Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes with Marshmallow Meringue

You know you're on the right track when you start out a baking project by making chocolate covered cherries.

Earl Grey Tea Cookies

 

What's that? I'm obsessed with Earl Grey? That could be. But I was going to a tea party today, and Earl Grey cookies seemed like an appropriate choice. Plus a friend gave me this fabulous loose leaf tea this summer. Look at those pretty purple flowers!

I started with a recipe from my new cookbook (fifty cents at Goodwill!). The recipe was for Vanilla Hearts. 

I don't have any cookie cutters, so I got crafty and made my own by cutting up a ginger ale can. So easy! I was hesitant at first, thinking about losing my 10-cent can deposit, and then I realized I wasn't in Michigan anymore. No can deposits in Spokane.

I added two tablespoons of ground loose-leaf Earl Grey tea.  And while I was adding the vanilla, I figured I'd throw in some lemon extract too. Earl Grey loves citrus. He told me.

They're not the sweetest cookies, so throw some sugar on top, or, if that's not good enough, ice 'em! 

Click here for the original recipe. I only changed 3 small things:

• added 2 tablespoons loose-leaf tea, finely ground in a food processor 
• added 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract 
• topped with icing: combined 1 cup powdered sugar, 3/4 tablespoon soft butter, 1/4 teaspoon vanilla, 1/4 teaspoon lemon extract, 1/8 teaspoon salt, and 1 to 2 tablespoons milk) 

Oh, and my dough was way too crumbly at first, so I added a little extra butter and about a tablespoon of water.

You should probably go have a tea party now.

Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies

Ever since I ate my first lemon poppy seed cookie at the Rocket Bakery, I've been craving more.

And because I had a lot of grading to do, today was clearly the perfect day to bake them.

The yellow frosting reminds me of when I went to Spain with my high school Spanish class. One of our hosts served chocolate cake that had words written in yellow icing on top. I was afraid to eat it because I thought they had covered it in Cheese Whiz!

Rocky Road Cookies

I was in a marshmallow mood, so I switched up a Betty Crocker double-chocolate cookie recipe to make these rocky road cookies.







For the original recipe, click here.

Here are my two changes:

• substitute the white chocolate pieces for semi-sweet chips 
• substitute the 2 1/2 cups chocolate chips for marshmallows.

I also used some parchment paper--that marshmallow gets sticky!

Oh, and it took me a few tries to get these right. They kept running all over the place...until I stopped trying to make them smaller than they were supposed to be and moving them before they cool.  

Chocolate Cake with Candied Orange Peels

I've been looking for the perfect chocolate cake recipe, and I think I've found it on the blog Oui, Chef.

It's incredibly moist and so very chocolatey.

I followed his recipe exactly--except I substituted Gran Marnier for the vanilla extract in the batter recipe, and I added a tablespoon of it to the ganache.

Then I topped it with candied orange peels.

Find the cake recipe here.

And the candied orange peels are a recipe from Giada De Laurentiis, which can be found here.

One last look:

Fluffy Anise Sugar Cookies

You know what's good? When you don't have the ingredients you need and your hasty substitutions turn out to be delicious.

You know what else is good? A cookie.

When I saw the Lofthouse Style Soft Frosted Sugar Cookies from "What Megan Making," I tried not to get my hopes up. I didn't believe it was possible to make something so delicious.

But when I pulled mine out of the oven, I knew right away that Megan was a cookie genius.

I followed her recipe exactly, except I also added in 1 1/2 teaspoons anise extract. When it came time to make the frosting, I was out of vanilla, so I substituted it with equal parts Gran Marnier. The licorice flavor from the anise in the cookies combined very well with the orange from the Gran Marnier.

Twenty minutes and four cookies later, I knew I was in trouble.

Find the recipe from the blog "What's Megan Making" here.