Incredible Cinnamon Roll Cookies

You've heard of cookies for breakfast. How about breakfast for cookies?
(Or something like that.)

Cinnamon Roll Cookies. 

A vanilla sugar cookie dough is rolled with a brown sugar-cinnamon-pecan swirl and drizzled with a cream cheese glaze. I'm not sure whether to eat them for breakfast or dessert, so I've decided to eat them for both.


The swirl of cinnamon makes them looks fancy, but they're really quite simple to make.


Want to have a little fun? Try slicing them with unwaxed dental floss instead of a knife to help the cookies keep their shape. (You can always press to reshape them a bit once they're on the cookie sheet.)


Cookies. Breakfast. Dessert. Love. 

I'm sharing the recipe over at Imperial Sugar. Hop over there to find the full recipe.

9 Dude-Approved Father's Day Dessert Ideas

Father's Day: hammock, burger, beer, new tie. Dad deserves something sweet, too.

Here are 9 of my favorite (dude-approved) Father's Day dessert ideas/recipes:

{click the recipe titles for recipes and tutorials.} 

1. Peanut Butter Swirl Chocolate Chip Blondies. My dudes are lovers of all things peanut butter and chocolate. These are rich, creamy, substantial (read: manly), blondies sure to put a smile on dad's face. Maybe he'll share.

2. Cheeseburger Cookies. Simple mini chocolate and vanilla sugar cookies snadwiched together with fondant cheese (who doesn't love fondant cheese?) and a little frosting for the ketchup, mustard, and lettuce. Easier to make and assemble than you might think, and a super fun project for the kids.

3. Cigar Cookies. The only cigars you'll ever allow in the house. Easy to personalize with dad's initial.

4. Cupcakes-on-Tap. Yep, beer cupcakes. Beer in the cake; beer in the frosting...topped with a chocolate covered pretzel. No swirly piped frosting for these; the frosting is plopped on with an ice cream scoop. Very masculine. 

5. Fried Chicken Cookies. No chicken was harmed in the making of these cookies. Simple to make...big impact. Ask for an empty bucket at KFC. Still some of my favorite cookies I've ever made. ♥

6. Cookie Fries with Buttercream Ketchup. You know the only thing that would makes these better? Eating them alongside regular fries.

7. Bacon-Banana Pancakes with Buttery Bourbon Maple Syrup. Um, these are pretty much all of my husband's favorite breakfast items rolled into one. Wait...he rarely has bourbon for breakfast. ;) Anyhoo...planning a breakfast in bed for dad this Father's Day? Make these. (Not technically a dessert, I know, I know.)

8. Hot Dog and Beer Cookies. Yes, your dad will love and appreciate these. Also, why aren't there more beer-related goodies for Mother's Day?

9. Pecan Chewies. These mini pecan pies are a hit with every man in my life...my husband, my dad, my son, my uncle...the UPS guy. Who can blame them? A cream cheese crust with a brown sugar/vanilla/pecan filling in a mini size is pretty much irresistible.

What are you making for Father's Day dessert? 

oil-free chocolate chiffon cake

怎么可能?!
无添加奶油 &油还是一样好吃?!

This is the subtitle of a cookbook, which means, 'How could that be possible?! It still tastes as good without adding butter or oil?!'

When my baking friend showed me her oil free chocolate banana muffins made following a recipe from this cookbook, 好吃不发胖低卡甜点 (loosely translated as: delicious low-calories desserts), I got really interested.

I bookmarked a few recipes and one of the first few I tried is this Chocolate Chiffon cake. The ingredients list is typical of a basic chiffon cake recipe, the only difference is, there is no oil in the list. There are no other special ingredients other than the usual eggs, sugar, flour and liquid.

Whenever I make a chiffon cake, I would usually prepare the egg yolk batter first using a manual balloon whisk before beating the egg whites with an electric handheld mixer. The instructions for this recipe however differ from my usual method as is it necessary to use the electric mixer to beat the egg yolks. Without having to wash the whisks/beaters of the mixer, the egg whites are first beaten before preparing the yolk batter. Hence, it is important to get ready the necessary ingredients so that the yolk batter can be prepared quickly, otherwise, the beaten egg whites may probably deflate if left aside for too long.

Other than the sequence, the rest is quite straight forward. Yet, I made a hiccup while preparing the egg whites. I over beat the whites, just slightly, but it still affected the finished product! What a major no no, and really unforgivable for someone who bakes chiffon cakes so regularly. I learned not to take things too easy or for granted, even if I am very familiar with the process.

Since I over beat the egg whites, I deflated the batter while folding the whites to the yolk batter. The finished batter was still thick but it could only fill up the pan to just 3/4 full. The cake didn't turn out as tall but fortunately, the texture was not really affected. Even without the use of any oil, the cake was still moist, soft and fluffy. If someone were to give me this cake to try, I would never be able to detect that it was made without oil. The only tell tale sign is that there wasn't any oil stain on the doily paper which I used to line the cake. Another thing I noticed is, the cake was a little more difficult to unmold, or is it just me?

The book states that 1/8 of this 17cm cake has got 113 kcal compared to 180 kcal for a similar chocolate chiffon made with oil, lower calories without compromising on the taste and texture. I used valrhona cocoa powder which lends the cake a richer and intense cocoa flavour. The cocoa powder also gives the cake a deep mahogany color. The pictures I took show a lighter shade as I had to adjust the brightness and contrast as the original images were too dark. I also took the liberty to add in some rum besides the pure vanilla extract. This recipe is a keeper and it will be my go-to chocolate chiffon cake from now on.



Oil free Chocolate Chiffon Cake (无油巧克力戚风蛋糕)

Ingredients:
(makes one 17cm cake)

4 egg whites (I used eggs with 55g net weight)
45g caster sugar

4 egg yolks (I used eggs with 55g net weight)
25g caster sugar
60ml milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon rum (optional)
55g cake flour
20g cocoa powder (I used dutch-processed valrhona cocoa powder)


Method:

• Sieve flour and cocoa powder, set aside. 
• Get ready all other ingredients.
• Preheat oven to 180 degC.
• In a clean, dry mixing bowl, beat egg whites with an electric handheld mixer on low speed until mixture becomes frothy and foamy. Add half of the sugar and turn to high speed and beat the mixture. Continue to add in the remaining sugar mixture and beat until the egg whites reaches the soft peak stage. The soft peak stage is reached when the peaks of the whites curl over and droop slightly. The egg whites should appear smooth and glossy. Set aside. (Do not over beat the whites still stiff, it is better to beat the whites still soft peaks for easy folding with the yolk batter.)
• Place egg yolks and sugar in another mixing bowl. With the electric handheld mixer (Note: it is not necessary to wash the beaters/whisks after beating the egg whites), beat the mixture on low speed until it turns pale and thick. Add in milk, vanilla extract and rum (if using), beat on low speed to combine. Sieve over the flour and cocoa powder, beat on low speed till the flour is fully incorporated. (Note: prepare all ingredients in advance to allow this step to be done fairly quickly so that the beaten egg whites will not be left aside for too long.)
• Fold the beaten egg whites into the egg yolk batter in 3 separate additions, each time folding gently with a spatula (I prefer to use a balloon whisk) until just blended.
• Pour batter into a 17cm chiffon tube pan(do not grease the pan). Tap the pan lightly on a table top to get rid of any trapped air bubbles in the batter.
• Place chiffon pan in middle rack of oven. Bake at 180 degC for 30 mins. Remove from oven and invert the pan immediately, let cool completely before unmould. To remove the cake from the pan, run a thin-bladed knife around the inside of the pan and the center core. Release the cake and run the knife along the base of the pan to remove the cake.

Recipe source: adapted from 好吃不发胖低卡甜点 by 茨木くみ子

Sweet on Trader Joe's Saturday: Crispy Cookies filled with Belgian Chocolate

We're big fans of the Milano cookie around here. We'd be even bigger if I bought them as often as we want to eat them. So, when Jack and I spied this bag of Milano-esque cookies at Trader Joe's, well, buying them was a no-brainer.


Trader Joe's Crispy Cookies filled with Belgian Chocolate come in a 7.5 ounce package and cost $2.79.



A mom's (my) take: Crispy cookie, rich chocolate...you really can't go wrong here. My favorite part of these is the chocolate; it's dark, rich, and smooth. I love the seeing the shiny chocolate peeking out of the cookies. These are definitely reminiscent of Milanos; the cookies seem a little thinner, a little crunchier. Definitely yummy, but side-by-side with a Milano...I'd choose the Milano.
Overall rating 4.5 of 5 stars

A teenager's (Jack's) take: I would take these over Milanos any day. Why? For one thing, the consistency of the cookie portion is perfect - not too soft to where it collapses or is difficult to eat, but not too hard to where it forces the chocolate out the sides and makes it difficult to eat as well. It has a slightly buttery, shortbread-like taste that makes me sort of want to just eat the cookie by itself. :) Secondly, of course, the chocolate is not oozy and messy (which can be a good or a bad thing), but is not overwhelmed by the cookie either, bringing out a strong taste with a slight bittersweet aftertaste that can only really come from quality chocolate. Good job, TJ's!
Overall rating: 5.5 out of 5 stars

Trader Joe's Crispy Cookies filled with Belgian Chocolate: get your Milano fix at TJ's!

Read all of our Trader Joe's sweet treats and dessert reviews!

A $4.99 alternative to the KopyKake projector for cookie decorating

I've resisted buying a KopyKake projector for years. (A KopyKake is an overhead projector that will allow you to trace images directly onto cakes and cookies.)

1. They're pricey...I'd rather spend my money on chocolate.
2. I have exactly zero space to store it.
3. Honestly, I worried I'd fall into the trap of thinking I HAD to use it to make my cookies perfect. 

So, I wanted to make some cookies for a little Curious George fan. I googled ways to draw George and tried my hand at sketching him. Soon it was obvious, this was not going to work. 

I remembered seeing a post Klickitat Street did about an app that you can use with your iPad for tracing. Here's the post...it's full of great info and a video that's really helpful as well. Definitely check it out! 

Here's the deal...the Camera Lucida app ($4.99!!!) works using the rear camera on the iPad. Save and upload a picture that you want to trace, put the app in draw mode and adjust the opacity so that when you're looking at the iPad, you can see the cookie underneath.

You'll need a stand of some sort. I stacked a bunch of cookbooks on my table. I'm embarrassed that one of my books is on top...totally not planned, but hey... #productplacement. 

What you need to know:

• the app does not project the image down.
• when tracing, you'll be looking at the iPad as a guide, not the cookie.
• because the camera is not in the middle of the iPad, your cookie will be under the edge of the iPad. 
• the image is much easier to trace using a food coloring pen, rather than a piping bag. 

Next time, I'd start the cookie with a base color. I didn't have enough time once I remembered about this app. Also, I tried piping the face details using the app...that didn't work well. 

To make the Curious George face cookies, you'll need:

• circle cut-out cookies
• Camera Lucida app
• iPad
• Curious George stencil (I used this CG pumpkin stencil from PBS Kids)
• food coloring pen
• royal icing, divided and tinted with AmeriColor Super Black, Chocolate Brown (two shades), and Bright White
• disposable icing bags
• squeeze bottles
• couplers and icing tips: #2, #3, #1

Place the cookies under the raised iPad and trace the image using a food coloring pen. (If you look at the iPad, you can see that I took some liberties with the image...making the right ear more prominent and closing the open lines.)

Use a #2 tip to go over the outline drawn with black icing. Let this icing set for at least 1 hour. 

Thin the brown icings with water, a bit at a time, stirring with a silicone spatula, until it is the consistency of a thick syrup. You'll want to drop a "ribbon" of icing back into the bowl and have it disappear in a count of "one thousand one, one thousand two." Four is too thick, one is too thin. Count of 2-3 is good. Cover with a damp dishcloth and let sit for several minutes.

Stir gently with a silicone spatula to pop and large air bubbles that have formed. Pour into a squeeze bottle. Fill in the outlines with the thinned icing, using a toothpick to guide to the edges and to pop large air bubbles.

Pour into squeeze bottles and fill in the black outlines.


Let the icing dry for at least one hour.

Thin the white icing with just a bit of water to loosen. Pipe eyes using a #1 tip.


Switch the tip on the black icing to a #1 and add the remaining face details. Use a toothpick, pulling through the top of the black icing on the eyes.

Let the cookies dry, uncovered, 6-8 hours or overnight.

Perfect? No. Better that if I had attempted to freehand them? You betcha.


I can't wait to try this again...I don't think I'll use it often, but I think it will be very helpful with logos, mascots, and characters. Also, what if you converted a picture into a line drawing and made cookies of friends and family??? OK...that sounds like it would be difficult. Maybe not. ;)

Sweet on Trader Joe's Saturday: Salted Caramel Gelato

This tub of gelato totally stopped me in my tracks. First, the packaging is cute. Second, salted caramel!

So, today we review Trader Joe's Salted Caramel Gelato. You'll find it in the freezer case (I bet you knew that already). A 1-quart tub costs $4.99.



A mom's (my) take: I've grown to love salted caramel IF it's done right. Rich caramel taste, distinct saltiness...like this frosting. This gelato is creamy, I'll give it that, but there's no rich caramel flavor. I also don't taste ANY salt. If something is labeled as "salted," I had better be able to taste it. Here's another clue that it's not our favorite...we opened it 8 days ago...and it's still half full in our freezer.
Overall rating: 2 of 5 stars

A teenager's (Jack's) take: "It's not OUR favorite..." "WE opened it 8 days ago..."
Well, I can definitely say I do not have the slightest idea of what my mom is talking about. I could eat buckets of this stuff. Yes, buckets. The flavor is so powerful and rich, but not so rich to where it isn't appetizing. Gelato has a certain consistency, and this example certainly has it, and deserves the title of being a true gelato.
Overall rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Trader Joe's Salted Caramel Gelato: split decision. 

In case you missed it, here's what else was on the blog this week:

1. brown butter oatmeal shortbread cookies
2. decorated wedding cookies with tutorial

Read all of our Trader Joe's sweet treats and dessert reviews!

Pork Floss and Sesame Seeds Cookies

I am on a baking spree since the beginning of the June school holidays, making cakes and cookies for my children to enjoy as they are spending more time at home.

This pork floss with seaweed and sesame cookies recipe is a breeze to prepare. The cookie dough is made using rubbing in method, there is no creaming or beating of butter required. The dough is easy to work with as it is not too soft nor sticky.

These savoury cookies turn out really well...light, crisp that taste buttery and very fragrant. It is a nice change to the usual chocolate chip butter cookies and are great as snacks to be enjoyed at anytime of the day.



Pork Floss and Sesame Seeds Cookies

Ingredients:
(makes about 35 cookies)

260g plain flour
25g icing sugar
120g unsalted butter, cold, cut into small cubes
3 tablespoons pork floss with seaweed
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg, lightly beaten

Method:

• Sieve flour and icing sugar into a mixing bowl. 
• With a fork (or use fingertips), cut the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. 
• Add in pork floss, sesame seeds and salt. Mix with hand to combine.
• Make a well in the centre and add in the lightly beaten egg. Mix and gather the mixture to form a shaggy mass. Give it a few light kneading so that it comes together to form a smooth dough.
• Flatten the dough to form a disk. Wrap in cling wrap or a place it in a plastic bag and leave to chill in the fridge for about 30 mins. (If the dough is left in the fridge for too long, it will harden, if this happens, leave it in room temperature for a few mins until it is soft enough to roll out.)
• When ready, roll out dough to about 5m thick between 2 sheets of cut-out plastic bags (or use two sheets of parchment paper). 
• Cut out cookie dough with cookie cutter and transfer to baking trays lined with parchment paper. Leave a space of about 1" in between each cookie dough. Gather up the scrape and re-roll to make more cookies.
• Bake in preheated oven at 180 degC for about 20-25 mins until the cookies turn light golden brown. 
• Remove the cookies from the oven and leave on the baking trays for 2 ~ 3mins (to allow the cookies to firm up a little) before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in air tight container.

Recipe source: adapted from Little Bear's Kitchen