It is mid-December and you need some cheering up. You deserve a cookie.

Under times of duress, we like to bake things for ourselves and for other people (lucky you!).

Made with cake flour, toasted marshmallows, a smattering of sprinkles, and a bit of love, these discs of delight will make your December bright. So don’t stress. These cookies are all fiesta.

Party Cookies (Adapted from Spoon Fork Bacon)

• 1 stick of softened unsalted butter (about ½ cup)
• ½ cup white sugar
• ½ cup brown sugar (OR ½ cup white sugar plus 1 ½ tbsp molasses…this works better for our purposes)
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 ½ cups cake flour
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 ½ cups rice krispies
• About ½ cup chocolate chips (optional!)
• 1 cup of cut up large marshmallows
• 4 tbsp rainbow sprinkles

Begin by sectioning your marshmallows into quarters,

Cream butter and sugar together with a wooden spoon. Add one egg and a splash of vanilla and stir to combine.

In a separate bowl, whisk together cake flour, salt, and baking soda. Incorporate into butter mixture until just combined.

Knead in rice krispies, chocolate chips, marshmallows, and sprinkles and leave to chill in refrigerator for one hour (these cookies spread!). While the cookies are chilling, preheat oven to 350F.

Spread these cookies far apart from each other on a large cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Roll them into little balls and place them in the oven for 12-15 minutes. Don’t over-bake them!

 Chew away!

It’s time to flaunt your fancy kitchen footwork by serving up a simple dessert with an exotic twist. Perfect for afternoon tea, our cute cupcakes are infused with a piquant blend of the beverage itself. You’ll raise not only a pinky, but all ten fingers to these cupcakes.   Dainty as this confection may be, we warn you that your hands will be dancing a waltz with a tangle of sweet, sticky condensed milk icing. 

Chai-Tea Mini Cupcakes (Adapted from Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes)

Ingredients- makes a dozen

• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 bags chai tea
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup cake flour
• 1 12 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 4 tbsp unsalted butter
• 3/4 packed dark brown sugar
• 2 large eggs, room temperature

Condensed Milk Icing

Ingredients

• 1/2 stick butter
• 1/2 cup condensed milk
• 3/4 cup confectioners sugar
• You will have a lot left over so don’t worry about it

Preheat oven to 350 and line muffin tins with liners. Bring milk to simmer over medium heat in a small pot, Remove from heat, add tea bags, let steep, covered, 15 minutes. Remove tea bags and allow milk to cool completely.

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating each in well until incorporated.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of milk. Don’t overmix! Your dough will get tough (funny the way english pronunciation works, isn’t it?) 

Fill batter among cups until about 3/4 full each. Bake about 17 minutes, rotating through halfway. 

To make the icing

Whisk milk and butter together until smooth. On high speed, add 1/4 confectioners sugar at a time until it’s done!

Let cupcakes cool completely before dipping them in icing. Let it dribble around the sides. Dust with a bit of confectioners sugar. 

It’s okay if there is a moat of icing left over. More to lick. 

This is one of the easiest pies you will ever make from scratch.  Best of all, its preparation is simpler with the help of two dessert-savvy friends! Key lime pie is best made with condensed milk, however if you plan on making the curd without it (like we did, oops!), stock up on a carton of eggs in advance. 
Perfect for pi day, this marshmallow-citrus tart has the key to our hearts. 

Marshmallow Key Lime Pie
Crust
1/2 cup Graham Cracker Crumbs
Melted Margarine
Bit of grated ginger (optional)

Curd
Juice and zest of 2 limes
1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs + 1 yolk
6 tbsp margarine or butter
 
Topping
1 jar of fluff
Bit of water
1 egg white

Prepare the crust by combining graham cracker crumbs with margarine and ginger until coated and moist. Press into a round pie dish and bake in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. Should smell heavenly.

Meanwhile, combine all ingredients for the curd in a small pot over medium heat. Do not boil, stir constantly until mixture becomes thick and the edges start to coagulate.

Let crust cool completely and strain lime mixture through a sieve. Allow it to cascade evenly into the crumb base. Bake for 8 mins.

Meanwhile, prepare topping by whisking together Fluff, water, egg white. Allow pie to cool again. Drape topping over the lime filling and bake at 375 for 2-4 minutes, until marshmallow begins to brown.  

If it were up to us, we would have more than 3.14159265 slices of this pie. 

Good churros are like good amigos. They’re sweet, you enjoy spending time with them, and they can only be found once in a blue moon.  Boast all you like about the mountain of free doughnuts you have amassed over this month’s Roll up the Rim. We guarantee you that churros are better.

These fun-sized nibbles of crunchy dough will leave a delicate dusting of cinnamon-sugar upon your tongue. While traditionally served with hot chocolate, we think they hold their own with or without that little hint of liquid cocoa. Besides, nobody likes a soggy churro. For the adventurous, we’ve included a recipe for chili-chocolate dipping sauce.

Fun-Sized Churros (From Nigella Lawson’s Kitchen)

Ingredients - Makes around 30-40 mini churros 

• ¼ cup sugar
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon 
• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour 
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 cup freshly boiled water (you can do this in a kettle)
• Canola oil

In a shallow bowl, toss cinnamon with sugar until granules become tinted the slightest shade of brown. Set aside for coating.

Heat canola oil so that it runs at least 1/3 up the side of your pot. Meanwhile combine flour and baking powder. Beat in olive oil and water until a pliable, sticky dough forms. Let it rest for 10 minutes while the oil heats up.

To test if ready, drop a cube of bread into the pot. It should sizzle and condense into a crunchy brown cluster. Place dough into a piping bag or a large Ziploc (nip the corner so that it forms an opening). Squeeze about 2 inches of dough into oil and gently clip them off with chopsticks. Cook about 3-4 minutes until their exterior is golden and slightly hard. Fish them out with chopsticks and blot them with a paper towel to remove excess oil. This is only an exercise for the most dexterous, so be careful!

Toss to coat in cinnamon-sugar and get’em while they’re hot.

Chili Chocolate Dipping Sauce 

• A couple of squares dark chocolate or chocolate chips 
• 1 tbsp maple syrup 
• Pinch of chili flakes
• Pinch of cinnamon

2/3 cup double cream (can substitute with milk)Over a pot of boiling water, melt all ingredients in a separate pan until thick and combined. Let cool before serving.

Go loco

If you are looking for a reason to purchase a blowtorch, here is your chance. Not that you exactly need one for this anyway. Despite the potential fire hazards latent in the torch’s mechanical design, it’s still good to have for fancy brulées. If, with a heavy sigh of resignation, you are a student with a mere stove at your disposal, that will work just as well. 

These Baked Alaskas are a lethal combination of brownie, ice cream, and meringue.They are bad for you with a capital B. But so good. 

While athletes playfully get their faces smothered with shaving cream, this dessert is no joke. We’d happily wade through a cloud of meringue any day.

Beautiful Baked Alaskas (Adapted from All Recipes, but halved the portion)
Ingredients - Yields 6 brownies 

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/4 cups chocolate chips
• 3/4 cups white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a regular-sized muffin tin.

Over low heat, melt chocolate and butter, stirring constantly until 2 become 1.

Remove from heat and stir in sugar.
Allow to cool and beat in eggs, one at a time, stirring well after each addition. Add dash of vanilla to give your chocolate brownies an ironic little twist.

Whisk flour and salt together and fold into liquid mixture.

Add batter to muffin tins and bake for about 30 minutes until toothpick comes out clean in the centre of the brownies.

While cooling, make the meringue.

Meringue  
Ingredients - Depends on how much meringue you want to make

• 4 egg whites
• 1 cup sugar 

Blend egg whites to an oblivion until peaks are ‘stiff’. Add sugar and blend some more. 

To Assemble the Baked Alaska

Add a dab of ice-cream onto each brownie bite. Pipe meringue around and on top of ice-cream to insulate it from the oven. Broil baked alaskas.

Yahoo! Baked Alaskas for you! 

Don’t drown in your frowns. A chocolate cake for one can become a party for plenty with the right amount of spoons and people to share it with. This mug of sadness, when cared for by four, metamorphoses into a pool of happiness that many people can sink into. It’s easy and has both chocolate and peanut butter. It’s like a Reese Cup, but better.

Stop living vicariously through others and make life a bit sweeter with others. Sharing is caring.

Chocolate Cup of Cheerfulness (Adapted from Some Kitchen Stories)

Ingredients- Makes 1 large cup of cheer, to share

• 4 tbsp flour
• 4 tbsp sugar
• 1 egg
• 3 tbsp cocoa powder
• 3 tbsp Nutella
• 3 tbsp milk
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 3 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 spoonful peanut butter

Combine all ingredients in a large coffee mug and whisk with fork until smooth.
Microwave for 1 ½ to 3 minutes. Halfway through baking time, drop a spoonful of smooth peanut butter. Sprinkle with chocolate chips. 

We three are mad as hatters for baked goods, and these rich, flaky scones definitely fit the bill. Perfect for tea parties and un-birthday celebrations alike, scones are a real treat that are also very easy to make if you know a few ground rules.

1. Use only fridge-cold butter, not softened or melted.

2. DO NOT OVERWORK THE DOUGH. You’ll have to knead it, but try to handle it as little as possible. Overworked dough will have a chewy, rather than flaky texture.

3. Scones keep for a few days if stored in an airtight container, but are best fresh.

If raspberries and chocolate chips aren’t your cup of tea, combine either raisins, blueberries, almonds, apples, and cheese into your scones for a whole other dimension of delicious.

Raspberry and Chocolate Cream Scones (adapted from the Joy of Baking)

Ingredients - Yields 8 scones

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup (75 grams) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup (120 ml) cream (we used coffee cream, but heavy cream would make these babies extra decadent)
• ½ cup chocolate chips, semisweet
• 6-10 raspberries

Preheat oven to 375 C. Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl. Break fridge-cold butter up into small chunks.  If you have a well-stocked arsenal of kitchen gadgets, mix butter and flour with a pastry blender. Otherwise, use your hands. Mixture should look like tiny doughy pebbles.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, vanilla, and cream.

Pour liquid mixture into butter/flour bowl, and mix until just combined. When doughy enough to handle, gently knead 2-3 times on a floured surface.

Next, flatten dough and pile chocolate chips and raspberries on top. Use discretion when deciding on the number of raspberries to use, as you don’t want sticky dough. Knead another 2-3 times.

Pat until an inch thick. If you want to be cute, cut out shapes using a cookie cutter (otherwise any old cup will do) and place on a baking sheet. Handle dough sparingly. Try to get as many scones out of the first flattening as possible.

Bake for 15-18 minutes while you ponder why a raven is like a writing desk. 
Incidentally, the scones should not be browner than a writing desk. 

Serve with tea.

Red is a many splendored thing. All you need is a bit of cocoa powder, flour, and well-proportioned liquid ingredients to make an aesthetically pleasing dessert that doesn’t compromise on flavour or moisture. Do not neglect to sift your dry ingredients. The cupcakes should taste like clouds, not coal.  Whether for friends or for family, when capped with a snowy layer of icing, these treats make perfect presents for end-of-the-year birthdays.

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting (Adapted from Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes)

Ingredients - Makes 18 edible red sponges of joy

• 2 ½ cups cake flour, sifted
• 2 tbsps cocoa powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup buttermilk (or 1 cup milk + 1 tbsp lemon juice)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 2 tbsps red food colouring
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 ½ tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp white vinegar

Preheat oven to 350F. Line muffin tins with paper liners. Sift and whisk together flour, cocoa and salt.

Buttermilk is like a taxi cab. When you need it, it’s never there. Like the Magic School Bus, lemons will save the day. To make your buttermilk combine 1 cup milk with a tablespoon lemon juice. Let stand for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, whisk together sugar and oil until combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated. Mix in food colouring and vanilla.

Add flour in three batches, alternating between two additions of buttermilk.

Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three quarters full. Bake for about 22 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean form the centre.

Top with icing.

Best eaten whilst adorning a huge Mexican sombrero—this means you, Nikki.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients - Makes a lot

• 8 oz cream cheese
• 3 cups icing sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsps cinnamon

Mix cheese and icing sugar until combined. Add vanilla and cinnamon until incorporated. Unless you are very patient and are looking to tone your left or right triceps, we recommend using an electric mixer for this one.