Happy 4th of July

I love to make holiday-themed desserts, and these are some easy not-too-sweet sugar cookies that can be frosted and sprinkled with any color theme! I added a little marshmallow flavoring to the frosting to make it super fun for the kids, but any of your favorite flavors would be delicious here!

Soft Sugar Cookies:

• ¼ cup butter room temp

• ⅓ cup vegetable oil

• ⅓ cup powdered sugar

• ¾ cup granulated sugar

• 2 tsp vanilla extract

• 1 large egg room temp

• ½ tsp baking soda

• 1 Tbsp cornstarch

• ½ tsp salt

• 2¾ cups all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. Cream butter, oil and sugars together until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and egg. Sift in the dry ingredients and stir just until combined. If your dough looks a little dry, add a little milk until the dough pulls together in a ball.

Using a cookie scoop, place 6 cookies to a sheet (this recipe makes a bakers dozen for me, which means I take 12 to the party and eat one for quality control).

Bake 8-10 minutes until the cookies are just barely golden on the bottom. Let them cool and then frost with your favorite buttercream. I like to keep these cookies chilled ;)

The Perfect Gift?

You know what makes great gifts that people actually remember? Experiences! We have loved giving our loved ones things like basketball tickets, play tickets, or season passes because those are the things they actually remember! And if you have someone in your life that loves to bake (or wants to learn to love to bake) I can help with that! Give them a class from Heatherly Creations and they’ll have something to look forward to after the hullaballoo of the holidays are over.

Tie a gift certificate to a wooden spoon with a cute bow, stuff one in a stocking, or add one to a gift basket of kitchen gadgets and goodies. New classes are always being added, so there’s sure to be something fun for your kid or spouse! Shoot me an email at heatherly.creations.studio@gmail.com if a gift certificate would be perfect gift for someone on your list.

Halloween Cookies

If you have bags of candy after Halloween, then I have the recipe for you to use up some of your stash. I’ve tried this recipe with Oreos, M&Ms, Hershey bars, and good old chocolate chips… and I think they’d be pretty awesome with whatever chocolate candy you have on hand. This recipe is so good, you will have to hide the results from your family. Seriously… I had a box of these to take to a friend and my husband went through all but two of them in about an hour…

1 cup soft butter
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup turbinado sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla (I used butter vanilla emulsion)
2 tsp baking soda
3 cups flour
2 cups chopped candy bars (or chocolate chips if you like a classic cookie)

Preheat oven to 350 . Whisk the dry ingredients together in a bowl and set aside. Cream the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy (if you have a Bosch, you can even double this recipe). Add eggs one at a time and vanilla, and mix until smooth.

Slowly mix in the dry ingredients, just until they are incorporated into the wet mixture…do not overmix. Fold in your mix-ins, just to get them spread around.

I use a 2-ounce scoop for smaller cookies, but you could also use a big scoop if you want to do big monster cookies.

Scoop the dough onto parchment-paper lined cookie sheets and bake about 7-9 minutes. Allow them to cool on the tray (if you can wait that long).

I’m a bit of a cookie snob, and let me tell you, this is my new favorite cookie recipe! Try them with your favorite candy bars and let me know what you think!

I’m Always Up for a Good Time… IYKYK

Is your kid into the Great British Baking Show or Nailed It? Have you always wanted to learn to decorate sugar cookies? Or make a llama cake? Why not have a party and invite me! I can host a birthday party in my studio kitchen where your kid and their friends can attempt a Nailed It challenge or even a technical bake from Paul Hollywood or Mary Berry (and you don’t have to clean your house). Maybe you’re just looking for a fun girls’ night out…or a girls’ night in and you can host a decorating class in your own kitchen. Whatever your event needs, I can help with that! And I can make invitations too. I’m basically a party in a box… just add the fun! Get in touch and we’ll make your party dreams come true!

Campfire Cones

If you’re not ready for summer to end just yet, this is an easy dessert that you don’t even need a campfire to make, but will make you feel all the summer camping vibes. It’s been such a dry year here in Utah that we were under fire restrictions, so we couldn’t have a real campfire when we spent a few days up in the mountains. But that’s no excuse not to have a delicious s’mores treat! You can make these over hot coals, a camp stove, or your oven. I made these with a bunch of girls at camp, and they were a huge hit. Fill a store-bought waffle cone with your favorite toppings, wrap in tin foil, and heat until chocolate and marshmallows get all gooey and delicious. If you’re serving a large group, plan a campfire cone bar, and everyone gets their favorites. Some topping ideas:

• Mini marshmallows

• Chocolate chips

• Bananas

• Nutella

• M & M s

• White chocolate chips

• Heath bar pieces

• Caramel bits

• Fresh raspberries

• Coconut flakes

• Chopped nuts

• Apple pie filling

The possibilities are endless… and delicious!

Easy Peasy Pie Crust

This is my basic go-to pie crust. You can make it in your food processor if you’re pressed for time, or you can make it like Grandma did with a bowl, a grater, and your hands. Either way, it’s amazing and delicious. It makes one 9” crust, so double it if you’re making a 2-crust pie. Or triple it to make lots of hand pies. Or you can make chicken pot pie, tarts, whatever you’re in the mood for… this pie crust is a great basic to have in your recipe files.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

• Pinch of kosher salt

• 2 Tbsp of sugar

• 10 Tbsp cold butter

• 1/4 cup ice water (you may not use all of it)

• 1 tablespoon vinegar (or lemon juice works too)

Directions

In a medium bowl, whisk flour, salt and sugar together. Add the vinegar to the ice water and set aside. Using a grater, grate the butter into the flour mixture. This makes your butter pieces nice and small and easy to incorporate quickly without letting the butter get too warm. Using a fork, toss the flour and butter together until all the butter pieces are coated. It should end up sort of sandy and a little clumpy in places. Drizzle a little of the ice water into the flour…just a little at a time. Use a wooden spoon to gently mix in the water. It should start forming a lump that you can press together. You don’t want it too wet, and a little crumbly is good. You should be able to use your hands to press it together and it will hold. Turn the dough out onto a piece of plastic wrap and press into a disk and wrap it tightly. Throw it in your fridge for at least an hour. Or overnight. You can even freeze it. And now you’re ready to make your favorite pie!

If this seems too complicated, or you want a little help making the perfect pie, take my pie class. (Scott says I need to pitch my classes. Consider yourself pitched.)

Lemon Glazed Zucchini Bread

If you’re like my neighbors… you have a lot of zucchini growing in your garden right about now. I don’t even attempt to grow zucchini anymore because I have family and neighbors who are always giving it away. If you’re wondering what to do with all of it, I would like to suggest this delicious lemon zucchini cake… I mean bread. I used to make the traditional spice zucchini bread, and even though it was good, I didn’t love it. I think I’d rather save my cinnamon for pumpkin bread in the fall. Then my sister-in-law brought a loaf of this lemon zucchini bread over and it totally changed my opinion about zucchini bread. It is so delicious and with the tart lemon, you can’t even taste zucchini… it just makes it moist and if you know it’s in there, you feel pretty good about eating your vegetables. So, if you are my neighbor, drop your zucchini harvest here and I’ll bring you a loaf of this yumminess.

Ingredients:
2 cups flour (I’ve used cake flour for a lighter crumb, but all-purpose works great too)
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/3 cup sugar
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup buttermilk
zest of 1 lemon
1 cup grated zucchini (I peel mine first, but it’s not necessary)

Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp heavy cream (milk will work too)

Instructions:
Mix flour, salt and baking powder in a medium bowl and set aside.
In a large bowl, beat eggs. Then add oil and sugar until well blended. Add lemon juice, buttermilk, zest, and mix. Add the zucchini and give it a stir, then add in the dry ingredients and mix until well-combined.
Pour batter into greased 9x5 loaf pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 45-ish minutes…until golden brown.
While still warm, make glaze and spoon over the bread. Let the glaze set up before cutting and serving.

A Nice Day for a White Wedding

If you now have Billy Idol stuck in your head…we can be best friends. There is something so classic about an all-white wedding. White roses, calla lilies and babies' breath all make for a beautiful and timeless color palette. My mom and I were asked to help with this backyard wedding and it turned out to be one of my favorites. A beautiful arch, a big canopied tent, and (thankfully) misters made it an elegant space on a hot July day. To avoid buttercream meltdown, I used a white chocolate ganache to frost the chocolate fudge cake and I was told that the wedding party was still enjoying the deliciousness well after midnight.

Strawberry Basil Galette

It’s strawberry season! I usually go for a fresh strawberry pie as my dessert of choice, but I stumbled on a few variations of a rhubarb galette recipe and modified it a little using my favorite summer flavors. This strawberry basil galette is so easy and delicious, I didn’t even get a picture of the finished product before it was gobbled up. If you want to see it all yummy and golden brown with the strawberry juices dripping from it, you’re just going to have to make it yourself. Add a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream or fresh whipped cream for extra deliciousness.

Strawberry Basil Galette

crust:
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup cornmeal
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cold butter, grated
1/3 cup buttermilk
2-3 tablespoons heavy cream

filling:
3 1/2 cups fresh strawberries, sliced
1/4 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons flour
one teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped fine
zest of 1 orange

for the egg wash:
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon water
turbinado sugar, for sprinkling on the doughz

directions:
Make the dough by combining the flour, sugar, cornmeal and salt. Give it a good whisk to blend. Grate the cold butter into the flour mixture and blend with a fork until it has a rough meal texture. Add the buttermilk slowly and stir to combine, just until the dough starts to stick together and form a lump. If the dough seems dry after the buttermilk has been added, splash in a little extra cream. You should be able to push the dough together into a ball. Wrap the dough in some plastic wrap and refrigerate for about an hour before rolling out.

Preheat oven to 375. In a medium bowl, combine the strawberry filling ingredients and gently stir until all the flour and sugar is combined and the berries are coated. Set it aside while you roll out the dough.

Roll out the dough into a roughly 14-inch circle on a large piece of parchment paper. And slide it onto a baking sheet. It doesn’t need to be perfect… rustic is the name of this galette’s game. And I’m totally into it. Use a slotted spoon to scoop the strawberries onto the center of the galette dough, you don’t want the extra liquid from the berries to go into your galette and give it a soggy bottom. Leave a 2-inch border of dough around the mixture. Fold the dough border gently over the berries and edges together.

Brush the top of the dough with the egg wash and sprinkle with the turbinado sugar.

Bake the galette for 30-35 minutes until it is nice and golden brown. Transfer the galette to a baking rack to cool to room temperature for slicing and serving.