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.

Holiday Cookie Gifts Galore

We are baking like crazy at the Bakery today. There are bascially 12 days left for us to bake the cookies, package them up in holiday gift boxes and ship them around the US. Chocolate Chip, Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip, Toffee Chocolate Chip, Super Chocolate Chunk, (Notice a pattern here with the chocolate?) Ok we also have Snickerdoodle, Old-Fashioned Vanilla, Cranberry white chocolate and gingerbread boys. I'm tired, but the really busy week is ahead. More coffee.

Black & Gold Pittsburgh Gingerbread

Ok, so our Pittsburgh Steelers need some fan support today. Anyone who lives in Pittsburgh will understand.

Christmas Cookie Baking

Gingerbread Cookies with Personality!

Each of our decorators here at the bakery has her own flair with decorating. During the holiday season, it's fun to get a little creative. Gingerbread boys seem to look great no matter the outfit! And they all taste wonderful. We'll be adding them to our assorted gift boxes this year as the featured cookie of the month in December is Gingerbread.

Fresh Baked gingerbread boys

Danielle hand decorating a tray of freshly baked gingerbread cookies. We're baking thousands this Holiday Season and we've improved the recipe this year. We've added some nutmeg and a little bit more ginger to the recipe for some more flavor. I think they taste wonderful!

Pre-Holiday Baking

Baking for the Holdiays AND supporting the Pittsburgh Penquins Hockey Team

Packing Shortbread for the Holidays

We've added a new flavor of shortbread this year. Yummy Toffee Shortbread Cookies.