Super Soft Snickerdoodle Cookies

I can't even tell you how many different cookie recipes I've made in my lifetime. The number is high up there. There are very few of those recipes that I've just fallen in love with. This is one of those "perfect" cookie recipes. These have perfect flavor, perfect texture (a biggie for me, I'm very picky about that!) and they're also a quick recipe to make- no chilling of the dough (always a plus).

A couple things that will make your cookie baking experience much better:
1. Parchment paper
Parchment paper is the key ingredient to not having a ton of dishes to clean. You do not need to spray it with Pam, and after each batch out of the oven you can reuse it for the next round. When you're done with baking your cookies you can just throw it away. Bam. Clean baking sheet.
2. Cookie dough scoop
I cannot express this enough- I LOVE COOKIE SCOOPS. Using a cookie dough scoop will make your cookies bake evenly because they will all be the exact same size. It will also be so much quicker to scoop all of your cookie dough because you don't even have to think about trying to make them all the same size, like when you use a spoon to scoop instead. Cookie scoops are about 10 dollars at the store (target, bed bath and beyond, walmart, whatever) There are different sizes. My favorite size is the 1 1/2 Tablespoon size. I use that one the most (used in this recipe).
3. Use only the middle rack to bake your cookies. It may take a little longer, but it is worth it. Many times that I've used multiple racks at one time, the cookies bake differently. The cookies baked on the top rack bake flatter and quicker, while the ones in the middle bake as they are supposed to.
4. Softening butter. If you don't feel like waiting to let your butter soften sitting out at room temperature (because that will take a couple hours) pop it in the microwave one at a time for like 8 seconds. If it's still hard, turn it over on the opposite side you set it down on, and turn the microwave back on for 5 seconds at a time. Do not let it melt.

Super soft Snickerdoodles:
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 and 1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Topping:
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1. First, turn oven on to 375 degrees F.
Mix softened butter with 1 1/3 cup granulated sugar. Mix until light and fluffy.

 2. Add egg and vanilla. mix until combined. Scrape down sides of bowl.

 3. In a small bowl, measure out cream of tartar, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Measure out the flour and add all of it to the bowl, then add the small bowl of spices on top. Mix until fully combined. Warning- this dough is THICK, so your mixer may struggle towards the end. Just use your muscles and finish the mixing process with a spatula.

 4. Scoop your cookie dough and roll into the sugar/cinnamon mixture. (shown below)

 5. Spread cookie dough out on your parchment-lined baking sheet. I fit 16 on my square pan, just spread out about 2 inches apart. These cookies don't spread A LOT, so its ok to let them bake a little closer together than you normally would with other recipes.

 6. Using a spoon, slightly flatten the tops of the cookie dough (this will help them bake into a nicer shape) Bake for 9 minutes.

 7. Tah dahhhH! Check out these beauties. This batch made 33 cookies (using my 1 1/2 tablespoon cookie dough scooper) Enjoy!! Store at room temperature in an airtight container.

Cream Cheese-Blueberry Poundcake

I am so happy to be making this recipe tonight. I've been using this recipe for years, and it is so good every time! It's my great grandmothers recipe and she was known for her cooking and baking. Before tonight, I had always just made the cream cheese poundcake without the blueberries. But I wanted to try something new tonight so I thought the addition of blueberries would be yummy. :) If you don't like blueberries you could use chopped strawberries or raspberries, or just make it plain! 

First, I turned my oven on to 300 degrees F. I had 4 small loaf pans, 5.5" x 3". I sprayed each one with Pam and then cut out a small piece of parchment paper to line the bottom of the pans. That just prevents the cake from sticking to the bottom when you pop them out. 

1. The butter and cream cheese need to be softened or at room temperature before mixing. Mix for about 30 seconds and then add the sugar. Mix for another minute or so. 

2. Add your eggs one at a time, mixing between each addition for about 20 or 30 seconds. Also add your vanilla.

3. Next step is to add your cake flour. Cake flour is not the same as normal all-purpose flour. Its found on the baking aisle and its in a red box. Using all purpose flour instead of the cake flour will give you a different texture cake, and you don't want that. Mix the flour in just until its combined. Overmixing will give you a tougher loaf.

4. Start by adding a layer of poundcake batter to your prepared baking pans. Shown below is one layer (a little less than half full) and I put a layer of blueberries on top. I like to do this instead of just mixing the blueberries straight into the batter because it makes the cake turn a weird greenish blue color. But you can mix it all together if you want. 

5. Add another layer of batter and then one more layer of blueberries on top, and they're ready to go in the oven. I had extra batter so I poured the remaining batter into a larger loaf pan and just baked that without blueberries.

6. I baked these for an hour and 15 minutes and it was perfect. This is what it looks like when it comes out of the oven. The top part of the bread is a nice crusty layer that literally just comes right off (eat it, its the best part!) You can try to keep it on the loaf but it always just crumbles off when you flip it out of the pan. 

If you want, you can take off the crusty layer and then flip the poundcake over so the top surface is nice and smooth. Wait until the poundcake has cooled off before flipping it out of the pan.

This is the loaves without the crusty top. I like the look of them flipped over better, but it really doesn't matter. We make these to eat them, not to stare at them, right?

This is the loaf cut right down the middle. Mmmmm. :) 

This recipe is nice and heavy, and super moist. I definitely recommend giving this recipe a try. It really is easy to make, and it also freezes well if you want to save some for another time. You can also wrap them up and give them away as gifts! It's perfect for breakfast or dessert. Enjoy! 

• 3 sticks (12oz) unsalted butter, softened
• 8oz full fat cream cheese, softened
• 3 cups granulated sugar
• 6 large eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 cups cake flour
• blueberries (i use frozen, but you can use fresh also)

Extra Chocolatey Bundt Cake

If you actually know me really well, you would know that I seriously do not enjoy chocolate. The smell of chocolate alone makes me cringe a little bit, but for some reason, this chocolate bundt cake is a whole different story. I have a weird obsession with this recipe. It's just perfect.

Sweat pants, hair tied, chillen with no makeup on? Sounds fun but I have a better version of that. Sweat pants, hair tied, BAKING with no make up on. Now that is a perfect day. P.S. I'm having a really hard time writing this and not being able to throw in emojis in here.

Most peoples thoughts when they think about chocolate:

 

 

My thoughts when I think about chocolate:

 

 

Then everyone is like, "Sydney...."

 

 

 

 I made it for my daddy's birthday cake last year. Not a traditional birthday cake, but I did what I could to make it as cute as possible. :)

Making this bundt cake does take a little bit of time though. Nothing difficult or anything, just time consuming. Some things are just worth it. This being one of them obviously. Make this for a large group of people and every single one of them will love you. I promise you that.

HeRe wE gOoooOooOooo.
For the cake:

• 1 cup cocoa powder
• 1 1/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup super hot water
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 1/4 tsp. salt
• 20 Tbsp. (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 2 1/2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
• 5 large eggs
• 4 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups (12 ounces) sour cream
• 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

For the ganache:

• 1 cup semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup heavy cream

***** Preheat oven to 325°F.
1. Microwave 1 cup water for 1 minute. Pour into bowl with 1 cup cocoa powder and 1 1/4 cups chocolate chips. Whisk together until smooth. Set aside.

2. Beat 2 1/2 sticks softened butter in mixer for about 30 seconds. If your butter just came out of the fridge, put it in the microwave for like 8 seconds at a time until its softened but not melted.
3. Add 2 1/2 cups packed brown sugar to butter. Beat on medium speed for about 3-4 minutes or until fluffy.

4. Add vanilla and eggs, 1 at a time, beating until incorporated after each addition.

5. Measure out your 2 1/4 cups flour, 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda, and 1 1/4 tsp. salt in a bowl.

Alternate adding your flour mixture and your sour cream to the bowl, beginning and ending with the flour.



6. After mixing in the sour cream and flour, pour in the melted chocolate and beat until fully incorporated. Scrape the bowl really well so that there are no light colored streaks of batter left.



 7. Fold in your 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips.

8. Prepare your Bundt Cake Pan. Mines from Williams Sonoma and its wonderful. I believe its the 15 cup size. Make sure yours is big enough because this makes a very big cake! IMPORTANT STEPS TO PREPARING YOUR PAN:

• Cover it completely with SHORTENING, not spray!
• Dust it with cocoa powder, not flour!
• Fill it evenly with the batter. 



 9. Bake for 60-70 minutes. Let it cool for 15 minutes before turning it out of the pan.

 

10. Make your ganache topping after the cake cools for a little while.

1. Heat 1/2 cup heavy cream in microwave for 45 seconds, or until very hot.
2. Pour over 1 cup chocolate chips and 2 Tbsp. butter
3. Whisk until melted and very smooth.
4. Pour over top of the cake. You can top with more chocolate chips, sprinkles, M&M's, or white chocolate chips are pretty on top too.

Here's more stupid chocolate meme's I found haha

Enjoy your chocolate cake, you freaks!

Not Just Chocolate Chip Cookies

Y'ALL.

These are the best cookies I have ever made, hands down. I saw the recipe on pinterest and the pictures of them looked so beautiful and perfect so naturally I wanted to try to compete with the pictures and see if I could make them look better. HA. They still weren't as pretty, but the taste and texture of these cookies surprised me cause they were so good!

They are so SOFT and CHEWY. And thick. Cornstarch is the ingredient in these that makes them this way. 

I unfortunately have made like 7 batches of these cookies in the past couple weeks. Today I woke up, went to the store and I got ingredients to bake these cookies. It's my day off, so why not? A couple hours later I decided I would be "good" and go to the gym INSTEAD of baking cookies. Which I did.....

Then I came home and made them anyway.

Shoot me. Not only did I make one batch, but 3. THREE different versions of this recipe.

Chocolate Chip with M&M's

Chocolate Chip with SPRINKLES

Not because sprinkles are necessarily tasty, but they're happy. And I'm a happy camper.

And last but not least, CHOCOLATE CHIP WITH CARAMEL BITS.

Why do I do this to myself? This is why my family hates me.

It just so happens that each batch of these cookies makes exactly 14 and ONE HALF cookies. What am I supposed to do with half a scoop of batter? ......

You have to taste the batter, just to make sure it isn't harmful to others.

Here's the recipe for these beautiful babes.

(originally from Sally's Baking Addiction )http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2013/05/13/chewy-chocolate-chunk-cookies/ 

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons corn starch

1 1/2 sticks butter, melted

3/4 cup (150g) brown sugar, NOT packed

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 whole egg + 1 egg yolk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup chocolate chips ( I use a little less )

1. Melt butter in microwave. Mix with sugars. Add vanilla and eggs. Mix until combined.

2. Combine flour, salt, soda, and corn starch in bowl. Add to butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla.

The dough will be VERY soft. Not like your normal cookie dough. This is because the butter is melted- but not to worry. The cookie dough will harden up in the fridge.

Stir in your chocolate chips. You can make plain chocolate chip cookies or you can dress them up a little. Instead of 1 cup chocolate chips, I did about 1/2 cup CC's and 1/2 cup M&M's.

I did the same for the ones with sprinkles and CC's, and also the ones with CC's and caramel bits. It honestly doesn't matter... the amounts. Just look at it and make sure it looks like there's enough.

Scoop your batter (about 3 tablespoons for each cookie) and shape it so that its like a tall cylinder. Forming the cookie dough into this shape is important because it helps the cookies stay thick when they are baked, rather than spreading out too much and being flat and yucky and ugly. Bleh.

 Refrigerate for 2 hours. I know it's hard to wait that long :(

Place them on the cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silpat. You could spray your pans too. Make sure they are a couple inches apart because these are big cookies.

Turn your oven on to 325 degrees F and bake for about 11 minutes. NO LONGER.

They WILL look underbaked, which they will be just a bit. They will continue to bake once you take them out of the oven and let them cool. Let them cool on the pan for 10 minutes then transfer them to a cooling rack to finish cooling completely.

M&M

SprANKLES.

Chocolate and Caramel

To end this off right I'll leave you with a smile, with no teefs. :)