Delicious Sandy Dollars

Our theme for girls club has been Walk on Water this year and with a fun event with treats, I decided to go all in on the treats. These Sand Dollar cookies were a hit. I mixed and rolled them out a few weeks in advance then froze them. I used a straw to make little holes for the sand dollars. I was busy frosting cupcakes so Andy ended up baking these for me. He egg white washed them, sprinkled cinnamon sugar, and placed each almond with love. You do really have to take them out at 3 minutes to push the almond back in then bake the rest of the time. They came out perfect and taste wonderful. They were the sleeper hit of the night.

Sand Dollar Cinnamon Sugar Cookies
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
2 eggs whole
2 eggs separated
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 pinches of kosher salt
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
cinnamon sugar
sliced almonds

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350° F.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and powdered sugar; Mix until very creamy. (I may or may not have taken a lick after this step – HA! ;)
Add the 2 whole eggs and 2 yolks only (reserve the whites for later from the egg separation above); Beat until well combined.
Add vanilla and salt; Blend well.
Add flour and baking powder; Stir until the dough is very soft.
Form a ball with the dough; Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours (I left mine in the fridge overnight).
Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Roll out the dough to 1/4" thick on a floured surface and cut out 2 5/8” circles.
Brush the circles with the reserved egg whites.
Sprinkle each circle lightly with cinnamon sugar and press 5 almond slices into the center of each circle to make a sand dollar (like the pic above).
Bake at 350° F for 3 minutes.
After 3 minutes, remove the baking sheet from the oven and press the almonds in again, making slight indentations in the circle.
Add more cinnamon at this point too, if need be, to adjust the overall coloring of the final cookie.
Place the baking sheet back in the oven and bake until the edges are golden brown, another 10 minutes (this time will vary depending on how thick you cut the circles, so just keep an eye on them around the 7 minute mark).
Remove from oven; Let rest on baking sheet for 3 minutes.
Transfer to cooling racks to cool completely.
Store in an airtight container to keep up to 5 days (Yeah right, these won’t last 5 minutes!)

Magic cookies leave happy people

Growing up I remember Magic 7-Layer Bars being a popular dessert brought to events. It wasn't something I ever liked, or probably tried. Someone brought them to work and I gave them a try and they were wonderful! I tried making them at home and it was a disaster. Something about just layering things in a pan and tossing them in the oven with a hope and prayer didn't really work for me. So when I saw the option of the flavors of the 7-layers but in cookies, oh, that sounded good to me. I was bringing a dessert for 13 people and figured I'd add some cookies too! These turned out to be chocked full of fun ingredients that everyone loved, even the coconut! That gets people sometimes. My mixer was working extra hard to add all those chips and addins but it worked out great and the cookies are fantastic.

Magic 7-Layer Cookies
1 cup Butter (softened)
1 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Sugar
2 large Eggs
1 teaspoon Vanilla
2 1/2 cups Flour
1 teaspoon Cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Salt (if using salted butter, reduce to 1/2 teaspoon)
1 1/2 cups Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
1 cup Butterscotch Chips
1 cup Sweetened Flaked Coconut
1 cup Chopped Pecans or Walnuts
Sea Salt

Preheat oven to 385 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter, brown sugar, and sugar for 4 minutes or until light and fluffy.
Add eggs and vanilla and mix for 1 minute longer.
Fold in flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt.
Fold in butterscotch chips, chocolate chips, coconut, and pecans or walnuts.
Use a light-colored baking sheet. Place 2 ounce balls of cookie dough on baking sheet, several inches apart. Press extra butterscotch or chocolate chips on the cookie dough balls before baking in the oven. If you desire, sprinkle the cookie dough balls with Maldon Sea Salt Flakes.
Bake for 9-12 minutes. Don't overbake.

Zesty 11 year old helps with cake for the 70 year olds!

Our church was having a special luncheon for our over 70 crowd and Andy was helping serve but also needed to bring a dessert. Luckily, he's married to someone who loves to bake. Now what would old people like for dessert? I have this recipe for death by chocolate cupcakes, but that seemed not something they'd go for, what about lemon cake? My old people always liked Lemon Fluff cake, but I couldn't find a good enough knock off recipe for that. Lemon Bundt would work! Why is the girl who is allergic to lemon always making lemon baked goods? Fantastic question, I do enjoy lemon even though I can't have it. Anyway... I got Nicholas up from his doom scrolling on YouTube to help me with the zest and the juice, he's fantastic at this! Great helper. Then got the cake in the oven! Andy went to go help setup for the event and I told him let them know I had a bundt in the oven, not to be confused with a bun in the oven... see what I did there? No more buns in our oven... whoa! This cake came out of the pan perfectly, the frosting was an absolute dream but was filled with lemon zest so I didn't even taste test. Andy said everyone had some at his table and enjoyed it, he did too! So, Lemon Bundt Cake for the win, for 47-year-olds and 70+ year olds!

Lemon Bundt Cake
Cake
1 cup salted butter soft
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
3 cups all purpose flour
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk
2 Tbsp lemon zest
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
4 oz cream cheese softened
¼ cup salted butter soft
3 Tbsp lemon zest
4 cups powdered sugar
2 Tbsp lemon juice or more if needed

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Cream butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl for 5 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each one.
Sift together dry ingredients. Add alternately with buttermilk; mixing well. Stir in lemon zest and lemon juice.
Spread into a well greased and floured 12 cup Bundt cake pan or tube pan.
Bake at 325° for about 1 hour or till a toothpick comes out clean. (Don't over bake or the cake will be dry.)
Let sit in pan for 10 minutes, then carefully dump out onto a cooling rack. Cool cake completely and frost with lemon cream cheese frosting.
Frosting: Beat cream cheese and butter till smooth. Beat in remaining ingredients, adding enough milk or cream to achieve spreading consistency. Frost cooled cake.

When Chocolate Chip Cookies are needed STAT!

The boys group Andy leads is doing their baking badge and the needed an easy cookie recipe that didn't require a whole lot of equipment. Last week they made cupcakes, next week cookies. The last time I let the boys use my mixer they started peeling my decals off of it... yes, my mixer is pimped out - are you surprised? you shouldn't be... it's been like that for almost 20 years. Anyway... something easier, but something quick. I found a no chill brown butter recipe which I converted into just a melted butter, modified ingredient amounts, then of course we needed a test. So, Friday after work I whipped up a batch of these cookies, they were gone by Sunday. So, you could say they were enjoyed, quickly.
So, if you need a quick batch of yummy soft cookies that get put together really quickly and even 5th and 6th grade boys can do it? These are great.

No Chill Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 Tbsp granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 large cold egg
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Melt butter in microwave Add brown sugar, white sugar, and vanilla and whisk to blend. Add whole egg and whisk until incorporated. Then whisk in baking soda and salt.
Add the flour and fold it in until mostly combined, then fold in chocolate chunks.
Preheat your oven to 350°F. Line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Use two spoons to scoop 14 pieces and roll into smooth balls. Place them onto prepared baking sheets, spacing them 3 inches apart. Flatten slightly and bake for 9-11 minutes until golden around the edges and still slightly gooey in the center (they will set as they cool). Let cookies cool for 1 minute on the baking sheet.

AI doesn't know how to cook or bake...

Another day another AI recipe. How did I get stung twice in one week? I usually get my recipes from very reputable people but this one just looked so good - guess why? AI... ugh. Once I realized the photo was made up and the directions made absolutely no sense, I started figuring it out on my own. First off, strawberry pie filling from a can? Hard pass, even if you can find it, that does not make a fresh and wonderful dessert. Gross. I have seen tubs of glaze in the produce section of some stores, just not any that I frequent. I found a recipe for glaze (it's listed below) it's easy and works great, also uses fresh strawberries. Here's another tip - be smart about your cream mixture... I mixed up my cream cheese, tossed in my pudding mix, THEN added milk and ended up with chunk wetness all over the place, don't be me. Mix your pudding ahead, then slowly add it - avoid the chunk shower. Ugh.
On to assembly - the photo I had was not at all what the instructions said, so I forged my own way. Originally it said to layer it in an 8 x 8 baking dish. So, an entire angel food cake cut into cubes, a vat of cream, and strawberry pie filling, tucked nicely in an 8 x 8 pan? Are you insane? Come on AI, do better. I used a giant glass dish that I never use and it worked perfectly, you could see the layers and it worked great. This ended up being a wonderful dessert, which a LOT of edits. This was great for a warm spring night - fresh flavors that everyone enjoyed.
Just remember, if a recipe looks weird and doesn't seem to add up, use your common sense and make the changes and don't trust random crap you see on the internet.

Heaven on Earth Cake
16-ounce box angel food cake mix
21-ounce can strawberry pie filling (or make Strawberry Glaze and fold in 1 pound of sliced strawberries)
8-ounce block cream cheese
3.4-ounce box vanilla instant pudding mix
1.5 cups milk
8-ounce container Cool Whip whipped topping

Prepare the angel food cake as directed on the package. Cut into 1-inch cubes.
Make Glaze and cool, add in strawberries
Mix together pudding mix and milk, set aside.
Beat block of cream cheese, slowly add pudding mixture, fold in cool whip.
In a large clear glass bowl, make three layers starting with angel food cake cubes, cream mixture, then strawberry mixture. Layer them until ending with strawberries on top.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 3-4 hours until set.

Strawberry glaze recipe
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup water
1 (3-ounce) package strawberry Jello

In a small saucepan, whisk together the sugar, cornstarch and water. Turn on the heat to medium-high. Bring the mixture tods a boil. Cook and whisk for 1 to 2 minutes, or until thickened.
Remove the pan from heat. Add in the strawberry gelatin. Whisk until completely dissolved.
Chill the glaze in the fridge for 15 to 20 minutes, or until just slightly cooled. Don’t let it chill too long or it will start to set. We’re just refrigerating it briefly to let it shed heat.
Use the glaze immediately while it’s still spoonable and pourable. Or transfer it to an airtight container and refrigerate.