Creamsicle Cookies

It's official, I found the perfect way to say farewell to summer!
"But Sarah, I thought I had the perfect summer farewell."
No, no, no, unfortunately, you are mistaken. See, there can't be two perfect farewells, and mine will have to win.
"Well, why is that?"
Because, they're Creamsicle Cookies! It's ice cream AND a cookie, all in one! And even better, there's no ice cream to have to worry about melting! Since, you know, it's still 110 degrees outside and not actually anywhere close to end of summer weather.
...Yeah, no, I'm not bitter at all....
"Right...Anyways, well I think you're correct. You have, indeed, found the perfect summer farewell."
Thank You loyal readers, I knew you'd understand. :)

On a side note, these are sooooooooo good! I had some Orange Creme Hershey's Kisses laying around still from Spring (don't worry, they were still good.)So I chopped them up as a substitute for the white chocolate chips. And although I do love brown sugar, I would consider using a little less next time to give these a bit more of an authentic creamsicle flavor.
Enjoy!

Creamsicle Cookies
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 firmly packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons orange zest
2 cups Guitard Choc-Au-Lait Vanilla Chips (I used the Hershey's kisses)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and creamy. Beat in egg and vanilla until smooth. Gradually add flour mixture until combined. Stir in orange zest and chips.

Drop rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Do not flatten cookies; it will make them dry. Bake 8 - 10 minutes or until golden brown around edges. Do not overcook! Cookies will be plump. Cool for several minutes on cookie sheets before transferring to rack to cool completely. Store in airtight container.

Recipe from The Girl Who Ate Everything

Banana Butterscotch Cookies

September is almost over. Which should mean cooler weather, leaves changing, pumpkin baking, all that awesomeness that is fall should be in the air.
But, this is Phoenix.
So, it's hot. Very hot. There are no leaves to change. And the closest I'm willing to get to pumpkin right now is the (amazing!)Pumpkin Iced Coffee at Dunkin Donuts.
But that's okay.
Why?
Because as soon as it's cool enough for my brain to officially establish this as fall, it will be raining pumpkins around here.
Kind of like how it's raining bananas right now. I don't really know why I always have so many browning bananas sitting around, but I do, and they must be used!
So I decided to switch it up this time with these banana-butterscotch-oatmeal cookies. The original recipe called for regular chocolate chips, but I was out, so the butterscotch seemed like a good substitute. And it definitely was! They were sweeter with the butterscotch, so I would still like to try them again with the chocolate, but these were delicious.

Banana Butterscotch Cookies
Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 large egg
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup mashed ripe banana (about 1 large)
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
8 ounces butterscotch chips

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Whisk together flours, salt, and baking soda in a small bowl; set aside. Put butter and sugars into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to low. Add egg and vanilla; mix until combined. Mix in banana. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Stir in oats and butterscotch chips.

Using a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop, drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing about 2 inches apart. Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until golden brown and just set, 12 to 13 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks; let cool completely. Cookies can be stored in airtight containers up to 2 days.

Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart's Cookies Book

I'm Baaaaaccckkk!

I bet you never thought you'd see the day, huh?
Well, the time has finally come. I have returned.
With a vengeance...Muhahahahahaaaa...
*ahem*
Anyways, it's been a looonnnngggg couple months, and since I have a feeling no one here really feels like reading a 200 page novel on the trials and tribulations that are my life, I'm going to spare you.
Don't worry, you can thank me later.
But in the short and sweet version there are two things to know, I've moved and started a new job!!
What does this mean for you?
It means I have my own kitchen! Ready to be used at a moments notice. And with this new job, I have time! No more 60+ hour weeks, so there will actually be time for baking annnndd sleeping! It really is a novel concept.

I had to break in my new kitchen somehow, and with some overripe fruit just hangin around, I knew what had to be done.
After some searching I found the perfect recipe: a Banana Peach Bread.
I was able to use up all of the fruit and it tasted amazing!
I used a little less sugar than the recipe called for, more like 3/4 cup. I think it would have been just too sweet with that extra sugar. And instead of straight orange juice, I used an orange-peach-mango juice.
Enjoy!

Fuzzy Navel Tea Bread
Ingredients:
8 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature (+ butter for greasing pan)
2 cups All-Purpose Flour
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 very ripe bananas
2 very ripe peaches
zest of one orange
2 Tbsp fresh orange juice

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350˚F. Use butter to grease one medium loaf bread pan and set aside.
2. Mix dry ingredients and set aside. Put peaches in a blender and pulse until well mashed. Transfer to a bowl and mash in the bananas using a potato masher or a fork. Add zest of one orange (I used a microplane zester/grater) and mix thoroughly with bananas and peaches. In a medium bowl, cream the butter. Beat in the eggs, one at a time and then beat in the fruit mixture and orange juice.
3. Gently stir the wet mixture into the dry ingredients. Don’t over mix.
4. Pour batter into loaf pan and bake for 50-60 minutes. Test with a toothpick, which should come clean when inserted.

Recipe from Streaming Gourmet

Glittery Sugar Cookies!!

Theres something you need to know about me.
I. Love. Glitter.
Like, Love.
Seriously, I don't know what it is. It's been this way for as long as I can remember... It's like I was born with a special glitter gene. A little piece of sparkle in my veins that attracts to me other sparkley things.
It's really an obsession.
So you can only imagine my excitement when I came across Disco Dust!!!
Within about two minutes of seeing it I ordered three different colors offline.
Amazing.
It's everything I hoped for and more!
And there's only one thing better than just glitter....pink and glitter!
So I had to make something to test out of the Disco Dust, and hearts and cupcakes seemed like the perfect idea.
This sugar cookie recipe is the best one I've found so far, they're nice and soft and still hold together well enough for decorating. I'm still working on my decorating skills...but these are by far my best yet.
A little glitter never hurt anyone...give it a go!


Sugar Cookie Recipe
Ingredients:
¾ cups Butter
1 cup White Sugar
2 whole Eggs
1-½ teaspoon Vanilla Extract
2-½ cups All-purpose Flour
¼ teaspoons Cream Of Tartar
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
½ teaspoons Salt
Directions:
In a large mixing bowl, combine room temperature (not melted) butter and sugar until smooth. Add eggs and vanilla and combine.

In a separate bowl, sift together flour, cream of tartar, baking powder, and salt. This is an important step; you want to avoid lumps in your dough.

Slowly add dry ingredients into wet batter until fully incorporated.

Drop dough onto a large piece of saran wrap, mold it into a 4×4 square, and refrigerate for at least one hour. I often let mine sit overnight.

When ready to bake the cookies, generously flour a flat surface and roll out the dough. You can use as much flour as you need! I prefer to make cookies about 1/4″ to 1/2″ thick, but you can go thicker and still have successful results.

For best results, bake on silpat or parchment paper. You can reuse parchment, too!

Bake at 325-350 degrees for 5 to 8 minutes. In my oven, right about 6 minutes yields a perfectly cooked cookie, with no brown edges.( I had to cook them closer to 10 minutes at 350, so just keep an eye on them)

Recipe from i am baker

Royal icing recpe Here

Whole Wheat Banana Oat Muffins

Over the last few years I've become a total breakfast person. Not like the big huge eggs and toast and pancakes breakfast, but just a little breakfast, like a bagel or a muffin.
Basically, I just like carbs in the morning.
Or afternoon...
Or night...
Well, you get the picture.
But unfortunately, sometimes my common sense catches up to me and reminds me that eating doughnuts and sugary muffins for breakfast every morning may not be the best idea. So I went hunting for an easy, good tasting muffin recipe that I could make that had some sort of nutritional value.
I found a basic recipe for banana muffins, and after making a few adjustments, I was hooked. Sometimes I even make these in a jumbo muffin pan for a more filling breakfast.
I do have one suggestion though, make sure these are cooked all the through before you pull them out of the oven. They're really thick and sometimes take a little longer to cook, so double check them.
Enjoy!

Whole Wheat Banana Oat Muffins
Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
1/4 Cup Oats
1/4 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Cinnamon
1/4 Teaspoon Nutmeg
1/4 Teaspoon Allspice
1/4 Teaspoon Vanilla
1/4 Cup Milk
3 Medium sized very ripe bananas
1/4 Cup Applesauce
1/2 Cup Raisins

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Mix all dry ingredients and set aside.
In a separate bowl, mash banana until smooth. Add in applesauce, milk and vanilla. Mix well.
Make a well in the dry ingredients, then pour wet ingredients into well. Fold together until mixed. Fold in raisins.
Fill muffin cups, these do not rise very much so you can fill them about 3/4 full. Sprinkle top with extra oats.
Bake at 425 degrees for 7 minutes.
Turn heat down to 395 degrees and bake for another 25-30 minutes.

Recipe by Me!

Cream Cheese Cake Mix Cookies

I'm back!!
Sorry it's been so long, things have been crazy! I've been working like mad, my mom came into town :), we've been opening new stores at work, I've been starting new jobs...Just crazy! But enough about my life, more about cookies!
First thing I have to say is that these pictures just do not do these cookies justice. The camera battery died while I was taking pictures, and by the time I got around to charging it, well the cookies were definitely gone.
You're probably looking at this post and thinking,
Wait...didn't she already post these?
And you're right. I did.
Kind of.
These are a new variation on the Cake Mix Cookies I had previously shared, but thicker and creamier.
I still feel like the cake mix is almost cheating, but they're so easy and soooooo good it's impossible not to make them!

Cream Cheese Cake Mix Cookies
Ingredients:
1 Box Funfetti Cake Mix
1 8 oz. package Cream Cheese, room temp.
1/4 cup Oil
1 egg

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Mix cake mix, cream cheese, oil and egg together.
Roll dough into 1 inch balls and place on cookie sheet.
Press ball down slightly to flatten.
Bake 8-10 minutes until edges are light golden brown.
Let cool for 1 minute on sheet then remove from cookie sheet.
Optional: Spread frosting over warm cookies.

Recipe from Me

I won't be gone for much longer!

Maybe you haven't noticed, but it's felt like a million years since I've posted anything.
Valentine's Day is the busiest time of year for me at work, so six day work weeks and sleeping off the stress has put a slight hold on my baking lately. Therefore putting a hold on the posts as well. But the much dreaded Valentines Day is almost here, and then I shall return with a vengeance!
Until then, I have made a new page on Sugar Junkie! Towards the top, you'll see I have created my Bake List. It's the list of everything I hope to make at some point this year and I'll definitely be adding to it as I think of more.
Here's to goals! Cheers!