It's the Inside that Matters

Good evening and thank you for joining me for another episode of  "Sydney's Kitchen Adventure." I'm your host, Sydney Schultz...

Kidding, but for cereal, welcome to my blog: if you've never been here, thank you for stopping by, if you've been here before, thanks for coming back!

Let me begin with an English lesson:

Nutella: [nuˈtɛlla]: Happiness in a jar.

Okay, that was the lesson. There will be a pop quiz, so make sure you understand.

Enough joking, here's the deal:  I made cookies a week or so ago...and the idea kind of really blew my mind. I mean cookies are good enough to start with but stuff a cookie with Nutella and it's practically like eating magic.

I was a bit confused by the instructions on the site I found the recipe on, so I adapted it to make more sense.... at least to me...

Nutella Sugar Cookies:

1/2 cup Nutella

2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups plus 1/3 cup granulated sugar, divided

7/8 cups butter, softened

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

*Using a teaspoon, scoop out Nutella and place small drops on a lined cookie sheet. Put in the freezer until the dough is ready. (1)

*Preheat the oven to 350*
*In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
*Use a mixer to beat together the butter and 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar on medium until light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Beat in the eggs and vanilla.
*Turn the mixer to low and beat in the flour mixture until just combined. 
*Place 1/3 cup granulated sugar in a small bowl for later

 *Use about 2 tablespoons of dough for each cookie, scoop dough onto cookie sheet. They spread quite a bit so leave an inch or so of room between each one. (2)

*Using spatula, lift the mounds of Nutella from the baking sheet and press into the middle of each cookie. (3) If the Nutella starts getting soft, toss it back in the freezer for a few minutes.
*Make sure the dough covers the mound of Nutella. (4)

*Sprinkle the sugar you put aside previously over each cookie (5)

*Bake for 10 to 13 minutes. The centers should till be soft and puffy.
*Remove the cookies from the oven and cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

And because words are confusing, here's the picture version of those instructions!

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

I imagine you could use any sugar cookie recipe...and shove some Nutella inside.

Also, I found that the mound of Nutella didn't really spread out like I would've liked it to. When scooping out the Nutella, I would suggest spreading it out into more of a disk than just a mound. 

What nice looking sugar cookies.... BAM! Nutella filled!

What a pleasant surprise!

Well thanks again for stopping by, I'm going to go continue listening to Christmas music. Only 50 days, you know!

xoxo

Syd

If You "carrot" all...

Well here I am, finally getting around to a post about baking. I would apologize but it would be very insincere, so there for I won't. Sorry...for not being sorry. Camp has slowly but surely consumed basically every ounce of free time I have and I don't exactly have an oven in my dorm so it makes this whole baking blog thing a bit difficult. I did, however, spend the afternoon baking today so I should be stocked with recipes for a while now.

Anywho..

My last experience with carrot cake was terrible. It was for a wedding cake I made last summer. Long story short, the recipe was so heavy my cakes fell in the middle and were just a mess to work with. But I got her done.

So needless to say, I was a tad weary to try carrot cake again. But I left it in the hands of google to tell me which was a good recipe and I'd say it turned out pretty great.

I'm not normally a big Wilton recipe fan, but this one didn't start off with saying "buy a cake mix..." so I thought it would be safe to test out.

And what carrot cake is complete without cream cheese icing?

And now, for your baking pleasure, here's the recipe:

Wilton Carrot Cake:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups white sugar
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 cups (2-ish big ones) carrots (shredded)
• 2/3 cup nuts chopped

*Preheat oven to 350°F.

*Combine flour, sugar, cinnamon and baking soda.

*In large bowl, beat eggs with electric mixer until foamy; add oil and mix well.

*Add flour mixture to egg mixture; mix well. 

*Fold in carrots and nuts.

*Scoop into lined cupcake tin and bake for 18-20 minutes

Isn't it just the cutest little guy ever?

And here's the frosting recipe:

Cream Cheese Icing:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 8 oz cream cheese
• 2-3 cups icing sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

*With an electric mixer, mix together the butter and cream cheese until completely smooth
*Add the vanilla extract

*Slowly add the icing sugar until it's as sweet as you want it to be (I used 2 cups)

*Spread or pipe the icing onto your cake or cupcakes.

My darling friend Robyn turned 18 a few weeks ago and since carrot cake is her favorite, that's what she got! Happy Birthday, Robyn!

Well I hope autumn has been as good to you as it has to me.

May you continue to wear pretty scarves, throw leaves at your friends, and sip tea by a fireplace. 

xoxo

Syd