Funfetti Sugar Cookies

This week is full of birthdays! It was my Dad's birthday on Wednesday, it's mine today, and it's my Mother-in-law's on Sunday. Not to mention we're awaiting the arrival of our little one, which could be any day now! With that said, I was determined to make some kind of treat to celebrate all of our special days- but mainly mine ;) Since I wasn't really feeling up to making a funfetti cake or cupcakes, I whipped up a quick batch of sugar cookie dough and made these festive little cookies. They're sweet, chewy, tangy, and of course, covered in sprinkles! They just scream happy birthday to me!

Funfetti Sugar Cookies

Ingredients

1 c. all-purpose flour

½ c. cake flour

¾ c. sugar

8 tbsp. (1 stick) butter, room temperature

1 egg

1 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cream of tartar

1 tsp. cornstarch

2 tsp. vanilla extract

¼ tsp. almond extract

½ c. colorful sprinkles

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line one baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat mat, set aside.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine sugar, butter, vanilla and almond extracts. Beat on high until fluffy and light in color, about 2-3 minutes. With mixing speed on low, add egg and mix until just combined.

3. In a medium size mixing bowl, combine flours, baking powder, baking soda, cream of tartar, and cornstarch. Whisk together until combined. With mixing speed on low, gradually add the dry ingredients, mixing until no flour pockets remain. Remove bowl from stand. Fold in sprinkles, if desired, or place dough into the refrigerator to chill for 2 hours.
4. If you chose not to fold in the sprinkles, create balls from the chilled dough and roll in the sprinkles, completely covering the outside. Place on the prepared baking sheet and place in oven to bake for 8-10 minutes. The cookies should be slightly firm around the edges but look under-baked in the center (these are soft cookies and they should not brown). Remove from oven and allow to cool on the cookie sheet for 3 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction and Averie Cooks | Makes approximately 12 standard size cookies

He's 28 + a Cookie Cake!

Happy Birthday Stephen!!! 

One of Stephen's favorite birthday treats (besides an ice cream cake) is a giant cookie cake- especially the ones that you can get at a Great American Cookies. They come frosted around the edges and personalized in the center. Well, if you saw my post about the double doozies, you know that we live nowhere near one of those stores. So again, I decided to make my own version. I recently used my gift certificate from Karen's Cookies to purchase a giant cookie cake pan... knowing that one day I'd use it for this very purpose. When I looked at the insert inside of the pan I realized that there was a recipe for it. I went online, read some reviews, and decided to make a few adjustments in hopes of creating a more flavorful and moist cookie. I also needed to frost it which meant whipping up a batch of our favorite buttercream frosting. I carefully piped it around the edges, added some candles to the center, and voilà, the perfect birthday cookie cake! I know he's going to love it and I think it will taste just as good as the store bought kind! I can't wait until he gets home and I get off work so we can celebrate!

M&M Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake
Ingredients
1½ c. all-purpose flour
½ c. sugar
¼ c. brown sugar, packed
½ c. (1 stick) butter, room temperature
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
¼ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
¼ c. chocolate chips
½ c. M&Ms

For the frosting:
2¼ c. powdered sugar
¾ c. (1½ sticks) butter, room temperature
1 tbsp. heavy cream
1½ tsp. vanilla extract
pinch of salt

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line the bottom of a giant round cookie pan with a circle of parchment paper. Lightly spray edges of pan with baking spray, set aside.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together butter and sugars until fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add vanilla and one egg, mix, then add the egg yolk and mix until combined.

3. In a medium size mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. With mixing speed on low, gradually add to wet ingredients. Mix until just combined.

4. Remove bowl from stand and fold in chocolate chips and M&Ms. Pour batter into prepared pan. Smooth out and sprinkle a few M&M's on top. Place in oven and bake for 16-22 minutes or until the top turns golden brown in color. Remove and place pan on cooling rack. Allow to cool for 45 minutes before removing from pan and frosting.
5. Meanwhile, to prepare the frosting, in the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together butter, vanilla, heavy cream and salt. With mixing speed on low, gradually add powdered sugar. Turn the speed up to high and beat until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Tint with food coloring if desired.

6. Pipe frosting around the edges of the cake using a large decorating tip. If desired, using a smaller decorating tip, pipe lettering in the center of the cake.

NOTE: You can use any 9x13 cookie bar or brownie recipe in this pan, just remember to adjust the baking time accordingly!

Adapted from Wilton, Chocolate Chip Cookie | Makes (1) 11" cookie cake, serves approximately 8-10

P.S. Don't forget to check out my guest post over at Lil' Luna!

You won't want to miss it!

I'm 24

It's hard to believe that today I'm 24. Sometimes I feel like I'm still 19. Where have the years gone?

The other night at work someone asked me if I was old enough to serve alcohol. "I'm 23," I said. They were completely shocked. I'm not going to lie, that made me pretty happy. Anyway, today I'm being lazy. This afternoon I'm going to get my hair cut, watch TV, and wait for Stephen to come home. Tonight we'll go to Tucanos where I will most definitely stuff my face full of delicious Brazilian meats. It's kind of a tradition of ours. Then tomorrow I will continue on my merry way soaking up whatever 24 has to offer me. Hopefully good things... lots of them. I'm kind of excited to see what adventures I'll have, what fun things I'll do, just how much life will change. It seems like every year has been full of so many new experiences and challenges, I guess it's time for a few more :)

Hip Hip Hooray, TODAY I'm 23!

"We turn not older with years, but newer every day."
~ Emily Dickinson

1. Rosie's beautiful cakes over at Sweetapolita

2. Paul Ferney's Let Them Eat Cake prints

3. Birthday cake in a jar via The Family Kitchen

4. Here's to Clean Air by Masha D'yans

(for the American Cancer Society's More Birthdays Contest)

Will's birthday bash

 The past couple of days have been busy as we've been planning/prepping for a birthday party. Katie and Bill's little boy Will turned one earlier this week and I was in charge of the decorations/baked goods. Since cupcakes always seem to be a favorite, I made lemon, funfetti, chocolate mint and plain ole chocolate. For party favors I decided to go with sailboat sugar cookies and for Will's "smashcake" we opted for a giant cupcake instead of a standard round cake (which was easy and really cute with the sail topper). Stephen's mom made an adorable doggy quilt for Will and gave Emme a camera. She was absolutely in love with it and wouldn't let anyone touch it. Kids these days...