Happy Valentine's Day! and a Shortbread Recipe

So, it's been a while. My laptop broke. I plugged it in and it wouldn't turn on. I thought maybe the battery had died and the charger was loose so I wiggled it around a bit, nada. It finally came on and I was all "whew" until it completely shut off after 5 minutes and hasn't worked since. Waaahh :(

Anyway. Today is the day of red roses, hearts, chocolates in cute shiny wrappers, happiness and loooove; at least for some of us. I'm lucky in the sense that I have two Valentines - my son and my boyfriend. I've never understood why so many people hate Valentine's Day. I've either been single or alone, as far as relationships go, on every Valentine's Day except last year and this one. I was never depressed about it. I never hated the holiday. And I sure as hell never tried to make everyone else around me miserable. Being single on Valentine's Day is not a death sentence and it's not the end of the world. Seriously.

Every time I see someone Facebook post something to the tune of: "HAPPY F**KING VALENTINE'S DAY TO ME. YEAH. THIS DAY SUCKS. THIS IS THE STUPIDEST HOLIDAY IN THE ENTIRE STUPID WORLD." I get the urge to comment "Maybe someone would want to date you if you weren't such a miserable bitch." But I don't because that's not very nice. I just think it - A LOT.

Now, go make these shortbread cookies for your significant other - or yourself.

Copy Cat Panera Bread Shortbread Cookie Recipe

2 sticks butter, room temperature (NOT MARGARINE. GROSS)
2 cups cake flour
3/4 cup confectioners sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine all of the ingredients in one bowl. Knead with hands until thoroughly combined. Roll out dough and use a cookie cutter or small glass jar (like I did) to cut out circles.

Bake at 325 degrees F for about 10 minutes, or until lightly browned. Don't over bake!

P.S.: Go see if you can find the photo of my boyfriend and me on Mr. Taylor and his Lady's love from around the world Valentine's Day post. (HINT: It's the 6th collage) - Our love comes from Jonesboro, Arkansas and Pretoria, South Africa! Happy Valentine's Day, y'all!

Cookies and Cream Cupcakes

My younger sister goes to the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville which is about five or so hours from where we grew up. Every time she comes home our mom likes to cook a huge dinner for the family. I was bookmarking recipes from a few of my favorite cooking blogs and found a recipe for Cookies and Cream Cupcakes. Since I'm on a "diet" (I use that term loosely) I needed an excuse to make them and since my sister was coming back home in a few days I figured the family dinner was perfect!

I'm normally a vanilla cupcake, vanilla buttercream kind of girl but these looked AMAZING and my favorite milkshake is a Cookies & Cream milkshake so if it tasted anything like that in cupcake form then I am all for it. Separating one side of the cookie from the side with cream on it was probably the hardest part but it wasn't that hard. A lot of my oreos broke in the process and I literally had just enough left for decorating. After you separate the Oreos, you place them in the bottom of the pan, cream side up. Follow the directions, fill up the muffin tins and voila! Everyone loved them, even my grandma who doesn't like Oreos.