Fireworks Cookies

For our 4th of July trip to Traverse City, I tried my hand at making Martha Stewart's fireworks cookies. Basically, they're just round sugar cookies with royal icing swirled into a "firework" pattern. I didn't have high expectations, but these cookies wound up being my new favorite sugar cookies. They were flavorful, stayed moist for days, and the dough was easy to work with. I'm thinking about this recipe again because I'm planning on making these cookies for tailgates, but instead of using red, white, and blue royal icing, I'll be using maize and blue frosting. :) These cookies would be a great addition to any college tailgate if you just change the color of the icing (blue and orange for Florida, blue and white for Penn State, purple and yellow for LSU, etc).

Ingredients for Cookies:
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 sticks of unsalted butter at room temperature
2 cups white sugar
2 large eggs
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Ingredients for the Royal Icing:
1 cup water
1/2 cup meringue powder (or equivalent amount of egg whites)
2 lbs sifted confectioners sugar
gel paste food coloring in chosen colors

Directions:
Sift flours, baking powder, and salt into a small bowl. Set aside.

Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Add the flour mixture and mix until just combined. Add the vanilla extract and mix until combined.

Place the dough into plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour.

After the dough has rested, dust a clean surface with flour and roll the dough out to approximately 1/4 inch thick. Cut out circles using a round biscuit or cookie cutter. Place cut cookies onto a baking sheet and refrigerate for 30 more minutes.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Bake cookies for approximately 17 minutes, or until edges just start to brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Once cookies are completely cooled, make the royal icing. Whisk the water and meringue powder until soft peaks form (about 3 minutes if using a stand mixer). Add the confectioners sugar and mix until the icing is the consistency of glue.

Transfer icing to squeeze bottles or piping bags. Tint the icing with the food coloring until colors are as desired. Make sure to leave one portion of icing white.

Pipe white icing in a circle around the perimeter of the cookie and then flood the center of the cookie with white icing. Using colored icings, pipe a dot in the middle and then concentric circles or alternating colors. Use a toothpick to drag the icing from the center of the cookie to the edge of the cookie, creating a "firework" pattern.

Let icing dry completely before packaging.

My cookies...they don't look quite as good as Martha's but they're close!

*Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart Living Magazine, July 2011

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies

Almost daily I come across recipes that I can't wait to make. I usually hold off though until I have some sort of occasion where I can share my creations with others. Otherwise, I know that Joe and I will eat all of them and that is not a good thing! On Friday night we got together with some friends to celebrate exams being partially done so I made these cookies. They are decadent and comforting and should definitely be shared. I was very happy with both the soft, but firm texture of the cookies, and the smoothness of the filling.

Ingredients for the cookies:
3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup quick cooking oats

Ingredients for the filling:
4 1/2 Tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1 1/2 confectioners sugar, sifted
4 1/2 Tbsp heavy cream

Directions:
For the cookies, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. In a bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt and stir until well combined. In the bowl of an electric mixer or with a hand mixer, cream together the butter and sugars. Add the peanut butter and blend until light and fluffy. Blend in the egg and vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and mix with a wooden spoon until just incorporated. Add the oats and stir until well blended.

Using a small ice cream scoop, place small balls of dough on the prepared baking sheets. Keep them a couple inches apart to allow for spreading. Try to make sure that each dough ball is approximately the same size. Bake 9-10 minutes, rotating the cookies sheets halfway through baking. Let cook on the baking sheet for a few minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool to room temperature.

Once the cookies are room temperature, being matching them up by size until you have all pairs. For the filling, combine the butter, peanut butter, and confectioners sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer or with a hand mixer. Cream together until smooth and fluffy. Add the cream and mix until well combined and very smooth. Using a knife or spreader, spread the filling onto the flat side of one cookie. Sandwich the other cookie on top and press down so that the filling reaches the edge of the cookies.

*Source: Allrecipes