cake balls, cookies, and more.

Irish Cream Glazed Donuts

2012-03-03T00:01:00.000-05:00

Well hello there, my drunken donut friends.

So if the words Irish Cream drew you in, then you are not alone. I have to admit, that Irish Cream is one of those things I could drink for ever. And I am not even really allowed to drink, so you know I have to get a little bit in some how. Let me share the most amazing story ever!

One day I was in Micheal's, and I had a coupon, nothing was speaking to me. I was looking and had to use it, it feels wrong to go in there and not use your coupon So I settled on a donut pan. I was all excited, thinking donuts are going to be awesome and how I could not wait. Then I forgot about it for about 6 months. The end.

I know right? Classic me, I seriously need to think about the things I buy and how to justify them. Or at least use them, because nothing beats the 10 year old candy thermometer I had, still in the package.

So I looked around for some donut recipes and just didn't really find anything amazing. Well I found lots of great stuff, but I wanted something super easy, because it was Friday night and I just wanted a donut, I gave up and just used the recipe on the back of the pan. I mean it is by Wilton, so you know it could not be that bad.

The only problem was that the recipe was for a regular donut, and Pork Chop only eats Chocolate. So I made a judgment call, and added some coco powder. I think it worked okay. But I think next time I will use melted chocolate or something. I didn't get the strong chocolate flavour I wanted, but it wasn't bad.

So here you go.

Irish Cream Glazed Donuts:
Adapted from Wilton

-2 cups cake flour sifted
-3/4 cups sugar
-2 TSP baking soda
-1 TSP salt
-1/4 TSP nutmeg
-1/4 cup cocoa
-2 eggs
-2 TBPS melted butter
-3/4 cups buttermilk*

Glaze
-icing sugar **
-Irish cream***

*I made my own butter milk, just put 3/4 TBSPs of white vinegar in a measuring cup, add milk up to the 3/4 cup line, mix and let sit for 5 minutes

** & *** I did not measure, I just wanted enough to cover my donuts, so I just dumped stuff into a bowl and mixed, it worked.

Set oven to 400

Sift all your dry ingredients together. Stir your eggs, milk and butter and mix into the dry ingredients. Mix until combined, but do not over mix,

Then put the mixture into your pan. Now I thought I was smart and put my stuff in a measuring cup and was going to pour it in. No way, it was so thick I had to use a disposable piping bag. Not the end of the world, but it meant I had one more thing to wash. GRRRR.

So I pipped my filling into the pan, after spraying it with cooking spray and put it in the oven. I think I under filled some and over filled others, but it's all good. Maybe not everyone likes big donuts, who they are I have no idea, but it could happen.

Please ignore the fact that it looks like poop in a pan. I was really turned off at this point, almost tossed it out.

Okay this is a bit better!

I baked them for 8 minutes, maybe a minute too long really then let them sit for a minute before I took them out and put them on a cooling rack. I then filled my pan again and repeated the whole thing. I got 12 donuts, some bigger than others, but all tasty.

When I was ready to glaze them I took a bowl and put some icing sugar in then slowly added the booze until I got a nice thick glaze. I did have to add a bit more sugar because I got a little too eager with the booze. You can't really blame me.

I don't know why but this picture makes me want to sing "Shot's, shot's , shot's everybody!" And then I remember I am supposed to be a gown up, and just write it on my blog instead.

Now pay attention, this is scientific! Just dump some sugar in the bowl, and add some booze.

Then mix it up. I know, I should teach or something!

So once the glaze was smooth I took a donut and dipped the top into the glaze, sort of twisted it and lifted it up. I rolled the donut around a bit to make the glaze cover the top, then put it on a cooling rack. I sprinkled on some sprinkles, and then figured out what I forgot to do.

So if you are going to do this please put a cookie sheet or the very least some wax paper to catch the drips and the sprinkles. Because the sprinkles just fell off. So my donuts looks really sad, but they tasted good.

Sad donuts, you can totally see when I gave up and just plopped the glaze on.

And for Pork Chop I asked him if he wanted to decorate some, he said yes, then when I had everything ready for him he changed his mind. I swear I may kill him one day. Anyway, I just drizzled melted chocolate on his because he is so young, and I didn't want to share my boozy donuts with him.

Just for Pork Chop, who by the way didn't even eat one, not even a bite.

But at least they look pretty!

Now for Something Totally Different - Part One of my Steam Punk Outfit

2012-02-28T07:25:00.014-05:00

Try to ignore the stuff all around, I was sprawled out on the sofa trying to get the whole dress in the shot.

So this is going to be a bit of a different post, it is going to be all about my new obsession. I get obsessions frequently then have to deal with them right away, or I lose interest. I know, lame but I can admit it. My newest love is Steam Punk, and by love I mean, I want to be part of it, but I am not totally engrossed in it and can totally admit I am only doing it because I love the look. So, please bear with me if you find yourself rolling your eyes and going, "what was she thinking?" Because clearly I don't even know what I am thinking.

So here goes!

I read a little blog, you may have heard of it. Cake Wrecks, it is a hilarious blog written by a lovely girl and her hubby. They basically post pictures of cakes that are just horrific. I mean you cannot even tell what some of them are supposed to be, and then the ones with spelling mistakes, just kill me. I had and still have a slight fear that any of the cakes I have ever made might show up. But I figure, at least I can claim to be famous if it ever happened.

So while reading this blog I noticed that the writer also had another blog, Epbot. So when I found it I spent hours reading and thinking, how cool. I mean my husband is a total comic book nerd, and I love him. And I loved all the cool things this girl was making and doing. How perfect.

I think it looks so good, but then the dress form is not all lumpy and bumpy like me. So it may not have the same affect when I put it on.

Then I saw the posts of her going to conventions and all the fun things people made to wear. And I told Hubby and said maybe we should go to a convention. He was all "Really? That would be so cool!" Then I told him we had to dress up, he was not so "cool" with that.

So I said something along the lines of "I am trying to be supportive of your geeky interests and the least you could do would be to wear a totally amazing outfit to match me."

Then he said something about maybe being Green Lantern and I tuned him out. I mean if I make something he will have to wear it. Ask him about the lion costume I made him and he didn't want to wear. He wore it, I mean I used fun fur, that stuff is annoying, so he had to.

This is a close up of the side, in case you couldn't tell.

Okay so long story short, (I know, that ship has sailed.) I decided I wanted to be a hot steam punk chick. Then I realized I am like 5 foot nothing, so the hot part was out. And I am more of a gal than a chick. But none the less, I got started. And I kept telling myself to take pictures as I was going, and of coarse because I was usually sewing, baking and watching TV all at the same time, there are no in progress pictures. Sorry, but you get to see this, and you just read like the longest intro ever, so it sort of works out.

To start I had a picture in my mind of what I wanted. I wanted a longer skirt with an over skirt and a bustle, then a matching bolero and boots with spats and a purse and a hat or goggles and you know everything. So I checked out the local fabric store and was thrilled to learn that there was a buy 1 metre get 2 free. It was fate I tells ya!

I am so in love with the fabrics, except for the stupid plaid that keeps fraying and leaving bits all over the house.

I was looking for a large stripe fabric for the under skirt and a solid for the over skirt and jacket. I was getting really upset because nothing I saw was right or it was way too much. Then I happened across a really great earthy plaid and a perfect green. And with all the discounts I got 14 meters of fabric for $50. Ya me.

So I first started with the skirt because I figured that if I screwed that up I would stop. I didn't have a pattern and just sort of went to work. I started by making the underskirt. I made large pleats, which I think are called box pleats. Then I decided that I wanted to add a lower ruffle, but wanted it to be more structured so again I took a long piece of fabric and hemmed one side then box pleated it and added it to the bottom of my skirt. Then I stopped, because it was really full and annoying to deal with. I asked my mom to borrow her sewing dummy so I could pin it up and that was just perfect.

Close up of the pleats, which I think are called box pleats, I just sort of took a ruler and pinned it how I liked it.

You can sort of see how the front over skirt and the bustle are stuck on there, all willy nilly. But I love it, sort of.

My mom got this dummy years ago, I think she may have even used it once, so I was all excited when I got it home and set up. Until I started measuring it and myself. I had to let the dials out all the way and even then the butt was not exactly big enough. Then I felt fat for a few days and then I got over it. Sort of.

So I pinned my underskirt onto the dummy and went to work draping the solid fabric on top to make an over skirt. I pinned it to get it to lay how I wanted then I folded it in half and cut it sort of in a semi circle, then I went ahead and box pleated a strip to edge it to match the underskirt. Then I sewing it on, gathering it at the sides so it sort of gathered up. I was so excited and I loved it. At this point I left it to make a jacket and a purse, because I had patterns and that was going to be way easier

I put the over skirt on first then the bustle, and the bustle just overlaps the front skirt.

So when I got back to the skirt I took a long piece of fabric and hemmed three sides, I put a slit right in the middle where the zipper was going to go then pinned it to the waste of the skirt. Once I had sewn it I started to tack and pin the bustle until I got the shape I wanted. I am still not 100% happy with it, but it's not bad. then I took a long strip and sewed on a waist band, folded it over and hand sewed it to finish it. Then I put it on my dummy and thought, wow she's hot. I still have to add the hook on the back but that can wait.

I totally got something like my finger in the bottom of this picture, but I didn't realize it until after I uploaded it. Also I am not 100% on the way my bustle is gathered, but I did it like 5 times, so I may take it out again. Sigh.

My jacket is just perfect, it will allow me to cover my non existent boobs and you know, it will keep me warm. Two important things.

I flipped the collar a bit so you could see the lining. I am fancy like that.

I also made a jacket, I wanted something with shorter sleeves as I get hot and I also wanted it to be simple. I found a historical costume pattern at the fabric store and set to work. The jacket was lined and I was totally not going to bother, but then I thought it would be cute so I did. I made it in about 5 hours, but I was watching Dexter with Hubby and would pin and then stop the show to sew a seam then pin some more. I bet if I had just sat down to do it it would have been a 2 hour job at most. I love how the pleat under the bust makes it hug my curves. And by curves you all know I mean my flab right? Well you do now.

So once I was done with the jacket I wanted a corset. Can I say right now that if I had $300 I would so buy one, there are so many nice steam punk ones on line that I drool over. Also it would so suck in my curves (flab) and make me look way hotter. But as I am not supposed to spend more than I already have I had to make it and much simpler too.

I found another historical pattern that had a corset like belt and a cute purse and arm guard thingies. I don't think I need arm guard thingies, but if I do, I can totally make them now. So I bought some brown pleather to match the boots I got, and I had to repeatedly tell the lady at the fabric store that yes I knew what I was doing, no I did not want velvet and yes I know I am not hiding the seems and no I do not want to try it your way. And no I am not worried that over stitching on pleather will look bad. I had a pattern it was going to work.

My belt, it ties at four points and looks great on the dress form who has abs of steal, my flab my not be so flattering in it.

So I got my pleather cut out and went to work ironing it to double sided fusing. Which didn't work because that fusing was a pain in the butt. If you did not heat it enough it would not stick if you heated it just a little too much it would not stick. I even called the store and then got mad because I was on a roll and did not want to go out again. So I just sort of ironed and changed the lining fabric and figured I was going to sew the pieces together anyway so whatever. I sewed the pieces together then over stitched them all, and they looked awesome. I then used fabric stiffener to seal the edges as the lining fabric frayed like crazy. There are bits of it all over my house. If I bothered to vacuum that would not be an issue. And I don't vacuum so you know, we are dealing with it.

I needed eyelets but the size they recommended were not at the store, and they wanted like $4 for 10, and I needed 40, so I went on Etsy and totally scored 100 in the right size and perfect colour for under $7 shipped. When I was ready I marked the pieced with a pin mark and cut out the holes with my cropodile. I then set the eyelets and tied it all together with some cording I bought. I am happy with how it looks, it won't suck me in but for the $15 I probably paid for all the stuff, you cannot complain too much.

I put a gear on it to use as a button so that totally makes it steam punk. Or so I have been told.

I also wanted a purse because if my Hubby is going to be wearing a skin tight Green Lantern costume (Oh boy will I post pics!) I need something to carry my phone (totally historically correct by the way) and money ( I hear there may be shopping at these conventions, so you now know the real reason I want to go) It is fully lined so it is nice and sturdy and the ribbon ties it closed. I used a gear from the Tim Holtz set I got at the craft store. It is not huge but it will work for what I need.

And lastly I also made my steam punk pocket watch. Because if there is one thing I know, if you put a gear on it you can call it steam punk. Totally making reference to a funny you tube video someone sent me about it. So I used like a million little gears. I won this Tim Holtz pocket watch embellishment thingy on another blog. And I was so excited, then it arrived and there was a crack in the glass, due to the cold weather probably, I was so bummed. But then I thought that just makes it look cooler right? I wanted watch gears but they were costly, so I ended up finding some on Etsy for about $12. I used a lot of them, but I also made earrings and a tie pin. So this was so random, I put in a few large gears that are also Tim Holtz in the bottom, then with clear adhesive stuff and tweezers just sort of started sticking the gears in all willy nilly. I like how it looks and it will go great with my outfit. I attached it to a chain and clips I got at wal mart and will hang it off the ties on my belt.

My watch full of gears.

Okay so that was the worlds most wordy blog post ever, but seeing as I didn't take any progress pictures you need my amazing words to understand what the heck I was doing. Also the shirt on the dummy is just so you can see the stuff, it all sort of blended with the dummy. I have plans to make a nice white blouse with a skirt for under the dress. I still have spats to make and a tie. And the local hard ware store is ordering me some welding goggles and I have some itty bitty plastic top hats to maybe cover in fabric. I have my jewelry ready so I can share that next.

So now you can see why my Hubby loves me, I support his nerdiness, and have fun in the process.

I have another secret project I have to finish in the next few months, so I will get back to this and the finishing touches in a while, but wanted to share what I had done so far.

I'm linking up here at Made Famous By.

St. Patrick's Day Peppermint Patties

2012-02-25T02:00:00.010-05:00

I don't know why but my Alice in Wonderland tea cup makes me so happy, and I don't even drink tea.

You know, there are just some foods that I love, some I hate and some that are just okay. This right here people; it's one of the good ones. I could eat these until I am sick. And shamefully I have, more than once. I know my sugar tolerance, and I know eating more than one of these will make me sorry, but it takes all I have to only eat one. I bet you will have the same problem too.

So to deal with this problem, I have come up with a very serious plan of action. It entails many steps to ensure that I only eat one at a time. So this may be helpful to you too. Firstly, I only make these vary rarely, that ensures that the temptation is minimal. Then if I do make them, they are given away mostly. Then if I was dumb enough to save some for myself, I put them in containers and freeze them. This usually means I either put them in the basement freezer, and I am too lazy to go get them one at a time. Or I forget they are in the freezer and don't want them. Although that last point is pretty stupid, I mean I know they are there, it is just an excuse.

That right there is the makings of a beautiful patty.

Anyway, please ignore my rambling, I just ate one and my mind is full of sugar, and thoughts of more. I shouldn't point out that it is only 8:30am while I am writing this, that would make me look bad. So just try to imagine it is late at night, I have had a good diner and just finished working out ( even I laugh at that) and I just rewarded myself with one patty, just one. I will let you decide if I need help or not, I already know I have issues.

So I know I posted these before here. And you can check it out there and see how one of my earlier posts turned out. I have not gotten any better at picture taking, but man I have props now. Those holiday sprinkles, they sell it. Trust me, put a sprinkle on it and people will want it. Or at least I will.

To make these, you just need a few things. The only thing I changed about this batch is I added a little green food colouring to Irish it up. Because if it's green, it totally becomes a St. Patrick's day patty. I know, I am a genius! Also, I did not make this recipe up, but I did add the food colouring, so you could say I did invent it. Or not. You can totally find this on I am Baker, which I linked in my original post. But the green patty, that is all me baby! I should patent that!

Patent Pending!

St. Patrick's Day Peppermint Patties
Adapted from I am Baker

-1 can sweetened condensed milk *
-1 TBSP peppermint extract**
-green food colouring, as much or as little as you want
-5 cups +/- icing sugar

* there are some great recipes on line now to make your own home made, so I will have to try that when I run out, also the cans are much smaller here in Canada, so you may want to add a tiny bit more peppermint extract if you have a can larger than 8oz
**make sure you use peppermint extract, if you try just mint or another kind, this will turn the patty into a toothpaste flavoured patty, and no one wants that. Unless you like eating toothpaste, then by all means go ahead ( and if you like eating toothpaste, you are not alone, as a kid I would put too much on my brush so I could eat it, sorry Mom)

So I just put the milk, peppermint extract and a few drops of colour into my mixing bowl and start mixing. Then just add the icing sugar a bit at a time and mix until it is as firm as you want it. I think that if you do it by hand or with a hand held mixer the chances are your mixture will not be as thick. I use my kitchen aid and it gets to the point where the motor is really working hard to mix it. Even then, my dough doesn't hold it's shape fully.

Once you are done mixing, shape your dough however you like. I usually use a cookie scoop. I love to have a thick patty, because to me more is better. But you can make them thinner, or roll by hand. Whatever you like, just do it! For these I scooped my patties out onto a wax paper lined cookie sheet and spaced them out. They settle a bit to make them a little flatter,but if you want them even flatter just pat them down. And always work on wax or parchment paper, this stuff will stick to your pans, your hands and your scoop. But I found the thicker the dough, the less trouble you have with sticking.

Little green globs, not so appealing really. That is why you need chocolate.

So once scooped, put them in the freezer for about 30 minutes, if you leave them too long they will get too hard and cause cracks in your chocolate when dipping.

When ready melt your chocolate, or like me your candy melts and thin them a bit with paraffin crystals. If you don't have that you can use a little shortening.

Only take out a few at a time as they thaw out really fast. Just dip your patty then put a sprinkle on top. If you prefer not to use sprinkles you can just dip then leave them, or go back and drizzle a contrasting colour of candy melts. I was feeling really lazy and had these super cute shamrock sprinkles, so I had to use them. I love sprinkles, you may as well know that, I may be obsessed.

They sort of look weird here, but they taste good, I promise.

So once you are done you can leave them at room temperature, or the way I like them, I keep them in the fridge. I like them frozen too. So you know, try it out, either way, they are good!

Ohhhh, Ahhhh, "look at her amazing photography skills!"

I know, but at least "someone" loves my pics right?

I'm linking up here

Chocolate Mustache Suckers

2012-02-22T07:09:00.011-05:00

This is Pork Chop, who would love to have face hair if it was made out of chocolate.

Well before I get started I have to state the obvious. This is not a baking post per say. I mean I used the microwave and all, but that was it. No egg cracking, no flour sniffing Pork Chop and no butter. ( If you have not read my blog before, that is totally going to be the weirdest sentence you have ever read.)

But when I saw this mold in Micheal's, I knew I needed it. I actually needed it when Pork Chop turned 6 and I had a Super Mario party. I mean I cut out 30 felt mustaches that no even played with and only one kid took home. Now if they had been chocolate, that would have been awesome. Way to drop the ball Wilton!

Anyway this is going to be a picture heavy post, because for some reason I felt the need to document every little step. Because putting candy melts in a mold is hard to figure out. I know, I stink at blogging some times.

So without further ado, the most amazing tutorial ever, on how to put candy melts in a mold. And then have the people you give them to have no idea what they even are. Sigh.

This is the mold, I know without this picture, the post would not work.

Man, sometimes I just don't get it. I think, this is going to be so cute and easy and no trouble at all. Then I start and realize I'm an idiot. It wouldn't be so bad if I did one thing at a time, but I usually have like three things going. And this time one of those things was making chocolate suckers.

I was at Michael's, and I have to say I have been really good about not going in there for a long time. I may have an issue with having coupons and not using them. And I may walk around the store to find something, anything I can use it on. This last time, I found two things, one of them being the mold. So I really had to have it, and for the $3 something I got it.

So I thought how fun this would be for Pork Chops hockey team. I was all, they are going to think they are the coolest things ever! I will be the coolest Mom!

Then they burst my bubble, they thought they were hockey sticks. D'oh!

Anyway they were easy, if time consuming, to make. I made about 35 and it took me all night. But only because I was also making donuts, diner and sewing at the same time. I would make a batch, put them in the freezer and forget about them. So if you actually paid attention and stuff, it would be pretty fast I bet.

So I just melted chocolate candy melts and put them into squeeze bottles. This way I could keep the bottles in a pot of water on the stove to keep them fluid.

I had an issue with the sticks falling out, not sure why, so I had to sort of prop it up on a cookie sheet, which worked. I would fill the molds, tap them to settle the candy melts then put the stick in and roll it to cover it. Then into the freezer. It probably only took like 5 minutes to harden, but I didn't get back to them until later.

And this is how I had to set it up because the stupid lollipop stick kept falling out.

When they were set I would pop them out, and put them in a wax paper lined cookie sheet in the fridge. Once they were all done I wrapped them in cheap sandwich bags and tied them with a ribbon.

This is the pan I kept in the fridge to hold the finished pops until I was all done.

And this is Pork Chop, who obviously thinks he is Miley Cyrus with that hand gesture.

So even if the kids thought they were hockey sticks, I was still the cool hockey mom. Or at least in my head I am cool.

And I am really getting somewhere with my sewing project so I have to start sharing that soon, because I am cool, and you all have no choice but to pretend I am too.

I'm linking up HERE and HERE and Here

Birthday Cake For Daddy

2012-02-19T11:14:00.001-05:00

The demolition derby cake.

So Hubby is the first birthday of the year in our house. And as such, I try to make is special. Okay not really, I just use it as an excuse to make a cake. Which I sort of hate. Cakes are hard, I don't like having to make them all perfect. And you have to cut them, and that means sharing. I don't share well, I want my own thing, you have yours and no touching! So I do it because I love him, and because Pork Chop thinks it's fun.

Last year I had the bright idea to cover Hubby's cake in gummy candy. He would live off of gummy bears if he could, I actually think he tries to some days. Anyway, I took Pork Chop to the bulk store last year and we loaded up, I mean I don't know what I was thinking really. We had enough to cover like 10 cakes. Or as Pork Chop proved, one cake.

I was hoping for something different this year, I was all ready to do cupcakes, and thought Pork Chop would agree. So I asked him what he wanted to make. And the little bugger remembered last year and said he wanted to make a demolition derby cake.

The set up. I put out like 1/15 of the candy that I did last year. Still too much.

Now to most people a demolition derby cake would be cool, not to me. What it was is he took as many gummy cars as he could and shoved them into the frosting, into the cake and piled them on. Then he added gummy bears, gummy worms and gummy coke bottles, I think I even got sour ones. EWWW. Poor Hubby was trying to eat it, but he had a pile of frosting covered gummies and just a little bit of cake. Oh well, it's not about him anyway, it's about Pork Chop being able to show his love by decorating a cake for Daddy.

See it started out so well, he was placing them. Then he started to throw them on. In handfuls.

So we set to work, we made a box mix cake, because Hubby loves cherry chip cake. ( I don't hate it, but I am sort of against it, unless there is chocolate it is just wrong!)

I baked it in a 9x13 pan. Then once it was cooled I made frosting. I have no idea why, but I cannot make frosting for that man. I can do it every other time, but for him something always goes wrong. One year I made it so thin, the top layer of the cake fell off. Then this year, I somehow made the butter and milk all lumpy. I still just kept adding sugar until it sort of smoothed out. I was not too worried, I knew half would end up in the trash.

See, still sort of good.

So I put a thick layer of frosting on, then Pork Chop went to town. But I stood there and said things like:

"that looks great, I bet that is plenty."

"wow look at all those candies, I bet that is enough."

"I think you have too many on there."

"for the love of all that is holy stop!"

Okay maybe not that dramatic, but it makes for good blog writing.

And then I tried to get a picture. Those of you with kids know, they don't co operate.

Which means you take like 20 pictures.

And they start to eat the candy to make you stop.

So when he was done I let him lick some frosting off the beaters and we hid the cake in the fridge with a note on the lid that said "top secret, keep out Daddy."

Look how tall he is!

Why is he getting so big!

I'm going to have stop feeding him, it's the only solution.

Then the next day we said happy birthday to Daddy, he asked Pork Chop where his 34 candles were. And I gave him a dirty look and went to work.

The end!

So wrong!

Rainbow Spritz Cookies-or How I Nearly Killed Pork Chop

2012-02-16T09:22:00.006-05:00

Okay, I know this sort of looks like bugs, but they are cookies. I am not impressed either.

Okay before you start to read this, I must say something. I wrote this the day after I baked these, and it seems I must have been in a very foul mood. I have been feeling sort of down lately, my depression has been playing with me. I think I have been doing really well, but it seems that some days I just cannot shake it and it shows. I still struggle some days, and I guess it will always be a struggle. Also poor Hubby tries his hardest to treat me like a normal person, which he does a really great job of. He goes above and beyond in most things. ( lets not mention the socks he still leaves lying around to taunt me.) And Pork Chop knows no better yet, so the looks he gives me just make me chuckle. I mean I really am teaching him how to treat women, because if he ends up with a girl half as crazy as me, she is so going to be one lucky gal.

So please try to understand that I am not crazy, this post just shows one of my days where I wanted to hide from it and I obviously didn't. So I did what I usually do, I try to make a joke out of it. So if you laugh, great, I sort of made it work. And if not and I sound like a loon, well I am a loon, and it shows more in this post I guess. I have drugs people, good drugs, and they just are not working 100% right now. But as of today I feel better. Sort of.

I just wanted to share that. Not sure why, but I felt the need to let you know that I struggle, and not every day is a great one. And maybe this is my PSA to you all, that not everyone is perfect. I am so not, just ask Hubby. Do you know when the last time I vacuumed was, I mean really cleaned this place? Me neither. I do am awesome job of cleaning what I need to, but an over all cleaning, well lest just say it has been a while. So you can sort of see that even though it looks like I have it all together ( I know, you never thought that) I don't. I fly by the seat of my pants, and Pork Chop doesn't get gourmet diners, he eats alpha-getties more than I would like to admit, but it works for us. And he is loved and mostly happy, I mean you cannot take a 7 year old kids word for it. He would probably tell you we are horrible parents. We don't let him play x box 24 hours a day, make him brush his teeth and yep, even try to get him to eat veggies. But we are doing the best we can. And I am totally rambling, and have lost track of where this was going.

So just remember I am human, and am totally not perfect. And my baking is an outlet, maybe the wrong one some days, but it works for me. Sometimes, again, some times I just want to eat store bought stuff, so I do and I feel better.

So sorry for the total off topic ramble, but here is my super happy post.

I know.

I tried.

Anyway.

So do you ever have those days where you think about the day ending at work, then getting home and sitting on the sofa and watching trash TV? And watching trash TV while eating junk. You know the kind of day I'm talking about right? You don't have to actually admit it, we have all been there. And you know what, those days really seem to come more often in the colder months.

The dough, yuck!

So I had one of those days and I was all set to make it work for me. Hubby was going to be working late, making it a perfect night for me and Pork Chop to just be quiet. I looked up movies and planned to race home and get him, head to the theater, load him up with popcorn, get some poutine and watch a crummy kids movie. I mean people it would have be great; a whole hour and a half of poutine and sitting. My dreams really are very small you know.

So anyway I rush to daycare, over an hour early, to grab Pork Chop. I get him in the car and say "I was thinking of going to the movies to see "_____"" And that little bugger just said "No thank you, but thanks for asking." ( I am not going to admit the movie, it may taint things a bit, but it was no blockbuster that's for sure.)

What the #$%@%$! This seriously has to be the most annoyingly cute kid ever. Who taught him to be polite, and who taught him to turn down a movie. I was all like, "Oh okay, well let's head home." In my mind I was thinking, so I had a whole hour to myself I could have watched trash TV and ate junk, but now it's going to be cartoons and whatnot. Sigh, I cannot win.

Remember his cute face, I may have killed him by the end of this post.

So when we get home I ask Pork Chop what he would like to do, it is our night to bond and all with Hubby at work. He of coarse says he wants to play X Box. No I said we have to do something. How about a craft? Play a board game? Read a book? Anything? "No thank you." I seriously considered breaking his legs at this point. Only because he gets to play a lot of video games and I really want to cut down, and wanted to spend some quality time with him. What? Watching a movie and eating poutine is quality time! And it seemed like the right thing to do, being a working parent and all. Right?

So as any sane mother would do, I took a deep breath and told him what I wanted to do. I said I was going to make something and did he want to help. I told him I was going to make bread and he was all "No thank you, I want to make cookies." I nearly snapped. I mean, I love cookies, I love baking, but the only thing I had planned was as simple bread thingy. So I stupidly ask, "what kind of cookies?" I was chanting "chocolate chip, chocolate chip, chocolate chip!" He was not having any of it. "Rainbow cookies" was his reply.

Oh God, the gross "log" of dough!

Um, well, oh.......

So I had to think fast, I didn't have M&M's, which would have made the chocolate chip cookie work, so I panicked. I then remembered he loved the cookie gun ( spritz cookie maker) and I said, " what about cookie gun rainbow cookies?" The look on his face was enough, I sort of won.

And there you have it. How my night of pigging out on poutine and watching a movie was turned into a night of me making cookies I hate. I mean I figure these were the only cookies I have ever made that Hubby ate, so at least we had that going for us.

So I set to getting everything out. Pork Chop washed his hands, proceeded to scratch his face, and washed his hands again, then got his little stool out so he could do the measuring.

He was all, "I'm making cookies!" Then he made 5 and was done. Sigh.

We started with the flour, which if I have not mentioned before, Pork Chop thinks smells like the most amazing thing ever. I sort of worry when he opens the jar and sticks his face in, inhaling and making that "ooh ya" sound. It's wrong, but you know, it could be worse right? He tried to convince me once that my mom let's him eat flour, she was all "oh no I didn't!" I know mom, he may be prone to telling little white lies. I have no idea where he may have gotten that habit from.

So Porky Chop measured out the flour, the sugar, the salt, the baking powder and cracked two eggs. Without getting shells in the bowl. I was really proud. Then we move to the other side of the kitchen to mix it all together, he likes to work the controls on the mixer. So once all that was done we had to make it rainbow.
We used the same recipe I used here, just adding Amereicolor soft food gel paste to colour it.

I let him pick out three colours and set about getting the dough out of the bowl. I made the mistake of saying it would be like playing with play doh. He proceeded to grab a ball of dough and start squishing it. I tried to tell him we don't play with cookie dough too much or the butter will melt, but since I had stupidly said play doh, it went right over his head.

I don't know why I felt this post needed two pictures of the gross bug like cookies.

So he of coarse gave up after a minute and I finished mixing the three colours. I made them into sort of a log and rolled it all together. Then we got out the cookie gun and I cut a piece of the three colour log of dough ( I know, log sounds wrong) and rolled it thinner to fit into the gun. Pork Chop did the first five cookies then gave up because of his little hands. So I was stuck finishing the darn things all by myself. At least he stood there and yelled "reload!" for me after each squeeze. Which is not as helpful as it sounds. I could have been poutine people, but oh no, I'm squeezing out 100 rainbow cookies that I hate.

Remind me again why I wanted kids?

So once they were all done, I decided that I wanted to put some glaze icing on some. I had a bit left over in the fridge and just drizzled it on. I think they taste better with the glaze, and if I wasn't so lazy I so would have put black sprinkles on these to make them into caterpillars. Don't they look like the right shape for that? Then I thought the guys at work are not going to want to eat bug cookies, at least not when they sort of really look like gross bugs. So you know, at least I have and idea for next time.

The glaze didn't make them look any better, look at that one in the bottom right corner. It looks more buggy than the rest.

And there you have it, how I got screwed out of a quiet night of cartoons and poutine. Pork Chop is lucky he is cute, or he would be in a wheelchair now.

Also it should be noted in the labels, I started one "how I almost killed Pork Chop" because you know that may become a recurring theme in the coming years.

Banana Chocolate Chip Whoopie Pies - Eating the Alphabet

2012-02-15T00:01:00.005-05:00

This is the best picture I could get, Porky was having a play date and I thought I was going to kill one of them. So no time for pictures, just eating them!

So this is going to be a great post. I am really excited to be part of this blog hop. I was first introduced to blog hops through the 12 weeks of Christmas cookies. And it was perfect. I learned so much and I really enjoyed that there were so many others out there reading and sharing with me. That awesome blog hop was put together by Brenda over at Meal Planning Magic. And I loved every minute of it, so when Brenda sent out a note to all of us letting us know about her new years blog hop suggestion I was so excited. Now mind you I think she meant for most people to put together cooking posts. I said well I want to play, but it will be sweet, because if there is one thing I love, it's sugar.

So here it is, the first instalment of eating the alphabet. This months letters were A and B. And I was all set to make something with apples. Then I thought about it and figured I would have to peal them probably and that is a lot of work. Then I thought well bananas, so that is what I went with, if you couldn't tell by the title.

Now baking with bananas means you need really ripe bananas and I didn't have any, so I had to plan ahead. I got hubby to buy me some bananas, but I had no idea what I really wanted to make, so we may have bought a few extra. They are now safe and sound in the freezer all ripe and ready for when I want to make these again, because you know I totally want to.

So to start off, I was thinking of making banana bread or muffins, but those are not usually cute. So I thought about cookie, and that just didn't sound right either. So I found my trusty baking book and picked out a whoopie pie to make. I changed it up just a tiny bit, but you know it's still going to be good.

See this looks gross, but it smells really good. Bananas and lemon juice

So here you go, super yummy baking with fruit in it. Which I may have pointed out before as being wrong, but for this, I will admit I might change my mind.

Banana Chocolate Chip Whoopie Pies

Adapted from Whoopies, by Susanna Tee

set oven to 350

-2 ripe bananas

-1 TSP lemon juice

-1/2 cup butter

-1 cup light brown sugar

-1 TSP vanilla

-1 extra large egg

-2 cups all purpose flour

-1/2 TSP ground cinnamon

-1 TSP baking powder

-1 TSP baking soda

-pinch of salt

-3 TBPS sour cream

-1 cup mini chocolate chips

Start by mashing your banana with the lemon juice. I used a potato masher and then a fork. Set it aside.

Blend butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy.

I was a little worried because the mix was sort of watery, but it was fine.

Add the egg.

Combine and sift all the dry ingredients, and add them to the butter mixture. Then add the banana and mix.

I only got 6 on a tray, and a total of 20 full pies.

Lastly add your chocolate chips and stir until they are distributed.

I would be lying if I said I didn't eat a few of these hot out of the oven, so good!

Take a small cookie scoop and place the mixture by the scoop full on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake for about 8 minutes, until they are done, but still soft.

Once baked, let them fully cool and make your filling.

Filling

-1 1/2 cups butter

-1 TBSP vanilla

-3 TBSP cocoa powder

-icing sugar

-milk

So this is just like my regular butter cream, just no shortening. So cream the butter, add your vanilla and cocoa and then alternate adding sugar and milk until you get as much as you want, and as thick as you want. I made mine with 2 KG of sugar, so I had lots of extra to make other stuff with.

I made way too much, I have like 5 cups left, I would not be opposed to eating it with a spoon for diner.

Place your pies half wrong side up and the other just regular and using a piping bag with a large star tip, pipe as much or as little as you would like. I like a lot, obviously, so I did more. But feel free to do less, I won't think any less of you, I would just have to eat more of yours.

I set them all up, only because I am OCD with some things.

I put a lot of filling, the chocolate and banana was just amazing.

That's it, then just store them in a container in the fridge until ready to eat. Mine didn't last too long, and one girl at work told me she really liked my "whoopie cushions" which was hysterical, because she really thought that was the name. So no matter what you call it, they are good. And as an added bonus they are healthy. I think the ratio of banana to sugar and butter is fair, and if not, at least you get a bit of fruit in your diet.

Another view because I think they look so yummy.

Oh and the one on the left is the left over monster one I made. And I ate it and had to hear my tummy gurgle for hours afterwards. So only small ones for me from now on.

Mini Garlic Bread made with Biscuit Dough-Monkey Bread Style

2012-02-12T10:37:00.000-05:00

Right out of the oven, and these are "home made" because you use real butter. It's a rule, trust me.

I saw this a while ago, and you know it caught my attention right away. Why? It is made with pre made biscuit dough. I can work with that!

So to make these I sort of just winged it. Because when I bake I follow recipes to the letter, but when I cook I just sort of throw things together. I am gifted that way, or not. I hate cooking, so maybe that says something. Anyway, I figure since these are savoury they are cooking, don't argue with me, it won't help.

This is all you need, please excuse the yucky cookies in the back ground.

To start I turned the oven to 375, because that is what it was already at after baking some cookies. Then I got my kitchen scissors and washed them, they were clean, but I am paranoid you know. Then my favorite part, I took the tube of biscuits and popped that bad boy open. I still squeal a little when it pops, it scares me, even though I know it's going to happen.

Super amazing muffin tin garlic bread thingies
makes 6

You will need :
1 tube biscuit dough
1/4-1/2 cup butter melted
3 TBSPs minced garlic
some sort of shredded cheese, as much as you want

My goodness it looks so pale and blah.

Then I cut each round into four and put it all in a bowl. I melted about half a cup of butter and mixed in about 3 TBSP's of chopped garlic. We buy the big bottles of it already chopped. Once when we bought it whole and I chopped it myself, I got a burn on my hand from it. I had pealed like 6 pounds of garlic. So this is just way cheaper and easier.

So I mixed the butter and garlic and some really finely shredded mozzarella, because that is what I had, and then poured it over the dough. Then I stuck my hands in, realized I had not taken a picture, washed my hands and took a picture, then tossed them all together to coat them.

As you can see, it's mess with all that butter, but so worth it. Don't forget to put the muffin tin on top of a cookie sheet just in case it drips.

I used a regular muffin pan and put 6-7 pieces in each cavity, I ended up with six muffins. I poured the extra butter and garlic on top because it seemed like a waste. Then I put a bit more cheese on top. And I then put the muffin tin on a cookie sheet, because knowing my luck and all that butter, it was going to get messy.

Right out of the oven, I should have let them bake a few minutes longer the inside was done, but still a bit doughy.

So I put them into the oven and they ended up needing about 15 minutes, to be brown and crispy on the outside. Then I pulled them out, took a picture and sat down to eat one. Um, it was amazing! So good in fact that I ate another, and that was my whole diner. Because I am not supposed to eat bread, it is so heavy. I then felt bad and put the rest away for Hubby. When I went to wash the trays, I found that the butter had leaked out of the muffin pan a lot, so I was really glad I had used the cookie sheet to catch it. Could you imagine cleaning that up? Neither could I, so it would have been bad.

I love how you get to pull it apart, so good!

Anyway, I so want to make these again when I have a nice diner, which won't be often because I don't do nice diners, Hubby does but not me. I make a mean cookie, but that cannot always be diner, right?

Valentines Chocolate Chunk Cookies

2012-02-09T08:05:00.008-05:00

I guess chocolate chip cookies are not that photogenic, or I just take crappy pictures. I choose to blame the cookie.

Hey, so you may or may not be sick of Valentine's day themed foods, but I'm not. I mean pink, red and chocolate just go together you know? So I wanted to get in one last theme treat before the end of the holiday. Now I still have like 50 pounds of Valentines sprinkles ( I may be obsessed or something.) So I will be using them on a few things, that may be posted after. So for those things, we will not call them Valentine themed, we will say they are baked with love. Because that totally allows me to post things I made after the day right?

I thought so.

Doesn't this just scream Valentines? Do smarties scream? If a smartie screams in the woods, does it make a sound? And if so, why are the smarties in the woods in the first place? I am so confused!

Anyway this is an easy but yummy treat, and I have posted the recipe before. I call it the perfect chocolate chip cookie base recipe. I should trademark that right? Well you got it here first, so that is almost as good.

So I used the recipe I listed before and just Valentined it up a bit. I wanted to use M&M's but there were no bags of the just red colours here. Or if there were I couldn't find them. So I went with smarties, which are almost as good, I was still eating these cookies like they were going to be my last. Wait I do that with all my cookies, so you know, never mind.

I hate that he is getting so big, he almost doesn't need his stool anymore. And ignore the mess, I make him measure at the counter so he doesn't spill all over my dining room floor.

So to get started I had Pork Chop all set to help me, he measured out everything, twice! I had to make a double batch. We had a few things to make. I wanted jumbo cookies for his hockey team ( and they were huge!) I wanted small ones for work to share and then I wanted to try making deep dish ones for Hubby to eat with ice cream. At this point I should let you know that he never really got one, I was a little too fast for him in that way. But they freeze well and I did not make myself sick; much.

See that is how I do it, make the kid work and then start putting it all together.

So after Pork Chop measured everything out, he lost interest and I was left to mix everything up. Which is fine really, but sometimes I wonder if that is how he is going to be in life. Starting then never finishing things. I hope not, or his future spouse may kill me.

For these I did half smarties then half chocolate chunks because I wanted the two textures in the cookie. It worked great, just so you know.

The chocolate chunks I use are like little mini chocolate wafers, so cute. And tasty.

For the jumbo cookies I used my large ice cream scoop, it is like 1/2 cup I think. I just scooped four onto a lined cookie sheet and baked them for about 11 minutes. I really like chewy cookies so they need to be under baked a bit.

See they are so big you can only get 4 on a tray.

And then let them set on the cookie sheet for a few minutes before moving them to a cooling rack. I used my smaller cookie scoop to do normal cookies and I used about 2 1/2 scoops of the dough to make my deep dish cookies. I just used the silicon heart pan I had on hand. Now just a word to the wise, not sure if it was the dough or the smarties but it sort of stained the mold with a white film, I have not really scrubbed it yet, but it may be the colour of the smarty, they do not bake as well as M&M's.

I just sort of mushed them in there, they were so good! And I think they baked for about 11 minutes too.

I put the jumbo cookies in some cookie bags I had and tied them with ribbon. The kids were thrilled, and I felt like crap. You know why? When we were walking into the arena there was a bake sale set up. I mean I had no idea, but then the team might have bought stuff if I had not brought the cookies. So I felt bad and wanted to go say something about how horrible I am, but then they would probably think I was crazy. Which I am, so I just gave out the cookies in the locker room and tried not to look at the kids selling stuff as we walked out. Most of the cookies ended up being eaten as the kids left the arena, so you know, they were flaunting it, not me!

For the little ones I packed a box for work, then froze the rest in bags of 6 to take out and eat as we liked. And the deep dish ones, oh my word they were good. If you freeze them you pop them in a bowl or plate and microwave for about 30 seconds and then top with ice cream. If you don't freeze 15-20 seconds should do you.

You can sort of see how thick this is, the center gets all gooey and chewy when you heat it up and it holds a scoop of ice cream on top just perfectly!

I am also linking up here:)

Baby Elephants-Cute Baby Shower Cookies

2012-02-06T09:35:00.010-05:00

There were over 100 of these on my table, I was so good, I only ate like 5.

I guess that is a little presumptuousness to say cute, but you know what, they really are. Well at least to me. You can just let me think they are, okay?

So Pork chops teacher from last year is having a baby, which is really great. I love other people having babies. I can cuddle and ooh and aw over them, then when they poop, give them back. In a perfect world I would have a baby to cuddle every day. Pork chop is so not into cuddling, I have to bribe him you know.

Me -"Hey Pork chop, come give me a cuddle."

PC- "NO!!!!!"

Me -" I'll let you play X box if you cuddle."

PC - "Fine, but only for 30 seconds."

He drives a hard bargain and I always go for it, you know when he is 16 I won't be able to bribe him like this right? I may need to get a dog instead, then no bribes and all the cuddles I want. And stinky dog breath, it's a win win situation people.

So anyway, on to the cookies. The mommy to be sent me a picture of some cute elephant cookies she wanted me to make. Only issue is I didn't have a cutter, and there is no way I am cutting those out by hand. I may be crazy people, but not that crazy. (shut up Hubby!)

So I did manage to find a cutter, but it was much smaller than she had wanted. In the end it worked out as that was all we could find. So I set to work!

First I mixed up four batches of Amanda's amazing sugar cookies. I have to point out that doing this is sort of crummy, but with only a small mixer that is all I can do. When I get a bigger kitchen aid I should be able to do double or even triple batches. That is the dream people, I have a vision! And it includes a bigger kitchen aid, a house keeper and a Hubby that likes my baking. What? It could happen.

So this is how I stack them, I know the post would totally not work without this picture.

And then I wrap them, again I know, news worthy picture.

Anyway, I rolled out and baked a whole bunch of elephants, I always, ALWAYS! make extra. (yes I know it's rude to shout, but you need to understand how important this is) I make extras because inevitably you mess one up, you break one ( and with elephant trunks this happens) or at the last minute there may be a need for a few more. And if not, well you have extra to share at work, or eat all by yourself.

So I always bake a few days before I decorate, I like to do the things a little each day. I work so I don't have the luxury of setting a full day aside to do it all. But this works for me, and I still enjoy it, I don't want to feel like it is work you know?

So once baked and fully cooled I stack and wrap my cookies. Two layers of cling wrap then either a freezer bag or a layer of tin foil. Then into the freezer. I usually put them in the fridge freezer until they are solid then move them to the large chest freezer.

Then for the day you decorate, you need to allow at least 24 hours to let the glaze dry. If not you will have cracks and stuff. And don't worry the icing will keep the cookies from drying out.

My set up, I work one cookie at a time. Outline then move it aside.

When I am ready I pull the cookies out and take off the tin foil and let them thaw while I mix up my glaze. For these I needed a few colours. Pink, blue, white, yellow and black. But for the first day of decorating I only needed the pink and blue. So I mixed up a large batch of piping consistency glaze and halved it to tint. I try to make more than I think I need, because if you run out half way through you will have a hard time getting the colours exactly the same. Fill a piping bag with each colour and do your outlines, then put the icing back into a bowl and add milk until it is flood consistency

I hate outlining, because I always end up with some that look like my son made them.

To start on day one of decorating I outlined all my elephants then went back and flooded them. I use a toothpick, or this cute cookie tool to spread out the glaze and pop any large bubbles. Then that is it, leave it be until the next day. If you are paranoid like me you can face a fan, on low, at them to help ensure they dry.

My pictures look weird because I was decorating them upside down for some unknown reason. And of course I was too dumb to turn the cookie over before I took a picture.

I am lazy and just put a blob of icing in the middle, if you are not lazy you can sort of pipe it out in the design. I will admit, again, I am lazy.

I find with glaze you are always going to have more bubbles. I am sure if I let it sit longer you would not have so many, but I am impatient and don't wait. You really cannot tell in person as much as in the picture.

Now I must add that I decorate on my dining room table, with a layer or either wax paper or parchment. I do this for two reasons; three really.

My reasons: ( I like making official looking lists)

-you don't have to worry about all the drippy glaze getting on your table then having to scrap it off when it's all dry.
-you can sort of slide the papers around so you don't have to move one cookie at a time ( I so want to buy some nice cookies sheets with sides so I can stack them, they would not be used to bake so there is no chance of any burnt sugar or anything falling on the glaze, I will be putting this on my birthday list)
-and I just don't want to take any chances of there being anything on my table that could get on the cookie, I scrub and scrub but I am paranoid. ( If I was only so diligent about the rest of my house.)

All my colours ready to decorate. I use tiny bottles because it is so much easier than a large pipping bag. And they are cute.

After about 3 cookies I decided to do this, since the glaze was really thick it sort of took some bottle shaking and lots of squeezing to get it out if I set them up. This worked great, and I am going to pretend I invented the idea.

The next night was detail work. It is not fast, it is a pain in the butt sometimes, but it is what finishes the cookie. I was lucky that the details were not hard, so I managed to get it done really fast. So I again made a batch of piping glaze, then took a small amount, like 1/4 cup and made it black and put it in a tiny bottle that you can use with tips, and put a #1 tip on. I took about the same amount of white ( I coloured it white with soft food gel paste, you get a nice bright white that way.) and put it in a bottle with a #2 tip. And the rest I tinted yellow. I put some in a small bottle with a #2 tip and then thinned the rest with milk and put it small bottle, but it was just a regular bottle so no special tip.

The ear was a heart shape, so I put my cookie side ways to draw it.

I started with the yellow, making the heart shaped ears and the tiny little toes.

I made the flood icing so thin it did not need any help to spread out.

Then I flooded the ears.

And then the eye. It sort of looks like a zombie elephant if you leave it like this.

Then I went back with the white and added eyes, and then last I added tiny black dots for the eyes.

I should have thinned my black icing out a bit more, because it was so stiff and I had a heck of a time getting nice dots. Most were standing up and not flat. GRRR. He also looks sort of startled, don't blame him ,he is going to be eaten after all.

I had hoped to use pre made royal icing eyes but they were too big, and it was just as easy to pipe them as it would have been for me to buy them. So really it was just four steps, yellow outline and toes, flood ear, put whites of eyes, then put black dot on eye.

I forgot to take a picture of all of them, I realized this half way through bagging them. Darn it all!

Then I let them dry again over night and packed them into bags all ready to go. The mommy to be had tags to add and was very happy with how they turned out. She does not know if she is having a boy or a girl so that is why there are pink and blue elephants.

I use boxes from the grocery store and stand my cookies up. Less chance of crushing or breaking and free boxes are always good.

Here they are all stood up, that right there is 85 cookies. And I ended up with like 20 extra.

And since I had some extra I attempted to take some cute pics, I know, I will not win any awards.

And now for the story of how Pork Chops little friend made me feel bad. I had set up a play date for the night these cookies were sitting on my table. So I had to think of something else for them to do. I usually make something for them to decorate. So I hit the dollar store and grabbed a few Valentine theme craft kits. I think I am the best mom ever. The kid comes over, oh's and ah's over the cookies. The kids eat diner, they do their craft, they play some games and just have fun. I think I am good and in the clear. I tell the boys they have 30 minutes before they are done. And what does his friend say? "why didn't we do crafts" I told him we did, he then tells me no that was not a good craft, he wanted to decorate cookies or something. I told him I was sorry but he could take some elephant cookies home. The he said "fine, but I wanted to decorate them myself." So there you go, I set myself up for this, always having fun yummies to decorate. And that my friends is the story of why I made extra cookies, and felt like a crappy mom. ( Not really, I just wanted to be dramatic)

My super artistic picture.

I'm linking up HERE

Chocolate Blog Hop -Valentines Day Cake Batter Bark

2012-02-04T00:03:00.000-05:00

So pretty, and so easy! And ignore the blur on the left, it's my finger, or a ghostly presence if you prefer. I prefer the ghost, it implies that I know how to take pictures. I know, it's not a ghost, sigh.

So after the success of last months Citrus love blog hop, I was all excited to get to this months. You know why? Well, the theme is chocolate, and for anyone who has been around here before, you may know that I love me some chocolate. I tend to mix it with weird things. Bacon anyone? So it was fate that I had to make something.

Now I wanted to make something new to me, and I wanted it to be cute. I also wanted to be able to make it fast as I am slowly thinking about working out again. I said thinking people, I will commit soon. Or not, who knows.

My silicon pans, and I think I paid like $2 for each at a warehouse sale. I love sales.

So when I saw this on How Sweet it is. I knew I had to make it. The only thing is I hate dark chocolate, unless it is baked in a brownie or something, I don't like it. So I used regular chocolate. And by chocolate I mean candy melts, I have two 50 pound boxes of the things, so I better use it. ( I am not kidding, I have one of white and one of chocolate, and I am almost half way through both)

I know this is a lot of stuff to get together, but you know, for you I will try to make it work.

Cake Batter Bark
How Sweet It Is

-white and milk chocolate candy melts
-2-3 TSPs white box cake mix
-sprinkles

Now I thought this would be perfect in my head, and well okay it worked fine, but some of the sprinkles were hard to see in the finished project. Next time I will do them upside down, so dark chocolate first, then white then sprinkles.

I wanted to make these valentines like, you know, because I love you! (or I love me and I wanted more chocolate, who can really say) I used my heart silicone baking mold. I have a large one, a fancy one and a small one. So I used all three, because you can give a large one to a friend and eat a few small ones by your self.

To start melt your white candy melts, I do this in the microwave at 30 second bursts. Then when fully melted mix in your cake batter until smooth and let it sit for a few seconds. I still had to add paraffin crystals, no matter what I do my white chocolate never melts nice. While it sits, take your molds and sprinkle in your sprinkles. I used small little hearts as they are the cutest and then a few larger ones to accent them. See I am getting all fancy on you here.

Chocolate and cake mix, and you can really taste the cake in it. I would know, I slopped a whole bunch on my hand and licked it off before I washed it. It was good!

To fill my zip lock bag easier I put it in a cup. I will not use them again, either they were too cheap or I am just picky, but they were too hard to work with, flimsy and whatever, so I will splurge and use my 10 cent disposable piping bags.

That's it people! Now I did not measure, as I never do, so you can sort of just go with the flow so to speak. if you are making a pan of it, go for a few cups of each, if you are going for a mold like me, you don't need as much.

So once you have sprinkled your pans. ( I know there is a dirty joke in there somewhere) take a disposable piping bag or a zip lock and fill it with the chocolate cake batter mix.

I had the hardest time cutting the tip off the bag was so flimsy, looking back I really should not try new things, stick with what you know.

You don't have to be perfect, I mean I am anyway, but for this no worries, it will all work out.

Snip off an end of the bag and carefully fill your molds just a little bit, not too much or your bark will be too thick. Then gently shake your molds, not too much, you don't want the sprinkles to move, but enough that the chocolate settles. Then pop them into the fridge to set. I found that if I put them in the freezer the two layers do not stick together well. That is what I did with my plate of left overs and it was a mess when I tried to break it up.

While they set melt your other chocolate and put it into a bag or whatever you are using. Once the first layer has hardened pull them out of the fridge then pipe on the chocolate, shake the mold a little to settle. Then back into the fridge and you let them fully set.

I had left overs so made some traditional bark, it fell apart so I had to eat it all myself, which really is a win for me actually.

I made mine thin as I wanted them to be like the bark you make on a pan, but not in a pan, you know? You don't, well neither do I really.

When you are ready just pop them out of the mold and be amazed at the cuteness. Do it, be amazed!
Then for gift giving, you can pack them up however you like. I would suggest a jar or a cute little box for the small ones.

I so should have put some corny love label on them, like take one when you need a hug. Or something. I don't write cards, I just buy them, so I look like I have something smart to say.

And a nice bag with a cute tag for the larger ones. Or if you are like me, you eat and hoard most of them, then put the left overs in sandwich bags and share with your work friends.

Okay, I hate that this is the better picture of them, ghost and all.

Hope you enjoyed my super hard chocolate love recipe, I know it was complicated and all. But sometimes simple is best, and you know you want to make some right? Please visit the other blogs and hosts to see what awesomeness they have all come up with. Happy Chocolate Luv!

Here is a list of all the other great bloggers that are hosting with me this month, please check them out!

A Little Bit of Everything ~ Roxana ~ @RoxanaGreenGirl

ASTIG Vegan ~ Richgail ~ @astigvegan

Badger Girl Learns to Cook ~ Kimberly ~ @BdgrGrl

Baker Street ~ Anuradha ~ @bakerstreet29

Baking and Cooking, A Tale of Two Loves ~ Becky Higgins

Baking Extravaganza ~ Samantha

BigFatBaker ~ Erin ~ @BigFatBaker

Bon a croquer ~ Valerie ~ @Valouth

CafeTerraBlog ~ Terra ~ @CafeTerraBlog

Cake Duchess ~ Lora ~ @cakeduchess

Cakeballs, Cookies and More ~ Sue

Cooking with Books ~ Marnely ~ @nella22

Creative Cooking Corner ~ Karriann ~ @KarriannGraf

Easily Good Eats ~ Three Cookies

Elephant Eats ~ Amy

Georgiecakes ~ Georgie ~ @georgiecakes

Hobby And More ~ Richa ~ @betit19

Java Cupcake ~ Betsey ~ @JavaCupcake

Kitchen Belleicious ~ Jessica

Mike's Baking ~ Mike ~ @mikesbaking

Mis Pensamientos ~ Junia ~ @juniakk

No One Likes Crumbley Cookies ~ TR ~ @TRCrumbley

Oh Cake ~ Jessica ~ @jesshose

Preheat the Oven ~ Jason ~ @officialchefjae

Rico sin Azucar ~ Helena ~ @ricosinazucar

Savoring Every Bite ~ Linda ~ @Spicegirlfla

Simply Reem ~ Reem ~ @simplyreem

Smart Food and Fit ~ Lisa ~ @LisaNutrition

Soni's Food for Thought ~ Soni ~ @sonisfood

Sprint 2 the Table ~ Laura ~ @Sprint2theTable

Teaspoon of Spice ~ Deanna ~ @tspbasil

That Skinny Chick Can Bake ~ Liz ~ @Thatskinnychick

The Dusty Baker ~ Jacqueline ~ @dustybakergal

The More Than Occasional Baker ~ Ros ~ @bakingaddict

The Spicy RD ~ EA ~ @thespicyrd

The Wimpy Vegetarian ~ Susan ~ @wimpyvegetarian

Vegan Yack Attack! ~ Jackie ~ @veganyackattack

Vegetarian Mamma ~ Cindy ~ @VegetarianMamma

You Made That? ~ Suzanne ~ @YouMadeThatblog

The Good and the Bad -Butter Cream Truffles- My Total Fail

2012-02-01T12:04:00.005-05:00

How cute is this? Just one possibility that you can get.

So this is the perfect post for this. I have a winner to announce for the cupcake charm give away contest. And I also have a total fail in my books, so I figure between the two this post turns out to be not too bad. Because I am so negative about my results with this treat, I am totally putting that on me, I think the winner will at least be one happy person.

So after my contest closed today, I had 20 qualifying comments and I used Random.org. The winner was comment 14, Erin! So I have emailed you and I look forward to sharing what cute cupcake charm she and Peggy come up with!

Now on to the bad.

So cute! If I do say so myself!

So if you are anything like me, and I like to believe that you all are, you usually make too much butter cream when you are making it. Now this is usually because I don't measure anything, I just put it all in my kitchen aid and just eyeball it. It usually works, and it usually leaves me with a few cups of left over frosting. Before I would just toss it, or if I knew we were making something within the next week I would save it.

Then I saw this on Cookies and Cups and I had an Ah Ha moment. Oprah would be so proud! Anyway, it was my duty to ensure that the next time I made butter cream that I saved the extra. It didn't take long to have the opportunity. Pork Chop had a play date, we made cupcakes, and I had my left over butter cream. It was fate people!

See right here is why you need to buy every cute kitchen gadget you see. You never know when you are going to need it. For these I used the tiny one on the left, the one on the right is the size I usually use for regular cake balls.

So I had left over pink butter cream, and looking back now, it was not the best stuff I have made. I had not added enough icing sugar, so it was not as sweet as I like, and it was sort of thin; but you cannot win them all.

I also wanted to make them tiny, I mean they were going to be nothing but sugar basically so that is what I did, used my super tiny scoop. I think it is like 1 TSP or smaller. It is so cute.

So I scooped and I scooped, and I ended up tossing out half of the icing because you get a bunch of truffles when they are that small. I mean I had about 60 scooped and still had half a container of icing left. I did not roll them, because I knew that my hands would melt them. Also the icing kept getting stuck in my scoop. Could be because it was not thick enough or something, so I just dipped my scoop in hot water in between each scoop.

Then I froze them, they really didn't get super solid, but then again I only froze them for a few hours.

Don't they look like itty bitty little ice cream scoops? This is how we used to do ice cream for banquets, you scoop it all out onto trays and freeze it. Then when ready just pop it on the plate. Saves a lot of time and hassle. And that is my tip of the day, in case you ever plan a huge ice cream party thingy.

I used chocolate candy melts of coarse and set to dipping them. I found that they melted super fast so I worked like 2 at a time, and then got fed up and tossed the rest. It was just not my day. So I ended up with about 3 dozen. The reviews were good, the people at work liked them. One girl was even so excited because she thought that I had figured out the Cara milk secret. Because the middle was soft. So I had to burst her bubble and Google and show her the real way they do it. So funny. So that was good, I was not thrilled. And I cannot blame anyone but myself, my butter cream was not up to par, so I do have to try this again.

And I think the next time I try it I will do it with an Irish cream, cream cheese icing. Now that would be good!

So if you do end up making these make sure you have a nice thick icing and that it is sweet enough, not so buttery. And when I try them again, I will let you know. Unless they fail again, then no one will be the wiser.

What is with the dark crappy pictures. They look so good on my camera screen. Oh well.

Cinnamon Roll Waffles

2012-01-28T09:46:00.007-05:00

Before we get started, don't forget to enter my giveaway here, for a super cute, custom cupcake charm.

Oh yeah!

I have to first say that this is not my idea, I saw it ages ago on a blog. And of coarse that was pre pintrest so I have no idea where I saw it. I had also forgotten about it, until Tip Garden reminded me by making these awesome waffles. What I loved is that they are just made from the tube rolls you get in the dairy section. How can you go wrong?

This is all you need!

So I bough the grand size rolls because I have a large circle waffle maker instead of a square one. I also made sure to get the Cinnabon brand, that has cream cheese icing. That way I was sure to not have to share with hubby.

So this is going to be like the easiest thing ever. Are you ready?

To start get your waffle iron heating. Then get your cinnamon rolls out and your are all set.

I got five, I thought it would be plenty, but now I want more.

Once your iron is hot, spray it well with cooking spray and place one cinnamon roll in the waffle iron and close it. I had to hold mine closed because the bun sort of puffed up.

You can see the cinnamon swirl, yummy.

I let them cook for 3 minutes and then transferred them to a plate. I then put on a scoop of the frosting so it could melt.

So pretty!

And then it started to melt!

I then made the rest and ate one. I had planned to wrap them up and freeze them so I could eat them over the next few days. But that didn't happen, I think I ate them all in 3 days, or less. I can't really recall how long it took me. Or I just don't want to admit it. Either way, they were good.

Oh baby!

So for a fast fancy breakfast, this is perfect, I love things like this.

Pioneer Woman Cinnamon Scones

2012-01-26T09:38:00.009-05:00

Hi all, don't forget to enter my giveaway for a super cute cupcake charm! here

Yum on a plate!

Have you ever heard that you should not always believe what you read on the Internet? Well you shouldn't. Unless it has to do with food, and how good something is. Like when I read about Panera on a blog. The blogger said it was amazing and that everyone should try it. Well at the time we did not have that place here in Canada. Then one day we did. So I remembered and tried it.

I have to tell you right now, the Internet was right, this place is awesome!!! I tried a few things, and since I cannot eat bread, I got a scone. A cinnamon scone. It was love at first bite. And I may have cried a little inside when I realized I had only bought one.

See how modern I am? I use the "Internet" I know, I'm also a dork.

Then I saw a recipe on Pioneer woman. It was fate I tell you! She had a recipe for cinnamon scones, and I was sold. And it only took me like a year to finally try them out. I am so sorry I waited so long, my pants aren't, but I am.

So I made them thinking I would take them to work and share. Then I ate one, and promptly hoarded them and decided to tell people at work I had not baked at all. They are none the wiser I think. Unless they took note of the tight pants I am wearing now.

So this was really easy, a little scary since I have not made scones before, but you know, it all worked out.

I used cold butter, the recipe did not specify, and I know you use cold butter for pie crust. It seemed to work.

I got this pastry thingy, a pastry cutter I think, in college. Because when you are in culinary school you have every excuse to buy whatever kitchen gadget you want. Even if you only use them once. But see I kept mine, I knew it would come in handy!

Cinnamon Scones

From Pioneer Woman

Pre heat oven to 350

-3 cups all purpose flour

-1/3 cup sugar

-5 TSPs baking powder

-1/2 TSP cinnamon

-1 cup unsalted butter

-3/4 cups heavy cream

-1 egg

-1 TSP vanilla

-1 cup cinnamon chips ( I used the mini ones)

Topping

-1/2 cup sugar

-1 TSP cinnamon

1 1/2 TSPs heavy cream

In a large bowl sift all dry ingredients together. Cut up your butter, I used cold because I was not sure what to do. Then use a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the dry stuff, until it is all crumbly. Add your cinnamon chips.

This is after the butter is cut in, I forgot to take a picture without the cinnamon chips.

Using a fork, mix all your wet ingredients together then mix into the dry with the fork. Do not over work, just mix until it all comes together.

Right about here I panicked, how is that little bit of wet stuff going to bring this all together?

Turn the mixture out onto a floured surface, or parchment like I did, and mix it together a bit to get all the dry bits to come together.

Shape the dough however you want, a circle, a square, whatever. And pat it flat.

See it worked! I had to sort of mush it together on the table a bit as there was a few really dry patches.

OMG!

Mix the topping and spread it over the top of the scones and pat it down.

Cut your scones with a knife or pizza cutter to the shape and size you want.

I wanted to make them small, so I could control my portions. Yeah it was worth a shot, I just ate like 3 instead of one.

Don't even try to pick them up, use a cookie spatula or something, just to save yourself the frustration.

Use a spatula to transfer the scones to a lined baking sheet and bake for about 14 minutes.

I figured they were done when I pushed on the sides and they were not soft.

See, all done, and they could be considered healthy, they are a breakfast item after all. I can try right?

People, these are so good, they are sweet like a muffin but have the heaviness of a scone. I cannot eat bread because of how doughy it gets when you eat it, so this is perfect for me. I made them really tiny so I can eat a few, and like I said I had planned to share them. Plans do not always work out people, trust me. And that is something you can believe on the Internet!

Chocolate Covered Home made Marshmallows

2012-01-23T09:28:00.011-05:00

So before I get started I wanted to remind you all to check out my giveaway going on right now. Make sure you enter, it is really a cute prize!

So I am home today with a sick Pork Chop. He was not feeling great last night, so it seems we have a Dr's visit in the works for today. So I figure that I might as well make the best of it. He can watch Disney and eat crackers, and I can type out a blog post. So you know, it could be worse. I do sort of feel bad that my friends at work have to wait until tomorrow to try this though, if they knew these were waiting for them. Well I don't think they would make it through the day.

I know right! Those are some huge marshmallows.

So this past weekend I decided to try something new. I really wanted to start this blog to try and share new to me things. So I went right outside my comfort zone and made marshmallows. Then I got right back into my zone and covered them in chocolate. It was awesome!

So to start I did some googling and found out that there are two ways to make marshmallows. One way was with eggs, and one without. I opted for no eggs as I am cheap and did not want to buy eggs. The other reason is with no eggs it's one less way to screw it up.

So I found a recipe from Martha Stewart, and tweaked it a little bit with help and suggestions from the comments people made. The other really cool thing is you need a candy thermometer. Which I have, in the basement. Still in the package it came in, over 10 years ago. I know, I needed it when I was in culinary school and I was going to become a famous chef, and then it sat in the basement until now. I really get a lot of use out of my stuff, you know, eventually.

Man if you could only see how dusty the package was, I hope I use it again before I forget about it again.

So here you are, with like a million pictures, the easiest marshmallows ever! ( okay maybe not ever, but if I can do it, so can you.)

First get all your stuff together.

Marshmallows

Adapted from Martha Stewart

-2 1/2 TBSPs unflavoured gelatin ( this worked out to be 3 envelopes for me)

-1 cup water, split

-1 1/2 cup white sugar

-1 cup light corn syrup

-1/4 TSP salt

-1 TBSP vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)

-icing sugar for dusting

To start put your gelatin and 1/2 cup water in a mixing bowl and make sure it is combined and let it sit while you get the rest together.

I know it looks gross, but it will get better, I promise!

Then prepare your pan, a 9x13 cake pan, grease it with butter and sprinkle it with a lot of icing sugar.

I know, what post would be complete without a super cool picture like this.

Combine the sugar, corn syrup, 1/2 cup water and salt in a sauce pan, and put over medium heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves.* Once it does, turn the heat up and attach your candy thermometer. Using a wet pastry brush, brush the sides of the pot to make sure there are no granules of undissolved sugar. Then turn the heat up and let it heat, unstirred until it reaches the hard ball stage. 244 degrees. I found that the first time the mixture started to boil, it looked like it was going to boil over. So I pulled it off the heat for a second then put it back on and watched it until it reached the hard ball stage.

* to make sure the sugar is dissolved, coat the spoon you are using to stir and run your finger along it. If it feels gritty the sugar is not dissolved, obviously if it is not gritty you are good to go.

I was so excited to finally use it, I know my life is sad.

This is once it started to get hot.

See starting to boil.

And then it went to this in a few seconds and I screamed and put the camera down. But I just took it off the heat for a few seconds and we were fine.

Once it reaches the correct temperature, turn your mixer on low, you should be using the whisk attachment. Then take your sugar mixture and slowly pour it into the gelatin mixture. Once it is all in turn up the mixer to high and beat it until the mixture turns light, white and fluffy and triples in volume. It took about 8 minutes.

So here it is, the sugar mix is all stirred in.

Here it is I turned it up high and let it go. This is about 3 minutes in.

And here it is just before I added the vanilla bean paste.

The last step is to mix in the vanilla. Once it is all mixed in, you are ready to pour out the mixture.

You can see my hand prints, I found it easiest to sift the sugar on top.

Pour it into your prepared pan and then sift a whole bunch of icing sugar on top. Then take your hands and push and pat the mixture down to even it out. If it starts to stick to your hands at all, just dust them in sugar.

Then you just leave it uncovered over night.

The next day, get a cutting board and cover it with icing sugar, then turn out your marshmallow onto it. If it sticks to the pan, pull it out at the corner and it will come out. If it is sticking to your hands at all, just dust your hands with icing sugar.

My set up.

Right around here I started doing a little happy dance, I had made marshmallows!! I am queen of the culinary world!

Then take a knife or pizza wheel and cut your marshmallows out. You could even use cookie cutters, but I did not want to waste any. Also I did not measure, which you can totally tell, but again, it worked out fine, some people will not want large pieces. Although I don't know who that could be, not me for sure.

Okay and now, I came back down to earth, as I realized I cannot cut even marshmallows.

Once I finished cutting them all, I pulled them apart, and dusted the sticky edges in icing sugar and set them aside while I melted my candy melts.

I used chocolate candy melts and thinned them out a lot with paraffin crystals. When I was ready I used two forks to dip each marshmallow, they float so you have to sort of spoon the chocolate over it.

Oh man!

Then I left them out to dry.

At this point I just wanted to eat it, but you know, melted chocolate would have been messy. Sigh.

All done, and I did try to eat one, but it stuck to my paper because it was not totally dry yet. But is still tasted great.

And they turned out great! I love how the vanilla bean paste adds to the marshmallow and the chocolate is a nice thin layer of yumminess. And I am also really surprised with how easy they were, other than the icing sugar ending up everywhere.

And I tried to not get too upset about the few white patches. The icing sugar made it hard for the chocolate to stick, so if a bubble popped there would be a white part. Oh well, it looks more home made this way right?

So back to watching Disney with Pork Chop and getting some cuddles in. Hey you have to grab them when they offer them. Wonder if I will be able to make him take a nap, one can hope.

I'm also linking up here:) and here! and here!

Cupcakes, and a Give Away!!!! Winner announced for last give away too.

2012-01-20T12:55:00.004-05:00

Will you be mine? ( I know, how dorky can you get.)

Firstly I want to announce the winner of the My Little Cupcake mold set winner. I am so excited that so many of you entered. I really hope the winner enjoys these little molds and makes something super cute with them:)

There were a total of 61comments, but only 50 qualified, and I used Random.org to conduct the draw.

So the winner is #19, which is Kluckingbear. Please contact me with your mailing address, I will also try to contact you. You have 48 hours to contact me or I will have to choose another winner. Thanks all for commenting, I hope you stick around to comment on this giveaway also!

So now on to my super amazing cupcake post, and cupcake giveaway!

I know that almost everyone loves cupcakes, I mean what's not to love? They are cakes that you don't have to share, that in my books is huge! So for this I wanted to make something from a box mix, but none of the recipes I looked at were doing it for me, not sure why. So I went on line and found a recipe for red velvet cupcakes. I wanted red because I figure valentines day is coming up, and that would be perfect.

I also had a play date with Pork chop and his little friend, so that meant I had someone to send some home with and to have decorate them. It was a win win situation.

I think I like sprinkles the most, then Pork chop, then Hubby. They know how they rate in my life.

Also I wanted to give away a super cute cupcake that you can wear. I shared these last year on my gift idea post. I love the ones I have, so much so that after the holidays, I used up the last of my fun money and got myself two more. I love working with Peggy at The Glass Chef. So after I share my yummy cupcakes, I will share my fun give away!

I have a fondness for cupcakes for a few reasons, let me list them, because I know you need to know how my mind works.

My List for why Cupcakes Rule!

-they are cute
-they are easy to make and frost
-they are way easier to serve than a cake, this is a huge factor
-you can have different flavors and try them all
-if you drop it, you still have more, drop a cake and well you are eating floor cake, gross!
-you can decorate your cupcakes with cute liners, picks and sprinkles

Well you get the idea, they are just awesome! So here is the cupcake that I tried out today.

Red Velvet Cupcakes
from All recipes.com
makes about 20

1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 cup butter milk *
1 oz red food colouring **
1 TSP vanilla
1 1/2 TSP baking soda
1 TBPS white vinegar
2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 TSP salt

*I never buy butter milk, so I just make my own. Put 1 TBSP of white vinegar in a measuring cup, fill up to the 1 cup with milk, stir and let sit for 5 minutes, and there you go.
**1 OZ equals 2 TBSPs

See how it looks curdled, it still all worked out though.

Set oven to 350
-beat butter and sugar until fluffy, add all the wet ingredients and mix well ( at this point it looked like my butter had curdled and I was worried, but after mixing it all together it still looked the same, but baked up fine. I think it was the vinegar.)
-add dry ingredients and mix until just combined
-spoon into cupcake liners and bake for about 14 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

These are Pork chops, you can tell by the one he tried to drown in sprinkles. We ended up sending them to day care for his PD day.

I just made my basic butter cream* for this and tinted it pink. I made extra so I could try to make butter cream truffles, which I will share later on, so good!

*1/2 cup each of butter and shortening, beat together and add icing sugar and milk until it is as thick as you want and you have the amount you want

These are his friends, which I sent home with him. He is so slow, he puts on one sprinkle at a time almost, it is so cute. And both boys kept asking for icing eyeballs, I said no, eyeballs are not for pink cupcakes. I am the mom and I make the rules!

And here is one of mine. The icing heart on top was bought at the baking warehouse, so cute.

But for a more traditional icing, but with a kick, you know booze, try the one I posted about Here. It is good, trust me. You cannot go wrong with Irish cream, am I right?!

Now on to the give away!!!

I wanted to give one reader the chance to win a cupcake charm. I looked at all of them and could not decide on which one to give away. So I asked Peggy if she would be willing to work with my winner to make them a charm any way they like, and she said "of course I will!" You gotta love Peggy.

So firstly I want to show you the two new ones I got, I have 4 now and I am cut off. I could have one in every colour.

The first one I ordered was to remind me of Hubby, even though he has a bad rap here, he isn't that bad really. I sort of like him. Hubby may not like to eat the things I bake, but he does have one thing he loves that is sweet. And that is mint chocolate chip ice cream. That is the first thing I remember about him, anything mint chocolate. My little Pork Chop shares his love and could eat mint Areo bars all day long. So I asked for a chocolate cupcake with minty green icing and chocolate sprinkles. I think Peggy nailed it!

I will call it the Hubby cupcake, and sorry about the bad pictures, you cannot win them all you know.

Then I asked for a Tiffany blue cupcake, with dark brown accents. I have to say, the reason I wanted this colour is that at my new job they have these Tiffany eye glass frames that I am in love with. I don't know why, I think the colours speak to me. They say crazy things, like buy a new cupcake charm and eat more cupcakes. It's scary really. So Peggy made me my little Tiffany cupcake, and it was perfect.

See how she made the cherry on top a colour that works with the cupcake? That is why Peggy is an artist, and I am not. I just like to eat things, so I am a food eating artist, not the same thing really.

These are just a few ideas for you all.

So whatever your imagination can think up, you can share it with Peggy and I bet it will be even better than you think. So start thinking people, because the winner of this contest is going to get their choice of one custom cupcake charm. All you have to do to win is one of the following. Please make sure you read the rules, as only qualifying entries will be counted.

Leave a comment and let me know what sort of cupcake charm you would like. ( You can totally change your mind if you win, it's not written in stone.)

You can earn extra entries by doing the following, just do it and come back and leave me a comment to let me know.

-visit Peggy's site and let me know
-share my blog with someone and let me know, I love new readers
-become a follower, I love following other blogs, so would love it if you follow mine, just let me know you did, and if you are already a follower let me know
-follow my face book page, but you have to leave the comment here to have it count, and if you already follow my page let me know

The Rules:*****make sure you answer the skill testing question in each entry*****

-Each entry must have the answer to this skill testing question 14-4=? So any entry without that will not be counted
-winner is responsible for any duty charged when the item is delivered
-the contest is open to all USA, Canadian (except Quebec, sorry) and Internationale readers
-the prize is for one custom cupcake charm, no chain or substitutions
-the winner will be picked by Random.org from all qualifying entries, as some entries will not qualify and I may even comment, I will number entries starting with the first and work my way to the end to calculate the number of entries in total
-entries will be accepted until 12 noon (Toronto time) Wednesday February 1, 2012 ( happy birthday Hubby!) as comments are moderated as long as they hit my mail box before the dead line they will still qualify
-the winner will be announced and they have 48 hours to contact me or I choose another winner, please add a way for me to contact you in your comment if you can or make sure to check back, if you are a follower you will see when new posts go up

And I think that is it. So please enter as many ways as you can and I cannot wait to see what cupcake the winner ends up picking! I will be posting a picture of it on a future post, because I am nosy like that and want to see it.

*prize supplied by me, I am not being paid or compensated in any way. I just love these pendants and Peggy was so wonderful to agree and work with me!*

Mini Reece Peanut Butter and Chocolate Pies

2012-01-16T21:53:00.006-05:00

Before we get started, I just want to remind you to check out my giveaway, it ends soon!

This is all you need to make something super cute and yummy!

So last week while I was checking out my fellow bloggers I can across this on the caffeinated globe. It was right then and there that I became determined to make them. They were cute, they were made with store bought pie crust and they were cute. Did I say that twice? Well since I had to get some things for another baking project I grabbed some pie crust and thought about making these in a few weeks. That did not happen.

That very same night, after mixing 4 batches of cookie dough, I pulled out the pie crust, grabbed some mini Reece peanut butter cups and got to work.

All set up, so easy!

I was really happy with how they turned out, sort of. Firstly, they tasted great, little pockets of yum, but mine opened up. I tried pressing the edges together, but I think I used a cookie cutter just a little too small. I am happy to say that nothing spilled out, which is good since I didn't put parchment on my cookie tray.

Mini chocolate candy pies

From the Caffeinated Globe

1 store bought crust

some sort of chocolate candy

egg white and water mixed to wash

heat oven to 350

I followed what the blog told me to do, because I follow directions. But it was just as easy to cut out circles all by themselves.

So to start you need a pie crust and some sort of chocolate. I was going to do Rolo's but was worried they would be too gooey. Also you can use home made pie crust if you want, I was just wanting to make them fast and the store bought crust was perfect.

So I rolled out the pie crust and put the candies all around the edge as the caffeinated globe had done. In retrospect I could have just cut the circles out. And I did that with the second crust I used.

I just used the cutter I thought would work, should have gone bigger.

So far they look okay, just make sure you pinch those edges together!

Once the circles were cut out I folded two edges together and pinched them to try and seal them. Then I turned it and pinched and pushed until I felt all the dough was together. Again I should have cut the circles a little bigger.

A little packet of love, and chocolate.

See how good they look before baking?

Once they were all ready I brushed them with egg white and water and popped them into the oven. It took about 10 minutes, you just bake them until golden brown. Then take them out and let them cool.

And now they sort of look gross, but they taste great I promise!

I was really happy that they stayed together and they were so good, the buttery crust and just a little chocolate and peanut butter. I brought them to work and let my friends have at them, because the three I ate were more than enough.

Bad picture #1.

Bad picture #2, but with a cute cup of mini pies.

Bad picture #3, sadly this is the best one.

I look forward to trying this again with different candies. I really enjoy finding these fun ideas on the web, so many great things to try and make.

I'm also linking up here:

Alphabet Cookies in a Jar

2012-01-14T09:39:00.000-05:00

Before I start I just want to remind you of my Give away. So come check it out and enter!

You know what, I don't even know if I spelled that right.

I love making sugar cookies, there are so many things to do with them. Other than eating, you know because food should be multipurpose right? So when I was making like 1000 cookies this week I had a lot of extra dough left over. Not to be confused with "dough" which would mean money, which would mean I would not be baking, I would be shopping. Anyway.....

So I had lots left over, and as luck would have it I made a mistake and added too much flour to the last batch of dough. This resulted in the dough being hard to roll out, but it made for a cookie that hardly spreads out. The taste was still great, a little crisper than I like, but you know, once you cover it is icing, does it really matter?

I saw the tooth pick tip on a blog, and I feel horrible that I cannot remember which one. It stops the glaze from dripping out. Big help.

I started by cutting out a million little circles using the smallest cookie cutter I have. They are a little bigger than a quarter. Once baked I let them cool then got to work decorating.

I use the glaze recipe from Amanda at I am Baker. It was the first glaze I used and I have not stopped, it is so good! Only issue is it takes longer to dry than royal icing, but crusts really fast. So I made up some icing in a few colours using Americolor soft gel paste. I made my glaze and thinned it out to be just a little thinner than piping consistency and just a little thicker than flood consistency. I did this so that I could outline and flood my cookies in one step. So saving me from using plastic bottles and piping bags. Anything to save time people! And since the circles are so small this was really fast.

I started off with a number 2 tip, then found it took so long, so I switched up to a 3. This is the steps of outlining and flooding, but of coarse backwards, what can I say? I think differently.

I filled my bags with glaze and used a number 3 tip. It is big enough to get a nice outline and flood without being too big or too small. So outline the cookie then right away fill it in. Then sort of shake the cookie back and forth on the table to settle the lines. If you need to you can go back and use a tooth pick to help spread the icing out.

Now I wanted to be fancy and was thinking of doing wet on wet icing. But then I figure I would probably want to poke my own eyes out after about 10 cookies. With glaze working wet on wet means you have to do the colours right away, the glaze crusts over so fast. With royal icing you can work a few cookies at a time. So I let my cookies dry for an hour or so then went back to finish them. (really I just finished flooding, tidied up a bit then went on to the next step, so well under an hour.)

To start I used a disposable piping bag, because if you can cut down on what you have to wash at the end, you are much happier. Trust me.

The one on the left is regular piping, the one on the right is wet on wet, see how it just blends.

To show you wet on wet and how the look is different I did a few cookies, because I love you all. But I don't love you enough to do them all.

At least you know where we stand in this relationship.

For wet on wet, you flood your cookie then right away pipe on the next colour, a letter for this one. The two icings should melt together and it becomes flat. It's really neat, but like I said, time consuming.

I just piped letters, no rhyme or reason, but then my Mom was watching Pork Chop and they ate their names. So I was low on some letters. But I still love them, kind of.

Anyway once they had dried, which really did not take long. I used a 1.5 tip, these are special tips I read about on other blogs, and I went searching for them. They are like $5 each! So I have two, that is it, and I do not use them much. I am afraid if I do I will like them and then what would I do? Buy more I suppose, but you know Hubby is on to me and my shopping, so we have to keep it reasonable for some things. Notice I said some things, I am not insane people!

So I made a black icing and started making letters. I thought this would be fun so whomever they are for can work on their spelling. I need to work on that too, thank goodness for spell check. And even then I suck. Oh well.

Pork chop ( my son) is getting a tutor this month, so I thought this would sort of be fun for him. He will probably not agree. But I am the mom, so if I say it's fun, it's fun darn it!

So I left them to dry over night and then got a few jars. Since they are small you can get a good deal in one jar, but my mom has been saving these huge soup jars for me so I used that. Then you can make a label and give them to the ones you love. Or like I did, just eat a bunch and give a few in a baggie to your friends at work. It's all the same, my friends know how to spell already anyway. (I bought a bunch of dissolving canning labels at Walmart on boxing day, just for something like this.)

I just wrote the label, I hate my writing, but it says A B C cookies.

And if you are immature like me you spell "naughty" words and take pictures of it. Because that is what all the mature mom's do. Right? Fine, this is what I do. And it's my blog so there! (Imagine me sticking my tongue out at you and making faces, again mature I am not!)

I wrote "poop" ha!

This is just one idea, I have seen a bunch of other great ideas, where bloggers made snow man faces to put together, jack o lanterns and such. I was not so creative, but you know, they all taste good.

The cookies are again from Amanda at I am Baker, they are so good. Check her site out, it's worth a look. Here is my post with the recipe. Let me know if you have tried it yet, you will be hooked once you do!

Sugar Cookie Truffle's and Pops, and a Give Away!

2012-01-11T10:37:00.005-05:00

How cute, that poor guy on the right looks sad.

Hey all, I am so excited to post this today. Last year I posted my first give away with a cute little cake pop mold. And when I got that cute mold I also got another gift to give away, a four pack set of all the molds that My Little Cupcake makes. I was super excited to share this and I thought since Valentines is coming up what a perfect time to try out the heart mold and to give away the whole set to one of my readers!

So this is going to be a tutorial with a new cookie truffle I have not tried before, using my new molds. And if it all works out, then you will have some new ideas and one of you will have the new molds to try out for yourself!

This is all my left over sugar cookie dough, rolled out and cut so it bakes faster.

To start I saw this recipe for sugar cookie truffles a while back on Cookies and Cups. I filed it away in the back of my mind, this is before I knew what pintrest was, and I was set to make them as soon as I had extra sugar cookie dough.

As it turns out, I never have extra. I did make some cookies and had some scraps before the holidays, but not enough to make these. So when I made like a million cookies I saved all the scraps from the good cut outs. ( by good I mean I try to only roll my dough out twice, only because I have been told your cookies can get tough if you roll the dough too much. So after two roll outs, it is either tossed if there is not a lot or now I save it for cookie truffles.) I had so much I just rolled it out, cut it into large rectangles with a pizza wheel, and baked them until they were crispy. You do not want soft cookies for this, or they will not grind up well.

They sat in this bag for a few days, I was in no rush to get to them. Too many other things to do!

Once baked I let them sit out over night to dry even more, then put them into a bag. I did not bother freezing them as I want them dry. Then when I was ready I got to work.

Sugar Cookie Truffles
Idea from Cookies and Cups

-crispy sugar cookies, either from a mix or your favorite recipe
-1 block of cream cheese
-candy melts to coat them

Now I did not measure at all, just sort of went with it because I had so much dough left.

Just break up your cookies to fit into your food processor. If you don't have one, put your cookies in a freezer bag and bash them with something, a rolling pin, Hubby's head, a hammer. Whatever you have.

I did have a few chunks that no matter what would not break up. I picked them out and ate them. Waste not want not!

To start cream your cream cheese to soften. Then take your cookies and break them up and put them in a food processor to grind them up. You want them fine so there are no chunks, they are hard and you don't want that. So once you grind up your cookies, just start adding them to your cream cheese and mix. I added until it turned into a dough that I could roll and it would hold it's shape. Sorry I don't have measurements, this was really just to use up the left over cookie dough. You can also do the same thing with Oreo's, that is what My Little Cupcake uses all the time.

See nice and thick. But still really soft. So I put the whole thing in the fridge to set up.

Anyway, once I got it all blended I used my hand to fill the molds I had, and it stuck. Of coarse, when I am on a roll and everything! So I put the whole bowl in the fridge to set up. Then I forgot about it for like 2 hours. So then I went back and I made cones and hearts. I was going to make the balls, but they are so big, and I think they might be too big for this. They work awesome for cake pops, so trust me you want this mold. Saves you from rolling all those cake balls.

I was trying to keep my hands clean to take pictures, so I used my mini ice cream scoop to put the stuff in. But just use your hands, unless you are taking pictures

Squish it together!

See? Perfect!!!

So once all my shapes were made I covered the pan they were in and put them in the fridge over night. (okay two nights, I got lazy and left them another day.) I ate a few, but you know, I had to make sure they tasted good. And they did, just in case you were wondering.

I made Hubby take me to the bulk store to get more sprinkles, I just don't think I have enough. (Says the girl who is only showing one of two bins she has)

The next day I got my dipping stuff ready. To do what I did, you will need the following:

-candy coating, melted in any colour you want
-paraffin crystals or shortening to thin out your candy melts if needed
-lollipop sticks
-sprinkles or whatever you want to decorate with
-Styrofoam block to stand them in to dry
-bags and ties

Now I wanted to make something Valentine like, so of coarse the heart mold was perfect for that. I made them into cookie pops because anything on a stick is cuter. That's a saying right? No? Well it should be.

I melted my candy melts and thinned them with paraffin crystals since I have no clue what I am doing half the time and my coloured and white chocolate gets all lumpy. I don't think there is a cure for what is wrong we me, I just try to work with it. So once the chocolate was melted I worked a few pops at a time.

They look huge but they are really a perfect size.

Taking the plunge.

This looks good, but just you wait, my chocolate will crack and do horrible things.

First you dip the lollipop stick in the chocolate then put it into the heart. I let it set for a minute or two then started dipping the whole thing. As usual my chocolate cracked, but again, I don't care, I just let them set at room temperature while I dipped all the rest, then went back and dipped them again.

When I was done with the second coating, I let them dry in a block of Styrofoam.

These are the food markers I used, I was not in the mood to be super fancy.

You could stop right here, but you know, I have sprinkles and I want to use them.

A cute girl with a bow, and blush.

Once fully dried I used Americolor food writer pens and drew on cute happy faces and stuff. You know, because a real heart has a happy face. Trust me it does, they just don't want you to know that. And I used heart sprinkles to add bows and stuff, because they needed it!

So cute, perfect for your Valentine.

So there are my super adorable valentine pops, but I also wanted to make something with the cone shape. A reader on my last mold post suggested party hats. I sort of wanted to make them for new years, but you know that hospital stay put a damper on a lot of fun things. So I will make these for a birthday. And who has a birthday coming up? Hubby does, on February 1st. Perfect, except that he won't eat these, they have cream cheese and cream cheese is the devil to him. As are most things I make. ( Again why I keep him around I will never know)

So to start I melted chocolate, I used regular milk chocolate since I think brown is in, and I like it better. So I did the same dipping of the lollipop stick and put it into the cone. I then dipped the whole thing and used tweezers to place sprinkles to be polka dots. Then I let it dry.

I got nothing to say about this.

For some reason my chocolate was really thick, but I was too late in figuring that out so whatever, it still worked.

After this all I did was add the bottom trim.

Once dry I used a paint brush to paint the bottom of the hat, then rolled the edge in sanding sugar to look like a band. Then I dotted on chocolate on the top and put a sugar pearl, or sprinkle or whatever I liked. And there you have it super cute party hats.

And bonus to Hubby when I said, what do you think it is, he said "a party hat?" It's like when your kid shows you a picture of a dog, and you say, "wow what a nice flower" and they give you the look. Well it's the same with me, but my dog pictures are awesome.

The pink one is for me, I am a girl after all. And I did a few little circle ones, and just rolled them in sprinkles.

And these are the plain truffle ones I did for the guys at work. Because I don't think the manly men would eat the glittery cookie pops. At least not in public.

I so have an idea to make Mickey Mouse heads with the large ball, so that will be with cake balls when I do them next!

I hope this has given you some ideas, and you could do these without the molds, but really they make the job so easy you should give them a try. And one of my readers is going to get the chance to try them all.

These are my molds, the winner's are all nice and snug in a pretty pink box. I put the ice cream scoop there because I made some small truffles too.

So here it is, my super huge contest!!!! One winner will get the four piece set of molds from My Little Cupcake. The contest will close January 20th, at 12 noon Toronto time, 2012. I will announce the winner soon after in a new post. As I moderate the comments, any comment that arrives in my mail box before the end of the contest will count. So they may appear to be late entries, but as long as I get them before noon, they will qualify.

To win all you have to do is leave a comment, and answer my skill testing question.

***Make sure you put the answer to 7-4=? in each comment or entry or else it will not qualify*****

To get extra entries do one or all of the following, just leave a comment letting me know you have done each and include the skill testing question (7-4=?) answer in each one.

Ways to get extra entries:

-become a follower of my blog, and leave a comment to let me know
-check out the My Little Cupcake site and let me know which mold you think you would use the most and how you would use it
-follow my face book page, and come back and let me know. No comments on my face book page will count

So there you have it, 4 chances to win. The winner will be chosen from all the qualifying entries (meaning they all have to have the answer to the skill testing question) by Random.org. The winner will be contacted and posted here in a new blog post. The winner will have 48 hours to get in touch with me and send me their information so I can mail out the prize. If the winner does not contact me within the 48 hours, I will choose another winner. The contest is open to residents of the USA, Canada (except Quebec, sorry) and International readers. The winner will be responsible for any duties that may be charged when the item is shipped. The value of the prize is approx $23 USD funds. I will be shipping from Canada.

This give away was made possible by My Little Cupcake, because when I asked them for a pamphlet to put in with my last give away they sent me this whole set to give away too! I was not paid, I just really love the product.

As people will make entries that do not qualify or I may add a comment, I will start with the first entry and work my way down including only the entries that qualify and use the total number to make the draw from.

I also wanted to say thank you for all the kind comments you all send me. I love reading them all!

The Leibster Award

2012-01-10T10:46:00.001-05:00

Last night I was checking out my email when I got a notice for my face book page. I was surprised to see that I had been given an award. Now I never win anything, and I was not sure what it really meant.

I read that Susan of The Weekly Sweet Experiment had given me some blog love in the form of the Leibster award. This award is so neat because it comes from fellow bloggers. It is for newer bloggers that have a following of less than 200, and the award is then passed on.

Susan writes :

"The Liebster Blog Award is for up and coming bloggers who have a following list of less than 200. Liebster is a German word that means favorite or dearest. I feel honored that Bridget chose me to receive this award! Now I get to share this award with five other bloggers I think deserve it."

So after being totally excited and figuring out how to put the award picture on my blog, I went to work finding 5 blogs I wanted to award with this. It took some time, because I read so many, and a good number of them have over 200 followers. But I am pleased as punch to share the five I picked. I have sent each of them a note and I hope that they are excited in carrying on the award!

So my 5 blog award winners are (in no particular order)

Jenny At Losing Creek Farm-

What I love is that she is not just about baking she does it all, and she shares it. Great stuff!

Potato muffins by Jenny at Losing Creek Farm

Alex at Culinary Conquests-

I sort of see myself in Alex. I started baking and taking courses in high school and I have always loved to learn new things. In culinary school I learned so much. But this girl, she is doing with the help of cook books and doing a great job!

Milk chocolate truffles by Alex at Culinary Conquests.

Olivia at Morsels and Chips -

This girl is only 18, she is a student and vegetarian. I have to hand it to her, I do not have the will power for that! Her stuff looks great and she tries to put a healthy spin on things!

Pumpkin spiced chocolate chip cookies from Olivia and Morsels and Chips.

Susan at The Royal Cook-

Susan is a mother to 5 and she still has time to make and post some really great things. I just love looking at the things she makes!

Texas road house Cinnamon butter by Susan at The Royal Cook.

Tasha from My Homemade Happiness-

Tasha is a mom to three boys ( yikes! and I only have one) She loves to bake and scrapbook, we are meant to be blog buddies I think:) And she posts about lots of other things, it's just really fun to read!

No bake butter finger cheesecake by Tasha at My Homemade happiness.

Chocolate Covered Baby Bananas -My Disney Treat Copy Cat

2012-01-09T08:04:00.005-05:00

All fruit should be this cute!

Have you ever had a treat and wanted to eat it until you were sick? No? So really I am the only one? Okay well I still think I'm normal, at least compared to some.

So back to something so good you want to eat it until you are sick. When I was in Disney last year I had a really hard time not eating every darn thing in site. Huge Mickey Mouse cupcake? Yep I want it. Chocolate covered marshmallows? I'm there. Sugar free candy of all types? I ate enough to make myself sick. I have eating issues, I can admit it. I am learning, but sometimes I just take one bite too many and really pay for it.

Okay sorry that was so long and rambly, and what I really wanted to say was that I found something that I really loved, and other than my 12 year old boy mind, I liked eating. At the ice cream carts I found these frozen bananas that were dipped in chocolate and covered in peanuts. So like I said amazing, and I giggled and tried to hide while I was eating it. My sister got a good picture of me eating one, not one of my finest moments.

So I really liked them but they were still so big I could not eat it all, it was just too much. I wanted to make them a much smaller treat to have at home. My first attempt was okay. I took a large banana and cut it into rounds, froze it and then dipped them in chocolate and sprinkled nuts on top. It was not bad, but not the same.

I wanted to get the fun and silliness of a banana on a stick. And I know that sounds like a dirty joke or something, but you know what I mean. I hope.

So I asked Hubby to pick up some baby bananas at the store. The last time I went they sold them in packs of like six. He came home with about 20. 20 baby bananas, what the heck am I going to do with 20 baby bananas. I will be the only one eating these, so lets just say I have been eating plain banana's for a few days

Poor bananas didn't even see it coming!

So to start I pealed them and put a wooden skewer in almost all the way through. I then put them on a plate and put them in the freezer.

I left them for a few hours, until they were solid, so they do not fall off the skewer. Then I melted some chocolate candy melts and ground up some peanuts. I have to make these things when Hubby is out, so I was careful to get rid of the crumbs.

I just buy the cheap peanuts, and keep them in the freezer until I need them. My little food processor works great for this.

All set up and ready to go.

I like to think I am funny, but I just don't have anything that funny to say about this. It's just wrong if you ask me.

Anyway I worked one at a time, I dipped the bananas and then let the extra drip off a bit, then rolled it in the peanuts. I let them dry then put them in my Styrofoam bock. I could have just set them on paper, but you know, I had to make it difficult.

Since they are frozen the chocolate sets really quickly, so roll them fast. And you could even leave them on the plate to dry.

Tee Hee!

Once they were dipped I just put a plastic sandwich baggy on and tied them up with ribbon.

I am 12 years old inside, so this just cracks me up!

Once they were dipped I just put a plastic sandwich baggy on and tied them up with ribbon.

Then I put them in a container and back into the freezer. We have so much stuff in our freezer that I had to put them into a container or they would have gotten crushed.

No one wants a crushed banana.

I know they look weird, and yes I admit my 12 year old boy brain kept thinking of things to say. So that explains why there is no staged picture, I just had to put them away. Sigh I hope I mature one of these days, or at least my son gets old enough for me to be able to share my immaturity with. Either way works for me.

And I want to point out how healthy these are, what with the fruit and nuts, you are practically burning calories eating them!

I'm also linking up here!

Citrus Blog hop - Mini White Chocolate Mandarin Orange Cheesecake's

2012-01-07T00:01:00.001-05:00

See you can eat three of these, or one piece of cake. It's all the same;p

I cannot wait to share this with you all. I was emailed by a lovely fellow blogger about a blog hop she started and was asking for people to host. I was all, I'm not doing that, I can't do that. Then I thought, why not? I mean I can bake, sort of. I can write about it and take amazing pictures ( I know, even I laughed at that.) So why not?

So I filled out the form and said let's do this!

I had no idea how this would work, but apparently everyone gets the same ingredient and has to make their own recipe with it and make something and share. I was so excited and if I was not so clueless I would have known that citrus was the ingredient, you know the whole blog hop being called citrus luv and all. (I know my mom wonders about me too.)

And here we are. I am co hosting with all of these other amazing bloggers so please check them out too at the end of my post I will list them all:)

So I don't know about you, but I am strongly against fruit in my deserts. I don't know why, but it just seems wrong. There are a few things that I let slide like cherry or apple pie, lemon curd in anything. And banana and pumpkin anything. And don't get me started on veggies in desert. Whomever thought up zucchini bread must have had a sick mind.( a sick but brilliant mind!) Sort of like chocolate covered bacon, but I didn't invent that so there!

So I wanted to make something cute, as my new years resolution was to make smaller sized things, so I have more to share, and I can eat twice as many with half the calories. It's a scientific fact that two little deserts have less calories then one large one. Go ahead, work it out. ( And if you figure out I'm wrong,I don't want to know, I couldn't carry on with that kind of thing hanging over my head.)

My mom got me the cute little push out bottom pans. She got the tiny spring form pans for me years ago. I have a good mom!

So to make something cute, it had to be small. And to make something small you need the right equipment. And thanks to my mom, who shares my love of food, I had the perfect pans to make cute tiny little cheesecakes. So I went on line to find a recipe and found one on a recipe site. And of course I only copy and pasted it, stupid me. So I think it was all recipes.com, but I could be wrong. I figure I am changing it enough that I don't have to worry.

So the recipe that I found was for a raspberry cheesecake, and raspberries have seeds, and I don't like seeds, or trying to strain them out. So I figured this would be perfect. I subbed in mandarin oranges for the fruit. Now I did this for a few reasons, that I shall now list for you in no particular order:

Each can cost me like 67 cents, I am a big spender!

My list of reasons:

-I can get mandarins in a can, no need to peel or clean them
-there are no seeds, so no straining for seeds
-they are orange, I like orange
-you can also use a slice as garnish
-they were cheap

Okay now that you have had that little in sight into how my mind works, and you are still here, thanks for that, lets get baking!

To start you need some small cupcake pans with removable bottoms, or tiny spring form pans, or you could use cupcake liners, but you know I like to be difficult.

Also the recipe is for a 9 inch cheesecake, but I made a bunch of little ones, it was all good. I did have to make more crust but that was easy. I just made the crust as is then halved it again.

White Chocolate Mandarin Orange Cheesecake
(Makes 1 9 inch cake)

Crust
-1 cup Oreo crumbs
-1/4 cup melted butter
-3 TBSP sugar

Mandarin filling
-2 10oz cans of mandarins, drained
-2 heaping TSPS corn starch

Filling
-2 cups white chocolate chips
-1/2 cup half and half cream
-3 packages of cream cheese ( 8oz each)
-1/2 cup sugar
-1 TSP vanilla
-3 eggs

Set oven to 325 (300 if you have a convection oven)

Start with the crust, melt the butter and mix it with the sugar and crumbs. Then put enough in the bottom of each pan to make a thin crust. I used the handle of an ice cream scoop to tamp it down. And set it aside.

These are super tiny, and the ice cream scoop worked perfectly for tamping it down. And my kid asked why I was putting dirt in the pan, I told him it was for his diner, he was not happy.

To make the fruit filling, and it even feels wrong typing that, you just take the drained oranges and put about 10 segments aside for decorating. I used an immersion blender to quickly liquefy the stuff, if you don't have that you can use your food chopper or regular blender. Then put it in a sauce pan and add two heaping TSPS of corn starch. Stir it with a whisk until it starts to bubble, and it will thicken very quickly. Once it has thickened take it off the heat and put it in a bowl and into the fridge to cool.

Pre squished. Just for reference that I actually used fruit, it still seems wrong some how.

Then to make the filling, cream the cheese and sugar. While it is mixing put the chocolate and cream in a bowl and put it over a pot of water on the stove to make a double boiler to melt same. Add one egg at a time to the cheese mixture and mix each egg in until combined. Then add the vanilla. Once the chocolate is melted mix it into the cheese and you are all set.

I started with the tiny cupcake pans, and added one spoon full of cheese cake filling, then a tiny bit of orange filling, then I spooned some more cheese on top. I tried to make sure that I did not put too much in as it would over flow, these tins are tiny. Then I took a skewer and sort of mixed the layers together, but it mostly just leveled out the stuff.

From bottom to top :first layer of cheese mix, middle is the filling, then the top layer and I swirled it together.

I put my pans on a cookie sheet because I knew that some oil would leak out the bottom, and it did. I think because the tins are not tight enough, but with the cookie sheet it was all good.

I did the same with the larger square pans, these are perfect for one persons serving, and I had enough to make two tiny spring form pans.

My bite size cakes.

My bigger single serve cakes, the ones on the bottom are to show you how I filled them.

The tiny cakes took about 18 minutes, the larger square about 25 and the spring forms about 40. Just watch and when you can shake them and they are not liquid in the middle you know you are done. Let them cool for a few minutes then put them, pan and all into the fridge.

Since I wanted to do something different with the mini ones, I put them in the freezer.

For the tiny ones I wanted to make them different, I wanted to make them cute. So what is cuter than chocolate? Okay chocolate itself is not exactly cute, but you can make cute things with it. Anyway that is my theory and I'm sticking with it,

So I melted some chocolate candy melts and added a bunch of paraffin crystals to try and thin it out. I should have added more, but whatever it worked.

This is how they looked right out of the tins. Not very cute.

But cover them in chocolate and they are super cute.

I took a cheesecake and dropped it in the chocolate, and then using two forks took it out, tapped off the extra and set it on some wax paper. I then put two white chocolate chips on top to decorate. I could have done white chocolate drizzle, but I wanted fast. And they turned out really cute.

Is it me or does it look like an Easter cream egg? Well it didn't taste like one, oh well.

I just garnished my single cakes with a little chocolate and mandarin segments.

This is my spring form cake, I love how the chocolate is all drippy!

And Pork Chop wanted in on the action, you know, because nothing is cooler than being in a picture with a tiny cake. That's my boy!

I cut it to show you how cute it was, not so I could eat some or anything.

For the larger square and round cakes I ladled chocolate on top and spread it out a bit with a spatula and then put some orange segments on top to decorate. I really like how they turned out. I think my orange filling was a little thick but you know it's in there, you can really see it.

I hope you try this out, or even just make a large cheese cake, that probably would have been way faster and way easier, but you know I never said I do things the right way. My way technically is the right way, people just don't seem to know it yet.

I cannot wait to see what other yummies are going to be shared!

A Little Bit of Everything ~ Roxana ~ @RoxanaGreenGirl
Astig Vegan ~ Richgail
Baker Street ~ Anuradha ~ @bakerstreet29
BigFatBaker ~ Erin ~ @BigFatBaker
CafeTerraBlog ~ Terra ~ @CafeTerraBlog
Cake Duchess ~ Lora ~ @cakeduchess
Cakeballs, Cookies and More ~ Sue
Easily Good Eats
Elephant Eats ~ Amy
Food Wanderings ~ Shulie ~ @foodwanderings
Georgiecakes ~ Georgie ~ @georgiecakes
Hobby And More ~ Richa ~ @betit19
Mike's Baking ~ Mike ~ @mikesbaking
Mis Pensamientos ~ Junia ~ @juniakk
No One Likes Crumbley Cookies ~ TR ~ @TRCrumbley
Oh Cake ~ Jessica ~ @jesshose
Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives ~ Lisa ~ @parsleynsage
Peaches and Donuts ~ Sylvia ~ @PeachesandDonut
Savoring Every Bite ~ Linda ~ @Spicegirlfla
Simply Reem ~ Reem ~ @simplyreem
Smart Food and Fit ~ Lisa ~ @LisaNutrition
Soni's Food for Thought ~ Soni ~ @sonisfood

Teaspoon of Spice - Serena - @TspCurry

January is #citruslove month!

Please join in on the #citruslove fun by linking up any citrus recipe from the month of January 2012. Don't forget to link back to this post, so that your readers know to come stop by the #citruslove event! The twitter hashtag is #citruslove :).

Salted Nutella Fudge

2012-01-03T08:12:00.005-05:00

Oh melted fudge, what could be better?

So most days I check out blogs and drool over what everyone makes. Then I would email myself the ideas and usually forget about them. Now that I have Pintrest I am actually going to try more things out, I think. It's a theory, let's see where it goes.

Anyway, I have seen so many fudge recipes and have counted how many pounds I would put on if I made them all. I figure about 300 pounds, give or take a few. So I had to pick one. And I found this one on Pioneer woman. The thing that got me was Nutella and salt. I love the salty sweet taste. Much like chocolate covered bacon, which I also made, it sounds weird but tastes amazing.

I found the recipe on line, and didn't get my stuff together, I just threw it all in a bowl.

As this had Nutella I had to make it when Hubby was out, and I jammed this in with a few other treats one day. I thought this was so easy, and was so happy with how it turned out, that I promptly made myself sick eating it. Yes I know, too much sugar makes me sick, yes I know better. But you know when you are making 6 different things in a day you have to taste them all, or how else am I going to honestly blog about them? I thought you would understand.

So to make this you need very little.

Salted Nutella Fudge
From Tasty Kitchen on Pioneer Woman.

-1 TBSP butter to grease the 8x8 pan
-14 OZ of sweetened condensed milk
-1 TSP vanilla extract
-8 OZ high quality bittersweet chocolate chips ( I just used the mini semi sweet ones I had)
-1 cup nutella ( I used the no name brand as it was $2 cheaper)
-3 TBSP unsalted butter at room temp ( I used cold salted butter, it's what I had)
-1/2 TSP sea salt ( I didn't measure I just sprinkled it on, I used too much too)

My no name Nutella. Please ignore the cocoa on the table, I was making like 6 things this day.

So I just put everything in a bowl. The recipe called for a 14 OZ can of sweetened condensed milk, but here they are all 8 OZ, so I had to measure. And I think I may have added a little too much, because my finished fudge was a little soft. Which is really fine, but you cannot set it out for long, must stay in the fridge.

(A little update, by the end of a week it was much more set, so maybe I needed to age it? Do you even age fudge? I have no clue what I am even talking about now, so carry on.)

So to start I buttered an 8x8 baking pan and lined it with parchment paper. My paper was not sticking so I put another pan inside to hold the paper in place until I was ready.

Sort of looks gross and like it will not all mix together, but it does.

Then I put everything in a glass bowl, and I should have used a bigger one, but whatever it worked. I then put it over a pot of water on the stove, making it a double boiler. I watched it and stirred it every half minute or so until it all melted together and was fluid.

See? I told you it would all work out.

I then quickly moved over to my pan and took a quick picture. In the time it took me to take the picture the top was crusting, so I mixed it up and poured it into my pan. I then took the salt and sprinkled it, and the top again crusted so fast that some of it did not stick properly. No big deal. I then put it in the fridge and left it for about 3 hours.

I took it out of the pan and it was too soft, so this is the best picture you are going to get, but it was so good!

When I took it out to cut it really stuck to the paper so I thought maybe I had to leave it longer. So I wrapped it and left it over night. The next day I took it out and the same thing, it was sticking. So I cut it with a large knife, making sure to rinse with hot water and wipe it in between cuts then I sort of scrapped it off the paper and put it into containers and into the fridge. ( after I ate a few pieces for quality control)

People this fudge was amazing, and it still is as I have more than half of it left, and I don't plan to share! Only problem is I can only eat a little at a time, which I will have to do or I may end up sharing, I don't know. Either way, this was a nice easy fudge for a beginner like me, and I will make it again for sure.

Cake Boss Cookie - Brownie Walnut Bites

2012-01-01T13:39:00.000-05:00

They are way bigger than what Buddy made!

Firstly I just wanted to say happy new years! We had a nice night, we went out to city hall for some outdoor skating. Then we came home and watched the TV specials and ate yummy stuff. We stayed up late, and I am so tired. Hubby is trying to fix the kitchen sink and I have about 100 cookies to bake today. So it should be a sort of busy day, but I plan to do it all in my PJ's so you know, it could be worse. So here is my first post for the year, since last year my most viewed post was a cake boss one, I did another one. So enjoy, and I look forward to a year full of yummies I can share. Oh and I need to win the lottery, so you know, I am being realistic about my new year.

So I made Cake Boss Cookies a while back. They were the most tasty cookie I have had in a long time. I think mine looked ugly, but seriously I have thought about making them again every day since. I plan to try and make mini ones this year. You know mini makes them less calories and makes for a good new years resolution right?

Anyway when I first got the new cake boss book, this recipe for Brownie Walnut Bites was what jumped out at me. I loved the fact that they had very few ingredients and that they looked somewhat easy. The only problem being that Hubby cannot be in the house when I bake with nuts, the smell bothers him. He is allergic, which is good and bad. Good because I get to eat all the things I make with nuts without sharing. Bad because he could die, you know because I need him around to take out the garbage and stuff. So I cannot use nuts while he is home. So when I had a free evening and Hubby took my son with him to a party, I was so excited! I had plans people, and they involved baking with nuts. I know, my life is boring. You don't have to tell me.

All ready to go! Please ignore the double lemon juice thingies, I will learn to photo shop one day. Not today obviously.

So for my Hubby free evening I had plans to make these cookies, Nutella fudge and to wrap Christmas gifts. This was also the day I worked my first shift at my new part time job, after watching my son play hockey. I was up late, and I was tired. So the pictures are bad, no worse than usual I guess. But at least I have an excuse right.

Brownie Walnut Bites
From Baking with the Boss

Set oven to 325 (I did it at 300 since I have a convection oven)

-3 extra large egg whites
-1/2 TSP lemon juice
-1 1/2 cups icing sugar
-1/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
-1 1/2 cups walnut halves

Whip egg whites and lemon juice for 2 minutes on low, then on high for 5 minutes until still peaks form.
Sift dry ingredients and fold into the egg whites.
Fold in the walnut and mix until they are all covered.
Place spoonfuls on parchment lined cookie sheet.
Bake for 12-18 minutes, until the bottoms pull away from the paper.

So to start I got set up with all my ingredients, which was not much. A few eggs, sugar, lemon juice, walnuts and cocoa powder. I also put my mixing bowl in the sink, filled it with hot water and some white vinegar. I put my whip attachment and spatula in and let them sit while I got everything measured. When you are working with egg whites, you need a grease free bowl and whisk or you may not be able to get your eggs to whisk up as they should.

I may have over beat the egg whites, maybe just a little.

So I followed what Buddy said and got my lemon juice and egg whites going. I just set the timer and let them go. Now my egg whites did not get stiff peaks, I think I may have gone a minute too long as they were all stuck in my whisk, but I was not going to try again so I went ahead and carried on.

Right about here I was ready to give up, it looked just wrong.

When I put the icing sugar and cocoa in and started to fold them in, I thought I had ruined them. The stuff would not mix in, and then I got frustrated and mixed a bit harder. And it all came together. But I if I had more patience I would have had a fluffier mix. Oh well, I will never learn. Anyway I added the walnuts and folded them in until they were all covered.

A little better but I over mixed them, as usual, and they really deflated.

Then I took two table spoons and scooped out a spoon full and then used the other to push the dough off. I did not get nice cookies, just sort of puddles but you know, they all taste the same. Maybe next time I will use my ice cream scooper thingy, it might be better.

I could not get a nice shape, so they turned into puddles.

They set up nicely when they were baked.

I baked them for 12 minutes then checked and thought I needed another 3 minutes. They were a bit over cooked I thought, but they still had nice chewy centers so not too bad.

I am very happy with how they looked.

The picture is horrible, but you can sort of see how chewy the inside was.

I think they are nice and light, not heavy like a brownie. I have not found anything else in the book I want to try yet, so we will see. I have a tonne of other cook books to look through, oh and I scored a cake mix book. Right up my alley, all recipes start with a cake mix. Remember if you have to crack an egg, it is home made!

So thanks so much to all my readers and my followers, I really get a little thrill when I see a new follower and comments, I get giddy. I am a dork I know:) I hope this year brings me some great things to share, maybe a new big kitchen aid ( a girl can dream) and you know, a happy healthy family. But you know where my priorities are, I can admit it. Happy new years all.

Chocolate Covered Bacon

2011-12-28T14:05:00.005-05:00

I bet you would not know there was bacon in there if I had not told you!

I can hear my arteries clogging as I type. I know it sort of sounds gross, and it also sort of sounds wrong. But trust me, if you try it you will understand. Also as this will most likely be my last post this year, I hope that you make a resolution with me to try new and crazy things. Even if it is just bacon, try it!

I first heard about chocolate covered bacon on some food show. Not sure if it was one of those "Look at the crazy fair food we tried" or what but I saw it and wanted it.

As with many things I want, I don't get them. Do you know how hard it is to find chocolate covered bacon? Well maybe it is easier now, but a few years ago it was not. I think I finally found it at this super expensive grocery store, that is owned my Mark McEwan. I'm not sure if he is big all over, but here in Toronto he is huge. He even has a restaurant near my work.

Anyway Hubby and I were at this store and we were both like kids in a candy store. I know, bad analogy for this, but you know what I am saying. But most of the stuff was so costly, we ended up with some drinks, a few yogurts and a bar of chocolate covered bacon. The bar cost almost $10. The price wasn't listed, and you know if you have to ask..... And I didn't want to look as poor as we are, I wanted to buy my chocolate covered hog with dignity. I think it worked.

Yes that is a plate of bacon, there is nothing else I can say about that.

Anyway I ate that bar nice and slow, only because I was less than a year out from my gastric bypass and you are not supposed to have sugar. I know myself better now, and usually know how much I can have. Even when I shouldn't have any, but you know a little won't kill me. I really don't eat as much as I say I do here, to me eating a lot is a whole cookie, so I am being good. Anyway that bar, it was awesome. My kid, "pork chop" ( A whole blog post of it's own) as I call him, liked it. I was upset, I wanted it all for me. So I told him it was all gone, you know, just to make sure he did not get into a bad habit of wanting chocolate with his bacon.

So I loved it, and wanted more, but how can you justify that much money? I sure couldn't. We even found some in the Florida airport, small bars, I bought like 8. The lady said "so, I guess you like those eh?" She may or may not have been judging me, I choose to think she just didn't understand the Canadian bacon thing. You know, we have our own bacon here, so I just let her ring me up and walked away. No use in explaining it to her, she would have been embarrassed.

This whole box costs about $4 so not nearly as much as the whole bacon bar at the store cost me.

So I thought of some fast things to make with my little man at home before the holidays and this was one of them. I asked him if he would like to make chocolate covered bacon and he gave me the look, you know, the one where they think you are the best mom ever? Yeah it didn't last, but I had my moment.

As it turns out, X box was more important than bacon to him this time, which is fine, more for me.

I didn't measure the chocolate, just sort of guessed.

So I started with a box of pre cooked bacon. I did not want to spend the time to fry up a whole bunch of bacon, making the house smell like a diner. Exspecially since I had cakes to bake too. So I microwaved the whole pack on paper towels and got it nice and crispy. I then used my mini food processor to grind it up, I left some larger bits, but mostly it was chopped up.

It looks so wrong, but trust me it is good, really good.

I then melted candy melts, because it's what I had and they set up so nicely. I mixed it all together and put it into a disposable pipping bag and filled up my silicone mold. I think next time I will use a thinner mold, or do them less full. These are some thick chocolates. But man are they good.

It looks sort of gross, and lumpy but that is just all the bacony goodness.

So once my mold was filled I put it in the fridge for 30 minutes, then popped out my bacon chocolates.

I was happy with how they turned out, not as good as the $10 bar, but not bad at all. I plan to share some of it, and see if I can convert some of my friends to my dark weird ways.

Give it a try, it is a neat experience.

You can sort of see the bacon chunks in there. I know, not too appealing to look at.

I've also joined the Overflowing with Creativity Blog hop, come check it out!

I am also linking up with Sweet Temptations!