Featured Friday – She Makes and Bakes!

Oh Friday how I love thee, let me count the ways, let me count the reasons! 1. The weekend is here!! 2. Hubby is home so I have help! 3. It’s vacation week so we love this Friday even more. 4. It’s Feature a new Co-Host Day!! HELLO!!!!!

Let me introduce Emily today! She is the baker/cook over at She Makes and Bakes. I remember contacting Emily when I first started scheduling people to be Featured Co-Hosts. I remember thinking, I can learn something from her. Baking has never been my forte, it still isn’t, but I don’t stop trying, isn’t that what matters? Gosh, Emily makes it seem so easy, her pictures are amazing, they seriously make you want to literally jump into the computer screen and EAT IT!!

So about Emily, she is a editor by day and a cook and baker any other time she gets. She lives in Colorado with her husband and two crazy dogs. As a kiddo Emily was a picky eater, her daily menu consisted of grilled cheese sandwiches, mac and cheese, spaghetti, and parmesan noodles. Well she’s come a long way because you should see what she’s eating now a days! Living in Colorado brings its challenges to baking. Cakes tend to collapse, baked goods get dried out quickly, and a myriad of other problems can occur. The air is thin and dry! But that doesn’t stop her so go and visit Emily’s recipes and say hello…..tell her this Momma sent you!

Ok thought I was very tempted in making Emily’s Buffalo Chicken Dip (which by the way I am trying while I’m on vacation next week) or even the Caprese Bruschetta I decided to take the harder route (for me that is) and pick an item to BAKE!! I’ve always wanted to be better at it, and I’m honestly not going to get better at it unless I keep trying. Boy oh boy did I pick the recipe to mess up!! LOL, not really sure how I did, I followed the directions to a T. I always do when baking, I think that’s why I don’t like baking, I follow the directions but it never comes out right. OK OK I should stop their because I want to explain more of how this happened.

I chose to make Emily’s Orange Creamsicle Cookies
Makes about 20 sandwiches
For the cookies:
1/2 cup shortening
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup white baking chips

For the filling:
1/4 cup butter
1/2 teaspoon orange zest
1/4 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar
Dash salt

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Now the cookie part………….AWESOME!! I nailed it, well besides the fact that I had no control over trying to make them the same size to pair them up LOL….but man I must have eaten 3 while I was making them!! Oh and I also used my Pampered Chef Cooking stone, my friend told me it’s a sure way of never burning your cookies!! It worked!!! These were amazing!

To make the cookies, in a large bowl cream the shortening, butter, and brown sugar until well combined.

Add the egg and mix. Add the vanilla and baking soda and mix.

Add the flour and mix until everything is incorporated.

Fold in the chips.

Drop about one round tablespoon of dough onto an ungreased baking sheet, leaving about 2 inches between each cookie. I do smaller cookies with this since you are eating 2 cookies. Bake for 8-10 minutes (I do 10 minutes) until golden brown. (Mine was exactly 10-11 minutes per round, yes It took me 4 times with only one pan but it was worth it!)

Let rest on the cookie sheet for one minute before removing to a counter to cool.

Ok so here is what I ended up with for cookies, yes I ate some like this, yes I left some for my husband and his best friend.

To make the filling, in a large bowl mix together the butter and orange zest until smooth. I definitely recommend a stand or hand mixer for this. Add the milk, vanilla, and salt and mix until combined. Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time, mixing until smooth.

Ok so I did this…..exactly this…….but wound up with this. I even thought maybe my butter was bad because I haven’t been home all summer and I decided to make these while I was home doing laundry this week. Then I thought maybe I used too much Orange zest seeing as I didn’t really measure it I just zested it into the bowl!!

I’m not sure what I did wrong, I thought of just ending it here, however I couldn’t, so yes I went to the store and bought the frosting that you can choose the flavor for, knowing they would have a Orange Creamsicle! So Emily if you can tell me what I did wrong I’d greatly appreciate it because this is a learning procedure for me too!

Yes I thought about lying to you all and telling you that this was Emily’s recipe for the filling but I’m sure you could have guessed by the color that it’s a bit off LOL!!

To assemble the cookies: Once the cookies are cool, pair up the cookies so they match in size and shape. Place 1-2 tablespoons of filling on the bottom of one cookie. Place the second cookie cookie on the filling (bottom side touching the filling) and squish together until you can see the filling.

Don’t you just want to make them. Now?

So make sure you go over and visit Emily at She Makes and Bakes and let her know this momma sent you!! Happy Friday!