Preheat your oven to 275 degrees F.

Place all ingredients in a medium bowl:

Stir with a spoon until the honey coats the whole mixture:

Place heart cookie cutters (or any shape) on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat.

Spoon some of the granola mixture into each cutter and press down with the back of a spoon:

Bake for 30 minutes:

 Let the granola hearts cool completely before unfolding.

Enjoy!

Let’s start with our cake base. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy:

Add the eggs, one at a time, making sure each one is completely incorporated before adding the next one. Add the almond extract:

Add 1/3 of the flour mixture and mix on medium speed until combined:

Follow with half of the milk, another 1/3 of flour, the rest of the milk and the rest of the flour; making sure each addition is incorporated before adding the next one.
Pour into 8 paper cups:

Wait, whaaaa??? Yes, paper cups. Don’t worry, it will all make sense once you see the final result.

Bake for 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out with a few crumbs attached. Wait for the cupcakes to be completely cool before working on the buttercream.

To make buttercream, in the bowl of an electric mixer equipped with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until completely smooth and creamy. Gradually add the sugar with the mixer on slow. Once all the sugar is incorporated, add the milk and vanilla extract and beat for another minute. Increase to high speed and mix for 4 minutes until the buttercream is light and fluffy. Using a piping bag and large star tip, pipe out buttercream on each cupcake but make sure not to go higher than the edge of the cup.

Cover each cup-cake with a small piece of waxed paper and tie it up.

Now you can safely take these bad boys wherever you want. When you are ready to eat them, simply tear the cup up and voilà!

 Let’s start by making our cookies.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, cream butter and sugar on medium speed until light in color and fluffy in texture:

Add the egg and vanilla extract. Mix until combined:

Add all the flour and mix on low speed until the dough comes together:

Roll out your dough between 2 pieces of plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. In the meantime, preheat your oven to 350°F:

To shape those cookies, I first sketched what I wanted them to look like, using a large heart cookie cutter as the base frame:

Cut out your template and set aside.

Using the same heart cutter, cut your cookies:

Place your template over the remaining dough and cut out the banner parts that extend out on each side of the cookies:

Place those pieces on the sides of each cookie and bake for 13 minutes:

To decorate, start by outlining the banner with black royal icing. I used a #1 tip:

Let the lines set completely and then flood with white icing:

Finally the red parts (can you tell I was up late?):

Let the icing completely before adding the last details. I let mine dry overnight to be safe.

Using a black food coloring pen, write “MOM” is your best tattoo-esque font and add little details to the corners and edges of the banner. Here are the different steps:

You’re done!

Happy Mother’s Day!!!

I really wanted gingham to fit in the whole Spring feel of these cupcakes but I could not find anything in my baking supply store. What do you do when you can’t find something? That’s right, you just make it yourself. I’ll admit, it was a little tricky at first to figure out the right curved shape and image distortion settings but I am very happy with the results. And since I love of my readers, I could not think of a better idea than to just share them with you. All you have to do is print, cut, glue and you’re set! =)

I made them in 4 colors. Here is Pink and Yellow:

Click here to download the file: Gingham Cupcake Wrappers – Pink and Yellow (31)

Here is Green and Purple:

Click here to download the file: Cupcake Wrappers – Gingham – Green and Purple (28)

I printed them on regular paper but you can choose and heavier stock:

I used scalloped scissors on the upper edge of each wrapper. I liked it better than a straight line:

I found these scissors at Michael’s. If you don’t have a Michael’s where you live, here is a link to the same product on Amazon for under $5: Fiskars Paper Edgers Scallop

 All you have to do now is glue these together and Voilà!

Let’s start with the cupcake topper cookies. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix together butter and sugar until light and fluffy:

Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix on medium speed to incorporate:

Add the flour and mix on low speed until the dough comes together:

Roll between 2 pieces of plastic wrap and refrigerate:

While the cookie dough is cooling, let’s make the cupcakes, mix flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set aside:

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy:

Add the eggs one at a time. Make sure each one is combined before adding the next one:

Add the vanilla and almond extract and mix again. With the mixer running on low, add a 1/3 of the flour mixture and mix until just combined. Add 1/2 of the milk and mix again. Repeat with 1/3 flour, the other half of milk and the last 1/3 of flour:

Spoon batter into a muffin tin lined with cupcake papers:

Bake for 16 minutes.
While the cupcakes are baking, cut butterfly cookies out of the dough and set them on a baking sheet. Insert a toothpick into each cookie:

In case you don’t have a butterfly cookie cutter, here are a few links to some affordable options:

Butterfly Cookie Cutter $3.57Butterfly Cookie Cutter Set of 3 $12.85

Place the baking sheet back in the fridge until the cupcakes are ready. Then bake them for 10 minutes or until the edges start to turn golden.
Once the cookies have cooled, you can either leave them plain or decorate them with royal icing like I did:

To make royal icing, mix 2lbs of confectioners sugar with 1/3 cup of meringue powder and 3/4 cup of water with the whisk attachment of your mixer. Mix on low speed to combine the ingredients, then crank up to high speed and mix for 7 minutes.
To make buttercream, cream your butter with the mixer. Add the vanilla extract and mix to combine. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the confectioners sugar. Finally, add the milk. Once all the ingredients are combined, turn the mixer to high speed and mix for several minutes until the buttercream turns fluffy and white (about 4 minutes).
To assemble, pipe buttercream on your cupcakes and top each one with a butterfly topper.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. In a medium nonstick saucepan, melt butter in water:

Bring to a boil. In the meantime, mix together flour, sugar, salt and baking powder.
As soon as your water/butter mixture boils, remove the pan from the burner and dump in your flour mixture:

Using a wooden spoon, stir to combine. You will get a puffy ball of dough that comes off the sides of your saucepan easily:

Let it cool to a little warmer than room temperature. The reason for that added patience is that the next step is adding the eggs. If you don’t wait for the flour butter puff (wow, that would make a great nickname, but I digress), you’ll pieces of scrambled eggs. Not pretty.
Add 1 egg and stir to combine. Wait until the egg is completely incorporated before adding the next egg. Repeat:

Using 2 spoons, an ice cream scoop or a piping bag, dump little balls of dough (about 3/4″ wide) onto a parchment-lined baking sheet:

 Cover each ball with sugar.  It gives the chouquettes their sugary bite and adds a nice crunch.

In France they use “sugar pearls”, which are really big sugar crystals. Yeah, good luck finding that here =) If you have a good case of OCD, you could stab sugar cubes with a pairing knife to get nice chunks. I find that raw sugar is a good substitute. Today I am using some shimmering sugar from Williams-Sonoma. They’re really large sugar crystals so it worked:

Bake for 15 minutes.

Looking back, I should have brushed them with an egg wash but that gives me an excuse to make more. Oh well.

Au Revoir!!!

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
In a small saucepan, melt 1 stick of butter and let it cool:

Brush your madeleine pan with some of that butter:

I am using a nonstick madeleine pan. I also had a traditional metal one but the madeleines stuck even though I had brushed it with butter. Go with nonstick. =)

I found some pans starting under $10. Click HERE to check out some of those pans…

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, mix 3 eggs with sugar, honey and lemon zest:

Beat on medium high speed until light and fluffy.

Sift flour and baking powder over the egg mixture:

Stir until combined.

Add cooled melted butter and mix until combined:

Spoon into madeleine pan, filling each well just about 3/4 full.

I am using a medium ice cream scoop to get even portions. Here is the model I use: Stainless Steel Scoop

Bake for 10 minutes.

Voilà!!!

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees F.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip together 3 egg whites on medium speed until frothy:

Add cream of tartar and mix until soft peaks form:

With the mixer of high speed, gradually add the sugar, one tbsp at a time, making up the sugar is completely dissolved before each consecutive spoonful. The egg whites will slowly turn glossy and bright white:

Add vanilla extract and mix to incorporate. To test your meringue, rub some batter between your thumb and index finger. You want the sugar to be completely dissolved. If you can still feel the grains of sugar, continue mixing for another minute.
Spoon batter into a pastry bag fitted with a large round tip and pipe cloud shapes onto a parchment-lined baking sheet:

To get the right shape, pipe 3 dots at the bottom and then 2 dots on top. Add a little swirl here and there…

Bake for 1 1/2 hours. At that point you should be able to lift the cookies off the parchment paper easily. At that point, turn off the oven and leave your cookies in overnight to dry out.

Happy Spring!!!

Let’s start by making our buildings out of chocolate dough.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar together on high speed until light and fluffy:

Add the egg and mix on medium speed to incorporate:

Add the flour and cocoa powder and mix on low speed until the dough comes together:

Roll between 2 pieces of plastic wrap to 1/4″ thickness:

Refrigerate for 30 minutes while the oven is preheating to 350 degrees. Cut dough into rectangle of different sizes. Using a daisy-shape cutter, create a bite mark into one of the buildings. Bake for 10 minutes:

To make vanilla cookie dough, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar together on high speed until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix on medium speed to incorporate. Add the flour and mix on low speed until the dough comes together. Roll between 2 pieces of plastic wrap to 1/4″ thickness. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

To shape these cookies, I am using a tulip cookie cutter and chopping off the stems:

Bake for 10 minutes or until the edges start to turn golden brown.
To make royal icing, place powdered sugar, meringue powder and water into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Mix on medium speed for a minute to combine, then increase to high speed and continue mixing for 7 minutes.

 Now let’s bring them all to life.

To decorate the buildings, pipe dots of white icing to mimic the look of night lights:

 Here are the sketches I am using to decorate the baby Godzillas:

Using a food coloring pen, sketch the general outline on each cookie:

Then it’s like paint by numbers:

For the green body, I using the outline piping to create volume in the leg and arm details:

More details:

Using a black food coloring pen, add the face details and belly lines, and you’re done!

RAWR!!!!

To make the dough, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar together on high speed until light and fluffy:

Add the egg and any flavorings and mix on medium speed to incorporate:

Add the flour and mix on low speed until the dough comes together:

Roll between 2 pieces of plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes:

Here is my new toy: the Nordic Ware Cake Pops Baking Pan:

The pan comes in 2 pieces. Instead of making cake pops by shaping cake batter into a ball, we are going to flip one of the pans and use it to sandwich and shape our cookies as they bake.

Here is how to do it: Start by cutting your cookies. I found a cherry blossom cutter in a bento box kit at a Japanese store.

If you can’t find that shape, here is a great link to get them online (Kotobuki Set of 6 Small Stainless Vegetable Cutters):

Place the cookies in the wells of one of the cake pop pans:

Cover with the other pan:

Bake for 15 minutes or until they turn golden:

Let them cool in the pan for a few minutes and the cookies will keep that shape.
To make royal icing, place all 3 ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Mix on slow for a minute to combine your ingredients. Turn the mixer to high speed and mix for 7 minutes. Divide the royal icing in 3 parts to make each of the following colors: white, light pink and bright pink.

To decorate the cookies, start by a base of white royal icing:

Pipe tiny dots of pink icing:

Using a toothpick, poke the pink dots and drag towards the center of the cookie:

Repeat with half of the cookies. For the other half, use a bright pink base and light pink dots.

Happy Spring!