Trick or Treat! Spooktacular Halloween Cookies

I love an excuse to bake and frost cookies, and Halloween is the perfect one right about now.  There are witches, ghosts, monsters, jack-o-lanterns and so many other spooky inspirations lurking about.  A few drops of food coloring and festive treats can turn the standard sugar cookie into the perfect Halloween sweet.  It's definitely a bit of a process, but that's the best part!  With a baseball game in the background, I whipped up the cookie dough, took a break for it to chill, then rolled and cut out my cookies.  After they cooled, I turned on a good movie, got comfy in my chair, and covered the table with trays of cookies, bowls of frosting, and lots and lots of sprinkles, chocolate chips, and m&m's.  So pick a movie, clear your space, and gather your goodies for some Halloween baking to get you in the trick or treating spirit!

Sugar Cookie Ingredients
1 cup            butter
1 1/2 cups      sugar
3                  eggs
1 tsp             vanilla
3 1/2 cups     flour
1 tsp             baking soda
1/4 tsp          salt

1.  Cream together butter and sugar.
2.  Mix in eggs.
3.  Mix in vanilla.
4.  Mix in dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, salt).
5.  Form dough into a ball, place in bowl and cover with cling wrap.
6.  Chill for 3-4 hours...this is the hard part!
7.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
8.  Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
9.  Start with half the chilled cookie dough and leave the other half in the fridge.
10.  Flour rolling surface and rolling pin.
11.  Roll out cookie dough to about 1/4 inch thickness.
12.  Flour cookie cutters and cut out dough.
13.  Place cut out cookies on cookie tray with a little bit of space for spreading.
14.  Bake 6-8 minutes.
15.  Let cool and of course taste one or two to avoid any tricks!

Buttercream Frosting
1/2 cup            butter
About 1 cup     powdered sugar
1 tsp                vanilla
Splashes of milk for consistency
* All ingredients can be adjusted to get the desired consistency of frosting

1.  Cream together butter and sugar.
2.  Mix in vanilla.
3.  Mix in small splashes of milk until frosting is just right.

Divide your frosting, mix your colors, pick your toppings and happy decorating!

pumpkins, ghosts, and witches, oh my!

ghosts in the moonlight

witching hour

going batty

peppy pumpkins

Happy Happy Halloween!!!

Triple Chocolate Cookies

Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate; yum, yum, yum :)  Chocolate is a good start to anything, and three times the chocolate is three times as good!  These cookies have chocolate chips, chocolate syrup, and chocolate/cocoa powder.  They taste just like eating a chocolate bar but with a perfectly soft cookie texture.  These were quick to bake and quickly gone.  A sprinkle of powdered sugar was the finishing touch to make these cookies Black and White Party ready.  The triple chocolate cookies were a great compliment to our outfits and deco, and will definitely be making more party appearances...and lazy day ones too!

Ingredients
1 cup           butter
1 1/4 cups     sugar
2                 eggs
1/2 cup        cocoa powder
2 1/4 cups    flour
1/4 tsp         salt
1 tsp            baking powder
1 bag           milk chocolate chips
A few squeezes of Hershey's chocolate syrup
Plus powdered sugar to complete the ensemble

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2.  Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
3.  Cream together butter and sugar.
4.  Mix in eggs.
5.  Mix in cocoa powder.
6.  Mix in dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking powder).
7.  Mix in a few squeezes of chocolate syrup.
8.  Mix in chocolate chips.

9.  Place golf ball-sized scoops of dough (thanks to my little ice cream scoop!) onto cookie sheets.

10.  Bake 10 minutes.
11.  Let cookies cool slightly and dust with powdered sugar.

12.  Get your chocolate fix while they last!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcakes with Brown Sugar Frosting

I'm back :) and taking a giant leap from sugar-free to sugar-full!
You can never go wrong with a chocolate chip cookie, and there's not a thing wrong with turning the classic favorite into a cupcake smothered in brown sugar frosting.  This chocolate chip cookie cupcake combines the familiar flavor of the cookie with the fluffy texture of a cupcake.  And the sprinkles on top (I don't like those sundae cherries!) is the brown sugar frosting that tastes just like cookie dough.  Have the brown sugar and your packing spoon ready because this recipe calls for quite a bit of it.  With every spoonful of brown sugar, my stomach growled a touch louder and I could hardly wait for the final product...and I didn't.  I couldn't resist eating the brown sugar frosting straight out of the bowl.  Luckily, and a bit surprisingly, there was enough frosting to pile high on all the cupcakes and with a sprinkling of mini chocolate chips, these cookie cupcakes were ready for a hungry stomach and a glass of milk.

Cupcake Ingredients
1 1/2 cups            butter
1 1/2 cups            brown sugar (I did say these were sugar-full!)
4                       eggs
2 2/3 cups          flour
1 tsp                   baking powder
1 tsp                   baking soda
1/4 tsp                salt
1 cup                  milk
2 tsp                  vanilla
1 bag                  chocolate chips

Frosting Ingredients
1 1/2 cups            butter
3/4 cup              brown sugar (just can't get enough!)
3 1/2 cups           powdered sugar
1 cup                  flour
3/4 tsp               salt (or 1/2 tsp if you prefer!)
3 tbsp                milk
2 1/2 tsp             vanilla
+ a few handfuls of mini chocolate chips for decoration :)

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2.  Line cupcake trays with paper cupcake liners.
3.  Cream together butter and sugar for cupcakes.

4.  Mix in eggs, one at a time.
5.  Mix in dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt).
6.  Mix in milk and vanilla.
7.  Toss chocolate chips in a small handful of flour so they don't sink to the bottom!
8.  Stir in chocolate chips.
9.  Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full.

10.  Bake for 18-20 minutes.
11.  Let cool, if you can!
12.  Meanwhile, get started on the frosting by creaming together butter and sugar.
13.  Mix in powdered sugar.
14.  Mix in flour and salt.
15.  Mix in milk and vanilla.
16.  Frost the cupcakes, and don't forget to taste a spoon or two for quality control :)
17.  Sprinkle each cupcake with mini chocolate chips immediately after frosting to make sure they stick.

18.  Enjoy your tongue twisting chocolate chip cookie cupcakes with brown sugar frosting and chocolate chips on top!