 7, 2014 from Domesticate Me

I chose this recipe to try out because I had every intention of adding red food coloring to the brownie batter and making these red velvet cheesecake brownie bites. Wouldn’t that have been pretty as a holiday sweet treat? Alas, I was so intent on making them and moving on to the next thing that I mixed them up as is and forgot to add the food coloring. So instead, these became (or stayed) regular brownie cheesecake bites.

I had someone ask me once why I make “cheesecake stuff” when I don’t like cheesecake. I tried to explain I actually don’t mind if the cheesecake part is swirled into a brownie or something else equally dominating and the cheesecake only has a supporting role. Plus, for reasons unknown to me, I buy the Costco pack of cream cheese every so often and I need to do something with them that doesn’t involve making an actual cheesecake. They just looked baffled. Yes, apparently I am inexplicable.

In any case, these looked pretty in the picture from the blog I got the recipe from. My own brownie cheesecake bites did not turn out so well. You don’t know how many pictures I took at various angles trying to find a halfway decent shot. The problem was I didn’t line the mini muffin tins with any liners so the bites were hard to take out of the tins without causing them to become misshapen. If I took them out too soon, the cheesecake swirls were too delicate and the bites broke apart. If I let them cool for too long, the brownie part stuck to the sides of the muffin tin cavities. There was just no winning.

Fortunately, as deformed as some of them ended up being, they actually tasted pretty good. The brownie part was moist and I only took a taste test of the one that had the least amount of cheesecake swirl. Ha. The dark chocolate richness of the brownie was complemented by the sweet tang of the cheesecake part. Baking them as minis was also a good call. I think if you tried to bake these as regular size “cupcakes”, they’d be a bit too large of a portion. Remember, you want to exit the holiday season with your clothes still fitting reasonably well.

½ cup plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1¼ cups granulated sugar
¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs, cold
½ cup all-purpose flour
¾ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

For the Cheesecake Swirl
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg yolk

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Spray a mini-muffin tin (or 2 tins, depending on the size) with cooking spray and set aside.
2. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the granulated sugar, cocoa powder and salt. Add the warm melted butter to the dry ingredients, add the vanilla extract, and mix until well combined. Add the eggs one at a time, stirring vigorously after each one. (I know this is tiring for those of you with very little upper body strength, but you can do it!) When the batter looks thick and shiny, add the flour and mix until it’s well incorporated. Fold the chocolate chips into the brownie batter and briefly set aside.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together all of the ingredients for the cheesecake swirl.
5. Spoon about a tablespoon of brownie batter into the well sof the prepared mini-muffin tin(s). Add a dollop (about ½ tablespoon) of the cheesecake swirl batter to each well. Use a knife to swirl the cheesecake into the brownie batter.
6. Transfer your brownie bites to the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes until the top is set and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. (I baked these at a very high altitude and they took about 20 minutes, but I recommend checking yours after 15 for safety’s sake.)
7. Allow your brownie bites to cool completely before removing them from the muffin-tin.

12 Days of Christmas Cookies - Day 10: Diamond-Edged, Melt-in-Your-Mouth Butter Cookies

Diamond-Edged, Melt-in-Your-Mouth Butter Cookies - from Bakewise by Shirley Corriher

Is it weird that the more I love something, the less often I tend to make it? There’s a reason for that. Yup, you guessed it. It’s because I would eat it. And before you scratch your head over that, remember that the only reason I don’t weigh 300 pounds is because I exercise (literally and figuratively) portion control. Everything you see on my blog, I’ve often only had a bite of: 1 cookie, a sliver of brownie, a half slice of cake. Unless I confess otherwise. I’m usually honest about my portion control transgressions and will ‘fess up when I’ve eaten five of something because it was just that good.

This falls into the 5-cookies-consumed category. At least I’m pretty sure I ate five when I first tried out this recipe awhile back. This year, so far I’ve baked off most of it and given them away but I haven’t tried this batch yet. But I’m pretty sure they tasted fine since I followed the same recipe and they looked good. 

The only thing I did differently was to roll the cookie logs into red and green sanding sugars so I could get the Christmas look for my care packages and goodie bags. I really liked how they ended up looking and it’s just as easy to roll the cookie dough logs in colored sugars as well as plain sparkle sugar.

If you want to make for Hanukkah, blue sanding sugar and silver sanding sugar works just as well as red and green for Christmas celebrants. I love the versatility of this dough. It’s easy to make, you can make it ahead of time and keep it in your freezer until you need it (thaw for 10-15 minutes beforehand just for ease of slicing but don’t let the dough get warm) and they’re delicious slices of butter goodness. Just try to stop after 5.

1 cup unsalted butter, cut into 2-tablespoon pieces

1 cup granulated sugar

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pure almond extract (I used vanilla extract)

2 large egg yolks

2 ¼ cups (9.9 ounces) bleached all-purpose flour

½ cup coarse or crystal sugar

1 large egg, beaten

1.   In a heavy-duty mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, sugar, salt and almond extract until light and creamy.  Add the yolks, one at a time, and beat with each addition, just to blend in thoroughly.

2.   On low speed, beat in the flour, scraping down the bowl twice.  Divide the dough into 4 pieces.  Roll each into a log about 1 ½ inches in diameter.

3.   Sprinkle coarse sugar evenly on wax paper, the length of the rolls and about 4 inches wide.  Brush a roll lightly with beaten egg, then roll in sugar to coat well.  Repeat with each roll.  Wrap each roll individually in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight.

4.   About 30 minutes before you are ready to bake, place a shelf in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 375⁰F.

5.   Cover a heavy baking sheet with parchment paper sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.  Slice cookies into 3/8-inch slices and arrange about 1 inch apart on the sheet.

6.   Place the baking sheet on the arranged shelf.  Bake one sheet at a time until the edges just begin to brown, about 14 minutes.  Allow to cool on the sheet for 2 minutes, and then remove to a cooling rack.

12 Days of Christmas Cookies - Day 9: Soft and Chewy Molasses Gingerdoodles

Soft and Chewy Molasses Gingerdoodles - made dough December 6, 2014 from Averie Cooks

If you haven’t noticed yet, my 12 Days of Christmas Cookies series a) hasn’t strictly been “cookies” in the traditional narrow-minded sense (I reserve the right to take artistic license with the definition of a cookie) and b) haven’t really been so much about flavors popular with the holiday season. No eggnog, no fruitcake (shudder), no peppermint, no gingerbread. Instead, I’ve factored in what I personally get asked for when people know they’re getting their holiday baking gifts from me as well as taking into account how busy this time of year is for most people so I’m going for quick, easy, and in some cases, can incorporate helping hands so you don’t have to bake alone if you don’t want to.

But I did decide I needed at least one flavor of the season and this is it. I couldn’t quite cross the line to gingerbread but I did go for this version of ginger molasses cookies. I don’t love ginger molasses cookies as a general rule. I don’t mind the ginger but I get hung up on the relatively strong taste of the molasses. I’ve tried regular molasses and “light” molasses and I’m still not fond of it.

I tried to tell myself it’s not all about me (really?) and some people might actually like molasses cookies so I should bake it for some of my gifts. It’s not like I actually eat more than 1 cookie from a new recipe anyway and this was going to be automatic portion control if I didn’t love it. When I want to be conservative and try out a new recipe with a high chance of success, I go to Averie’s blog. I found this recipe for molasses gingerdoodles which was a cross between a regular ginger molasses cookie and a snickerdoodle. Sold.

I baked mine a couple of minutes longer than her recipe said to and they still felt a bit more underbaked than they should have been. I suspect Averie’s oven runs hotter than mine as this isn’t the first time I’ve encountered these results. The taste itself was good for what it was though. If that’s not a ringing endorsement, remember my picky taste buds and picky taste prejudices. If it helps, one of my baking recipients of the cookies thought they were yummy and they went pretty quickly at work when I brought the rest in. So here’s my token holiday flavor cookie.

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup dark or light brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/3 cup unsulphured molasses (don't use blackstrap)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
pinch salt, optional and to taste
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

Cinnamon-Sugar Coating
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 to 3 teaspoons cinnamon

1. To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or large mixing bowl and electric mixer) combine the butter, sugars, egg, and beat on medium-high speed until creamed and well combined, about 4 minutes. 
2. Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the molasses, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, optional salt, and beat on medium-high speed until combined and smooth, about 1 minute. 
3. Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, cream of tartar, and beat on low speed until just combined, about 45 seconds. 
4. Using a medium 2-inch cookie scoop, form two tablespoon mounds. Place mounds on a large plate or tray, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, up to 5 days. The dough is soft, mushy, limp, and isn't suitable for baking until it's been chilled. Do not bake with unchilled dough because cookies will bake thinner, flatter, and be more prone to spreading.
5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, line baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside.
6. Cinnamon-Sugar Coating: Add sugar and cinnamon to a small bowl and stir to combine. Roll each mound of dough through the coating, liberally coating all sides. 
7. Place coated mounds on baking sheets, spaced at least 2 inches apart. Bake for about 8 to 9 minutes, or until edges have set and tops are have crackled; don't overbake for soft cookies. Cookies firm up as they cool. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for about 10 minutes before serving.

Slab Apple Pie

Slab Apple Pie - made November 29, 2014, recipe modified slightly from Pine Cones and Acorns

Since I found the apple pie I’d bought from Three Babes Bakeshop for Thanksgiving so tart, I felt like I was left hanging on the apple pie front. Apple pie to me means sugary cinnamon-y apple slices tucked inside a flaky crust, served warm and topped with vanilla ice cream. Which is great except that making pie crust isn’t top of my list of things I can do effortlessly. I’ve made them before and they’ve turned out okay, one or two of them were even pretty good. But I hate the whole kneading thing, flouring, not flouring, sticking to the rolling pin aspect.

Enter Slab Apple Pie. (You don’t know how many times I kept mis-reading that as “slap happy” instead of “slab apple”.) This is the easy-for-the-holidays version where it’s basically an apple crumble bar cookie. There’s a crust that you don’t have to use a rolling pin to mess with; you simply spread and smooth it into an even layer on the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan. Layer the apple slices on top that have been tossed with that cinnamon-sugar mixture that’s very important to me, then sprinkle the streusel topping over it and bake. Once it’s cool, you can glaze with vanilla icing or leave unadorned and top with vanilla ice cream, your call.

As faux apple pies apple bars go, this was a good substitute although I have to admit, it didn’t quite satisfy my need for an apple pie this season. But the taste is there and this is an easier to make alternative. I did make my own little apple pie in an individual pie ramekin just to fake myself out that I had an apple pie going on but the rest I did make in a 9 x 13 pan, cut into bars and portioned out to give away. 

You want to be careful not to overbake these as the crust can become dry if you bake it for too long. Bake only long enough for the apples to become soft when you stick a toothpick in it.

My only issue was the apples were pretty moist so they didn’t allow for all of the vanilla icing to set as much. But moist apple filling is really not a bad thing.

Dough
3 cups of flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
3 tablespoons of sugar
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 cup of solid shortening
2 egg yolks
8 Tablespoons of water

Filling
8-10 medium size tart apples (I used Granny Smith)
2 tablespoons of flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
2 tablespoons of fresh squeezed lemon juice

Streusel topping
1 cup of flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2/3 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup butter softened

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Mix flour, salt, sugar, and baking powder until blended. Cut shortening into flour mixture.
3. In separate bowl, mix egg yolks and water, add to flour mixture. Mix well until dough forms a ball. Roll out  ball to cover 9 x 13 pan.  Place on baking pan for bottom crust.
4. Make filling: Cut, pare, quarter, and core apples. Cut into uniform slices. Blend flour with sugar, cinnamon, and pour over apples. Mix and then arrange on crust. Sprinkle with lemon juice.
5. Stir flour, cinnamon and brown sugar together, add softened butter. Use pastry blender and cut mixture together until well blended. Sprinkle mixture over the apples.
6. Bake at 350 for 1 hour. Cool and then drizzle with glaze.

Glaze
2 cups powdered sugar
1-2 tablespoons milk

1. Blend powdered sugar and milk to form a glaze, adding enough milk to achieve desired consistency.

12 Days of Christmas Cookies - Day 8: Sunburst Lemon Bars

Sunburst Lemon Bars - made December 6, 2014 from So How's it Taste?

Lemon bars, second only to chocolate chip cookies in requests from my friends, are always part of my Christmas baking. Not only is there a seemingly endless supply from my mom's lemon tree but even my own tree yields up a modest amount of lemons at this time of year.

Plus lemon bars are another one of those easy-to-make bar cookies to whip up in quantity and portion out amongst my holiday baking gifts. I tried out this new recipe since it called for a simple lemon glaze that I like on top of my lemon bars to add a bit of sweetness to contrast with the tartness of the fresh lemon. And while the lemon bar might seem humble in a world of spicy gingerbread, flashy peppermint, joyous eggnog and decadent chocolate at this time of the year, perhaps because of its simple goodness, it tends to be a refreshing standout; this one was no exception. Buttery (but not too buttery) shortbread crust, tart (but not too tart) filling and a sweet glaze that sets so this is easy to package up as well as eat.

Crust

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel

Filling
4 eggs
2 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel

Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
2 to 3 tablespoons lemon juice

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Line a 9 x 13 pan with foil. 
2. In large bowl with electric mixer, beat flour, sugar, butter, and peel on low speed until crumbly. Press mixture evenly in bottom of pan. 
3. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until light golden brown.
4. Meanwhile, in large bowl with wire whisk, lightly beat eggs. Beat in remaining filling ingredients except lemon juice and lemon peel until well blended. Beat in 1/4 cup lemon juice and peel.
5. Remove partially baked base from oven. Pour filling evenly over warm crust.
6. Return to oven; bake 25 to 30 minutes longer or until top is light golden brown. Cool completely, about 1 hour.
7. In small bowl, mix 1 cup powdered sugar and enough lemon juice for desired spreading consistency until smooth. Spread glaze over cooled bars. Cut into bars. Store in refrigerator, but allow bars to come to almost room temperature before serving.

12 Days of Christmas Cookies - Day 7: Shortbread Toffee Cookie Bars

Shortbread Toffee Cookie Bars - made December 6, 2014 from Cookies and Cups

Shortbread, caramel, chocolate and toffee - if that doesn't shriek Christmas at you, you're not listening very well. Okay, it isn't eggnog or gingerbread or peppermint or anything else you might associate with Christmas but these are easy to make and even easier to eat. With all the other stuff you have to work on for the holidays, making treats shouldn't be a chore and neither is making these cookie bars.

The crust is quick to put together. So is the "caramel" in the form of sweetened condensed milk and butter. You could substitute melting caramels with a little whole milk but the sweetened condensed milk will do in a pinch. We're all about the easy this season.

Then you sprinkle the top with milk chocolate chips, let them soften and melt then spread in an even layer. You don't even have to be super perfect with smoothing the top because, guess what? You hide any imperfections in the melted chocolate layer with a generous sprinkling of toffee bits as the top layer.

Honestly, these bar cookies practically make themselves. So if you need a quick treat to give away, take to a party or serve at your own party, here you go. Oh and they're pretty tasty too.

Shortbread Crust
¾ cup butter, room temperature
¾ cup light brown sugar
1½ cups flour

Filling

1 cup sweetened condensed milk
2 tablespoons butter

Topping

2 cups milk chocolate chips
1½ cups toffee bits

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 9x13 pan with foil and spray lightly with nonstick spray. Shortbread Crust: Beat butter and sugar together until combined, 1-2 minutes.
2. Mix in flour. Mixture will be slightly dry. Press into prepared pan. Bake for 15 minutes until lightly golden. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly.
3. Filling: In a small saucepan heat sweetened condensed milk and butter together until butter is smooth. Pour over shortbread crust. Bake 12-15 minutes until filling is bubbly and browned. It will almost take on a light caramel appearance. Remove from oven
4. Topping: Immediately sprinkle milk chips on top of filling when it comes out of the oven. Place back in oven for 2 minutes until chips are shiny and soft.
5. Carefully spread the chips over the filling with an off-set spatula. Sprinkle with toffee bits, pressing into milk chocolate.
6. Allow to cool completely before cutting into squares.