Lots of Love..

Valentine's Day is almost here...and what's valentine's without some kind of sweets!!



I decided to go simple this year and opted for a basic vanilla sugar cookie recipe.



Who thought cookies need more work (and timeee!!!) than cake! Between the freezing and cutting and baking and decorating. Ahhhhh but they were worth it. They turned out reeeally good and looked great.


I am relatively proud of the results....remember this is my first time decorating cookies! pretty decent no?


Anyway, long story short:

vanilla sugar cookies + royal icing ..... they'll make anyone fall in love..trust me.


                                                                            
                                                                             The Colors 



(I ate a lot a bit before decorating...just to "check the taste")



What do you think?

Happy Valentine's everyone..

I hope you're spending it with the one you love..

and a bowl full of sweets and chocolates ofcourse =D

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Monster Cookie Layer Cake

I've seen this cake many many times and always thought about recreating it but was intimidated by the "fur". However, I will never say no to a request! (Especially a Sesame Street Cake!)

The cake itself was also a challenge. Two layers of moist vanilla cake: a white white and pink-tinted one. One layer of red-velvet cake and last but (definetly) not least chocolate cake.
(Ah, if only I can have a piece right now!!!)

Then it was time for FROSTING!

I wanted something that tastes really good but can also last and not melt and mess up my pretty cake.
My final decision was laid upon Sweetapolita's Swiss Meringue Buttercream.
It looks silky smooth and tastes delicious. It's starting to become my go-to frosting.

I made a LARGE amount of buttercream. I chilled my cakes and stacked them one on top the other and cumb coated the whole thing.

Then I got out my piping tools. I searched and searched and finally found the perfect tip: Wilton Grass Tip 233.

2 cups of butter cream later...I was confident enough to try frosting my cake.

3 hours later (and an almost broken wrist =O )....I WAS DONE.

I then added white buttercream eyes and chopped off my cookies in half (and I totally did not eat the broken ones =) ) and stuck them on his mouth.

Here's the cake on the inside =D

 

and voila!

Monster Cookie Cake

 

 

 

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Cake makes me Smile!

A midst all the tension and the work, you should always find a way to make you smile and ease the pain.

Everyone has his own way to loosen up and mine is: CAKE!

This cake was done for a good friend of the family's birthday. A big bright yellow smiley face with yummy Oreo cookies for eyes.


I covered the cake base with colored sprinkles to brighten it up with some more colors! A colorful cake, isn't it?

What do you think?

Doesn't it bring a smile to your face?

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Back to Basics - Chocolate Chip Cookies

I was looking around Deezert and noticed that I had a very important thing missing! I have no idea how I could have forgotten such an important part of the dessert world!

Yes, you've guessed it:

Chocolate Chip Cookies..my favorite kind of cookies!

Photo Credit: Deezert

Crunchy on the outside, goey and moist on the inside.

I found this amazing recipe on AllRecipes.com (my go-to site for recipes) and tweeked it a bit to suit my chocolate-y needs. You'll find the recipe at the end of this post. 

Photo Credit: Deezert

  

Photo Credit: Deezert

Photo Credit: Deezert
Cookies and a cup of milk!

What You Need:

• 1 cup butter at room temperature  (around 225 g)
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 2 tsp. hot water
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

What to do:

1. Cream together the butter and sugars till light and fluffy.
2. Add the eggs - one at a time - and beat the mixture. Stir in the vanilla using a spatula.
3. Dissolve the baking soda in the hot water and add to the mixture along with the salt.
4. Sift and add the flour. Drop in the chocolate chips. Mix using a spatula. DO NOT over mix the dough. Work it just until the flour disappears.
5. Cover the mixture and refrigerate it for at least an hour. (The longer you wait - if you can wait (I never can) - the yummier the cookies will turn out to be). The reason for this is that if you directly bake the cookies, the mixture will get soggy and directly start melting. It's better to let the dough rest and then bake the cookies.
6. Scoop up 1 tablespoon of dough (I use an ice cream scoop) at a time and place them around 2 inches  apart on a baking sheet or an ungreased pan (the dough already contains lots of butter and should not stick). Recipe will make around 2 dozen cookies.
7. Bake the cookies for around 10-12 minutes in a preheated oven (170 degrees Celsius), or just until the edges brown.
8. Directly transfer them to a cooling rack in order to let them toughen up a bit (if they're crumbly, let them cook for a minute or so on the pan)
9. After they've cooled down, DIG IN! (Don't forget to place the rest in an airtight container to keep them fresh - if there was any left!)

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Gingerbread & Cutters

I've never tried gingerbread cookies, and I just got a gingerbread man cookie cutout thing from Germany AND I had nothing to do :P so I thought I'd try out my new cutters. I got many many MANY cutters! I just love them and I absolutely can not wait to use all of them.

I bought this very awesome printing cutter thing. It cuts out cookies shaped like biscuits and prints any word/sentence you want! I've been wanting to try it ever since I got it.

And here's the cute gingerbread man!! =)

Pretty Cool, huh?

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Black and White Cookies

Photo Credit: Sally Loutfy

I recently got this amazing cookbook (from an amazing friend!!) and thought it's about time I try something from it. The book is called "Baking with the Cake Boss " and it's such a wonderful book. It has everything: from butter cookies to tarts to fondant tiered cakes! It really is the perfect book =D I'm sure this blog is going to some very interesting posts coming up because of the Cake Boss =D

Now since I have finals and there's so little time =( , I decided to go for something simple.
I saw this recipe for a cookie that is well not a cookie. By  that I mean it's texture is somewhat different. It's actually initially a vanilla cake recipe but the recipe's been tweaked a bit to make it more of a cookie.

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Sablés French Cookies

Sable Cookies
Photo Credit: Diana Loutfy

Sablés are traditional french cookies. Sable means "sand" in French and it refers to the sandy texture of the cookies. They remind me a lot of sugar cookies but they're a tad more sophisticated. You spread one with the jam of your choice and add another one on top and

Voilà!

You have the perfect Sable.


Now, for once, I did not do the cooking. I came home from a long long day at university and I found my mom in the kitchen, making Sables! She said: "Sorry for taking your part in the house but I felt like having some sables!" Well as soon I saw them, I couldn't leave the kitchen. I forgot how tired I was and started helping her  with the rolling/shaping part and we baked them together. I only wish I can forget how tired I am when I have some work/studying to do =(

Before going into the oven
Photo Credit: Diana Loutfy

In the Oven
Photo Credit: Diana Loutfy

Photo Credit: Diana Loutfy

Oh and thank you 3amto Waddad for the recipe. Aunty Waddad is actually dad's aunt and I love her very very much. She gave us this wonderful recipe.

They turned out very very yummy!

And we had some leftover dough so we thought we'd make a pie - a chocolate pie =D
Now I forgot to take a picture of the baked/filled pie but here it is before baking:

Chocolate Tart
Photo Credit: Diana Loutfy

Happy Cookie-ing =D

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Sugar Cookies Recipe

Sugar Cookies are great for a lot of occasions, whether you want Holiday cookies or just a simple sweet cookie, they're pretty amazing.

Sugar Cookies
Photo Credit: Diana Loutfy

Here's how i do mine:

What you need:

• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder

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Eid Cookies

Eid El Ahda is here! So I thought I'd make something to celebrate the occasion. I wanted a change from the maa'moul we do every year, so... I decided to make some sugar cookies!

BUT, I did not have a sheep-shaped cookie cutter =( so I had to shape one from some wire (Thank you mom for the idea - and umm execution)

Anyway the cookie is pretty easy to make, just follow your favorite sugar cookie recipe. I use this one!

After chilling the dough, I cut out the shapes I needed and baked them.

Then came the fun - and very messy - part: coloring them.

I admit they do not look very professional but I did have fun doing them =D

So here they are:

Adha Mubarak
Photo Credit: Diana Loutfy

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Halloween Dead Finger Cookies

Halloween is almost here! and it's time for some TRICK OR TREATIN'!

SO, I decided I'd give some dead fingers a try. (You choose whether they're tricks or treats =P) Well not ACTUAL dead fingers, but sugar cookies-ery ones =D

I used Martha Stewart's sugar cookie recipe as my base and continued from there. I shaped the fingers by molding a walnut-sized-cookie-batter-ball into long, thin strips. Then I pinched the strips to create knuckles. After that I used a small knife to create that wrinkly effect. As for the nails, I added an almond to each strip and it miraculously transformed into a scary, dead finger. (Read More to see pictures)

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