July Bakin' Friends

Imagine my surprise (and delight) when I saw Zainab Mansaray was my Bakin' Friend for July!  She was paired with me in June too!  She made me the most wonderful Chocolate Chip Salted Caramel Cookie Bars in June so when she asked what I'd like her to make in July, I asked if she wouldn't mind making the same bars and throwing in some sprinkles to tie in the July secret ingredient.  They were that good!  This time she made the bars using dark brown sugar in the dough instead of light brown.  They had a deeper brown sugar flavor but were still AMAZING!

I finished off the batch last night.  I love to heat them slightly in the microwave so the caramel and chocolate are a little bit gooey.  She also sent me a bonus treat containing the secret ingredient . . .

XXL Buttery Soft Sugar Cookies!

What a sweet surprise!  They were so yummy and so pretty with sprinkles throughout.  Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

2 tablespoon butter, room temperature

4 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons beaten egg

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

6 tablspoon all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon baking osda

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon cream of tartar

1 tablespoons sprinkles

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, mix the butter and sugar together until creamed. Add in the egg and vanilla and mix until combined. Add in the flour, baking soda, salt, cream of tartar and sprinkles and stir until just combined. Do not overmix.

Roll dough into a tall ball and place in the center of the cookie sheet (or divide into 4 equal balls if making smaller cookies). Bake for 14-16 minutes until edge is brown. For smaller cookies, start checking at 10 minutes. Allow to cool completely on baking sheet.

Makes 1 large sugar cookie or 4 small cookies

Recipe Adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction

Once again, I highly recommend making the bars - and the sugar cookies!  I feel blessed to have had Zainab as my Bakin' Friend for two months in a row.  You can count your lucky stars if she is your next Bakin' Friend!  What a wonderful baker!  Thank you again, Zainab, for all the delicious goodies!

Bakin' Friends is celebrating our one-year anniversary and I can't wait to see what the secret ingredient will be for August.  If you would like to join our group, please go to http://www.stephsbitebybite.com/bakin-friends/ for more information!