Gingerbread Cookies for the Local VFD

I love these fire engine red gift boxes with a customized gingerbread cookie decorated like a fireman. Packed up and ready to hand out.

Snowflakes coming soon!

I heard today that we may have snow coming our way this Friday. Well, it is November, so I won't be surprised but it's so sunny today it seems strange that winter could be coming so soon. I'm sure it won't be more than a few flurries, but the prediction made me think of the new snowflake gingerbread cookies that we'll be decorating soon. I love the contrast of the dark and spicy gingerbread with the white royal sweet icing topped with sugars. We've been baking gingerbread boys for a few years now, this year we are adding both the snowflakes and cute cottages. The aroma in the bakery is the very best this time of year with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, orange and chocolate! Yum.

Christmas Cookie Plans

I'm behind this year planning our Christmas Holiday Treats for our website, Country Cupboard Cookies. It's taking me awhile to believe that the season is near. In the Cookie Gift Business, the Holiday season is a stressful time. But we also look forward to it as there is an excitement in the air. Our entire staff is here and sometimes this is the only time during the year that we all get to work together. We manage to have fun despite all the stress and hard work each year, though each year I say 'never again! ' Seriously, how can a business expect to do 40% of it's annual business in just 6 weeks. Yikes.

But it's coming and we can't wait. Gingerbread are everyone's favorites. The bakery aromas are so wonderful and the gingerbreads are so fun to decorate. This year we're adding cute cottage houses and snowflakes to our gingerbread boy collection. And yes, we will also decorate girl gingerbreads.

Puppy Party!

We baked these for a a get-together party where a few dogs showed up. No, the cookies are not for the dogs, but we thought the pet owners would enjoy them. I thought they turned out so well, we are planning on placing them online for dog lovers to enjoy. They would be a great gift to send to a friend who loves dogs, or to thank a neighbor who took care of your dog while you were away or to a family who just added a new puppy to their household. So cute.

Cowgirl Cookies are so yummy

Sassy Cowgirl Cookies with dark chocolate, chipotle chili powder and cinnamon

Cowgirl & Cowboy Cookies for August

Each month we bake a featured cookie for just that month, August is our Cowboy cookie. I think of it as a trail mix wholesome cookie. Based on an oatmeal cookie recipe, the cookie has m&m's, chocolate chips and pecans. People ask why they are called cowboy cookie, I'm not sure, but if I were out riding on a trail, it would be a great cookie to have with me. I haven't been out riding on the trail lately, but I certainly have in the past. My Dad is a cowboy of sorts, he still rides at 83 and keeps horses at the farmily farm in Pennsylvania. He's always talking about buying a ranch in Colorado, he hasn't yet, but you never know.

My favorite thing to do with this business is to create new recipes. I have to be careful that we don't have too many cookies, though, because I'm always dreaming up new recipes. And other people here contribute to that. For example, Danielle, just gave me a recipe for Key Lime Cookies. Now doesn't that sound good! When I get a chance to try those, I'll be posting a photo and sharing the recipe also. But back to the Cowboy Cookies. I got the idea this year to partner a Cowgirl Cookie along with the usual Cowboy cookie. But it was impossible to choose a favorite with the possibilities that we came up with. So we've decided to offer an assortment of three this month and see how they go. If they prove to be popular, maybe we'll continue them for the year. If not, maybe just an August thing. 

The trio of Cowgirl Cookies includes the Signature Cowgirl: an oatmeal cookie very much like the Cowboy cookie without the nuts. Instead we've added semi-sweet chocolate chips and White Chocolate Chunks. The 2nd cookie has a kick to it with Dark Chocolate Chips, cinnamon and chipotle chili pepper powder. This is a new flavor combination for me, but my daughter has moved to Dallas Texas so she is always mentioning chipotle in this and that, thus the idea. The third cookie, the Wrangler, is my favorite. Oatmeal based with creamy peanut butter and milk chocolate almond toffee. The peanut butter softens the cookie and the toffee gives it a crunchy texture. Perfect!  The cookies are sold in a cute chocolate brown box tied with twine and natural kraft fill. Kind of rustic and very delicious!

Sunflower Sugar Cookies

A Sunflower cookie to go with our Sunflowers blooming out in front of our cookie bakery in Pittsburgh Pa. These decorated cookies would be a great idea for any summer event or party. Or to brighten someone's day or week!

Sunflower Season

The seeds I planted in early June have bloomed! I love sunflowers in the middle of the hottest part of summer. Everyone smiles when they walk by.

New Baby Cookie Favors coming this summer at Country Cupboard Cookies!

So sweet Cookies to welcome a new baby!

This summer, we will be offering a larger line of baby shower and new baby cookie favors which will include the ability to order online. Each cookie is baked from scratch using all natural and wholesome ingredients such as Butter, pure vanilla, whole eggs, unbleached flour and white cane sugar. We hand roll our cookies and then decorate each cookie with royal icing. When the cookies dry, they are simply gorgeous! We package each cookie in a sealed bag and tie with a matching raffia ribbon for a festive look. We can ship the cookies anywhere in the US.

Watch our website for new additions all summer long.

www.CountryCupboardCookies.com

Recipe for Dirt

Recipe for Dirt  ( Dessert that is)

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup softened butter
1 ( 8oz.) pkg cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
2 ( 3.5 oz each ) boxes instant vanilla pudding
3 1/2 cups milk
1 container ( 12 oz)  Cool Whip
32 oz. Chocolate Sandwich cookies ( Oreos)

DIRECTIONS:

Cream butter, cream cheese and confectioner's sugar in bowl. In another bowl, mix milk, pudding and Cool Whip together. Combine the two above mixtures together.

Chop Oreos ( I put the cookies in a ziploc bag, then use a rolling pin to crush them, but you can also use a food processer if you want finer "dirt " without chunks. )

Start with a container : You can use a dessert bowl or get creative and use a brand new flower pot, plastic beach bucket and shovel would be cute, childs plastic ( new) wheelbarrow, dump truck, etc. I've also used a plastic tray for a garden display with artificial flowers and gummy candies.

Layer in your container, starting with the crushed cookies ( dirt), then cream mixture. Repeat layers, then chill until ready to serve. Just before serving, add your accessories. For example, gummy worms for the flower pot, artificial flowers for the garden, etc.

Kids love this dessert and it's a great one for the hot summer months, NO oven required. As much as I love baking cookies and do almost daily at Country Cupboard Cookies, when the summer months come with the heat and humidity, the last thing I want to do on the weekend is run our oven. That's when the grill comes out and desserts like this one become more popular on my list. I've never tried other flavors of pudding, but I think chocolate pudding might be yummy for a chocolate treat.

Cookies for Summer Celebrations

Summer Celebrations and Cookies go together!

We're still in the middle of Father's Day this weekend but are also thinking ahead to Summer occasions. The colors for the Fourth of July, red, white and blue remind me of summer so much and are a refreshing combination of colors. We're going to package this collection in an adorable summer white box with red dots and red, white and blue raffia ribbon. A simple, Americana gift package. This is such a nice gift to send, we'll have it available all July. You can also choose to add some "traditional" cookies such as chocolate chip, Oatmeal Raisin, Snickerdoodle and Creamy Peanut Butter.

Baked from scratch, wholesome, soft & chewy Cookies

           Freshly Baked Cookies

                           Oatmeal Raisin, Cranberry White Chocolate, Snickerdoodle, Chocolate Chip & Walnut Chocolate chip

Cookies for Dad

                 We're working on Father's Day Cookies this week. This year we're doing shirts with ties, sporty shirts, striped shirts and a new tropical shirt! #1 Dad cookies are back again this year and I'm sure we'll come up with some new ones as the week goes on. I think cookies are really a nice gift to send for Father's Day, in fact, my Dad always receives a box of Oatmeal Walnut Raisin, his favorite! He always says "you can make a meal out of that cookie"  Ha, especially if you enjoy more than two! But they are a great cookie, rolled oats, wholesome raisins and chunky walnuts with a touch of cinnamon. Of course, all butter and pure vanilla and unbleached flour too. Check our website for lots of Father's Day cookie gift ideas, we start shipping on Monday, June 14th. A reminder: Father's Day is Sunday June 20th, 2010.

Sugar Cookies in colors of Rainbow Sherbert

The colors of these new birthday cookies remind me of Rainbow Sherbert, so delicious looking! We've decided to brighten up some colors with the summer coming. I still love chocolate brown and blue and chocolate brown and pink and chocolate brown and well, any other color really, but these new ones are a nice change. A cute Birthday party set of cookies. We took 97 photos of cookies yesterday, what a day! Many were discarded but I'll post some of the better ones over the next week or so.

Chocolate Chip Cookies always a classic

We offer 15 flavors of cookies at CountryCupboardCookies.com PLUS a featured unique cookie each month. For example, presently for May we are baking Decadent Triple Chocolate Chunk. We thought the Moms would all love this one for Mother's Day. Next month, June, we will baking our very popular Toffee chocolate Chip. I think this one will be a hit for Father's Day Cookie Gifts. August is the Cowboy cookie and September is White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookie. But with all this variety, the everyday simple Chocolate Chip Cookies are still the classic and favorite of most. And for some reason, the most difficult to bake perfectly. One little thing off and the cookies come out of the oven just not right. Tammy, who's put up with me constantly adjusting the recipes over the years, just baked an absolutely perfect batch today. And I had to take a photo. Yummy!

Fresh from the Oven Goodness

We're baking lots of homestyle Chocolate Chip Cookies this week for Mother's Day gifts. Yes, the decorated flower cookies and the shoes and the purses are gorgeous, but the classic chocolate chip cookie still has a place on most peoples favorite cookie list.  I love it when the chocolate chip cookies come out of the oven just like this, the perfect brown color with crispy edges and moist and chocolatey middles. With a glass of  milk, they are heaven!

Birthday Cookies

It's nice to enjoy a Birthday Cake on your birthday, but if it's not possible to have a cake delivered, I think homemade, gourmet birthday cookies will fit the bill for sweets on the special day. Birthday Cookie Gifts wrapped with bright and cheerful colors of tissue paper and colorful ribbons will also help to create a birthday gift memorable. I especially like a new item we're offering online called the Birthday Bakery Box. The chocolate brown gift box includes a sampling of fresh baked homemade cookies, buttery shortbread in assorted flavors, wonderful, homey chocolate brownies and a sweet decorated Happy Birthday Cookie. Tied with our new birthday ribbons in shades of blue and cream , we can ship this gift anywhere in the US and it arrives in 2-3 Business Days!

Baking Cookies for Mother's Day 2010

Pink, Yellow, Fuchsia and White Sweet Icings top our hand-rolled sugar cookies with Happy Mother's Day messages for Mom. Mother's Day is May 9th, Sunday. We have so much baking to do this weekend! Cookies, Brownies, Shortbreads all baked from scratch and packaged in pretty gift boxes to ship.

Cookies for Mom

Cookies for Mom, Sister, Aunt, Grandma, Nana, daughter, daughter-in-law. Did I miss anyone?

Fashion and Cookies for Mother's Day

We've started coming up with ideas for our Mother's Day Cookie Collections. Shoes and handbags are most popular with most Moms. And who doesn't enjoy flowers? So we've put together a set of sweets in the yummy colors of chocolate brown and pretty pink for a Mother's Day cookie set that I think any Mother would enjoy and get a kick out of! I myself am not a shoe fanatic, but these cookies make me want to go shopping.

Pittsburgh Penquins Hockey Night

Come On Pens, We know you can do it!

Cookie Baking Tip

One of my pet peeves is Chocolate chip cookies that are too flat. Some people enjoy a flat crispy chocolate chip cookie, but I think the perfect one is thick and chunky, but also moist and chewy on the inside with lots of  chocolate! I want to taste the chocolate but also the butter.
Want Chocolate Chip Cookies that are thick and chewy? The perfect chocolate chip cookie is in the eye of the beholder  ( or tastebuds I guess)  but try chilling your dough for 24 hours. Make sure that you cover the dough with saran wrap or foil or just put in a covered container, then refrigerate. You may find it easier to scoop the cookies first then place in a ziplock bag and refrigerate. When it's time to bake the cookies, just take out your cookie dough balls & place on your parchment covered cookie sheet to thaw just for 10 minutes while the oven is heating. Bake as usual, maybe even 5 to 10 degrees lower if your dough is still cold. Watch closely, the cookies may brown sooner. The chilling does 2 things, it allows time for the butter in the cookie ( you are using butter aren't you? ) to coat the flour well providing a better flavor and also the butter is solidified, so that the liquid in the butter does not add to the flattening of the cookie.

Create Your Own Cookies

Create-Your-Own-Cookies

We are now offering a new item at Country Cupboard Cookies for those creative bakers at heart who just can't find the time to bake but have some interesting ideas for a cookie flavor. It's called "Create-Your-Own-Cookie" and it allows you to choose your batter from Basic ( just like we would use for Chocolate Chip cookies), Oatmeal or Peanut Butter.  Next, you can choose 2-3 mix-in's or ingredients. The list includes various chocolates, nuts, fruits, flavorings, etc. We will then bake your cookies, package them including gift box and ribbons and ship the box of 12 yummy cookies to whomever you like.  What a nice gift to surprise someone with on their birthday or to say Thank you!  If you're interested, check it out online in the Cookie Bakeshop section of our website at http://www.countrycupboardcookies.com/

Easter Cookies Decorated

I know it's early but it's snowing again and my snowshoes did not arrive in time to use them so I'm thinking of spring. We had such fun with our Valentine decorated sugar cookies, that we've decided to offer our customers a line of Easter Eggs and Bunnies! So much room for creativity, I mean, you can go crazy decorating an egg. Remember back to decorating eggs for Easter?? I still decorate eggs for Easter though it was more fun when the kids were around! Back to cookies, These are wonderful buttery sugar cookies, hand-rolled and cut ,  just love them with a cup of tea. Easter Eggs and Bunnies

Spring Buttercream Brownies

Coming Soon! Our new spring colors buttercream frosted brownies. Deep-Dish Belgian Chocolate brownies with our homemade Buttercream frosting in the pastel colors of lavendar, pink and green. Winter's not over yet, but spring is coming!

Snickerdoodles, Freshly Baked out of the Oven

        Freshly Baked Snickerdoodles

The first cookie to come out of the oven at 6 am this morning are our very popular Snickerdoodle Cookies. The aroma is wonderful with the vanilla and cinnamon sugar. The cookies are soft in the middle but crunchy & light and will melt in your mouth for the perfect accompaniment with your morning coffee. This soft sugar-like cookie is rolled in a mixture of cinnamon and sugar that reminds me of my childhood when we enjoyed cinnamon toast for breakfast each morning. I remember serving cinnamon toast to my daughters also, we kept a lidded jar of the cinnamon sugar mixture in the cupboard ready to sprinkle on the toast each morning. I'm wondering if it is still popular among kids today?

Valentine's Day Breakfast

Valentine's Day Breakfast

My husband  mentioned that he was going to make eggs and toast for breakfast on Sunday, Valentine's Day so I decided to try my version of eggs-in-toast. The British version I've heard is toad-in-the-hole ( I think it comes from baking sausage in the biscuit), other names are eggs in a basket, I like eggs-in-the-hole. At first I thought this would be just a cute photo, but it's actually really tasty. The toast with butter and the egg combo is actually a perfect way to enjoy a fried egg.

To prepare the meal, I first buttered a pan &  cut a heart out of the sourdough bread using a heart cookie cutter. If I tried this again, I would use a larger piece of bread and a larger cookie cutter, but this worked ok. I set the heart aside and then toasted the bread in the skillet on both sides to get a nice brown color. I then broke the egg into the hole and cooked the egg until done. I turned the egg once for "over easy" At the same time, I added the little bread heart I had cut out and toasted it also in the skillet to brown and crisp both sides. A little salt and pepper and this dish was complete. Oh, the bacon was my husband's contribution to the breakfast. This was yummy and I"ll try it again sometime.!

Happy Valentine's Day

These Chocolate Hearts were made using a simple sugar cookie recipe and frosting with chocolate buttercream frosting, then topping with red & gold sugars and then  piping swirls using royal icing. We made others with mini chocolate chips, m&m's, white chooclate and roasted pecan pieces. I just have to enjoy Chocolate on Valentine's Day and these cookies will fill that desire. Now I just have to decide whether red wine or a cup of espresso would go better with these yummy treats.

Birthday Cookies in Pink & Chocolate Brown

Birthday Balloons, Birthday Presents , Happy Birthday Cake with a cute Birthday Cupcake

Send this gift box, maybe add one dozen chocolate chip cookies and what a nice Birthday surprise for someone you know celebrating their birthday!

Valentine's Day Decorated Sugar Cookies

These mini sugar hearts are easy to make and decorate. We use a basic sugar cookie recipe posted below, but any sugar cookie recipe would work. Just roll the dough out using a small heart cookie cutter, bake and cool. To decorate, we used pink royal icing in a piping bag and added our decorations then sprinkled with pink sugars. Bite-size and perfect with a cup of coffee or tea.

                     Cut-Out Sugar Cookie Recipe

1/2 lb butter ( 2 sticks)           2 1/2 cups all -purpose Flour

1 cup sugar                            2 tsp. Baking Powder

1 whole egg                            1/2 tsp. Salt

2 tsp. Pure Vanilla

Cream softened butter and sugar together. Add egg and vanilla, cream well. Add dry ingredients and mix just until smooth dough, don't overbeat. That's it! Just roll out using flour on your rolling pin, use desired cookie cutter and bake in 350 degree oven approximately 8 minutes, just until slightly brown. Ovens are so variable, you'll have to watch them, be careful not to overbake as cookies will continue to bake after taken out of the oven. We take ours out when they are just starting to brown at the edges.

Comments: I love this recipe, it is so easy, no need to chill dough, rolls out so easily without sticking to the rolling pin. Be sure to use PURE vanilla, worth the added expense and always use BUTTER. If you like a crispier cookie, just bake a little longer.

Go Pens!

I'm looking foward to the next few Hockey Months in Pittsburgh!

Milk and Cookies

   We've changed our recipe for Chocolate chip Cookies this week. Not a big change, but after 20 years, things needed tweaked. So we increased the brown sugar and lowered the white. Increased the eggs and lowered the oven temperature. The result: thicker, chunkier softer and moister. Still crispy on the edges, I think this one is something special.

Cookie Delivery for Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is my favorite season here at Country Cupboard Cookies. It's not that I'm so romantic or that I love the colors red and pink so much, but I really do like the simplicity of the holiday. Hearts, Hearts and Hearts. Red, pink, white. Sugar & Chocolate. After the crazy Christmas season around here, I'm in the need for simplicity. We've photographed some new items this year for Valentine's Day, I think they all look delicious, but my favorite are the new mini-hearts, buttery sugary cookies topped with pink, red and white icings. Like I said, simple. This photo is of our new Love Letters Box. The stack of cookies are really little envelopes sealed with a heart. It's hard to tell in this photo with the ribbon, but they are so cute.         Gourmet Valentine's Day cookie delivery

Snow Day Cookie Box

Love the colors of blue and white for these wintery mittens. We have snow on the ground for days now, so pretty and I know I'm not in the  majority of people who feel so, but I think Winter should actually be cold with snow. So I'm happy these last few days. Usually in the Pittsburgh PA area, it snows then warms up and thaws with rain. This pattern repeats itself until we are left lots of potholes and no snow. So this year is different and feels right to me. I'm even wearing a scarf to work this year. And to make it even better, scarves are popular now so that I've got many colors to choose from!

But back to cookie baking. We outlined these sugar cookies with a border of light blue piping, then flooded with thinner icing and finished the details with white piping. I'm not sure why blue and white seem so perfect for the winter, but I think they are a very cute and heart-warming cookie.

Valentine's Day 2010

Valentine's Sugar Cookies with  conversation messages were very popular last year as a cute and fun Valentine's Day gift. We like the traditional messages like be mine, say yes, cutie pie etc but this year I'd like to add some new ones. Short and cute but I think we'll be able to update some of the sayings. Text me? Follow me? We'll think of some in time for February 14th.