Category: Sweet Treats

Recipes, Sweet Treats

Eggnog Christmas Cookies

Featuredby sugarandstorytime85251 Comment on Eggnog Christmas Cookies
Eggnog Christmas Cookies

So who doesn’t like the sweet eggnog flavour, reminiscent of the holiday spirit? As it turns out, a lot of people really dislike it, for some its the “egg” flavour or it is “too milky” or it does not have “enough spike”. Enter these scrumptious eggnog christmas cookies, one bite and I guarantee you’ll fall in love with them. Not to mention, your entire house will be smelling like christmas!

Eggnog Christmas Cookies

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 cups of flour
  • 2/3 cup light brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter
  • 1/2 cup raisins
  • 1/4 cup eggnog
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg
  • 1/8 cinnamon
  • 2 tsp rum
  • 1 egg yolk

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350. Line a baking pan with parchment paper or silicone mats.
  2. Whisk together all of your dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg), set aside.
  3. Grab a handful of your dry ingredients blend and coat your raisins in it (this will ensure that your raisins don’t sink to the bottom of your cookies).
  4. In a stand mixer, using the whisk attachment, or with a handheld mixer, beat the butter and the brown sugar until it reaches a light color and a fluffy consistency.
  5. Reduce speed and add the wet ingredients, one at a time (egg yolk, eggnog, rum).
  6. Slowly add the flour blend until combined, making sure you don’t overmix.
  7. Slowly, with the use of a spatula, fold in the raisins..
  8. Refrigerate your cookie dough for at least 4 hours or overnight.
  9. Portion your cookie dough with the use of an ice cream scoop. I used 1 1/2 tbs of dough for each cookie.
  10. Bake for approx. 9-12 min, or until the edges are golden.
  11. Transfer to cooling racks and let them cool completely.

Eggnog Glaze

Ingredients

  • 1 cup of powdered sugar
  • 1 tbs rum
  • 2tbs eggnog

Directions

  • Mix in all of the ingredients.
  • If the mixture is too runny, add more powdered sugar, one tbs at a time, until you reach your desired consistency.
  • Place your glaze in a piping bag and drizzle onto your cooled cookies.
  • Enjoy!

If you try this recipe, drop a comment down below and let me know how they turned out!

Recipes, Sweet Treats

Carrot Pineapple Bundt Cake Recipe

by sugarandstorytime85252 Comments on Carrot Pineapple Bundt Cake Recipe
Carrot Pineapple Bundt Cake Recipe

Fall couldn’t get here any faster, and, although this is a household favorite year-round recipe, it is particularly perfect for the cooler, fall days ahead. What I love the most about this Carrot Pineapple Bundt Cake recipe is that the cake is spongy with just the right amount of moist, and it is not overly sweet. The carrot and the pineapple really complement each other well in terms of flavour, and the walnuts give it just the right amount of crunch (not to mention that they are a fall staple ingredient). I know I’ve repeated myself a lot, but just picture yourself in a big, cozy sweater, under a fluffy blanket, drinking your first cup of coffee and having this cake for breakfast – really what fall dreams are made of, amiright?

So, without further ado, lets dive into this recipe so you can enjoy a piece of cake as soon as possible!

Ingredients:

Carrot Pineapple batter

  • 2 cups of flour
  • 2 cups of brown sugar
  • 2 tsps baking powder
  • 1.5 tsps baking soda
  • 4 eggs
  • 1.5 cups of vegetable oil (canola oil should work just as well)
  • 2.5 cups of grated carrots
  • 1 can of crushed pineapple (make sure you strain as much juice out of the pineapples as possible)
  • 2 cups of walnuts – optional (you can use pecans or the nuts of your choice)

Cream Cheese Glaze

  • 4 oz of cream cheese
  • 1/4 cup of unsalted butter
  • 2 tsps vanilla extract
  • 1 cup powdered sugar (confectioner’s sugar)

Directions

  1. Preheat your oven to 350C. While the oven is pre-heating, grease and flour a bundt pan and set aside.
  2. Sift all of the dry ingredients together (flour, baking soda, baking powder).
  3. Mix in the brown sugar and add eggs and vegetable oil. Mix until combined.
  4. Add in your grated carrots, walnuts and crushed pineapple. Make sure you remove as much juice from your grated pineapples as possible. You can do this by using a sieve or paper towel to squeeze the juice out.
  5. Pour your batter into the previously greased and floured bundt pan and bake for 45-55min or until a toothpick, when inserted, comes out dry.
  6. To remove, turn the bundt pan upside down onto a cooling rack.

To prepare the frosting:

  1. Beat together the butter, sugar, vanilla and cream cheese until smooth.
  2. Place the mixture into a microwave safe container and warm up in the microwave for 30s to a minute (depending on your microwave’s power). The glaze should be fairly liquid.
  3. Pour onto your cooled cake, serve and enjoy!

If you end up trying this recipe, let me know how it turned out! I’d love to hear your experience!

Recipes, Sweet Treats

Baby Friendly Smash Cake Recipe

Featuredby sugarandstorytime85255 Comments on Baby Friendly Smash Cake Recipe
Baby Friendly Smash Cake Recipe

In my cake baking days, I received so many “healthy” smash cake requests, and I remember thinking to myself ” A cake is a cake and it’s not meant to be healthy. Nothing will happen to the baby if they try a bit of sugar”. Now fast forward to today, that I am actually a mom, I was scouring the internet looking for healthy recipes because God forbid I give Hazel a bit of sugar… the irony doesn’t elude me, I have to say.

I am extremely picky when it comes to certain ingredients, mainly shredded coconut and coconut milk, I can’t stand the taste. So I was looking for options that didn’t call for coconut. I also wanted something with as few ingredients as possible. I saw quite a few recipes that called for 3 or 4 different types of flour and all sorts of ingredients that are not pantry staples at my house. Everything I found online had either all sorts of uncommon ingredients, or coconut. I was about to just stick to regular cake, but, as luck may have it, a mom friend of mine shared a healthy muffin recipe that was just perfect. It contains no added sugar and uses fruits and dates as natural sweeteners.

I tweaked the recipe a bit to make it my own and here is what I came up with:

Orange & Date Cake (or muffins)

Yields: 24 muffins or three 5 inch cakes

Storage: 3-4 days in the refrigerator or 2 months in the freezer

Ingredients:

Batter:

  • 1 1/2 cups of freshly squeezed orange juice
  • 1 cup of warm water
  • 1/2 of cup of finely chopped dates
  • The zest of one orange
  • 2 eggs
  • 3 tbs canola oil
  • 1 cup of whole wheat flour
  • 2 cups of baby cereal (I used Gerber’s organic oatmeal cereal – use the cereal of your choice
  • 2 tsps baking powder

Frosting

  • 1 cup of cream cheese
  • 1 cup of greek yogurt
  • 3 tbs maple syrup or, if baby is over 12mo, pure honey

Directions

  1. Preheat your oven to 400F
  2. Line a 24 muffin pan with paper liners or grease three 5 inch round pans
  3. In a blender or food processor, blend together the orange juice, water, chopped dates, eggs, oil and orange zest
  4. In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients together. Slowly add the wet ingredients until the mixture is fully incorporated. You can use a wodden spoon, spatula or hand held mixer to do this.
  5. Pour the batter into the muffin pan, making sure you fill each mold 3/4 up to the line. If you are baking a cake, divide the batter into three equal parts and pour into your cake pans.
    • For muffins: bake from 12- 15 min
    • For 5 inch cake pans: bake approximately 30-35mins
  6. Once baked, remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack before frosting.

Frosting

  1. With the use of a hand held mixer or a whisk (whisk attachment on a stand mixer), beat together the greek yogurt, cream cheese and maple syrup.
  2. Frost or pipe as desired.

To decorate the cake, I made a #1 cake topper using pale pink fondant. I added a few little fondant flowers and used Fancy Sprinkles Prism Powder to add a touch of shimmer. I also sprinkled a bit of Fancy Sugar to add a dainty touch of color.

Now tell me, are you team healthy cake or do you prefer a more traditional, sugar full cake for a smash cake? No judgement here, I am strong advocate of “everything in moderation”!