Baking Monday – Gingerbread Cupcakes

By request: something Christmas-y with frosting. These gingerbread cupcakes with cinnamon buttercream were super yummy.



I used my large scoop to fill the cupcake papers and they poofed up over the edge of the pan, boo. Filling the papers about halfway would probably be about right. I made cinnamon buttercream instead of cream cheese frosting, because that's my preference (1 stick softened butter, 4 cups sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp cinnamon, add milk until piping consistency) and the cinnamon flavor was juuuuust right. Gingerbread isn't usually a favorite of mine, but the icing really sold these for me.

Plus, I had an excuse to buy cinnamon jellybeans (the BEST flavor, in my opinion!)

Clarkey's Barkey Bones

I've got a little story to tell today, my favorite thing that happened all last week. 

A few weeks ago, Clark checked a book out of the school library about making pet treats. He was SUPER excited about it, but we didn't have time to make them before the book was due back, so I scanned some of the recipes to use later.



The boys had a day off of school on Friday, so I put "Make Dog Treats" on our calendar for the afternoon. The recipe Clark wanted to try was for Peanut Butter Pooches, dog-shaped cookies. He was insistent that the cookies NOT be shaped like dogs, because "that wouldn't be good training … to think it was okay to bite another dog." So we agreed on bone-shaped treats instead.



He helped me mix the ingredients and cut out the treats. As we were working, he was trying to think of a new name for them, and decided on "Clarkey's Barkey Bones."



After giving one treat to Penny for a taste test, Clark had the idea to share them with all the neighborhood dogs.



He wrote out labels for all our furry friends.



And made a name tag, that I scanned, printed and tied to each bag.



We delivered the treats on Saturday. He was so excited to hand them out. Turns out, he didn't just want to drop treats and go … he wanted to personally give one to each dog we visited!

What a fun time we had with this. Clark sometimes struggles with his human relationships, but has such a soft spot in his heart for dogs. 

Baking Monday – Coffee Chip Cookies

These cookies from Taste of Home were a total last-minute treat. As of 3:00 on baking day, I still hadn't picked out a recipe. These cookies sounded good, were quick to make, and I had everything on hand.

Sorry for the flecks in the pic - these turned out super soft and cake-like, more like whoopie pies than cookies. The coffee flavor is subtle. The recipe makes a ton - had I read the recipe a little more carefully before starting, it would have very easily cut in half. These were good, but not great. I think the texture threw me off. However, they would probably be good sandwiched with chocolate buttercream, mmm.

Belated Thanksgiving Treat

These are the cookies that traveled with us to Maryland this year, inspired by this turkey cookie platter from Sweet Sugarbelle. The feathers are made from a carrot cutter, the turkey from a #8, decorated with chocolate-covered sunflower seeds. The embellishments were a last minute addition. I was originally planning to pipe the details, and found the seeds when I was looking for the eyes … and I think they look even better than the piping would have! 

 

Gobble, gobble!