Next week I will be officially living in my new house. We have been busy painting and getting it ready to move into and that’s why I’ve been a little absent. I can’t tell you how excited I am to get into my new kitchen and start cooking up great things for this blog. Thanks for bearing with me while I’ve been a little distracted with life.

I made these for my husband to take into work. Back when he started a few months ago, I had made snicker cookies and one of his news bureau’s heard about those cookies and wished they had some too. I can’t let anyone down, so I had to make them something. I wanted to make something with a little zing and freshness that spring/summer offers. I remembered I had bookmarked lemon cookies awhile back and knew that was what I had to make. These glazed lemon cookies are really good. They are small and full of lemon flavor. When my son saw I was making these he asked if he was going to be able to have some. Thankfully this recipe yields about 3 dozen cookies so I had plenty for him to have. He loves lemons and will eat them as I cut them. His review: Two thumbs up.

Glazed Lemon Cookies:

Makes about 3 dozen cookies

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons lemon zest
• 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

I had been planning on making these onesie sugar cookies as soon as my sister-in-law said she was pregnant. I knew they would make the perfect party favor for everyone to take home from the shower. Making decorative sugar cookies takes time and devotion. You just can’t roll, cut, bake and decorate in one day. It takes a lot planning ahead of time. I had never made 55 cookies at one time before so I was unsure how much time I needed. I spent roughly 9 hours working on the cookies. That is from beginning to end. Knowing this, I’ll be able to plan even better for the next time I have to make so many.

One of my biggest set backs while making the cookies was the first batch I was trying to roll out. The darn cookies wouldn’t come together. They kept crumbling even though I kneaded and kneaded them like crazy. I went back to review the recipe and found I did a few things wrong. First, I didn’t cream the butter and sugar long enough. As I was kneading the cookies I could feel a lot of grit on my fingers, that tells me the creaming wasn’t done properly. Second, the original recipe calls for at least 1 tsp of vanilla and I was using half that. Once I creamed the butter and sugar better and added more vanilla, the rest of the batches worked out great.

The most fun I had was trying to figure out patterns and designs for the cookies. I wanted them all to be different and unique in their own way.

Polka dots are so much fun. I work with 6 cookies at a time. After all the cookies are outlined with the stiffer icing, it’s time to flood. Thinned out royal icing is what you use to “flood” the cookies. Once you have 6 cookies flooded, go back to the first one; take another color of thinned icing and put one drop of that on the already wet cookie. The drop will blend into the icing. Continue to do that till you have it like you want.

Accidents happen and when they do you just go with the flow. That’s what I did with the cookie in the upper right. My original plan was a polka dot cookie, but the last drop I did had a tail on it. There was no way I could leave it that way. I took a toothpick and connected all the dots by dragging the toothpick to each dot. I used the same method to make the hearts. I dropped 5 drops of pink thinned icing on the white cookie and dragged a toothpick down to create those hearts you see on the cookie in the lower left corner.

I’m still working on the writing part. Not quite happy with how some of the ones I wrote on turned out. But as I tell my kids, practice makes perfect.

Sugar Cookies:

• 3 c unbleached, all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 c sugar
• 2 sticks cold butter, cut into cubes
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp pure almond extract

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Combine the flour and baking powder, set aside. Cream the sugar and butter. Add the egg and extracts and mix. Gradually add the flour mixture and beat just until combined, scraping down the bowl, especially the bottom.
3. Roll onto a floured surface and cut into shapes. Place on parchment lined baking sheets and bake for 10-12 minutes. Let sit a few minutes on the sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack.

Royal Icing:

• 4 TBSP meringue powder
• scant 1/2 c. water
• 1 lb. powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp light corn syrup
• few drops clear extract (I use almond extract)

1. Combine the meringue powder and water. With the paddle attachment of an electric mixer, beat until combined and foamy.
2. Sift in the powdered sugar and beat on low to combine. (Do NOT skip the sifting!)
3. Add in the corn syrup and extract.
4. Increase speed to med-high/high and beat for about 5 minutes, just until the icing is glossy and stiff peaks form.
5. Cover with plastic wrap touching the icing or divide and color using gel paste food colorings.

Source: Cookies Bake at 350 Royal Icing and Techniques Bake at 350

I made these yesterday and there was no way I could wait to share it with you. I’ve been wanting to make PB&J bars for awhile now but I was looking for the right recipe. For Christmas, I got three awesome new cookbooks. One of them is the America’s Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook. I have the regular one and thought the healthy would make a great addition. Man, was I right! The recipes in the cookbook are fantastic! They did a great job at lowering fat and calories on a lot of popular dishes. The PB&J bars have less butter which cut down on the fat. As I was making them I was getting excited, everything was looking really good and smelling even better. It made the whole house smell like one big PB&J sandwich.

I regret only one thing…Not making a double batch! From now on I will be doubling the recipe and baking them in a 9×13 dish instead of an 8×8. When you make these, I recommend you do the same.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars:

• 3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3 tbs unsalted butter, softened
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup crunchy peanut butter, room temperature
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup salted dry-roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped
• 1 cup raspberry jam (I used sugar free )

1. Adjust oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with aluminum foil, with enough overhang to be able to lift the bars out when cooked. Lightly coat the foil with vegetable oil spray. Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl.
2. In a large bowl, beat the sugar and butter together using an electric mixer on medium speed until uniform and creamy, 3 to 6 minutes. Beat in the egg, followed by the peanut butter and vanilla, until incorporated, about 30 seconds, scraping down the bowl and beaters as needed. Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly add the flour mixture until just incorporated, about 30 seconds.
3. Reserve half of the dough for the topping. Using damp hands, press the remaining dough evenly into the prepared baking pan. Bake until the crust is light golden, about 20 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking. Meanwhile, stir the peanuts into the reserved dough for the topping.
4. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and spread the jam evenly over the hot crust, leaving a 1/2 inch border on all sides. Drop small pieces of the topping evenly over the top. Bake the bars until the jam is bubbling and the topping is golden, about 25 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking.
5. Let the bars cool completely in the pan set on a wire rack, about 2 hours. Remove the bars from the pan using the foil, cut into 16 squares, and serve.

Source: America’s Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook