Easter Sweets a time to celebrate!

Carrot Cupcakes with White Chocolate and Cream Cheese Icing

Best Ever Sugar Cookie cutouts with Royal Icing

Easter has always been special, especially when my children were little.  But this Easter my nest was nearly empty and it was really bothering me.  My daughter and her husband Josh were in San Francisco serving the college community of San Francisco state for Campus Crusade, my youngest son Phillip (PJ) was away at college.  Having children over 20 meant no Easter Egg hunts, no fights over who got the most eggs, no Easter dresses or outfits for the boys...  But it was Easter, the day our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ died for our sins and it is a time to celebrate.  My oldest son Bryan provided me with the perfect opportunity to go overboard in the feast portion of the celebration.  His girlfriend Laura Jayne is English and it was her first Easter away from home.  It was a perfect opportunity  to get crazy with the baked goods - especially for a girl that LOVES sweets.  Now making Sugar Cookie cut outs is no small task.  In addition to the three hours they have to sit in the refrigerator coupled with baking time and then an hour or two of decorating...cut out cookies are a big commitment.  Deluxe Sugar Cookies (recipe below) are definitely worth the time.  Not only are these cookies beautiful but I am pretty confident this sugar cookie recipe and royal icing is one of the best out there.  I say this only after many years of trial and error- remember tried and true.  In the absence of my chief decorator (my daughter Alex Waidley) I decided to enlist Laura's help to decorate the sugar cookies - which also gave me an opportunity to spend time with her.  (A double bonus!)  Now you would think sugar cookies would be enough sweets for Easter Sunday especially considering it was only the four of us for Easter.  But NOOOO I had to try a new Carrot Cupcake recipe too.  The Carrot Cupcake recipe was an experiment and has now joined the "tried and true" category as they are delicious and moist.  I omitted the nuts since my son doesn't like them and they were great.  Needless to say we didn't make a dent in the desserts on Easter Sunday but we sure had a lot of fun and thoroughly enjoyed the day and all of the food and dessert I cooked up.

A traditional English Easter Egg coupled with our Traditional See's Easter Bunnies!  Way too much sugar!

Recipes:

Carrot Cupcakes with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing:  Courtesy of AllRecipes.com  I omitted the walnuts and they were great!

Deluxe Sugar Cookies:  Courtesy of Betty Crocker's Christmas Cookbook 1982

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 cup butter softened

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

Mix powdered sugar, butter, egg, vanilla and almond extract.  Stir in flour, baking soda and cream of tartar.  (I combine them first and then add them).  Divide in to two circles, cover with saran wrap and refrigerate for at least three hours.

Heat oven to 375 degrees.  Roll each half 3/16th of an inch thick on a lightly floured cloth covered board.  I use a Silpat mat on a granite counter top...it is the 20th century version!  The first roll is going to be a little difficult but the dough will relax and each subsequent roll of the remaining doubh gets easier.  Now here comes my refinement from the original recipe.  This is because if you bake the cookies right after you roll them they will lose some of their crisp edges and shape.  So I place the cookies on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  I then put them in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before baking them.  Now when you bake them they will brown up nicely and they won't lose their shape.  Bake the cookies for 7-8 minutes until edges are light brown.  Decorate as desired.  Word to the wise; don't double this recipe because no matter times I have tried they are better if you make them a batch at a time.  See what I mean, tried and true!

Perfect Royal Icing...and trust me my daughter and I have tried them all!  This recipe floats beautifully and after a few hours dries hard; which is what you want from a Royal Icing.

1/2 cup meringue powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 Boxes Confectioners sugar sifted (7 1/2 cups)

1 1/2 cups cool water

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

Place the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.  Add the cool water, and stir slowly to dissolve the sugar and to avoid a powder sugar explosion in your kitchen.  That's my two cents.  Mix on low speed at first, increasing to high speed over several minutes.  Beat until the icing is fluffy and forms soft peaks.  

Fluffy icing at the soft peak stage is great for lines, dots or flooding.  Try drizzling it in a bowl, it should run together smoothly within a count to 10.  There is a trick to this but you will get it down in no time.  For stiff icing that will hold fine detail, continue to beat at a high speed until the icing holds peaks that stand straight.  Most of your icing should be the fluffy type.  

Keep icing covered with Saran Wrap or a damp towel until you are ready to use it.  I divide the icing in to smaller containers to make beautiful colors.  I highly recommend the purchase of a decorating set like the one they have on King Arthur's flour website.

I hope you enjoy these recipes.  The Deluxe Sugar Cookies are a family tradition and not a Christmas goes by that we don't have these.  My daughter Alex is the master decorator of the family.  Check out Sweet Lady Sass on BlogSpot to see her awesome decorations in the month of December.  

Until next time!  Enjoy