Cubretazas

I used to think that a cup of tea, a good book, and Lola (my chihuahua) curled up on my lap were all the ingredients I needed to weather a rainy spring afternoon. Little did I know that I was missing something, that something being a cookie to go with my tea. And not just any cookie, a "cubretaza" cookie. Cubretaza literally means 'cup cover' in Spanish, and that is exactly what these buttery shortbread cookies do. You set them over your tea cup and the steam from the tea warms them up to the perfect cookie temperature. Dipping the edges in a bit of chocolate and coconut or sprinkles provides the perfect finishing touch. They would be adorable for a tea party, or do what I did and enjoy them with your afternoon tea.

Cubretazas

Adapted from Gabriela Clavo y Canela Blog

1 1/4 cups flour

3/4 cups sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

10 tablespoons cold butter

3 egg yolks

3 tablespoons milk

Pinch of salt

To Decorate:

Chocolate for melting

Sprinkles or shredded coconut

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix the flour, salt, sugar, and vanilla.

Cut butter into small pieces and add to flour mixture. Work the mix with your hands until well mixed with lumps no bigger than the size of a pea.

Add the egg yolks and milk.

Mix until you have a smooth dough. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour. When dough is chilled, remove from refrigerator and place between two pieces of wax paper. Get out your rolling pin, roll dough out to about 1/4 inch thickness.

Using a circle cutter slightly bigger than the size of the mug you like to use, cut dough into circles.

Use the leftover scraps of dough to make little rolls to use as the cookie "handle", stick the handle to the circle of dough using a bit of water. To keep the them from collapsing while cooking, place a little roll of parchment paper or aluminum under each handle for support. Be sure not to roll the paper tight, or the pressure will unravel it and your handles will fly off! Bake for 10 minutes, or until lightly golden. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Dip edges in melted chocolate and cover with sprinkles or coconut.

Coconut or sprinkles?

Decisions, decisions.....

Hope you're having a fabulous week!

Linking to Something Swanky, It's A Keeper Thursday, Weekend Wrap Up, Under the Table and Dreaming, Strut Your Stuff Thursday, and Full Plate Thursday.

Sugar N' Spice Truffles

Holiday Baking Part II! For the next installment of holiday baking, I present to you... Sugar and Spice Truffles! These really are very simple to make, just whip up a cake, crumble it up with some frosting, shape into balls and cover with white chocolate. Nothing tricky about that! These were my first foray into the world of "cake pops," a phenomenon that has swept the blogosphere a little blog named Bakerella. The key to getting good looking truffles is making sure the cake balls are chilled before dipping in the chocolate, that way they don't fall apart. I recommend checking out the tutorial found on the Pioneer Woman blog.The version that I tried combines the wonderfully Christmassy flavors of ginger and nutmeg (spice cake) with a white chocolate coating topped with a sparkly sprinkle of cinnamon and sugar. Last minute gift? Consider it done.

Sugar and Spice Truffles

1 box spice cake mix (plus ingredients called for on box)

1/2 tub store bought vanilla frosting

4 cups white chocolate candy melts

2 tablespoons white sugar

2 tablespoons cinnamon

Make cake as directed on box for a 9x13 inch pan. When cake is done, put in the fridge a few hours until completely cooled. When cooled, crumble cake into a large bowl. Add frosting and mix until it all sticks together (I used my hands and formed a big ball). Using a melon baller (or a tablespoon) form balls of dough, roll between palms to form smooth balls.

Place on a foil lined baking sheet. Put in fridge to chill for at least two hours.

Once cake balls are firmly chilled, melt chocolate in a double boiler on the stove. Remove cake balls from fridge and drop three to four at a time in the melted chocolate.

Spoon chocolate over top of truffles, when coated, remove truffle from chocolate using a spoon.

Tap against the side of the bowl a few times to remove excess chocolate.

Set on a piece of waxed paper and sprinkle with mixture of cinnamon and sugar.

Let cool until chocolate is completely set. Store tightly covered at room temperature.

Merry Christmas!

Butter Pecan Shortbread

Lately I have been attending what seems like an unending (albeit delicious) stream of holiday potlucks. As you all probably know by now, I LOVE baking. However, time has not been on my side lately so I have been turning to my old standby recipes such as this one and this one. This week I wanted to try something new, but it still had to be super easy and quick. I decided on this shortbread recipe from Land O'Lakes website. It was beyond easy and I had all the ingredients (I even added some sprinkles on top to make them Christmassy).

The shortbread is rich and crumbly. The flavor is reminiscent of pecan pie, just more buttery and less gooey. In about a half hour, you too can have delicate buttery shortbread cookies cooked and ready for all your holiday potluck (or snacking) needs! Yum!

Butter Pecan Shortbread

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup finely chopped pecans

Topping

3 to 4 tablespoons coarse grain sugar or sugar

3 to 4 tablespoon finely chopped pecans

Sprinkles (optional)

Heat oven to 350°F. Line 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper, leaving a 1-inch overhang.

Ok so for the next part, I didn't want to break out my mixer so I just mixed the butter, brown sugar and vanilla together really well with my wooden spoon and then mixed in the flour and 1/4 cup pecans.

I think it turned out great, but feel free to follow these directions with your mixer: Combine butter, brown sugar and vanilla in a large bowl. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until creamy (1 to 2 minutes). Reduce speed to low; add flour and 1/4 cup pecans. Beat until well mixed (1 to 2 minutes). (Mixture will be crumbly.)

Pat crumbly mixture evenly into prepared pan.

Sprinkle with coarse grain sugar and 3-4 tablespoons pecans (I added some Christmas sprinkles cause I'm festive like that☺). Bake for 23 to 25 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool 10 minutes.

Lift shortbread out of pan, using parchment.

Cut into bars. Cool completely.

TIP: If using dark baking pan; bake at 325°F for 18 to 20 minutes.

Just had to sample a bit... for quality control purposes of course!

Canned Biscuit Dough Doughnuts

Doughnuts... from refrigerated biscuit dough??? Only Paula Deen would come up with this one. Literally all you do is pop open the biscuits, separate them, cut a hole out of the centers (I used a bottle cap for this), and fry them up. Ready in about two minutes. I dipped mine in vanilla and chocolate frosting, drizzled them with extra frosting, and topped 'em off with some sprinkles and a generous helping of candy corn (festive, right?). You may be thinking that doughnuts made from biscuit dough wouldn't, couldn't, definitely don't taste like doughnuts... well, I am here to tell you, these taste pretty much identical to a Krispy Kreme (now I have only had one Krispy Kreme in my entire life, but from what I remember, these are pretty similar). They have that great doughy doughnut texture, and are SO delish when served warm. I recommend making them before the rest of the family wakes up and timing it just right, so that as everyone stumbles into the kitchen after rolling out of bed, you are there to greet them with a smile and a plate full of fresh made doughnuts (they'll never know you spent all of five minutes making these). You could also serve them warm with sauces/frosting on the side and let the kiddos decorate them however they see fit. This recipe is an all around winner, enjoy!

Biscuit Dough Doughnuts (glaze recipes follow)

From Paula Deen via foodnetwork.com

Ingredients

1 tube refrigerated biscuit dough (I used homestyle)

Oil for frying

Heat about 2 inches oil in a large pot or dutch oven to a temperature of at least 350 degrees. Mine hit about 360 and did great! Cook really fast though!

While oil is heating, separate biscuits and cut a hole in the center of each one. I did this with a soda bottle cap. Set middles (soon to be doughnut holes) aside.

Watch out for splatters!

When oil has reached the proper temperature, fry the doughnuts and doughnut holes one at a time until light golden brown.

Flip half way through so that you get both sides nice and fried. Remove from oil using a slotted spoon or tongs and set on paper towels to drain.

Coat with cinnamon and sugar or frost and sprinkle (see glaze recipe below)

Vanilla Krispy Kreme Style Doughnut Glaze

Ingredients

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 tablespoons milk

1 cup powdered sugar

Whisk together vanilla, milk, and sugar.

Dip doughnuts in glaze. Top with sprinkles or candy.

Chocolate Doughnut Glaze

Ingredients

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup sugar

3 tablespoons milk

Whisk all ingredients together.

Dip doughnuts.

Top with sprinkles or candy.

Cute little doughnut holes

Sugar anyone?

Yum! Here's to a delicious weekend!