Welcome to The Cookie Monster, a blog about the most marvelous, versatile, and beloved bakeable item in the land: The cookie. You may see occassional forays into pies, bars, and other sweet treats, but my main focus is and has always been on the bite sized genius behind my very favorite snack. Happy Baking!

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Dark Chocolate Sugar Cookies


Yayyy!  I finally managed to bake something.  It was quite a process and it wasn't easy, what with the feedings and burpings and changes in between.  but I did it successfully and now I'm attempting to even blog about it.  Go me, Go.

I found this lovely recipe on pinterest and its really quite delicious and very Oreo-like.  I think I'll even try that sometime with a simple sandwich cookie.  But this time around, i decorated some sugar cookies for our upstairs neighbors, who just welcomed a little person of there own, only a few days before us.



Ingredients:
1/2 lb. (two US sticks) butter
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups plus 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
1 scant cup dark cocoa powder
Pinch of salt

So, this little adventure started out with this....


You see: sleeping baby.  I see: Opportunity. So I gathered my baking tools.  Which included cookie cutters, and a baby monitor...


Then I got to work!


First off, I whipped up the dough according to the recipe.  Then I went to feed the baby and came back several hours later....

 
Roll out, and cut into various baby and holiday themed shapes.

 
I particularly liked the advice to refrigerate the cut outs for 30 minutes, which allowed them to better keep their shape in the oven.  Fabulous advice.  And gave me an opportunity to check on this guy.
 
 
Bake for 25 minutes at 350F

 
So, that was about all I could accomplish in one parenting filled day.  However, after a night of hanging out in tupperware, I managed to whip up some quick frosting and decorate these bad boys.
 
 
 
I decorated a few for us too, some were cuter than others.  The Christmas bells were particularly bad.
 
 
 
Into a little gift box  and we're ready for delivery!
 
 
Hopefully it wont be too long until my next baking endeavor.  I'll definitely be doing some Christmas baking if time (and Hunter) allows!
 
Happy Holidays!

Monday, December 10, 2012

Gingerbread Baby Madness


Hey everyone!  Happy Holidays!  In true Buell family fashion yesterday was our first Gingerbread Man baking day for the year.  This time around we had a couple new helpers added to the tradition, My baby cousin, Aubrie Lorraine...


And my son, Hunter James!

 
Hunter got to meet 3 of his great aunties...
 
 
 
 
And we made a crap load of gingerbread men.
 
 
 
Quality family time all around :)
 
 
This week, I'm really really really going to bake some new fun cookies.  I promise.  I've decided to start saying no to so many visits so I can get some stuff done and get a handle on this "mom" thing.  Stay tuned!
 

Friday, December 7, 2012

News!

Hey blog folk! Its been far too long since I posted a new treat, and believe me, I've made baking attempts in the last few weeks. Unfortunately, a little certain someone keeps interfering with my well intended efforts:


Introducing, Hunter James DiStefano! This little cookie tester was born November 14th at 9:17 PM after lots of labor and an unplanned c-section. We are totally in love with our little time-sink baby, but daily activities and hobbies have suffered as we figure out this whole "parenting" adventure.

Regularly scheduled cookie programming will continue in due time. Until then, I'll be doing a lot if this:



Happy baking!