Inkredible Stamping with Julie

Meyer Lemon Shortbread Cookies for Share Our Strength Bake Sale

Hi Stampers,

This morning (Saturday April 28) was the Great American Food Blogger Bake Sale for Share our Strength and even though I'm not a "Food Blogger" per say - Mom loves to bake and I love to make things pretty so of course we had to participate!

Two of my favorite bloggers, Stefani of Cupcake Project and Kimberly of Rhubarb and Honey cordinated the St. Louis bake sale again this year!

If you follow my Facebook page you've seen a few sneak peeks of the cookies as we were working on baking them.

I had some fabulous and fresh Meyer Lemons from my produce coop this week so we decided to bake Meyer Lemon Shortbread cookies - my first time trying them and it's a new FAVORITE cookie for me! We used this recipe from they Merry Gourmet. We also made up her Meyer Lemon glaze to ice the top of each cookie and hold the fondant on.

I cut the cookies out using the approx 3" scallop cutter from the  Scallop and Round Biscuit and Cookie Cutter Set

I LOVE this set of cookie cutters - it's perfect for the crafter in me who likes to work with graduated sizes of circles even when I'm baking! :)

To Decorate the cookies I used the flower image from the Sweet Pressed Cookie Stamps (See Them Online). Pressed the cookie stamp into fondant to get the image and then used the round side of the cookie cutter set to cut out the fondant. I placed the fondant on the cookies while the glaze was still wet.

and since I LOVE my glitter - I had to use a little pearl luster dust (A foodie's version of glitter) to add some sparkle to the center of the flowers.

Next I made up a label for each cookie using My Digital Studio, cut the label out using the Framelits Labels die and attached it as a topper to a cello bag with a cookie inside. (All those products are avaliable in my Stampin' Up! Store) Repeat this several times and you have a box full of cookies to take to the bake sale!

We also made some breads for the bake sale - but since I've rambled on much longer than normal :) - I'll come back another day to share those with you!!

P.S. if you want to see some of my favorite tools to use when I'm baking (or rather decorating Mom's baking) check out my Sweet Pressed Cookies Inspiration Board on Pinterest.

Makin' Whoopie Pies for Sweets and Stamping...

Hi Stampers,

If you follow me on Facebook you saw my post about Making Whoopie pies for our Sweets and Stamping Crop last night. They were a big hit and I wanted to share the recipes with you. Enjoy...

Dark Chocolate Whoopie Pies with White Chocolate Raspberry Fluff Filling
Makes 24 two-inch whoopie pies

Adapted from the Classic Chocolate Whoopie Pies and Classic Marshmallow recipes in the Whoopie Pies cookbook written by Sarah Billingsley and Amy Treadwell.

For The Cake:

1 ⅔ cups all-purpose flour
⅔ cup unsweetened Hershey’s Cocoa Special Dark powder
1½ teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 tablespoons vegetable shortening
1 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup milk

For The Filling:

1½ cups Marshmallow Fluff (or other prepared marshmallow cream, which will do in a pinch)
1¼ cups vegetable shortening
1 cup confectioners sugar
2 drops Red Food Coloring (optional)
1 packet of White Chocolate Raspberry Daiquiri Mix (Dove Chocolate Discoveries)

Instructions
To Make The Cakes:

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 375°. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt onto a sheet of wax paper. In the work bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter, shortening and brown sugar on low speed until just combined. Increase the speed to medium and beat until fluffy and smooth, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat for another 2 minutes.

Add half of the flour mixture and half of the milk to the batter and beat on low until just incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the remaining flour mixture and the remaining ½ cup milk and beat until completely combined.

Using a tablespoon sized cookie scoop, drop about 1 tablespoon of batter onto one of the prepared baking sheets; repeat, spacing the rounds at least 2 inches apart. (Note: You can use a spoon to drop the batter but the cookie scoop helps keep the cookies round and even.)

Bake one sheet at a time for about 10 minutes each, or until the rounds spring back when pressed gently. Remove from the oven and let the cakes cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool completely.

To Make The Filling:

While the cakes are cooling, In the work bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the Marshmallow Fluff and the vegetable shortening, staring on low and increasing to medium speed until the mixture is smooth and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce mixer speed to low, add the confectioners’ sugar, 2 drops of red food coloring, and the White Chocolate Raspberry mix, and beat until incorporated. Increase mixer speed to medium and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes more.

To Assemble the Whoopie Pies:

  Spread filling onto the flat side of one cake. Use a pastry bag with a large round tip to pipe the filling onto the cake for a smooth neat look or use a spoon and spread the filling on. Top with another cake flat side down. Gently roll the edges of the Whoopie pie in pink decorative sugar to decorate. Repeat with remaining cakes and serve.

We also made Red Velvet Whoopie Pies (can you tell it is almost Valentines Day!) :)

I found the recipe for theese Whoopie Pies on Sand and Sisal (Kim Wilson's Blog)

I like that the cakes used a cake mix (instead of being from scratch) so they went together VERY quickly!

I wanted a more classic Cream Cheese filling for these Whoopie Pies though. (Kim did more of a frosting filling.) So I used this recipe for the filling from BHG.

Cream Cheese Filling

1/4 cup softened butter
1/2 an 8 ounce package softened cream cheese
7 ounce jar marshmallow creme

Directions In medium mixing bowl beat butter and cream cheese until smooth. Fold in marshmallow creme.

Whoopie pies are quickly becoming on of my new favorite sweet things!! I love that you can combine cakes and fillings for so many different possibilities!

What's your favorite Sweet flavor combo??

Sweet Pressed Cookie Box & Card

Bake up a sweet gift for your Valentine! The Sweet Pressed Cookie stamp makes it easy to make up pretty and tasty cookies. Package them up in a box and add the cordinating card for a gift that will WOW!

This project was created by Lynn and is avaliable when you subscribe to Craft Project Central for December.