from: Better Homes & Gardens Christmas Cookies
Ingredients
1 C butter, softened
3/4 C granulated sugar
1 egg
2.5 C all purpose flour
Directions
Heat oven to 375. Beat butter for 30 seconds. Add sugar; beat until combined. A dd egg; beat until combined. Beat in as much flour as you can do with the mixer. Stir in any remaining flour.
Divide dough in half. Cover and chill one portion of dough. On a floured surface, roll other portion of dough 1/4 inch thick. Cut with cookie cutters dipped in flour; reroll trimmings and repeat cutting dough. Arrange cutouts on ungreased cookie shseets. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until bottoms are very lightly browned. Transfer to wire racks; cool.
Decorate as desired.
from: Holly & Jess Original
Ingredients
1 recipe of sugar cookie cutouts
1 recipe/can of frosting
food coloring
flavorings such as cardamom, coconut, almond, ginger, and cinnamon
Directions
Make up your sugar cookie dough and before you've mixed in all the flour, break off some dough and figure out how you want to flavor it (experiment, people!). We used cardamom (lots), gigner (some) and almond extract (some). Once you've figured it out, flavor all the dough accordingly. Finish up with adding the flour. Cut and bake your cookies accordingly.
While they're baking/cooling, mix up your frosting. We used a bunch of red, yellow, and green food coloring to achieve that brown shade and we flavored it with coconut. Then use your handy-dandy piping bag to pipe mehndi designs onto your cookies.
from: Barefoot Contessa
Ingredients
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk, shaken, at room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream, at room temperature
2 tablespoons brewed coffee
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup good cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
icing:
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 cup creamy peanut butter
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/3 cup heavy cream
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line cupcake pans with paper liners.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and 2 sugars on high speed until light and fluffy, approximately 5 minutes. Lower the speed to medium, add the eggs 1 at a time, then add the vanilla and mix well. In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, sour cream, and coffee. In another bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. On low speed, add the buttermilk mixture and the flour mixture alternately in thirds to the mixer bowl, beginning with the buttermilk mixture and ending with the flour mixture. Mix only until blended. Fold the batter with a rubber spatula to be sure it's completely blended.
Divide the batter among the cupcake pans (1 rounded standard ice cream scoop per cup is the right amount). Bake in the middle of the oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes, remove from the pans, and allow to cool completely before frosting.
While cooling, make the frosting: Place the confectioners' sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on medium-low speed until creamy, scraping down the bowl with a rubber spatula as you work. Add the cream and beat on high speed until the mixture is light and smooth.
Frost each cupcake with Peanut Butter Icing and sprinkle with chopped peanuts, if desired.
from: Matt & Jess
Ingredients
3-4 chicken breasts cut up
your favorite bbq sauce
2 T or so butter
red wine for cooking
chopped onion, if that's your thing
cheese as you like it (we use gouda, monterey jack and romano)
chopped parsley if you like
pizza crust
Directions
Heat your oven according to the directions on the pizza crust and get it all ready to top.
Put the butter in a sauce pan and cook up the chicken and chopped onion until they're getting pretty done then pour some wine over them. Cook them a bit more until the wine starts to evaporate and the chicken is cooked through.
Top your pizza with BBQ sauce, chicken (and onions), cheese and parsley. Bake as you would any pizza. Very tasty.