Sweet & Simple Sugar Cookie Recipe

Our best selling Sugar Cookies and the foundation of our new cookie line, Sweet Hearts as seen on Better Connecticut. 

Cheddar 'n' Bacon Corn Muffins

A simple breakfast.

It's the May #baketogether from Abby Dodge! To show my appreciation for this monthly #baketogether that I enjoy so much, I'm giving away two of Abby's books. To make this giveaway a little sweeter - or savory,  depending on your taste! - Abby has graciously agreed to sign a copy of each book for the lucky winner!


The books are The Weekend Baker and Desserts 4 Today. Yes, BOTH books for one lucky winner signed by the lovely and talented Abby Dodge! To enter, you can leave a comment below telling me why you joined #baketogether or, ahem, what's stopping you from joining the party.  OR, just tell me your fav muffin in a comment below. The winner will be announced on the blog on Sunday, May 27th and he/she will have until Wednesday, May 30th to contact me at info@sweetandsimple.com. Easy peasy! Fine print: One entry per person, U.S. residents only.


It's been a long couple of weeks at my house. I've been looking for a small retail space for Sweet & Simple. I'm ready to take the next step and hang out my daisy shaped shingle. There was an adorable, small space just down the street from my house. 600 square feet of space. It would have been a super squeeze, but I was ready.  And then someone else put their offer in hours before me. I like to think it wasn't meant to be and the other gal (a florist) surely deserves her lucky break, but still... it wasn't my happiest day. The other spaces I've looked at have been too expensive, too big or too far away. I feel like Goldilocks, a forty-something Goldilocks, but you get the idea.


So, while I wait for a just-right-space at a just-right-price to turn up,  I keep workin',  I take care of my family and, of course,  once a month I do #baketogether.  What did I do this month? I doubled Abby's recipe,  6 muffins don't go far at my house, and went the savory route. Bacon always makes me feel better. These muffins, scrambled eggs and fruit salad? Perfect breakfast! 


Happy baking, friends! XOXO

Hi, Miss Lovely Muffin! 

Cheddar ‘n’ Bacon Corn Muffins 


Makes 12 muffins

Have all ingredients at room temperature
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Line 12 regular-sized muffin cups with paper or foil liners

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups/202 grams/7 ounces unbleached, all-purpose flour

2/3 cup/110 grams/4 ounces yellow cornmeal

2/3 cup/133 grams/4.75 ounces sugar

1 TBSP baking powder

Pinch sea salt


1 cup buttermilk 

2 large eggs

6 tablespoons canola oil


3 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (approx a cup)
3 ounces of your fav bacon, cooked crisp, cooled and chopped (approx  a cup)

Make the muffins:

Position an oven rack in the center of the oven.

In a medium bowl, whisk to combine the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt.  Add the cheese and bacon and toss lightly with your hands or 2 forks.

Using a 2 cup glass measure or a small bowl, measure the buttermilk and add the egg, oil and whisk to blend. Pour the liquid over the dry ingredients. Using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, fold until just blended.

Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups (2 ounces or 1/4 cup of batter per cup will be about three-quarters of the way full). I use a 2 ounce ice cream scoop/disher for muffins, but you can eyeball the measurement as well.

Bake until the tops are pale golden brown and a pick inserted in the center comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes.

Move to a wire rack and let cool for 15 minutes. Carefully remove the muffins from the pan and set them on a wire rack.

Serve immediately or cool completely and store in an air-tight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.

Best warm! If you are storing them, for best taste, plan to reheat before serving.

I tried one with a little cream cheese. Over the top. Delicious. Muffin gone wild!

Cocoa Angel Food Cake

Just in the knick of time, here I am slipping in my April #baketogether entry. I resisted, but just barely, the temptation to lemon up Abby’s gorgeous Tangerine Angel Food Cake. You may have figured by now out that lemon is my not-so-secret-weapon in the kitchen - lemon and Worcestershire sauce, but that’s a story for another day.

Love the touch of cocoa in my version and the bit of extra vanilla. It’s a pretty, pale color and looks lovely with the strawberries, doesn't it? 

But what’s not to love about angel food cake in any flavor? Or color? I'm thinking of a pale pink  angel food cake <swoon>. Just yesterday I learned that India Tree has a line of natural food dyes (they use only vegetable colorants) and I would like to try them out on angel food cakes, for sure.

Do you like angel food cake? Do you have a fav recipe? Please tell me in the comments section. 

And, if you are even thinking about joining #baketogether in May, please do! 

Traditional, simple and delicious. I'm a fan!

Cocoa Angel Food Cake 

Makes 1 10-inch cake or about 12 servings.

Preheat oven to 350º
One 10 x 4 angel food cake pan
(if your pan doesn’t have cute little feet to support it while cooling the cake, have ready a bottle or funnel to hold the pan in a level, upside-down position. Make sure to test this before your cake comes out of the oven.)

For the cake:


1 cup (4 ounces) cake flour

1 1/4 cup (5 ounces) confectioners’ sugar

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
Pinch baking soda
Pinch table salt

11 large (1 1/3 cups) egg whites, at room temperature

1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 cup (7 ounces) superfine sugar

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

To make the cake:

Sift (I use a sieve) together the flour, confectioners’ sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt three times onto a sheet of parchment, waxed paper or foil and set aside.

In the work bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on medium-low speed until foamy. Add the cream of tartar, increasing speed to medium, and beat until whites are opaque and climbing about half way up the bowl (the tracks from the whisk will be beginning to hold their shape) forming very soft peaks. Continue beating while slowly and continuously adding the superfine sugar in a slow steady stream. Beat on medium high until the whites are thick, shiny and form medium-firm, fluffy peaks. (The peaks should droop over gently.) Do not over beat. You want to leave some room for those whites to expand in the oven. Add the vanilla. Beat just until blended, about 10 seconds.

Sift 1/4 of the flour mixture over the beaten whites. Using a large rubber spatula, gently fold the dry ingredients into the whites. Repeat with remaining flour mixture, one quarter at a time.

Using the spatula to gently coax the batter, pour evenly into the prepared pan.  Smooth the top. Bake until the cake is light golden brown and the cake is springy when touched, about 40 minutes. Immediately invert the pan onto the counter if the pan has feet or if it doesn’t, invert the pan sliding the center tube onto the neck of the bottle. Let cool completely.

To remove the cake, rotate the pan, gently tapping the bottom edge of the cake pan on the counter as you turn it until the cake loosens from the pan. If necessary, run a long, thin knife between the cake and the pan and around the inside of the tube to loosen the cake. Slip the cake from the pan and gently lift it up from the center of the pan and arrange on a flat serving plate.

Cut the cooled cake using a serrated knife and a gently sawing motion. (Or, if your mother-in-law gave you an angel food cake knife when you got engaged – Ahem! That would be me – by all means break it out.)

Serve slices of cake with fresh fruit, fruit sauce (or compote) and whipped cream.

Lemon, Pepper and Parmesan Sables - #baketogether

I was super excited about Abby Dodge’s March #baketogether project – savory sables. In my mind, French Sables are the ultimate, buttery icebox cookie. Ooooooh la la!

My variation on Abby's recipe is lemon, pepper and Parmesan because those are three flavors I especially enjoy together. The brightness of the citrus, the warmth of the pepper and the nutty Parmesan all balanced out by Maldon, currently my fav sea salt. Maldon is expensive, but I use it sparingly as a treat. One box lasts a VERY long time.  My oldest said he loved "those parmesan cracker things" - I have to agree that they are delicious, whatever you call them.  I'd like to try a bleu cheese-bacon combo on my next pass (though I would omit the salt entirely in a bacon version).    

Sables just out of the oven - cooling on a kitchen window sill.

I will note, again, that #baketogether is open to all bakers. Simply follow the clear directions on Abby's site, get inspired and get baking! It's fun to participate and see all the clever spins on Abby's easy-to-follow, instructional recipes. I would definitely head over to Abby's site to see this month's technique in pics before you try this recipe. As a side note, I also use a food processor for pie dough and love the results - very consistent.

You can see that my sables are not perfectly cut - lopsided! - but they are a lovely, nutty brown color.
And that made a very happy baker.

Lemon, Pepper and Parmesan Sables 

Makes 29 cracker size sables or 40 coin size nibbles

1 1/3 cups (6 ounces) unbleached, all purpose flour

1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

1 teaspoon sea salt (fine grain)

1/4 teaspoon (or more to taste) freshly ground black pepper
Zest of 1 medium lemon

8 tablespoons (4 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into 7 slices, well chilled

2 tablespoons + 1 1/2 teaspoons very cold water (if your dough is DRY (like mine) add water in 1/2 tsp increments until desired consistency is reached)

Coarse sea salt for sprinkling (optional, but recommended, and I prefer Maldon for sprinkling)

To make the dough:

1. Put the flour, cheese, salt and black pepper in a food processor and pulse briefly to combine. Add the butter and pulse until the butter pieces are slightly larger than pea size, about 10 to 12 pulses depending on your machine. Drizzle the water evenly over the flour mixture. Pulse until the dough begins to form moist crumbs that are just beginning to clump together, about 8 or 9 more pulses depending on your machine.

2. Dump the moist crumbs onto the unfloured counter and gather into a pile. With the heel of you hand, push and gently smear the crumbs away from you until they start to come together in a cohesive dough. Two or three ‘smears’ should do the trick. Using a bench scraper, gather the dough together and turn it about 45 degrees and give it one or two more smears.  Gather the dough together and shape the dough into a 7 1/4-inch long and 2 1/4 -inch wide rectangle using the bench scraper to make the sides nice and straight.

OR, create a rounded log that can be cut into bite size coins. I prefer this size to serve with wine or cocktails. The video link is helpful, but I normally just place the dough in a sheet of waxed paper/plastic wrap and, using my hands, roll the log back-and-forth until I have a nicely shaped log.

Either way, wrap the log tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate until very firm, about 3 hours, or up to 2 days.

3. Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 375°F.  Line two large baking sheets with parchment. Using a thin, sharp knife, cut the rectangle logs, or round logs, into 1/4-inch slices and arrange about 1 inch apart (they don’t spread much at all) on the prepared sheets. If making “coins,” you will need to turn your log after each cut to ensure the shape of the “coins” is consistent.

If you like, sprinkle the sables with your favorite salt salt just before they go in the oven.

Bake, one sheet at a time, until nutty brown around the edges, 16 to 18 minutes. Serve slightly warm or room temperature.

4. The dough can be shaped and frozen for up to a month and then thawed for about an hour on the counter or in the refrigerator overnight. Likewise, tuck the baked and cooled sables in a heavy duty zip top bag and stash them in the freezer. Thaw at room temperature and warm them for a few minutes at 325°F to refresh the flavors.

Happy Baking!