Funfetti Muffins

Both kids and grown-ups love these funfetti muffins. They are flavored with vanilla and are totally fun to make. 

These muffins are sweet, moist, and super easy to make. You can pretty much have warm fresh muffins on the table within 35 to 40 minutes whenever you need a special treat. 

King Cake Spritz Cookies

These King Cake Spritz Cookies look like tiny versions of the traditional New Orleans Fat Tuesday cake. 

No, there is not a tiny baby Jesus baked into these King Cake Spritz Cookies, but don't they look a lot like the mini versions of their inspiration? 

Halloween Stuffed Chocolate Whoopie Pies

These Chocolate Whoopie Pies with buttercream filling are like little inside out cupcakes... cake on the outside and frosting in the middle!

This post and recipe were created for #HalloweenTreatsWeek! I was sent samples by some of the sponsor companies but as always opinions are 100% mine.

These delicious and chocolatey Halloween Stuffed Chocolate Whoopie Pies also have a little surprise in the middle, a heaping teaspoonful of chocolate syrup ready to ooze out of the little cakes.

Birthday Cake Ice Cream

Birthday cake ice cream captures the flavors of a birthday candle topped celebration cake and combines them into a creamy delicious ice cream.

The quintessential birthday cake to me is vanilla flavored yellow cake with chocolate frosting and sprinkles. It's the kind of cake that made you want to lick the batter from the beaters, bowl, and the spoon when you were a kid. Everyone who tasted this ice cream loved it.

Christmas Ornament Cookies

These Christmas ornament cookies are a fun treat to make with kids.

These Christmas ornament cookies are big, sparkly, and delicious.

Butter Cookies with Mocha Frosting

These butter cookies with mocha frosting are made from a universal slice-and-bake dough.

The dough for these butter cookies can be made up to two days in advance, or frozen for even longer. When you are ready to make the cookies, just slice the dough, bake the cookies, and spread them with the frosting.

Red Wine Chocolate Cupcakes with a Chocolate Glaze

These Red Wine Chocolate Cupcakes with a Chocolate Glaze combine the flavors of what just might be a marriage made in flavor heaven, red wine and deep, dark chocolate. 

I just happened to have some 70% bittersweet chocolate as well as a bottle of Chilean Carménère. While tasting the chocolate and sipping on the Carménère sounded like the perfect evening, combining the two ingredients into a dark chocolate cupcake also sounded like a wonderful way to use both ingredients.

The flavor of these Red Wine Chocolate Cupcakes with a Chocolate Glaze is very rich, intense, and not overly sweet. This is a grown up cupcake.

Chocolate Dipped Chocolate Sugar Cookies

These chocolate dipped chocolate sugar cookies are loaded with an intense and satisfying chocolate flavor. These cookies would make any chocolate lover happy. 

I took these Chocolate Dipped Chocolate Sugar Cookies to work and they did not last long!

Pane di Pasqua - Italian Easter Bread Wreath

This Pane di Pasqua is a southern Italian traditional bread for Easter, and is typically baked with colored hard boiled eggs nestled into the shaped loaves.

This bread is made from an enriched dough, and is somewhat sweet, with a faint orange vanilla flavor from Fiori di Sicilia, or "flowers of Sicily." The dominant flavors are vanilla and orange, so if you don't have Fiori di Sicilia, you can use a combination of orange oil and vanilla to achieve a similar flavor.

Sprinkle Cookies

These sprinkle cookies are flavored with vanilla and lemon zest, and they are just small enough that you might talk yourself into having "just one more."

Butter cookies are just so much more fun with sprinkles aren't they? This is the perfect cookie to make with kids. Just make the disks ahead of time, set out some pastry brushes, whipped egg white, and bowls of sprinkles. The kids can paint the chilled dough disks with the egg white and press them into the sprinkles. My youngest grandson and I made this batch together and it was pretty foolproof (and fun).

One of the fun things about having grandkids is that you have the perfect reason (excuse) to collect jars of sprinkles. You never know when you might need them, right? I like to have individual colors and mixed colors. Then there's themed sprinkles, jimmies, nonpareils, and sanding sugar. I've got this really cool restaurant supply place nearby that sells a wonderful array of sprinkles at really great prices. My grandsons know that I will always have the right color for "sprinkle emergencies."

Sprinkle Cookies

Makes about 36 cookies, slightly adapted from Saveur

Ingredients

1 1/2 C (6.75 ounces) unbleached all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp Kosher salt

12 T butter, softened

3/4 C sugar

2 tsp vanilla

1 egg

zest of half of a lemon

1/2 C sprinkles

1 egg white, whisked

Instructions

1. Mix the dry ingredients in a medium bowl.
2. Using the paddle attachment of your stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar for about 2 minutes, until fluffy and pale. 
3. Add the vanilla, egg, and lemon zest and beat until smooth. 
4. Add the dry ingredients and mix on medium low until just incorporated.
5. Scoop out 1 inch balls and place them on a parchment lined baking sheet. Press them down with your fingers to create disks. Cover and chill for about an hour. 
6. When you are ready to bake, preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.
7. Brush each disk lightly with egg white and then press them into the sprinkles to fully coat them on one side (the cookies will expand in the oven). 
8. Place them sprinkle side up about one inch apart on parchment lined baking sheets. 
9. Bake, one sheet at a time, for 10 minutes. 
10. Cool on the pan for a few minutes, and then cool on a wire rack. 

The Creative Cookie Exchange theme this month is Red, White, and Blue. Independence Day is coming soon and we have to celebrate! If you are looking for inspiration to get in the kitchen and start baking, check out what all of the hosting bloggers have made:

• Patriotic Pinwheel Cookies by Becca at It's Yummi!
• Raspberry Lemon Blueberry Bars by Stacy at Food Lust People Love
• Red, White, & Blue Oatmeal Cookies by Felice at All That's Left Are The Crumbs
• Spicy Blue Cheese Shortbread Cookies by Renee at Magnolia Days
• Vanilla Pudding Cookies by Jill at Made with Love

Glazed Doughnut Cookies

These doughnut cookies are crunchy and addicting, and perfect for dunking. According to the original recipe, they are usually iced in pastels for Easter, and originated in Italian American kitchens.

I thought they'd be perfect with red or white icing and heart sprinkles for the Creative Cookie Exchange theme this month: Put on your Red and Pink for Valentine's Day.

They are fairly low in sugar and fat, and super easy to make. Judging by how fast they disappeared when I took them to work, they are also a crowd pleaser. I love both how they look and how they taste. My grandsons loved them too. That always makes me happy. =)

Glazed Doughnut Cookies

Adapted from The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion: The Essential Cookie Cookbook.
Yield: about 40 cookies

Ingredients

Dough

2 T vegetable oil

3 T unsalted butter

2 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla

3/4 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

4 ounces (1 C) powdered sugar

10.5 ounces (2 1/2 C) unbleached all purpose flour

Icing

4 ounces ( 1 C) powdered sugar

4 tsp milk

4 tsp light corn syrup

Food coloring

Sprinkles

Instructions

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the oil, butter, eggs, vanilla, salt, baking powder, and sugar until smooth. Stir in the flour and mix until smooth. 
2. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
3. The next day, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F with a rack in the middle of the oven.
4. Scoop the dough into 2 tsp balls. 
5. Roll the dough balls into 4 inch by 1/2 inch ropes, and shape into circles.
6. Place the cookies onto parchment lined baking sheets, and bake, one sheet at a time, for 18 minutes. 
7. Cool on a wire rack.
8. Mix the icing ingredients, except the food coloring and sprinkles.
9. Divide the icing into bowls depending on how many colors you want to use.
10. Stir in the food coloring. 
11. Dip the cookies in the icing and sprinkle with sprinkles of your choice. 
12. Allow to dry completely and then store in an airtight container. 

The theme this month is Put On Your Red and Pink for Valentine’s Day!  

• Big Be Mine Heart Cookie from Food Lust People Love
• Iced VoVos from All That's Left Are The Crumbs
• Jam Sandwich Cookies from A Baker's House
• Pomegranate Cheesecake Cookies from It's Yummi!
• Strawberry Rhubarb Meringues from The Spiced Life
• Valentine Heart Cookies from Noshing With The Nolands

Vanilla Sprinkle Cookies

These Vanilla Sprinkle Cookies are reminiscent of Italian bakery cookies. What's so appealing about these cookies is the lovely vanilla flavor... and the magical effect of lots and lots of sprinkles!

I made them with two types of sprinkles, as well as chocolate jimmies.

A party in a cookie!

The texture of these cookies is soft and light, yet they still hold up well as cookies. The dough is really easy to work with, and the cookies are super good. I took these to work and they pretty much disappeared. Fast.

Vanilla Sprinkle Cookies

Ingredients

1 ½ C flour

1 3.4 ounce pkg instant vanilla pudding

½ tsp salt

½ tsp baking powder

¾ C butter, slightly softened

1 C sugar

2 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

Lots of sprinkles (about a cup)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper
2. Whisk the dry ingredients together in a small bowl
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix the butter and sugar on medium high until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes. If you are using a hand held mixer, it may take longer
4. Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix until incorporated
5. Add the vanilla and mix briefly
6. Mix in the dry ingredients until just incorporated, about a minute
7. Place the sprinkles in a small bowl and using a tsp scoop or a spoon, form the dough into balls and roll them in the sprinkles to fully coat
8. Place them on the baking sheets and bake for 9 to 10 minutes, one sheet at a time
9. Cool on a wire rack and store air tight for a few days 

Inspiration: Delicious Meliscious who got it from Sweet Bella Roos

Candy Coated Marshmallow Pops

I had my grandsons over on Sunday and we made these cute little marshmallow pops.

I have a huge collection of sprinkles in my house for sprinkle emergencies. When my oldest grandson was about five, we would regularly bake a little five inch layer cake, frost it, and he would proceed to decorate it with sprinkles, M&Ms, and frosting swirls. I had one of those Easy Bake Decorating Pen Kits and he would have so much fun with it. In the end, the cake would have every single color and type of sprinkle available on top of it, and would be dripping with frosting swirls.

It's been a while since we've made treats together, so when I spied a big bag of marshmallows at the grocery store, I just knew I had to make these with "help" from the boys.

Of course, I let the boys loose on the rest of the sprinkle collection, and each one of them took home a box full of their own multicolored marshmallow pop creations (plus a bag of mixed sprinkles).

As much as I love to make complicated multi-step dishes that, as a good friend says, "require algorithms and graphs," these are so fun to make with kids, are adorable as part of a holiday table, and are actually pretty tasty. I have an Electric Chocolate Melting Pot (of course I do) that I used to keep the chocolate warm after melting it in the microwave, but it is not necessary (still, it's really convenient). And marshmallows are fat free!

Candy Coated Marshmallow Pops

Ingredients and Supplies

1 bag of marshmallows

1 12 ounce bar/bag of almond bark or candy melts in the color/flavor of your choice

Sprinkles

Shortening and/or paramount crystals

Lollipop sticks (can be found at craft stores)

Styrofoam blocks (for drying the pops)

Instructions

1. Melt the candy in the microwave at 30 second intervals, stirring in between, until melted. 
2. If the candy is too thick, add shortening or paramount crystals, 1 1/2 tsp to 1 T, until the candy reaches a consistency that is easy to work with. You can remelt the chocolate/candy melts as needed to keep it at the right consistency. 
3. Dip the sticks into the melted chocolate and stick them 3/4 the way through into the marshmallows. Allow the candy to harden. 
4. Swirl the marshmallows into the melted candy, and then tap the marshmallow over the bowl to shake off excess. 
5. Over a plate, sprinkle the pop with sprinkles. 
6. Place the stick into the styrofoam and allow the pops to harden, about 30 minutes. 

Pistachio Shortbread Cookies

These cookies are super easy. They are normally made with pistachios on top, but because I brought them to a Saint Patrick's day potluck at work, I decorated them with these tiny little shamrocks instead. The pistachios are tastier, but these are definitely cuter. Sometimes style over substance will have to do. Plus, kids won't turn their noses up to sprinkles the way they might with nuts.

Éirinn go Brách says I.

Pistachio Shortbread Cookies 

Ingredients

8 ounces of room temperature unsalted butter

1 3.4 ounce box of instant pistachio pudding mix

1/4 C sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pistachio flavor or vanilla extract, both optional. I used vanilla.

8 1/4 ounces unbleached all-purpose flour

Shamrock sprinkles, or 3 ounces shelled and chopped pistachios

Instructions

• Preheat the oven and line two 8 inch square cake pans with parchment. Spray the parchment with spray oil.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer or in a medium bowl with a hand mixer, beat the butter, pudding mix, sugar, salt, and extract. 
• Add the flour and continue to beat until combined. It will be dry at first but should come together. I've not had to add any water, but if you need to, add up to 1 T to get the dough to come together. It should be quite stiff. 
• Divide the dough in two and press it into the two prepared pans. Prick the dough all over with a fork and lightly press the sprinkles or nuts into the dough. 
• Bake for 35 to 40 minutes. The edges should be golden brown.
• When done, place a plate over the pan and flip out the short bread from the pan. Turn the squares back over onto a cutting board, and cut with a pizza cutter while they are still warm. 
• Cool the cut cookies on a wire rack. 
• Yield depends on how large you make your cookies. 

This recipe is adapted from King Arthur Flour's website. 

Linked to Katherine Martinelli