Newport Harbor Baseball Cookies

This past week I had the opportunity to make some baseball sugar cookies for my friend, Stacy. I work with her, and her son plays on the Newport Harbor baseball team. Stacy was hosting the team dinner before the game this week and asked if I'd make some cookies for dessert. I was more than happy to help her out, and since I had already made baseball cookies once before, I was excited to improve them. She wanted a bigger cookie, I used Ateco 3.5 inch round cutter, so I thought I'd dress them up with a little blue anchor in between the laces, Newport Harbors logo.

It always seems that when I know I'm making sugar cookies I plan out in my head what days I'm going to do what so I don't end up making the dough, baking the cookies, making all the frosting and frosting them all in the same day. On Tuesday night I decided that I was going to make the anchors piped on wax paper like I did these, because it worked out so well last time. I also thought this to be a time saver, as I wouldn't have to wait as long for the frosting to dry before applying them. Well, I must have had some beginners luck with those O's, because I couldn't get one anchor off the wax paper without them breaking. There goes my plan ahead plan. So Wednesday night I bribed my sisters with dinner to have them come help me assess what the problem was. Turns out the process was fine, I had just made the anchors too thin. Brittany actually ended up piping the new, thicker, anchors while I piped the outline and Mikken filled in the centers.

After the white frosting had dried a bit, I piped on the red laces. The next morning I got up early and applied the anchors, which peeled off perfectly. I just used a small paint brush and applied a small amount of water to the cookie where the anchor would go.

Anchor crisis aside, I think they turned out cute. I hope the team liked them! Thanks again Stacy!

Buttermilk Syrup

 This past Sunday I had the chance to host my family for Sunday breakfast. Our weekend breakfast tradition is generally waffles, but I decided to go out on a limb this time and try something new. My fabulous friend Sherry has this amazing buttermilk syrup recipe that I just had to share with my family. I knew they would love it, and love it they did. They couldn’t get enough of it. It’s a cinch to make and is so much better than anything bottled you can get.

photo credit: williams-sonoma

I served the syrup over aebleskivers, (or ebelskivers) which are a cute, little, sphere shaped Danish pancakes. I must admit that I didn’t make these. It not because I didn’t want to, but more because I didn’t have the right equipment. I don’t one of these (see above) special aebleskiever making pans. I see them in the Williams-Sonoma catalog and have wanted to try them for quite some time. Alas, this was not that time. So, taking yet another idea from fabulous Sherry, I headed over to Trader Joe’s and picked up a bag of, dare I say, frozen aebleskievers. Frozen or not, these babies were delicious! The best part is you can cook a ton in the oven at the same time, about ten minutes total, and they don’t get cold waiting for the others to cook. Just sprinkle with powdered sugar and top with this buttermilk syrup and you’ll think you’ve died and gone to heaven. If you’d like to make your own, get your self a pan, and then check out the variety of recipes Willams-Sonoma has for making aebleskievers. Enjoy!

Buttermilk Syrup

1 cube butter
1/2 cup buttermilk (low or reduced fat works also)
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Bring above ingredients to a boil and make sure sugar is dissolved.

Add 1/2 tsp baking soda and continue stirring.
(Adding baking soda will double the amount of syrup by foaming and might spill over onto the stove. Use a pan is that double the size you think you would need to avoid a mess!)

Left overs will keep in fridge for a couple weeks.