Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Tea Cakes (With a Recipe)

If I had time to make my own Christmas cookies, these would be at the top of my list.  As a matter of fact, these are almost always at the top of my list.  A nice short base with a tiny hint of cinnamon and tons of chocolate makes for a dreamy combination.  Add it to your holiday cookie trays (for me, please!!).

Cinnamon Chocolate Tea Cakes

Makes ~24 1 in balls 

1 Cup salted butter, softened

1/2 Cup powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 Cups flour

1 cup chopped dark chocolate (reserve 1/4 cup)

1 cup chopped milk chocolate (reserve 1/4 cup)

*Note:  you can also use semi-sweet chips in place of the 2 chocolates, I just like the blend)

Preheat the oven to 350°.  In a bowl, beat the butter and powdered sugar until smooth and creamy.  Beat in the vanilla.  Gradually beat in the flour.  Stir in the chocolate (make sure to reserve 1/2 cup total).  Form the dough into 1 inch size balls (dough is very crumbly).  Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 10-12 minutes.  

Allow to cool.  In a zip top bag (I really recommend a brand name baggie here), microwave the remaining chocolate at 50% power until completely smooth.  Cut a tiny corner off of the bag and drizzle the chocolate over the cookies.  

Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  I had a ton of fun making (lots of!) these Thanksgiving cookies.

Tropical Fish Birthday

When my husband's best friend turned 30 a few weeks ago, there was no doubt that he'd want fish cookies.  He has a bunch of awesome fish tanks, one of which includes all the nemo fish, so suffice it to say he'll be forever my daughter's favorite person.  

Fantasy Football Team Cookies

So, in one of the weirdest and most awesome orders ever, I got to make a cookie for each team logo of a fantasy football league.  I will admit, I got into these and they took a lot of time, but I think the end result was worth it!

Hockey Jersey Birthday

Pittsburgh is a pretty big hockey town, so I'm surprised that these were my first hockey cookies.  A grandma surprised her grandson with these for his birthday and I bet became his favorite person ever!

Simple Elmo Cookies

A very basic elmo cookie, the hardest part is getting the eye/nose proportions correct.

Dragon Cookies

I made these dragon cookies for a little league team called the Red Dragons.  Hope they enjoyed!

Baptism

I've done 6 baptism sets in the last two months, and they've all been for boys!  I'm looking forward to a little girl baptism next week, but for now, here's a sample baptism platter.

Cake Stand Cookies

In my family we have two bursts of birthdays.  One in April and May and one in August and September, I feel like during those months, we have celebration after celebration.  My husband's Grandma recently had her 88th birthday.  She is a beautiful, wonderful woman and we had a lot of fun celebrating her special day.  I make a tray of cookies that are birthday cakes on a cake stand.  I used the basic Wilton wedding cake cutter.

Physician Office Cookies

I'm finally back to cookie-ing after a self-imposed break.  My husband and I welcomed a baby boy to our family in March and I must confess that initially the thought of baking with a newborn and a 2 year old in the house was more than a little intimidating.  However, after about 3 months off, I really missed my oven and mixer, so I'm back.  I'm going to try to keep the blog updated, more for my records than anything.

I started off with cookies for the orthopedic office where my sister-in-law just started working (and where in a case of small world-itis, they took great care of me when I had knee surgery a few years back).  Some scrub tops, stethoscopes, and their logo made the platter.
 

P.S.  Here's the cutie that kept me from baking! ;)

Little League Baseball Cookies

These cookies are for a little league team called The Bombers and their end of the year party.  Their uniforms are maroon and grey, so I made a few jerseys with a B on them.  My favorite cookie, though, is the baseball 'bomb'.  It's a super simple cookie--I just wish I had a basic ornament cutter, that would have saved from from hand piping circles.  

Go Bombers!

Smurfs!

Talk about an order taking me back!  I loved doing this smurf 6th birthday platter.  I can't believe the smurfs are popular again, it's so much fun.  I loved sitting in front of the TV on Saturday mornings with my dad and brother watching the cartoons and Smurfs were definitely one of my favorites.  My mom hated the voices, but they never seemed to bother me.  

My trick for characters is to make royal icing transfers.  I don't have (nor can I afford) a KopyKake projector, so I print the characters out and pipe the outline onto wax paper.  It doesn't give me much help with the details, but the outline is the crucial part anyway.  Then, I let the transfers dry, and while the flooded cookie is still wet (2-3 minutes dry time), I place the transfer on to the cookie.  This way it sinks in a bit and doesn't create an unpleasant crunchy top.  I mixed in some 6s, cupcakes, presents, and wish cookies to round out the platter.  Happy 6th Birthday Em!

Summer Time Cookie Tray and Pops

I really loved doing these bright fun cookie pops for a end-of-year- party for a kindergarten class.  The accompanying platter was for teacher gifts.

 Beach balls are a great beginner cookie, because they are just circles, and the white outline icing helps to cover any mistakes.

Caramel Cups (with a Recipe!)

Whenever I'm making cookies for an order, if there is a type I haven't made in awhile, I always make a practice batch.  This way, I can be sure how many the recipe makes and if it need any tweaks.  Also, I pass the cookies on to my husband's work friends, so I get brownie (pun intended) points there too.  I'll try to include a recipe when I do a post on different types of cookies.  If you haven't heard of caramel cups or caramel tassies before, they are a unsweetened pastry crust, filled with caramel, topped with a swirl of buttercream.  Yum!

Caramel Cups Recipe 

Adapted From Taste of Home  

Crust:

1 Cup softened salted butter

6 oz cream cheese

2 Cups all-purpose flour

Beat the butter and cream cheese until smooth, add the flour gradually.  Stir to combine.  Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to make the dough easier to work.  Roll into 48 1in balls and place into a lightly greased mini muffin tin.  Use a tassie press or your fingers to make a well.  Bake at 375° for 15-17 minutes.  Let cool in the tray for a few minutes and then move to a cooling rack.

Caramel Filling:

1 14oz bag of caramels

1/2 cup + 3 Tbsp evaporated milk

In a saucepan (or microwave) melt the caramels and milk until smooth.  Let cool a few minutes and then use a spoon to fill each cookie cup.  You can also use a zip-top bag or pastry bag, but I've had better luck with a small spoon.  Let cool to room temperature.

Frosting:

2 Tbsp softened butter

2 Tbsp shortening (you can use all butter, but it creates a softer consistency)

1 Cup powdered sugar

1 Tbsp evaporated milk

Beat butter and shortening until smooth, add the powdered sugar and milk gradation and beat until light and fluffy.  Use a pastry bag with a star tip (or a baggie with the corner cut off) to put a dollop on each cup.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.  

Just a note, I can usually get 1 1/2 batches of cookies filled with the amount of caramel listed, but I usually make an extra half batch of frosting for the 48 cookies.

Burgundy & Silver Graduation Owl Platter

This was a fun platter for a wonderful cousin of mine who is graduating from high school.  Her school colors are burgundy and silver, so I used luster dust on all of the gray.  Unfortunately, my (very) poor photography skills don't showcase the sparkliness of the silver!  I mixed the owls with some twelves (a 1 and a 2 cutter just placed against each other), some plaques, and a few mini stars.  Congratulations K!

Hydrangeas

I got to make several dozen light pink hydrangeas for bridal shower favors.  I'm really happy with how they turned out.  The nice thing about this cookie, is the colors are completely interchangeable (provided you're not too picky about matching nature exactly.) I'm making the same cookie in a few weeks in light purple with purple centers (rather than the pink with white centers).

Hawaiian Shirt Cookies (and Flip Flops!)

These Hawaiian Shirt and flip-flop cookies were just for practice.  I try to make a few extras each time I make a batch of cookies so I can try new cutters, new techniques, or just to have a little relaxed decorating. The designs are actually pretty simple.  I used the wet on wet technique and made little 'donuts' with the accent color.  Then, take a tooth pick and pull the icing towards the middle of the circle in 4 points.  You can always take some towards the outside of the circle, or swirl all around the cookie (like I did on the pink shirt).

Teal Ocean Wedding

These cookies were actually practice and taste testers for a wedding I'm doing in June.  I'm so happy with the colors and design. I got the idea for the simple sand dollars from Sweet Sugar Belle and just made them my own.  The actual wedding cookies will have starfish, clam shells and a few other things included.  

Pittsburgh Cookies

These are definitely my most favorite cookies so far!  They are chocolate cookie with vanilla royal icing.  Cookies to represent the Pittsburgh Penguins, Pittsburgh Steelers, and the Pirates.  Also, a silhouette of the skyline, and the incline.  My husband came up with the idea for heart incline cookies, so simple and genius!

Spring Time Cookies

Spring Time Cookie Mix for a fundraiser bake sale.  Butterflies, tulips, & hope cookies done in a lemon sugar cookie with lemon glaze icing.