Almond Tea Cakes

Almond Tea Cakes - adapted from Magnolia's Vanilla Cupcakes


1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon almond extract (or you can use vanilla, if you want a more traditional flavor)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
In a small bowl, combine the flours. Set aside.
In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until all ingredients are incorporated - do not over beat. Using a spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended. Spoon the batter into tea cake tins, mini muffin tins or in lined muffin tins. Fill tins three-quarters of the way full. For mini tins bake 10-15 minutes (though mine took about 20 minutes), for regular muffin tins bake 20-25 minutes, or until cake tester inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean.

Cool the cakes in tins for 5 minutes, then flip out and let completely cool on a wire rack before icing.

Icing - from Betty Crocker - Petits Fours Glaze


1 bag (2lb) powdered sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup light corn syrup
2 teaspoons almond extract
1 to 3 teaspoons hot water

In saucepan, stir all ingredients except hot water. Heat over low heat, stirring frequently, until sugar is dissolved; remove from heat. Stir in hot water, 1 teaspoon at a time, until glaze is pourable.

I ended up dipping each cake in the glaze to get an even covering.
I put black food coloring in half the batch - since these were made for Caycee Black's Spring Pre-Sale party of her line. She wanted Black and White desserts.

Danish Butter Cookies

After just returning from a trip to Copenhagen I had the urge to finally try out a recipe from my "Scandinavian Holiday Recipes" book that I bought almost 2 years ago. I figured it was appropriate to try out a Danish one first, since I had just been eating real Danish sweets for the past week.  Though I had to pick up a new ingredient for this one - Cream of Tartar. I had no idea what this was, but after googling it, I have found out it is essentially acidic salt used to keep baked goods from being too heavy. These cookies are definitely not heavy except for the all the butter you will consume eating them, but other than that they are a light and flaky yet chewy cookie. I have not baked in at least 3 months due to the hot heat in the summer, and let's just say I've gotten a little rusty. I made my cookie balls way too big and burnt half of them, so this is the Danish butter cookie fail, but round 2 turned out perfect!

Danish Butter Cookies

1 1/4 cups butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 egg yolks, unbeaten
2 1/4 cups sifted white flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 1/2 teaspoons of almond flavoring

Cream butter and sugar. Beat egg yolks in, one at a time. Add remaining ingredients; mix well. Chill dough. Roll dough into small balls and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Press dough with a press or a glass dipped in sugar. Bake at 325 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes. Remove immediately from cookie sheet and cool.
Makes 2 1/2 dozen