When I started on this journey of concocting a signature flavor, I had a certain blend in mind. I will admit it is just a little bit exciting to have every flavor you like sitting on your counter and adding a drop of this and a drop of that and then baking with it until you have a winner. One thing I thought I knew was that creamy flavors (like butter and caramel) do not compliment citrus-y (lemon or orange) or strong flavors (mint). So, I immediately eliminated those contenders. However, in the past few weeks, my family has been involved in preparing for a wedding of my niece causing me to need to blend once again.
The bride wanted Cookie Nip cupcakes instead of cake and she thought it would be a great idea for all of my sisters and me to gather in my kitchen and produce 200 white cupcakes with buttercream frosting. That should be simple enough but when you get a lot of strong (bossy) personalities together on the same task, it has the potential for feathers to fly.
It turned out to be a lot of fun occasionally lathered up with some "intense fellowship" when they were trying to tell me how to bake a cupcake. We are all competent with tools like a mixer, an oven and a frosting bag. What we lack are the math skills necessary to complete a task of this magnitude that involves counting. We ended up with 374 before someone said, "I think we've got enough!" That might explain why people were leaving the wedding with a dozen cupcakes in a to-go box. Thankfully, there were enough people willing to do their part. If everyone said, "No, I'm good," it might have ended badly.
Even the little ones were excited to "help".And it did not matter one bit how much flour and sugar were flying. We had FUN. Of course, I had already made 250 cookies before they got here and I was busy putting her new married initial on them.
This was a sweet, old fashioned wedding; the kind where you get married in the sanctuary and have a reception in the Fellowship Hall. I wanted to make those little buttery mints as a surprise for the bride. Everything I contributed to the reception involved Cookie Nip but I was going to have to forego the nip for some mint. So, I did, the first time around. That sweet little wafer was delicious and....MINT-y. I decided to reduce the mint in the second batch. Knowing creamy and strong don't belong together, I decided to add some Cookie Nip and reduce the mint and what I got was heavenly! You know those little soft mints that are buttery and minty that you get at certain restaurants? (I LOVE those things!) Well that was the final product. It was so good, I made two more batches. Topped with a little buttercream rosette and they were perfect little sweet/buttery, melt-in-your-mouth treats at the wedding reception.
Made of cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar and Cookie Nip with mint. Each one was decorated with buttercream. These are perfect little soft confections that are sure to transport you straight back to your childhood. I am ready for these little things to make a comeback. They just belong in events that end in happily ever after. The recipe is available this week for subscribers.
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