Sugar Cookies in a Bag
Well, hello there. It's been a while. Like almost 2 years a while.
I'm here to talk about a fun baking experiment I did this week rather than a major update. Making a big update on life at this point would take a long time. Maybe I will eventually, but not today. Winter break just isn't long enough.
One of the things I miss most about blogging is having an automatic place to save recipes and thoughts, so I'm gonna talk about my experiment. I made an Instagram story (follow me at @labeurthen if you do want to know what I've been doing since my last post!) about this experiment and it reminded me that I could blog about it!
Speaking of Instagram, the idea for the whole project came from IG. I was scrolling one day and found a Nielsen Massey vanilla ad with a "recipe" for vanilla sugar cookie shot glasses. (You know the drill: the ads where they show the recipe, but in reality it's just a cut together bunch of clips of the basic steps but without anything you could actually follow to make the recipe.)
What caught my eye was the fact that they were making the dough in a gallon sized ziplock bag. As someone who does not have a dishwasher, saving dishes is always a plus for me, and it just looked so neat and contained, especially for rolled cookie dough.
So I tried it.
I pulled out Dessert for Two's sugar cookie cutout recipe to try. I was planning on just using the Nielsen Massey recipe, but it called for more butter than I had. One of the things I love about Dessert for Two is the focus on small batch recipes, and even though I was making these for a New Year's party, I didn't want to make a ton.
But instead of making them as written, I tried making them in a ziplock bag.
I started with the butter and sugar in the bag, and mashed it around with my hands until it was combined. It does take some shaking to make sure all the sugar gets incorporated.
Then I added the egg yolks and vanilla, and again, mashed it around well until it was combined. This part wasn't so bad since there was enough liquid to get it all combined.
Then I added the dry ingredients to the bag. This was the hardest step to do in a bag. It took a reasonable amount of work to get it all mixed, and it gets so sticky that it can be hard to move the dry parts around in the bag. It wasn't 100% consistent when I rolled it out, but it was passable.
Next, I rolled it out and refrigerated it. I was making some Monkey Bread for brunch (does it still count as brunch when it was intended for breakfast but it isn't done till noon?) and it worked pretty well to alternate cookie making and monkey bread as the bread rose and the cookies chilled.
Once chilled, the dough was nice and stiff, and as a bonus, I didn't have to try to roll it out while it was cold! I cut the edges of the bag and began to cut!
Cutting the cookies out was pretty easy, and the dough only stuck in a few places where I hadn't combined it as well.
Then I baked them!
I took the scraps and rolled them out again, folding the bag back over it.
As the dough got warmer, it did spread more and was harder to work with. I might try to refrigerate it after each roll.
But the experiment was definitely a success!
Meanwhile. I made the monkey bread in too small of a pan and it went everywhere! Oops.
Then I made some eggless royal icing to top them. (The raw egg whites in royal icing just kinda freak me out.)
Happy 2019!
I even made our resident stuffed moose, Christmasmoose his own personalized cookies with a bit of food coloring gel!
Cutout Sugar Cookies in a Bag
recipe adapted from Dessert for Two
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 large egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
In a gallon sized ziplock bag, place the softened butter and sugar. Push all air out of the bag and zip. Mash to cream the butter and sugar. Make sure all butter and sugar are combined.
Add the egg yolks and vanilla extract to the bag. Push air out of the bag again, and zip. Knead the yolks and vanilla into the butter mixture. Again, make sure everything is well combined.
Add the flour, baking soda and salt to the bag. Push the air out of the bag, zip and knead all dry ingredients into the butter mixture. Be very sure all dry ingredients are incorporated.
Roll the dough to the desired thickness (I found that it filled all but about 1 1/2 inches on one side of the bag), and refrigerate for about 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Slice two sides of the bag so that you can pull it open into one flat sheet. Cut the desired shapes and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.
Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the cookies begin to just brown on the edges. Allow to cool for several minutes before transferring to a rack to cool completely.
Combine any scraps into a ball, and place between two layers of the bag. Roll again. Chill again for several minutes (optional). Cut shapes and continue until all dough is used.
Eggless Royal Icing
from Mommy's Home Cooking
2 cups confectioner's sugar
4-5 tsp water
4 tsp light corn syrup
1 tsp lemon juice
Mix the confectioner's sugar and water in a glass bowl until there are no lumps of sugar. The consistency may be that of a dough (I had to add a bit of extra water and still ended up with a ball of goopy sugar).
Add the corn syrup and mix well.
Add the lemon juice and mix well.
Frosting can be used white (as is -- how I did the number cookies!) or divided into bowls and colored with gel food coloring.
Consistency can be adjusted by adding more sugar (to thicken) or more water a drop at a time (to loosen).
I piped the frosting onto the cookies, but it can also be spread using an offset spatula.
I'm here to talk about a fun baking experiment I did this week rather than a major update. Making a big update on life at this point would take a long time. Maybe I will eventually, but not today. Winter break just isn't long enough.
One of the things I miss most about blogging is having an automatic place to save recipes and thoughts, so I'm gonna talk about my experiment. I made an Instagram story (follow me at @labeurthen if you do want to know what I've been doing since my last post!) about this experiment and it reminded me that I could blog about it!
Speaking of Instagram, the idea for the whole project came from IG. I was scrolling one day and found a Nielsen Massey vanilla ad with a "recipe" for vanilla sugar cookie shot glasses. (You know the drill: the ads where they show the recipe, but in reality it's just a cut together bunch of clips of the basic steps but without anything you could actually follow to make the recipe.)
What caught my eye was the fact that they were making the dough in a gallon sized ziplock bag. As someone who does not have a dishwasher, saving dishes is always a plus for me, and it just looked so neat and contained, especially for rolled cookie dough.
So I tried it.
I pulled out Dessert for Two's sugar cookie cutout recipe to try. I was planning on just using the Nielsen Massey recipe, but it called for more butter than I had. One of the things I love about Dessert for Two is the focus on small batch recipes, and even though I was making these for a New Year's party, I didn't want to make a ton.
But instead of making them as written, I tried making them in a ziplock bag.
I started with the butter and sugar in the bag, and mashed it around with my hands until it was combined. It does take some shaking to make sure all the sugar gets incorporated.
Then I added the egg yolks and vanilla, and again, mashed it around well until it was combined. This part wasn't so bad since there was enough liquid to get it all combined.
Then I added the dry ingredients to the bag. This was the hardest step to do in a bag. It took a reasonable amount of work to get it all mixed, and it gets so sticky that it can be hard to move the dry parts around in the bag. It wasn't 100% consistent when I rolled it out, but it was passable.
Next, I rolled it out and refrigerated it. I was making some Monkey Bread for brunch (does it still count as brunch when it was intended for breakfast but it isn't done till noon?) and it worked pretty well to alternate cookie making and monkey bread as the bread rose and the cookies chilled.
Once chilled, the dough was nice and stiff, and as a bonus, I didn't have to try to roll it out while it was cold! I cut the edges of the bag and began to cut!
Cutting the cookies out was pretty easy, and the dough only stuck in a few places where I hadn't combined it as well.
Then I baked them!
I took the scraps and rolled them out again, folding the bag back over it.
As the dough got warmer, it did spread more and was harder to work with. I might try to refrigerate it after each roll.
But the experiment was definitely a success!
Meanwhile. I made the monkey bread in too small of a pan and it went everywhere! Oops.
Then I made some eggless royal icing to top them. (The raw egg whites in royal icing just kinda freak me out.)
Happy 2019!
recipe adapted from Dessert for Two
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 large egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
In a gallon sized ziplock bag, place the softened butter and sugar. Push all air out of the bag and zip. Mash to cream the butter and sugar. Make sure all butter and sugar are combined.
Add the egg yolks and vanilla extract to the bag. Push air out of the bag again, and zip. Knead the yolks and vanilla into the butter mixture. Again, make sure everything is well combined.
Add the flour, baking soda and salt to the bag. Push the air out of the bag, zip and knead all dry ingredients into the butter mixture. Be very sure all dry ingredients are incorporated.
Roll the dough to the desired thickness (I found that it filled all but about 1 1/2 inches on one side of the bag), and refrigerate for about 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Slice two sides of the bag so that you can pull it open into one flat sheet. Cut the desired shapes and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.
Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the cookies begin to just brown on the edges. Allow to cool for several minutes before transferring to a rack to cool completely.
Combine any scraps into a ball, and place between two layers of the bag. Roll again. Chill again for several minutes (optional). Cut shapes and continue until all dough is used.
Eggless Royal Icing
from Mommy's Home Cooking
2 cups confectioner's sugar
4-5 tsp water
4 tsp light corn syrup
1 tsp lemon juice
Mix the confectioner's sugar and water in a glass bowl until there are no lumps of sugar. The consistency may be that of a dough (I had to add a bit of extra water and still ended up with a ball of goopy sugar).
Add the corn syrup and mix well.
Add the lemon juice and mix well.
Frosting can be used white (as is -- how I did the number cookies!) or divided into bowls and colored with gel food coloring.
Consistency can be adjusted by adding more sugar (to thicken) or more water a drop at a time (to loosen).
I piped the frosting onto the cookies, but it can also be spread using an offset spatula.
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