Saturday, February 20, 2016

Kansas City Chocolate Dream



This month my Cake Slice bakers choice is Kansas City Chocolate Dream! I was quickly drawn to the selection because of the low fat content. Trying to keep things a little lighter, the Holidays weren't very kind.  


The cake was very simple to make. I swapped the walnuts out with pecans, trying to use up ingredients that were left from the Holidays. The cake was very rich, and only a sliver was enough to satisfy my sweet tooth. The pudding glaze gets better the next day. Its absolutely decadent! 
You may find the recipe here. 
Please visit the Cake Slice Bakers to see what selection they baked up! 

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Coconut Mango Butter Cookies: #CreativeCookieExchange



I'm not fond of roll out cookies. I don't have the patience to refrigerate the dough, or the patience to roll them out. And quite frankly I make a huge mess. HUGE. 


Or maybe it could just be that I have limited counter space. And the fact that every single time I make cutout cookies I just get grumpy wishing I had a gorgeous huge Island in the middle of my kitchen all to my self. With enough space to lay out all my utensils and cookie sheets. That's got to be the reason. 


For this reason I joined "Creative Cookie Exchange", to get me out of my comfort zone, and challenge me to test the stack of cookie recipes I've collected through out the years. I love being challenged each month with a different ingredient or theme.


This months theme was "Tropical Cookies"! I had a mason jar of Mango preserves I received recently for Christmas. And after the theme for February was announced I knew exactly how the preserves were going to be used up! 
The cookie is a butter cookie made with dessicated coconut, sandwiched with delicious Mango preserves, dipped in a powder sugar glaze and dessicated coconut. Delicious! They were almost too pretty to eat. 
Loved the cookie, despite the mess I made, and was happy I challenged myself with the recipe. I adapted the recipe from "YummyMummyClub". I left out the coconut extract in the glaze, and used half and half instead of milk.
It’s that time of year again, the time when many of us want to daydream about being somewhere else. A tropical treat is just the ticket! The Creative Cookie Exchange is going all tropical this February, and that could mean anything from fruit to spices to cut-out cookies. We’ve got you covered! You can also use us as a great resource for cookie recipes. Be sure to check out our Pinterest Board and our monthly posts (you can find all of them here at The Spiced Life). You will be able to find them the first Tuesday after the 15th of each month! Also, if you are looking for inspiration to get in the kitchen and start baking, check out what all of the hosting bloggers have made: