Melly's Mouthful

Cooking with Kids: Easter Egg Nest Cookies

2012-03-27T11:40:00.000-04:00

I love Easter baking. I don't know if it is the sweet pastel colors or the cute little animals, but I look forward to this season every year. This year I had just the project in mind. Cute little nests full of Easter eggs, all on top of a cookie.

Back in August, my nephew came to stay at my house for a sleep over and I decided to have him "help" me bake some cookies. Really, I had dough left over from another project so I rolled some out and let him add sprinkles and things before we baked them. And boy was that a success. He grinned from ear to ear during the whole thing and then he went home and he spoke of nothing other than "I made cookies with Missa" for weeks. So when I was planning out this little project, I knew just who to hire as my sous chef.

In fact, I'm going to let the little ChooChoo explain how we made these cookies.

First Missa baked some cookies out of her favorite sugar cookie dough made with vanilla and brought them to my house. She also brought some peanut M&Ms and royal icing tinted with brown.

Next, I helped her squeeze some of the icing in some rough circles around and around and around the cookies.

Then, I picked an M&M

And then I put the M&M right in the middle of the icing. Missa says that three M&Ms fit best but I sometimes liked to put four in.

All done! Now we had to wait for them to dry. I didn't like this part at all, but I went out to dinner with Mommy, Missa, Titi and Ahn so I didn't mind too much.

After dinner, the cookies were done!

Missa kept saying they were super cute, but I just think they were yummy!

Custard? Good. Jam? Good. Meat? Gooood! (English Trifle)

2012-03-20T18:00:00.001-04:00

If you can hear the word "Trifle" and not think of that episode of "Friends" where Rachel makes a traditional English Trifle which includes a layer of lady fingers, a layer of jam, fresh custard - which she made from scratch - and ground beef mixed with peas and onions, well then I don't even know what to do with you. Here... watch it and then we can proceed.

Done? Ok, let's go.

Since both my sister and I got married in 2010, we had to do some finagling with our family's holiday celebration schedule. We knew one thing, that we wanted to make sure that we still got to celebrate our holidays together so we proposed an alternating schedule with our husbands' families. In 2010, we celebrated Thanksgiving with our respective in-laws and Christmas with our family. This means that in 2011, we celebrated Thanksgiving with our family and Christmas with the in-laws. My mother does not react well to this situation. So in an effort to appease everyone, we agreed that we would gather at my parents house to celebrate Christmas on the 26th.

I of course volunteered to bring the dessert.

And since December 26th is celebrated as Boxing Day in Great Britain, I decided to make a Traditional English Trifle as our dessert.

My mom used to make trifle for parties in the late 80s and I will never forget the joy of seeing that trifle bowl on the table and knowing that I would get to snag a few scraps of yellow cake as she cut it up to fit into this tasty layered dessert. As I progressed into adult life, the thought of yellow cake combined with fruit and whipped cream filled me with great joy. What I'm saying is, how I haven't made myself a Trifle yet is beyond me.

We're going to start the night before you need the Trifle with a pre-cooked yellow cake. I used this recipe, but since you are going to cut it up, let it get stale and layer it with delicious jam and cream, you could easily use a boxed mix of your choice. I baked mine in two round cake pans so that it would fit better into the trifle bowl, but my mom always baked hers in 1/4 sheet pans. Made for more scraps. I was always a fan of more scraps.

Cut the cakes into rough squares and lay them out on a baking pan to dry out.

I also went ahead and put the first layer into the trifle bowl. I used the curved edges along the border so that each layer will fully show from the outside. I then filled in the center with a random center piece.

See how the layer is nice and even and the edges all touch the glass? That is why I chose to use round cake pans. Now you could be asking, why didn't I just use cake pans the size of the trifle bowl for a solid layer? Well there are three main reason: a) The trifle bowl gets a bit wider as it goes up, so that would have required three different size pans; 2) You actually want the grooves and breaks between the pieces for the jam to settle in; d) 8" pans are what I had, so 8" pans are what I used, done and done.

Next grab your closest bottle of booze. The traditional choice is cooking sherry but I had brandy on hand from some sangria we'd made at the end of the summer. So brandy is what I used. Pour some into a small cup and grab a pastry brush.

Apply the brandy over the cake pieces with the brush. You can go as heavy or as light as you are comfortable with.

Finally, place clean dish towels over the soaked cake pieces and let them sit over night. This will allow the alcohol to evaporate and for the flavor to settle in.

While the cake is setting, we're going to move on to the custard. For my Trifle, I decided I didn't want a super custard-ey filling, instead I opted to use a light and delicious pastry cream. Because I can.

Start by bringing milk and 1/4 cup of sugar to a simmer over medium heat.

When the milk and sugar have come to a simmer, add some vanilla bean paste. Give it a gentle stir and remove the pot from the heat.

Meanwhile, combine another 1/4 cup of sugar with 6 egg yolks.

Whisk them together until they are light yellow and frothy.

Add in the flour and whisk just to combine.

Next, we need to temper the eggs by adding 1/2 cup of the milk mixture into the egg mixture all the while whisking swiftly.

Whisk for one minute to full combine the milk with the eggs.

Finally, pour the egg mixture into the pan containing the rest of the milk mixture and return it to medium heat.

Using a spatula, gently stir the cream for about a minute until it fully thickens to the point where you can dip a small metal spoon into the cream and it doesn't drip.

Remove the cream from the heat, add in the butter and stir until it is all melted and combined. Avoid the temptation to lick the spoon and then finish off the potful of this sweet and delicious cream.

Pour the cream into a bowl and cover it with plastic wrap pressed right up against the top so that a skin doesn't form. Put the bowl in the refrigerator and let it chill over night.

Fast forward to the next day, it is time to assemble.

Start by pulling the cream out of the refrigerator and giving it a gentle stir. Next, pour a jar of seedless raspberry jam into a bowl and give it a stir to smooth it out.

To assemble, spread some of the jam over the first layer of cake. Make sure to spread all the way to the outside so that you'll see all the layers from the side. Also make sure to fill in all the gaps in the middle.

Next, layer on a third of the cream.

On top of the cream, add another layer of cake.

Lather, rinse, repeat for three total layers.

Cover the top layer with plastic wrap - once again pressed into the cream to keep a skin from forming - and place it in the refrigerator until it is time for the party.

When you are ready to serve, top the Trifle with some fresh whipped cream just to the top of the bowl.

Delicious!

To serve, spoon out pieces and enjoy.

Shopping List for Traditional English Trifle - Serves about 20 people

Cooked Yellow Cake
Cooking Sherry or Brandy to Taste
12oz Seedless Raspberry Jam
Vanilla Bean Pastry Cream

2 Cups Milk
1/2 Cup Sugar (divided)
1 Tsp Vanilla Bean Paste
6 Egg Yolks
4 Tablespoons Flour
4 Tablespoons Butter (regular salted stuff)

Enjoy!

Top O' The Mornin' To Ya

2012-03-15T16:58:00.001-04:00

No, literally. Hubby is so obsessed with St. Patrick's Day - despite only being about 1/16th Irish - that he is insisting we go to our favorite Irish Pub at 8 in the AM this Saturday. In order to make it through, I decided I'd need sustenance. In the form of cake and frosting of course.

Last year, I made my first green velvet cupcakes per Hubby's request and I was all set to make another batch this year - why fix what ain't broke right? But then I started thinking, the first thing Hubby does whenever he is presented with a cupcake is to break the bottom off and put it on top of the frosting like a sandwich.

So I said to myself: "Self, why not cut out the middle step and just make him a cupcake sandwich?" aka a Whoopie Pie. But of course, I had to make a Green Velvet Whoopie Pie!

I originally tried using my tried and true Red Velvet recipe with just a reduction in liquids but that was an epic fail! I then went searching through the internet, but I just couldn't get on board with using brown sugar or a full 1/4 cup of cocoa since I still wanted them to taste red velvet-ey. I finally decided to slightly alter a recipe I found on Tasty Kitchen.

I started by creaming together the butter and sugar.

While the machine did its work, I combined the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt together.

Once the butter is creamed, I added the egg and vanilla and gave it another good whirl to combine.

While it whirled this time, I added some green good coloring to the buttermilk. I actually ended up adding more green once it was all combined so don't be afraid to add a lot.

With the mixer on low, alternately add the dry ingredients and the buttermilk mixture beginning and ending with the dry ingredient.

Since whoopie pies are essentially the wonderful result of a cake and a cookie having a baby, you want to make sure not to over mix the batter.

Once it is all combined, I filled a piping bag that I put into a pint glass for stability.

I then snipped the end off, fairly low down to make a nice small opening.

Using the piping bag, I laid out my circles by applying gentle pressure for about 5 seconds which gave me circles about 1.5 inches in diameter.

Bake for 8-10 minutes in a 375 degree oven. You can see I put mine a little close together and the top row ended up being a little smaller (those were piped before I put the 5 second count together.)

You will know they are done when you can gently touch the top and you can't see the depression.

Put them on a wire rack to cool the same way you would a sugar cookie.

Once they cooled, I matched up the cookies into same sized pairs.

And piped on some cream cheese frosting with an open star tip.

I gently placed the top cookie on the frosting. I only gently pushed down to secure it on the frosting, but not enough to cause the frosting to ooze out. I then placed the tray in the refrigerator to solidify the frosting.

While the pies chilled, I melted some white chocolate and readied a piping bag

I gently drizzled the pies with white chocolate and put them back in the fridge to allow the chocolate a chance to set.

Not before snagging one to have a taste test. YUM!

Look how cute these guys are. They will make the perfect breakfast, snack, treat or dessert for our super long day on Saturday.

To make them easier to store in my purse, I wrapped each one in wax paper.

Such a delicious little package. I can't wait.

Shopping List for Green Velvet Whoopie Pies - Yields 15 Pies

2-¼ cups All-purpose Flour
¼ cups Cocoa Powder
½ teaspoons Baking Powder
½ teaspoons Baking Soda
¼ teaspoons Salt
¾ cups Butter, At Room Temperature
1 cup White Sugar
1 whole Egg
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
¾ cups Buttermilk
Green Gel Food Coloring
Cream Cheese Frosting

Sunflower Cookie Pops

2012-03-13T17:03:00.000-04:00

The weather has been extraordinarily glorious the last few days and to celebrate, I've spent the day today making iced tea and sitting on my balcony reading, soaking up the Vitamin D and airing out the house from all the winter mustiness.

In honor of the quickly approaching spring time, I thought I'd share this wonderful sun-flower cookie pop with you guys and hopefully it'll help brighten your day even if you haven't had to chance to get outside yet.

I'm not going to lie, this is a very Martha-esque process (just 87 easy steps!) and it will take you a few days. But there is plenty that you can do in advance and just assemble when you are ready. Or you can spend an entire long weekend making these cookies and then freeze them. Your choice. Either way, I beg you to make these. They are perfect in any season.

Start with my favorite sugar cookies dough (I made these with lemon flavor and I think it really goes along nicely with the flower motif) and some royal icing.

Tint a little of the icing brown and then the rest of it can be tinted sunflower yellow. To get the sunflower yellow, I used mostly yellow but then a drop or two of orange and one or two drops of brown. Just keep playing with the icing color until you get a nice warm, golden yellow. You'll be putting the yellow icing aside for a little while. To store it, I split it into an outline and a flood batch and then stored the outline icing all wrapped up in the piping bags in a pint glass in the fridge with a damp paper towel at the bottom of the glass. The flood icing was poured into a squeeze bottle and left on the counter.

For the first actual step in constructing these pretty sunflowers you'll need: a sheet of parchment paper; a small circle cookie cutter, an edible ink marker and brown royal icing loosened with a little bit of water - it shouldn't be a thin as flood icing, but you want it a little runnier than a standard outline.

Start by tracing circles onto the parchment paper.

With the parchment paper taped down, pipe the brown icing into circles following the guidelines you traced with the cookie cutter.

You need to leave these to dry for at least a day.

While the sunflower centers are drying, I went ahead and made myself some cute little leaves to tie the cellophane bag shut. If you don't plan on bagging your sunflowers, you can skip this step. But I think it really adds a little extra dimension to the flowers.

Using green pipe cleaners, I started by folding one in half in an wide open v- shape. Next, fold one side about half way down and wrap the tail around the stem and back up again to make a leaf shape. Repeat this on the other side. You'll be able to wrap this finished product around the cookie pop stem the same way you would use a twist tie.

When the brown circles are dry, use a small offset spatula to scrape them off the parchment paper.

Meanwhile, mix up a teaspoon of meringue powder and 1/2 cup water in a cup and prepare to add some glitter in the form of brown sanding sugar. Using a clean (food only) paint brush, apply the meringue liquid to a royal icing circle. Dunk the circle into the sanding sugar and place it back on the parchment paper to dry. You can see in the 3rd picture that my circles weren't COMPLETELY dry. It definitely made them a bit messier to remove from the parchment and I lost two of them to breakage while I dipped them - but that is why I always make a few extra.

While the centers continue drying, it is time to make the actual cookies (finally!) Following the instructions on inserting a pop stick into a cookie and a flower shaped cookie cutter from Wilton that I bought at Michael's gave me a couple dozen of these little cuties. Remember, always freeze/chill your cut out dough before baking and make sure you oven is hot enough to keep the spreading down.

Once the cookies were good and chilled, I laid them out on still more parchment paper to get ready for decorating.

After outlining each flower, fully fill each one with the yellow icing you had made the other day.

Using a toothpick, spread the icing to fill all the corners.

Now, very gently place one of you glittery brown circles in the center of the flower. Be careful with this step since once you place the circle, it is hard to move around without messing up the rest of the icing.

Now let the icing dry over night before bagging them up. I also went ahead and piped an outline around the flower giving the petals a little extra dimension. But, I forgot to take a picture of that since it was kind of spur of the moment.

Either way, once the cookies are dry, place each one in a treat sized bag and tie the bag right under the flower with one of the pipe cleaners.

And voila! The perfect bouquet to brighten up your spring day.

Pastels do Vovozinha (translation: delicious little pockets of meat)

2012-02-22T17:18:00.000-05:00

I just recently decided to give up fried foods for Lent, and as today is Ash Wednesday I figured the perfect recipe to feature today would be my favorite little fried bits of heaven: Pastels do Vovozinha.

A few years ago, Hubby came with me to Brazil for the first time to attend a cousin's wedding and meet my grandparents for the first time. Oh and he conveniently planned to proposed to me on this trip so that my Brazilian grandparents who miss out of so much of my life, could experience this milestone. Again, he's a keeper.

But before that perfect moment where he asked me to marry him on a beach at sunset, we had to travel 14 hours on a plane and then another hour in a rickety van. So when we arrived at my grandparents' apartment, he was just a touch grouchy. It didn't help matters that since the elevators in Brazil are typically very small, I went up with my mom and the first load of our luggage, leaving Hubby and my dad - neither of whom speak Portuguese - on the street with the driver and then my grandfather held me hostage insisting on giving me a tour of the changes he'd made to what would be Hubby's room and assuring me that he'd be comfortable. Anybody who knows my grandfather knows that the man can talk. Fifteen minutes later (after 2 more loads of luggage went up before him) Hubby finally arrived in the apartment, sweaty, tired and a bit cranky that I had ditched him so quickly into our vacation.

I soothed him the only way I knew how. I handed him one of these delectable little pockets of meat straight out of the pan where my grandmother (the aforementioned Vovozinha) was frying them up. He asked me what it was and I instructed him to just try it. He did and asked me again what it was and why I had given him one. I was a bit nervous at this reaction (who doesn't like a little fried pocket of meat?) but he then clarified why had I given him ONLY one, he needed at least a dozen. I explained that they were "pastels" (pronounced pash-tells) and that my grandmother had made them for us. I showed him the platter full of done ones, the pan full of in process ones and the plate full waiting to be fried and instantly his mood was lifted. Success.

Cut to two months later at our engagement party. We obviously had to have the pastels and were able to find a lady who could make them in large quantities for our 40 guests. I knew the instant they were put out because within moments, guests started finding me and asking me what "those delicious little pockets of meat" were. I'd explain that they were called pastels, be met with a blank stare, try to explain that they are a Brazilian version of empanadas but they are lighter and airier and the meat mixture is purely Brazilian in it's flavor profile, be met with another blank stare and so on until finally I just started agreeing that yes they were delicious little pockets of meat which was met with a big smile, a nod and the person going back inside for another one.

Waiting two years for my next visit to Brazil to have another Pastel was clearly not an option, so one day I asked my mother to give me the recipe that my grandmother uses and tried it out for myself.

Start by heating a large pan over medium high heat and adding some green stuff. Wait, you don't know what "green stuff" is? How could you not? This is actually one of my grandmother's secret ingredients. It is actually just onions, water and a little bit of salt pureed together and stored in the refrigerator. And no, this batch has not gone bad (a question I'm asked almost monthly when Hubby starts cleaning out the refrigerator) the oxidization process once the onions are chopped up and exposed to air turns the mixture green. It is the same process that turns potatoes or apples brown when they are cut. The next time I make a batch, I promise I will take pictures of it because this stuff is magical. I use it as a base for almost everything.

If you don't have green stuff and don't want to make yourself a batch, you can also dice up some onions and sweat them out with a little bit of olive oil and a pinch of salt.

Ignore the pot of sauerkraut on the back burner. I actually photographed the batch I made for Hubby's birthday back in October, but I haven't had to chance to write them up until now.

Once the onions are translucent (or the green stuff has heated through) add in a pound of lean ground beef. Break up the beef as it cooks and keep it in motion until is is cooked through and nice and brown. At this point you should have quite a bit of grease from the meat. If you used a nice lean packet of ground beef, this is fine. If you used a regular variety, I'd suggest spooning off about 1/2 of the fat.

Next add two roma tomatoes that you've diced into nice small pieces.

And some chopped green olives. As I do with pretty much any dish I make with olives, I also add a splash of the liquid from the olive jar. You can't replicate that briny saltiness.

Stir the olives and the tomatoes around until the tomatoes shrink about 50% and most of the juice has cooked off and then add in the parsley.

Stir the mixture around for a few more minutes until all the liquid has cooked off. Remember, this pan is still on medium/high so it won't take too long. Don't be worried about overcooking it. You really can't. At this point take a few tastes of the meat and make sure you like the seasoning. You might need to add more salt or more parsley.

Take the mixture off the stove and let it cool. You'll have to keep a close watch on this since if somebody finds out it is on the stove, they will periodically walk into the kitchen and "test" it until you have only half left.

When the meat mixture has cooled, it is time to wrap them.

I found these wrappers in the freezer section of my international market. They are by Goya and are called "empanada wrappers" but I have found that they are thinner and not nearly as doughy as standard empanadas. I also take the opportunity to roll them out a little thinner before I add the meat. My mother likes to cut hers in half, but on this occasion I made full ones. I'll admit, they were a little on the larger side, so I'd probably cut them in half next time.

Whether you cut them in half or not, to assemble them I spooned a couple of spoonfuls of meat mixture into the center. Make sure to get a few olives in each one. There is something magical when you get a bite with an olive since most people don't expect that taste in an pocket of meat.

Fold the wrapper over onto itself and then using a fork, press the edges together. You will have to press hard.

Flip the pocket over and press the other side. This is crucial to make sure the edges are tightly sealed. There is nothing worse than one of these pockets opening up in the pan. Trust me, I know.

In the package, the wrappers are divided by these little plastic sheets, so as I finish each pocket I wrapped it back in the plastic. This way they won't stick together and you can only make a few at a time. Wrapped and covered, these can sit in the refrigerator for a few days or even be frozen.

Now, pretend I wasn't a complete space cadet and took pictures of the frying process. I plead insanity since at the time that these were being fried I was also frying schnitzel and mashing potatoes for Hubby's Birthday Feast. But the frying is fairly basic. Just put about 3" of vegetable oil in a pan, heat it up until it sizzles when you flick some flour into it. Lower the heat to medium and add the Pastels in batches of 2-3 (depending on the size of your pan) let them fry for 2 minutes on each side or until they are golden brown like this.

When they are golden on each side, remove them onto a cookie sheet lined with paper towels to absorb the excess oil and try to keep grabby hands from taking them as soon as they are pulled from the pan. They are best when served warm so I'd say make small batches and then fry more as needed. But if you want to put them out for a cocktail party, they will still be good even when room temperature.

Now that my mouth is watering and my tummy is grumbling, I should go and make myself my meat free dinner like a good little Catholic. It's gonna be a long 40 days. Something tells me I'll be making a batch of these babies for Easter.

Shopping List for Pastels do Vovozinha (makes about 12 large pockets)

2 Tbsp Green Stuff (or 1 Tsp olive oil and 1 small onion)
1 lb Lean Ground Beef
2 Roma Tomatoes
1/2 Cup Chopped Green Olives
2 Tbsp Dried Parsley Flakes
12 Goya Empanada Wrappers
Vegetable Oil for Frying

Enjoy!

The Perfect Way to SayYou Care - Conversation Heart Cupcakes

2012-02-14T16:00:00.000-05:00

I know I don't usually post twice a day (heck, I'm lucky if I can get two a week done) but today - since it's Valentine's Day - I decided I couldn't not share these with you. And since they start with a red velvet cupcake which I posted about earlier today, they kind of go together.

When I think of Valentine's Day, I think of two things: Whitman's chocolate sampler and Necco Conversation Hearts. I always hated the conversation hearts. They are very cute and they are a standard - especially in elementary school when the whole class exchanges valentines - but to me they are deceptively chalky and boring. I've heard that in recent years, Necco has remade them and they are now fruity and more like sweet tarts, but I haven't tried the new variety because I can't get over the memory with how they used to taste. But regardless of how I feel, there is no denying that Conversation Hearts are a quintessential part of Valentine's Day. And now, I've finally found a way to share Conversation Hearts and still like the taste of them!

How cute are these?? They start with a basic red velvet cupcake and cream cheese frosting (or really any flavor combination that you feel like using) with the charm being in the cute little fondant toppers with conversation hearts messages written with food coloring markers. At first I didn't love that the markers gave kind of a faded look to them, but then I opened a package of the candies and I realized in real life, the color is faded. Done and done.

Working with fondant tends to be a little intimidating, but for a small cupcake topper, it's actually not that hard. You will need some wax paper, crisco, toothpicks, food writer markers, gel food colorings, white fondant, a cutter (heart in this case), gloves and a rolling pin.

Line the counter with some waxed paper and put a little piece of the fondant down. Make sure to keep the fondant you aren't using wrapped up so that it doesn't dry out. Using a toothpick, add little bits of color at a time. For the conversation hearts, we want some nice pastels so less is more with the food coloring.

While wearing the gloves, knead the color into the fondant as if you're playing with silly putty or pulling taffy. Use a little bit of crisco if the fondant starts to get too stiff.

To roll out the fondant, put another piece of waxed paper on top of the pile and roll it out.

Again, you can use a little crisco to rub out any lines that may have been left by the waxed paper. And then just punch out a bunch of hearts.

Transfer the hearts to a cookie sheet lined with more waxed paper.

Proceed with the rest of the colors: pink, yellow, orange, green and violet. Technically, conversation hearts also come in white, but a white heart on top of white frosting is a little boring. Set this sheet aside in a cool, dry area to dry for a few hours.

Funny, I totally had a sweater with this pattern when I was younger and I would totally wear it on Valentine's Day

After a few hours, when the hearts are all good and dry, it is time to write the messages on them.

Half of these got some pretty generic, friendly messages since they were going to my father's office. But the other half got the classic messages like "be mine," "kiss me," and "xoxo."

To decorate your cupcakes, you can do a nice flat swirl of frosting. I chose not to do too high of a pile, instead swirling from the inside out, so that the hearts had a good flat surface to sit on.

And then just place the hearts on the center and they are ready for you to tell someone how you really feel about them.

I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day and take the time to tell someone how you feel about them.

Classic Red Velvet Cupcakes For a Modern Valentine

2012-02-14T14:11:00.001-05:00

Red (or any color) Velvet Cupcakes are by far the favorite dessert in my household and with the built in color coordination, they were the perfect option when my mother asked me to make some cupcakes for her CCD class.

Her only request was for something "valentin-ey" which you would think would be simple, but I don't do anything simple. I didn't want to just settle for some basic sprinkles or a pressed sugar topper. Since the recipients are a bunch of 14 year olds, I wanted something young and hip (do the kids today still say hip?) and when I think "young and hip" I think "hot pink sparkles."

Yeah. That just happened.

As I mentioned, I started with my favorite Red Velvet Recipe. I originally got this recipe when I was looking for Green Velvet Cupcakes from the amazing Bakerella and since I get so many compliments on it, I've never even considered changing it up. In fact, I use this recipe a lot. I've altered the color, taken out the cocoa, replaced the oil with butter, etc. It is just a really great basic cake recipe. And, it doesn't require a mixer which is made of win in my book.

I start by combining the flour, sugar, cocoa, salt and baking soda in a bowl and whisking them together.

I set that aside and then I add the oil, eggs, vanilla, vinegar and red food coloring to the buttermilk (or in my case 1tbsp vinegar mixed with skim milk and left to sit on the counter for a few minutes)

Once the wet ingredients are all mixed together, I add them to the dry ingredients and whisk until they are just barely combined.

In an effort to make all the cupcakes uniform, I like to use an ice cream scoop. It took me quite a while to find the ultimate cupcake scooper. I knew I needed an ice cream scoop that had the little scraper device and I knew I needed it to be about 1/4 cup in volume. I also knew I didn't want to spend the $20 that the bake shop near me was asking or a "cupcake scoop". I just flat out refused. Even the $12 I'd seen them selling for at Bed, Bath and Beyond was a little rich for my blood. And then one day I found this little beauty at the ice cream shop near my old office for $1.50! What?!? Excellent. For that price, I bought two! It may be a little smaller than 1/4 cup, but it was close enough for me. If you don't have an ice scream scoop, a 1/4 cup measuring cup will work just fine, but you may have to scrape the batter out a little.

Now put these in the oven at 350 degrees for 17 - 20 minutes. Red Velvet, like chocolate, tends to burn and/or dry out if it goes too long in the oven so I'd start checking around the 17 minute mark. Also, if your oven is like mine and tends to run a little cool, you can pre-heat your oven to 400, and then knock it back to 350 right before you put the cupcakes in. That way they will be sure to be nice and round on top since that hit of heat is what makes the baking soda activate. Look at that, I just used my science degree. It's about damn time I used that thing for something.

After you remove the cupcakes, let them cool completely and then it is time to frost!

Start with a stick of room temperature butter (regular salted stuff) in your mixer with a paddle attachment. Give it a quick mix just to break it up a bit and then add the cream cheese (full fat is a must. Trust me, it is a chemical thing. See, science again!) Give that a quick whirl and then add the vanilla bean paste - if you don't have any that is fine, you can use vanilla extract, but if you are going to make more than one batch of this frosting, it would be totally worth it to buy a small jar of the paste. It lasts a really long time and it makes a real difference in the taste of the frosting. Also add in the powdered sugar and then, finally, the milk. Add less milk if you want a stiffer frosting. Give the mixture a quick stir on low, just until all the sugar incorporates and then kick it up to medium high for about 5 minutes until you have a bowl full of them most delicious cream cheese frosting ever made - if I do say so myself.

Now for this particular design, I decided I wanted, in addition to the pink sparkles, for the frosting itself to be pink, so I broke out my pink gel color and added a small drop. Remember, you can always make it darker, it's really hard to make it lighter so start small.

Once the frosting was my desired color of pink, I used a frosting bag with no tip, I just cut it at a nice wide-ish place. I was going for more of a flat frosting and I definitely could have just spread the frosting on the cupcakes with a knife, but I wanted the edges to be even and round, hence the bag. Just hold the bag straight up and apply pressure, the blob will spread nice and evenly for a nice flat circle.

Next, I made some simple little stencils out of parchment paper and a little cookie cutter. I decided I wanted both a positive and a negative impression which worked out really nicely because that meant, each heart I cut out was actually two stencils. At first I hoped that I'd be able to use just one stencil over and over again and if I'd made them out of something more durable and maybe sprayed them with cooking spray first that may have worked. But, I didn't. It also probably would have been smart to get myself a shape punch and make my life a whole lost easier. But, I didn't. What can I say, I'm a glutton for punishment.

Regardless, once the shapes were cut out, I positioned them on the cupcakes and applied a little pressure just to make sure there were no gaps.

Then I took each cupcake and dipped it straight down into a plate full of the sparkling sugar.

Finally, I very gently removed the parchment paper (I also used a toothpick to smooth out any lumps or stray sparkles) and voila, super cute modern but classic Valentine's Cupcakes!

These are so simple, you could whip up a batch for some one special today!

Or since, today is Valentine's Day, and you probably already made whatever treats you're going to make, you could easily change up the color pallet and the shape and make a fun treat for any occasion.

Shopping List for Melly's Favorite Red Velvet Cupcakes (makes 24 cupcakes)

2 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour
2 Cups Sugar
1 Heaping Tbsp Cocoa Powder
1 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Baking Soda
1 Cup Buttermilk
1 Cup Vegetable Oil
2 Large Eggs
1 Tsp Vanilla
1 Tbsp Vinegar
1 Tsp Red Gel Food Coloring

Shopping List for Melly's Favorite Cream Cheese Frosting

1 Stick Salted Butter
1 8oz Package of Full Fat Cream Cheese
1 Tsp Vanilla Bean Paste
4 Cups Powdered Sugar
1 Tbsp of Milk

Happy Valentine's Day!

Dark Chocolate, Raspberry Tuxedo Cake - Be Still My Heart

2012-02-10T16:02:00.000-05:00

Wooo I'm back y'all! Well kind of. My Mac is still mostly dead* - CPR failed and I'm currently trying to find a Miracle Max to create a chocolate coated pill so it can return to it's true love (me) (and if you don't know what I'm talking about, it will make me very very sad.) (ahem) Speaking of true love, we are swiftly approaching the lovey-est of all Hallmark Holidays**. Valentines Day! And while I don't 100% buy into the whole creation of a holiday that needs a specific gift, I do adore thematic cooking. So I'm kind of conflicted.

Speaking of conflicted... no, not really, I had just kind of babbled my way into a corner and couldn't think of a segue.... let's talk cake!

I made this cake recently for my father's birthday, but the entire time I couldn't help think about how wonderful this cake would be for a nice sophisticated Valentine's Day celebration. With the moist chocolate cake, rich dark chocolate flour-less cake layer and light, fresh raspberry filling, how could you go wrong?

Let's get started shall we?

Start by combining the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder.

You could sift the dry ingredients together, or you could whisk them until they are all combined and all the clumps of cocoa powder are broken up.

Set the dry ingredients aside and start working on the wet ingredients. Add the vegetable oil to the buttermilk, followed by the eggs, vanilla extract and white vinegar.

Whisk the wet ingredients until they are all combined and then pour the wet mixture into the dry.

Mix the batter until it is just barely combined and then divide the batter into two greased and "floured" 9" cake pans. I opted to use cocoa powder to coat the pans because the cake is chocolate, but it really doesn't make much of a difference.

Put the pans in the oven for 25 -30 minutes at 350 degrees. You really want to watch these since chocolate cake can burn pretty easily and dry out. And nobody wants dry cake do you? No! So I'd say start checking on them around 20 minutes and if you pull the toothpick out and it is just a little covered with crumbs, err on the side of being slightly under cooked vs. over cooked and dry.

While the cakes are in the oven, I started working on the flour-less chocolate cake layer. I'm going to be honest with you, I love brownies, and flour-less chocolate cake is really just a really dense, large, brownie. My family went on a cruise for New Years and one day at the lunch buffet they had flour-less chocolate cake. I about died. I may have skipped lunch and just had the cake. And since I'm being honest, I feel compelled to admit I may have had seconds. And thirds. It was during this final tasting that my sister Jessi pointed out that I should make a cake that incorporated a flour-less chocolate cake as a layer. And she was right. I couldn't stop thinking about the delicious surprise of eating a piece of cake with slice of the flour-less chocolate cake right in there.

And the rest is history!

Start by melting some dark chocolate chips with an equal amount of butter.

Meanwhile, combine sugar and cocoa powder.

Pour the melted chocolate into the sugar/cocoa mixture.

Add in vanilla extract and stir it all to combine and to help cool the chocolate down.

Next crack your eggs directly into the bowl you melted the chocolate in. This will allow you to mix the eggs with the slightly warm chocolate to help temper them before adding them to the rest of the mixture.

Pour the eggs into the chocolate mixture and stir just until combined.

Pour the batter into a greased and floured 9" pan. I was planning on using cocoa powder to coat the pan the way I did with the chocolate cakes - but I ran out. It ended up just fine since this cake is just going to be a layer in the bigger cake and won't be seen. If you decide to just make the flour-less cake, definitely use the cocoa powder so that your beautiful dark chocolate cake won't be coated in white.

Bake this for 30 minutes in a 300 degree oven.

All right, we're getting close. You want all the cake layers to be fully cooled before you continue. In fact, I typically put my cake layers in the freezer before stacking so that they don't get as crumbly. While everything is chilling, go ahead and pull a block of cream cheese out of the fridge. We need it to be room temperature to make the raspberry filling.

When you are ready to assemble all your layers, it is time to make the raspberry mousse.

Begin by creaming the room temperature cream cheese. When the cream cheese is good and smooth, add in the seedless raspberry jam and mix again on medium until they are combined, smooth and glossy. Finally fold in the cool whip a little bit at a time until it is all combined.

Lovely. Again, this alone is divine. I can imagine serving this in a nice martini glass with some dark chocolate shavings on top. Yum. Or, oooh! In a dark chocolate candy shell! Can you tell I love the combination of raspberry and dark chocolate?

So let's stack this bad boy.

Start with your chocolate cake, flat side down. Pipe on an even layer of raspberry mousse. Next add on the flour-less chocolate cake layer. Add another layer of the mousse and top that with the final cake layer with the flat side up. I then took the rest of the mousse and did a quick crumb coat.

While this bad boy spends some time in the freezer firming up, I got to work making my favorite cooked frosting and sorting out my decorations. I recently discovered these amazing little treats. Dark chocolate covered acai berries and I knew they'd be the perfect accent border at the bottom of my cake. And with the heart healthy dark chocolate and the antioxident rich acai, they are practically health food. Almost. Maybe? Ok fine! They aren't. But I'm going to keep telling myself they are.

Half way through the chilling process, I checked on my cake and discovered it lilting a bit. Imagine my horror. Apparently the flour-less cake layer was too heavy for the mousse. So I also inserted a border of dark chocolate covered acai berries to each of the mousse layers for support. Pretend there is a picture of that here.

When the frosting is made, and the cake is chilled, go ahead and frost the cake. You don't have to worry about getting the frosting impeccably smooth because of what is about to happen.

Melt together a cup of dark chocolate chips and about 1/2 cup of milk. Meanwhile, place the berries in a nice border around the bottom of the cake. I went through and selected all the smaller flat berries so they would be a consistent size.

By the time you finish the border, you chocolate ganache should be done. And then you're going to do this.

Oh dear me. There is nothing finer than seeing molten chocolate drizzle onto a cake and ooze down the sides. Amazing. The drips will stop on their own as the chocolate cools. And voila! A delicious, rich cake that looks just as good as it tastes.

As I mentioned a few thousand words ago, I made this cake for my dad's birthday so the black and white style of a tuxedo cake was just perfect for a manly birthday. But if I were making this for Valentine's Day, I would totally tint the cooked frosting a nice pink. Or you could even do something like this:

Yes, I made a couple of cupcakes out of the chocolate batter when I was baking the cakes and then filled them with the raspberry mousse. Why do you ask? To top the cupcakes, I dipped them into the dark chocolate ganache and then dragged a toothpick through a little drop of white chocolate ganache before it sets for a super cute Valentine's Day treat.

Shopping List for Chocolate Cake

2 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour
2 Cups Sugar
4 Tbsps Cocoa Powder
1 Tsp Baking Soda
1 Tsp Salt
1 Cup Buttermilk
1 Cup Vegetable Oil
2 Eggs
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
1 Tbsp Vinegar

Shopping List for Flour-less Dark Chocolate Cake

1/2 Cup Dark Chocolate Morsels
1/2 Cup Butter
3/4 Cup Sugar
1/2 Cup Cocoa
3 Eggs
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

Shopping List for Raspberry Mousse

8oz Cream Cheese
1/2 Cup Seedless Raspberry Jam
16oz Whipped Topping

Shopping List for Cooked Frosting

5 Tbsp All Purpose Flour
1 Cup Milk
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
1 Cup Butter
1 Cup Sugar (granulated not powdered)

Shopping List for Chocolate Ganache

1 Cup Dark Chocolate Morsels
1/2 Cup Milk
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
Pinch of Salt

Enjoy!

* No Mac means picture quality is straight from my camera with no editing at all and while I like the idea of a cinema verites style kitchen where you can see everything true to form, I also am not using the BEST of equipment. I love my point and shoot camera for visiting Disney World and taking pictures of my dogs sleeping on the couch, but it isn't always the best for kitchen shots. So sorry in advance.

** I don't mean to sound like a bitter spinster but really I would much prefer for Hubby to bring me flowers on a random Thursday (as he did last night) rather than dutifully paying extra for the same flowers on a specific day because he's being told to.

Technical Difficulties

2012-01-18T12:25:00.001-05:00

I am so sorry folks, I didn't mean to drop off the edge of the cyber world but I've been experiencing some technical difficulties over here. Namely my beloved iBook seems to have died. I hope she is only mostly dead and not completely dead but I haven't had a chance to find my local Miracal Max to provide her with a chocolate coated pill that will revive her.

In the meantime, I keep running into road blocks whenever I think I've come up with a stop gap solution. For Example, my album of uploaded pictures that contained at least 4 un-published recipes seems to have vanished; Hubby's computer has ZERO photo editing software so the photos I've uploaded on there are a little rough - plus it is his work computer, so most of the time it is otherwise occupied and I can't use it for blogging; And apparently the iPad won't let me type new posts.

I am so so so so sorry and belive me this pains me to not be able to share my recipes and ramblings with you guys. I have so much I want to show you.

I hope that I will be back soon.

Cinnamon Sugar Christmas Cookies

2011-12-23T11:14:00.000-05:00

I believe I've mentioned how much I love my sugar cookie recipe. I found the original recipe on Iambaker several months ago and after a few tweaks I was left with a cookie recipe that consistently gets rave reviews and is a cinch to make. So far I've experimented with the originally suggest almond extract and my switch to lemon extract flavoring. This was my go-to for a while. Until one day.

I was making cookies for Christmas and I just couldn't wrap my head around using lemon extract. I didn't want the almond extract as I wasn't completely in love with that flavor. I also couldn't shake the idea of a yummy snickerdoodle. But snickerdoodles aren't roll/cut cookies. They spread and have a sugary coating that keeps them from being iced. Still, I couldn't be dissuaded. So I decided, what the hell, I'd try it. I love my original recipe, so I decided to use that as a jumping off point. And I must say - without any modesty - that I may have even topped myself in the deliciousness factor. And after a couple of missteps with decorating, I think they turned out pretty cutely too.

I started by creaming 3 sticks of SALTED butter with 2 cups of sugar.

Once the butter and the sugar are good and creamy, add in two egg yolks

Mix until they are blended in and then add in two whole eggs.

Finally, add in a tablespoon of vanilla extract.

While the wet ingredients are being creamed together, it is time to mix the dry ingredients. To four cups of flour, add a teaspoon of salt, a teaspoon of baking powder and a teaspoon of cinnamon.

Little tip from Martha - you can use a whisk to stir this all together instead of sifting it. Works for me!

Very slowly add a cup at a time of the dry ingredients to the creamed butter and eggs. Only mix it enough each time to barely incorporate the flour mixture into the butter. You don't want to over mix at this stage or you could end up with tough cookies.

When I finished with the last batch of flour mixture, turn all the dough out onto a sheet of plastic wrap.

Wrap the dough into a cylinder and store in the refrigerator overnight.

The next day, roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch thick. I always roll my cookies on a piece of parchment paper so that clean up is nice and easy. I also line my baking sheets with parchment paper. Basically - when there is a sale on parchment paper, I stock up!

In addition to the 3 different size circles, I also cut out some Christmas trees. Make sure to put the cookies in the freezer for 15 - 30 minutes before baking.

Bake for 10 -12 minutes at 350. If your oven runs a little cool (like mine does) you can push the temperature up to 375. Just start checking the cookies at 10 minutes. The reason for this is you don't want the oven temp to be too low or your cookies could spread into blobs.

The cookie on the left is baked at 350, cookie on the right at 375. The difference in spreading is slight but important

Once all the cookies are cooled, it is time to decorate. I decided on three different decorations for my trees and circles:

Trees:
When I made the first batch of these cookies a few weeks ago as a tester, Hubby picked up one of the pieces of white chocolate I had just unmolded for another project and put it ion top of the still warm cookie. It melted. And once it solidified again, this time coating the entire cookie, it was tremendous. Because of this, I decided I wanted to coat the trees in green white chocolate.

Full disclosure - this was a mess. I originally put the melted chocolate into a piping bag to make layered levels of needles on the tree. About half way through, I realized it wasn't going to work so I just started spreading the chocolate. But some of it was already dry. So they were a lumpy mess.

They still tasted amazing, but I was hesitant to put them out on a buffet table looking like my 2 year old nephew had run his hands through them. What was I going to do? Well, if watching Debbie Decorates Dallas has taught me one thing, it is that anything will look pretty if covered in enough glue and sparkles, so I reached for the baking equivalent - royal icing and sparkly sanding sugar.

I made "garlands" out of royal icing

Dunked the cookie in the sugar

And voila! A decent looking and delicious cinnamon sugar Christmas tree covered in white chocolate.

Next up were the large and medium circles. I had it in my mind that I wanted to make snow flakes. And again, I wanted to use white chocolate. And again, it was a mess. Note to self: self, white chocolate is not an easy swap for royal icing, it is more for a drizzle.

To hide the squiggly lines and uneven edges, I once again turned to my glue and sparkles.

I put a dot of royal icing at each point of the snow flake.

And after putting the cookie face down into a plate of sanding sugar, you couldn't even see all the uneven lines, all you could see was sparkle.

Finally, after reading Glorious Treats' blog I wanted to do some cute little snowballs out of the smallest size circle cookie.

I started out by outlining and filling the cookies with royal icing.

Next, I put four cookies at a time face down into some sanding sugar and give them a light press to really set the sugar.

Finally, place them on a drying rack overnight to dry. The pictures don't really do these little cuties justice. They are so sparkly and the texture is so nice.

Usually when I make cookies, they are all the same. Which is nice. But sometimes, I like to see a little variation on a platter and these were perfect for my Christmas party. I love the way the platter looks with the green of the trees, the lightness of the snowflakes and the little pops of sparkly snowballs. And they are all tied together with the use of the sanding sugar so they still look cohesive.

I hope you and your families have a wonderful Christmas and I'll be back and posting more next week.

Shopping List for Cinnamon Sugar Cookies - makes about 50 cookies, depending on size.

3 Sticks SALTED Butter
2 Cups Sugar
2 Egg Yolks
2 Eggs
1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
4 Cups Flour
1 Teaspoon Salt
1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1 Teaspoon Cinnamon
Royal Icing and/or Candy Melts and/or Sanding Sugar For Decorating

Tastes like Christmas

2011-12-20T15:25:00.000-05:00

There are just some flavor profiles that instantly woosh you back to a moment in history. For example, every time I smell nutmeg, I think of my grandmother's tortellini soup. Or whenever I taste melted cheddar cheese, I think back to after school snacks made by my little sister. A few years ago, I found myself seeking out a little piece of Christmas and I couldn't shake this craving I was having for these little candies my grandmother used to make every Christmas. They were what our family put out for Santa instead of cookies.

The funny thing is, I hated these chocolates growing up. There were just too many conflicting flavors for my 11 year old palate. But I decided to give it a go. After a quick consultation with my cousin Sara to help jog my memory about what was exactly in these bad boys, I was ready to go. And the result was a huge success! I have now made these for Christmas and even Easter for the past few years and every time, they are met with oohs and ahhs. So let's make them, shall we?

Start by melting 2 cups of semi-sweet morsels in a double boiler. Or in my case, a glass bowl set over a pot of simmering water. Typically, I use the microwave to melt chocolate. But in this case, the quantity of chocolate and the size of the bowl dictates that I use the boiler method. It also helps to temper the chocolate so that it is shiny and doesn't melt too easily.

While the chocolate morsels melt, chop up another cup of almond bark or dark chocolate bar or candy melts. Basically you want something that has already been tempered since the morsels are designed to melt and you don't want these candies to melt that easily once they are done because they'd be a big mess.

Once the morsels are melted, remove the bowl from the heat, add the chopped bark and stir until all melted. This will temper the chocolate to give it a good snap.

Meanwhile, measure out 1 cup of raisins and 1 cup of crushed walnuts. No no, stay with me here. I know a lot of people don't like raisins. But you guys, they are so good in this mixture. I have known several people who initially turned down a candy because they didn't like nuts or raisins and then finally decided to try one and went crazy over them.

Add the raisins and walnuts to the melted chocolate and stir to incorporate them fully.

Next measure out about a cup of mini marshmallows

Add them to the chocolate, walnut, raisin mix and fully coat with chocolate. Don't worry about melting the marshmallows, the addition of the bark, raisins and walnuts should have brought the temperature of the chocolate down enough that it won't melt the marshmallows.

Working quickly, spoon out small clumpfulls of the mixture onto a parchment lined baking sheet.

I've tried putting these in a mold or making them like bark, but part of their charm is the organic pieces you get by just spooning them out.

Put them in the refrigerator for at least an hour. Pack them up in a cute tin and these make a great little holiday gift for coworkers or friends.

Ooops, I couldn't resist taking a sample. Trust me, you won't be able to either. All those yummy walnuts and raisins and marshmallows. No bite is the same.

Now that these are done, I'm officially full of Christmas Spirit!

Shopping List for Melly's Christmas Chocolates - Makes about 30 chocolates

2 Cups Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
1 Cup Chopped Almond Bark, Dark Chocolate Bar or Dark Chocolate Candy Melts
1 Cup Crushed Walnuts
1 Cup Raisins
1 Cup Mini Marshmallows

The Cookie That Launched 1,000 Cookies, Cupcakes and Recipes

2011-12-19T15:22:00.000-05:00

This time last year, I found myself sitting at home - on an unplanned sabbatical from work - and CRAVING gingerbread cookies. But I really didn't want to go out and buy some cookies. Both because I didn't want to waste $2 on a dry, hard cookie from Starbucks and because I was lazy and that would have required me getting out of my pajamas.

But then I remembered this lovely little book my mother in law had given me when we had celebrated an early Christmas with Hubby's family.

Good Housekeeping's Cookie Swap Cook Book! And yes! They had a gingerbread cookie recipe. I was very excited.

After discovering just how many cookies the recipe in the book makes (108! yikes! Shyeah, Right! I wanted A cookie, let alone many cookies that would necessitate an entire rack) I decided to cut the recipe in half. But uh oh, 3 eggs can't be split in two. So split into thirds it is! Time to break out the calculator.

Once the calculations were all done, I started by pouring 1/2 cup molasses into a medium sauce pan on medium heat.

Next, add in 1/2 cup sugar and combine the two with a wooden spoon.

Now we add the spices that make gingerbread cookies so delicious: Ginger, Cinnamon, Cloves and Allspice.

Stir them all together and let the mixture simmer for a few minutes. And then add in 2 teaspoons baking soda.

Stir the baking soda in and don't be freaked out by the amount of foaming up that happens.

While that foams up, turn off the heat and roughly chop a stick of butter and add it to the mixture on the stove.

Stir the butter in until it melts and the mixtures goes from being foamy to sleek and glossy

Next crack an egg into a small bowl and using your spoon with the hot mixture, gently stir the egg. This will help temper the egg so you don't end up with scrambled eggs later when we add it to the warm mixture.

Finally add in the flour and stir to combine

Once the flour is all combined, pour the batter onto a sheet of plastic wrap

Wrap it up and put it in the refrigerator for a few hours (overnight is better)

Once the dough has chilled, it is time to roll. I always put a sheet of parchment paper on my work surface and then flour that. It makes clean up a whole lot easier.

Roll up your sleeves, and get ready to get a great arm workout because this dough is going to be HARD! But after a little bit, it'll start getting easier. Roll to about 1/4 inch thick (or 1/2 inch of you like your cookies soft like I do)

The Moose is for Hubby since he loves Moose around Christmas

I (and Martha) highly suggest lining cookie sheets with more parchment rather than greasing the sheets. I also feel like it helps the cookies cook more evenly and create less spread.

Anyone wondering how to keep the cookies from losing their cute shapes and spreading into blobs as they cook (Hi Anna!) pay attention here.

Once you have the first cookie sheet loaded, stick it in the freezer

At this point, pre-heat your oven to 325 degrees and continue cutting cookies out. If you have room in your freezer, you can put subsequent sheets in the freezer. If like me, you are stocked up for the holidays; there was a sale on Smartones you decided to take advantage of; and/or your mother in law just brought 15lbs of sausage from Chicago for your husband, then you can put other sheets in the refrigerator and then cycle them through the freezer when the batch in the freezer goes into the oven.

Were you guys able to follow that logic?

You want the cookies to be in the freezer for 15 - 30 minutes before they hit the oven.

Another key is oven temperature. If your oven is not hot enough, the cookies will spread. Unfortunately, this is something you have to test out on your individual oven. This recipe calls for the oven at 325. My sugar cookies call for 350. But my oven runs a little cool as I discovered when making a recent batch of sugar cookies:

The cookie on the left is baked at 350, cookie on the right at 375. The difference in spreading is slight but important

Let the cookies bake for 10 minutes at 325 (or 350 if your oven runs cool) and then don't panic when you first take the cookies out of the oven. They will be a bit puffy. But I promise, they will deflate a bit.

After 5 minutes or so, move the cookies onto a cooling rack to continue cooling.

While the cookies cool, it is time to make the royal icing.

Start with 1lb or 4 cups powdered sugar and 4 teaspoons of meringue powder in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Stir them on low to combine.

Add in a scant 1/2 cup of warm water.

And 1 tablespoon of corn syrup.

Mix on low until combined and then pump it up to medium/high until you form stiff peaks.

Since we're using only white icing today, we can skip the coloring step and move just to splitting the icing to outline and flood.

To prepare your frosting to outline, dollop a couple of spoonfuls into the center of some plastic wrap. Wrap it tightly by spinning the ends like the reverse motion of unwrapping a tootsie roll. Put the roll into a piping bag fitted with a coupler. Tie off the upper end with a twist tie and then snip the excess outside the coupler. Finally fit the tip on and you are ready to go.

I now use this technique for ALL detail frosting work because I think it really reduces the air bubbles and helps keep your lines smooth. Plus it makes clean up SUPER easy. Just untie the twist tie, pull out the baggy then separate the tip and coupler. No gloppy frosting everywhere.

Next I thinned out the rest of the icing for flooding.

I started by moving the icing to a small bowl and then using a spray bottle I spritz 5 blasts of water at a time, stirring in between until the consistency is like shampoo and the ribbon melts into the body of the icing in under 10 seconds. Finally I cover this with a damp paper towel and set it aside for 15-30 minutes while I'm outlining my cookies. When I'm ready to use the flood icing, I stir it gently to pop all the air bubbles that have come to the top of the bowl and then pour it into a squeeze bottle.

Halfway through the spraying and stirring process, I decided we're gonna need a bigger ~~boat~~ bowl

When it comes to gingerbread men, I'm a purist. I like just the outline, little dots for eyes and buttons and a smile.

Meanwhile, Hubby likes his gingerbread to be fully frosted. So for the moose, I outlined and then filled them in for him (I left the antlers unfilled to give them a little definition)

P.S. my piping on these cookies is a testament to the adage that practice makes perfect. I am not saying my piping was perfect on these little guys. Not at all. I still see plenty of imperfections. But if you could have seen the mess I made last year, you'd be shocked that these were made by the same person. Last year I had to individually bag each gingerbread man to help hide the squiggly lines and wonky smiles.

So all this is to say, just keep playing around with icing and soon you will figure out what works for you.

In the meantime, this little forest of gingerbread mooses and men are delicious no matter what the icing lines look like.

Shopping List for Gingerbread Cookies (adapted from Good Housekeeping) - makes 8 large (moose) and 16 small (men) cookies

1/2 Cup Molasses
1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
1 1/2 Teaspoon Ginger
1 Teaspoon Cinnamon
1 Teaspoon Cloves
1 Teaspoon All Spice
2 Teaspoons Baking Soda
1 Stick Butter (salted)
1 Egg
2 Cups Flour
Cookie Cutters
Parchment Paper

Shopping List for Royal Icing

1lb (4 Cups) Powdered Sugar
4 Teaspoons Meringue Powder
Scant 1/2 Cup of Warm Water
1 Tablespoon Corn Syrup
Coupler, Wilton #2 tip, Disposable Piping Bag, Squeeze Bottle, Spray Bottle

I've got a lot more holiday treats to share with you. I've been stock piling them for the past 2 weeks. What is your favorite holiday treat? Any tips you've found for cutting/baking/icing cookies?

Cake Jars 2: Jar Harder

2011-11-28T20:30:00.000-05:00

I get an embarrassing amount of enjoyment from the fact that in Britney Spears' video "I Wanna Go" she is seen dancing (on a car) in front of a theater showing "Crossroads 2: Cross Harder" Heeeee. Well played BritBrit, well played.

Sometimes sequels are even better than the originals and I know (and admit in a small voice) that if Britney starred in a sequel to Crossroads, I would be in the theater on opening weekend. Much in the same way I was for the original.

Seeing as how my original post detailing how I made cake jars is one of the most searched for posts on this site (can you believe that people actually find my little blog through google or yahoo searches???? I can't!) I figured it was only right to do a sequel and Jar Harder!

I decided this time around to do just three varieties. I brought back the crowd favorites of Death by Chocolate and Chocolate Chip Cookie Sundae with some very small modifications and then had an epiphany as to what my 3rd flavor should be:

Tres Leches cake is one of my absolute favorite desserts. Whenever I'm in a restaurant that serves it, I HAVE to get it and I'm always tempted to make myself a batch at home. So why don't I? Easy. The beautiful heavenly delicious part of the tres leches cake is the sauce made out of a trio of milks that soak the cake and make every bite super moist and full of flavor. Unfortunately, making a full sheet cake or cupcakes out of this is cumbersome at best. But making it in a jar? Perfect! The jar perfectly contains all the super wet cake and sauce and making each serving perfectly portable.

I started with two and a half cups of flour

To the flour, I added 2 cups of sugar, 1 teaspoon of baking soda and 1 teaspoon of salt

Meanwhile, whisk together two eggs

Add 1 cup of buttermilk (or what I've been using more and more frequently - 1 tbsp of vinegar and the remainder of a cup of milk)

Continue adding 1 cup of vegetable oil

Finally mix in 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and 1 tablespoon of vinegar

When the wet ingredients are all blended, add them to the dry ingredients

Stir until combined. Now if this recipe looks familiar to you, it should. This is my favorite red (or green or blue) velvet cake minus the cocoa and food coloring. Really it is a simple, delicious, vanilla cake.

While your oven is pre-heating to 325, grease your mason jars and fill them. I know I said that the next time I made cake jars, I'd change the size of my jars from pint to 8oz jars. But I had pint sized jars left over so I made pint ones again. This time though, I filled the jars to the 6oz line on the jar. And I used a measuring cup to pour the batter in which helped keep the sides of the jars neat and clean.

When the jars are ready, I put them in a roasting pan just to make putting them into and taking them out of the even easier.

Bake the jars for 45 minutes or until they develop a golden hue and start to pull away from the sides of the jar.

While the cakes are cooling, mix together a jar of condensed milk, a jar of evaporated milk and 2 cups of milk.

Mix your tres leches together and let the mixture sit until the cakes are good and cool.

When the cakes are cooled, take a pop stick and poke holes all the way down all over the cake.

Next, pour the milk mixture into the jars up to the top. When the mixture soaks in, top it off and put the jars in the fridge for at least an hour or until all the milk soaks in.

After a few hours, take the jars out of the fridge and carefully pour off any excess liquid

Top off the jars with my favorite cooked frosting and some white chocolate ganache I made by melting 1 cup of white chocolate with 1/2 cup of milk and 1/2 stick of butter.

Resist the urge to dip your spoon in right now

To finish off the jars I wrapped a few pieces of raffia around the neck with a cute little label indicating the flavor.

Shopping List for Tres Leches Cake Jars - makes 6 - 8 jars

Cake

2 1/2 Cups Flours
2 Cups Sugar
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1 Teaspoon Salt
2 Eggs
1 Cup Buttermilk
1 Cup Vegetable Oil
1 Tablespoon Vinegar
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Sauce

1 Can Condensed Milk
1 Can Evaporated Milk
2 Cups Milk

Cooked Frosting

1 Cup Milk
5 Tablespoons Flour
1 Cup Butter
1 Cup Sugar
1 Teaspoon Vanilla

Thankful for Dessert - Day 4: Layered Spice Cake

2011-11-23T21:29:00.000-05:00

Several years ago my friend Jen invited me to her wedding cake testing. To be fair, we carpooled and she wanted to go on her way home one evening so I was invited by default. She had 3 cakes for tasting that day and the first two were very good. When the third one was served I decided to pass. Jen and her parents and the baker all asked me why I didn't want the third cake - a pumpkin spice cake - and I explained because I didn't like pumpkin. They tried to convince me and I kept turning them down. Finally after listening to them all ooh and aah over the pumpkin spice cake, I buckled and had a fork full.

To say the heavens opened up and a choir of angels sang would only be the slightest of over statements. My life was forever changed. A few months later, at the wedding I may have had 3 slices of pumpkin spice cake. I didn't regret it then and I still don't.

You might be saying. But Melly, the title says Spice Cake, not Pumpkin Spice Cake. Which, is true. I made this cake for my family's Thanksgiving dinner (naturally I volunteered to make dessert) and my mother does not like pumpkin (I tell her she has to try it, she refuses) and we'll also be having pumpkin pie so I decided I should omit the pumpkin from the cake so that she could enjoy some dessert. And you know what, it is still darn good!

Start by adding the flour, sugar, cinnamon, all spice, ginger, nutmeg, baking soda and salt in a bowl

After you whisk the dry ingredients together, crack four eggs in a bowl

Add a cup of oil

And vanilla extract

Next add some fat free sour cream. If you wanted to make pumpkin spice cake instead of just spice cake, you'd add a 14oz can of pumpkin puree instead of the sour cream.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and whisk it together until well combined

Evenly pour the batter into three well greased, floured 9" pans and bake at 350 for 22 - 25 minutes.

When the cakes come out, let them cool slightly and then layer the three cakes in their pans with a piece of parchment paper and then one of the next cakes (in the pan) on top of that and put the stack in the freezer. This will help flatten the tops of the cakes, keep the edges straight and make the cake much easier to frost.

Let the cakes freeze for at least an hour, but over night preferably.

When you are ready to frost with Cream Cheese Frosting place a dab of frosting in the center of a cake board.

Take the cake layers out of the freezer and remove them from the pans, keeping a piece of parchment between the layers.

Place the first and second layer flat side down and the a dollop of frosting in the center of the layer and spread it to the edges.

Continue to layer and frost for all three layers. On the final layer, place the flat side up.

With an offset spatula, spread frosting along the edge - make sure to spread the frosting up above the top of the cake.

Frost the top

Finally, go around smoothing and removing the excess frosting. PS, I love this little tool. I got it in a decorating pack from Ikea and it has a smooth edge, notched edge, grooved edge and a wavy edge.

When the cake is smoothed, put it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to firm up a bit.

When you remove it from the fridge, trace out the words on top using a toothpick to make sure you have enough room and everything is evenly spaced.

Once you are satisfied with your spacing, trace over the etching with colored frosting.

I decided to use my scraper tool to put a groove pattern into the sides. And then using a star tip, make a nice little border along the bottom and top.

I cannot wait to dig into this beautiful cake! Must resist the urge!

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Shopping List for 3-Layer Spice Cake (serves 12)

2 Cups Flour
2 Cups Sugar
2 Teaspoons of Ground Cinnamon
1 Teaspoon of All Spice
1 Teaspoon of Ginger
1/2 Teaspoon of Nutmeg
1 Teaspoon of Baking Soda
1/2 Teaspoon of Salt
4 Eggs
1 Cup Oil
2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
16oz of Sour Cream or Pumpkin Puree
1 1/2 portions of Cream Cheese Frosting

Thankful for Desserts - Day 3: Pumpkin Cake Balls

2011-11-22T21:28:00.000-05:00

For a long time I did not like pumpkin flavored desserts. I know! I was horribly naive. But I love all the cute pumpkin themed dessert ideas that come up in autumn and stick around until right after Thanksgiving. They are so cute and festive and I love the warm colors. One of my favorite items for a Thanksgiving dessert table is Pumpkin Cake Balls. These delicious little bites of heaven don't necessarily have to be pumpkin flavored. In fact these little cuties are filled with a delicious mix of spice cake and cream cheese frosting that - seriously y'all - tastes like a Hostess Donut Stick.

Yep, I pulled out a y'all. I mean business with this one.

One of the things I love the most about cake balls (and cupcake bites and cake pops) is that almost everything you need is store bought/from a mix/jar but you put it all together in a way that people are ALWAYS floored by the results. And really, the possibilities are endless. These pumpkins could just as easily be snowballs or beach balls or turkeys or faces or anything that the amazing Bakerella has on her site or book.

To make the pumpkins in question, we start with a baked spice cake. I used a box mix for this batch. Just follow the baking instructions on the box, bake the cake and let it cool. You could obviously make your own, but the flavor and moistness are really non-factors in this recipe since the first thing you are going to do is crumble it up.

Next, add almost an entire can of cream cheese frosting to the mix. Yes. Can. I LOVE home made cream cheese frosting and on top of a cake or cupcakes, there is no substitute. But in a cake ball, it doesn't matter and I personally find that using the can helps me standardize the amount of frosting I use and the consistency. And it saves me a whole mess of clean up.

Using a wooden spoon - or your hands - mix the frosting and the cake together until it forms an even dough. Pssst... this (and the crumbling) are GREAT tasks to have kids do.

Cover the dough and put it in the fridge for at least an hour. The colder it is, the easier it'll be to work with it later. Once it is good and chilled, roll the dough into balls about the size of a quarter. If you want them to be bigger or smaller, that is your prerogative. I find the quarter size to be a perfect 3-4 bite treat. Set the balls on a parchment lined baking sheet and put them back in the fridge for 30 - 45 minutes.

When your 45 minutes are just about up, melt your chocolate in a small microwave safe bowl. You want there to be enough depth in the bowl to dunk the balls. You can melt the chocolate in the microwave for 30 second intervals, stirring in between. Or you can use a double boiler.

Let me take a moment to talk about your candy melts/chocolate. You guys, I cannot stress enough how important it is to use the good stuff. I have been known to run to Michael's or Wal-Mart and grab a bag of the Wilton candy melts. It is super convenient and they come in all sorts of colors. And that is fine. If you are using a mold for cupcake bites or cake pops. But for the dipping and retrieving that needs to happen with cakeballs you should avoid the Wilton candy melts like the plague that they are. They never melt enough, so they end up super thick or burnt. They coat really heavily and gloopy (is too a word!) and they cause more frustration then they are worth. If you have a baking supply store near you, they will sell the good stuff. Or you can order them off the Internet. My bake shop has little 1lb bags in seasonal colors for about $4. Which is more expensive than the Wilton stuff yes, but it melts SO much nicer and goes on SO much smoother and thinner that you can really make it go further and you'll be saved the expense of buying a wig after you've torn out all your hair using the Wilton melts. If you don't have a baking supply store near you and you don't want to order off the Internet, you can use a good bar of chocolate like Ghiradelli and maybe temper it with some almond bark (in either brown or white) You can then add colorful accents like a nice drizzle with the Wilton melts. And obviously, you can choose to say "nah Melly doesn't know what she's talking about, I like Wilton melts and I'll keep using them" and you're right, you can do whatever you like. Just my two cents about the ease of using good quality tools.

**steps off soap box and returns to the kitchen**

So anyways, pretend I took a picture of the dipping process because I'm not an airhead.

After you have dipped a few, insert a small piece of pretzel into the top of your ball for the pumpkin stem. You want to do this before the chocolate hardens so I'd dip roughly 5 balls, put the stems in and then dip 5 more.

Once you have dipped and stemmed all your cakeballs, put them back in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to harden the chocolate.

Meanwhile, get some green candy melts (this time it would be ok to use Wilton) and melt it up. Put the melted chocolate into a piping bag fitted with a #3 tip to add the vines. I started by circling each stem, and then making a little ribbon shape or two down the body of the pumpkins. This is a great way to hide any imperfections in your cakeballs. Like the big gash in that one on the middle/right.

PS: The bright orange smooth ones were made using the good candy melts. The ugly brownish, lumpy ones were made using the Wilton melts. There, I'm done, not another word about it.

When you are done making the vines, put them back in the fridge for a few moments just to really harden up all the chocolate. And voila!

An adorable and tasty little pumpkin patch for your holiday table. If you keep these in the fridge in an airtight container lined with wax paper (and with wax paper between each layer) these pumpkin cakeballs will be good for up to 2 weeks.

Shopping List for Pumpkin Cake Balls (makes 50 balls)

Spice cake (or any flavor cake you prefer)
1 jar of cream cheese frosting
2 lbs orange candy melts
1/4 lb green candy melts
25 pretzel sticks (cut in half)

Enjoy!

Thankful for Desserts - Day 2: Camo Cookies

2011-11-18T06:30:00.000-05:00

As we approach the holiday season and I pause to think about the things I am thankful for I have to remember our armed services. Both my grandfathers have been in the military - my American Grandpa was in the Marines during WWII and my Brazilian Vovo retired from the Brazilian Calvary as a Three Star General - and Hubby spent 4 years in the army and so for Veteran's Day this year, I decided to make him a special treat.

Since Hubby loves my sugar cookies I knew the best way to show him how much I appreciate what he did for our country was in cookie form. And when I found this cookie one day at Sweet Sugar Belle I knew exactly how the cookie would look.

I started off as I always do with my favorite sugar cookie recipe. The last time I asked Hubby what flavor I should make them he replied "nomnomthesameasthisonemmmmmm" as he munched on the Baby Shower Cookie Pops I'd made a few weeks ago. So lemon was clearly the flavor I chose for this batch as well.

Once they were baked and cooled, I outlined the cookies with tan icing.

While the outline dried a bit, I made up the rest of my royal icing colors of tan, brown, olive green and dark green and got them to a good flood consistency and poured them into squeeze bottles.

Side note: Yes, I recently purchased this kit of 12 americolors gel colors, and I've been having a maaaaaaarvelous time playing with them. Why do you ask?

Anyways, back to the cookies. Starting with the lighter colors, randomly add random shapes into the center of the cookie. I did about 4 random spots for each color in random sizes. I eventually started making random letter shapes like K or M. The icing oozes into itself so by the time all the colors are in you can't really see the letters anymore but for me it was an easy way to get a shape other than a blob. (the secret word of the day is "random")

Next I went back through and added a few random shapes of the light brown.

Next up was the dark green

And finally fill in any remaining blank spots with the dark brown.

Now just let these dry overnight and they are good to go on their own. Or you can be like me and never be happy with the easy way of doing things. I went in and added a dark green border with a small star tip to some of them. To others I added a white chocolate yellow ribbon. And still others I left plain.

Make these and send them to your favorite armed service member today.

This is MY favorite one:

Thankful for Desserts - Day 1: Turkey Cookies

2011-11-17T06:30:00.000-05:00

I am thankful for many things in life. My family, my health, Hubby, my dogs, my kitchenaid mixer, the amazingly talented world of bloggers out there who have given me inspiration over the past year to try new things and no be afraid of baking, The CW, fried chicken, I could go on.

Lets go back to one item in particular on the list: The Bloggers! One year ago today, I was scared to death of baking anything more than a boxed cake mix or roll of store bought cookie dough. And decorating said cookies or cake? Ha! Never! But then a funny thing happened. Faced with a lot of free time (I had lost my job in September 2010) and armed with Good Housekeeping's Cookie Swap Cook Book from my mother in law, I decided to try to bake and decorate a batch of cookies from scratch. And. It worked! Sure the cookies were a bit crisp for my personal tastes and the icing was a little messy. But no one got food poisoning. And I didn't burn down the house. Two major successes in my book.

I have spent the last year devouring food blogs and instructional videos to try to perfect my sugar cookie with royal icing decorations. Some attempts have worked better than others. But I think I am happy to report, that I have finally cracked the code on the perfect combination (for me at least.) Behold my proudest - and most topical - cookie moment to date:

To quote Rachel Zoe: "I die!"

I simply adore my little turkey flock. From their colorful tails to their inquisitive looks. Love! Let me break it down for you:

I started with my favorite sugar cookie dough. I like my cookies soft but they need to hold a shape and this recipe does that. They also freeze fabulously and and stay fresh for weeks. Which is very important for someone I know who tends to over promise herself but still has a full time job and is in school part time and occasionally likes to see her husband and dogs.

After letting the dough chill overnight, I rolled it out to about 1/4 inch (it may have been a bit thicker) and cut large circles. I used a large biscuit cutter which I think it about 3 inches. I also always always always line my cookie sheets with parchment paper. I own a silpat (thanks for the wedding present Annette) but I find washing it to be a pain and parchment works just as well.

Little tip, chill the dough again before you put it in the oven. This will help the sizes/shapes stay uniform. What I typically do is roll and cut my first cookie sheet worth of dough. Put that in the freezer and turn the oven on. While the oven pre-heats, I cut my second tray of cookies and put them in the fridge. After 15 minutes, the oven should be ready and the freezer tray will be good and chilled so those go in the oven. Meanwhile, I continue cutting cookies out and stacking trays in the fridge until I run out of space in the fridge. I then move on to the counter. When the first batch of cookies are done, they go on the stove top to cool slightly before moving to the cooling rack and the 1st batch I put into the fridge goes into the oven. The counter cookies now move to the fridge. I keep rotating through until all the cookies are baked and are cooling.

Now, what we actually came for. Decorating these sweet little turkeys.

Start with Royal Icing. I have had some major issues with royal icing and I have finally discovered the chief culprit was that I wasn't using enough powdered sugar. In this case, 2 cups does not equal 1 lb. Oops. But while I was experimenting I have found the best parts of each recipe and melded them into one super recipe:

Melly's Unfailable Royal Icing

4 Cups Powdered Sugar
3 Tablespoons Meringue Powder
Slightly Under 1/2 Cup of Warm Water
1 Tablespoon Corn Syrup

Start with your mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Put the sugar and the meringue powder in the bowl and give it a stir. Add in the water and the corn syrup and stir on low until it is all incorporated. Kick it up the medium/high and mix until medium stiff peaks form. About 5 minutes.

Fun tip #1 - After coloring the icing, separate some for outlining/details. I discovered this little tip from Karen's Cookies You spoon a bit of your icing into some plastic wrap, spin it a bit to make it tight. Fit the little plastic wrapped icing bundle into your piping bag and snip the end off. Brilliant! So much neater and easier for clean up. And I feel like it reduces air pockets in the piping bag.

Fun tip #2 - Now, to loosen the icing for flooding I discovered this awesome technique from Sweet Sugar Belle to use a spray bottle and mist the frosting with water. It is SO much easier and neater than using a little cup of water and adding water to the icing 1/2 tsp at a time. I usually start with 5 spritzes and then stir. I keep up with 5 spritzes at a time until it starts getting close and then I do 2 spritzes at a time. You want the icing to flow like shampoo and disappear into itself within 10 seconds. Cover the bowl with a damp paper towel and let it sit for at least 15 minutes to let all the air bubble rise to the top.

(No you aren't imagining things, we don't use green for this cookie. This is for another cookie I was making the same day that I promise is coming soon. But it shows really nicely what consistency you want in your flood icing.)

So, back to the Turkey Cookies. We won't be outlining anything so you can skip the need to make outlining versions of your colors. We will just be needing a thick version of the orange for the beak and the feet a little later. (Please pretend I have a picture of my squeeze bottles all lined up with tan, brown, red, orange and yellow icing.)

I was deep in the throws of other decorating at this point so the only available work space was my stove top. I covered it in parchment paper and set out all my cookies.

Starting with the tan (body) color I made a figure 8 in the middle of the cookie and then using a toothpick, I filled in the center and evened out the shape a bit. Next I added the tail colors. Start with brown, I made a feather/oval/thick line/leaf shape on either side of the body. I then worked my way up/around with the red, orange, yellow and then brown again. I let the icing ooze into itself and meld together and then I went back through and using a toothpick helped guide any errant icing into place to fill any holes.

To make the wattles (Did I just make that word up? That is the name of those red dangly things right? Wattles? Well it is now!) Anyways, to make them, put a red dot on the middle of the neck of your turkey body. Using a toothpick, drag it up and through the dot to make a heart shape.

Once all the tail feathers and the wattles are done, let the birds rest for at least an hour before going in with orange outline icing and adding the beak (a dollop shape) and the feet (a Y shape.) And finally, after letting them dry overnight, I added little dots for eyes with black food coloring markers.

Be careful, these birds really fly. That is, if people can stop exclaiming how cute they are and actually eat them. And since there are no outlines, they are super easy!

Gobble Gobble!

Bad Melly

2011-11-16T21:16:00.001-05:00

I know! I'm sorry! I'm a bad blogger. I'm sorry I have been MIA for the last few weeks. I blame a perfect storm of commitments including (in no particular order): An event at work, mid-terms, end of the year solicitations, a last minute trip to Chicago, three orders for cupcakes and this:

But on the plus side, I've got a few hundred pictures and several recipes/techniques to share with you. And so this week - in preparation of Thanksgiving - we will be celebrating seven of the desserts I am most thankful for.

Melly's Low Fat Chicken Cordon Bleu

2011-11-08T18:03:00.000-05:00

After Hubby's birthday schnitzelpalooza, we had a left over pack of uncooked chicken scallopini and I knew EXACTLY what I wanted to do with it. I had to make Chicken Cordon Bleu!

Anyone who says they don't like Chicken Cordon Bleu has never tried it. I mean, let's look at the pieces: Chicken? Good. Ham? Good. Cheese? Gooooood. How could you go wrong? And with some creative shopping, I was able to make this decadent dish with very little fat and calories. Let's take a look shall we?

You will need chicken breasts (either scallopini or pounded thin), low fat deli ham, 2% swiss cheese, salt, pepper, olive oil and wine. Wine makes everything better.

I started by assembling my rolls. First I salt and peppered the chicken and then piled on a single slice of Kraft 2% Swiss Cheese cut (or torn) in half.

Next, I added a single slice of the low fat deli ham.

I rolled this up nice and tight and place them into a pan with olive oil on high heat. If I had been able to find my wooden toothpicks, I would have stuck one in here to stabilize the roll. But all I could find were plastic cocktail picks which would have melted and that would have been bad. Instead I just made sure I placed them edge side down and kind of held them in place until the heat of the pan seared them shut.

After about 5 minutes, flip them over to brown the other side.

At this point, Hubby came into the kitchen saying that it smelled like bacon and how could this possibly be a healthy meal??? I reminded him that ham and bacon come from the same animal (sure Lisa, some maaaaagicccaaaaal animal) and so they smelled the same when cooking but that the ham and cheese I had purchased were low fat and I was using relatively little oil so he should just shut it. He grumbled something about shutting me (You'll practice me? What does that even mean? Is that supposed to be a threat?) and went back to watching football.

After another 5 minutes or so, flip them back to the smooth side up, cover your pan and reduce the heat to medium.

Let these cook for another 10 - 15 minutes or until you prick one and the juices run clear. Only prick one, no point in wasting the juices of more than one. When they are done, remove the chicken rolls to a plate and cover with foil.

While they are resting, it is time to make the sauce. Start by adding a tablespoon of flour to your pan drippings.

Whisk this around for a few minutes until the flour has had a chance to cook and absorb all the goodness in the bottom of the pan. And then add 1/2 cup of white wine. I was drinking Riesling that night so I was cooking with Riesling. Any white wine would do. All the alcohol will cook out but if you are sensitive to the taste or just don't like having wine in your house, you can absolutely skip this step and just add an extra 1/2 cup of chicken broth.

Whisk the wine and the flour mixture together for 3 - 5 minutes or until the wine has reduced by about half and then add in 1/2 cup to 1 cup of chicken broth.

Continue whisking, taking a concerted effort to break up any lumps. Add in some dried parsley and salt and pepper if it needs it.

Continue to let this simmer until it has reduced and/or thickened to a state that you are happy with.

And now it is time to make magic happen.

Plate up a chicken roll next to a small pile of rice and a nice spicy arugula salad with some tomatoes, lightly dressed with olive oil. Pour some sauce over the chicken and the rice and dig in!

Yum! Look at these layers of deliciousness! How can you not love this?

Shopping List for Melly's Chicken Cordon Bleu - (serves 4 - 5)

1.5 lbs Chicken Breast either cut or pounded thin
1/4 lb Low Fat Deli Ham (I went to the deli counter and asked for 4 slices)
4 - 5 Slices Kraft 2% Swiss Cheese
Salt/Pepper
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Tbsp Flour
1/2 Cup White Wine
1 Cup Chicken Broth

For those of you who care, I plugged the recipe into Weight Watchers eTools and it tells me that a single Chicken Cordon Bleu Roll (with sauce) is 8 points plus. Add that to 1/2 cup of rice for 3 points plus and the arugula salad for 1 points plus and you have a filling, tasty, soulful meal for 12 points plus. Not too shabby in my book.

And yes, for those of you who care some more, I DID make two references to The Simpson within two sentences. And I don't regret it.

Put Your Hands Together Salad

2011-11-02T07:54:00.000-04:00

When I worked in DC, my coworkers and I would sometimes venture into Georgetown to this amazing little salad shop called Cafe Tu-O-Tu (which I think is one of the cutest names in a city full of cutely named shops) (202 is DC's area code) (Forgive me, I'm feeling very parenthetical this morning.) One of the meal options was a salad sampler where you could pick two or three of their gourmet salads and get.... well.... a sampling of each. I would typically get their Spinach and Artichoke Salad with fresh baby spinach, artichoke hearts, pine nuts and shaved Parmesan along with the Salad Nicoise with delicious, spicy arugula, tuna, olives and tomatoes.

The other night amidst the copious baking I've been doing (I promise pictures and recipes are coming very very soon I just don't know where to start) I felt the craving hit me for one of these salads. But I couldn't decide which one. So as my life coach Joey Tribbiani has advised when needing to choose between two things I "put my hands together." I checked out my pantry and decided I could pretty easily meld the two salads together and maybe add in a few of my other favorite salad toppings. This hearty, protein rich salad was the perfect salty meal when I was surrounded (no seriously, EVERY counter top is covered) by sugary treats.

We are starting tonight with a big bowl full of fresh arugula. I chose arugula over spinach for two reasons: 1) I love the spicy crispness of arugula where as I find that spinach is a bit bland and gets soggy really quickly. 2) I buy a big box of organic baby arugula at the grocery store near me and it lasts 2 weeks. You really can't beat that in the realm of pre-washed lettuce.

The first thing I pulled from my pantry that HAD to be on this Franken-salad was actually not on either of the originals. Hearts of Palm. I cannot look at a can of hearts of palm without thinking about my sister. One year when I was in high school, for Easter, my mother asked us what special treat we wanted in our Easter baskets (she'd let the Easter Bunny know obviously.) I of course requested Reeses Peanut Butter Eggs since they are bar none the BEST Reeses treat out there and cannot be replicated by the pumpkins or the trees and therefore I must eat as many as I possibly can in the time span of Valentine's Day - Easter. Meanwhile, my sister requested a can of hearts of palm. On Easter morning when she got her basket with two big jars of hearts of palm, everyone in my family just stared. But when the rest of us were fighting through our sugar comas, she was happily munching on her delicious treat. From that day on, she always got a can of hearts of palm for Easter.

What's that you say? This is the cooking blog not the memory lane blog? Fine! Cut up the hearts of palm into slivers. Little tip: I always get the canned HoPs, I find the jarred ones are woodier. The way I have been taught to know which can to get is to shake them. (Yes, I'm that weirdo in the supermarket holding up the canned vegetables and shaking them.) If you hear a lot of rattling around, put it back. You want your HoPs to be soft. Soft foods don't rattle against a can. It sounds crazy, but I swear it works.

Next I added artichoke hearts. You want the ones that are in water, not oil. Give them a rough chop.

To continue on this Mediterranean path I was on, I next added in some roughly chopped kalamata olives.

At this point, the batch of cookies that had been baking were done and I needed to move the batch beforehand to the cooling racks, take the cookies out of the oven, take the next batch out of the fridge and put it into the oven and the move the last batch in the refrigerator so I forgot to take pictures. But I sliced up some tomatoes, sprinkled on some croutons and added a can of VERY WELL DRAINED tuna (again packed in water, not oil.) No seriously, drain the heck out of the stuff. If you thumbs aren't aching from pressing on the top to squeeze the juice out, you haven't drained enough.

I dwelled for quite a while about what dressing to use. I couldn't for the life of me remember what Cafe To-o-Tu used. It shouldn't be balsamic, but maybe just some olive oil and red wine vinegar? Nah. Definitely not ranch. Maybe Italian. I eventually settled on this delicious Creamy Cilantro dressing I get from Trader Joe's.

Yep, that'll do it. Give it a toss and it is time to dig in!

Shopping List for Melly's Franken-salad (serves 1 very hungry person)

Arugula
1/2 can Heart of Palm
1/2 can Artichoke Hearts
12 - 15 Kalamata Olives
2 small Tomatoes
Croutons (optional) (I'd probably omit them next time)
1 can Very Very Very Well Drained Tuna packed in water
Cilantro Dressing

Look Out

2011-10-23T20:10:00.001-04:00

Someone is doing quite a bit of baking right now. Little hint: her name starts with an M and ends in an elissa.

I will be selling my baked goods at two upcoming craft fairs in the DC metro area. If you want to try out one of my cupcakes, or cookies, or cake bites come see me at:

St. Andrews Church in Silver Spring, Maryland on November 12 - 13

McKeldin Library, University of Maryland on December 8.

All I can say is, good thing cookies freeze! Wish me luck.

God Bless Whats-His-Name

2011-10-19T20:53:00.000-04:00

This past weekend was Hubby's birthday so I decided to make a meal out of his favorite things. And much like Kurt Von Trappe, Hubby loves himself some Schnitzel with noodle (spaetzle) and Sauer Kraut and Sausage and mushrooms (those items were in the unedited version of the song, but Rogers and Hammerstein decided to cut them out. I swear! I read it somewhere!)

There are a lot of components to this meal so I'm going to write it out in the sequence in which I actually made it since that worked for me pretty well. At the bottom I'll go ahead and list the recipe/steps for each component separately. So strap on your favorite sundress made of old drapes, because we're about to have a marvelous time!

I started by making the spaetzle. If you've never had it, spaetzle is this small dumpling style noodle. It is very delicious when covered in hunter gravy and eaten with fried meat but it is definitely intimidating. Hubby unearthed a recipe that he has used for years from Wolfgang Puck so I decided not to mess with success and worked with that.

We were having 10 people over for dinner so I decided to double the recipe. Believe me, this recipe did not need doubling. I didn't even cook 1/2 of what I made and we still had leftovers. You will want to do this the night before because it makes a galactic mess and you'll need the time to clean up. I'm still finding drips of spaetzle dough all over my kitchen.

I started with 2 eggs and 8 egg yolks. I refused to throw away my egg whites because it seemed like such a waste so if anyone has a good suggestion on a recipe using only egg whites, let me know please.

Next I added in the milk and whisked it all together.

Now mix the 6 cups of flour, 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg, 2 teaspoons of salt and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper together.

Add the egg mixture and melted butter to the dry ingredients and stir together. Wolfgang says to use your hands to mix which indicates to me that this should be a very solid, sticky dough. Mine was really liquidy. I blame the fact that I was distracted while counting out the 6 cups of flour... I maaaaaaay have added only 5 and honestly that would explain all the issues I had with the portion of the meal.

Once you've mixed the ingredients together, cover the batter and put it in the fridge for at least an hour.

While the spaetzle batter was resting, I went to work making the Sauer Kraut. I had never in my life made kraut before and I don't even like the stuff so I wanted to do it the night before just in case what I did was horrible. Also, much like marinara sauce or stew, the flavor improve the longer you let the kraut simmer so I figured making it the night before and then letting it slowly reheat on the stove the next day would be ideal.

I started as any good slow stewed dish should, by rendering bacon. Again I decided to do a double batch since Hubby LOVES Sauer Kraut, so this is about 6 pieces of low fat bacon cut into small pieces cooking over medium heat. It is a slow process and you'll be tempted to crank the heat up, but don't.

Once the bacon is all rendered, remove the bits to a dish with a paper towel on it. Please try to resist the urge to eat these all while you cook. I am proud to say that I was able to resist the temptation. Mostly.

To the pot with the bacon grease, add 1 whole chopped onion.

While the onion is cooking, open your sauer kraut. Hubby always gets the Board Head Kraut in bags. My dad would always get the cans. Whichever variety you choose, put it in a strainer and rinse all the kraut.

When the onions are beginning to turn translucent, add the rinsed sauer kraut into the pot and stir it all together.

If it seems a little dry, you can add up to 1 cup of water to the mix.

Next I added 2 teaspoons of paprika.

And then 2 tablespoons of this seasoning Hubby got the last time he went to Chicago. It is called Vegeta and I've never heard of it before in my life. I'd say it most closely resembles bullion.

Stir everything together, reduce the heat to low and cover the pot. I actually tasted a little bit of this Kraut and I have to say, it was actually pretty good. I don't like Kraut so that told me it would be damned amazing when served to an actual Kraut lover. After about an hour, I turned the heat off, let it cool slightly and then put it in the fridge overnight.

Now back to the spaetzle.

Start a large pot of salted water to boil. Now comes the hard part. Spaetzle is made by pressing the batter through a device with holes directly into the boiling water where it will cook and break apart and make little noodley dumplings. In the past Hubby has used a potato ricer. But the potato ricer he brought into our marriage was missing the piece that you press through. Wolfgang suggests a hotel pan. But, since I don't run a hotel, I lack a hotel pan. I tried using a large hole colander but the holes weren't big enough and the mixture would get stuck. Finally I settled on the steamer attachment of my rice cooker. It was the first time the darn thing came out of the plastic sleeve it arrived in. I usually use one of those collapsible veggie steamers.... And just now as I'm typing this I realize that that probably would have worked for this process too.

Anyways, I put the steamer on top of the pot and poured a bit of the batter on top. Next I scraped the batter around, essentially pushing it through the holes. I broke this into batches since there was a lot of it. Once you finish pushing the batter through the holes, you want to stir it around the pot to make sure the pieces are getting plenty of motion.

After 4-5 minutes, you want to remove the spaetzle to a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process.

Once it is cooled to the touch, I poured it through a colander to drain as much water as possible and then poured it into a bowl with 1/2 cup of vegetable oil. This can now go into the refrigerator and you can say So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, good night.

The next morning, I started by taking my kraut out of the oven and putting it - covered - on low on a back burner while I cleaned the kitchen and made the crisp apple strudel (give me a day or two for that recipe.)

A few hours before dinner, I went to work making the schnitzel. We decided to go with chicken schnitzel instead of the traditional veal. You can buy chicken (or veal) scallopini in the grocery store, or you can cut a larger chicken breast into slices. Your choice.

I started by making up an assembly line of chicken, flour, 2 eggs mixed with 1/4 cup water, bread crumbs and an empty dish.

Start by placing a chicken piece in the flour. While it is here, salt and pepper it.

Coat both sides and move to the egg.

Coat both sides again and then finally move to the bread crumbs.

Give each side a good press and then move the coated chicken to the empty dish.

While you are coating the first batch of chicken, heat 1/2 cup of vegetable oil in a large frying pan. I once again worked in batches because I didn't want my oil getting too hot or sloppy. So when the first batch of chicken was coated, I moved to the stove and created a new assembly line.

Put 2-3 chicken breasts into the oil at a time. You don't want to crowd them.

Cook for 3-4 minutes on the first side and then flip them over and cook for another 2-3 minutes.

When they are done, remove them to a baking sheet lined with paper towels.

At this point, you have delicious, plain schnitzel. But Hubby wouldn't have been happy with plain schnitzel, oh no, his had to be covered in sausage and cheese and gravy. So we're going to let the chicken rest while we get to work on the next steps.

I'm going to apologize in advance, at this point things were getting a little hectic so I may not have gotten pictures at every step. I'll try to be as descriptive as possible when this happens.

In another large frying pan, you want to slightly brown slices of sausage. We were using Bratwurst, Knackwursts and Kielbasa this evening. You can use any combination of the three, but I highly suggest using all three. They really add a nice flavor combination.

While the sausages are browning, and the schnitzel is resting and the kraut is simmering, we move on to the mushrooms and the hunter gravy.

Start once again, as any good gravy starts by rendering more bacon. I went with another 6 slices of the low fat bacon cut into bit again.

Once again, cook them down on medium heat until they are delicious, crispy bits. These bits were reduced by 1/2 by the time I was ready to use them. I blame a combination of my Hubby and my little nephew who had arrived by then and was hungry. Far be it from me to ever deny the little guy food so I happily gave him piece after piece of bacon each time he asked for it.

When you've removed the bacon, go ahead and add in a whole onion diced up nice and small and let it get translucent.

Next add in the mushroom. We bought these mushrooms pre-sliced from the grocery store and I'll be honest, I'm not a fan of mushrooms either so I'm not entirely sure what time they are. I'd guess button mushrooms. Turn the heat to high and let them brown and shrink down until they are good and soft.

Move the mushrooms to a nice bowl and sprinkle them with whatever bacon bits remain. The first component of the meal is done.

In the hot pan where the bacon, onions and mushrooms have rendered, add 2-4 tablespoons of flour depending on how thick you like your gravy. Stir it around a bit until it has browned up and soaked up all the grease.

Pour in 1/2 cup of red wine and let that simmer until it has reduced by about 1/2.

Finally pour in 2 cans of beef broth.

While the gravy simmers and reduces, it is time to put the finishing touches on all the other parts of the meal.

In the pan where you browned the sausage, add a bit more vegetable oil to coat the pan and once it is hot, brown the spaetzle. You want to add the spatzle in and then not move it very much so that it gets crispy and brown on one side. After a few minutes, you can stir it around and chop it up so that the individual pieces separate. Again, you'll have to do this in stages so that its doesn't get too crowded.

Meanwhile, on a parchment lined baking sheet, place the chicken breasts, place slices of sausage on each breast and cover that with a slice of Jarlsberg cheese. Put the baking sheets into a 350 degree oven for 5 minutes, or until the cheese is melted.

While the cheese is melting, the spaetzle is browning and the gravy is reducing you can plate up the Sauer Kraut and top with with some bacon bits.

Finally, when everything is a ready it is time to eat. Hubby likes to put a piece of schnitzel and then a layer of mushrooms and top that all off with the gravy.

I'm pretty proud of my first foray into German cooking. I definitely have to work on my spaetzle and my gravy tasted delicious but never really thickened up enough. According to the birthday boy, I managed to make a meal (made 40% of things I don't eat) that rivals his favorite German restaurant back home in Chicago.

What's the best way to follow up Schnitzel with Noodle? Obviously I made a Crisp Apple Strudel for dessert.

Now I've got to figure out where I can find a cream colored pony. While I get to wrapping up some brown paper packages and tying them with string, here are the recipes for Hubby's favorite things:

Spaetzle (adapted slightly from Wolfgang Puck)

4 Egg yolks
1 Egg
1 3/4 Cups milk
3 Cups all purpose flour
1/4 Teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 Teaspoon salt
1/4 Teaspoon pepper
4 Tablepoons butter, melted
1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil

In a small bowl, beat the egg yolks, egg, and milk together.
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Add the butter, and egg mixture to the flour mixture and mix with hand until well blended. Do not over mix at this stage. Cover the bowl and refrigerate. Allow the batter to rest for at least 1 hour
Bring salted water to a boil. Place a perforated hotel pan (or a large-holed colander) on top of the pot. Place the batter on the pan and force through the holes to form spaetzle. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes.
Transfer cooked spaetzle to a bowl of ice water to shock. When cool to the touch, drain well. Stir in half the oil. (At this point you can cover and refrigerate up to 2 days)
When ready to serve, over high heat place a large sauté pan until it gets very hot. Add the remaining 1/4 cup of oil and the boiled spaetzle. Let cook for 2 minutes without moving the pan to achieve a good brown color. Add the butter and start to sauté the spaetzle. Sauté until golden brown. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Finish with a sprinkle of parsley.

Melly's Sauer Kraut

6 Slices of Bacon
1 Onion, Diced
2 Bags of Boar's Head Sauer Kraut
2 Teaspoons paprika
2 Tablespoons Vegeta Seasoning or bullion

Render the bacon on medium heat.
Remove bacon from the pot and cook onions until transluscent.
Rinse the sauer kraut and add it to the pot with the onions.
Add the spices and stir.
Simmer on low for 2 - 12 hours.

Sausage Schnitzel

2 lbs chicken (or veal) scallopini
Salt and Pepper
1/2 Cup flour
2 Eggs plus 1/4 Cup Water
1 Cup Breadcrumbs
1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil
Bratwurst
Knockwurst
Keilbasa
Jarlsburg Cheese cut into slices

Coat the chicken by seasoning it with salt and pepper, dredging it in the flour, dunking it in the egg and then pressing it into the breadcrumbs
Fry the chicken in vegetable oil for 3-4 minutes on one side and 2-3 minutes on the other.
Let the chicken rest on a baking sheet lined with paper towels.
Preheat oven to 350
Slice and brown the sausages. The sausage is pre-cooked so you just want to crisp up the edges a little bit.
On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, place the chicken and then a single layer on the sausage. Try to get one of each variety on each breast. Finally top each pile with a slice of cheese.
Bake for 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Mushrooms and Hunter Gravy

6 Slices bacon
1 Onion, diced
3 lbs sliced mushrooms
3 Tablespoons flour
1/2 Cup red wine
2 Cans beef broth

Render the bacon until it is crispy and remove it to a plate lined with a paper towel.
Add the onions to the pan and cook until translucent.
Add the mushrooms to the onions and increase the heat to high.
When mushrooms are brown and soft, remove them from the pan and sprinkle with the cooked bacon. These are now done.
Add the flour to the pan and let it cook for a few minutes.
Deglaze the pan with the red wine, making sure to scrape up all the bits stuck to the bottom of the pan.
When the wine has reduced by 1/2, add the beef broth.
Let simmer until time to serve.

We've Got Spirit

2011-10-10T18:16:00.000-04:00

Not everything I bake comes out perfect the first time. As I mentioned in my previous post, I had quite a devil of a time getting the right blue for my baby blue velvet cupcakes. While I experimented, I ended up with two batches of unusable cupcakes. I still haven't figured out a way to use the gray ones, frankly you can't just dig into a black salad, you've got to play with it a little. But for the navy blue ones, I decided to make a special little treat for Hubby.

Hubby is a huge Chicago Bears fan, and in honor of his team, I salvaged my navy blue (here they picture almost black) cupcakes by decorating them in honor of his favorite team. The possibilities are pretty endless when it comes to decorating with team colors. Next time I make a standard red velvet, I may reserve a few to decorate with yellow and make myself some Redskins cupcakes.

We start tonight with blue velvet cupcakes made with this recipe. To recap, I used 1/2 teaspoon of cornflower blue gel food coloring to get this dark of a blue (and in case you have some desire to make a gray cupcake, I used 1/8 teaspoon of cornflower blue gel food coloring and added it to the dry ingredients that included 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder.)

Once the cupcakes are cooled, I took the remainder of my cream cheese frosting I had made for the baby blue velvet cupcakes and swirled it on using a Wilton 2A tip. For the record, the gray cupcakes went into the freezer.

Next I melted some orange candy melts and using a spoon, drizzled it over the frosting. I had originally planned to draw out a little Bears C, but it was nearing 11pm and I wanted to get them done.

So there you have it. A nice little surprise treat for Hubby to take advantage of some failed experiments. I tell you what, it doesn't matter what color they are, these still taste delicious. And since the orange drizzle dries hard, it gives the cupcake a nice texture and flavor addition.

And I think they are pretty cute too. Next time you have a booster club bake sale or a secret sister present to bake for, try this little trick to turn ordinary cupcakes into a little bit of team spirit.

Baby Blue Velvet Cupcakes

2011-10-08T17:14:00.000-04:00

Along with the pea pod cookie pop favors, my friend Jen and I also volunteered to make the cake. We toyed with several ideas but eventually settled on a cupcake tower. We decided the best way to represent the boy/girl twins our friend Kelly is expecting was to have 1/2 pink and 1/2 blue cupcakes.

I knew at once I wanted to make baby blue velvet cupcakes, so I started with my favorite red (or green) velvet recipe and figured I'd just use the same Wilton Cornflower Blue gel food coloring I'd used on the cookies. Easy right? WRONG! But we'll get to that.

Start with two eggs

Add 1 cup of buttermilk (or 1 tablespoon vinegar and the remaining amount to achieve a cup of skim milk)

To this, add 1 cup of vegetable oil. The original recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups oil but I found them to be too greasy. I also had the "opportunity" on this day to make a second batch but only had 1/2 cup of oil. They came out ok that way but they were a bit dryer than what I wanted. When I made the 3rd batch (yep... 3rd batch) I went back to using a full cup of oil. Its worth it. Why'd I make 3 batches to net 22 cupcakes? We'll get to that. Back to the oil. Add it.

Next, add 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

And 1 tablespoon of white vinegar

Now its time to add the food coloring. If you are doing red velvet, you'd add 1 teaspoon of red gel food coloring. For the baby blue velvet, I decided to start with a 1/2 teaspoon of the baby blue gel coloring.

Way too dark! D'oh! Don't worry, I didn't waste this, I decided to finish up the recipe and bake them off. But for the Baby Blue Velvet, these wouldn't work.

So I started over again, and when it came time to add the food coloring, I started with 1/8 of a teaspoon of cornflower blue.

All right, that'll work. Now on to the dry ingredients.

I combined the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt and cocoa in another bowl and whisked them together.

Once it is thoroughly whisked, pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.

And this is where I ran into my next problem. When I whisked the baby blue wet ingredients into the tan colored dry ingredients, I got GRAY batter. I didn't take a picture of it because it was GRAY and I was grossed out. I still baked them. But the gray got worse.

Which means.... yep... batch #3. For Batch #3, I decided to omit the cocoa since I figured that had to be the culprit. So I did everything the same with the wet ingredients and poured them into the dry ingredients minus the cocoa powder.

Finally! Success!

I filled each lined cupcake hole with 1/4 cup batter and cooked them at 350 degrees for 18 - 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. You want to really watch these closely because if they start to brown you lose that cute blue cupcake.

While the cupcakes cooled on the counter, I went to work making the cream cheese frosting.

Start by creaming 1 stick of butter in your mixer

Add 8oz of cream cheese. Do not use low fat or fat free cream cheese.

Next I added 1 teaspoon of vanilla bean paste. You can of course use vanilla extract but if you have the opportunity, I highly suggest using the paste.

Slowly add in the powdered sugar

And then 1 - 3 teaspoons of milk, depending on how thick you want your frosting. For a pretty piped swirl, I use 1 teaspoon.

Turn the mixer up to medium high and let it whip up for about 5 minutes.

Yummy! I resisted the urge to eat this whole bowl with a spoon and instead swirled the frosting onto my cupcakes using a Wilton 2A tip.

When I got to the party, we topped the cupcakes with these cute little pea pods that Jen made out of fondant

We topped the tower with a little layer cake covered in fondant that Jen made and we were all set for our boy/girl twin baby shower.

Shopping List for Blue Velvet Cupcakes - Yields 20 - 24

2 Eggs
1 Cup Buttermilk
1 Cup Vegetable Oil
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 Tablespoon White Vinegar
1/8 Teaspoon Cornflower Blue Gel Food Coloring
2 1/2 Cups Flour
2 Cups Sugar
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1 Teaspoon Salt

Shopping List for Cream Cheese Frosting - Covers 30 cupcakes

1/2 Cup Butter (I always use salted)
8 oz Cream Cheese (full fat only!)
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Bean Paste
4 Cups Powdered Sugar
1 - 3 Teaspoons Milk

Pea Pod Cookie Pops

2011-10-05T18:24:00.000-04:00

So to recap, we made sugar cookie dough and then we cut it into circle, stuck sticks into them and made cookie pops. Now it is time to see how I decorated the cookie pops to make favors for a very special baby shower this past weekend. Why was it more special than your average baby shower? Easy:

So lets see how these adorable little cookie pops came together.

To start, I made some royal icing. This time I used Good Housekeeping's recipe from their cookie swap cook book. I then tinted the icing to green, beige, pink and blue and covered the bowls with saran wrap pressed into the frosting to keep it from drying out.

I then outlined the cookies in white using a #3 tip.

Next, I made a pea pod shape outline with the green. I only have one #3 tip, so this one was done with a #5 tip and I instantly decided I need to buy at least two more #3 tips. The difference is astounding.

While the outlines dried, I made flood icing by adding water teaspoon by teaspoon into the green, white and beige. Once you get the frosting to the consistency of Elmer's glue, drape a wet paper towel over the bowl and let it set for 15 minutes. In this time, all the air bubbles will rise to the top. When you are ready to fill the cookies, gently stir the flood icing to get rid of the bubbles and then pour it into bottles.

I'm not gonna lie. I'm still having some problems working out the kinks on making my flood icing the perfect consistency. I tend to err on the side of not loose enough because I'm so worried it'll be too wet and not dry.

Squeeze out the frosting in the sections you want each color and then spread it to the edges with a toothpick.

When you've filled in the white and green, go back and add the beige as a large dot. I kind of did a large/close swirly motion to spread the circle large without having to sink a ton of icing into a dot.

Let these dry for about an hour. The next step is going back and adding the details. You'll start by putting the pink, blue and some green into piping bags. The pink and blue I used a #5 tip and the green was a #3 tip. Little tip, I wet a paper towel and stick it in the bottom of a mug, then I put the bags tip down into the mug to keep the tips from drying out.

To do the pacifiers, I pipe a a small raised dot. I then decided the heads looked like they were floating (because they were) so I piped a small line/squiggle between the heads and the pods. Depending on how far the head was from the pod was how wide I made the line. And finally, I added little vines in the corner of the pods to give them a clear identity - and keep them from looking like green canoes.

Finally, the next day, I added the eyes and smiles with black edible markers.

I considered writing "Its Twins" on each cookie with more edible marker.

But in the end, I decided it was too cluttered and messy looking (I have horrible hand writing.) I also tried out drawing a little hair curl on each baby - black for the boy and blond for the girl to match their parents. But again, I decided it just cluttered things and wasn't really needed.

The finishing touch was bagging the cookies and tying two skinny ribbons - blue and pink naturally - around the base to make a cute little favor out of them.

At the party, I arranged the pops in a pretty vase with some glass beads at the bottom.

So cute! These were a huge success. And the fact that you can freeze the cookies (both iced and uniced) means you can make them way in advance.