Tea Cookies

Over the last couple of weeks I have made two new cookie recipes. They are light, summery cookies that go great with afternoon tea. It is really too bad I am not British, I think I would enjoy taking a mid-afternoon break to sip tea and have a cookie. The last few hours at work would be much more enjoyable after a cookie. Anyway, These ones are pretty good. Raspberry Almond Shortbread Cookies and Lemon Tea Cookies. I can't decide which is my favorite because they were both winners!

Raspberry Almond Cookies

Cookies:
1 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. almond extract
2 cups flour
1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam
sugar for sprinkling

Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
4 tsp. milk
1 tsp. almond extract

Cookies:
In a medium bowl, beat butter at medium speed. Add the sugar and almond extract. Mix until well combined. Mix in flour. Cover and chill for one hour or until dough is easy to handle.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Shape into 1 inch balls, place 2 inches apart on a cookie sheets. Using your thumb, press an indentation in the middle of each ball. Spoon about 1 tsp. jam into the indentation and then sprinkle with sugar. Bake for about 10 minutes or until edges are light brown. Cool on cookie sheets for one minute. Transfer cookies to wire racks to finish cooling.

Glaze:
For icing, in a medium bowl, combine powdered sugar, milk and almond extract. Drizzle cookies with icing.

Lemon Tea Cookies

Cookies:

3/4 cup butter

1 tsp. lemon zest

1 Tbs. lemon juice

1 1/4 cup flour

1/2 cup cornstarch

1/3 cup powdered sugar

Frosting:

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1/4 cup cold butter sliced into small cubes

1 tsp. lemon zest

1 tsp. lemon juice

Cookies:

Cream butter, lemon zest and juice until light and fluffy. In a separate bowl, sift dry ingredients and mix into butter on low speed. 

Divide in half. Shape each half into a 8x1 inch log and roll in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 2 hours. Cut into 1/4 inch rounds. Bake at 350 for 12 minutes. Cool and frost. 

Frosting:

On low speed, mix cold butter with electric mixer until smooth. Slowly add powdered sugar until blended. Beat lemon zest and juice. 

Disclaimer: there are not my pictures, I was too lazy to take my own. 

Variations of Vanilla

Yesterday my friends, Ryan and Sasha, got married. It was a beautiful wedding. It is so exciting to celebrate the joining of two people who are absolutely perfect for each other. sigh... Anyway, it was the third wedding where I have done the cake/dessert. I made vanilla bean cupcakes filled with chocolate hazelnut cream. (recipe here) They turned out very cute. I sprayed half of them with a pearl sheen which made them sparkle and the other half I sprinkled with edible pearls. The overall effect was very "wedding-y"

I really love this vanilla cake recipe. It is so versatile! It is actually my red velvet cake recipe with vanilla bean paste instead of red food coloring and chocolate. I used the recipe to make funfetti cupcakes for my co-workers birthday last week. I don't know if the sprinkles give it a different taste of if it is just the fact that funfetti is so festive but I loved these cupcakes. They tasted delicious and were perfect for a birthday. I know I have the vanilla cake recipe in multiple places but I will put the actually funfetti recipe here for easy reference.

Funfetti Cupcakes

Cake:
2 cups sugar
2 sticks butter, at room temperature
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups cake flour
1 tsp. salt
1 cup buttermilk (or 1 cup milk w/ 1 Tbs. vinegar)
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vinegar
1 cup multi-colored sprinkles

Frosting:
8 oz. cream cheese
1 stick butter, softened
1 cup marshmallow cream
1 lb. powdered sugar
multi-colored sprinkles for decoration

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl, cream the sugar and butter, beat until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and mix well after each addition. Sift together flower and salt. Add flour mixture to a creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk. Blend in vanilla. In a small bowl, combine baking soda and vinegar and add to mixture. Stir in the multi-colored sprinkles.

Pour batter into cupcake tins. Bake for 20 minutes (rotating the pans halfway through). Remove from heat and cool completely before frosting. Blend cream cheese and butter together in a mixing bowl. Add marshmallow cream and sugar and blend. Color with food coloring if desired.