Home Baked Happiness

 Decorating sugar cookies is like therapy for me. Sometimes I just get so focused and into it, and I forget about everything else for a while. In the end I have something that is a cute and edible piece of art that makes others smile.  Experimenting with different flavors for the sugar cookies is half the fun. Peppermint flavored sugar cookies are delicious any time of year. Here's what you'll need: 2 sticks butter, softened 1 cup sugar 1 egg 1 tsp vanilla extract 3 cups flour 1 tbsp baking powder 3/4 cup crushed peppermint  Here's how to put it all together: Cream butter and sugar together in mixer, then add egg and vanilla. In a separate bowl mix together flour and baking powder. Add flour mixture to the other ingredients and mix until well combined. Lastly, add crushed peppermint until just combined.  Next, I like to chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes so that it rolls out easier and sticks less to the surface when you go...

My goal for this year, while I'm on the "all things peppermint" journey: 50 peppermint recipes in 50 weeks,  is to create  a wide variety of peppermint baked goodies. But as occasions come up I am making things that are most suitable for the celebration or event.  This week we celebrated Megan's birthday.  Megan is part of our awesome Dragon Intervention Team at work.  She is such a delightful person to work with!  In honor of Megan's birthday I made these super yummy Peppermint Mocha cupcakes.  Here's what you need For cupcakes: 1 Devils Food box cake mix 1 cup brewed coffee, the stronger the better 3 eggs 1/2 cup vegetable oil 1 packet dry instant hot chocolate drink  mix 1 tsp peppermint extract Filling: 1/2 pint heavy whipping cream 1/3 cup powdered sugar 1/2 tsp vanilla extract  Frosting: 1 cup butter 4 cups powdered sugar 1 cup powdered cocoa 2/3 cup melted milk chocolate chips ( you can a...

Cupcakes are my favorite things to bake!  I have been wanting to bake Oreo cookie cupcakes after I saw a recipe on Pinterest.  I got super excited when I came across some peppermint Double Stuff chocolate wafer cookies that look like Oreos, but actually taste better! I used a box cake mix and tweaked it a bit by substituting coffee for the water to enhance the chocolate  flavor, and I added peppermint extract to give it a peppermint flavor.  I always fill my cupcakes.  This time I used  a plain vanilla whipped cream to compliment the peppermint in the cake and in the frosting.  They came out perfectly divine!  These super yummy cookies rang up at 25 cents per package at the dollar store.  I could hardly believe my luck! I bought all that they had which was only 4 packages. The packages came with 20 cookies each. I used 36 for the bottom of the cupcakes and another 15 crushed up in the frosting. I cut up the remaining cookies in...

I adapted this recipe from the “50 Peppermint Treats” insert I found in  the December issue of the Food Network magazine.  Instead of minty flavored M&Ms, I crushed up peppermint candy canes to add to the mix.  They baked up perfectly with just the right amount of pepperminty flavor to compliment the milk chocolate chips. Here’s what you need:  3 cups of flour 1tsp baking powder 1 tsp baking soda 1tsp salt ( skip the salt if you use salted butter) 1 cup butter melted 2 cups light brown sugar 2 eggs 1 tsp vanilla extract 1 tsp peppermint extract 1 cup chocolate chips ( semisweet or milk chocolate) 3/4 cup crushed peppermint candy Here’s how to put it all together: Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl and set aside. In a separate bowl, mix melted butter, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla and peppermint extracts together.  Mix until well combined.  Add dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. I used my Kitche...

This year I’ve decided to try 50 different Peppermint recipes in 50 weeks!