Birthday Cake & White Chocolate Sprinkle Cookies

I decided I better jump on the sprinkle-mobbed-birthday-cake bandwagon before it leaves town and a new trend creeps up on our thighs.  Anyway, I would hardly hope that sprinkles are a mere trend.  Any treat with sprinkles screams par-tay.  I bet I could shake some rainbow sprinkles on canned sardines and my kid would eat them.  They just make everything happy.  And along with sprinkles, what is this new found obsession with birthday cake flavor?  It's great, don't get me wrong (I just had a birthday cake blizzard from DQ, hello where have you been all my life) but hasn't this has been around for ages?!

As a kid, nothing made me happier in school than when someones mom made funfetti cupcakes for their birthday.  Forget the cake, all that mattered was the canned frosting with rainbow sprinkles mixed in.  Diabetic bliss that stuff is.

One piece of advice when it comes to baking and sprinkles: less is NEVER more.  Eva.  That's not my gluttonous side speaking either.  With these cookies I used 3/4 of a cup of sprinkles, and they could have easily handled 1 cup total.  There is nothing worse that a sparse-sprinkle-cookie.  I mean they are pretty affordable to begin with. So go big and heavy handed. 

Lastly, if you are looking for the ultimate uber sprinkle punch, I'd say roll these cookies in sprinkles (additional) before baking.  I wish I would have done that to give these a bit more sparkle.  It's like going to all the trouble to apply your makeup and then not wearing lipstick.    These were so close to perfection but I think an additional douse of rainbow would have given them one last pow of wow.

Birthday Cake & White Chocolate Sprinkle Cookies
makes about 5 dozen
printable version

Ingredients:

1 (15.25 ounce) box White Cake mix

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

zest of one lemon

1 cup rainbow sprinkles

1 cup white chocolate chips

additional rainbow sprinkles to roll cookies in (optional)

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

 

In a large bowl add the cake mix, flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk to combine.

 

In a medium sized bowl combine the eggs, oil, vanilla, and lemon zest. Mix well.

 

Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and mix well to combine. The batter will seem difficult to combine but keep mixing using a rubber spatula and it will get there. It will feel rather glutenous.

 

Mix in the white chocolate chips and sprinkles.

 

Roll into 1.5 inch balls. If desired, roll balls in additional rainbow sprinkles, coating evenly. Place balls on an ungreased cookies sheet two inches apart and bake for 10 minutes.

 

Remove from oven and allow to cool on the pan for 5 minutes. Using a spatula, remove cookies from pan and allow to finish cooling on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

 

Enjoy!

Cakey Snickerdoodles

 

For all the baking I've done over the years this is the first time I've made Snickerdoodles.   I think the whole sugar-cinnamon combo threw me off initially.  I mean, it's so...vanilla (my way of describing something somewhat dull in the flavor department, lackluster, blah, been there, done that).  In a world of salted caramel, espresso buttercream, trifles-galore, why spend your energy on baking something who's main ingredients are cinnamon and sugar.  Snore City....at least this is what I thought before.  And now, I'm a born-again sugar/cinna snob. These are spectacular.  I simply cannot say that word without thinking of this scene from Seinfeld, am I right?

I'm usually not a simplicity-is-key kind of girl when it comes to my desserts, but this one really takes the cake.  Or, the cookie for that matter.  Typically Snickerdoodles are slightly dense and chewy, but this version is soft and pillowy.  They've got a cake-like texture inside and a sugary-crisp outside, truly a winner all around.  And how easy are they?  Oh let me tell ya you can throw these together in a snap.  I had them prepared AND baked in just over an hour. 

Cakey Snickerdoodles
makes about 6 dozen
printable version

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup butter-flavored Crisco

2 large eggs

2 tablespoons milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 3/4 cups flour

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons colored sugar (can be divided equally if you want two different colors)

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Combine1 1⁄2 cups sugar, Crisco, eggs, milk and vanilla in large bowl. Beat with electric mixer at medium speed until well blended.

Whisk the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in medium bowl. Add gradually to shortening mixture at low speed. Mix just until blended.

Combine the 3 tablespoons granulated sugar with the 3 tablespoons colored sugar and mix until well combined (I used two colors and simply halved the quantities). Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in cinnamon-sugar mixture. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.

Bake 7 to 8 minutes. Cool 2 minutes on baking sheets. Place on cooling racks to cool completely.

 

Recipe courtesy of Crisco