Watkins Original Gourmet Baking Supplies Review

Recently Watkins contacted and sponsored me to review their baking supplies. I jumped at the opportunity. I love baking and trying new things.

Watkins has been around since 1868 and have a headquarters in Minnesota. They make a variety of products; extracts, spices, food coloring, soaps, lotions, cleaners, pain relief, and body scrubs. I had never heard of them before, but the more I have learned, the more I love this company. I love that their products are pure and high quality. I am always on the lookout for good baking products.

I received the following in my box; baking vanilla, pure lemon extract, pure almond extract, pure coffee extract, pure ground cinnamon, and food coloring. I was especially excited about the food coloring because it does not have dyes in it. I have been trying to avoid food dyes with my kids.




The first thing I decided to try was the vanilla. It came in an 11 ounce bottle. I decided to make some chocolate chip cookies.


I used the King Arthur Flour Chocolate Chip Oatmeal recipe for the chocolate chip cookies. The turned out fantastic. I even had someone comment to me they could taste something different in the cookies and asked if I had used something special. I told them I used Watkins vanilla.



Next up I made almond cinnamon cupcakes with an almond cinnamon buttercream frosting that tasted amazing!



Here is the finished product and they tasted as amazing as they look here. I will definitely be making these again. I took them to a function and someone had two at the event and wanted to take more home with her.



 The last thing I tried was the lemon extract, the food coloring and the vanilla again. I made lemon sugar cookies with a lemon buttercream frosting.



The lemon cookies turned out delicious and the frosting colors were amazing! The red was a little pink, but that is typical with red food coloring. I would probably just have to put in more dye to make it darker. I will definitely be using this dye in the future because it was so good and I like that all the ingredients in the dye were natural and not artificial. I let my kids frost the rest of the cookies and they had a lot of fun.



All in all what did I think of Watkins baking products? I LOVED all of them and will be using all of them again. My kids kept begging for all the treats we made this week. I have not really cooked with almond and lemon extract and was excited to go out of my comfort zone and try something new. I would definitely recommend picking up some of these products for baking.



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Lemon Sugar Cookies with Lemon Buttercream Frosting

Do you want to make some really good lemon sugar cookies with lemon frosting? These are a soft sugar cookie with a delicious buttercream frosting with a hint of lemon. I like that the lemon is not overpowering in this cookie. I have the recipe for you. I decided to dye mine too to make them really fun for my kiddos.


Adapted from https://butterwithasideofbread.com/lemon-sugar-cookies/

Lemon Sugar Cookies with Lemon Buttercream Frosting
Soft Cookies with a Hint of Tang
Author: Jennifer Crowther
Yield: 24
Prep Time: 15 Min Cook time: 12 Minutes 

INGREDIENTS FOR LEMON SUGAR COOKIES:
  • 1/2 cup softened butter
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp Watkins vanilla extract
  • 1/3 cup sour cream
  • 1/2 tsp Watkins lemon extract
  • 1 Tbsp lemon zest
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
INGREDIENTS FOR LEMON BUTTER CREAM FROSTING:
  • 1/2 cup softened butter
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 Tbsp milk
  • 1/2 tsp Watkins lemon extract
  • 1 Tbsp lemon zest
  • 4 cups powdered sugar
INSTRUCTIONS FOR LEMON SUGAR COOKIES:
  1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line the cookie sheet with parchment paper.
  2. Cream the butter for 1-2 minutes.
  3. Add the sugar and cream.
  4. Add the egg and cream.
  5. Add the vanilla, sour cream, and cream
  6. Add the lemon extract and lemon zest and mix.
  7. Combine the salt, baking soda, and flour.
  8. Fix in the flour mixture.
  9. Use a disher to make rounded balls.
  10. Bake for 10 minutes.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR LEMON SUGAR COOKIES:
  • Cream the butter.
  • Add the vanilla and milk and cream.
  • Add the lemon extract and zest and cream.
  • Add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time and mix until the frosting is the right consistency. May need to add a little more or less than 4 cups of sugar.
I hope you enjoy the cookies!


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Almond Cinnamon Cupcakes with Almond Cinnamon Butter Frosting

Do you want to make some AMAZING almond cinnamon cupcakes? I have the recipe for you. I recently made these and they were delicious.



Adapted from the recipe, https://www.lifeloveandsugar.com/2014/10/08/cinnamon-sugar-almond-cupcakes/

ALMOND CINNAMON CUPCAKES
Author: Jennifer Crowther
Yield: 25
Prep Time: 10 Min Cook time: 25 Minutes 

INGREDIENTS FOR CUPCAKES:
  • 3/4 cup butter
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 3 egg whites
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 3 tsp Watkins almond extract
  • 1 2/3 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
INGREDIENTS FOR CINNAMON BUTTERCREAM FROSTING:
  • 1 cup butter
  • 4 cups powdered sugar
  • 2 1/4 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp almond extract
  • 2-3 Tbs milk
INSTRUCTIONS FOR CUPCAKES:
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put cupcake wrappers in cupcake baking apparatus.
  2. Cream the butter for 2 minutes.
  3. Add the sugar and continue to cream.
  4. Add the eggs and beat for 2-3 minutes.
  5. Add and mix the sour cream.
  6. Combine the milk and the almond extract.
  7. Sift the flour with the baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon.
  8. Alternate add the wet and milk mixture and flour mixture to the butter mixture.
  9. Fill the cupcake liners with a 20 disher.
  10. Bake 20-25 minutes or until cupcakes spring back to the touch.
  11. Let cool and frost.
  12. Sprinkle with cinnamon.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR CINNAMON BUTTERCREAM FROSTING:
  1. Cream the butter.
  2. Add the milk and almond extract and mix.
  3. Mix in the cinnamon.
  4. Add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time and mix until the frosting is the right consistency. May need to add a little more or less than 4 cups of sugar.
I hope you enjoy the cupcakes as much as I did!

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