🎃 Halloween Cookies

Halloween's just around the corner, and you know what that means. Costumes, candies, celebrations and cookies galore! 

If you're one of those parents (or kids) who either gets invited to a lot of parties, or hosts a lot of parties, these are the easiest Halloween Cookies you can make! No need to make them a few days before... these bake so fast, you can make them 30 minutes before your guests arrive!

(or you can just bake and eat them by yourself... I won't judge 😉)

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Halloween Chocolate Sugar Cookies
Cook time: 10-12 minutes
Yield: depends on cookie cutters

Ingredients:

170 mL flour 

40 mL cocoa powder

1 mL baking powder

60 mL margarine, softened

100 mL sugar

1/2 of an egg OR 1/4 banana

2 mL vanilla extract

Decorating materials - icing, sugar, sprinkles, frosting etc. (optional)

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 350℉

2. Line cookie sheet w/ parchment paper

3. In a bowl, whisk flour, cocoa and baking powder

4. In a separate bowl, cream margarine with sugar. Add banana and vanilla extract. Beat well.

5. Gradually add the flour mixture to creamed mixture

6. Knead dough on lightly floured surface. Roll dough into 1cm thick circle, and cut shapes

7. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until firm around edges

8. Let cookies cool and...

9. Decorate!

Notes:

• Want to decorate with frosting? Click here for an easy recipe!
• You can use an electric mixer to cream the margarine or a whisk
• Depending on the thickness and size of your cookies, you may need to keep them in the oven for more or less time

Recommended for this recipe:

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Chocolate Chip Scones

I've always loved the British accent. Not that I don't love my own American/Canadian one but, you know what they say, the grass is always greener on the other side.

When I was younger, I would hold contests with my cousins to see who could talk in a British accent for the longest time. For some reason, when I had to say a really long sentence, I would resort to my normal accent. The young me found it too difficult to speak "fancy" for that long. 

I think my fascination with the accent comes from watching countless Hollywood movies with English actors. The princesses and fairies tended to have a British accent, making them appear royal and regal and I guess that stuck with me. Probably one of the reasons that I associate British English with sophisticated and classy. 

So naturally, I jumped at the chance to bake scones! Scones are seen as a very British treat, mainly because they originated in the UK. Today, I'm going to share with you my favourite chocolate chip scone recipe. I've already made this a couple times but every time I bake it, it seems to taste a little better. Practice makes perfect! 

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Chocolate Chip Scones
Cook time: 10-15 minutes

Ingredients:
250mL all-purpose flour
30mL sugar
3mL baking powder
1/2 mL baking soda
pinch of salt
40mL cold margarine
40 mL chocolate chips
30mL sour cream
30mL milk
1/2 egg

Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 425℉
2. In a large bowl, sift flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. Cut in margarine (using a pastry blender or two forks) into the dry ingredients until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the chocolate chips.
4. In a small bowl, combine the sour cream, milk and egg.
5. Gradually add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients, tossing with a fork (mixture should come away from the side of the bowl and stick to the fork in a large ball)
6. Lightly flour the counter top and knead the dough (approx. 6-8 times). Roll the dough into a circle 2 cm thick. Cut into triangles.
7. Bake for 10-15 minutes. Scones should be light brown in colour. 

Recommended for this recipe:


What's your favorite accent? Let me know in the comments below :)

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EASY Chocolate Mug Cake

For some reason, today I had an insatiable craving for chocolate. I ate a piece of chocolate and even a bit of a chocolate chip cookie, but nothing worked. I decided to make my chocolate mug cake and let me tell you, this hit the spot. It's delicious and best of all, it takes less than 5 minutes (literally)! 

Chocolate Mug Cake

Cook time: 90 seconds

Yield: 1 mug cake

Ingredients:

2 tbsp cocoa powder

3 tbsp flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

3 tbsp sugar

1/2 an egg (or 1/2 a banana, as substitute)
2 tbsp oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp milk

Steps:

1. Mix and microwave for 90 seconds

That's how easy it is!

Want to top it off with frosting? Click here for the QUICKEST Buttercream Frosting recipe!

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Delicious 5-Step Brownies

I'm so excited to be posting my very first recipe on this here blog! For now, I'll keep things simple, with my favourite brownie recipe (because who doesn't LOVE brownies?) Whenever I follow this recipe, my brownies always turn out tender, chewy and moist, so hopefully yours will too. If you end up making this recipe, send me a pic so I can see how they turned out. And if you choose to omit the eggs, you can barely even taste the bananas (unless you want to taste them, in which case, feel free to toss in an extra banana) 😉

Did I mention that these sold out almost immediately at my most recent bake sale??

Fudgy Cocoa Brownies (5 steps)

Cook time: 25-30 minutes

Yield: ~9 brownies 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs (or 2 bananas, as substitutes)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt 

1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup walnuts and/or chocolate chips (optional)

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 350℉

2. Grease or lightly flour an 8" pan

3. In a large saucepan, melt the butter. After completely melted, remove from heat, and stir in sugar, eggs (or bananas) and vanilla extract. 

4. With a wooden spoon, beat in cocoa powder, flour, salt, and baking powder (do not overbeat!) Spread the batter into the 8" pan.

5. Bake 25-30 minutes, or until sides start pulling away from pan. DO NOT OVERCOOK!

If you want to cover these in frosting (which tastes even more delicious), click here for my favorite, 2 step Buttercream Frosting recipe!

Enjoy! ♡

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