Say it with Sprinkles: A baking blog filled with recipes & photos of sweet treats & savory eats.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year!

Finals! Finals! Finals! Finals!

Thought I was going to say the holidays, right?  Much mistletoeing and hearts glowing when loved ones are near?

You were expecting a little of this, perhaps:

 With the kids jingle belling
And everyone telling you “Be of good cheer”
It’s the most wonderful time of the year
It’s the hap-happiest season of all
With those holiday greetings and gay happy meetings
When friends come to call
It’s the hap- happiest season of all

Not so much.  More likely a little rendition that goes a little something like this:

With the sleep-deprived yelling
And professors telling you “Get into gear”
It’s the most stressing-of-times of the year
It’s the hap-happiest season of all
With those sporadic sleepings and long TA meetings
When tests come to call
It’s the hap-happiest season of alllllll 😉

I agree, it needs a little work!

Ok, ok, I’m done funneling my negative feelings about finals into innocent, unsuspecting Christmas carols for now, but no promises I can hold off forever!  In my defense, an 8:00am Tuesday final is not exactly what I’d consider the ideal holiday morning, but I suppose if I can get through that, I can survive any amount of Christmas shopping swarms in the mall come next week!

Let’s talk cookies.  Cookies are not finals.  Cookies are sweet and delicious and sometimes chewy, and never ask me questions that I have to answer via short answer or scantron.  These cookies in particular are cinnamon-sugar studded, crispy on the outside, perfectly dense and chewy on the inside, and have never judged me based on whether or not I know what co-factors regulate the cell cycle, and for that I much prefer them.  I feel like this line of thinking is probably exactly what causes people (totally hypothetically) to stuff 10 cookies in their face at a time in attempts to block out a bad day, or the impending doom of finals….right?  Or maybe cookies are just dang good.

Chewy Holiday Snickerdoodles

(Slightly adapted from How Sweet It Is)

Ingredients:

* 1 cup butter flavored shortening
* 1 cup sugar
* 2 eggs
* 2-4 Tbsp milk, any type, as needed
* 2 tsp vanilla extract
* 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 1 tsp baking powder
* 3 tsp cinnamon
* 1/4 cup sugar + 2 Tbsp cinnamon for rolling

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350*F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat.

Beat together the shortening and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer until fluffy. Beat in eggs, vanilla, and 2 Tbsp milk.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a separate bowl.

Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing along the way. Add a bit more milk to make the dough come together if it’s too dry.  Wrap up and refrigerate the dough at least 1 hour.

Use a cookie scoop to make dough balls, and then roll them in the cinnamon sugar mix. Arrange on cookie sheet, and bake about 14-16 min. depending on your oven, until golden brown. Allow to sit on the pan a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

Cinnamon-sugar rolled dough balls….

Mixed with a little oven time….and voila!

I rolled a portion of the dough in cinnamon sugar mix, part of them in red Christmas sprinkles after the cinnamon and sugar mixture just for a fun pop of color…

And part of them in clear crystal sprinkles for classy, wintery-looking cookies.

Wrap these puppies up pretty, because really, who doesn’t love the gift of cookies during the holidays?

I really need a food scale, I’ll tell you what.  I had to do wayyyy more math today than I ever thought I’d have to again after having finished calculus.  And now my head hurts. 

See, it’s not that the metric system is annoying in baking; in fact, if I could have weighed out all of my ingredients, it would actually have been much more accurate!  I’ve learned from Alton Brown that this is true in general: it’s something you don’t normally think about, but different flours, sugars, and various other ingredients differ so much in their density, mass, and volume that a cup of one flour might be very different from a cup of another type of flour…and totally throw off your recipe! 

Luckily, along with the stoichiometric skills I learned in none other than chemistry class, this recipe seemed to be very forgiving and turned out great, regardless!

Now that I’ve got that discussion out of the way, can we talk delicious chocolate and cinnamon cake?  I thought you might like that.  I found this recipe over on my new friend, Nuria’s blog, and instantly knew I had to make it!

Actually, to be honest, I instantly fell in love with every recipe, dessert or not, that I laid eyes on- and that doesn’t happen often since I tend to naturally gravitate towards all things sweet, if you know what I mean! Her photos are so vibrant, colorful, and yummy-looking, I just can’t help myself! Not to mention, Nuria is one of the sweetest people I have met in the blogging world thus far!

I adapted the recipe to fit the ingredients I had on hand, and to make it gluten and dairy free (not vegan, though, I’m afraid- I have to draw the line somewhere!)  It’s so delicious and perfectly chocolatey and cinnamony!   My version definitely turned out more like a dense quick bread than a cake or even a sponge cake, which I think is the English translation of “Bizcocho”…please forgive me if I’m a little off, I know maybe 2 words of Spanish! :) 

In any case, I’m just guessing here, but I think it would be great for dessert, breakfast, a snack, or maybe all of the above…I won’t tell!  Just make sure you enjoy it with a creamy cup of dark-roast coffee or maybe some chai tea.  You will thank me!

You can find the original recipe for Bizcocho Con Chocolate here

Bizcocho con Chocolate (gluten free, dairy free)

Ingredients:

* 1 cup Bob’s Redmill sorghum flour
* 1/2 cup white rice flour
* 1/4 cup Bob’s Redmill millet flour
* 1 tsp baking powder
* 1/4 tsp salt
* 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
* 4 oz. individual serving of applesauce + Earth Balance spread to make just shy of 3/4 cup
* 3 eggs
* 3/4 cup brown sugar
* 2 Tbsp cocoa powder
* 1 Tbsp cinnamon
* 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
* 2 Tbsp coffee liquor
* 1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

Cream together the Earth Balance, applesauce, and brown sugar in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, mixing between each addition.
Sift together the flours, baking powder, xanthan gum, and salt in a separate bowl.
Mix the wet ingredients with the dry until combined. Divide the batter in half. To one half, add the cocoa powder, coffee liquor, and half of the chocolate chips. To the other half, add the cinnamon, vanilla extract, and the rest of the chocolate chips.
Spray or line a loaf pan with parchment paper and pour in the cinnamon batter. Pour the chocolate batter on top of the cinnamon batter, and swirl the two together slightly with a knife.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 30-40 minutes, depending on your oven. My oven runs VERY hot, so I ended up overcooking mine a little (oops!) just make sure you check it at the 30 minute mark and keep an eye on it. Generally, gluten free flour breads require less cooking time, but make sure a toothpick comes out clean when you test it.

Muy delicioso! (I hope I just said “Very delicious!” and not something really inappropriate!) 😀

I have to admit, I didn’t wake up at 4am to tune in to the Royal Wedding like all you die-hard West Coast Will & Kate fans.  It’s not for lack of trying, though.

It’s partially because I don’t get any TV stations.  Even that’s not an excuse when you have internet, though.  Which I don’t, consistently.  So I guess I do have an excuse.

I’m one of those people who, had I not had class early this morning (and could actually find a way to watch it as something

smoother than a slide-show with my internet connection), probably would have made a spread of English-inspired baked

goods and made a party of it! I love the fairytale of it all  *sighs*
(Image Source: Google Images)

Even now, trying to watch it online, I am wondering if the constant glitching and pausing is, in fact, my lame free internet, or due to the possibility that there are a handful (lots?) of other people as sleep-deprived

as I am who are just now trying to tune-in for a replay.  Quit sucking up the internet, I need to see Prince Harry in his uniform! …I mean, the happy couple!

Anyway, in lieu of an all-nighter, I made afternoon scones in honor of the occasion.  Not just any scones, either.  Cinnamon raisin brown sugar buttermilk scones.  They may not technically be an English recipe,

but I think they look pretty fit for royalty.  And the best part?  They smelled like yummy, buttery, cinnamon toast baking in the oven!

Cinnamon Raisin Brown Sugar Buttermilk Scones
Makes about 13 scones

Ingredients:
* 3 1/4 cups all purpose flour (I used 2 cups whole wheat, 1 1/4 white)
* 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 1/2 tsp baking soda
* 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
* 1 tsp cinnamon
* 3/4 cup cold butter
* 1 cup buttermilk
* 1 tsp vanilla extract
* 1 cup raisins
* 1/2 cup chopped pecans
* extra butter for brushing the tops
* turbinado sugar

Directions:
Mix dry ingredients together in a bowl. Cut in the cold butter with a pastry cutter or a fork. Add buttermilk, vanilla, raisins, and pecans. Mix until it forms a dough (it will be fairly dry, but hold together).

Turn out onto lightly floured surface and kneed a little. Flatten into a round, and with a round, floured biscuit cutter or drinking class, cut into rounds. Place on a lined baking sheet, brush tops with melted butter and sprinkle with turbinado sugar and extra cinnamon.

Bake at 425 degrees for 10-14 minutes.

So, if you happened to miss the festivities the first time around like I did, I suggest you whip up a batch of these and tune in for the million replays I’m sure will be going on for the rest of the day!

Can’t wait to see Kate’s dress! And did I mention Prince Harry?  Harry, if you’re reading this, there are plenty more scones where these came from! 🙂