IT’S HERE! Truly, I can’t believe it’s been a whole year since my first book, HER DAILY BREAD, came into the world. Today, to celebrate, I’m sharing one final recipe from the book AND giving away a few copies. If you’re interested in a freezer cookie dough recipe or a free book, let’s dive in!
HER DAILY BREAD
First, let’s back up to HER DAILY BREAD. Do you have a copy? Have you been enjoying it this year? Are you currently reading through the month of December, eating your way through all the cookies and festive stories? One of the biggest blessings of this year has been connecting with readers who are digging into the book. After a decade of dreaming, years of work, and so much love poured into those pages, it’s incredibly rewarding to hear from people who identify with it. The texts and emails you’ve written, the shares on social media, and all the random comments from strangers I run into mean so much. Your support is heart-filling, and I couldn’t be more grateful.
To say thank you, I want to give away a few copies! Leave a comment at the bottom of this post telling me what you’re grateful for this year. I’ll mail a few WRAPPED copies out into the world- just in time for Christmas. HER DAILY BREADmakes a great gift for the people in your life, so be sure to snag a copy here! With 365 daily readings, including 52 recipes, it’s the gift that gives and gives all year round. In the meantime, let’s talk freezer cookie dough.
Freezer Cookie Dough
In the South, last-minute visitors happen all the time. When people show up unannounced or in the final hour, I love to have a few yummy things to share with them. This recipe for freezer cookie dough allows all of that to happen. Small rounds of dough freeze up in individual portions that can be baked from frozen in less than 15 minutes. Warm, gooey cookies on the fly? YES PLS.
The dough starts out as any other. Softened butter creams together with sugar and brown sugar until smooth. Vanilla extract and eggs follow, and the dry ingredients come last. I love to use whatever chocolate I have on hand- semisweet chips, chopped white chocolate, or even candy-coated chocolates. Basically you can add 2 cups of whatever mix-ins your heart desires; this recipe is adaptable! Scoop rounds of dough onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and freeze until solid. Place frozen dough balls in a freezer storage bag or container and store until ready to bake. Simply preheat the oven to 360 and watch the magic unfold!
With Christmas right around the corner, you will be glad to have this recipe (and a copy of my book!) ready for sharing. Be sure to enter the giveaway and know how truly grateful I am to all of you. Happy Wednesday and Happy Baking! *Note: Giveaway nowclosed.
Make-ahead cookie dough to freeze and bake at a moment’s notice!
Author:Kate Wood
Prep Time:5
Total Time:5 minutes
Yield:36
Category:Dessert
Ingredients
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup sugar
1–1/4 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon baking powder
1teaspoon baking soda
1–1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups chocolate chip cookies
Instructions
In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugars together for 2 minutes on medium speed. Scrape sides of bowl and add eggs and extract. Mix on medium speed just to combine. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and stir until combined. Add the chocolate chips and stir on low to combine. Use a medium-sized cookie scoop to scoop 1-1/2 tablespoon-sized balls of dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Place in the freezer to firm up briefly, about 30 minutes, and then place the dough into a feezer-safe container or bag. Freeze up to 2 months.
When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 360 degrees. Place the dough balls on a parchment-lined baking sheet at least 2” apart and bake in the preheated oven until the edges are golden and the cookies are set, about 12-14 minutes. Allow to cool briefly before sharing.
I gotta tell you- nothing brings me more joy this time of year than nostalgic recipes that remind me of home. Growing up, there were a few cookies that felt synonymous with the holidays, and we never failed to make them. One example? Peanut butter blossoms. I absolutely LOVED those, and I bet you’ve tried them too. Today, I’m sharing a variation of that beloved cookie with these holiday sugar cookie blossoms. The are fabulously fun, and I can’t wait to tell you how to make them.
The basic gist of a blossom is that it’s a soft and chewy thumbprint cookie topped with a HERSHEY’S KISSES candy. Here, instead of the classic peanut butter cookie, we have a simple sugar cookie coated in sanding sugar and dotted with a sugar cookie candy. It’s all the fun and festivity of the classic blossom but with a sweet change of flavor.
To make these holiday sugar cookie blossoms, we start with the butter and sugar. Cream the two together in a large bowl until fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla extract, stirring until smooth. Next comes the dry ingredients. Toss in the flour, salt, and baking soda and stir to combine. Use a small cookie scoop to portion out rounds of dough. Gently roll each on in colored sanding sugar and imprint each with a thumb. After a quick bake in the oven, each cookie is topped with a single HERSHEY’S KISSES Sugar Cookie Candy!
My kids and I prepared these cookies together, and they were a hit. These holiday sugar cookie blossoms are a great way to get kids involved with Christmas baking. They’re simple, colorful, and so delicious, too. If you get a chance to try the recipe this year, let me know what you think! In the meantime, Happy Holidays and Happy Baking!
Preheat an oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
In a large bowl or a bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together on medium speed until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla extract, mixing until combined. Add the flour, salt, and baking soda to the butter mixture and stir on medium-low until the dough starts to come together in clumps. It will be slightly crumbly.
Use a small cookie scoop or a spoon to portion out 2-teaspoon sized rounds of dough. Roll the dough in your hands briefly to smooth out and toss each cookie dough piece in the sanding sugar. Space the cookies out 2” apart on the prepared pans and bake in the preheated oven for 9 minutes or until the cookies are puffed edges are barely set.
Remove the cookies from the oven to cool briefly, about 2 minutes. This will prevent the KISSES chocolate from melting. Gently press an unwrapped HERYSHEY’S KISSES candy into the center of each cookie. Feel free to pop the pan into the fridge or freezer briefly to further prevent the candy from melting. Cool completely before enjoying. Cookies are best eaten the day of,but can be stored in a sealed container for up to 3 days.
We’re going to talk popsicles soon- roasted strawberry and buttermilk popsicles to be precise. After all, you guys come here for the recipes, right? But first, let’s talk about moms and what happens when they go wild, ok?
Girls’ Night Out
A few weeks ago, I traveled with some girlfriends to Montgomery for a ladies’ night out. No boys allowed. If you’ve never been apart of a mom’s night out, I’ll fill you in on the dirty deets- we get wild. Not wet t-shirt contest wild or keg stand wild. But take 10 women who have had it up to their eyeballs with dirty diapers and hectic work schedules, give them a babysitter and a designated driver, and just wait… stuff is about to get real.
Of course it doesn’t always start that way. Our evenings usually begin with pleasantries like “Who is keeping your kiddos tonight? Did you ever find anyone to hem that dress?” But slowly, after everyone catches their breath from their busy days, people begin to unwind. Looking around, you can almost see everyone begin to relax, shedding the mom vibes and slipping into a more personal, carefree version of themselves.
Fun Moms
Given enough time (and wine), Moms can and will get rowdy. At one point, I felt like I was in one of those snippets from a movie about bad moms. One girl tells a funny story, and the table erupts with laughter. Someone cracks a dirty joke, and another suggests tequila shots. More cocktails, another spoonful of dessert, more rounds of laughter. Everyone is leaned forward with enlivened eyes, engaged and eagerly anticipating the conversation.
Our table got loud, and I have no doubt that in that moment, everyone in the restaurant was thinking, “these ladies need to get it together.” But do you know what? I don’t care. We might hold it together for our kids and stay super responsible at work, but Moms still reserve the right to let their hair town. The girls were out on the town and it. was. awesome.
Letting Loose
Since that dinner, I’ve had a number of other let loose moments. I traveled to Las Vegas with college girlfriends for the Backstreet Boys concert and 72 hours of poolside cocktails. I danced to EDM (Electronic Dance Music, for those of you who, like me, are entirely dated when it comes to music) and wore my very first (and probably last) crop top. And I spent precisely 10 minutes watching a round of Blackjack and almost even got up the nerve to try my hand at it. (Sidenote: I saved my 20 dollars and bought rosé instead. #winning.)
To be frank, sometimes my life and the responsibility of parenthood makes me feel old. I look in the mirror, and the woman staring back at me has forehead wrinkles and an alarming number of gray hairs. She’s got a crusted smear of baby food on the shoulder of her t-shirt and there’s smudges from yesterday’s mascara under her eyes. She’s not glamorous, but dangit, she desperately craves a little bit of it every once in a while.
So if you go out for dinner one night and there’s a table of rowdy moms next to you, let them have their fun. Try to overlook the shrieking laughter. Pretend you don’t hear those out-of-turn references to the male anatomy. Don’t shoot them dirty glances if they linger a little too long at their table. Chances are, the ladies at that table need a few minutes to refuel. They need to feel young and fancy and carefree for just one meal. Let them have that.
Roasted Strawberry and Buttermilk Popsicles
These roasted strawberry and buttermilk popsicles don’t feel like mom food. Typically, popsicles are drippy treats reserved just for kids. But these roasted strawberry and buttermilk popsicles are not your average $1.50 ice cream truck goodies. These little frozen dreams are entirely grown up and sophisticated in flavor- a delicious and cheeky dessert perfectly suited for wild and crazy mamas.
Making the Popsicles
Making these roasted strawberry and buttermilk popsicles is incredibly simple. We start by roasting a pound of fresh strawberries. A little sugar, vanilla, and a sprinkle of salt is all it takes to make the berries burst with rich flavors and juices. Once the berries are toasty, we mash them to a thick puree and allow it to cool while we make the creamy portion of the popsicles. Buttermilk is the star here, providing a creamy tang to offset the syrupy berries. We also add milk and simple syrup, which amps up the sweetness and helps to keep the popsicles from becoming too icy. Both the cream and the fruit mixture gets poured into popsicle molds before they head to the freezer to firm up. (Sidenote: I use this popsicle mold, in case you’re wondering.)
Once frozen, these roasted strawberry and buttermilk popsicles are the perfect balance of sweet, tart, creamy, and tang. This is a simple, fuss-free dessert that will help to make those warm summer nights just a little bit cooler. And if you don’t have a popsicle mold, you can invest in this one that I recommend, or simply pour your mixture into a mold of another sort! Try freezing your popsicles in individual plastic cups or ice cube trays, or check out this article from Kitchn four some great ideas on how to make homemade popsicles without a mold. Do whatever you need to do to get some popsicles in your freezer ASAP, because you need these roasted strawberry and buttermilk popsicles in your life.
The Moral of the Story
Popsicles are good, but roasted strawberry and buttermilk popsicles are better. Moms are great, but a mom with a healthy balance of fun in their life is even better. Make this recipe for the moms in your life (or yourself!) and just try to tell me you don’t agree. I’m sharing today’s recipe with a ton of other bloggers who will be heating things up with frozen treats this week to celebrate #popsicleweek . Many thanks to Billy of Wit & Vinegar for hosting this sweetness. Check out all of the other bloggers involved here!
If you like roasted strawberry and buttermilk popsicles, you should make:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Toss the strawberries, brown sugar, 1 teaspoon of vanilla bean paste and pinch of salt on a sheet pan. Roast in the oven, tossing occasionally, for 15 minutes. The juices should release. Scrape the contents of the pan into a blender or food processor and allow to cool briefly. Cover the hot mixture with a lid and carefully pulse the until all of the large strawberry pieces have been broken down and the mixture is now a thick, chunky puree. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine the buttermilk, heavy cream, simple syrup, and remaining vanilla bean paste. Whisk until combined. Transfer the mixture to a liquid measuring cup or something you can easily pour with. Pour the buttermilk mixture into your prepared popsicle molds, filling the mold until they are about 2/3 of the way full. Top the buttermilk mixture with a bit of the strawberry mixture, being sure to not overfill. Insert your popsicle sticks and freeze according to the popsicle mold instructions for at least 7 hours or until frozen solid. Enjoy frozen!
Notes
You can purchase simple syrup at the store, but I make my own. Combine equal parts water and sugar in a saucepan on the stove over medium heat. Stir occasionally, cooking until the sugar has dissolved. Allow to cool in a heat safe container. I usually cook 1 cup of water and 1 cup of sugar and store in a mason jar in my fridge.
If your popsicle mold is larger or smaller than mine, this recipe will yield different amounts. The recipe as written will make 10-2.5 ounces popsicles. When pouring your molds, be sure to make your popsicles about 2/3 buttermilk mixture and 1/3 strawberries. You can also swirl the two together if you’d like.
Nutrition
Serving Size:2.5 ounce popsicle
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