Summertown Recipes.

Summer is here and it's happening. There is sparkly pink nail polish on my toes, a Stephanie Plum book in my lap, and I am in love with June... especially the last four days of funnel cakes and sunburns vacation spent at home, eating giant bags of salty-sweet kettlecorn for breakfast, seeing my family, and working at the arts & craft show in our hometown summer festival with my dad. Isn't he crafty? He makes all those wooden toys and pens. I just put sprinkles of things and feel creative. 

But now it's almost July and it's time to get serious about this thing. Time to bake in red, white, and blue, put booze in your popsicles, and stay up late watching True Blood. Since I've been baking a lot of already-blogged recipes lately, it's only logical I share some of my old and new favorites with you. Here are my top summery picks. Add some sugar to your summer!

Festive three-tone cupcakes.

Cupcakes full of chocolate chip cheesecake..

Cupcakes in ice cream cones.

Coconut coffee chocolate chip cookies.

Brown butter chocolate chunk cookies.

Cookies that taste like strawberry shortcake.

Cheesecake cookie sandwiches.

Or mini cookies full of buttercream. Roll them in sprinkles!

Cookies that make you fall in love.

Cookies full of cookies. Basically.

Cookies with oats and chocolate. 

Fluffernutter chocolate gobs. Like a peanut butter s'mores... in cookie form.

Crunchy, sugary almond cookies.

Cookies in skillets.

And pizza pans!

Rocky road brownie bites. Fickle and full of extra work, but so so worth it.

 Graham cracker s'mores candy.

And more chocolatey cracker candy. 

Cakey lemon bars. Always.

Peanut butter crunch s'mores bars.

No-bake chocolate chip cookie treats.

Chocolatey avalanche bars. Rice Krispies, marshmallows, white chocolate, & peanut butter. It's love.

Fudgey chocolate brownies.

Chocolate chip espresso bars.

Snickerdoodle blondies. With scoops of vanilla bean ice cream. Sometimes summer is cinnamony!

Texas sheet cake. A classic.

Everyone needs cake in their summer. Especially chocolate malt cake.

 Old-fashioned cake doughnuts.

Cinnamon-peach doughnuts with maple frosting.

Chocolate waffles.

Baked sugar cookie peaches.

Crazy feta.

Happy summer!

Baked Sugar Cookie Peaches.

This. 

This is summer living.

I feel like I can be completely honest with you. Like maybe you won't judge me if I said I made these for breakfast.

... even if by the time I finished whisking, chilling, and eating cookie dough, slicing my finger on a peach pit, and shooting photos of warm, baked fruit covered in melty ice cream and caramel, it was time for lunch.

I'm going to get right into it. These are basically under-ripe peaches baked up into plump, juicy vehicles for buttery sugar cookies. 

There is nothing that I don't love about that sentence.

They're simple, rustic, and summery.

If you want to get right down to it, it's a mini peach cobbler for your face.

Andddd... this is as fancy as I get when it's summertown hot outside. Cut fruit. Bake cookies on top. 

I can't deal with piping frosting when it's hot. Or hovering over hot cakes to see if they're done. Don't even get me started on scooping out dozens of cookies or browning butter. I just want to sit, watch True Blood, and pretend I'm Sookie 16 again, with three months of freedom, beaches, sleepovers, toasted marshmallows, swimming, summer camp, and neon nail polish ahead of me. 

Oh well. Instead I'm stuck being an adult, wishing I was Sookie and eating cookies on my fruit for breakfast. I'll take it.

Baked Sugar Cookie Peaches

Printable Recipe

3 under-ripe peaches

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, softened

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 egg white

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Pinch of salt

1/3 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup + 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350°F.  

Cut peaches in half vertically (stem facing up) and gently pry apart with your fingers. The original recipe wasn't joking... under-ripe peaches won't separate without a fight.

Use a spoon to remove the pit. Place halves cut-side up on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for ten minutes. Remove from oven. 

Meanwhile, cream together the butter, sugar, egg white, vanilla, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the baking powder and flour. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir until thoroughly incorporated, scraping down the side of the bowl as needed. Refrigerate dough for at least ten minutes.

Divide cookie dough into six equal parts. Roll into balls and flatten like pancakes for easier assembly. 

Place flattened dough on top of each peach half...

... and press down gently until the dough reaches the edges.

Bake for another 20 minutes, or until dough begins to turn golden brown.

Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes. Serve warm. And definitely with ice cream.

Source: Heather's Dish.  

Cheesecake Cookie Sandwiches Two Ways: Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk & Strawberry Shortcake.

Things.

1. I finally got caught up with The Secret Circle.

And it got cancelled! What? This is not okay. Dear The CW: please write Jake, Adam, Melissa, Diana, and Faye into The Vampire Diaries. Which I'm also not caught up on. 

2. COOL WHIP Whipped Topping + cream cheese + sugar = basically impromptu cheesecake for your face. 

3. Can life please slow down? I cannot juggle being an adult, finding time to enjoy life, and laundry. 

4. I'm blogging this in a Starbucks. I never thought I'd be that girl. Plus I feel like everyone's staring. "Look at that girl in the corner, staring at twenty pictures of cookies like she's doing important business. Her hair's cute though." 

4. Strawberry shortcake cookies. Totally an acceptable summer breakfast thing.

They're soft, muffin-y, and best the very minute they're made.

... especially with spoonfuls of creamy cheesecake filling.

It turns them into magical strawberry shortcake sandwiches. Who doesn't need that in their summer?

5. Chocolate chip cookies are tasty with cheesecake too. Who knew?

How festive would these be rolled in some sparkly red and blue sprinkles for a 4th of July/summer/barbeque situation?

Answer: Do it.  

6. Also... brown butter? It makes everything better. 

It's kind of like ice coffee after work. 

Actually, it's like anything after work... because you're off work. 

Flecks of brown butter. Chunks of chocolate. Molasses. Yes. I never thought I'd put molasses in anything other than gingersnaps, but these are soft and chewy and rich... and that brown butter! Get out.

I know I just declared passionate love for these cookies, but these are hands-down my new favorite chocolate chip cookies.

7. Cookie sandwich party. It happened.

Strawberry Shortcake Cookies 

Original Post

Printable Recipe

Note: These cookies are made from a crumbly shortcake dough and take a little bit of determination to scoop into dough balls. They bake up cakey and soft and because they're made with fresh strawberries, are only good the day they're made. P.S. They're so worth it.

Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies 

Printable Recipe

1 cup (2 sticks) + 1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon molasses

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Brown 1 stick plus 1 tablespoon of butter. Once butter is browned, remove from heat and pour into a bowl to cool slightly.

In a stand mixture fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the other stick of butter with the granulated sugar until creamy, about 3 minutes. Add the vanilla and molasses and beat until incorporated. Add the slightly cooled brown butter and the brown sugar and mix on medium speed for about 2 minutes. Add the egg and egg yolk and mix until fully incorporated. 

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Add all at once to the butter mixture and mix on low until just incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chips with a wooden spoon or spatula.

Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Scoop dough into balls using a small cookie scoop and place 2 inches apart on baking sheet.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, until cookies are just starting to turn golden brown around the edges. Remove from oven and let cool 5 minutes on baking sheet, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Source: The Joy the Baker cookbook.

Cheesecake Filling

Printable Recipe

1 cup COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed

4 ounces cream cheese, softened

2 tablespoons granulated sugar 

Beat together the cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Stir in the COOL WHIP until creamy. Refrigerate until ready to use. Spread or pipe on bottom of one cookies, then place another cookie on top. Store in refrigerator.

Source: Kraft.

As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program, I recieved coupons for free COOL WHIP Whipped Topping and a stipend. Sponsored posts are purely editorial content that we are pleased to have presented by a participating sponsor. Advertisers do not produce this content. 

What you add makes it. #coolwhipmoms