With the highly anticipated new Beetlejuice movie just around the corner, there’s no better way to celebrate than with a spooktacular treat that captures the spirit of everyone’s favorite mischievous ghost — introducing the Beetlejuice-themed chocolate cake, a rich, dark delight made with black cocoa powder and filled with a tangy lemon cream cheese frosting that’s as surprising as it is delicious.

Ingredients

Chocolate Cakes

• 1 cup all-purpose flour, 130g
• 1 cup sugar, 207g
• 6 tablespoons unsweetened black cocoa powder, 43g
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg
• ½ cup milk, 120ml
• ½ cup vegetable oil, 120ml
• ¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ cup hot water, 120ml

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

• 2 ounces block-style cream cheese, room temperature, 57g
• ¼ cup unsalted butter, room temperature, 57g
• 2 cups confectioner’s sugar, 227g
• ½ tablespoon lemon zest
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ⅛ teaspoon salt
• Yellow gel food coloring
• Green gel Food coloring

White Icing

• 3/4 tablespoon Meringue Powder
• 1 ½ tablespoon Warm Water NOT hot
• ¼ tablespoon Light Corn Syrup
• 1 cup Powdered Sugar
• ½ teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• White gel food coloring

Instructions

Chocolate Cakes

1. Preheat oven to 300°F (148°C).
2. Add the flour, sugar, black cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt to a large mixing bowl and combine. Set aside.

3. Add the egg, milk, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract to another medium-sized bowl and whisk together to combine.

4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until well combined.

5. Add the water to the batter and mix until well combined. The batter will be very thin.

6. Fill the silicone cake mold about 3/4 way and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs.

7. Remove the cakes from the oven and allow them to cool then remove to a cooling rack to finish cooling.

8. Once cooled, make three holes in even spacing on the bottom of the cakes. Through these holes, you will pipe the frosting later. Set them aside.

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

1. In a large bowl, add room temperature cream cheese and butter and beat with a hand mixer (or stand mixer) until creamy, about 1 minute.
2. Add confectioner’s sugar, half at a time, and slowly mix until the ingredients are fully combined. Then, whip at high speed for 2-3 minutes or until light and fluffy.
3. Add lemon zest, lemon juice, vanilla extract, and salt then whip until fluffy, another 1 to 2 minutes.
4. Add a dash of yellow gel food coloring and a dash of green food gel coloring and mix well.

5. Pipe the frosting into the piping bag then pipe it into cooled cakes.

White Icing

1. In a deep bowl, add meringue powder and warm water.
2. Beat this for about 1 minute until you have a white and frothy mixture.
3. Add powdered sugar, corn syrup, and vanilla extract and start mixing at medium to medium-high speed.
4. Continue mixing until your icing becomes thick and peaks start forming.
5. Color your icing with white gel color. 
6. Mix with a spoon until the color is fully blended into your icing. Once all icing ingredients were mixed, I added ¼ teaspoon of water at a time to get to the consistency I wanted. My icing was about “flood consistency.” More detailed explanations of icing consistency can be found here.
7. Pipe the icing into a piping bag. Pipe it onto the cakes to create white stripes.

To make the cake even more special, I placed them in custom boxes!

If you like this Beetlejuice-Themed Chocolate Cake, you may also like:

• Bailey’s Mini Cheesecake Cups
• Oreo White Chocolate Balls – Minions
• Whoopie Pie – Easy Recipe with Cake Mix

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Beetlejuice-Themed Chocolate Cake

This cake is the perfect centerpiece for any Beetlejuice fan’s party or movie night! Get ready to indulge in a slice of the strange and unusual as we show you how to create this hauntingly good dessert!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword Beetlejuice, Cake, Chocolate, Lemon

Prep Time 1 hour hour

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Cooling Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 6 cakes

Equipment

• 3 Large bowls
• 1 Medium-sized bowl
• 1 6 oblong cavity silicone baking pan
• 1 hand mixer (or stand mixer)
• Piping Bags

Ingredients

Chocolate Cakes

• 1 cup all-purpose flour 130g
• 1 cup sugar 207g
• 6 tablespoons unsweetened black cocoa powder 43g
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg
• ½ cup milk 120ml
• ½ cup vegetable oil 120ml
• ¾ teaspoons vanilla extract
• ½ cup hot water 120ml

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

• 2 ounces block-style cream cheese room temperature, 57g
• ¼ cup unsalted butter room temperature, 57g
• 2 cups confectioner’s sugar 227g
• ½ tablespoon lemon zest
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ⅛ teaspoon salt
• yellow gel food coloring
• green gel food coloring

White Icing

• ¾ tablespoon meringue powder
• 1½ tablespoon Warm Water  NOT hot
• ¼ tablespoon Light Corn Syrup
• 1 cup Powdered sugar
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• white gel food coloring

Instructions

Chocolate Cakes

• Preheat oven to 300°F (148°C).
• Add the flour, sugar, black cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt to a large mixing bowl and combine. Set aside.
• Add the egg, milk, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract to another medium-sized bowl and whisk together to combine.
• Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until well combined.
• Add the water to the batter and mix until well combined. The batter will be very thin.
• Fill the silicone cake mold about 3/4 way and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs.
• Remove the cakes from the oven and allow them to cool then remove to a cooling rack to finish cooling.
• Once cooled, make three holes in even spacing on the bottom of the cakes. Through these holes, you will pipe the frosting later. Set them aside.

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

• In a large bowl, add room temperature cream cheese and butter and beat with a hand mixer (or stand mixer) until creamy, about 1 minute.
• Add confectioner’s sugar, half at a time, and slowly mix until the ingredients are fully combined. Then, whip at high speed for 2-3 minutes or until light and fluffy.
• Add lemon zest, lemon juice, vanilla extract, and salt then whip until fluffy, another 1 to 2 minutes.
• Add a dash of yellow gel food coloring and a dash of green food gel coloring and mix well.
• Pipe the frosting into the piping bag then pipe it into cooled cakes.

White Icing

• In a deep bowl, add meringue powder and warm water.
• Beat this for about 1 minute until you have a white and frothy mixture.
• Add powdered sugar, corn syrup, and vanilla extract and start mixing at medium to medium-high speed.
• Continue mixing until your icing becomes thick and peaks start forming.
• Color your icing with white gel color. 
• Mix with a spoon until the color is fully blended into your icing. Once all icing ingredients were mixed, I added ¼ teaspoon of water at a time to get to the consistency I wanted. My icing was about “flood consistency.” More detailed explanations of icing consistency can be found here.
• Pipe the icing into a piping bag. Pipe it onto the cakes to create white stripes.

The post How to Make a Beetlejuice-Themed Chocolate Cake appeared first on Simply A Homebody.

What are thumbprint cookies?

Thumbprint cookies are a type of classic cookie characterized by their small, round shape with an indentation (or “thumbprint”) in the center. The indentation is typically created by pressing your thumb or a utensil (like the back of a spoon) into the dough before baking. This indentation is then filled with various types of sweet fillings, which can vary from jams and jellies to frosting, chocolate, nuts, or other sweet spreads.

Who is Mike Wazowski?

Mike Wazowski is a lovable lime-green monster from the Pixar animated film “Monsters, Inc.” With his round, one-eyed charm, he’s like the living embodiment of a happy, winking emoji 🙂

Some Tips to Make Mike Wazowski Matcha Thumbprint Cookies

• Soft Butter: Ensure that the butter is soft before creaming it with sugar. Softened butter will mix more easily and create a smoother cookie dough.
• Properly Shape the Cookies: When forming the cookie dough balls, make sure they are uniform in size to bake evenly. 
• Baking Time and Temperature: Follow the recommended baking temperature and time in the recipe. Overbaking can make the cookies dry while underbaking can result in cookies that are too soft.

Ingredients

For the matcha cookies

• ½ cup + 1 tablespoon Butter, softened
• 6 tablespoons Sugar, 75g
• 2 ½ tablespoons Matcha Powder, 15g
• 1 cup Flour, 120g
• ¼ teaspoon Baking Soda,  1.25g
• ½ teaspoon Baking Powder, 1.2g

For the decoration

• 1 heaping cup Powdered Sugar, about 125g
• 2 – 3 tablespoons Hot Water
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 1 ½ tablespoons Milk Chocolate Chips

Instructions

For the matcha cookies

1. Preheat the oven to 350F (175C). Place a piece of parchment paper on a cookie sheet and set it aside.

2. In a large bowl, cream the butter and the sugar until smooth. Add the matcha powder and mix until incorporated.

3. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. 

4. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix until combined. 

5. Roll into small balls (about 30g each) and lightly flatten the dough. You will have some extra dough and set it aside for Mike’s horns.

6. On each flattened cookie dough, make an indent to where you want Mike’s eyeball with a small shot glass or something similar (I used a round cookie cutter with aluminum foil wrapped around).

7. With the leftover dough, make small triangles and attach them to where Mike’s horns should be.

8. Bake the cookie dough for 7 minutes or until the cookies look dry and lightly cracked on the surface but still very soft.

9. When they come out of the oven, press the indents down again to make more defined wells for the frosting. Allow to cool.

For the decoration

1.Whisk the powdered sugar, hot water, and vanilla.

2. Spoon the frosting into the indents of the cookies and place green M&M in the center of the frosting. Let the frosting set. 

3. Microwave chocolate chips in 15-second increments (for about a total of 75 seconds) and pour the melted chocolate into a piping bag. Draw Mike’s pupils on top of the M&Ms and mouth underneath the eyeballs.

4. (Optional) Add highlight on Mike’s eye by piping a tiny amount of the leftover white frosting on top.

If you like this Mike Wazowski Matcha Thumbprint Cookies, you may also like:

• Oreo White Chocolate Balls – Minions
• Nightmare Before Christmas Cookies
• Baked Mochi Donuts – Rilakkuma & Hello Kitty

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Monstrously Delicious: Mike Wazowski Matcha Thumbprint Cookies

Matcha thumbprint cookies are a delicious twist on the classic thumbprint cookie recipe, incorporating matcha green tea powder’s earthy and slightly bitter flavor. With my version, I decorated the cookies to look like Mike Wazowski from Monsters, Inc.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword Cookies, matcha

Prep Time 1 hour hour

Cook Time 7 minutes minutes

Servings 12 cookies

Equipment

• 1 large cookie sheet
• 1 sheet of parchment paper
• 2 Large bowls
• 1 Spatula
• 1 small cookie cutter with aluminum foil or shot glass To make indents on the cookies
• 1 Small bowl
• 2 Piping Bags
• 1 Tweezer Optional to place M&M

Ingredients

For the matcha cookies

• ½ cup + 1 tables poon Butter softened
• 6 tablespoons Sugar 75g
• 2½ tablespoons Matcha Powder 15g
• 1 cup Flour 120g
• ¼ teaspoon Baking Soda 1.25g
• ½ teaspoon Baking Powder 1.2g

For the decoration

• 1 heaping cup Powdered Sugar about 125g
• 2-3 tablespoons Hot Water
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 1 ½ teaspoons Milk Chocolate Chips

Instructions

For the matcha cookies

• Preheat the oven to 350F (175C). Place a piece of parchment paper on a cookie sheet and set it aside.
• In a large bowl, cream the butter and the sugar until smooth. Add the matcha powder and mix until incorporated.
• In a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. 
• Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix until combined. 
• Roll into small balls (about 30g each) and lightly flatten the dough. You will have some extra dough and set it aside for Mike's horns.
• On each flattened cookie dough, make an indent to where you want Mike’s eyeball with a small shot glass or something similar (I used a round cookie cutter with aluminum foil wrapped around).
• With the leftover dough, make small triangles and attach them to where Mike’s horns should be.
• Bake the cookie dough for 7 minutes or until the cookies look dry and lightly cracked on the surface but still very soft.
• When they come out of the oven, press the indents down again to make more defined wells for the frosting. Allow to cool.

For the decoration

• Whisk the powdered sugar, hot water, and vanilla extract.
• Spoon the frosting into the indents of the cookies and place green M&M in the center of the frosting. Let the frosting set. 
• Microwave chocolate chips in 15-second increments (for about a total of 75 seconds) and pour the melted chocolate into a piping bag. Draw Mike’s pupils on top of the M&Ms and mouth underneath the eyeballs.
• (Optional) Add highlight on Mike’s eye by piping a tiny amount of the leftover white frosting on top.

The post Monstrously Delicious: Mike Wazowski Matcha Thumbprint Cookies appeared first on Simply A Homebody.

I made my petit fours with store-bought frozen pound cake and a tub of frosting. It’s quick to make and tastes great. By saving steps to bake a cake, you can concentrate on decorating the cake for your special someone 😉

Feel free to arrange this recipe with different frostings or add fillings

What are petit fours?

A petit four is a small bite-sized confectionery or savory appetizer. The name is French and it means “small oven”. ^[1]

Ingredients (Makes about 14 petite fours)

• 1 10.75 ounce Sara Lee Pound Cake, Frozen
• 1 or 2 Tubs Store-Bought Vanilla Frosting
• Some Pink Gel Food Coloring
• Some Valentine-themed sprinkles

Instructions

1.Thaw the frozen pound cake then slice it into 8, 3/4″ thick slices. 

2. With a heart-shaped cookie cutter, cut two hearts from each slice. You may only cut one heart from the edge slices. Place the heart-shaped cakes on a baking sheet fitted with a cooling rack and parchment paper.

3.Heat a tub of vanilla frosting for 30 seconds in a microwave. Keep heating up in 5 -10 second increments until the frosting is runny enough to pour.

4. Pour the frosting over each heart-shaped cake. Try to cover each one completely. If you run out of frosting, remove the rack and collect the frosting from the parchment paper. Reheat the frosting again and reuse it.

5. Decorate the heart-shaped cake with sprinkles. Let your creativity lead you on this step! You can add some sprinkles on top. Or color the leftover frosting and put it in a piping bag then draw some messages on the cakes.

What to do with the cake scraps?

The extra cake scraps can be used to make cake pops! Put any leftover cake scraps in a food processor/blender then mix the cake crumbs with frosting. Shape the cake scrubs into balls and place them onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Put them in the freezer for about 30 minutes.

If you like this Valentine Petite Fours Recipe, you may also like:

• Whoopie Pie – Easy Recipe With Cake Mix
• Halloween Brownie
• Santa Cake – Easy Recipe

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Valentine Petite Fours

These Valentine petite fours are so easy to make! You can arrange store-bought items into your own custom Valentine’s day dessert.

Course Dessert

Cuisine French

Keyword Cake, Petite fours

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 14 petite fours

Equipment

• 1 1/2" Heart-shaped cookie cutter
• 1 Baking sheet
• 1 Cooling rack
• 1 sheet of parchment paper
• 1 piping bag and piping tip optional

Ingredients

• 1 10.75 ounce Sara Lee Pound Cake frozen
• 1 or 2 tubs Store-Bought Vanilla Frosting
• Some Food coloring of your choice
• Some Valentine-Themed Sprinkles

Instructions

• Thaw the frozen pound cake then slice it into 8, 3/4″ thick slices. 
• With a heart-shaped cookie cutter, cut two hearts from each slice. You may only cut one heart from the edge slices. Place the heart-shaped cakes on a baking sheet fitted with a cooling rack and parchment paper.
• Heat a tub of vanilla frosting for 30 seconds in a microwave. Keep heating up in 5 -10 second increments until the frosting is runny enough to pour.
• Pour the frosting over each heart-shaped cake. Try to cover each one completely. If you run out of frosting, remove the rack and collect the frosting from the parchment paper. Reheat the frosting again and reuse it.
• Decorate the heart-shaped cake with sprinkles. Let your creativity lead you on this step! You can add some sprinkles on top. Or color the leftover frosting and put it in a piping bag then draw some messages on the cakes.

The post Valentine Petite Fours appeared first on Simply A Homebody.

May the force be with you… I made these Star Wars Cookies for May 4th, AKA Star Wars Day 🙂 My husband and I are big Star Wars fans, and he got me these cute Star Wars character cookie cutters from Amazon.

I love cookie cutters that come with cookie stamps. Even complicated character designs like Darth Vader can be easily drawn by icings.

If you follow my shortbread cookie recipe, your cookies would not spread as they bake! So no need to worry about the details and the neat edges disappearing on you.

Ingredients

For the cookies

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, cubed, 113g
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar, 105g
• 1 egg
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, 225g + more for dusting
• 1/4 cup cornstarch, 35g
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, 1.5g
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, 2.5ml
• 1 teaspoon matcha powder for Yoda, 3g
• 1 1/4 teaspoon black cocoa powder for Darth Vader, 3g
• 1-2 dashes yellow gel food coloring for C3PO
• 3/4 teaspoon cocoa powder for Chewbacca, 2g

For the white icing

• 3/4 tablespoon meringue powder
• 1 1/2 tablespoon warm water (NOT hot)
• 1/4 tablespoon light corn syrup
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the black icing

• 1 1/2 tablespoons unsweetened black cocoa powder
• 1/2 heaping cup powdered sugar 
• 1 – 1 1/2 tablespoons hot water
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

How to make Star Wars cookies

For the cookies

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees, and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Cream the butter and sugar, just until smooth and combined.

3. Mix in the eggs and vanilla extract until incorporated.

4. Add the flour, cornstarch, and salt, and mix until the mixture will gather itself into a ball and pull away cleanly from the sides of the bowl.

5. Divide the cookie dough into four, about 145 grams each.

6. Add matcha powders to one of the doughs and mix well to make green dough. Then add black cocoa powder to another dough and mix well to make black dough. Add yellow gel food coloring to another dough and mix well to make yellow dough. Add regular cocoa powder to the rest of the dough and mix well to make brown dough.

7. Roll each dough out between 2 sheets of plastic wrap, to a thickness of about 1/4 inch.

8. Rest the dough sheets in a refrigerator for at least an hour. This process makes it easier to work with soft buttery dough.

9. Take the dough sheets out and lightly dust the surface. Cut them into shapes while they are still slightly chilled but not hard. Once the dough warms up too much, it may stick to cookie cutters. If this happens, put the sheet back in a refrigerator and repeat the process.

10. Bake cut-out cookie dough for 5-7 minutes. Cool completely and set them aside.

For white icing

1. In a deep bowl, add meringue powder and warm water.
2. Beat this for about 1 minute until you have a white and frothy mixture.
3. Add powdered sugar, corn syrup, and vanilla extract and start mixing at medium to medium-high speed.
4. Continue mixing until your icing becomes thick and peaks start forming.
5. Add ⅛ teaspoon of water at a time to get to the consistency you need. My icing was between medium consistency and flood consistency. More detailed explanations of icing consistency can be found here.
6. Cover the icing with plastic wrap or transfer it to an air-tight container. The icing will dry up pretty quickly without doing so. Set it aside until needed.

For black icing

1. Whisk the black cocoa powder, powdered sugar, hot water, and vanilla.
2. If needed, add ⅛ teaspoon of water at a time to get to the consistency you want. (I recommend medium consistency)
3. Add some black food coloring with a toothpick and mix until well combined.
4. Cover the icing with plastic wrap or transfer it to an air-tight container. Set it aside.

For the assembly

1. Once cookies are cooled, place white and black icing in separate piping bags.
2. Snip off a tiny amount (about ⅛-inch) at the corner. 
3. Start by piping details with white icing, Draw Chewbacca’s teeth and C3PO’s eyeballs. Let them dry.

4. Next, with black icing, pipe Yoda’s eyes, outlines of Darth Vader, Chewbacca’s eyes and nose, and C3PO’s pupils. Let them dry completely and enjoy!

How to store leftover icing

Put the icing in an airtight container and it will last for up to 2 weeks at room temperature.  If you don’t have plans to use the icing within 2 weeks, it can be frozen in an airtight container for up to 2 months.

Icing tends to separate longer it sits. Make sure to mix it up well before using it.

If you like these Star Wars cookies, you may also like:

• Fall Guys Cookies – Fun Baking Project
• Nightmare Before Christmas Cookies
• Hello Kitty Cookies – Simple Recipes

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Star Wars Cookies

These Star Wars Character cookies are created with a common cookie-cutter, and Star Wars fans of all ages will have fun making them. The cookies are soft and buttery but wouldn’t spread!

Course Dessert

Cuisine Other

Keyword Cookies, Star Wars

Prep Time 1 hour hour 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 7 minutes minutes

Resting time 1 hour hour

Total Time 2 hours hours 22 minutes minutes

Servings 67 cookies in total

Equipment

• Large bowls
• Plastic wrap
• Rolling Pin
• Baking sheets
• Handheld or stand mixer
• Air-tight containers
• Piping Bags

Ingredients

For the cookies

• ½ cup unsalted butter cubed, 113g
• ½ cup granulated sugar 105g
• 1 egg
• 1¾ cups all-purpose flour 225g + more for dusting
• ¼ cup cornstarch 35g
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt 1.5g
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract 2.5ml
• 1 teaspoon matcha powder 3g, for Yoda cookies
• 1¼ teaspoons black cocoa powder 3.g, for Darth Vader
• 1-2 dashes yello food coloring for C3PO
• ¾ teaspoon cocoa powder 2g, for Chewbacca

For the white icing

• ¾ tablespoon meringue powder
• 1½ tablespoons warm water not hot
• ¼ tablespoon light corn syrup
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

For the black icing

• 1½ tablespoons black cocoa powder
• ½ cup powdered sugar
• 1-1½ tablespoons hot water
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

For the cookies

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees, and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Cream the butter and sugar, just until smooth and combined.
• Mix in the eggs and vanilla extract until incorporated.
• Add the flour, cornstarch, and salt, and mix until the mixture will gather itself into a ball and pull away cleanly from the sides of the bowl.
• Divide the cookie dough into four, about 145 grams each.
• Add matcha powders to one of the doughs and mix well to make green dough. Then add black cocoa powder to another dough and mix well to make black dough. Add yellow gel food coloring to another dough and mix well to make yellow dough. Add regular cocoa powder to the rest of the dough and mix well to make brown dough.
• Roll each dough out between 2 sheets of plastic wrap, to a thickness of about 1/4 inch.
• Rest the dough sheets in a refrigerator for at least an hour. This process makes it easier to work with soft buttery dough.
• Take the dough sheets out and lightly dust the surface. Cut them into shapes while they are still slightly chilled but not hard. Once the dough warms up too much, it may stick to cookie cutters. If this happens, put the sheet back in a refrigerator and repeat the process.
• Bake cut-out cookie dough for 5-7 minutes. Cool completely and set them aside.

For the white icing

• In a deep bowl, add meringue powder and warm water.
• Beat this for about 1 minute until you have a white and frothy mixture.
• Add powdered sugar, corn syrup, and vanilla extract and start mixing at medium to medium-high speed.
• Continue mixing until your icing becomes thick and peaks start forming.
• Add ⅛ teaspoon of water at a time to get to the consistency you need. My icing was between medium consistency and flood consistency. *See note for more detailed explanations of icing consistency.  
• Cover the icing with plastic wrap or transfer it to an air-tight container. The icing will dry up pretty quickly without doing so. Set it aside until needed.

For the black icing

• Whisk the black cocoa powder, powdered sugar, hot water, and vanilla.
• If needed, add ⅛ teaspoon of water at a time to get to the consistency you want. (I recommend medium consistency)
• Add some black food coloring with a toothpick and mix until well combined.
• Cover the icing with plastic wrap or transfer it to an air-tight container. Set it aside.

For the assembly

• Once cookies are cooled, place white and black icing in separate piping bags.
• Snip off a tiny amount (about ⅛-inch) at the corner. 
• Start by piping details with white icing, Draw Chewbacca’s teeth and C3PO’s eyeballs. Let them dry.
• Next, with black icing, pipe Yoda’s eyes, outlines of Darth Vader, Chewbacca’s eyes and nose, and C3PO’s pupils. Let them dry completely and enjoy!

Notes

*Click here for more detailed explanations of icing consistency.

The post Star Wars Cookies appeared first on Simply A Homebody.

I love themed food, and Halloween is the perfect occasion to make them. I know candies are the main snack on Halloween but since I’m not so crazy about eating them, I decided to have some fun with brownies.

If you have Halloween-themed cookie cutters laying around, this is the perfect time to bring them out. They will turn the ordinary brownie into a spooktacular dessert 😉

In this recipe, I used a box of brownie mix to cut back on some work, but if you have your favorite brownie recipe, that will make this Halloween brownie even better!

Ingredients

For the cookies

• unsalted butter, cubed
• granulated sugar
• egg
• all-purpose flour
• cornstarch
• kosher salt
• vanilla extract
• Gel food coloring of your choice

For the brownie

• a box of brownie mix
• any ingredients requested on the brownie mix box (oil, eggs, etc.)

Or, you can use your favorite brownie recipe to make this Halloween brownie!

For the black icing

• unsweetened cocoa powder
• powdered sugar
• hot water
• vanilla extract
• Black gel food coloring

Instructions

Preparation

Line 8” x 8” baking dish with parchment paper and lightly grease. You can also use a larger container for thinner brownies.

For the cookies

1. Preheat the oven to 375F (190C), and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Cream the butter and sugar, just until smooth and combined.

3. Mix in the eggs and vanilla extract until incorporated.

4. Add the flour, cornstarch, and salt, and mix until the mixture will gather itself into a ball and pull away cleanly from the sides of the bowl.

5. Divide the cookie dough into three, about 180 grams each. Add food coloring to each dough and knead until reaching the desired colors.

For mine, I added 2 drops of orange and 1 drop of red to create the deep orange for the pumpkin cookies and 3 drops of violet and 1 drop of red to create the purple color for the witch hat. I left one of them as plain for ghost cookies.

6. Roll each dough out between 2 sheets of saran wrap, to a thickness of about 1/4 inch. Using a rolling pin is helpful.

7. Rest the dough sheets in a refrigerator for at least an hour. If you are in a hurry, you can also rest them in a freezer for 30 min. This process makes it easier to work with soft buttery dough.

8. Take the dough sheets out and cut them into shapes while they are still cold. Once the dough warms up, it may stick to cookie cutters. If this happens, put the sheet back in a refrigerator or a freezer and repeat the process.

9. Bake cut-out cookie dough for 5 minutes (for approximately. 2-inch cookie). When baked, the cookie surface should be dry but should not have developed a golden color.

10. Cool completely and set them aside.

For the brownies (if using brownie mix)

1. Follow the instruction of your brownie mix to combine all required ingredients.

2. Pour the brownie mixture into the prepared baking dish and set aside.

For the assembly

1. Preheat the oven following the instruction on your brownie mix box or your custom brownie recipe.
2. On a flat surface, plan how you’d like to lay cookies on the brownie.

3. Rearrange cookies on top of the uncooked brownie mixture in the baking dish.

4. Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil.

5. For an 8″x8″ brownie, bake it covered for an hour then uncover and bake more in 10 minutes increments until it passes the “toothpick test” – a few moist crumbs sticking to the toothpick after it comes out. *The baking time varies depending on the thickness of the brownie. Please reference your boxed brownie mix instruction and check often to avoid burnt cookies.

6. Cool completely.

For the decoration

1. Whisk the cocoa powder, powdered sugar, hot water, and vanilla. If needed, add 1/8 teaspoon of water at a time to get to the consistency you want. (I recommend medium consistency)
2. Add some black food coloring with a toothpick and mix until well combined.
3. Place the icing in a piping bag and snip off a tiny amount (about ⅛-inch) at the corner. 
4. Pipe details on each cookie on the brownie

If you like this Halloween Brownie idea, you may also like:

• Nightmare Before Christmas Cookies
• Halloween Pumpkin Dinner Rolls
• Mini Pumpkin Cheesecake – Decorated as Pumpkins

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Halloween Brownie

Halloween is all about costumes, candies, and themed decorations! Let’s get creative by baking this Halloween brownie. The brownie is decorated with lots of colorful cookies and is perfect to bring to parties.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword brownie

Prep Time 2 hours hours

Cook Time 1 hour hour 25 minutes minutes

Resting Time 2 hours hours

Total Time 5 hours hours 25 minutes minutes

Servings 18

Equipment

• Baking sheets
• Parchment paper
• Large bowls
• Saran wrap
• Rolling Pin
• Cookie cutters
• 8×8 baking pan or other size baking pan
• Whisk
• Aluminum foil
• Piping Bags

Ingredients

For the cookies

• ½ cups unsalted butter cubed
• ½ cups granulated sugar 105g
• 1 egg large
• 1¾ cups all-purpose flour 225g, plus more for dusting
• ¼ cups cornstarch 35g
• ¼ teaspoons kosher salt
• ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
• gel food coloring of your choice

For the brownie (if using a box of brownie mix)

• 1 box Pillsbury 18.4 ounce chocolate fudge brownie mix Or any brownie mix of your choice
• Any ingredients requested on the brownie mix box (oil, eggs, etc.) *See Note

For the black icing

• 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 heaping cup powdered sugar 125g
• 2 – 3 tablespoons hot water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• black gel food coloring

Instructions

For the cookies

• Preheat the oven to 375F (190C), and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Cream the butter and sugar, just until smooth and combined.
• Mix in the eggs and vanilla extract until incorporated.
• Add the flour, cornstarch, and salt, and mix until the mixture will gather itself into a ball and pull away cleanly from the sides of the bowl.
• Divide the cookie dough into three, about 180 grams each. Add food coloring to each dough and knead until reaching the desired colors.

  For mine, I added 2 drops of orange and 1 drop of red to create the deep orange for the pumpkin cookies and 3 drops of violet and 1 drop of red to create the purple color for the witch hat. I left one of them as plain for ghost cookies.
• Roll each dough out between 2 sheets of saran wrap, to a thickness of about 1/4 inch. Using a rolling pin is helpful.
• Rest the dough sheets in a refrigerator for at least an hour. If you are in a hurry, you can also rest them in a freezer for 30 min. This process makes it easier to work with soft buttery dough.
• Take the dough sheets out and cut them into shapes while they are still cold. Once the dough warms up, it may stick to cookie cutters. If this happens, put the sheet back in a refrigerator or a freezer and repeat the process.
• Bake cut-out cookie dough for 5 minutes (for approximately. 2-inch cookie). When baked, the cookie surface should be dry but should not have developed a golden color.
• Cool completely and set them aside.

For the brownie (if using a box of brownie mix)

• Follow the instruction of your brownie mix to combine all required ingredients.
• Pour the brownie mixture into the prepared baking dish and set aside.

For the assembly

• Preheat the oven following the instruction on your brownie mix box or your custom brownie recipe.
• On a flat surface, plan how you’d like to lay cookies on the brownie.
• Rearrange cookies on top of the uncooked brownie mixture in the baking dish.
• Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil.
• For an 8"x8" brownie, bake covered for an hour then uncover and bake more in 10 minutes increments until it passes the “toothpick test” – a few moist crumbs sticking to the toothpick after it comes out. *The baking time varies depending on the thickness of the brownie. Please reference your boxed brownie mix instruction and check often to avoid burnt cookies.
• Cool completely.

For the decoration

• Whisk the cocoa powder, powdered sugar, hot water, and vanilla. If needed, add 1/8 teaspoon of water at a time to get to the consistency you want. (I recommend medium consistency)
• Add some black food coloring with a toothpick and mix until well combined.
• Place the icing in a piping bag and snip off a tiny amount (about ⅛-inch) at the corner. 
• Pipe details on each cookie on the brownie

Notes

*If your boxed brownie mix requires vegetable oil, swap it with an equal amount of melted butter. If it requires water, swap it with an equal amount of milk for better flavor.

The post Halloween Brownie appeared first on Simply A Homebody.

This year, I decided to bake chocolate sugar cookies and decorated them as Jack Skellington from Nightmare before Christmas. Jack has relatively simple facial structures so decorating the cookies is a beginner-friendly and fun project for all ages.

The chocolate sugar cookie recipe is adapted from baking a moment. The recipe is spread-proof so no need to worry about cookies getting deformed while baking;)

The white icing recipe is adapted from Cakewhiz. I love this icing recipe because of the color. It creates nice opaque pure white without white food coloring.

For the black icing, I decided to modify chocolate icing instead of turning the white icing into black. This way, I can limit the amount of food coloring in the icing and avoid food coloring taste and change in texture.

Handling icing is a major part of making these Nightmare Before Christmas cookies. Here are some icing tips:

• Icing dries very quickly if exposed to air. Once the icing is made, move it to an airtight container, cover the icing with saran wrap, and close the lid until needed.
• There is some drying time once white icing is placed and black icing can go on top. Black icing can be made once white icing has completely dried on cookies.
• If any left-over icing, icing with meringue powder can be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.[1]

WHAT TOOLS HELP MAKE THESE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS COOKIES?

• Electric stand mixer or hand mixer
• Parchment paper
• Rolling pin
• Round cookie cutter (2-inch diameter)
• Piping bags or Ziplock bags
• Toothpick/scribe tool
• Baking sheets

Ingredients

Chocolate Sugar Cookie (Makes about 30 cookies – 2 inches in diameter)

• 1/2 cup cold unsalted butter (1 stick), cut into small cubes
• 1 tablespoon oil (light/neutral flavor such as canola, grapeseed, or light olive oil)
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (you may need as much as 2 cups)

White Icing

• 1 1/2 tablespoon meringue powder
• 3 tablespoon warm water (NOT hot)
• 1/2 tablespoon light corn syrup
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Black Icing

• 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 heaping cup powdered sugar
• 2–3 tablespoons hot water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Black food coloring

Instruction

For Chocolate Sugar Cookie

1. Cream the butter, oil, sugar, vanilla, and salt in a bowl with a mixer until the mixture is smooth. (Do not overbeat, as this will incorporate air into the dough, which may lead to spreading.)
2. Add the egg and mix just until incorporated.
3. Mix in the cornstarch, cocoa powder, and 1 1/4 cups of the flour.
4. Continue adding more flour until the dough gathers itself into a ball and pulls away cleanly from the sides of the bowl.  (You may not need all the flour.)
5. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
6. Roll the dough to a thickness of 3/8-inch with a rolling pin, between two sheets of parchment paper. 
7. Cut shapes using a round cookie cutter. (I used a cookie cutter in 2-inch diameter)
8. Bake on parchment-lined baking sheets for 9 to 12 minutes, or until the cookies look dry on the surface, and feel firm around the edges, and set in the middle.
9. Cool completely.

For White Icing

1. In a deep bowl, add meringue powder and warm water.
2. Beat this for about 1 minute until you have a white and frothy mixture.
3. Add powdered sugar, corn syrup, and vanilla extract and start mixing at medium to medium-high speed.
4. Continue mixing until your icing becomes thick and peaks start forming.
5. Add ¼ teaspoon of water at a time to get to the consistency you need.

My icing was between “Medium consistency” and “flood consistency.” More detailed explanations of icing consistency can be found here.

For Black Icing

1. Whisk the cocoa powder, powdered sugar, hot water, and vanilla.
2. If needed, add 1/8 teaspoon of water at a time to get to the consistency you want. (I recommend medium consistency)
3. Add some black food coloring with a toothpick and mix until well combined.

For Assembly

1. Place white icing in a piping bag/ziplock bag and snip a small corner off. (I cut enough to have a ¼ inch hole)
2. Pipe the white icing on the chocolate sugar cookies. Pipe by starting from the outside rim and work your way toward the middle in a swirl motion. Do NOT worry about filling every gap while piping. Smooth out any bare spots by poking and moving the wet icing with a toothpick or a scribe tool until the cookies have solid surfaces. Let the icing completely dry before moving on to the next step.
3. Place black icing in a piping bag/ziplock bag and snip a small corner off. (I cut enough to have a 1/8 inch hole)
4. Draw Jack’s face. Looking at reference always helps. I referenced Jack’s face on the lighted necklace I had from Walt Disney World. There are always some good references online.
5. Let the black icing dry completely.

Nightmare Before Christmas Cookies

I decided to bake chocolate sugar cookies and decorated them as Jack Skellington from Nightmare before Christmas. Jack has relatively simple facial structures so decorating the cookies is a beginner-friendly and fun project for all ages.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 10 minutes mins

Decorating 1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Total Time 2 hours hrs

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 30 Cookies

Equipment

• Electric stand mixer or hand mixer
• Parchment paper
• Rolling Pin
• Piping bags or Ziplock bags
• Toothpick/scribe tool
• Baking sheets

Ingredients

  

Chocolate Sugar Cookie (Makes about 30 cookies – 2 inches in diameter)

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter cold, cut into small cubes
• 1 tablespoon oil light/neutral flavor such as canola, grapeseed, or light olive oil
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 egg large
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour you may need as much as 2 cups

White Icing

• 1 1/2 tablespoon meringue powder
• 3 tablespoon warm water (NOT hot)
• 1/2 tablespoon light corn syrup
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Black Icing

• 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 heaping cup powdered sugar
• 2-3 tablespoons hot water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Some Black food coloring

Instructions

For Chocolate Sugar Cookie

• Cream the butter, oil, sugar, vanilla, and salt in a bowl with a mixer until the mixture is smooth. (Do not overbeat, as this will incorporate air into the dough, which may lead to spreading.)
• Add the egg and mix just until incorporated.
• Mix in the cornstarch, cocoa powder, and 1 1/4 cups of the flour.
• Continue adding more flour until the dough gathers itself into a ball and pulls away cleanly from the sides of the bowl.  (You may not need all the flour.)
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
• Roll the dough to a thickness of 3/8-inch with a rolling pin, between two sheets of parchment paper. 
• Cut shapes using a round cookie cutter. (I used a cookie cutter in 2-inch diameter)
• Bake on parchment-lined baking sheets for 9 to 12 minutes, or until the cookies look dry on the surface, and feel firm around the edges, and set in the middle.
• Cool completely.

For White Icing

• In a deep bowl, add meringue powder and warm water.
• Beat this for about 1 minute until you have a white and frothy mixture.
• Add powdered sugar, corn syrup, and vanilla extract and start mixing at medium to medium-high speed.
• Continue mixing until your icing becomes thick and peaks start forming.
• Add ¼ teaspoon of water at a time to get to the consistency you need. My icing was between “Medium consistency” and “flood consistency.” More detailed explanations of icing consistency can be found here.

For Black Icing

• Whisk the cocoa powder, powdered sugar, hot water, and vanilla.
• If needed, add 1/8 teaspoon of water at a time to get to the consistency you want. (I recommend medium consistency)
• Add some black food coloring with a toothpick and mix until well combined.

For Assembly

• Place white icing in a piping bag/ziplock bag and snip a small corner off. (I cut enough to have a ¼ inch hole)
• Pipe the white icing on the chocolate sugar cookies. Pipe by starting from the outside rim and work your way toward the middle in a swirl motion. Do NOT worry about filling every gap while piping. Smooth out any bare spots by poking and moving the wet icing with a toothpick or a scribe tool until the cookies have solid surfaces. Let the icing completely dry before moving on to the next step.
• Place black icing in a piping bag/ziplock bag and snip a small corner off. (I cut enough to have a 1/8 inch hole)
• Draw Jack’s face. Looking at reference always helps. I referenced Jack’s face on the lighted necklace I had from Walt Disney World. There are always some good references online.
• Let the black icing dry completely.

Keyword Cookies

If you like character dessert, check this out

• Hello Kitty Cookies
• Totoro Madeleines – Easy Kawaii Food
• Rilakkuma Macarons – with Detailed Instruction

The post Nightmare Before Christmas Cookies appeared first on Simply A Homebody.

Baking Cookies

I baked shortbread cookies with these adorable cookie cutters. The cookie recipe was adopted from Sweet & Spicy Living.

Ingredient

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) Unsalted Butter – softened at room temperature
• 1/4 cup Confectioners /Icing sugar (Sifted – Sift first before measuring)
• 1 cup + ⅛ cup  All-Purpose Flour
• 1/8 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

I’ve used this cookie recipe before and love how buttery these cookies are, but for this Hello Kitty version, I added an extra ⅛ cup of flour. These cookie cutters are only about an inch, and the small details are too hard to cut out if the cookie dough is too soft. ⅛ cup was fine to add without making the dough too floury.

Instruction

1. Mix Butter and Sugar in a large bowl and cream together using a hand mixer or stand mixer.
2. Add vanilla extract and mix until combined.
3. Add salt and flour and continue to mix until mixture forms a soft dough.
4. Flatten the cookie dough between two sheets of saran wrap to about 3/8-inch thickness. Then, keep the flat dough wrapped up with the plastic wrap.
5. Put the flat dough in the freezer for at least a few hours. This way, you can prevent the dough from getting too warm while working. Warm dough is extremely hard to work with…

3. Cut the dough into shapes by using the Hello Kitty Cookie cutters. Use the cookie cutter for outlining first. While the outlining cookie cutter is still sitting, place the cookie cutters with facial details inside. Push it in hard enough to leave indentations, but do not push it through the dough.

If at any moment, the dough starts to stick to the cookie cutters, flatten the dough and put it in the freezer until the dough firms up.

4. Preheat oven to 350F. Place the raw cookies on the silicone mat or the baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

• I highly recommend chilling the shaped cookies while preheating the oven. When the cookies are warm, they tend to spread and ruin the shapes that you worked really hard for.

5. Bake for 15 minutes, or until the edge of the cookies starts to turn golden brown and the center is still pale and soft. Check on the 10-minute mark to avoid overbaking. Let cool on the baking sheet. Store baked cookies in a resealable container or plastic bag until icing.

Icing

Ingredient

• 3/4 tbsp Meringue Powder
• 1 1/2 tbsp Warm Water NOT hot
• 1/4 tbsp Light Corn Syrup
• 1 cup Powdered Sugar
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
• Gel food coloring of your choice

The icing recipe is adopted from Cakewhiz. I looked around different icing recipes online and found out lots of them use meringue powder as an ingredient.

What is meringue powder?

Meringue powder is an egg white substitute that’s frequently used in baking and cake decorating. The powder is primarily made of dehydrated egg whites, though it can also have stabilizers, sweeteners and flavoring added to make it a little bit easier to use straight out of the container. ^[1]

Instruction

1. In a deep bowl, add meringue powder and warm water.
2. Beat this for about 1 minute until you have a white and frothy mixture.
3. Add powdered sugar, corn syrup and vanilla extract and start mixing at medium to medium-high speed.
4. Continue mixing until your icing becomes thick and peaks start forming.
5. Color your icing with gel colors. Use a toothpick to add gel colors into your icing.
6. Mix with a spoon until the color is fully blended into your icing.
   • Once all icing ingredients were mixed, I added ¼ teaspoon of water at a time to get to the consistency I wanted. My icing was about “flood consistency.” More detailed explanations of icing consistency can be found here.

Meringue powder was a real game changer. By adding some meringue powder, the icing turned out sturdier and easier to handle. The color was better too. The icing was pure opaque white and the food coloring turned out more saturated.

This icing dries very quickly if exposed to air. Once the icing is made, I moved it to an airtight container, covered the icing with saran warp and closed the lid. I opened the lid and saran wrap off as needed when I was making more icing.

There will be a left-over icing. Icing with meringue powder can be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.^[2]

Decorating

My original plan was to fill in Hello Kitty’s face with white icing then draw facial features, but the cookies were so small I kept filling anything and everything on the cookies (T_T). After struggling for some time, I decided to fill in the existing indentations following the bow, eyes, whiskers, and nose. The indentations made it so much easier to decorate.

Summary

Overall I love how these cookies turned out! Once I got a hang of dealing with the soft cookie dough and the consistency of the icing, the decorating process went smoothly. I’m so glad that I got these Hello Kitty cookie cutters. They made it possible for a novice cookie decorator like me to make such cute cookies.

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The post Hello Kitty Cookies – Simple Recipes appeared first on Simply A Homebody.

Because of Covid-19, I’m spending more time at home like the rest of the world. I’ve always enjoyed baking ever since I was a child and I decided to get back to my baking routine during this pandemic.

One of my favorite cookies is shortbread cookies. I love the gentle sweetness, and the buttery smells make them so irresistible. I found this cookie recipe at Sweet & Spicy Living and was able to bake great shortbread cookies.

Shaping Cookies

I should’ve been more prepared… I noticed that I had no idea where my cookie cutters went after I already made some dough 🙁 So I separated the cookie dough in two, wrapped it in saran wraps, and made a log shaped dough and a rectangle shaped dough. Then I popped them in the freezer. Once the dough became hardened, I sliced them with a knife and baked them.

Decorating Cookies

Today’s cookies were decorated as avocado toasts and pizzas! I used this icing recipe to decorate. I followed the exact recipe and the icing came out really stiff so I added more milk than it was listed on the recipe.

Controlling the consistency was difficult. The icing hardened up pretty quickly, so I had to work fast. Using a tiny metal tip with plastic containers were awkward for me, and I would need more practice if I were to tackle more complicated designs. Any parts that needed detailed work, I used toothpicks to control the icing.

In the future, I want to start baking more at home, so I will have plenty of opportunities to learn dessert decoration.

The post Back to Baking – Shortbread Cookies appeared first on Simply A Homebody.