Tunes To Bake To Playlist

With only 2 days to go before the big day, I’ll be spending my evening prepping pie crust and polishing silver. With that in mind, I made a new playlist yesterday suitable for all your baking, cooking, and dancing in the kitchen needs. Listen below or click here to follow this playlist on Spotify.

Birthday Cake Candle Alternatives

Birthday Cake Candle Alternatives | Hannah & Husband

Today happens to be the birthday of one handsome husband! He shares the day with our favorite local TV personality, Abby Ham. So today I was up bright and early to talk birthday cakes with Abby on Mornings with Fox 43. Yesterday, I took a little poll via social media to find out what people would most like to learn and the winner (hands-down) was birthday cake candle alternatives. So here are 4 fun ways to decorate a birthday cake, no candles required!

Birthday Cake Candle Alternatives | Hannah & Husband Birthday Cake Candle Alternatives | Hannah & Husband Birthday Cake Candle Alternatives | Hannah & Husband Birthday Cake Candle Alternatives | Hannah & Husband

Old-Fashioned Sugar Cookie Recipe from Woo-Woo

Woo-Woo's Sugar Cookie Recipe | Hannah & Husband

When I was little, baking with Woo-Woo (my grandmother) was one of my very favorite activities. Last year around this time, I shared the story of winning 1st place at the church baking competition with her pumpkin pie on my personal blog. This year, as we get closer to the season of family and houseguests, I wanted to tell you about her sugar cookies.

 Woo-Woo baked a few dozen sugar cookies for every holiday. They were huge cookies that were bunny shapes and Christmas tree shapes and snowmen shapes–all with a layer of pale pastel buttercream frosting. I used to think the recipes was her mothers. Then, when I finally got her to show me the recipe, she pulled out a newspaper clipping  that I believe she got from my Aunt Judy. It read: “Mom’s Soft Sugar Cookies”–so it was someone’s mom just not her’s! Regardless, each year when Fall arrives, I feel the urge to bake these cookies. They take a little time, so it’s worth it to make a couple batches at once and share with friends just like she did.

Woo-Woo's Sugar Cookie Recipe | Hannah & Husband

Cookie Ingredients:

3 14 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. soda
12 tsp. salt
12 cup soft butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg unbeaten
1 12 tsp. vanilla
12 cup thick sour cream

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Woo-Woo's Sugar Cookie Recipe | Hannah & Husband

Sift together flour, soda, and salt.

Combine butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla.

Beat together and add sour cream and flour mixture gradually.

Wrap up the dough in plastic and stick it in the fridge for about an hour.

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Preheat over to 375°F.

Roll out on a floured board until 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. (These stay pretty thick. The trick is to make sure that they’re all around the same size so that they cook evenly.)

Sprinkle with sugar, roll in lightly.

Cut into shapes and place on a greased cookie sheet.

Bake 12 minutes or until golden brown.

Cool completely.

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Buttercream Frosting Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter
1/8 tsp. salt
1 lb. confectioners’ sugar
2 egg yolks or 1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
2 Tbsp. milk

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Cream butter until soft and add salt.

Gradually add part of sugar to the butter.

Blend in egg and vanilla.

Add remaining sugar alternately with milk until it is of spreading consistency.

Add food coloring. I have recently fallen in love with Wilton Gel Coloring. Start with an 18 tsp. because it adds a lot of bold color very quickly.

Ice your cookies.

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Click here to print the recipe, and please let us know if you bake any for the holidays!

 

 

Getting ready for the Weekend

If there’s one way to ensure a perfect start to your weekend, it’s to get all the right pieces in place the night before. Husband and I like to start our Saturday mornings slowly–lying on the couch, reading, sipping coffee, listening to NPR. So often, on Friday nights, I’ll make these muffins and get the coffee maker ready so that all we have to do is make our plates and relax. As a bonus, they smell absolutely delicious and happen to make just enough that you can eat one on Friday for a midnight snack if you’re so inclined.

Blueberry Muffins

1 1/2 c All-Purpose Flour
3/4 c Sugar
1/2 tsp Salt
2 tsp Baking Powder

1/3 c Vegetable Oil
1 egg
1/3 c milk
1/3 c Greek Yogurt *

1 1/4 c fresh blueberries

Cinnamon + Sugar **

Directions: 

  • Preheat over to 400°F and grease a muffin tin. This recipe should make 10 muffins.
  • Mix together dry ingredients. Then, mix together your wet ingredients to make a nice batter.
  • Fold in the fresh blueberries.
  • Use an ice cream scoop to scoop mixture into muffin tin.
  • Bake for 18 minutes.
  • Pull out and top with cinnamon + sugar.
  • Put back into the oven and bake for another 3 minutes.

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The dairy products in this recipe can be played with quite a bit without losing the muffin’s perfect texture… It all depends on what you’ve got in your fridge. I’ve used a bit of sour cream, heavy cream, and I’m sure buttermilk would add a lovely little dimension.

** We always have cinnamon + sugar mixture in an airtight container to use on muffins, on toast, in drinks, etc. Just another thing to make your life a little easier!