If Life Hands You Flat Cookies, Make Cookie Bites!

Do your cookies ever turn out looking like this? Well, it's not your oven, it's you.

Oh, sad cookie :(

Don't be ashamed, it happens to all of us. It even happened to me last week. (GASP! I know!) I was in a hurry and didn't let the butter come all the way to room temperature. That resulted in butter that wouldn't cream with the sugar. This is a super necessary step because the sugar crystals are cutting holes into the butter and those holes are what fill up with gases made by the baking powder/soda, which gives cookies their lift. Cold butter = no holes = flat cookies. Sad day. Even sadder is that there really isn't a fix that you can go back and do after the fact.
But wait! Don't throw all that dough into the trash! (or eat it all raw) Make cookie dough bites! You know, like those ones you can buy at the store? But these are even better because you can make them as big as you want!

What you need:
Cookie dough (I like using chocolate chip cookie dough)
1 pound (at least) Chocolate (the good stuff, none of that quik candy)
Double boiler
Candy thermometer


You're going to get a quick lesson on tempering chocolate. Tempering is an important step in the candy making process and if you skip it or do it improperly it will result in dull, streaky, chalky, or crystallized chocolate. Lucky for us it's pretty easy if you have the right tools! (I have a tempering unit, but if I'm doing lots of chocolate I use the stove method).

My tempering unit, it's idiot proof!

1. Simmer water (not boiling) in a saucepan and place 2/3 of your chocolate in the double boiler. Attach your candy thermometer and get to stirring with a rubber spatula (not a metal/wood spoon).
2. You want dark chocolate to reach 115 degrees and milk/white chocolate to reach 110 degrees, and NO HIGHER! Once it hits that temperature (and you've been stirring all this time, right?), remove the double boiler, wipe off the bottom and set it on a heat proof surface.
3. Add the remaining 1/3 of your chocolate. Stir it in. The residual heat will melt most if not all of this. If you have any chunks left over once it cools to 84 degrees you can just remove them.
4. Replace the bowl over the saucepan until the chocolate reaches 89 (dark) or 87 (milk/white). Do not let it go over 91.
Yay! You have tempered chocolate! This chocolate will make a shiny candy with a great 'snap'. Keep it warm while you are working with it (86 for milk/white, and 88 for dark).

These are about 1 1/2 T sized

Now that you have tempered chocolate, form little balls of cookie dough and refrigerate. Dip the firm balls of dough into the chocolate. With the hand that is not holding the dipping utensil, tap the wrist of the hand that is holding it to shake off the excess chocolate. Place the dipped cookie dough on wax paper or a SilPat mat and let cool.

Dark chocolate covered cookie dough bites!

Mmmmmm! No more wasted cookie dough, ever!

Did You Know?

Did you know you can freeze cake? It freezes really well actually, sheet cakes, cupcakes, cake balls, even cake crumbs. And you know what else? Those big box grocery stores do it all the time. In fact, a cake made in your own house and frozen for a week or two is probably going to be fresher than those you get from the store. Frosted or unfrosted, it really doesn't make a difference. Did you make a whole batch of cupcakes and only needed half? Freeze the rest. Really. They defrost in about 30 minutes, which coincidentally is about the time it takes to whip up a batch of frosting, ice them, and get them to where they're going. Bingo, ready made cupcakes, you're now everyone's favorite person.
You know what else I have frozen? Cookie dough. I usually have logs of cookie dough in the freezer, ready to cut off a few for when those unexpected people show up. (Perfect since my cookie recipe takes up to 48 hours!!!) And you know what? Those big box stores get those in frozen too, and they can sit for weeks to months in the freezers there. How do I know this? I worked there. Don't get me wrong, those grocery store goodies taste darn good, but not quite the same as customizing them to your personal taste and getting them fresh from the oven.
Plus, you know exactly what went into your goodies, who touched them, and how long ago they were made. That's a win in my book over the grocery stores any day! So if you're one of those super people who take a day to cook for the whole week, try baking some goodies ahead too. I swear they keep in the freezer just fine for up to month! Perfect for the average busy family with no time whip up a batch of something every time one of the kids/husband/neighbor needs something.

Is It a Cupcake, Or a Cake? Both!

I love cupcake cakes. They combine the best of both worlds, like the easy single serve-ability from the cupcakes and a large decorating surface like a sheet cake. You can arrange the cupcakes into a super cute shape (like this golf course cupcake cake) or just as a sheet like I did with this Bronco's cake. All you need is a dozen cupcakes (or more, depending on what you want to arrange or how many you're feeding) of your favorite flavor, a batch of buttercream frosting, and some food coloring! Yay!
Find a board and cover it in foil, or go to WalMart and get yourself one of those cake boards. Before decorating, lay out the cupcakes in the design you want. This is the time to move them around, before they're 'glued' down. Once you have the design down, dab some frosting on the bottom of each cupcake liner and use that to 'glue' the cupcake to the board. Slap a generous amount of frosting on top of the cupcakes and start spreading it smooth. Pipe a border with a large star tip and voila! You have a blank slate for a cupcake cake!

No plates necessary!

For this Bronco's birthday cake I did the above, but before piping on the border I airbrushed the surface a lovely Bronco's blue and hand drew on the Bronco's logo. I outlined the horse in black and filled in with the white and orange. After piping on the celebratory well wishes, the border went on, along with some confetti sprinkles, and bingo! a fabulous cake!