Bakography

Isabelle almost 3 months old

2011-08-19T15:20:00.001-04:00

I took some pictures of our sweet friends and their adorable baby right before we moved. I just wanted to get one more photo shoot of this beautiful girl before I couldn't see her on a regular basis. Doesn't she look like a porcelain doll? We love the Buss family and I hope I get to take lots and lots more pictures of sweet Isabelle!

Meeting our sweet nephew Logan: 6 months

2011-08-19T15:02:00.000-04:00

A and I were so excited when we found out his brother and wife were coming down to Georgia to visit before our big move. They had their son, our sweet nephew, in November, and we have been dying to meet him ever since! He was 6 months when they came to visit, and was such a joyful and sweet baby. We both love him so so much!

Logan sleeping in his "nana's" arms.

Logan with his daddy.

Logan with his mommy.

Sweet baby legs!

Logan checkin out his Uncle A.

Logan with his grandpa, uncle, and daddy.

Logan with his grandpa!

Logan with his great aunt.

4 generations. So cool :)

I'm BAAAAAACK!

2011-08-19T12:42:00.001-04:00

So in a speedy catch-you-up from where I left off last (three and a half months ago, woops!)... two weeks after my last post I accepted a job in Charleston (!), which was hugely important for us to be able to live semi-comfortably. Then about two months after my last post Adam finished intern year (the picture below is him holding his icky intern year schedule with all the rotations marked off... a huge feat!), we packed up our lives, stuffed everything in a moving truck, spent the last night in our first apartment together sleeping on air mattresses (see proof below),

attended a good friend of mine's wedding while our moving truck was being driven to Charleston by my father-in-law,

arrived in Charleston to already moved in furniture that night - thanks to awesome movers and awesome parents, went to brunch and walked around the next morning on our first full day as South Carolina residents,

and realized we had been majorly down graded in the kitchen department (and yes that's our pantry and laundry room in that teeny tiny closet in the back... but regardless of the lack of counter space, you know I made room for my precious kitchen aid!),

(whoa that's small! can I get a wha whaa?), but made the best of our new place.

So here we are, FINALLY starting to feel settled, slowly making friends, slowly getting to know the area. I think Atlanta and Georgia will always be home to us, but I can't lie... I LOVE living by the beach. I still miss my sweet girlfriends who are now scattered all over the country, and no one will ever be able to replace those girls and the bonds I have with them, but I'm hopeful to make some new friends and feel like we have a great life that we enjoy living while we are here in Charleston.

I'm so sorry I left you hanging for the past 3 1/2 months, but sometimes life gets in the way. Hopefully we will get into a routine, and hopefully that routine will include some blogging about all the delicious baked goods you know I've been making over the past month and a half since we've moved! :-) I'm doing my best, so hang in there and we'll get back at it.

Cheers to change!

Baby Isabelle

2011-04-28T23:43:00.000-04:00

What a cutie pie she is! This is our friends baby girl and when I took these pictures she was 3 1/2 weeks old. Her daddy couldn't be there because he was working... oh the days of Intern year, but we made due. We are going to have another photo shoot very soon so we can get some precious pictures of father and daughter. We made her a little upset because all she wanted was her paci and we kept taking it from her, poor thing. But those couple of shots after taking the paci were some of the best I've taken yet. I'm just in love with this sweet pea and can't wait to see more of her. I was in love with so many pictures that I just couldn't edit them down anymore... thus you get a post with 32 precious baby pics! Enjoy my friends!

Eat your heart out :-)

Lemon White Chocolate Butter Cookies

2011-04-26T22:55:00.002-04:00

*Once again I'm having a crazy week... am I sounding like a broken record yet? We have a big weekend coming up with some big decisions to make so I need to try to get our home together before we do that. I'm hoping that some time next week I will know a little more about our future move and thus my life will slow down for a little until we head to Charleston. Then I can get back to what I love... baking and photography! The thing is, I have made some awesome things lately, I just haven't had time to write about them! I even have the pictures and the recipes typed out... just not the posts! So because I don't want to disappoint any more...

Here are pictures of another delicious creation. I don't have a lot of tips to this other than that you need to use a stand mixer, you can't skip the refrigeration/freezing step, and you want them very thinly sliced because that makes them extra crispy... which is definitely what you want for these cookies. This recipe makes a lot of cookies (and you can freeze some of the dough if you don't want to use it all at once). They will definitely not disappoint. TRUST ME! Everyone I have ever fed them to, which is dozens of people at this point, Loves them. Ok... running out of time... gotta go to bed and then get our life planned out... :-)

To understand the pictures, just follow along with the directions. Sorry I don't have more time to explain! Feel free to ask questions in the comments section! And yes, that is my margarita in the left of the third picture... hey, it's been a rough month! Oh and if you ladies haven't tried the Skinnygirl Margarita of my fav tv reality star Bethenny Frankel, you gotta try it! It's light, refreshing, and delish!

Print this recipe!!!

Enjoy my friends!!

Oatmeal Scotchies... the easy kind

2011-04-20T19:58:00.000-04:00

If you came here today to see some kind of ritzy glitzy extra special baked goody... well you came to the wrong place. Today I will show you one of my easy go to recipes when the Hubby and I want something sweet without all the effort. We are talking majorly easy. Plus, if you have a mixing bowl, spatula, tablespoon, baking sheet/pan, and all the ingredients then you are good to go!

What you need:
-A package of oatmeal cookie mix (I always get the Betty Crocker kind, but any kind will do)
-All the ingredients it says to use on the back (they are all different so I don't want to tell you one thing and it actually need another because it's a different brand from mine - it is usually eggs and oil or butter)
-1 cup of butterscotch chips

Yes, seriously that's it. And yes it makes a glorious creation for devouring.

So what you do is mix all the oatmeal cookie mix and the rest of the ingredients the package calls for very well. Then you add in the cup of butterscotch chips and mix that well. The mixing can either be done by hand with a spatula, with a hand mixer, or with a stand mixer... but a mixer is certainly not necessary.

Then you will take either a cookie scoop or a tablespoon (which will make a slightly smaller cookie than the scoop) and you scoop out the dough onto a cookie sheet. You can line the cookie sheet with a silpat, etc. but that's also not necessary.

Bake at the temperature and for the amount of time the package suggests. Then take them out and you have your delicious creation that is sure to please most any palate!

Cue angels singing! Yes they are that good... so good that I may or may not have cut off one of those cookies with a knife to have a nice fresh from the oven taste... see it right there on the bottom right? Now I know there are lots and lots of really tasty homemade recipes for these cookies... but I just really like these from the box. You won't catch me saying that about too many things either! ;)

I hope you enjoy!

Toscano Family and Baby Isabela

2011-04-18T22:29:00.001-04:00

This was a really cool photoshoot. Emily Toscano facebook messaged me a few weeks ago asking if I would take some pictures of her family and new baby girl Isabela (Isa for short). The crazy thing is that I know Emily, but haven't seen her in 9 years! We went to high school together and even had a joint 15th birthday party wayyyy back in the day with another friend of ours named Steph (remember that Emily?!). It was a real joy to take pictures of her stunning baby girl and beautiful little family. Now on to the good stuff...

One thing you will notice is that I have a new logo/watermark. It's definitely not perfected yet... when I exported the pictures to a folder I made the watermark too transparent, but it's a work in progress. Tell me what you think of the logo otherwise! I'd love to hear!

Hopefully I'll have a sweet treat for you later this week. I'm treading water as I've mentioned a few times recently... too much going on to write about my baking. But I promise I'm trying, don't give up on me just yet! :-)

Salsa Chicken - an easy and healthy dinner

2011-04-13T09:56:00.000-04:00

**I was all prepared this past weekend to type up a yummy cookie recipe (I even told a faithful blog reader <@Lindsey> that I was ready to go), but time has just gotten away from me and I have to prepare for some important meetings coming up. So as not to leave you without anything tasty, I always have a couple of posts waiting in case this happens. :-) I hope you enjoy this! Hopefully next week I will be back with a tasty cookie recipe and some pretty pictures from trips, showers, and other fun stuff that I've been doing lately. Here's hoping!**

You remember how I told you that my mom doesn't really cook? Well this is one of the few things she does make, and I love it! I don't know where she found it, but man is it easy. Plus, pretty much everyone I have ever given the recipe to has loved it!

Here's what you do: you take ~2 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breasts, 1 "jug" of your favorite salsa, and your crock pot and combine together to make the easiest dinner ever.

Put a layer of salsa on the bottom, then place all the chicken breasts next to each other for the next layer, then cover with the rest of the jar of salsa.

Easy as ~~pie~~ salsa chicken! Set the crock pot on low for about 6-7 hours and leave to cook. Once it's cooked, take two large forks and shred the chicken. Now you have salsa chicken!

I prefer Pace Picante Sauce but I accidentally bought the chunky kind this last time. It was actually pretty good. I really think any kind of salsa would be fine.

Once you have your salsa chicken, you can really do a lot with it. I have served it over pasta,

rice, in tacos, on a salad, and I'm sure there are many other things you could do with it. Since it makes lots of food, I usually freeze some. I go ahead and put the salsa chicken over cooked pasta in a tupperware container and stick it in the freezer. That will keep for several months and it's easy to thaw (in the fridge) and microwave. Done and done! I hope you like it!

Enjoy!

Things I really want to make...

2011-04-04T16:31:00.000-04:00

Since we are on vacation this week (with our toes in the water and bums in the sand) I figured I would tease you with some of the things I am wanting/hoping to make sometime soon. And, no, that picture is not from the trip we are on right now... I wish! It's from our honeymoon last June. Man I miss Playa Mujeres, Mexico!

Back to the sweets... the way I decide what I'm planning to make is basically a free for all. If I see something on a blog and it tugs at me enough I usually end up making it. So what ends up happening is I have about 25 unread blog posts in my reader for weeks on end until I either 1) print all of the recipes out and marinate on them until one jumps out oat me; or 2)decide on one, print it out, and make it!

So here are some that are sitting stagnant in my reader right now. They all look so darn good! Maybe I'll make one while we're on vacation for us to enjoy :) We'll see.

Because I have not had the real thing (but am determined to visit the beautiful city home to these delicious confections one day): http://eatliverun.com/oven-baked-beignets/

Because every southern girl needs to know how to make a good pecan pie (and I like things with a twist): http://17andbaking.com/2011/03/15/coconut-pecan-why-not-pie-with-walnuts-and-toffee/

Because I haven't had one of these since high school and it's time to revisit: http://www.acozykitchen.com/salted-caramel-rice-krispie-treats/

Because they sound good and I would probably feel very sophisticated eating these with some french press coffee (@Sarah) and reading a newspaper: http://cupcakesandcashmere.com/cranberry-orange-scones/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CupcakesAndCashmere+%28Cupcakes+and+Cashmere%29

Because, well, you already know my love for peanut butter and chocolate: http://www.howsweeteats.com/2011/03/peanut-butter-stuffed-hot-fudge-cupcakes/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+howsweeteats%2FsmSp+%28How+Sweet+It+Is%29

Because the Hubby loves red velvet: http://www.howsweeteats.com/2011/03/red-velvet-brownies-with-white-chocolate-frosting/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:howsweeteats/smSpHowSweetItIs

Because I looooove anything with the word snickerdoodle in it and these remind me of my Chocolate Crack Cookies (even though they are far from cookies): http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen-blog/2011/03/step-by-step-snickerdoodle-muffins/

Because... see above, oh and I die for anything lemon flavored: http://www.culinaryconcoctionsbypeabody.com/2011/02/25/lemon-snickerdoodles/

Because omg I don't think my taste buds can handle this... and one of the Hubby's favorite cereals is Captain Crunch: http://www.culinaryconcoctionsbypeabody.com/2011/03/11/peanut-butter-captain-crunch-marshmallow-brownie-bars/

Because one of the Hubby's favorite cookies I make is oatmeal scotchies... so maybe we should try these: http://www.culinaryconcoctionsbypeabody.com/2011/03/14/oatmeal-scotchie-bars/

So there you have it. That's what I'm craving to make right now. I think one of these might work really well for baking on our trip. Maybe you'll get to see it next week... y'all come back now, ya hear!

Blueberry Banana Whole Wheat Pancakes (that are actually really yummy!) plus a photography offer!

2011-03-28T08:00:00.005-04:00

Finally a baking/cooking post for those of you with a sweet tooth! But before we get to the tasty breakfast, I wanted to let all of you know about something I'm working on right now. As you can tell, I've been posting a lot of photography lately. If any of you who read this live in the Atlanta area and want free portraits (maternity, baby, family, engagement) in the next 3 months, let me know. I am trying to build a portfolio, so the next three people who contact me and mention this blog will get a free portrait session plus all the edited photos on a share site with shutterfly.com and on a disc for free. I'm definitely still learning and still have a lot to learn about photography, so I hope you will let me practice on you!

A few weeks ago the Hubby actually had a weekend day off. So I decided I was going to make us a tasty, yet somewhat (kinda sort, ha!) healthy, breakfast. I went back and forth between several options but ended up deciding on Blueberry Banana Pancakes I found on Tasty Kitchen. After looking at the recipe, I knew I could make these with half whole wheat flour half regular all-purpose flour (actually I probably could have even done more wholewheat and the remainder all-purpose).

First you are going to combine the milk (I used 2%) and lemon in a small bowl and set aside. Next, mash the banana and mix with the eggs, vanilla, brown sugar, honey, and melted butter. I didn't actually mash the banana because they were pretty ripe and I knew that my stand mixer would take care of that, but either way would work.

Next you will sift together all the dry ingredients and set aside for a moment.

Then combine the banana mixture and the milk mixture (which is now technically buttermilk... it's that easy to make it, remember).

Lastly, add dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated.

Let this mixture sit covered for about 5-10 minutes. Heat a skillet coated with butter on medium high heat.

We had tried one pancake but the pan wasn't hot enough (that's why it looks dirty), so we tried again before making the next pancake... so make sure you have it hot enough before you start.

While you're waiting for the pan to heat, wash and dry the blueberries, then coat them with the remaining sugar and flour. Then add them to the batter and fold together. Don't mix too much.

Now you should be ready to make you some tasty pancakes. Put about 1/4 cup (ha, we just eyeball it... we like larger pancakes) into the pan.

Flip when bubbles start forming around the edges (or when the bottom is a nice darkish golden brown).

Cook on the other side until golden brown. Remove from the pan and add more butter to re-coat it between batches. This really made enough for four people, and I'm kicking myself now that I didn't freeze the other half of the batter instead of throw it away. Dumb Jenny. Oh well. We served with bacon, light syrup, and coffee. Delish!

Blueberry Banana Whole Wheat Pancakes
Makes 4 servings.

2 cups milk
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 bananas
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp honey
4 tbsp melted butter (plus extra for cooking)
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 cup blueberries
2 tbsp flour
1 tbsp sugar

Directions:
Combine milk and lemon in a small bowl and set aside. Mash bananas and mix with eggs, vanilla, brown sugar, honey, and melted butter. Sift together the dry ingredients and set aside for a minute. Combine banana mixture and milk mixture, then add in the dry ingredients. Mix until just combined. Let sit covered for about 5-10 minutes.
Heat a skillet coated with butter on medium high heat.
Wash and dry blueberries, then coat with the remaining sugar and flour. Add them to the batter and fold together, being careful not to mix too much.
Place 1/4 cup of batter into the pan (or more for larger pancakes). Flip when bubbles start around the edges or the bottom is a nice golden brown. Cook on the other side until golden brown. Remove from the pan, re-coat the pan with butter in between batches, and continue making pancakes with the rest of the batter.

Print this recipe!

Enjoy friends!!! And have a great week!!

P.S. I have one really promising thing coming up in a few weeks for a potential job in Charleston. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Waiting on Baby Boy Lyons

2011-03-25T23:13:00.000-04:00

I know, I know... you want baked goods. I'm getting there, I promise. I really hope life slows down once we move, because I'm exhausted! Pancakes post to come soon!

Anyways...
A couple of weeks ago I told my mom that I really wanted to start stepping up my photography practice. She works at a local high school and I knew that would be a great place to find some "models"! I love doing maternity, baby, and family pictures so I asked her to find me anyone who would let me take pictures of them for free. I got super lucky, because she found Andrea and Matt who happened to be awesome, and despite saying they were not naturals in front of the camera, you would never know by looking at the pictures! They are about a month away (now about 3 weeks) from having their baby boy. And with their last name being Lyons, we had fun with lion props, but we also got to work in some basketball action since Matt is a basketball coach. I had so much fun with them and I hope they love their pictures as much as I do. I really think they turned out great! Here are a few for your eye candy pleasure:

Oh yea, I forgot to tell you, their dog was totally sassy! Ha! Andrea got up off the blanket and Roscoe (sp?) the dog decided that was where he wanted to chill... so he literally laid out on the blanket and posed for me. It was pretty much the cutest thing ever. There are few things I enjoy more than watching dogs personalities come out. And boy did his!

This last picture is my favorite belly shot so far. I'm in love with the lighting and the emotion that you can get just from hands and a pregnant belly.

Sneak Peek... kind of

2011-03-23T14:01:00.000-04:00

I had another wonderful maternity shoot this past weekend! So while I'm still working on those photos, I wanted to show you a peek into some other pictures I took that day. I was driving back to our apartment from the photoshoot and realized I finally had my camera and could get out of the car and take pictures of the beautiful tulips that line the entrance. When I made my way over to the flowers I saw this precious little girl, maybe 2 or 3 years old, with her dad. Her dad was taking a ton of pictures of her with his point and shoot. I told him I'm learning photography and asked if I could take some pictures of her and that I would email them to him. He was SO excited, which made me really glad. He said they used to have a DSLR camera but had to sell it and that he would love some pictures of her and of him with her. So I, of course, started snapping away. Here are a few of the precious pictures I took of this sweet girl. Her name is Annaliese (not 100% sure of the spelling).

*And for those of you waiting for another baking post... I have another yummy breakfast confection for later this week. I've been trying to eat healthier the past week or so (other than the cadbury eggs, of course) so that I don't feel like a beached whale in a week and a half at the beach :)

I really don't think you can get much cuter (or more sassy) than that!

Why do they do this to me???

2011-03-17T22:00:00.004-04:00

Seriously... putting these guys out a little over two weeks before our beach vacation is torture for me! Why must you do this to me Cadbury? Because I just can't get with the "bikini body" program right now, I made a deal with my in-laws and the Hubby that there will be no judging what so ever at the beach. While I wish I owned a one-piece and my bikinis may end up giving me muffin tops, I say screw the pressure. I'm going with it and I'm eating as many d**n Cadbury eggs as I want... they are only around for one month a year! Who's with me?!

Drum roll please........ Cinnamony Sugar Pull-Apart Breakfast Bread

2011-03-15T20:13:00.002-04:00

After seeing not one, but two different blog posts on this particular treat, I just had to make it. And who better to "test it out" on than my in-laws, since they always love our breakfast treats. Trying to describe it without you actually tasting it is difficult, but the best I can explain is a mix between monkey bread and french toast. Yes, it's that good. Seriously.

The really great thing about this recipe is that you don't really need any special tools. Even before I was a "baker" I would have had everything I needed to make this.

First off, you are going to whisk together the whole wheat flour, 3/4 cups of the all-purpose flour, sugar, yeast, and salt in a large mixing bowl and set aside. Then, whisk together the eggs in a small bowl and set aside.

In a small saucepan you are going to melt together the milk and butter until the butter has just completely melted. Be sure to stir while heating so you don't burn the milk. Remove from the heat and add water and vanilla extract and stir. Let the mixture stand for two minutes or until it is between 115-125 degrees F.

Pour the milk mixture into the flour mixture and stir with a spatula. After combined, pour in the eggs and stir until the eggs are incorporated into the batter. Just keep on stirring until it is all well combined. After it's well mixed, add the remaining 3/4 cup of all-purpose flour and stir with the spatula until it's well combined (about 2 minutes). It's very very sticky.

Grease a large bowl well (I usually just spray it down really good with non-stick spray) and then place the dough in it to rise. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a clean kitchen towel. Place in a warm space and allow to rest/rise until doubled in size - 1 hour. I put my rising dough in the oven at about 100 degrees (I just turn it on at 350 to warm up for about a minute and a half and then shut it off.... and Lord have mercy please don't forget to shut the oven off or you will have a major nightmare of messed up dough and possibly a melted bowl on your hands). *Joy The Baker says that if you are making this in advance you can refrigerate the dough after this step. I actually disagree with her. I say you go all the way until the dough is ready to bake and then you refrigerate it. The reason is that there is really no reason why you can't do that, and the baking process takes a little while (i.e. bring dough back to room temp. or close to room temp, bake for about 35 minutes, then let cool for about 15 minutes).

While the dough is rising you can mix together the sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar mixture. Set that aside. Then, melt 4 tablespoons of butter until browned (mess alert: don't do this in the microwave for too long or it could explode... I kinda forgot it could do that, ha!). Set the butter aside. Then grease and flour a regular sized loaf pan (or Baker's Joy it) and set that aside too.

After the dough has finished rising, deflate it and knead 2 tbsp of flour into it. Cover with a clean kitchen towl and let it rest for 5 minutes. On a lightly floured, large work surface, use a rolling pin to roll out the dough. Joy says it should be about 20in. x 12 in. I just say get it as big as you can.

Next, use a pastry brush to spread the melted butter across all of the dough. Then sprinkle with all of the sugar/cinnamon mixture. Yummy. So I got a little dough cutting happy and cut it before I brushed the butter and sprinkled the mixture... and I'm here to report that it works out fine either way :) But it's definitely easier to do the brushing and sprinkling before you cut it. Slice the dough vertically into six strips of the same size. Then, stack the strips all together and slice that stack into six squares(ish). You should have 36 square ish sized pieces of dough, give or take a few.

Now, take the individual stacks of six and place them into the loaf pan one stack at a time. Now, take a kitchen towl and place it over the loaf pan and allow it to rise in a warm place for 45 minutes until it has almost doubled in size. *After this step, I refrigerated the dough to be ready to bake the next morning. But you could also continue from here and bake immediately after it is finished rising. Just be sure to set out for an hour or hour and a half before you are ready to bake it if you decide to refrigerate it.

I went up to that last step the day before. Then the in-laws came over and the Hubby cooked dinner for us. Roasted leg of lamb with stuffed tomatoes, roasted asparagus, and homemade rosemary bread. To.die.for. Well most of it. Everyone loved the lamb but me. For some reason it was really gamey to me. Weird. Anyways, I loooooved the rest of it. Especially the stuffed tomatoes. I may just have to do a post on them one day. They were ridiculous. Here is a picture of our fest:

Picking back up the next morning, I brought the dough back to room temp. Now time to bake it! Place the rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Then, place the loaf pan filled with the yummy looking flip-book of dough in the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes, until the top edges are very golden brown.

As Joy says, if the top is only lightly browned, the center is still not baked all the way... be patient people!

Remove from the oven and allow to sit out for about 15 minutes. At this point you can make the optional icing. I made it and used it but it definitely wasn't necessary... it just added a little something extra. Mix together the powdered sugar, milk, and orange juice and set aside. You can also add 3 oz. of cream cheese at room temp. if you want it to be a much thicker frosting.

Then, after running a butter knife around the edges, turn the bread onto a plate. Then, if you care, you can invert that onto a serving platter or cake plate for it to be right side up. We were a little impatient and didn't care... we just dug right in!

I piled about 5 pieces up on a plate with the eggs and bacon we ate. After piling up the pieces, I just took a spoonful of the icing and drizzled it on top.

Man... seriously, delicious. Like OMG delicious. Like everyone cleaned their plates delicious. Like, there was a little leftover, I went to take a nap, came back out of the bedroom and the leftovers vanished delicious (yup, I was super sad... but my skinny jeans were oh so happy, they've been workin' hard lately).

I served it with eggs and bacon. Dude... so good.

I hope you enjoyed this! I would definitely give it a try for any sort of special breakfast/brunch occasion. So worth the time you wait for this sucker to rise!

Print this recipe!

Have a great week!

Waiting on Baby Girl Buss

2011-03-13T23:21:00.001-04:00

These are dear friends of ours who the Hubs and I got to know during his time in grad school. He and the soon-to-be dad were roommates their first two years. They are expecting their first little one in April and we are so excited for them! They were so sweet to let me practice on them and I really think we ended up with a lot of great photos!

Torn - which breakfast treat to make?

2011-03-11T14:38:00.002-05:00

Help! I am trying to find something that's not too crazy to make for breakfast Sunday morning for some overnight guests (a.k.a. my in-laws).

I NEED your input people! Puhhlease, pretty please? I'm not really wanting to be the tie breaker between the (maybe) two people who will comment, so you lurkers, can you comment too please? I know there are at least 3 or 4 of you ;-) hehe.

Ok, so we can go with the tried and true: http://bakography.blogspot.com/2011/01/cant-stop-eating-monkey-bread-and.html

The subtle and not overboard but still looks delish: http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/2011/03/cinnamon-sugar-pull-apart-bread/

The way overboard and totally out there: http://www.howsweeteats.com/2011/03/cake-batter-cinnamon-rolls/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:howsweeteats/smSpHowSweetItIs

Or the french bakery with coffee and a newspaper option: http://cupcakesandcashmere.com/cranberry-orange-scones/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CupcakesAndCashmere+%28Cupcakes+and+Cashmere%29

Ugh... I just don't know! Help!

P.S. I am certainly thinking about those in Japan and elsewhere effected by the earthquake and tsunami. God speed to all of you. As a friend said on facebook, "Mother nature is powerful. Sending love to Japan". My thoughts exactly.

Dulce de Leche Cupcakes and some Italian fun!

2011-03-07T22:34:00.000-05:00

I saw these cupcakes on Joy The Baker and knew I had to bake them immediately. They just sounded so. freakin. good. And looked so pretty (Of course, much prettier than how mine ended up looking, but hey, I'm trying. I learned I need some bigger tips for my frosting bags so I can make my frosting look like hers... put it on my tab).

Remember our "cooking mentors" from this post of yore? The Hubby and I had been wanting to get together with Cuz and S for a while now, and this weekend we finally had a day where we could all do dinner together. Cuz and S invited us over, and I asked S if I could bring Dulce de Leche cupcakes for dessert. She said that I could, and also told me that they were going to make pasta. She's such a little liar! Pasta was like 1/8th of all the food we ate. Haha. Seriously, we left their house and felt like we had just been to Italy and back in 4 hours. They had some beautiful antipasti to start off (with too many things to even recount), then homemade pasta with homemade red sauce with yellow and red peppers, and then some sort of hanger/flank/skirt steak with deliciously prepared brussels sprouts!
The antipasti sort of looked like a hybrid of this:

and this:

Not a single thing we ate was any less than to die for. Seriously, my taste buds were on overload! It was so incredibly good. And to top everything off we had french press coffee and my cupcakes. I woke up this morning and was actually pissed off at myself that I did not bring my camera to their house. Everything was displayed so beautifully and I really think that would be the only way you could possibly understand how much wonderful food we had. Plus, I secretly want to recreate the whole meal. And now Adam wants a pasta maker attachment for my kitchen aid. I told Cuz and S that every time we leave their house there are about 5 more things we "need" for our cooking and baking habit.

Anyways, back to the cupcakes. This is how Joy The Baker describes them:
"These cakes themselves are a brown sugar and buttermilk cake. The addition of brown sugar mocks the dulce de leche flavors just slightly. The cakes are more of a pound cake consistency and not so much a fluffy cake mix cupcake. The frosting is a combination of three fine fats: butter, cream cheese and dulce de leche."

And from what everyone told me who has had the pleasure ;) of eating one, that's pretty accurate. The cake part of it is not very sweet and is definitely pound cake like, so the cake and frosting play off of each other to create this rich but not too sweet flavor. I can't eat the frosting (I just had a VERY tiny bit on my cupcake), but from what I did try, it was amazing.

I, much like Joy The Baker, did not make my own Dulce de Leche. I was a little afraid after she described how to make it, so I threw down 9 bones to buy the premade stuff at Whole Foods. It was definitely more expensive than I thought it would be, but I still think it was worth it. Maybe one day I'll give it a try. I saw in the comments on Joy The Baker's post that there is a Pioneer Woman recipe to make Dulce de Leche pretty easily.

Start by placing your oven racks in the middle and upper portion of the oven. Then, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line cupcake pans. I decided to do 18 regular sized cupcakes and 24 mini cupcakes. There was still enough batter left to make at least 3 more regular sized cupcakes. Place these aside for later. Next, in a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set this aside also.

Place butter and sugars in the large bowl of a stand mixer and beat on medium with the paddle attachment for about three minutes, until it looks fluffy. Stop mixing, scrape the sides of the bowl, and add one egg. Beat on medium for a minute or so and add the remaining two eggs, one at a time, beating a minute between each. After all eggs are combined into the mixture, scrape the sides and then beat in the vanilla.

Next, add half of the flour mixture to the butter/sugar/egg mixture. Beat on low and then slowly pour in the buttermilk (which, for me, was a milk and lemon juice mixture).

Beat until just combined and then stop mixing, scrape down the sides, and add the rest of the flour mixture. Beat until just combined.

Then, remove the bowl from the stand mixture and finish stirring with a spatula. Do not over-mix.

Take the batter and fill the lined cupcake pans 2/3 of the way full.

For the regular sized cupcakes, I used a heaping cookie scoop to transfer the batter to the lined pan.

For the mini cupcakes, I used a heaping tablespoon to transfer the batter to the lined mini pan.

Bake the regular cupcakes for 18-20 minutes (or until a toothpick comes out clean) and the mini cupcakes for 9-12 minutes or a clean toothpick.

Let the cupcakes cool completely (in the pan or in the pan for the first 5-10 minutes and then on a cooling rack). Don't even think about frosting until they are completely cool to the touch.

While they are cooling, make the frosting. Mmmmm. If I could eat dairy, I probably would have eaten bowls full of this stuff. It smelled SO good. Gah. Stupid lactose intolerance. Haha, that reminds me. Last night at dinner, S said to me about my lactose intolerance, "I really hope they fix that for you, because that just sucks." I totally agree S... actually I couldn't agree more. But I'm not holding my breath. Plus, I really don't want to have to buy all new clothing, which I'm pretty sure would be one of many outcomes of overcoming that problem. ;)

To make the frosting, place the room temperature cream cheese in the bowl of your stand mixture... I know, I didn't want to clean the bowl that quickly either, just do it. It's worth it in the end, I promise. Beat the cream cheese on medium for about 30 seconds until it's soft and almost fluffy. Stop mixing, scrape the sides, and add the room temperature butter and the dulce de leche. Beat on medium until well combined. Stop the mixer and add the salt and powdered sugar. First beat on the lowest speed until the confectioners sugar is moistened, then beat on medium for about 2 1/2 - 3 minutes, until its light and fluffy.

Either spoon or pipe (with a frosting bag) onto the cooled cupcakes.

Lastly, heat a couple of tablespoons of the dulce de leche. I did mine in the microwave in the glass jar, but you could also do it over low heat in a small saucepan.

Then take a spoon and drizzle it over the frosted cupcakes.

Then I, like Joy The Baker, topped them off with "cupcake gems", or round sprinkles. So pretty!

I placed the cupcakes in the fridge for 45 minutes or so to set the frosting.

You can store them in the fridge because of the frosting, or not, but be sure to bring them back to room temp. before you serve.

Dulce de Leche Cupcakes!

For the Cupcakes:

3 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup cornstarch

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3 large eggs

1 1/2 cup buttermilk (to make your own, read this - and you can use regular milk too!)

For the Frosting:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup dulce de leche, plus more for drizzling

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 to 3 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

Start by placing your oven racks in the middle and upper portion of the oven. Then, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line cupcake pans (makes ~24 regular sized cupcakes). Place these aside for later. Next, in a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set this aside also.

Place butter and sugars in the large bowl of a stand mixer and beat on medium with the paddle attachment for about three minutes, until it looks fluffy. Stop mixing, scrape the sides of the bowl, and add one egg. Beat on medium for a minute or so and add the remaining two eggs, one at a time, beating a minute between each. After all eggs are combined into the mixture, scrape the sides and then beat in the vanilla.

Next, add half of the flour mixture to the butter/sugar/egg mixture. Beat on low and then slowly pour in the buttermilk (which, for me, was a milk and lemon juice mixture). Beat until just combined and then stop mixing, scrape down the sides, and add the rest of the flour mixture. Beat until just combined. Then, remove the bowl from the stand mixture and finish stirring with a spatula. Do not over-mix.

Take the batter and fill the lined cupcake pans 2/3 of the way full. Bake the regular cupcakes for 18-20 minutes (or until a toothpick comes out clean) and the mini cupcakes for 9-12 minutes or a clean toothpick.
Let the cupcakes cool completely.

Make the frosting. Place the room temperature cream cheese in the bowl of your stand mixture. Beat the cream cheese on medium for about 30 seconds until it's soft and almost fluffy. Stop mixing, scrape the sides, and add the room temperature butter and the dulce de leche. Beat on medium until well combined. Stop the mixer and add the salt and powdered sugar. First beat on the lowest speed until the confectioners sugar is moistened, then beat on medium for about 2 1/2 - 3 minutes, until its light and fluffy.

Either spoon or pipe (with a frosting bag) onto the cooled cupcakes.

Lastly, heat a couple of tablespoons of the dulce de leche. I did mine in the microwave in the glass jar, but you could also do it over low heat in a small saucepan. Then take a spoon and drizzle it over the frosted cupcakes. Then, if you want, top them off with "cupcake gems", or round sprinkles. So pretty!

I placed the cupcakes in the fridge for 45 minutes or so to set the frosting. You can store them in the fridge because of the frosting, or not, but be sure to bring them back to room temp. before you serve.

Enjoy my friends! The Hubs said these were the best cupcakes I've made yet. Pretty sure that means you should try them... NOW! :)

Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies (Homemade Do-si-dos)

2011-03-01T08:00:00.012-05:00

After having a heck of a week last week, followed by my weekend plans being completely foiled, I decided I needed to do some baking to cheer me up! And in case you care, I'm pretending last week never happened. So, in my mind, Saturday was a new start with some new cookies to try!

I know I told you how much my father-in-law loves peanut butter... but what I didn't tell you is that I love it too, like a lot. :-) And between me and the Hubby, if we were left in a room with a jar of peanut butter and a spoon, there may or may not be a fight. We really like it. So these cookies were the perfect pick-me-up.

To start, I preheated the oven to 350 degrees F. Remember to put out the butter at least an hour in advance to bring to room temperature.

We will start with the cookies first. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and then set aside.

Next, in a large bowl, cream together butter and peanut butter.

Beat in the sugars until fluffy.

Then, add in eggs one at a time, making sure each is completely mixed in before adding the next. Then stir in vanilla. Continue to mix on a low speed so you can mix in the flour slowly. After the flour is incorporated, mix in the oats. Make sure the mixture is well combined.

Now, on a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet, drop heaping teaspoonfuls of batter about 2 inches apart (because they will spread a good bit).

Now, I know you may remember me talking crap about silpat's here. Well, I'm here to take back my smack talking. Gasp!! I had a credit to Amazon and decided to try one. Insert foot in mouth... they actually are awesome! The crazy thing is, the two batches of cookies baked on the silpat not only were baked more evenly, but came off the silpat SUPER easy. And cleaning that thing is a cinch. So I won't be talking crap about them anymore. Promise.

Any who, bake for about 10 minutes until the edges start to slightly brown.

My first batch (on the bottom oven shelf with silpat) was done at exactly 10 minutes, but the batch I put in halfway during the first batch took 11 minutes (it was on the top shelf with parchment).

Oh, and one more thing about this, I need to warn you that this recipe makes an obscene amount of cookies. I ended up making three pans (~60 individual cookies) and then throwing in the towel, but I probably could have made at least two more pans worth! That's a crap ton o' cookies! Even when I sandwiched them I still had about 30 cookies! Below is my leftover batter after making 60 cookies!

Cool on the pan for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack for the rest of the cooling.

The original recipe calls for poking holes in the "top" cookies to make them look like the GS cookies. I tried this and, to be frank, I thought it looked pretty stupid. Haha! Really, no joke:

So I decided not to do that with the following two batches.

Once you have made all the cookies and they are cooling, make the filling. In a large bowl, cream together smooth peanut butter, butter, and confectioners sugar until completely smooth. You don't want to use the kind of natural peanut butter that needs to be refrigerated because it likely won't be creamy enough. I used Jif Natural Creamy Peanut Butter, that does not require refrigeration, and it worked great.

Now that you have your filling, flip half of your cookies over so their bottoms are showing (hehe). These are the cookies you are going to put the filling on. The right side up cookies are going to be the tops of the sandwiches.

Place 1-2 tsp of the filling onto the upside-down cookies. They kinda look like giant Hershey kisses! :)

Then put the top cookies on (and push down gently) to make the sandwiches.

That's it! Be sure you have plenty of people to share these with... if not it could be dangerous because they are delicious!

Print this recipe!

Enjoy my friends! Happy Girl Scout Cookies month ;)

Oh and for those of you who care, I found out Sunday that I am not a black thumb after all! Yipee!! It's tulip time:

I'm DYING for it to bloom! But I think I still have a little while. Don't you just LOOOVE Spring?!

"Sweet" Heart Red Velvet Sandwich Cake Cookies

2011-02-26T11:36:00.000-05:00

That's a mouthful! Pun intended.

These are easy, incredibly tasty, and festive! And I'm sure you could translate the idea into other shapes for other occasions. I found the idea for these at bakerella.

All you need for the cake cookies is:

1 box red velvet cake mix
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
2 eggs

And all you need for the filling is:

1/2 Cup butter, at room temperature
1 - 8 oz. package cream cheese, at room temperature
1 1lb. package of confectioner’s sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract (clear if you want the filling pure white)

First you make the cookies. All you do is preheat the oven to 350 degrees, mix the ingredients until well combined, use a cookie scoop to scoop the batter onto a baking sheet about 1 1/2 to 2 inches apart. Bake for 11-13 minutes, maybe even 14. I had a hard time figuring out if they were done or not. Red doesn't really "brown", exactly. So maybe try a toothpick? It was too late for me. I had to sort of salvage the situation last minute. Oh well.

Let them cool a few minutes and then take your cookie cutter (optional) and slightly wiggle it down onto the cookie (so you push the "scraps" away from the cookie).

Isn't the cookie cutter fun?! I got it at target in the seasonal section that came with several sizes of heart shaped cutters.

Now let them cool a bit more and make the filling.

In a mixer, cream butter, cream cheese and vanilla. Then, very gradually add the sugar and continue to combine until it is smooth.

Now take your cooled cookie hearts and remove the scraps or outer edge of the cookies.

That leaves lots to nibble on! ;-)

Uh oh!

Now you have your heart cookies. Take half of them and flip them over. Now you have the bottoms of your cookie sandwiches. Take a dollop of filling on a spoon (use your best judgment on amount) and place it on top of the upside down cookies.

Now place the still right side up cookies...

...on top and there you have about 10 heart shaped red velvet cake cookies!

I ended up freezing mine for a "ice cream sandwich" type of dessert. But that was just because most of them were a hot mess because I was in a hurry to make it to dinner with some friends. I think they would be delish at room temperature.

I hope you enjoy these!

Sweet Potato Chips - A yummy AND healthy side

2011-02-23T15:25:00.000-05:00

Because the craziness of last week has spilled into this week, I'm going to post a "back-up" post that I had waiting for a week like this. I just feel like I can't catch up and am about as tired as I can ever remember being. Plus the Hubby has a cold :( Sorry to postpone the second Valentine's post. I promise it will be up within the next week.
*****

I'm not really sure when or where I stumbled across this "recipe". I use the term recipe loosely because these are easy to tweak and there is not a whole lot to them. I think they may have been a weight watchers recipe. I know it's not a "baked item", but these are definitely something you should add to your rotation!

All you need is a large baking pan, aluminum foil (optional), one medium sweet potato per person, non-stick spray, a sea salt grinder, and a food processor or mandoline slicer.

Preheat your oven to 400 or 425 degrees (for us it depends on what we are cooking with it, but if there is nothing in the oven do 425). First you are going to peel the skin off the sweet potatoes. Now that you have the whole sweet potato with no skin, cut the length of it in half so you have two pieces of sweet potato each with one pointy end and one end that is the shape of a circle. Take the end that was cut and place that end into the food processor or mandoline. Sometimes I find that it is too wide to fit into the processor, if that is the case, you can cut the width in half and you will have half circles for chips (trust me, they taste just as good!).

Now slice all of the sweet potatoes up and you should have a whole bunch of slices. If you have the option of more than one slice width, the thinner the better. We only have one slicer for our food processor, so we stick with that and it works just fine. But if I had my wish, our slices would be slightly thinner.

Now time to prep your pan. If you are using more than two potatoes, you may need more than one pan. Take your largest jellyroll or baking pan and line with aluminum foil with the non-stick side up (if you have it - if not then don't worry about it). Next, take your non-stick spray and completely coat the surface of the pan or foil.

Now you are going to place the slices in rows on the pan. They can be touching but do not layer them on top of each other.

Get that non-stick spray again and completely coat the top of the slices. You're almost ready to put them in the oven! One last thing, get your salt grinder and put as much or as little on them as you want. I like salt but the Hubby doesn't like it as much so I do one side with a little more and the other side with a little less. We haven't ever switched them up, but I bet you could "flavor" them with whatever you wanted. Some chili powder, cumin, and cinnamon might be good.

They are ready to bake! This part is mostly subjective. We like them really baked where some of them are a little crunchy and browned, but they are good sorta mushy too. I know that sounds gross but you have to trust me, they are so good! The Hubby didn't trust me the first time and then he ate one and he was hooked! Put them in the preheated oven and leave them for about 15 minutes. Start checking on them at about the 10 minute mark. Once they seem to be pretty shriveled/shrunk and the thin ones are starting to brown on the edges, take them out and turn them over. I have gotten to where I use my hands now but when I first made them I used tongs. They are delicate so be careful not to "squeeze" them too much... you don't want to squeeze the puddin out of them! hehe. This may take a couple of minutes but once you turn them they are going to be ready pretty quickly. Put them back in the oven after you have flipped them, and leave them in for about 5-10 more minutes. Keep your eye on them because this part can go quickly. Remove when they are at your desired crispy-ness. As Hubby says, the longer the better... but you don't want to burn them!

So delicious and healthy! What a great combo! Be sure to eat these pretty quickly after you remove them from the oven because they cool really quickly. P.S. These are so good that a friend of ours who "would never eat a sweet potato", cleaned his plate. When he asked us what they were, he couldn't believe it! Come to think of it, these are probably a great way to get picky kids to eat something with some vitamins and nutrients.

Sweet Potato Chips

Non-stick spray
Aluminum foil
1 medium sweet potato per person
Sea salt in a grinder
And a food processor or mandoline slicer for slicing

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Peel the sweet potatoes. Cut them in half length-wise (and then width-wise if needed to fit into processor). Slice all the sweet potatoes into thin slices. Line a large baking sheet or jellyroll pan with aluminum foil (if you have it) and then coat the pan with non-stick spray. Now line the sweet potato slices in rows, touching but not on top of one another. Then spray the slices to coat with non-stick spray. Top with seasoning of your choice... I use sea salt from a grinder. Bake for about 15 minutes then remove pan to turn slices. Replace in oven for another 5-10 minutes or until browned on edges. Eat em up!

Enjoy!

Not for the faint of "heart"

2011-02-18T23:02:00.000-05:00

(my favorite flowers in the whole world - from the Hubs)

I thought long and hard about what to make for Adam for Valentine's Day. I definitely put more thought into it than I used to, now that I know a little more about baking. After searching online for a while, I finally came across this. I thought, gosh, I can do that! I really thought it couldn't be that hard.

So I bought all the ingredients for everything.

You will need 2-3 layers of red velvet cake (I'd make this from scratch), 4 layers of white cake (or if you mess up like me - 3 layers and a cake leveler, ha!), 1 cup or 1 can of cream cheese frosting (I used canned this time), a cake leveler, 2 cake boards, buttercream frosting (I'd really recommend making this from scratch, too), and lastly you will need some piping bags or some sort of gel/frosting to decorate with, oh and some room in your freezer... no joke.

Dang, that's a lot of stuff. Lucky for me I had a weekend mostly all to myself to work on this sucker (the hubby was at work). First you make the red velvet cake (recipe at bottom of post). Sure, you could make a box mix, but I really really wanted to try a homemade version since I had never done that before... it was worth it ;)

It's pretty straight forward. The only tip I would suggest would be to remember to put the butter out an hour or more before making this and the eggs out thirty minutes before making it. First, you will cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Next, in a small bowl stir together the red food coloring, cocoa, and vanilla. Then add it to the batter and mix well. In a measuring cup stir the salt into the buttermilk. *Tip: If you can't have lactose like me you can make your own buttermilk with lactose free milk! Horray! All you have to do is this: in a measuring cup, put one tablespoon of lemon juice. Then pour your choice of fat content lactose free milk over the lemon juice, up to the one cup line. Stir and then let it sit for two minutes. After it sits for the two minutes, you have you some sour-y, curdled, buttermilk!

Next, add the buttermilk/salt mixture to the batter in three parts, while alternating with the (sifted) cake flour. Each time you add one of these, mix well but don't over mix. Just enough to get them combined.

Next, put the baking soda and apple cider vinegar in a small bowl and stir. This totally reminded me of a science experiment, right?! Add it to the batter and mix well. (Remember to scrape the bowl with a spatula as needed.)

Divide the batter among three 8 or 9 inch well greased cake pans. The recipe I used also called for waxed paper in the bottom of the pans after greasing well. I didn't do that because for this cake I was making a cake/frosting mixture, but if you wanted to make a three layer red velvet cake you would definitely want to use the wax paper in addition to the greasing so that it doesn't stick. Bake for 30-40 minutes (it was closer to 40 for me). Test with a toothpick. The cakes are ready when the toothpick comes out clean. Also, different racks in the oven can make things cook at different times, so check them all. Once removing, let the layers cool in the pans for about an hour.

This makes quite a mess! And that's not the half of it.

While the red velvet cake is cooling, make the white cakes. You are going to want four of those store bought, aluminum/disposable, 8 inch cake pans. Now I'm going to be honest with you here, the red velvet cake, while sounding easy, took me a little longer than I thought. So while I had all the things to make homemade white cake, I ended up using two boxes of white cake mix. I know, I know. Bad Jenny. I'm sorry, I just couldn't do it! I had too much laundry to do! :) But if you want to make homemade white cake, here is the recipe "I am baker" used (she found it on food network). No matter what, make sure you grease and flour the pans really really well!

[White Cake

1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a small bowl, combine the flours. Set aside.

In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in 3 parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not over beat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended. Carefully spoon the batter into a well greased and floured cake pan (or use Bakers Joy). Bake for 20 to 25 minutes (for round cake), or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.]

After making the white cake we will go back to the completely cooled red velvet and crumble it up!

I just put two of the three red velvets in a very large mixing bowl and broke them up very well with my hands. Then I put the last one in there and continued to break it up. Once you have small little red velvet bits, take the 1 cup or 1 can of cream cheese frosting and put it all on top of the crumbled cake.

Now before you put your hands in this crazy mess, make sure you take off all your rings and bracelets and hair ties (come on you know you wear them around on your wrist) and watches. Now that you took the appropriate precautions, get dirty! You are going to need to mix this well. And while Bakerella says to use a spoon or spatula, I've found that the best way to do it is use your hands. Channel your inner 5 year old and pretend you're playing in dirt. It's fun! Once that is combined, stick in the fridge.

Next, make the buttercream. See recipe below. It's pretty straight forward.

Then take your completely cooled white cakes and level them with your cake leveler. You just want flat tops. Nothing crazy.

Then, put one on each cake board. Now this is where I had a slight (read: major) problem. Is it possible to wait too long to take the cake out of the pan? I let it cool for a good while so I could do other things, and the one cake in my regular pan (not the disposable ones from the grocery store - they were sold in packs of 3 so I only bought one pack) broke in half!!!! :( Major sad face.

So I guess the only suggestion that I have, because I am very obviously not a professional cake maker (and you will also see not a professional cake decorator later), is to let the cakes cool for about 10 minutes or until you can handle the pan safely with your bare hands, and then cool them the rest of the time on cooling racks. The weird thing is I had basically no problem with the disposable pans. I ran a knife around the edges, like you always should, and they came right out. Oh well. Since I had one cake disaster, I decided to cut the third tier, the one not on a cake board yet, in half. I used my cake leveler and cut it right in half to make a 3 layer cake by using two cakes of 1 1/2 layers.

So if you caught that, next you will make 2 - two layer cakes (for me it was 1 1/2, wha whaa). Take the two cakes on the cake boards and frost the tops of both of them with about 1/2-3/4 cup of buttercream frosting. Then take your other two layers and place one on top of each of the frosted cakes. Now that you have your 2 - two layer cakes on cake boards, stick em in the freezer! For real, you can't skip this step. It's crucial to the carving of the heart. Basically you can't even do this if you can't freeze them. I put them in there overnight, but I think around 3 hours should do the trick.

Once you've chilled the red velvet mixture and frozen the white two layer cakes, you are ready for the hard part.

Take the white cakes out of the freezer and set them on the counter. Now if you are spatially "slow" like me, take two toothpicks and stick them in the cake like this:

That's twine between them to hold them together. Use a double knot to hold them on there good and tight. Now take the one on the outside of the cake and draw it into the cake all the way around the circumference of the cake (Whoa, yup I just threw out a math term... my dad - a retired math teacher - would be so proud). Make sure you can see the line well. It took me two go rounds to get it to show well. Do this on both of the white cakes. I just took the toothpicks from the first cake already tied together and transferred them carefully to the second cake.

Now is the hardest part of all. The carving. Carve out a cone shape in the first cake. This is the bottom, and that's very important to remember. I used a knife to help me get the basic shape and then dug it out and made sure it was a smooth line with a spoon.

The bottom is similar but definitely a little bit harder. It's a cone but the bottom of the cone (the skinny part) has another upside down cone island in it. See:

I don't know how else to describe it. And carving it is just a guessing game. I cut slowly to see if I had enough room for the "island". I don't know that I am baker had any better directions. It's just hard to explain. By the way, this is the top. Remember that. You definitely want to keep track of which one is which. Personally I wrote on the top cake board "top", because you will discard that cake board eventually.

Once you have the top and bottom carved and cleaned out. Take the red velvet mixture and fill up the carved out cavities. Ew... that sounds like something from the Hubby's anatomy class. Anywho, fill em up. I used the mixture to create a fairly sturdy edge of it around the edges of the cavities - don't push too hard but you can use a little force since the white cake is frozen.

Then I filled the rest of it in a little less haphazardly. Make sure the top of the red velvet filling is both flat and flush with the top of the white cake.

Next, put frosting on the white part/edge of the bottom cake. This is to hold the top cake in place. (See I am baker's post for this. I was rushing and forgot to take pictures of the next couple steps.)

Now that you have frosted the bottom edge, take the top cake and flip it over onto your hand, CAREFULLY. Then use both hands to hold it (with the red velvet filling facing down) and slowly center it over the bottom cake. Once you're sure it's as centered as it can be, place it carefully on the cake. Hard part's done!!! Yay!

Now remove the cake board on top carefully and then take your buttercream frosting again, and do a thin-ish crumb coat over the entire cake. Now you want to refrigerate it for about an hour or so to set the frosting.

After the frosting is set, take it out and do the final frosting layer. I was in a hurry at this point, which is unfortunate because I could have definitely been more careful and done a better job. The frosting job I did was too thick and I also didn't refrigerate it at all after the last coat to set it. Stupid Jenny. That led to a major "frosting meltdown" the next day... after we had our first slices. One whole side of the cakes frosting just fell off! haha. We thought it was funny but it would have totally sucked if you did this for a party or something. So take your time and be sure to set it well! Then decorate as you please.

Now that you have done ALL THAT WORK! And it is a lot. Cut into that sucker!

We cut a huge first slice so we could see the heart.

This was my first time making this, and I have to give myself credit... it wasn't a complete disaster like I thought it would be. Granted, the outside of the cake was pretty hideous, but the red velvet really did resemble a heart. Not as good as I am baker's but pretty decent! Horray! Hubby was super impressed and LOVED the cake. Like, asked me to make it again one day, loved it. We will see if that ever happens, the whole making it again thing. That was a pretty insane process. But it was worth it. And I think I really made the Hubs feel special... which was the whole point.

So if you're crazy, try this. If not, just observe and laugh at how crazy I am. Either way, I hope you enjoyed this. See below for the rest of the recipes. I'll be back next week with another belated Valentine's day post. And a much much easier one at that!

Have a great weekend!!! It's supposed to be a beautiful one in the Southeast, so I hope you southerners can enjoy it!

Red Velvet Cake
(adapted from Magnolia Bakery and I am baker)

3 1/3 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 1/4 cups sugar
2 large eggs and 2 large egg yolks, at room temperature
2 tablespoons red food coloring
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 1/2 teaspoons cider vinegar or apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease and lightly flour three 9 x 2-inch round cake pans, then line the bottoms with waxed paper.

To make the cake:

In a small bowl, sift the cake flour and set aside. In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. In a small bowl, whisk together the red food coloring, cocoa, and vanilla. Add to the batter and beat well. In a measuring cup, stir the salt into the buttermilk. Add to the batter in three parts, alternating with the flour. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated, but do not overheat.

In a small bowl, stir together the cider vinegar and baking soda. Add to the batter and mix well. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl, making sure the ingredients are well blended and the batter is smooth. Divide the batter among the prepared pans. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Let the layers cool in the pans for 1 hour. Remove from the pans and cool completely on a wire rack.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
(from Magnolia Bakery and adapted from I am baker)
Makes enough for one 2-layer 9-inch cake or 2 dozen cupcakes, thus I doubled it for the whole heart cake project.

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
6 to 8 cups confectioners’ sugar (I used 6 and it we definitely not enough. Next time I'll use the full 8 cups. For some reason I have a hard time with consistency. I always think it's thick enough when it's still too thin. You'll see this problem also arise in my second V-day post next week. I guess I've finally learned my lesson!)
1/2 cup milk
2 teaspoons clear vanilla extract (so you have white frosting)
1 teaspoon almond extract

Place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Add 4 cups of the sugar and then the milk and vanilla. On the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat until smooth and creamy, about 3-5 minutes. Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition (about 2 minutes), until the icing is thick enough to be of good spreading consistency. If desired, add a few drops of food coloring and mix thoroughly. (Use and store the icing at room temperature because icing will set if chilled.) Icing can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

What a week...

2011-02-18T10:51:00.000-05:00

So so sorry I disappointed you by not posting about the Hubby's Valentine's Day treat yet. This week has been a doozie and I'm a little behind... on a lot of things. I promise to get it to you tonight. It might be late but it'll be up. You guys HAVE to see it! I don't know if you are going to be impressed by me or embarrassed for me! haha!

Thanks for continuing to read. I guess we all have weeks like this. Lucky for me I'm going on a little getaway this weekend to recharge my battery. While the Hubby has to work the girls will play! Right?!

It might be crazy but... (Valentine's day preview)

2011-02-10T14:04:00.000-05:00

hopefully it'll be worth it. I'm going to try something a little ~~crazy~~ ambitious for the Hubby for our first married Valentine's day. Hopefully it won't be a giant disaster. Last year I made this:

And it was sooooo yummy. The idea for the heart was found here and the recipe I used was similar or the same as this. I know I got the recipe from somewhere else at the time, but I cannot remember for the life of me where it was. These cookies and cream brownies with cookies and cream frosting are soooo rich and sooooo good. Ugh, I kinda sorta want some Right. Now.

Visit back next Tuesday or Wednesday for the big reveal of what I decided to make for the Hubby for Valentine's Day. I'm not going to promise that it will turn out perfectly, because it looks like it could take me all day and still not turn out the way I want. I guess we will find out!

If you are in dire need of some ideas for Valentine's Day baking, here is where I would suggest looking. Good luck!

Til then,

Enjoy!!!

Bright and Cheery Cake Cookies

2011-02-08T22:32:00.000-05:00

These cookies hold a special place in my heart. I made around 200 of these for our wedding. Proof below:

I made them a couple of weeks in advance of the wedding (with the Hubby's help - he stirred!). I froze them and it worked out great!

This time around I made them for a friend. My BFF. (Hopefully she won't read this until she gets them because I'm shipping them in the morning!) She is one of the awesomest people on the planet. She is the most amazing and wonderful friend I could ever ask for and I would do anything for her. From what I remembered, she really really liked these at our wedding and I was hoping to cheer her up a bit with some of these because the weather where she lives has sucked a big fat toe lately. She lives in Boston, but since I knew these cookies lasted a while even after they thawed, I decided they were the winner for being shipped up north. I am not going to put her picture on here this time around because I'm sure she will be like, "Jenny, why did you do that!?" hahaha. But I'm sure you will get to meet her soon.

These cookies are ridiculously easy. They aren't even from scratch... GASP! You will need the box mix for either strawberry cake or lemon cake, I made both this time around. I used Betty Crocker this time, but I also like Duncan Hines.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Pour the cake mix into a medium to large sized mixing bowl. The only things you need to add to make the cookie dough is one large egg and 2/3 cup of oil.

Stir well with a spatula or large spoon until all the mix is moistened.

I use a cookie scoop to get the appropriate sized cookies. But I think a heaping tablespoon full of batter would also work.

If you end up using the heaping tablespoon of batter, I would also roll the cookie dough into a ball with your hands (it doesn't have to be perfect). That way the cookies will be a prettier shape... which is important, because these are pretty cookies! Especially the strawberry ones... gosh they would be perfect for a girl baby shower!

Place on a large cookie sheet (you can line with non-stick side up aluminum foil if you please, but do not grease either way) about 1 inch apart. Bake for 11-13 minutes. Keep a close eye on them. The tops shouldn't ever get brown, because if they do you've baked them too long. Look for browning around the edges of the cookies. Once you see a nice golden color there, they are ready to be taken out of the oven.

Allow to cool for 2-4 minutes on the pan and then transfer to a cooling rack with a "turner" (I call everything a spatula, ha!) and allow to cool completely.

Or just eat a really hot one like me... mushy deliciousness. It's really hard to resist them, believe me!

Aren't they pretty?!?!

Our wedding colors were green and yellow, but I just couldn't help making the pink strawberry ones. Plus they are one of the Hubby's favorite cookies that I make. Right next to the Chocolate Crack Cookies and some other ones I make called oatmeal scotchies... don't worry, I'm gonna do a post on those too. And lucky for you they are super easy also.

I can't give "credit" to these cookies because they were kindof made up. A coworker of mine suggested I try them and then she told me the recipe and I forgot it and then I made up my own. This may have been exactly what she told me but I can't remember for the life of me! I don't know where she got them from either. So they are the "Jenny's Cake Cookies" ;-)

Strawberry or Lemon Cake Cake Cookies

One box of cake mix (lemon or strawberry)

2/3 cup oil

1 large egg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients together in a medium or large mixing bowl until all mix is moistened (i.e. you don't want any powder left). Use a medium sized cookie scoop to scoop onto a large un-greased baking sheet about 1 inch apart. If you don't have a cookie scoop use a heaping tablespoonful and use your hands to roll into a ball before placing on cookie sheet. Bake for 11-13 minutes until only edges of cookies start to brown. Remove, cool, and EAT 'em up!

Enjoy!!

Peanut Butter Truffle Brownies

2011-02-05T22:37:00.007-05:00

I made these for the Hubby to take to work last week. I found them on the Tasty Kitchen blog and knew I had to try them out. I ended up making them on Saturday before we went to dinner with some friends. We came back from dinner and decided to cut into them because they just looked and smelled too darn good! Well, after “testing” them out on our company, I was pretty sure everyone would like them. (I was right!)

First I had to get the coveted mixer ready to go and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Once she’s ready for use, combine all of the brownie ingredients into a large bowl. Sugar, flour, cocoa, salt, eggs, oil, and milk.

Beat until it’s completely smooth. Set aside for a moment and get your pan ready. You are going to use a 15x10” jelly roll pan well greased. I greased it with the smart balance light on a paper towel. That usually works really well for me because it’s soft and easy to spread. Once your pan is ready, take the batter and pour into the pan. You may have to spread the batter out a bit with a spatula.

Bake for 20-25 minutes. (Don’t worry, now that it’s in the oven you can lick the bowl!)

Now don’t freak out if you look in the oven and you see brownie bubbles. I saw them and I popped them with my spatula, eek! Looking back that was probably the best decision because you are going to cover the top with peanut butter truffle frosting anyways. And I really wanted them to be a fairly even surface. When you remove it from the oven, set aside on a trivet and let it cool completely.

Now it’s time to make the peanut butter truffle “frosting”. You are going to have to clean out your mixing bowl, because you will need the stand mixer again. You probably don’t have to use a stand mixer for these, but I would use the stand mixer if you have one. The peanut butter can get a bit sticky, if you know what I mean.

Beat the softened (or room temp) butter and peanut butter together.

Then add the powdered sugar, salt, vanilla, and milk until it is creamy. Be sure to add the powdered sugar slowly so it doesn’t go all over your kitchen. I don’t want you to have to do more cleaning than necessary! FYI it is definitely going to be a thick frosting.

Once it’s mixed well, take the spatula from earlier, (the one you used to spread the brownie into the pan and pop the brownie bubbles) wash it off with hot water, dry it off real quick, and use it to spread the “frosting” all over the top of the brownies. This takes some finesse and a little patience to get it smooth and all the way to the corners, so don’t give up. I didn’t take a picture after I had spread the frosting and before I drizzled the chocolate because we had company at this point and I was in a hurry, but you get the idea.

Lastly, the chocolate topping/drizzle. Combine the oil and chips in a small glass bowl and microwave at 50% power until melted, stirring often. You can also do this in a double broiler, but it’s certainly not required. Once it’s melted and combined, take a spoon and drizzle it all over that huge brownie. After the fact, I realized that I probably could have gotten away with a little less chocolate drizzle. It get’s messy so just use your judgment on how much to utilize from the mixture. I realize my “drizzle job” wasn’t perfect, but once you cut them up you can’t really tell.

Lastly, take a (clean) pizza cutter and cut into squares. I used a fork to get them out because a spatula was too big. Now to the big reveal:

After trying these out, I knew I had to freeze some for my father-in-law. He truly LOVES peanut butter. This weekend we went to visit the Hubs parents and brought our frozen brownies just for the f-i-l. He Loved them! They kept really well after freezing. Since this makes a whole lot of brownies, probably around 30 or more, freezing in a freezer bag would be a great way to keep some of them for later.

After I published this post I realized that this would be the perfect time to introduce you to my in-laws! Here they are with the Hubs at a friends wedding:

You'll get to meet my mom in a couple of weeks(since you have already seen a picture of my beautiful sister in this post). We are taking a girls mini-trip soon and I plan to take lots and lots of pictures!

Peanut Butter Truffle Brownies (adapted from Tasty Kitchen)

For the brownies:
3 cups sugar
3 cups flour
3/4 cups natural unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 tsp salt
6 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk

For the peanut butter truffle frosting:
1/4 cups softened or room temp. butter
1 cup creamy peanut butter (I used natural)
3 cups powdered sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
6 tbsp milk

For the chocolate topping:
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (I like to use the mini chips when melting them)

To make:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine brownie ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Beat until smooth. Grease a 15x10 jelly roll pan. Pour batter into pan and spread out to the edges. Bake for about 20-25 minutes. After removing, cool completely on a trivet leaving the brownie in the pan.
Next, beat the butter and peanut butter in a large mixing bowl until well combined. Add powdered sugar, salt, vanilla, and milk until it is creamy – it will be thick. Take a spatula and spread on top of brownie until even.
Last, combine oil and chips in a small glass bowl. Microwave at 50% power until melted, stirring often. (I usually do this for 30 seconds at a time.) Take a spoon and drizzle on top of brownie. Take a pizza roller and cut into squares. Then EAT it up!

Enjoy! Hope you like it!