lemon crinkle cookies--the best ever!

These cookies left me speechless.

Seriously.


They are the best cookies I've ever had and if I were to ever open up a shop or something, these would be my signature treat.

I'd make a thousand a day and sell them for $.25 each.


Business men and women, children walking home from school, moms, teachers and everyone and anyone would know that for a mere quarter, they could get the world's greatest cookie.

Aren't they so adorable all rolled in  sugar! :)

Jihane's lemon crinkle cookies.  :o)

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Lemon Crinkle Cookies--Adapted from Tasty Kitchen

• ½ cups Butter, Softened
• 1 cup Granulated Sugar
• ½ teaspoons Vanilla Extract
• 1 whole Egg
• 1 teaspoon Lemon Zest (I used 2 teaspoons)
• 1 Tablespoon Fresh Lemon Juice (I used 1.5--next time, 2)
• 1-½ cup All-purpose Flour
• ¼ teaspoons Salt
• ¼ teaspoons Baking Powder
• ⅛ teaspoons Baking Soda
• ½ cups Powdered Sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease light colored baking sheets with non stick cooking spray and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Whip in vanilla, egg, lemon zest and juice. Scrape sides of bowl and mix again. Stir in all dry ingredients (except powdered sugar) slowly until just combined. Scrape sides of bowl and mix again briefly.

3. Pour powdered sugar onto a large plate. Roll a heaping teaspoon of dough into a ball and roll in powdered sugar. Place on baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough.

4.Bake for 9-11 minutes or until bottom of cookies begin to barely brown and cookies have a matte finish (not melty or shiny). Remove from oven and cool cookies about 3 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

4th of july flag cake

 

Hey friends! Happy Fourth of July!!!

I absolutely love the 4^th because it’s always a great time to see friends, eat good food and just have fun  going from cookout to cookout.

It’s awesome!

I have been DYING to make this cake ever since I saw it on Elissa’s blog about 2 years ago.

It was seriously one of the coolest cakes that I had seen in a long time and I wanted to give it a try.

I’m actually taking it to a BBQ this afternoon, so whoops---I already sliced into it to get a picture.

LOL! So ghetto. They’re my friends so they’ll understand…I hope. ;)

As you can see, my cake is kinda jacked, no?

I am the worst at torting cakes which causes my layers to always be uneven.

That makes me sad.  I want to take cake decorating classes.

My mom of course would frown upon that. I can already hear her now: "Why do you Americans need to take a class to learn how to do everything!"

Don't ask--she is who she is. I whole-heatedly embrace my Americanism.

The cake itself is delicious. I simply used a white cake mix and added lemon zest and lemon extract to the batter. I then iced it with a lemon cream cheese icing.

So good! (I planned to slide the cut slice back into the cake, but I ended up eating it. That’s how I know it’s good.)

Well that’s the story of this cake. It was pretty fun to make and I will definitely try it again next year!

I hope you all enjoy the holiday with your loved ones--if anybody has tips on helping me help myself torte a cake, please feel free to school me.  :)

Lemon Cake

• 1 box of white cake mix and all other necessary add ins
• 1 tablespoon lemon extract
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest
  
  1. Bake the cakes as you normally would---you will need 3 layers of red, white, and blue.
  2. Now for the rest of the directions, I will direct you over to Elissa's blog. She explains it better.

Lemon Cream Cheese Icing

• 1/2 cup of butter, softened
• 8 oz of cream cheese, softened
• 2 cups of powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons lemon zest
  
  1. In a bowl, mix butter, cream cheese, and lemon juice until fluffy--about 3 minutes.
  
  2. Add  sugar one cup at a time and then lemon zest. Use it to ice whatever you'd like!
  
  
  

Fried Oreos

Little hugs from Jesus—that’s what Deep Fried Oreos are.

A warm and softened Oreo cookie nestled inside fried batter is one of my FAVORITE desserts.

This weekend I had the strongest urge for this summer time staple (to me) after I flipped through some old college photos of my friend Kourtney and I hanging out at the Jersey Shore.

Kourt and I upside down. ;)

Kourt and I right side up. :)

I’m happy to say that I conquered the craving and made some this weekend!

I love fried Oreos!

I actually like them even better when they are paired with a raspberry lemon puree---yes, raspberry lemon puree. Trust me.

The first time I had this combo was when some friends and I randomly visited the Chip Shop in Brooklyn, NY .   

Since the owner fries EVERYTHING there, I figured I would bring a couple of Oreos with me and let him do his thing.

Well, he fried up my Oreos, but then gave my friends and I some raspberry puree  to dip them in and they were h-e-a-v-e-n-l-y.

Something about the raspberry and chocolate combo made them delicious, and so I of course made some to go with the fried Oreos I made this weekend.

Both items are super easy to make and it seriously took me about 20 minutes from start to finish to make both of them.

If you're not too grossed out yet about the thought of eating fried cookies, give these babies a try!

L-O-V-E

Recipes-

Fried Oreos from Food.com (I halved the recipe) 

• 1 (20 ounce) package Oreo cookies
• 2 cups Bisquick
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups of milk
• 3 teaspoons of oil
• Vegetable oil for frying

1. Blend Bisquick, eggs, milk, and 3 tsp oil until smooth.
2. Preheat your deep fryer to about 375°F (use a thermometer if you wish to deep fry in a pan).
3. Dip the cookies in the batter mixture until totally covered and then place in the hot oil.
4. Keep checking and turn over the cookie when bottom side of Oreo is brown.
5. Keep a close watch because it only takes a short time to brown.
6. Remove cookies and eat warm.

Raspberry Lemon Puree

• About 1/2 cup of frozen raspberries 
•  2 tablespoons of sugar (add more or less depending on taste)
•  1 teaspoon of fresh lemon juice 

    1. Pulse frozen raspberries in a food processor blender until fine.
    2. Transfer it to a saucepan and simmer on low for about 2 to 3 minutes
         until it starts looking like liquid
    3. Remove from the saucepan and strain the mixture in a bowl
        to remove all seeds
    4. Once all seeds are removed add the lemon and sugar and refrigerate
         until cold.