Brooke's Matcha Cookies

Brooke is almost famous in the neighborhood for these cookies. Make sure we use 100% matcha powder, ceremonial or culinary grade for a strong match taste and green color. The key to her cookies is weighing out the ingredients instead of using cups - especially the flour. There is no need to chill this dough before baking but if it's too sticky it won't hurt to chill for 30 minutes before scooping. 

INGREDIENTS

• 180 g all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon matcha powder, ceremonial grade or high-quality culinary grade
• 1 tablespoon milk powder, optional
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 115 g unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 150 g granulated sugar
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 100 g white chocolate, roughly chopped, plus a handful extra for topping
• flakey salt, optional

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Mix dry ingredients - in a small bowl, combine flour, matcha powder, milk powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl (stand mixer bowl if using a stand mixer), cream butter and sugar. Mix until very creamy and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.
4. Add in eggs and vanilla. Mix until smooth.
5. Add dry ingredients to wet - Mix briefly until just combined with some flour patches left.
6. Fold in white chocolate chips with a silicone spatula - do NOT overmix.
7. Using a 2-tbsp scooper, scoop out balls of cookie dough and place them on your baking sheet, leave 2 inches in between for spreading.
8. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the edges are set but the middle is still soft and puffy. In the last 2 minutes of baking, press a few extra white chocolate chunks on top of each cookie (optional)
9. Let the cookies cool on baking sheet for 10 minutes before carefully transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. At this point, you can sprinkle some flakey salt to add a delightful saltiness to the cookies.

Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Chewy chocolate chip (or chunk) cookies with a crispy, delicious edge. Melted butter recipe so no chill time is required. 

Made these for the neighbor friends and they love them.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/3 (170g) cup of flour 
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butter, melted & cooled
• 1/2 cup (100g) light brown sugar, packed
• 1/3 cup (70g) granulated white sugar 
• 2 tsp vanilla extract 
• 1 large egg, room temperature 
• 1 1/2 cup (250g) semisweet chocolate chip or chunks 
• (optional) replace 75g of chocolate chips with chopped walnuts 
• flakey salt, to finish 

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350F and line baking sheets with parchment paper. 
2. Melt butter and set aside to cool. 
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside. 
4. In a large bowl (stand mixer bowl if using a stand mixer) cream together butter, and both sugars. It's important that the butter is not hot - warm is ok. Whisk vigorously until it turns into a paste-like consistency. 
5. Whisk in egg and vanilla until smooth. 
6. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet and fold until there's still some streaks of flour left. Fold in chocolate chips/chunks (and optional walnuts if using) until just combined. 
7. Use a 2 tablespoon scooper and scoop onto prepared baking sheets. 6 scoops is good as they spread. Bake for 10-12 minutes. 
8. Cookies are ready when edges are golden but middle is still soft and puffed up. 
9. Immediately after taking the cookies out, use a fork or large round cookie cutter to reshape. Sprinkle sea salt. 
10. Let cookies continue to cook for 3-5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before packaging if giving cookies away. 

(In the photo I am using Guittard super chocolate chips. They taste good but look funny. I might prefer their semi-sweet. Trader Joe's semi sweet chocolate chips are good too.)

Notes: we used our smallest scooper and was able to get 22 3 inch cookies from 1 batch. 

Thai Anh's Snickerdoodle Recipe

Once I took a bite of these perfectly chewy and not overly sweet cookies, I knew I needed the recipe and Thai Anh did not disappoint. She sent it right away! So delicious!

Prep Time: 45
Cook Time: 10-12 minutes
Total Time: 55 minutes
Yield: 24 – 30 cookies

INGREDIENTS

For Cookies:

• 2 ½ cup all purpose flour 
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar 
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• ½ cup (1stick) unsalted butter at room temperature*
• 1 ½ cup granulated sugar 
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract 
• 2 large eggs 

For Coating:

• ¼ cup granulated sugar 
• 1 ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon 

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Sift flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt together in separate bowl. Set aside.
2. In another bowl, medium speed beat butter, sugar, and vanilla together until light and fluffy (3-4 minutes). 
3. Beat eggs one at a time.
4. Gradually add flour mixture and beat well. Chill dough at least 30 minutes or up to 3 days.**
5. Preheat oven to 400 F. Mix sugar and cinnamon together in small bowl. 
6. Scoop tablespoon sized cookie dough and roll/coat them in the cinnamon mixture generously. 
7. Place on baking sheets and bake for 10-12 minutes or until cookies have puffed and top looks set.
8. Allow cookies to cool for 5 minutes before transferring them to cooking rack.

*Can increase up to ¾ cup.
**Recommended time for chilling at least 5 hour.

Chocolate Chip Dried Cherry Sea Salt Cookie

Ingredients:
8 oz. unsalted butter, at room temperature1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup Turbinado sugar
1 3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla bean paste (or extract)
3 1/2 cup All Purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. Baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
12 oz. milk chocolate (I used TCHO 39% baking discs and kept them whole but use the best quality chocolate you can afford.)
6 oz. dried cherries
1/2 teaspoon good quality salt, for sprinkling on top before baking

Directions:
Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment cream together the butter and the sugars until very light and fluffy, about 3 minutes on medium high.

Scrape down the side of the bowl. Continue mixing while adding the eggs one at time. Make sure each egg is incorporated before adding the next.

Add the vanilla bean paste and scrape down the bowl with a spatula.

In a small bowl combine the flour, soda and salt and mix to combine.

With the machine on low, slowly add the flour. Mix until just combined, taking care not to over mix. With a spatula fold in the chocolate and dried cherries.

Sprinkle a very fine dusting of good quality sea salt. If you are not a fan of sea salt in your baked goods then feel free to skip.

Bake at 360* for 12 minutes. They should be lightly golden on the outside but still look gooey on the inside.

*Please note that yes that reads 360 and not 350. If you oven does not go to that I would stay with 350 and bake an extra minute.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Lactation Cookies

Bake some for your nursing mommy friends as a gift!

I made these cookies while Cameron was a month old just as an extra measure to keep my milk supply up for him. They're delicious and taste like ordinary oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. I also added a cup of dried cherries because we love them in our house. I'd take out the brewer's yeast to make them non-lactation cookies.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 4 tablespoons water
• 2 tablespoons flax seed meal
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

• 2 cups flour
• 2 -4 tablespoons brewer's yeast
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt

• 3 cups oats
• 2 cup chocolate chips

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Mix the flaxseed meal and water and let sit for 3-5 minutes.
3. Beat butter, sugar, and brown sugar well.
4. Add eggs and mix well.
5. Add flaxseed mix and vanilla, beat well.
6. Sift together flour, brewers yeast, baking soda, and salt.
7. Add dry ingredients to butter mix.
8. Stir in oats and chips.
9. Scoop onto baking sheet.
10. Bake for 12 minutes.
11. Let set for 5 minutes then remove from tray.

No Chill Soft Sugar Cookies

I tried a new recipe this year. As much as I love the recipe I usually use, I don't have the time or energy to pre-plan the dough, wait a day for it to chill, etc. I wanted something quick and easy but still delicious. This was it! Bao and Mike both like the texture of this dough more than the usual. I still think the other is more "pillowy" but maybe I have to make both and we can do a side by side tasting?

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup butter, softened
• 1 Cup granulated white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3 cups all purpose flour

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350° F.
2. In the bowl of your mixer cream butter and sugar until smooth.
3. Beat in extracts and eggs.
4. In a separate bowl combine baking powder with flour and add a little at a time to the wet ingredients. The dough will be very stiff. If it becomes too stiff for your mixer turn out the dough onto a countertop surface. Wet your hands and finish off kneading the dough by hand.
5. DO NOT CHILL THE DOUGH. Divide into workable batches, roll out onto a floured surface and cut. You want these cookies to be on the thicker side (closer to 1/4 inch rather than 1/8).
6. Bake at 350 for 6-8 minutes. Let cool on the cookie sheet until firm enough to transfer to a cooling rack.

Original recipe and images © In Katrina's Kitchen 

Jacques Torres' Secret Chocolate Chip Cookie

I saw this on Pinterest and took the holiday break to make all the stuff I wanted to try. I started with chocolate chip cookies because I have a recipe that tastes great but doesn't look like as nice as I would like it. This recipe looks and tastes great. Mike says it's the best cookie I've ever made to date. So here it is, Jacques Torres' Chocolate Chip cookies:

Makes twenty-six 5-inch cookies or 8 1/2 dozen 1 1/4-inch cookie.

Ingredients
1 pound unsalted butter
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
2 1/4 cups packed light-brown sugar
4 large eggs
3 cups plus 2 tablespoons pastry flour
3 cups bread flour
1 tablespoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 pounds bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or nonstick baking mats; set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugars.
- Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
- Reduce speed to low and add both flours, baking powder, baking soda, vanilla, and chocolate; mix until well combined.
- Using a 4-ounce scoop for larger cookies or a 1-ounce scoop for smaller cookies, scoop cookie dough onto prepared baking sheets, about 2 inches apart.
- Bake until lightly browned, but still soft, about 20 minutes for larger cookies and about 15 minutes for smaller cookies.
- Cool slightly on baking sheets before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Tips:
1. It took 20 minutes in my oven for my cookies to be golden on top.
2. I used an ice cream scooper and to prep the dough and put them in the refrigerator for a day before baking them to have them look pretty and wrinkly like a bakery cookie.
3. I added 1 1/2 cup of walnuts to mine. I like nuts in my cookies.

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

Oh wonderful Pinterest. How I love thee! I've been doing a lot of pinning of things that just look delicious, and I figured it was time to start trying some of these recipes. This recipe definitely did not disappoint. I think it needs a little more of a pumpkin punch, but I don't know how to tweak the recipe without ruining its perfect, soft consistency. I baked a batch about 40 mins after chilling and the next batch after chilling overnight, and both turned out delicious!


For the cookies:
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 3/4 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

For the coating:
1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
Dash of allspice

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugars on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the pumpkin puree, then beat in the egg and vanilla.

In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Stir until fully incorporated. Cover and chill the dough for at least an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone liner. Mix the coating ingredients in a small bowl. Scoop equal dough balls and roll into the sugar mixture. Set on cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart. Dip the bottom of a flat drinking glass into water, then into the sugar mixture and use to slightly flatten the dough balls. Recoat the bottom of the glass in the sugar-spice mixture as needed.

Bake the cookies for 12 to 14 minutes, or until baked through. Let cool on the baking sheets about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough.

Snickerdoodles

I found this recipe on Pinterest and I've been trying to actively try the recipes/crafts I pin otherwise I'm just pinning for nothing! This is a real great recipe. The snickerdoodles comes out soft and chewy. And it's always a plus when it was easy to make!

makes 16-20 cookies

1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 tablespoons milk
1/4 cup sugar + 1 tablespoon cinnamon for dipping

Preheat oven to 375.

Cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer until smooth. Add egg and vanilla, mixing well until combine, about 2 minutes. Stir in flour, baking powder, salt, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix until dough comes together. Add in milk. If dough is still crumbly, add milk 1 tablespoon at a time until it comes together. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

In a bowl combine remaining sugar and cinnamon. Remove dough from fridge and roll into big 1 1/2 inch balls. Dip in cinnamon sugar mixture and place on baking sheet. Lightly press down on dough to flatten it. Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes.

Soft M&M Chocolate Chip Cookies

I wanted to try this Award Winning chocolate chip cookie recipe I found on allrecipes.com but I really feel uneasy about a recipe that calls for instant pudding mix. When it comes to cookies, I like to use whatever I have and I don't know about you, but I never have instant pudding mix on hand. Plus, since having the kids, I'm trying to move away from using cake mixes after I found out they have hydrogenated oils in them and trying start cooking from scratch (When I do use cake mixes though, Trader Joe's has one with no trans fat and is delicious...I used it for the pistachio cupcakes I made for Bao's birthday).

Anyways these cookies were fun to make since the kids helped me. I didn't have to refrigerate the dough and it still came out super puffy and a little cakey. I'm guessing from the baking powder. I'm not one for cakey cookies but the kids like it and I cut the sugar a little bit because of the addition of M&Ms. Since Valentine's day is coming up, we went with a cute Valentine's edition of M&Ms that only had red, white and pink M&Ms in the bag. Unfortunately, a lot of these ended up in the kids mouth right before bedtime. I hope these as much as they do! Enjoy!

Soft M&M Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 2 sticks softened butter
• 3/4 Cup sugar
• 1 Cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 extra large eggs
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons pure vanilla
• 3 3/4 Cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 12 oz bag chocolate chips
• 1 bag M&M’s (you’ll have some left over) & various sprinkles

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a stand or electric mixer beat the butter and sugars until well beaten. Beat in eggs and vanilla until well combined. Place flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a large bowl; mix.

Slowly add to wet ingredients until combined. Hand mix in chocolate chips. Do not mix in M&M’s or sprinkles in with the batter – they go on last.

Drop down by the teaspoon onto a parchment lined cookie pan, than press M&M’s or sprinkles onto the top of each cookie and bake.

Bake for 9-12 minutes, until edges are golden but the middle may be soft still.

Cool in pan for about 5 minutes and transfer to a cooling rack.

Avery's Sugar Cookies

I ate these at Jessica's baby shower when she was pregnant with Avery. So I decide to just name them after Avery to distinguish them from the other sugar cookie recipe I have. These are delicious, moist, soft and addicting. The frosting isn't the thin kind that you do a color flow with...even those look cute, they harden up to be too hard. This is a softer frosting so decorating isn't as "clean" but it's delicious to eat. Sometimes you gotta sacrifice "cuteness" for deliciousness. After all, we're talking about food, right?

Sugar Cookies
Yields about 24 cookies | Bakes in 7 minutes

2/3 cup butter, soften
¾ cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
In a large mixing bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer, medium to high speed, for 30 seconds. Add sugar, baking powder and salt. Beat until combined, scraping sides occasionally. Beat in egg, milk and vanilla until combined. Beat in as much flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in any remaining flour.
Divide the dough in half. If necessary, cover and chill dough for 30 minutes, or until easy enough to handle.
On a lightly floured surface, roll half of the dough out at a time into 1/8 inch thickness or a smidge more. (A thicker cookie will cook up softer and more moist). The key to a successful batch is consistency. Make sure the dough is rolled out evenly and the cookies on each sheet are the same thickness. Using a cookie cutter, cut dough into desired shapes. Place 1 (or ½) inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake in a 375 degree preheated oven for 7 minutes, or until the edges are firm and bottoms (not sides!) are very lightly browned. If the sides of the cookie starts to look golden, take them out before they are overdone or burnt! Transfer to a wire race and let cool. Frost if desired.

Frosting

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 box powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk
½ teaspoon vanilla
¼ teaspoon almond extract (the secret ingredient)

In a mixing bowl, beat softened butter on high for 30 seconds to a minute. Add 1 box of powdered sugar and beat on low until sugar clumps up around butter. Scrape bowl. Slowly add milk, 1 tablespoon at a time to butter and sugar. You may need more or less than 2 tablespoons to get the desired consistency. Continue to beat at medium speed until soft peaks form. Add vanilla and almond extract.
Beat thoroughly to incorporate, adjusting vanilla and almond extract to taste.
Note: The more milk used, the wetter the frosting , the longer it will take for your cookies “to set”. It is agood idea to let frosting set up before stacking and plating the cookies (usually an hour or more).

The kids decorating cookies for Santa! -Christmas 2011

Chewy oatmeal chocolate chip cookies

I made these for Mike and Tina last night and they said they were the best they ever had from me (I've been making oatmeal chocolate chip cookies since high school). These are chewy with the right amount of saltiness.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, soften
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cup quick cooking oats
• 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325
2. In a large bowl, cream butter, brown and white sugar until smooth.
3. Beat egg then stir in vanilla extract.
4. Combine flour, baking soda and salt; add this flour mixture to creamed mixture and stir until just blended.
5. Mix in oats and chocolate chips by hand.
6. Use small disher to drop batter onto increased baking sheet.
7. Chill for at least 10 minutes in the refrigerator.
8. Bake for 15 minutes. Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes. Transfer to cooling rack to cool completely.

Tip: I scooped the extra dough onto parchment and freezed them for 30 minutes before putting them all in a bag for the freezer.

Rolled Sugar Cookies

[Updated 2010-12-05]

This is just a recipe for the cookie. I will post the royal icing frosting in a separate blog entry. I wanted to make cookies for Christmas so I found this awesome recipe on Allrecipes.com. The original makes 60 so I cut it in half to make less since I was trying it out. It was a perfect soft and tender cookie. I highly recommend this recipe!

The picture is of the naked cookies...pre-frosting!

Yields approx. 24 cookies

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight). Tip: Chilling dough is extremely important. If dough is not adequately, the cookies will not keep their shapes and will flatten.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven until cookies are slightly golden at the edges. Cool completely.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Recipe from the Joy of Cooking cookbook.

After a failed attempt at oatmeal raisin cookies last week (when they tell you to soften butter...absolutely DO NOT microwave it!) My over-softened butter resulted in flattened cookies...yuck.

I decided we've had this book for a long time now, I might as well try cooking something from it...so I'm starting with cookies.

The cookies came out good, not too sweet and chewy.

The ingredients

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
About forty-eight 3-inch cookies (I only got about 3 dozen)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease or line 2 cookie sheets.

Whisk together:

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon grated or ground nutmeg

Beat in a large bowl until well blended:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1/4 cup of sugar
• 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Stir in the flour mixture. Stir in:

• 1 cup raisins, chopped (Chopping the raisins is a good trick!)
• 3 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
  
• (3/4 cup chopped walnuts)

Shape the dough into generous 1 1/2-inch balls and place about 2 inches apart on the cookie sheets. Flatten the balls into 1/2-inch-thick rounds. Bake, 1 sheet at a time, until the cookies are lightly browned all over, 12 to 14 minutes. Let stand briefly, then remove to a rack to cool.

1-inch rounds flattened

In the oven:

The finished (and delicious) product:

Red Velvet Sandwich Cookies

I think it's safe to say that we are obsessed with red velvet desserts, having back to back posts about them. Here is what happens when Paula Deen meets Oreo Cakesters:

Prep Time: 30 min

Cook Time: 10 min

Serves: 12-15 sandwiches

Ingredients:

-1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour

-2 tablespoons cocoa powder

-1 teaspoon baking powder

-1/4 teaspoon baking soda

-1/2 teaspoon salt

-1/4 cup butter, room temp

-1 cup sugar

-2 eggs

-2 tablespoons buttermilk

-2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

-1 teaspoon vanilla extract

-1 tablespoon red food coloring

For Cream Cheese Frosting:

-1 lb cream cheese, softened

-2 sticks butter, softened

-1 teaspoon vanilla extract

-4 cups powdered sugar

-3/4 cup finely chopped pecans (optional)

Directions:

-Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

-Mix together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl

-Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 mins. Add eggs 1 at a time.

Then beat in buttermilk, vinegar, vanilla, and red food coloring. Once combined, add the dry ingredients to wet. Mix until thoroughly combined.

-Onto parchment lined sheet tray, drop batter using an ice cream scoop, forming 2-inch round circles.

-Bake for 10 mins, until baked through. Cookies should be cake-like and light. Allow to cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

For Cream Cheese Frosting:

-In a large mixing bowl, beat the

cream cheese, butter, and vanilla together until smooth. Add the sugar on a low speed, beat until incorporated. Increase the speed to high and mix until very light and fluffy.

-Spread cream cheese frosting between 2 cooled cookies and roll the edges in finely chopped pecans, if desired.