In the past couple of months, I’ve organized photos (especially photos of my baking) and yesterday, I found a stack of photos that I haven’t share with you. I took those photos when I made sugar cookies back in 2008, so they are pretty old.

The good news is that Valentine’s Day is coming and this post can be helpful to someone!. The bad news is that this is the last stack of photos that I have regarding to gift wrapping idea and yes, I have no choice other than get busy in the kitchen – making sweets, wrapping them, and giving them away.

So, let’s be creative in 2 simple steps!

THINGS YOU NEED

Homemade Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing (or any kind of homemade cookies)

Clear (or colored) medium size treat bags

Personalized messages

Favorite stickers, Twisters, or Stapler

(+ any choice of gift box – tin, box, basket, paper bag… whatever you want)

HOW TO WRAP

Style I

Step 1. Place a cookie in a treat bag and insert the personalized message on top of the cookie.

Step 2. Close the treat bag with your choice of accent sticker.

Style II

Step 1. Place a cookie in a treat bag.

Step 2. Insert the personalized message, close the treat bag by folding it a couple of times, and staple it.

Style III

Step 1. Place a cookie and insert the personalized message on top (or bottom) of the cookie.

Step 2. Tie the end of treat bag and close it with a twister (use something shiny or colorful, if you have any).

Final Step. Put individually wrapped cookies in a box, basket, tin, paper bag, or bigger treat bag for delivery!

ALEXA’S TIPS

• Be Creative: Create a heart with a twister. Twist 1-2 times and bend the remaining parts to make a heart.

Hope this post can help you on preparing your Valentine’s Day.

Loved the cookies on this post?

Let’s make some Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing!

~ Alexa

We already had a few close friends at our new home and had a great dinner & time last weekend. I wanted to make lots of desserts, but didn’t make that far. I’m thinking about throwing a dessert testing party one day. We now have lots of space to have people come over and I think that is another good excuse.

I made these chocolate covered strawberries last year in San Francisco. I’ve been meaning and wanting to share with you all so bad and I am finally doing it. Gourmet chocolate covered strawberries with pretty designs that we see in fancy confection stores are actually simple to make at home. Of course, if you are tempering chocolates, it will be harder than using tempered chocolates or candy melts that I am about to show.

As I’ve always said, I would not trade anything with good quality chocolates; however, making desserts at home shouldn’t be stressful or hard. Tempered chocolate (or candy melts) will let you just focus on dipping strawberries and having fun designing without worrying if the chocolate will harden or not. Although candy melts cannot be compared to quality chocolates, you should know that I would not use them if they don’t taste good. So, trust me on this one – once in a while is fairly ok.

I saw fresh strawberries at $2.00 per pound at my grocery store last weekend – pretty cheap price means that they are still in season although we can eat any kinds of fruits all year around. So, before they get expensive, try this.

Love fresh strawberries & love chocolates?

Then, say ‘YES’ to Homemade Chocolate Covered Strawberries.

INGREDIENTS & EQUIPMENT

Ingredient

Fresh Strawberries
Tempered Chocolate or Candy Melts (your favorite flavor)

Equipment

No special equipment needed.

HOW TO MAKE

1. Wash strawberries under running water and dry them well with paper towels. I mean it – dry them really well as well as allowing them to get air dried.

2. Line up parchment paper on the counter top.

Meting chocolates

3. Melt tempered chocolates using double boiler. I always use double boiler when I melt chocolates. It may take some time, but you will never have burned chocolate.

4. Grasp the stem of the strawberry – Dip into the melted chocolate (lean toward left, then toward right) – Give the strawberry gentle shakes as you pull it away from the melted chocolate – Shake the strawberry gently to let the excess chocolate drip off -  Place the strawberry carefully on a parchment paper (start with the edge of the strawberry) – Set aside to allow the chocolate to harden.

5. Decorate as you want using parchment paper (I will show you how to make a decorating bag with parchment paper soon) or the smallest decorating tip. One of my favorite designs is swirls!

Making a pearl necklace – it is necessary for bride’s wedding dress.

Just be creative, be yourself, and don’t forget to be messy, too!

You can dip one side with the dark chocolate and the other side with the white chocolate. Writing a message sounds good, too.

SERVING & STORING

Serving: The best time to serve chocolate covered strawberries is as soon as chocolate harden. If you have to prepare ahead, refrigerate after you make the chocolate covered strawberries, then place them at room temperature for 5 to 10 minutes before serve. I do not recommend to make them more than 12 hours ahead if possible.

Storing: Chocolate dipped strawberries are best when eaten within 24 hours. Strawberries are perishable, so they will loose freshness. Chocolates generally don’t do well in a regular refrigerator temperature for a long time.

ALEXA’S TIPS

• Preparing Strawberries: Well dried strawberries are the important factor when you are making chocolate covered strawberries. If they are not dried well, chocolate will not stick to the strawberry.
  
• Melting Chocolates: Make sure to use clean dry bowl to melt chocolate (a drop of water could ruin your chocolate, especially if you are tempering).
• Dipping Strawberries: I keep the melted chocolate in a bowl filled with hot water to prevent the chocolate harden. It saves you extra work of melting it again.
• Preparing to Harden Chocolate Dipped Strawberries: Why parchment paper? It’s easy to remove chocolate from the surface – it won’t stuck like aluminum foil. Also, it helps creating smooth and nice finish – it won’t have wrinkled bottom like plastic wrap.
• Hardening Chocolate: Chocolate won’t stuck on the surface. I don’t recommend placing strawberries in a refrigerator for a hardening process. Well tempered chocolate (or candy melt) should take only a few minutes to harden.

TASTE REVIEW

Making chocolate covered strawberries was really fun – especially the decorating part. Taste of tempered chocolate (candy melts) that I used was good – no regrets on using them.

Of course, I couldn’t eat them all, so I shared the love with people I worked with. They all enjoyed both decoration and flavor. Hope you enjoyed them.

Try them at your home or feel free to put this on your wish list for your visit because I guarantee that I will make every single dessert you’ve wanted to try whenever you come to my town!

~ Alexa

It’s been over 9 months since we moved to Arkansas. Everyone in San Francisco said it’s going to be a big change. Everyone in Little Rock also said it’s quite a big change. There are things that I gradually miss about San Francisco. There are differences between San Francisco and Little Rock, but things are great here. Our work couldn’t be better, we’ve made great friends, and we just purchased our first house last week! We are moving in this weekend, so I will be busy for a little while – we all know how joyful the moving process is, don’t we?

To be honest with you, I haven’t taken photos of sweets that I make for the past 6 months. The excuses are move, new job, new city, and I can go on and on, but I better stop here. Photos of Toffee Bits Cookies are from last year or two. I feel bad on using old photos, but I still have a few more sweets that I can share with you from the past. One thing that I can promise is that I will make more sweets and share more recipes & tips with you very soon in my own kitchen. That’s really exciting.

INGREDIENTS & EQUIPMENT

Ingredients (Make about 2 dozen cookies)

1-1/8 cups All-Purpose Flour
1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1/4 cup (1 stick) Unsalted Butter (room temperature)
1/4 cup Granulated Sugar
1/4 cup Packed Light Brown Sugar
1 Egg
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1/2 cup Heath Bits HEATH BITS’O BRICKLE Toffee Bits

Equipment

Stand mixer or Hand mixer

HOW TO MAKE

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.

2. Shift all-purpose flour, baking soda, and salt and set aside.

3. Beat unsalted butter.

4. Add sugar, light brown sugar, egg, and vanilla extract. Beat about 10-15 seconds after adding  each ingredient.

5. Gradually add flour mixture and beat until well blended.

6. Stir in Heath Toffee Bits with a rubber spatula.

6. Drop by rounded spoons or a small ice cream scoop. Bake 9-11 minutes until deliciously browned.

SERVING & STORING

Serving: Personally, toffee bits cookies are best when they are served warm. A Glass of milk is highly recommended to serve with.

Storing: Store leftover cookies in a airtight container at room temperature.

ALEXA’S TIPS

• Softening Butter: 30-60 minutes are the proper time to get the right consistency of softened butter.
  
• Measuring ingredients: Measure ingredients before you start baking. It really saves time overall.
  
• Adding extra sugar: Since toffee bits are already sweet, I reduced amount of sugar and brown sugar. If you would

TASTE REVIEW

It was easy to make and good. My husband loved them. He actually ate 98% of cookies that I made. He loves Heath Toffee Bars. He will love anything that has Heath Candy Bars.

About the recipe…I got this recipe from the back of Heath Toffee Bits product that I purchased. You will be surprised how many good recipes you can find by just following recipes that come with products. I cannot say they are all great, but you may find a hidden treasure sometimes.

~ Alexa

This post is all about that. I always thought that it would be nice to know what to buy now and what to buy later. I hope this can help you to figure out if you can start baking something right now or if you need to go buy these bare minimum tools.

You will definitely be limited on making or baking certain kinds of sweets and you might have to spend more time on process as you do it by your hands. But, you can bake pretty much any homemade cookies, cakes, and quick breads such as muffins, scones, banana bread, etc. with the following tools.

Remember, it is crucial to use right tools and methods in baking for the best result, so you will need to buy several things more to expand your baking range and save your time. But, these tools that I have chosen should be enough to get you interested in baking and want to buy right tools one at a time.

OVEN

I don’t have to mention that an oven is essential for baking. You can make some desserts without oven such as chocolates and confections, but you definitely need an oven either it is regular or mini size for baking. The thing about oven is that ovens don’t work the same way even if they are same brand, so you have to get to know your own oven by experimenting, remembering, and adjusting it as you bake.

TIMER

Most people have a timer in their kitchen as it either comes with an oven or microwave. You don’t have to have a separate timer. If you have one in your house already, that is one less thing for you to buy.

MEASURING SPOONS

Measuring spoons are used for both dry and wet ingredients. They usually include 1 tablespoon, 1 teaspoon, 1/2, teaspoon, and 1/4 teaspoon. Many stores sell measuring spoons with 1/8 teaspoon these days. If you are buying a new set now, I recommend you to buy the one with 1/8 teaspoon because it is useful when you make a small batch, but it is certainly not necessary to go out and buy if you have measuring spoons already.

MEASURING CUPS

Measuring cups are usually used for measuring ingredients such as flour, cocoa powder, sugar, or nuts; however, they are also used for measuring wet ingredients. A standard measuring cups set comes with 1/4-, 1/3-, 1/2-, and 1-cup measures. Overfill the cup with dry ingredients and level the cup using a knife.

* I personally prefer to use metal measuring cups and spoons over plastic ones because plastic cups and spoons have more chances to get worn.

GRADUATED MEASURING CUP

Graduated measuring cups are used to measure liquid and pourable ingredients. They are marked with lines to show amounts. You can have either glass or plastic measures in 1-,2-, and 4-cup capacities. Over years, I’ve found it is really convenient to have both 1-cup measure and 2-cup measure. But, I recommend to get a glass 2-cup measure if you are getting only one.

WHISK

A whisk is a non-electronic hand mixer. When you are not yet ready to buy a hand mixer or stand mixer, this is what you need. It is very time consuming, but it will perform baking tasks like whipping, creaming, and mixing. You will be amazed that you can even make meringue with a whisk although I do not recommend you to do that. =] It is good to have different size whisks because you will use in many different ways. Also, a smaller whisk performs better than a bigger whisk.

SIFTER

A sifter is used to sift flour or combine dry ingredients. Sifters usually have a crank that pushes ingredients through the mesh, but sieves work very well as much as sifters. If you have regular sieves that you use for cooking, you don’t need to buy a sifter for baking purpose.

COOLING RACK

Cooling racks are used to cool cakes or cookies after taking them out of the oven. There are so many different types and shapes of cooling racks, so whatever you have or whatever you can buy will work just fine.

RUBBER SPATULA

You will find many different lengths and widths rubber spatulas in stores. A wide head spatula is good for stirring and folding batters and a narrow head spatula is useful for scraping foods from jars or bowls. It is good to have one of each size. I recommend you to buy spatulas with silicone heads if you are purchasing one as it can withstand temperatures up to 600F.

METAL SPATULA

Metal spatulas are also known as icing (decorating) spatulas. You will use them to spread batters, decorate cakes, or applying frosting and filling. They are available in many different sizes and flat or offset(angled). If you are planning to purchase one, buy a small spatula offset (angled) because it is much easier to work with.

PASTRY BRUSH

Pastry brushes are useful when you apply egg wash, moisturize cakes with syrups, or brush loose crumbs from cake tops. They are made with soft nylon, unbleached hog bristles, or silicone (on the photo). It’s good to have one of each kinds, but I would recommend silicone one if you can only choose one because it is easier to maintain.

BOWLS

Bowls come in so many different shapes, sizes, and materials (plastic, glass, silicone, or stainless steal). Most of you already have some kinds of bowls in your kitchen, so you probably don’t have to go buy new ones. It’s good to have a couple of bowls made of different materials, so you can use based one the type of sweets you are making. If I have to pick just one, I would recommend stainless steal bowls because they are light enough to move around and strong enough to take rough mixing motions.

BAKING SHEET

Baking sheets are essential on baking cookies. You can get a standard cookie sheet that has edges without sides to make it easier to slide into the oven. However, I would first get jelly roll pans (on the photo) because they can be used for both of baking cookies and sponge cakes. I personally recommend heavy aluminum baking pans. They will not get rust and last lifetime with a proper care.  We all know that some of non stick pans are not really NON-STICK.

BAKING PAN

Cake pans are also available in many different materials such as steel, aluminum, nonstick coating, glass, or silicone. I started with these glass rectangle pans that I have bought and used for cooking. They are not pretty shapes, but they work well for baking cakes. Plus, it totally gives a feeling of homemade cake. Of course, it is good to have round cake pans if you enjoy decorating. If you are planning to make a cake for someone’s birthday, BBQ party, or anything, it is definitely worth to have round cake pans.

So, what do you think? I’m pretty sure you already have most of these items. Even if you would have to buy some of them and end up not baking so much, you know they will be used in many other ways in your kitchen. Before I go, I will share the stores that I like to shop for my baking tools. You probably already know, but discounted stores like Ross or TJ Maxx are one of the best place that you can buy quality baking pans, spatulas, cake pans, etc. You may not find what you want at the time you want, but it is definitely worth stopping by time to time.

~ Alexa

It’s been above 100 degrees everyday in the past week. It is really hot and it is hard to be anywhere that doesn’t have A/C on. I don’t like being cold, but I really don’t like being hot. I actually miss San Francisco weather.

When it is hot like these day, I crave for a simple fresh fruit dessert. This is perfect for summer time. You can also substitute cantaloupe with honeydew or watermelon. Or, use them all. When it comes to a fruit salad, more color is better. Mix and match with whatever fruit you like because at the end, what you like matters.

INGREDIENTS & EQUIPMENT

Ingredients

1 Cantaloupe (refrigerated)
1/4 cup Dried Cranberries
1/3 cup Fresh Mint Leaves
a pinch of Sea Salt

HOW TO MAKE

Cut cantaloupe into cubes or make balls using a melon baller (I did both).

Cut mints leaves into chiffonade (This is basically roll up leaves tightly and cut into thin slices)

1. Mix cantaloupe cubes and sliced mints in a bowl.

2. Add dried cranberries and a tiny pinch of good quality salt.

3. Let sit in a refrigerator at least 30 minutes, so that flavors mingle and the salad comes to the cold temperature.

SERVING & STORING

Serving: Serve cantaloupe salad cold. Make sure to refrigerate until you serve.

Storing: Store leftover cantaloupe salad in a refrigerator, but try to eat them next day.

ALEXA’S TIPS

• Making fruit salad: Try to prepare fruit salad no earlier than a couple of hours. Freshness is the key point of a fruit salad.
• Cutting mint leaves: If you prefer not to eat or pick out sliced mint leaves, just add whole leaves into the cantaloupe salad. It will still infuse the salad and add a great color.
• Adding salt: Adding a tiny bit of good quality salt will enhance the sweetness. Ensure you don’t overpower with salt.

TASTE REVIEW

I love the aroma of fresh mints. I don’t mind eating fresh mint leaves, so I really loved this dessert. I also thought raspberries will be great with cantaloupe. I will try that next time.

I hope you all have a great and safe 4th of July tomorrow.

~ Alexa

It’s been over a year since the last post.

I am back. It’s not like I was completely away from Sugar Coated Kitchen, but I cannot say I was in it. All I can say is that I wasn’t motivated to do fun things (things that I love and enjoy) other than working (although my work is fun). After repeating this excuse for a couple of years, I’ve realized that it wasn’t because of something else, but me. So, I updated the ‘About‘ page and redesigned the look (I’m still working on it, but I am happy with what is for now).  I will follow my heart. I will make the time. I will see you more often.

About many years ago, I was making a hundred cupcakes. My husband’s company was coming home from a deployment. I wanted to do something for all of soldiers, so I made these cupcakes to donate to the FRG for the redeployment ceremony fund raising yard sale.

Fresh Fruit & Whipped Cream Cupcakes

Vanilla Frosting Cupcakes

Ganache & Fresh Fruit Cupcakes

Flavored Frosting Cupcakes

I didn’t stay at the yard sale, so I don’t know how many of them were sold at the yard sale. It doesn’t matter how many of them were sold and how much it helped on fund raising. I had fun while I was baking and decorating them for this purpose. I was thinking about my husband and his friends and I was just happy that all soldiers from his company are coming home safely. Besides, I hope I can do something like this again. I will be honored to do whatever I can do for troops and veterans.

~ Alexa