Apple Cream Cheese Turnovers
What's more delicious than an apple cream cheese turnover? Or are these hand pies? Is there a difference? I'm not sure, but I do know that this is my new favorite pastry breakfast. These turnovers are chock full of spiced apples and fluffy cream cheese that melts in your mouth. The flaky crust is drizzled in a thick cinnamon cream cheese icing and is the perfect amount of sweetness.
These turnovers come together quickly and can be made in the morning before your family rises, but they are also delicious cold from the refrigerator with a hot cup of coffee!
Apples
I made these turnovers with tangy Granny apples. I wanted an apple that could be baked without becoming mushy and one that had some tang to cut the sweetness. These were perfect! They are coarsely chopped and spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg. You want to cook your apples until they are softened, but not completely broken down. My kids kept sneaking bites out of the pan - little stinkers!
Crust
I used my favorite pie crust for these turnovers. It's an excellent recipe from Six Figures Under and I usually have several crusts in the freezer at any given time. I used this same recipe for my popular peach hand pie too! You can use it for savory dishes as well - I love it in my chicken pot pie. It is a shortening based dough - if you are new to crusts, you will appreciate it's forgiving nature.
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Apple Cream Cheese Turnovers
By Jenny Rodriguez
These flaky turnovers are filled with cinnamon spiced Granny apples and layered with fluffy cream cheese. Incredibly delicious and perfect for a Sunday morning.
Prep time: 20
Cook time: 20
Total time: 40
Yield: 5 large turnovers
Ingredients:
2 raw pie crusts (store bought or homemade)
1 tbsp butter
2 small Granny apples, peeled and coarsely chopped
2 tbsp + 1/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
2 tbsp all purpose flour
1/4 cup white sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1-2 tbsp milk
Instructions:
Kids in the Kitchen
Since I have 3 kids at home, I try to get them in the kitchen as much as possible. In baking there truly is a ton of science and precision needed. And well it's yummy and fun. I also find they open up about what's on their mind while our hands are busy making meals.
There are several steps in this recipe that can be done by kids of various ages. They can pick the apples, peel them and chop them coarsely. Have them add the spices and whip the icing, too. Such amazing life skills and bonding moments with a delicious breakfast when you're done.
XO,
Jenny
Patriotic Cupcakes
This week I made a batch of patriotic cupcakes for one of our most favorite neighbors. Ron and his wife live across the street from us and are just the most amazing friends. My son runs over there daily to see what Ron is up to and sit on the porch with him. They spoil my kids rotten and are always looking out for us. When I heard that he was turning 75. I wanted to make something special for him and to honor him as a Vietnam Veteran.
I love making fondant cupcake toppers right now. It's such a low stress way to play with fondant and learn more about it. The toppers are easy to make and can be easily peeled off if it's not your favorite flavor; there is a generous mound of delicious buttercream underneath!
Aren't they so sweet? They are also crazy perfect for the 4th of July! You still have time to whip these up and enjoy while you watch the fireworks.
Materials
- fondant
- food gel color (Americolor sky blue and super red)
Tools
- small heart cookie cutter
- star fondant extruder
You will just need about a fist sized amount of fondant to create these American flag heart toppers. Split it up into 3 bowls and dye two of them blue and red. I always wear disposable gloves when I work with fondant, especially during the dye time. Fondant picks up any dust available to it and the dye will leave your hands colored for days!
Roll out your blue fondant to about 1/8" thick and with the star extruder, punch a ton of stars out. I used 3 stars on every heart topper. You may want to punch extra out just in case. Set them aside in a dark, cool spot to dry and stiffen up.
Roll out your red fondant to somewhere between 1/4-1/8" thick and create hearts with your cookie cutter. Just cut out as many as needed and you can soften the edges with your fingers tips if needed. If you have left over fondant, cover it with Crisco and keep in an airtight Ziploc for later use!
Carefully paint a small dab of water on the left side of the red hearts and press the blue stars down. The water acts as glue for fondant, but you really only need the smallest amount or you will have a mess! Aren't they so fun already?
Now it's time to add stripes to that ol' American flag! Roll out your white fondant to 1/8" thick and cut out hearts with the same cookie cutter. Using a very sharp knife, slice the hearts in half and then stripes. Each half heart will give you enough strips for 2 red hearts - you need to leave space for the "red stripes".
Just like the blue stars, paint a small bit of water on the right side of the heart where you will be placing the white stripes. Gently add the stripes and press them down.
Set these yummy cupcake toppers aside to stiffen up. You will want to place them on the cupcakes right before serving. The buttercream softens the fondant quite quick and you don't want a soggy topper!
Ron just loved his patriotic birthday cupcakes and I know that your guests will love these as much on the 4th of July! They are sweet, easy and beaming with American pride.
Happy 4th of July!
XO,
Jenny
Oh Snap - Camera Cookie Tutorial
Who else out there still madly loves their camera? In the era of phone cameras, I see less Nikons and Canons around, but I still adore my Nikon camera and use it when I can. Not to mention that cameras are gorgeous pieces of technology! I thought it would be fun to create some sweet camera cookies for National Camera Day. These would also be the sweetest thank you gift for the amazing photographer in your life.
These camera cookies are a snap to make! You can make them with a square or rectangle cookie cutter. I stacked a few mini hearts in the lens for some of my cookies - I love that layered look! Have you ever layered a cookie for added dimension?
Materials
- square or rectangle cookie
- flood royal icing in: white, aqua blue and grey
- Flood a white lens in the center of your camera.
- Flood the bottom half of camera in aqua blue.
- Flood a thick white stripe above the aqua blue.
- Flood the top part of the camera in grey. Do not flood all the way to the top, you need room to ice a few dials.
All of these steps were done wet-on-wet, there is outline piping and it can cover any mishaps. If you don't like to wet-on-wet, you can dry before moving on to the next step.
- Pipe a small white rectangle in the grey icing while it's still wet, this will allow it to flow together.
- Pipe two small "dials" on the top of the camera on either side.
- Pipe an outline of the camera and lens reflection in grey icing.
- Add an iced mini heat to the lens if desired. I think it makes it super cute!!
Want to see a quick fun video on how I created mine? Just click the movie above! You'll see it's quick, low stress and so cute. You can change these up easy with some decorative touches or changing the colors up a bit. I think they are a perfect thank you gift for a special photographer in your life.
Are you looking for a perfect royal icing recipe? Come read mine - I use this recipe just about every day of the week! Oh snap - you're going to have the cutest cookies ever.
XO,
Jenny
Dreamy Pastel Unicorn Cookies
Do you dream of pastel unicorn cookies? Me too! These sweet unicorns were a recent request and I just fell in love. These are pretty easy to do and you'll find that they are wildly adored. Wouldn't these be a perfect dessert for a baby shower or girly birthday party? Maybe as a cupcake topper on a bed of fluffy white buttercream.
Materials
Although pastel icing isn't my go-to palette, I find that I'm working with it more and more. There's something about the soft sweetness that calls to me when I'm working with babies, weddings and magical sweets. To create this soft palette, I use the tiniest amount of Americolor gel in royal icing. This palette used: electric pink, electric orange, lemon yellow, leaf green, sky blue and violet.
My unicorn cutter was from one of my favorite Etsy sellers, Bobbi's Cookie Cutters. The shape is perfect - the horn and nose are not too long and fragile. These could easily be shipped in the mail with little fear of breakage.
And all that sparkly goodness on the pastel mane? Totally edible and delicious! You can pick yours up at Bakery Bling. I was over the MOON when I found this glitter - so much on the market is just non-toxic, which does not equate edible. This one is completely edible and has incredible sheen!
The unicorn is completed with some shiny gold touches. I used my favorite edible gold paint on the horn, snout and closed eyelid. It adds such a shiny sparkle to the cookies - a perfect touch to these magical cookies.
I just adore these magical unicorn cookies so much, I think it's my 80's inner child that misses unicorns. These are fun to make, you'll love having fun with the sweet mane. I hope you make these - let me know if you do! Want to watch my quick video? Click the movie above to see how I created mine.
Jenny
Shark Week Cookies
Squee - Shark Week is just around the corner! Are you ready? This is my first year of embracing the cult phenomenon, but I'm excited. Being the librarian that I was, I'm going to use Shark Week as a time to teach my kids about why sharks are cool and shouldn't be vilified, but I'm also going to teach you a totally creepy shark cookie!
No special cutter is required - I simply grabbed my largest oval and hacked off a bit off the top. You want to give him a pointed nose, but don't stress over the exactness. I was also thinking this shark cookie would be perfect on a cupcake! Can't you just picture his sweet face on a mountain of cool blue buttercream? Yum!
Materials Needed:
- oval cutter - just slice the tops into a pointy shape
- royal icing flood consistency - black, red, maroon,white and grey
- royal icing piping consistency - white
The first step is to flood the edge of the shark in grey. I created mine to look as if you can only see most of one side, but you can make him symmetrical if you prefer. I just wanted to make that side-eye creepy look!
My grey icing was created by using just a touch of Americolor black gel. Go slow when you are adding your colors - much easier to go too dark too quick. There is a great post on Lilaloa on how to create awesome pastel colors.
While the grey icing is still wet, carefully fill in the rest of the shark with flood white and leave an opening for his mouth. His mouth almost looks like a pair of boxer shorts, lol! Just keep it blank for now, we're coming right back to it.
Using a small cut in a tipless bag or using about a 2 tip, outline the mouth in bright red while the white icing is still wet. Take this slow and easy, as not to get too far into the white.
Now fill in the remainder of the mouth with a flood level consistency of maroon. Ideally, you want all of this background to melt into each other in the wet-on-wet style. If that's stressful or you have problems with colors bleeding, feel free to dry in a dehydrator between each color layer.
Now come back with a finely cut black icing bag and outline the grey areas of the shark, add an eye, outline the mouth and a few noncontinuous lines on his head. You will be surprised at how much this can help pop the colors and it can cover some minors mistakes if they were made.
And the final touch? Some sharp, irregular shark teeth! I used a piping thick white icing and added two lines of triangles. You can use a toothpick or icing scribe to elongate some of the teeth to sharp, long points.
Are you so excited for Shark Week? Do you have any favorite treats or traditions? This is our first year embracing it and I can't wait! These cookies are so fun and I hope you try them.
XO,
Jenny
Perfect Peach Mini Pies
Who doesn't love pies? I mean really, is there anything more perfect? From all American apple pie to rich, German chocolate. I love them all. And I love them even more when it's mini, because all desserts are even cuter when they are mini versions. Doesn't the little sugar encrusted lattice top kill you? It will slay at your next party!
This recipe makes a perfect dozen that fits in your regular muffin pan. You can easily double this recipe if you are in need of more for your occasion. These pies can be served hot with a big scoop of vanilla bean ice cream melting on top or they are amazing cold the next morning (someone has been known to eat one for breakfast.. what? It's fruit...) And their small size will make it easy for your party - no messy cutting and serving!
Pie Crust
Are you looking for an amazing pie crust recipe? I was too and I found my favorite crust recipe over at Six Figures Under! This pie crust recipe is crazy easy, fool proof and makes 20! I know 20 sounds like a lot of pie crusts, but I think you will be surprised by how fast you will use them and they freeze wonderfully. It is a shortening based crust which is far easier to create during these hot summer months too. Do you have a favorite crust recipe? Let me know in the comments!
Peaches
When you go to buy your peaches, there are usually lots of choices: white, yellow, cling, donut, etc. For this recipe, any variety will be fine - just pick what looks the most delicious. I've baked with just about every kind and they are all wonderful. I haven't found that peaches get soggy in pies like some other fruits can. In this featured recipe, I used yellow cling peaches and they were yummy!
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Perfect Peach Mini Pies
By Jenny Rodriguez
These mini lattice topped peach pies will be wildly adored before they are gobbled up. Full of fresh chopped peaches and topped with a sugar crust drizzled in cinnamon glaze.
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time:
Yield: 12 mini peach pies
Ingredients:
2 pie crusts (purchased or homemade)
2 1/2 cups chopped fresh peaches
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 tbsp light brown sugar
1 egg, slightly beaten (for egg wash)
large grain sugar (for sprinkling)
1/4 cup powder sugar (glaze)
1 tsp vanilla (glaze)
1 tbsp heavy whipping cream (glaze)
1/4 tsp cinnamon (glaze)
Instructions:
Glaze
I really wanted to add a sweet glaze to the tops of these pies, to make them a bit more like peaches n' cream. However that step isn't necessary. As you can see from below, they are gorgeous without the icing and are every bit delicious. Feel free to eliminate the glaze from your topping if so desired.
Mini pies are one of my absolute favorite summer desserts. It seems like all the parties are headed to the patio and my kids are running off as soon as the meal ends. So convenient to be able to hold these in your hand to enjoy - no messy cutting or stacks of dishes. It's super easy to change up with different fruits too!
XO,
Jenny
Raw Cookie Dough Recipe
I'm so excited summer is here - I love spending the days with all my babies in the pool, library and dollar theater. I don't love turning on the oven! In our new home, we don't have air conditioning (yet) and I try to keep the oven use to a minimum. But I'm a baker and we love cookies.
What to do? I wanted to try my hand at edible raw cookie dough. I love cookie dough! Cookie dough ice cream, frosting, brownies - you name it. Something about the creamy sweetness with chunks of chocolate. There are so many fun things you can create with it.. or you can eat it out of the bowl with a spoon.
It's super easy to make with only a few ingredients. But is it safe? While this recipe is egg-free, believe it or not, but what you have to worry about is the raw flour. There can be bacteria in the flour that we don't typically encounter because we bake what it's in. So how can we use raw flour safely? It needs to reach a temperature of 160 to be used in raw foods. I microwaved mine for 75 seconds in 15 second intervals and it worked great!
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Raw Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
By Jenny Rodriguez
This delicious raw cookie dough is easy and perfect! A wonderful addition in ice cream, frosting and more.
Prep time:
Total time:
Yield: 1 dozen raw cookie balls
Ingredients:
1/3 cup flour*
6 tbsp light brown sugar
1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp heavy whipping cream
4 tbsp butter, softened
1/4 cup mini chocolate chips
Instructions:
Want to see how quick this delicious cookie dough batter comes together? Click on the YouTube video above and learn how to make this treat in 5 minutes or less! I can't wait to make more variations on this recipe. Maybe a pumpkin spice dough that can be used in chocolate covered bonbons for autumn?
These are quickest, tastiest desserts ever! I have some big plans for how to use them in a summer treat, so I hope you come back soon. If you try these raw cookie dough balls, please let me know how you like them and what you used them in.
XO,
Jenny
Pst! Are you looking for a roll-out cookie dough recipe? Come try my Cotton Candy Cookies!
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