Chai Spice Cookies

We are doing a cookie exchange at work tomorrow and I wanted something new and unique to make. I have been loving chai lately, and recently saw a recipe on pinterest that was a chai cookie with pumpkin Hershey kiss on top, similar to the peanut butter blossoms that are so good. Problem was that I couldn't find pumpkin kisses anywhere, I think it was just too late to be looking for them. So, I started looking for different chai cookie recipes. There was nothing out there that really grabbed me, so I took bits and pieces of a couple different recipes and created my own. Here it is! 

Chai Spice Cookies

Ingredients:

1 c butter, softened

1 c white sugar

1/3 c brown sugar

3 chai tea bags (remove contents from the bags and discard bag)

3 tps pumpkin pie spice

2 eggs

3 1/2 cups flour

1 Tbs baking powder

dash salt

Cream together butter, sugars, chai tea, pumpkin pie spice until light & fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time until well combined.

 

Combine flour, baking powder, salt.  Add to creamed mixture and blend until combined. The dough will be very thick, this is a good thing. :)

Cover & refrigerate for 1 hour

Heat oven to 350. Roll cookies into balls, and roll in sugar. Place on greased cookie sheet, flatten slightly and bake for 10 min until edges begin to brown. Cool on wire racks.

 

While I bake I always have some sing-a-long music on so I can do just that and dance around the kitchen a bit. I thought I'd share what I listened to while making my goodies. For these cookies I was in the mood for a little county love. So, off it was to Last.Fm and the modern country station. Some of the best songs while I was baking were: Lady Antebellum - Need You Now, Chuck Wicks - Stealing Cinderella, Zac Brown Band - Chicken Fried

Linked up at:

J-E-L-L-O

I have gotten the chance to make a couple things out of the Baked: Explorations book! The first thing I did was the Jello salad. I wanted something light and fruity, and this seemed like a great combo of salty & sweet without being heavy. It turned out very well and everyone enjoyed it!


It is a three layer jello salad, with a pretzel crust, a cream cheese layer, and then the jello with fruit on top. It was pretty simple and would be a great picnic or potluck item. In the picture in the book they made nice slices of this, we opted to do scoops since the crust wasn't holding together. (probably because I didn't have enough butter to get it all stuck to itself)


Here it is
Jell-o layer:
1 (6-ounce) package strawberry Jell-O
2 cups fresh strawberries (about 14-ounces), sliced


Pretzel Crust:
8 ounces salty pretzels (about 4 cups)
¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch pieces2 tablespoons firmly packed dark brown sugar


Cream Cheese Layer:
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup sugar
¾ cup heavy cream


Jello layer: Make the Jell-O according to package directions. Stir in strawberries and refrigerate until partially set. Make other parts of recipe while this sets. *The book says it should be partially set in 5 min-1 hour. I did not find that this was the case, it took a couple hours for mine partially set. That could be because I had it in the front in a deep dish and kept opening to see if it was ready though... :)


Pretzel crust: Heat oven to 350. Butter or spray sides & bottom of a 9x13 pan . Crush up the pretzels. I used the tried and true put them in a bag and bang on them really hard, but you could always use a food processor if you wanted to. You just want to have chunks, so don't grind them into a powder. 


In a medium saucepan, melt butter over low heat. Whisk in the brown sugar and remove from heat. Stir in pretzel pieces until combined and put into prepped pan. Press the mixture into the bottom of the pan, but not up the sides. Bake for 10 minutes, then let it cool completely. 


Cream cheese layer: Put cream cheese and sugar in goal and beat on medium until well combined.


In a another bowl, whip the cream until soft peaks form. Using rubber spatula, fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese.


Assembly: Spread cream cheese mixture over cooled crust. Chill for 5 minutes in the fridge. Pour almost set Jell-O over the cream cheese layer. Refrigerate the dessert for about 2 hours, or until set.

Cupcakes Galore

Recently, a wonderful co-worker, Mia, hosted a cupcake decorating party at her house. We headed up after work one evening and spent a few hours decorating cupcakes with every topping, frosting, color, and candy imaginable!

Some of them were very cute or creative, some were just silly, but all of them were delicious!
This is such a great party idea for kids or adults, just bake a few dozen cupcakes, and get some basic decorating supplies and let people go at it!

Key Lime Pie

 

 I'm soon going to be making a special Key Lime treat, and so I'm going to share my experience with Key Lime Pie. I made this a year ago for the bosses birthday, and it was so simple and so good. I've actually even made it a couple times since. The recipe is from the Joy of Baking.

Graham Cracker Crust:

1 1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (on the Joy of Baking site they say you can also used 'crushed digestive biscuits' I'm not quite sure what that means, but if I find out I'll be sure to share)

2 tablespoons granulated white sugar

5 - 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Filling:

3 large egg yolks, room temperature

1 can (14oz) sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup key lime juice (can use regular limes, I've done both and it has come out well both ways)

2 teaspoons grated lime zest

Topping:

Whipped Cream

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly butter spray a 9 inch pie pan.

Mix together graham cracker crumbs, sugar and butter until everything is moistened. Press along the bottom and sides of a pie pan. Bake for 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Set aside on cooling rack.

In medium bowl, beat egg yolks until pale & fluffy (2-3 minutes). Gradually add the condensed milk and beat until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and then beat in lime juice & zest. 

Pour the filling into the crust and bake for 10-15 minutes, until filling is set. Remove from oven and set on wire rack to cool. Once it has cooled completely, cover and refrigerate several hours or overnight.

Once the filling is chilled, cover with whip cream. You can put the mound of it on there, or can pipe it through a star tip to give it a little extra on the presentation. Then just enjoy!

This recipe makes one pie. You can easily double it if needed (and I suggest you do, it goes fast!)

Whipped Cream

Whipped cream is a must for many, many things. There is nothing better, or easier, then making it fresh. Next time you are going to grab that tub of cool whip or that can of spray on, just move down the aisle and grab a carton of whipping cream and whip up your own!

Ingredients:

Heavy whipping cream (1 c will cover a pie)

Sugar (1 Tbs for every cup)

Put your whipping cream in a bowl and start beating. Put the mixer on high and let it roll. Soon, you'll see it thicken up and soft peaks will form. Once you have those, add 1 Tbs of sugar for every cup of whipping cream. Start beating away again. Soon, stiff peaks will form and you are ready to enjoy. Top off your favorite dessert, or just eat by the spoonful! :)