Ohhh,honey!!!-Honey Crunch Cream Cookies

Honey is clearly the star in this little sandwich cookie, being in both the cookie itself as well as the cream in the middle. The perfect pair to a morning cup of tea, this is yet another sweet that I dare you to try and eat just one.

Fully assembled, ready to eat!

It would be an understatement to say I was a picky eater as a child.People were stunned about how little foods I had tried, and up until a a few years ago, how little foods I still had yet to try . Two years ago I went with my grandpa to our family's cabin in northern Michigan for a long spring break vacation. On the trip there we stopped at a small restaurant off the highway that served...turkey. Pretty much just turkey.A lot of turkey.With sides. But oh, was the turkey good! Anyways, one of the sides was of course biscuits, with either gravy (which I turned down..) or just jelly or honey. I had never tried honey until then (I know, it seems so odd!). But the biscuits were delicious, so I got 'adventurous' and tried some...

Why had no one forced me to try honey before!? It was delicious! 

Ever since I have been dissatisfied with the amount of honey in my diet. My temporary solution? Every so often I make these little treats: Honey Crunch Cream Cookies.

Fresh out of the oven!

My only problem with this: doesn't make enough for me to lick the bowl afterwards

The bottoms-frosted

The top halves

You can find the original recipe, along with plenty of other tasty treats that I'll be featuring here from The Cookie and Biscuit Bible

Honey Crunch Creams (makes 20)

 2 1/4 cups self rising flour

2 tsp baking soda

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter

finely grated rind of one orange

1/2 cup honey

1/4 cup cup pine nuts or chopped walnuts (I have used pecans too and they taste fine)

For the filling:

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1 cup powdered sugar

2 tbsp honey (sometimes I add more, just go by taste or whatever suits you)

1. Preheat oven to 400. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. Sift the flour, sugar, and baking soda into a bowl. Add the butter and rub together until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs, then stir in the orange rind.
3. Put the honey in a small pan and heat until just runny, but not really hot. Pour over the dry mixture and mix into a firm dough.
4. Divide the dough in half and shape one half into 20 or so small balls about the size of a tablespoon of dough. Place the balls on the cookie sheets you have lined and slightly flatten them.
5. Bake for 6-8 minutes, or until golden brown. Leave to cool on the baking sheets then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. (Be careful here, they are very delicate and crumbly at this point, so make sure you don't rush into taking them off the cookie sheets.)
6. Shape the remaining dough into 20 balls and dip one side of each into the pine nuts or walnuts. Place cookies nut side up on the cookie sheets, and flatten slightly.
7. Bake for 6-8 minutes, or until golden brown.  Leave to cool on the baking sheets then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. 
8. For the filling, beat all ingredients together until light and creamy. Use to sandwich the cookies together, using the cookies with nuts as the tops.

My Favorite Cupcake

Okay, so maybe this isn't really my absolute-favorite-of-all-time cupcake, and there's still plenty of potential favorites I have yet to try, but it's definitely the one I turn to when I'm looking for a simple, yet very tasty basic cupcake. Perfectly moist, creamy, and sweet; every bite is delicious. Ohhh I'm making my mouth water a little...

Besides this recipe being delicious, I also find myself doing the majority of my decoration practice with these cupcakes. Here are a few ways I have decorated them so far:

 Classic Valentine's Day:

Thinking of a certain someone when I made these (cheesy, I know)

Further decorated version of the first cupcake

 

Garden Party Cupcakes:

This is how they look with just piped grass (adorable!)

Yes, I think  I will add some flowers.

 And of course, no garden would be complete without a quaint little pathway to roam on.

Elegant and Simple

Starburst Cupcakes

Shark and Beach Cupcakes

Inspiration from Martha Stewart

Spooky Halloween Cupcakes

White Chocolate Cupcakes (makes 18)

Original recipe from Baking Bites

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
4-oz white chocolate, chopped
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup plus 1 tbsp milk 

1. Preheat oven to 325. Line muffin pans with 18 cupcake liners.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
3. In a small, microwave-safe bowl, melt the chopped white chocolate by heating it in 30 second intervals in the microwave. Stir well with a fork between each interval and cook only until the chocolate is smooth when stirred.
4. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in eggs one at a time, followed by melted white chocolate and vanilla extract.
5. Working in two or three additions, alternate adding in some of the milk and some of the flour mixture, ending with a final addition of flour. Mix until just incorporated and no streaks of flour remain.
6. Divide batter evenly into prepared muffin cups.
7. Bake at 325 for 20-23 minutes.

White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

4-oz cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
1-oz white chocolate, melted and slightly cooled
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 tsp milk or cream
2-3 cups confectioners’ sugar

In a large mixing bowl, cream together cream cheese, butter and melted white chocolate. Beat in vanilla and milk, then add in the confectioners’ sugar gradually until the frosting reaches your desired consistency.

The Only Spicy Cupcake You'll Ever Need

Beloved chocolate and cinnamon combined with the strong component of heat from chipotles in one complex yet shockingly tasty cupcake. And did I mention the ice cream? Oh, yeah. There's ice cream involved,too.

The pepper acts as a warning-Caution:do not expect a sweet confection.

I first made this cupcake last April fora friends birthday. He LOVES spicy food, and devours whatever I bake for him, so of course I saw this recipe and had to make it for him. I wouldn't go near them,as I typically avoid most spicy foods at all costs, but him and our friends couldn't get enough of them. So, I decided to make them again for a birthday last week. I made a few changes to the recipe, and actually ate a few myself this time around. The recipe makes quite a few, and they involve some assembly before you eat them, so they would make a fun, interesting thing to bring to a party for those adventurous foodies out there.

  

Fire and Ice Cupcakes (makes 36)

Original recipe from Bakerella :)

 
1 cup cocoa powder
3/4 cup boiling water
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp chipotle powder
2 cups sugar
1 cup butter, room temperature
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Line cupcake trays with baking cups (36)
3. Boil water. Transfer 3/4 cup of boiling water to bowl. Stir in cocoa until dissolved to form chocolate mixture and set aside.
4. With a wire whisk, mix flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and chipotle powder in a separate bowl and set aside.
5. In a large mixing bowl, mix sugar, butter and eggs until light and fluffy. Add buttermilk and vanilla and mix well.
6. Add flour mixture to the wet ingredients in three additions, alternating with chocolate mixture in two additions, ending with flour mixture. Beat until combined with each addition.
7. Scoop batter into prepared cupcake trays,
8. Bake for 13-15 minutes and cool completely.

Chipotle Cream Cheese Frosting

 3 oz. chocolate with chili ( I used the Lindt dark chocolate with chili, found at Meijer or Target), plus another bar for the topping
1 8 oz. package cream cheese
1 stick butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 Tbsp. chipotle chili powder

2 tsp cinnamon
4 cups confectioner’s sugar

• Melt chocolate in microwave in 30 sec intervals., stirring in between until melted. Let cool.
• Sift sugar and add chili powder and cinnamon. Set aside.
• Cream butter and cream cheese and vanilla in a large mixing bowl on low until combined.
• Add sugar in small batches until combined. Scrape down sides of bowl in between.
• Set aside half of frosting and set aside for the Vanilla Chipotle Cream Cheese Frosting.
• Add melted chocolate to the other half and mix until combined for the Chocolate Chipotle Cream Cheese Frosting.

Assembly:

Frost half the cupcakes with the Vanilla Chipotle Cream Cheese Frosting and the other half with the Chocolate Chipotle Cream Cheese Frosting. CAREFULLY grate the other chocolate bar and sprinkle shavings on top. Slice cupcakes halfway and place a generous spoonful of any type of vanilla ice cream of your choice in between the halves (I used vanilla bean). Enjoy!

My Nutella Indulgence

Ever since I was introduced to Nutella years ago in my Spanish class, I have fallen in love with the stuff. Rich,gooey,nutty, and just the right amount of delicious chocolate. It's perfect.

I bought some while grocery shopping recently and I was okay with with a spoonful here and there, or the occasional animal cracker smothered in it, and then a friend suggested some sort of Nutella cookie. GENIUS! So I searched for some recipes and found this one. Peanut butter cookies with a peanut butter and Nutella filling, rolled in crushed peanuts and cinnamon sugar. Mmmmm!

                                                     

The cinnamon sugar peanut tops

 Makes 20

 For the cookies:

1/2 cup unsalted Butter, room temp
1/2 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1 egg
1 tsp Vanilla
1/2 cup Peanut Butter
1 1/2 cup Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
For the Filling:
1/4 cup Peanut Butter*
1/4 cup Nutella
1/2 tsp Salt*
1 Tbsp Cocoa
3 Tbsp Sugar
3 Tbsp Powdered Sugar
For the Topping:
1/2 cup-1 cup chopped peanuts
1/4 cup Sugar
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Salt*

1. Cream the butter and sugars together, and then add the egg and mix.
2. Stir in vanilla and peanut butter, when mixed, add flour and salt.
3. Refrigerate while you make the filling and topping.
4. For the filling, combine all ingredients and mix until creamy. You should be able to roll little balls of the filling in your hands. If it’s too sticky, add some more powdered sugar.
5. Grind the topping ingredients together and place in a shallow bowl.
6. Preheat oven to 375. When the cookie dough is chilled enough, take 1 Tbsp of dough and roll into a flat disc. If the dough is way too sticky, ad a little more flour. Place a ball of filling in the middle, and another 1 Tbsp disc of dough on top. Roll between hands to form one big ball. Roll this in the topping, then place onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Press to flatten slightly. 
7. Bake at 375 for 8-12 minutes. Remove and let cool on the cookie sheet before transferring to a cooling rack.

Original recipe here

 *Notes:

The next time I make this recipe, I believe I may cut out the salt in the filling and the topping all together. They were slightly on the salty side for my taste. As another variation, I may make the filling with strictly Nutella. I can't get enough of it!