Vanilla Cookies

Vanilla cookies? These cookies remind me of the box vanilla cookies used for banana puddin. I found this gem in "Enjoy Magazine." The recipe is so simple... a few ingredients...my favorite! Most cookies have the same prepping  process..mix the dry ingredients in a bowl then ..the wet ingredients in another bowl...combine. 

Odds and ends you'll need;

• wax paper, parchment or thin cutting board
• small flat Bottom cup
• Hand or stand mixer
• Half cookie sheet
• heart shaped cookie cutter
• off set spatula (to pick up cut cookies and place on cookie sheet)

Ingredients;

1 3/4 c. All purpose flour
3/4 c. Unsalted butter
1/2 egg or 24g
1 Tbsp. Milk
1 tsp. Vanilla

1. BEAT: Butter and sugar until light and fluffy! Add the egg, milk and vanilla mix well
2. Gradually add flour to mixture until combined.

3. Take a 1/2 tsp. of the dough and roll it into a ball and place it on a parchment or wax paper, then press down on the ball with the bottom of a cup to flatten. Do thiss with the rest of the dough. Bake at 325° for 10 min. Or until th edoes are light brown.

Note* cookies bake up fast, so watch them because each Oven is different.
Get a timer especially if you are a sidetracked home executive like me.
refrigerate dough to roll or press out to cut them with a cookie cutter.
Last but not least if you want you can bake these a little darker.

Strawberry Butter Cream filling with Ganache 

Strawberry Cream Frosting

1 batch of Butter Cream

Nearly Two cups Puree Strawberry

Strawberry Puree Ingredients
2 packages of Strawberries
You will use 1 1/2 of the Strawberries packages
for the Puree. Save the rest for Decoration or Snacking

Begin By...

• Hulling the top of your strawberries and slice in half
• Puree in a blender or Puree Wand
• Pour the puree into a small sauce pan and simmer for 10 min. Stirring occasionally to reduce to 2/3 of the amount. Depending on what you want once the puree is reduced you can run the puree thru a sieve. It is better to do this before the puree is thick and reduced in my opinion. 
• Let the puree cool in a open container in the fridg. for an hour or the freezer for 30 min...
• When it's cooled you can begin to fold it into your butter cream (room temperature) 
• about 4 drops of red gel dye is good to get a good color ( too much red is blah :p) either way it's optional 

This recipe of strawberry puree can be used in any frosting, pastry cream or mousseline cream