Sugar Cookies a la Martha Stewart

I made these cookies over the course of a few days last week, but I wanted to wait until today, Valentine's Day, to share them with you. Because my cookie cutouts were smaller than 4-5 inches, I adjusted my baking time to about 14 minutes and they came out perfectly. Once again, I used Royal icing (recipe here) and it was much easier than last time! I think I'm starting to get the hang of it, except for the whole "writing on the cookies" part of it. My handwriting is normally less than stellar and it was just as bad, if not worse, using a decorating bag and tip. Perhaps practice will make perfect...

After using Royal Icing for my Christmas cookies, I knew I wanted to try using gel icing colors instead of food coloring this time around. Gel icing colors are easy to use and give great color, but I was a little disappointed in my red color - I wanted it to be bright red and in complete contrast to my pink color. After doing a little research, it turns out the red color I have, Red (no-taste), is more of a pink-red and I would have gotten the results I wanted with Red-Red or Christmas Red. Better luck next time, I guess.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Martha Stewart's Sugar Cookies
(Source: Smells Like Home)

4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1. Sift flour, baking powder, salt into a bowl.

2. Put butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Gradually mix in flour mixture. Divide dough into quarters; flatten each quarter into a disk. Wrap each in plastic. Refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour or overnight.

3. Preheat oven to 325 degrees with racks in upper and lower thirds. Let one disk of dough stand at room temperature just until soft enough to roll, about 10 minutes. Roll out dough between two pieces of plastic wrap to 1/4-inch thickness. Remove top layer of plastic wrap. Cut out cookies with a 4-to-5-inch cookie cutter. Transfer cutouts to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Transfer baking sheet to freezer, and freeze until very firm, about 15 minutes. Roll out scraps, and repeat. Repeat with remaining disk of dough. Remove baking sheet from freezer right before baking

4. Bake, switching positions of sheets and rotating halfway through, until edges are almost golden, 15 to 18 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks.

Poppy Seed Pound Cake Muffins

These have never been my favorite kind of muffin, but I was craving muffins and wanted to try something new. These poppy seed muffins are buttery yet light and when you combine that with crunchy poppy seeds and the citrus flavor of lemon, you have a muffin that will be sure to please anyone. I omitted the Lemon Glaze, though I am sure that would have made the muffins even tastier.

Poppy Seed Pound Cake Muffins
(Source: Joy of Baking)

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp poppy seeds
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
Zest of one lemon
1 cup plain yogurt (do not use non fat yogurt)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 F and place rack in center of oven. Line a 12 cup muffin pan with paper liners or spray with a non stick vegetable spray. Set aside.

2. In a small bowl, whisk or stir together the flour, poppy seeds, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside.

3. In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar. Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the lemon zest, yogurt, and vanilla until well blended. Stir in the flour mixture just until moistened. Do not over mix.

4. Spoon the batter using either two spoons or an ice cream scoop into the prepared muffin tins and bake for 18-20 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan.


Makes 12 muffins