Category: Homemade

Organic Funfetti Cookies for my 28th Birthday!

8/29/2018

Organic Funfetti Cookies for my 28th Birthday!

I have always been the kind of person who LOVED birthdays. I would celebrate as long as possible - the whole month if you'd let me! If you listened to the latest episode of my podcast, you know that I'm a total PITTA and that fire in my belly keeps me craving attention, so it makes sense that I would love a day centered around celebrating ME! I've had a pretty great last few birthdays, but this year totally snuck up on me. I have been so insanely busy between the blog, podcast, and new promotion at the yoga studio (studio assistant what whatttt) that I literally didn't realize until just a few days ago when my husband reminded me that we needed to figure out how we were going to celebrate. YIKES! (I must be getting old guys - I'm already forgetting my OWN birthday! 🙈)

It's the Thursday before my Saturday birthday and I still don't know how I want to celebrate (taking suggestions!) but I DID know what I wanted to eat on my birthday. I love sweets but I'm all about that low-sugar life, so I created the birthday cookie cookie of my dreams - an Organic Funfetti Sugar Cookie that hold its shape when it bakes, so you can cookie cut them into whatever cute shapes you like! They're light, sweet, and the PERFECT cookie to splurge on for your birthday - because you can eat as many as you want without having to worry about your sugar intake! Also it's your damn birthday and SOMEONE better make you cake, so let these be your at home treat. I had 6 yesterday. No regrets - bring on 28!

Turning 28 isn't a huge milestone, but 27 was a pretty great year for me. I had a lot of great experiences, made new forever friends, found some workouts that have kept me sane + feeling confident about my health and my body, and did some serious traveling. I made so many great memories and proved to myself how much growth I could experience in a year. 26 was hard, 27 was great, and I expect 28 to be filled with even more opportunities and positive memories! These cookies totally fit for who I am now - obsessed with eating as many cookies as possible as healthfully as possible! A few years ago I would've made a huge, triple layer cake or fudge-filled brownies but these days I'm all about indulging in a guilt-free way - and these cookies rival any cookie with 3x the sugar, guaranteed. I didn't write any long words of wisdom about this birthday, but a few years ago I did come up with 25 Things I'd Learned at 25 and they still stand pretty true. Maybe I'll make another list at 30. For now - let's bake, babes!

INGREDIENTS
2 1/4 cup organic all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup non-dairy butter
1 cup monk fruit sweetener (I used this brand, but you can always use sugar or your fave sub instead. If you choose to use stevia, I would recommend only subbing half the amount for taste.)
1 egg (or vegan egg substitute - a chia egg works great here!)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup sprinkles

DIRECTIONS
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium sized mixing bowl combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a separate, larger mixing bowl beat the butter and sugar (or sweetener) together until fluffy. Add in the egg and the vanilla and beat until the mixture becomes fluffy again. Pour in the dry ingredient mixture, continuously mixing until a dough forms.

Pour in the sprinkles and use your hands to mix them evenly into the dough. Refrigerate the dough, covered, for 20-30 minutes. While the dough chills, lay out some parchment paper and grab a rolling pin. When your dough is ready, roll it out to about 1/4 inch thickness and use a cookie cutter to cut out your favorite shapes.

Place cut cookies onto a lined baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Let cool before enjoying. Leftovers save well in a sealed container for up to a week - if they last that long!

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1 Comment

My Perfect Pizza Dough Recipe + Top Tips for Making Pizza at Home!

5/2/2018

5 Comments

My PERFECT PIZZA DOUGH RECIPE +
TOP TIPS FOR MAKING PIZZA AT HOME!

For one whole summer, Alex worked as the head pizza chef at a local farm and cafe and their Friday night pizza night got POPPIN'! And I don't want to brag too much, but it was absolutely because his pizza was the best pizza around. My husband makes a mean pie, friends. It's one of the reasons I married him! Seriously - who doesn't love a man who can cook?! His pizza skills were so good that literally the whole town would come out to party, commune, and share a slice each week and he became kind of small town famous for his crispy, chewy, thing crust pizzas with creative, straight-from-the-farm toppings. He would take whatever local and seasonal produce was around and make a pie worthy of a trip out even in blizzard weather - and he still makes me those fresh, creative pans weekly. I'm a very lucky lady. When we started sharing his creations at mealtime on IG, we got a ton of positive feedback! People wanted our PIZZAS! And while we haven't quite figured out how to get them to you directly through the internet, I can share our homemade crust recipe and some of top tips for homemade pizza making so you can have as much success as possible when you're trying it at home.

Alex is the king of all things 'za in this house, and he has officially declared this the ‘perfect pizza dough’. So who am I to argue? It comes together pretty easily, makes a great crispy, chewy crust and makes enough dough for two pizzas - so you don’t have to share. It's the same recipe he used to wow all the fans at the Friday night pizza parties, so you can be sure it'll make a fool-proof, crowd pleasing crust! And that makes it pretty perfect to me. Enjoy, babes! And be sure to let me know what you think - and what you top it with - in the comments below. Keep scrolling for my top pizza-makin' tips!

A post shared by Amber St. Peter (@good_saint) on Mar 30, 2018 at 4:56pm PDT

A post shared by Amber St. Peter (@good_saint) on Nov 12, 2017 at 8:52am PST

Okay, babes - before we get to the magical dough recipe itself, let's go over a few top tips for making your homemade pie the best it can be! Write 'em down or print 'em out - these tips are about to seriously improve your pizza game!

1. Don't over-handle the dough! Keep your handling of the dough to a minimum until you're ready to stretch it out, and even then don't fold the dough in on itself after separating into two doughs, even though it's tempting. You want your dough to have some lightness and air or you'll have a stiff, too chewy crust.

2. Bake your pizza at 450 degrees F or more. The higher the temperature, the better. Seriously - if your oven gets to 700 degrees, go for it. You'll adjust cooking times properly, so start with about 10 mins and go from there. When the crust is golden to preference and lifts in one solid piece from the pan, you're ready to eat.

3. Shred your cheese, or break in into smaller pieces to ensure even melting - especially if you're using vegan cheese, which tends to be less melty. Our favorite brand to use is Miyoko's Vegan Mozzarella.

4. Once your crust is tossed and spread onto your baking surface, use a fork to poke small holes evenly around the crust to reduce air bubbles forming in the crust.

5. Use a high-quality baking surface. We use a large steel pizza pan, but anything that will heat and cook evenly will work great! We use flour to prevent the dough sticking to the pan.

Now, let's EAT! Scroll on for my dough recipe - there's a printable there version, too!

PERFECT PIZZA DOUGH RECIPE

INGREDIENTS
2 1/4 teaspoons (7 g) active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups (360 ml) warm water
3 1/2 cups (525 g) all purpose flour, plus more as needed
2 teaspoons (6 g) salt
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons (30 ml) olive oil, plus more for greasing

DIRECTIONS
Pour the yeast and warm water into a small bowl and stir. Set aside for 5 minutes.

In a stand mixer combine the flour, salt and sugar. Pour in the yeast mixture and the olive oil and using the bread hook attachment, knead the mixture together until it comes together and forms a ball. If the dough seems too sticky, add flour as needed. If it’s too dry, add a bit of water.

Move the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead into a smooth, firm, ball. Grease the inside of the mixing bowl lightly and place the dough back inside. Cover with plastic wrap or a clean dishtowel and place in a warm place to double in size, about 1-2 hours.

When ready, turn the dough to a lightly floured surface and, handling as little as possible, cut the dough into 2 equal pieces. Let them rest for 10 minutes before tossing and stretching for pizza!

NOTES
Makes 2 doughs.

Dough can be refrigerated up to two days or frozen indefinitely.

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5 Comments

Organic Funfetti Cookies for my 28th Birthday!

Organic Funfetti Cookies for my 28th Birthday!

My Perfect Pizza Dough Recipe + Top Tips for Making Pizza at Home!

My PERFECT PIZZA DOUGH RECIPE +
TOP TIPS FOR MAKING PIZZA AT HOME!

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Stay fresh + subscribe!

Organic Funfetti Cookies for my 28th Birthday!

Organic Funfetti Cookies for my 28th Birthday!

My Perfect Pizza Dough Recipe + Top Tips for Making Pizza at Home!

My PERFECT PIZZA DOUGH RECIPE + ​TOP TIPS FOR MAKING PIZZA AT HOME!

tags

Stay fresh + subscribe!

My PERFECT PIZZA DOUGH RECIPE +
TOP TIPS FOR MAKING PIZZA AT HOME!