Red Velvet Cookie Sandwiches

February 7, 2019 Jaclyn

These red velvet cookie sandwiches are soft and chewy and filled with everyone’s favourite cream cheese frosting! These heart shaped cookies are perfect to share - anytime!

I am so excited to share this recipe with you. When I started planning what I wanted to make for Valentine’s Day this year cookie sandwiches immediately came to mind. I knew I wanted my cookies to be heart shaped, so I needed a dough that would hold its shape and since everyone loves cream cheese frosting I knew it would be the perfect filling.

Red Velvet Cake has that hint of cocoa flavour and is incredibly moist. I wanted to make sure that my cookies shared the same characteristics while still holding their shape. The cookies have a true red velvet flavour. They have just enough cocoa powder and the addition of sour cream really helps to bring home that red velvet flavour and texture.

There are a few key things that you can do to keep the cookies from spreading while baking. It all comes down to properly chilling your cookies. Chilling them before you roll them out and before they go into the oven really helps them keep their shape.

The cookies are delicious straight from the oven but they taste even better the next day in my opinion. The cream cheese frosting keeps the cookies nice and soft, and that extra day gives all the flavours a chance to meld together.

Red Velvet Cookie Sandwiches

Makes: 2-3 dozen individual cookies or 1-1.5 dozen sandwich cookies

Ingredients

For the Cookies

1 c butter

1 c sugar

1 tsp vinegar

1 egg

Red Gel Food Colouring

2 c flour

¼ c cocoa powder

½ tsp baking soda

2 tbsp sour cream

For the Frosting

8oz cream cheese, at room temperature

½ c butter, at room temperature

3 c icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1-3 tbsp heavy cream (optional)

Directions

For the Cookies: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, on medium speed, beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg, vinegar and food colouring to butter mixture. Mix until combined. Sift together flour, cocoa powder and baking soda. On slow speed, add in flour mixture. Finally, mix in sour cream. Mix until just combined. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill in fridge for minimum 1 hour

Preheat oven to 350F. On a lightly floured surface roll out dough to desired thickness. Cut out cookies using desired cookie cutters and transfer to parchment lined baking tray. Chill cut cookies in fridge for 15 minutes before baking. Bake for 8-12 minutes or until cookie edges are light golden brown. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

For the Frosting: In the bowl of a stand mixer, over medium to high speed, beat together butter and cream cheese until light and creamy. On low speed, mix in icing sugar, one cup at a time, until incorporated. Mix in vanilla. Whip on medium to high speed for 1-2minutes or until light and fluffy. Add heavy cream until desired frosting consistency is reached.

To assemble: Pair up similar sized cookies. Pipe frosting onto cookies and sandwich together. Store cookies in an airtight container. Enjoy!

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Banana Chocolate Chip Scones

January 23, 2019 Jaclyn

These banana chocolate chip scones are incredibly moist, easy to make
and are perfect on the go!

I had some friends over a few weeks ago and every time one of them went into my freezer to grab ice they would comment on the number of bananas that I had stashed away in my freezer. While I love bananas, they have to be the perfect shade of yellow for me to eat them. I knew that my stash of over ripe bananas was starting to get out of hand, which of course meant it was time to bake something! After baking two loafs of banana bread, I still had a bunch of bananas left over. I love making scones because they come together quickly and you don’t have to wait for your butter to soften - in fact you want nice cold butter straight from the fridge so you get nice and flaky scones.

Banana and chocolate is one of my favourite flavour combinations. The bananas add sweetness and moisture to the scones and you can’t go wrong with extra chocolate - just saying. They are light and flaky, moist and of course delicious! So grab those over ripe bananas hiding in your freezer and whip up a batch of these scones today!

Banana Chocolate Chip Scones

Makes: 16 scones

Ingredients:

1- 2 ripe bananas (1/2 c mashed)
1 egg
¼ c heavy cream
2 c flour
½ c sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
½ c butter, cold & cut in cubes
½ c mini semi sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 425F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

In a food processor or blender puree banana, egg, and heavy cream, set aside. In a large bowl whisk together flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder and salt. Cut butter into flour mixture, until mixture resembles wet sand. Mix wet ingredients into dry until just combined. Mix in chocolate chips. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and kneed dough into a ball. Divide dough into two. Flatten dough into a large round disk and cut into 8 even wedges. You should have 16 scones total.

Evenly place scones onto prepared baking sheets and brush with heavy cream. Bake scones for 10-12 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned. Remove from oven and allow scones to cool completely on a wire rack.

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Sugar Cookie Decorating Kit

December 18, 2018 Jaclyn

This sugar cookie decorating kit is the perfect gift for anyone on your list. Give the gift of cozy Christmas cheer!

Sugar Cookie Decorating Kit with Homemade Hot Chocolate Mix

Um how is Christmas already just a week away!! Time is flying! I thought I would share a fun, last minute gift today. If you area already making cookies why not package a few undecorated ones up to share. I love the idea of a sugar cookie decorating kit. Its such a fun way to gift cookies to friends and family. Let them have the fun of decorating the cookies any way they please! This would be a great afternoon activity for kids or its a fun activity to do while watching your favourite Christmas movie. Its perfect to get into the festive spirit.

To Make the Kit

I used a wire basket lined with a Christmas tea towel as the base of my kit. In the kit, for the cookie decorating I included: some fresh baked cookies, royal icing in a squeeze bottle, and some fun festive sprinkles. Of course I had to include some fun extras too. Homemade hot chocolate mix (recipe below), a holiday mug and a cute spoon round out my cookie decorating kit. I cellophane the entire kit and added a cookie cutter - just incase they want to make more cookies themselves! You could also include some homemade marshmallows, a fun ornament, pipping bags and tips, a fun spatula… the possibilities are endless!