Edible Shortbread spoons with lemon curd and a blackberry

There is something endearing about an edible spoon. I have never made them before and now that I have made these I only want to make them. I want to make chocolate ones, and sundried tomato basil ones, and I want to use them with my coffee... I'm a little obsessed. These are vanilla shortbread cookies with a dollop of lemon curd and a blackberry. 

Here is what you need:

2 1/2 cups of flour
3/4 cup of sugar
1 cup of butter (softened to a cool room temperature)
2 teaspoons of vanilla
2 Tablespoons of cream cheese  (softened to a cool room temperature)

Here is what you do:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F
2. Using a standing mixer add all of the ingredients
3. Squich all the dough into two fat patties, wrap in plastic cling wrap and place in the fridge.
4. One at a time roll out the dough to about 1/3 to 1/4 of an inch thick and cut with cookie cutters.
5. Place on parchment paper and bake for 10 minutes. Or until the edges turn a slight golden color. They shouldn't get brown.
6. Cool completely before decorating, adorn as desired. I put about 1/2 a teaspoon of store-bought but good quality lemon curd and topped each one with a plump juicy blackberry. 

They were a hit at the party. We didn't have any left over. 

As always, many blessings, much love, and happy baking!

Downton Abbey Tea Shortbread

My husband loves Downton Abbey, we both do. For his birthday party we had all of our friends dress up and enjoy a party "Downton" style. I loved it. And of course we had to have tea. Twinnings English Breakfast is my favorite but to make tea a little more special I added a heart shaped cookie perched on every tea cup. I decorated them with white chocolate and edible pearls and edible gold dust, but truth be told you could make this shortbread for anything, it cuts and bakes beautifully.

Here is what you need:
2 1/2 cups of flour
3/4 cup of sugar
1 cup of butter (softened to a cool room temperature)
2 teaspoons of vanilla
2 Tablespoons of cream cheese  (softened to a cool room temperature)

Here is what you do:
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F
2. Using a standing mixer add all of the ingredients
3. Squich all the dough into two fat patties, wrap in plastic cling wrap and place in the fridge.
4. One at a time roll out the dough to about 1/3 to 1/4 of an inch thick and cut with cookie cutters.
5. Place on parchment paper and bake for 10 minutes. Or until the edges turn a slight golden color. They shouldn't get brown.
6. Cool completely before decorating, adorn as desired.

As always, much love, many blessings, and happy Downton.

Shell Cookies

This was my latest Cape Cod baking treat, pink cookies shaped like shells with blue frosting and a yogurt raising posing as a pearl. They are adorable and super easy to make.

What you need:

1 Tube of pre-made sugar cookie dough
1/4 cup of flour plus more dusting
blue and red food dye
yogurt raisins
vanilla icing 
black gel writer
Special equipment: shell cookie cutter and parchment paper

What you do:

1. Mix the cookie dough, a few drops of red food dye to the desired color and 1/4 cup of flour, using your hands to kneed the dough together. Pop it in the freezer for a few minutes to re-harden.
2. Roll out your dough about 1/4 of an inch thick and cut with the cookie cutters.
3. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
4. Place your cookies on parchment paper and place in the freezer to harden for 10 minutes
5. Bake the cookies for 8 minutes or until the edges are slightly golden, longer if you want a crisper cookie.
6. Cool on a wire rack
7.  Add a drop of blue food coloring to some icing, or as much color as you like. 
8. Put about a tablespoon of blue icing on the center of the bottom cookie. Add a yogurt covered raising and top with another cookie.
9. Gently add two eyes using black gel writer.
10. Enjoy!

As always, much love, many blessings, and happy sea critter baking!