Whipple Scrumptious

Biscoff Ice Cream

2015-07-16T10:35:00.001-07:00

July is national ice cream month!

Here the month is half over and I'm just now posting my first ice cream recipe for the year. I have however been posting homemade popsicle recipes like crazy over on my Instagram feed if you're interested. I will work on getting those popsicle recipes put on the site, in the meantime here's the recipe for this scrumptious creation.

Biscoff Ice Cream

1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 1/8 cups granulated sugar
3 cups heavy cream
1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
Seeds from half a vanilla bean
1/2 cup chunky Biscoff spread

I guess I should start off by saying that you will need an ice cream maker for this recipe. Kinda obvious but just in case... :) and you will need to follow the individual operating instructions specific to your machine.

Okay lets get started! This is honestly a basic recipe and pretty simple where ice cream is concerned.

In a medium bowl add the whole milk and sugar. Whisk for about 1-2 minutes until the sugar has dissolved. Add the half cup Biscoff spread to milk mixture and begin whisking until the Biscoff is fully incorporated. Add in both the vanilla and vanilla seeds. I like to incorporated vanilla beans when possible, but if you do not have any it's not a big deal. Just increase the vanilla extract by 1tsp.
Stir in the heavy cream and pour mixture into ice cream maker. Turn on and let mix for about 25- 30 minutes. Texture should be soft and creamy when done. Enjoy immediately or transfer to freezer safe container and let freeze longer.

And if you're feeling extra adventurous you can jazz up some ordinary waffle cones to go along with your homemade ice cream!

My Best Work

2015-07-15T23:40:00.000-07:00

Guys I'm ready to show off my piece de resistance if you will. Definitely my best work to date :)

I mean, just look at her! This perfect little human being is also the reason my blog is dwindling by the wayside. I'm not complaining at all, she is a long awaited blessing and my husband and I just can't seem to get enough of her. She's the best! So now you have a face to go with the culprit. But since this is a food blog (at least a wanna be food blog) I will spare you from baby posts, save this one of course!

This pretty little lady just had a birthday last month, so I made her a sweet smash cake. Let me just say, I've dreamed for so long of all the fun cakes I would make for my children! It's just one of those silly things I have always looked forward to. Can't wait to document them all! Here's a look at the first installment, my daughters first birthday cake!

Yep that's my daughter, holding on to that cake for dear life. Like I said, she's the best :)

And stay tuned because I actually have some recipes that I will be sharing this week...promise!

Nectarine Skillet Cake

2015-03-30T15:07:00.000-07:00

Ingredients

1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature
3/4 C. granulated sugar
2 eggs
Zest from one whole medium sized lemon
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 1/4 C. All purpose flour
1 tsp. Baking soda
3 Medium nectarines

Sugar Topping
2 Tbsp vanilla sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 and prepare your skillet by greasing it with a generous amount of butter or baking spray. Using a stand mixer, beat the butter until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes). Use spatula to scrap butter off the side of the bowl then add the sugar and mix until incorporated. Add eggs one at a time. Add both the lemon zest and juice, mix until incorporated. Sift the baking soda and flour together, add to the rest of the ingredients making sure not to over mix. Use a spatula to pour batter into prepared skillet evenly. Slice up the nectarines into thin wedges and arrange in a circular pattern (our any pattern of your liking) directly onto cake batter. Sprinkle sugar topping on cake and bake for 40 minutes. The top of the cake should be golden brown and a toothpick should come out clean when poked into cake. Serve warm or cooled, with ice cream or whipped cream. Either way it is delicious!!

Lemon Curd

2015-01-13T21:37:00.000-08:00

After three years of living in our house we FINALLY had lemons on our tree this year! I waited so patiently for them to turn yellow, dreaming of all the wonderful things I wanted to create. So far I have used the lemons to bake two pound cakes, add fresh lemon juice to my daily water intake (my favorite), and thanks to Pinterest... a lemon/sugar facial scrub that works like a dream :) Oh my how I love lemons!

High on my list was a batch of fresh lemon curd. I think curd is a great place to start because there is so much one can do with it! I have big plans for this lemon curd, but that is another recipe for another day, hopefully within the week!

With that said lets get to the recipe! It's so easy with minimal ingredients.

Ingredients:

3 Large Eggs

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup Fresh lemon juice

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 tablespoon lemon zest

Directions:

Use a glass or stainless steel bowl place over a saucepan of simmering water (A double boiler). In that bowl whisk together the eggs, sugar, and lemon juice until combined. Cook the mixture making sure to stir or whisk continually as to prevent the eggs from curdling. Stir until mixture becomes thick ( this will take about 10 minutes) Remove from heat and add the cut up butter and lemon zest. Stir until combined. Let the curd cool a bit, then cover with plastic wrap directly on the lemon curd (this helps prevent a skin from forming) Then refrigerate! The curd will continue to thicken as it cools.

That's it folks, easy peasy! Stay tuned for another recipe this week showing what I did with my lemon curd.

Healthy Banana & Walnut Muffins

2015-01-08T07:00:00.000-08:00

I have never been much of a heath nut, this year however I decided to at least make an effort to put healthier food into my body, and dare I say it...cut back on sugar. Eeek!! I feel like a traitor for even speaking such blasphemy.

These muffins have no sugar or butter, instead I used honey as a sweetener which helps keep them super moist. These bad boys are seriously delicious and I don't feel too bad that I just ate five of them.

Healthy Banana and Walnut Muffins

1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 very ripe bananas

1/4 cup honey

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 tablespoon coconut oil

1 egg

1/2 cup plain or vanilla Greek yogurt

1 tablespoon milk

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (reserve some to sprinkle on top of muffins)

First preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Prepare muffin tins with liners (yields 12)

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. Add bananas, honey, vanilla, oil, egg, milk and yogurt to a food processor or blender. Blend on high until well combined. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Fold in chopped walnuts making sure to reserve some. Divide batter into muffin tin and then sprinkle the reserved walnuts directly on top of muffins. Bake for 20 minutes or until tooth pick comes out clean. Let cool and enjoy :)

Favorites From 2014

2015-01-06T20:54:00.000-08:00

It's been pretty quiet on the blog for the last part of the year. Fear not, I'm still very much alive. I have slowed down my orders almost completely due to the fact that there is a really cute baby girl that I can't seem to take my eyes off of. No really, she is super cute and loves to be held, and me...well I just love to hold her. Someday I will post a photo of her on the blog, then you will have the proof :)

Despite my absence, I have still managed to make my way into the kitchen from time to time and whip up some treats. And whats even more impressive... take photos of them! The above are some of my favorites from the past year. I actually made a ton more, but failed to photograph half of what I made. Which brings me to the new year...

My (baking) goals for 2015 include but are not limited to
- continue to post recipes.
- improve my food photography skills
- make more cakes
- improve my sugar flower skills

For those that follow along, Thank you!! Although my posts may be few and far between, I really do enjoy this little outlet that I have.

Happy baking in 2015!!
:)

Cherry Scones With An Almond Cherry Glaze

2014-08-16T10:52:00.000-07:00

Scones:
Ingredients
11 Tablespoons cold butter, cut into pieces
2 egg
1 cup milk
4 cups flour
2 Tbl plus 1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 to 2 cups cherries, diced

Directions

Preheat oven to 450F. Sift the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt together in a bowl. Measure out the milk in a medium size measuring cup then add the eggs to the milk, whisk with a fork and set aside.
Mix in the butter with the flour mixture using your hands until the butter is the size of peas. Keep the butter cold! Pour in the milk and egg mixture and stir with a fork just till it sticks together. Add in your cherries and add a bit more milk if it's still too powdery (do NOT over mix).
Dump out onto a lightly floured counter. Divide the dough in half. With each half, press together gently forming a circle and cut four times (creating 8 small triangle scones). Repeat with the other half of the dough. This batch yields 16 scones. Place on greased cookie sheet and bake around 15 minutes till done!

Almond Cherry Glaze:
Ingredients
1/4 cup of fresh black cherries diced
2 Tabl milk
1 tsp almond extract
1 cup confectioners sugar

Directions
Add the cherries, milk, and almond extract to your food processor and puree. Once done, add to a medium sized bowl and whisk in the confectioners sugar until consistency is smooth. Add more sugar if you prefer a thicker glaze! Drizzle over scones and enjoy!

Cantaloupe Sorbet

2014-08-14T11:33:00.000-07:00

Cantaloupe Sorbet

One whole cantaloupe
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup water
3 Tablespoons fresh lime juice

In a medium saucepan, bring the sugar and water to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the sugar is completely dissolved. Place in a bowl to completely cool.
Cut the cantaloupe into chunks, and the chunks and lime into a blender or food processor. Pulse until the melon is completely pureed. Combine with the cooled sugar syrup. Chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
Pour the mixture into the freezer bowl of your ice cream maker. Mix until the sorbet has thickened, approximately 25-35 minutes. The sorbet will have soft serve texture. You can enjoy right away or put the sorbet into an airtight container and place in the freezer until firm for about 2 hours.

Root Beer Granita Float With Homemade Madagascar Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

2014-08-06T19:11:00.000-07:00

Someday I hope to be one of those bloggers that post recipes with step by step photos of each processes. Today however is not that day. I have the sweetest 7 week old babe who I'd much rather devote my time and attention to. So for now, one photo and the recipe is just gonna have to do!

Root Beer Granita
( I feel silly even writing this out as a recipe,because it's so simple and easy)

Ingredient:
- Your favorite root beer in all the land
yep, that's it!

Directions:
Pour the root beer into a baking dish that will lay flat in your freezer. Let freeze completely. Once frozen, take a fork and scrape into icy flakes. Keep scraping until all the root beer resembles shaved ice. Put back into freezer until ready to use.

Madagascar Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Ingredients:
1 cup milk
¾ cup granulated sugar
2 cups heavy cream (very cold)
2 tsp Madagascar Vanilla Bean Paste
(I absolutely LOVE my Madagascar Vanilla Paste! I save it for all my best recipes) You can purchase it here.

Directions:
Whisk together the milk and sugar until sugar is dissolved. Stir in the heavy cream and vanilla. Add the ingredients to the freezer bowl of your ice cream mixer. Let it run in the mixer for about 30 minutes.

Once everything is made, grab a cup and layer the granita with the ice cream. Top with a little ice cold root beer. Enjoy!

National Ice Cream Month : Cookies & Cream

2014-07-09T15:13:00.000-07:00

Homemade Cookies & Cream Ice Cream:
Ingredients -
1 cup milk
¾ cup granulated sugar
2 cups heavy cream (very cold)
2 tsp pure vanilla extract, vanilla paste, or one whole vanilla bean
1 cup coarsely chopped Oreos

Directions -
Whisk together the milk and sugar until sugar is dissolved. Stir in the heavy cream and vanilla. Add the ingredients to the freezer bowl of your ice cream mixer. (My mixer holds 2 quarts and this batch makes a little less then 32 oz, so if you have a big enough ice cream mixer I say double that bad boy!) Let it run in the mixer for about 30 minutes. Add cup of chopped Oreos and let run for about 5 more minutes or until just combined.

Chocolate Chip Cookies Dough Frosting

2014-07-08T16:56:00.000-07:00

Ingredients
3 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
3/4 cups brown sugar
4 cups confectioners sugar
3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 bag mini chocolate chips

Directions
In a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add confectioners sugar and mix on low until incorporated. Mix in flour and salt. Add milk and vanilla, beat in mixer on med-high until smooth and creamy (about 5 min). Add bag of chocolate chips and mix with a spatula by hand.

Put on your favorite cupcake and enjoy!

Cakes according to my Galaxy S4

2013-10-17T16:05:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty good at remembering to snap photos from my phone, I just always forget to blog or post them. However if you are following along on instagram I am better at keeping that updated, so yeah..hint, hint :)

Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate Chip Cookies

2013-10-10T19:19:00.000-07:00

The time is here folks. The weather is cooling down, the scent of Fall is in the air, and it's now safe to drink hot cocoa and not break a sweat while doing it :)

I had been eying those Mallow-Bits for months now, just thinking of how I wanted to experiment with them in. When I went to purchase them and saw a recipe already on the back I was thrilled! I made a few adjustments and absolutely loved how they turned out!

Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate Cookies

Source: Whipple Scrumptious / Kraft (PRINT)

Ingredients

1- ¼ cup butter at room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

⅔ cup packed brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 Tsp. Vanilla

3- ¼ cups all purpose flour

4 pkt.instant hot cocoa

¼ Tsp. Cinnaman

1- ¼ Tsp. baking soda

1 Tsp. baking powder

1 cup semi-sweet mini chocolate chips

1 cup Jet-Puffed vanilla Mallow-Bits

Directions

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees

In a standing mixer, beat together the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy (On medium speed this should only take about 2-3 minutes)

Once light and fluffy, add the eggs and vanilla; mix well.

Sift together the flour, hot cocoa packets, cinnamon, baking soda, and powder. Gradually beat dry ingredients into the wet until blended.

Stir in chocolate chips and Mallow-bits

Use small cookie scoop to give you uniformed cookies, lightly grease cookie sheets and bake for 9-11 minutes.

**Baker Notes**
While some cookies taste great minutes after they are baked, with these I found they tasted even better on day two and three! I guess all the flavors just needed to sit a while. Store in an air tight container or bag and they will be just fine. The texture on these cookies are amazing!

Of course you can use any brand for the hot cocoa mix, but I am a Swiss Miss girl all the way. Plus just look and that limited addition packaging...I couldn't resit. I don't however recommend using sugar free cocoa mix.

I added cinnamon because we are cinnamon obsessed over here. I went with the mini chocolate chips to keep them the same size as the Mallows, and because I am also slightly obsessed with mini chocolate chips as well, they seem to be the only ones I am buying these days.

Happy Baking!

Switzerland, France, & Quiche

2013-08-22T23:14:00.000-07:00

At the start of the summer the husband and I embarked on an adventure. We went to Switzerland to visit some dear friends and along the way hit up six other countries! We both used to live in Europe long before we knew one another, so going back as a couple and visiting our old stomping grounds was a dream of ours pretty much from the first date:)

We spent day one in Geneva and on day two we rented a car and drove to Colmar France...pretty much the most picturesque little European town ever!

Along the way we stuffed our faces with the most delicious food and pastries, ah here we go, finally shes getting to the food part. Don't worry I wouldn't leave you hanging, this is after all a food blog:) Keeping with the French theme, let's talk about quiches!! Mmm...quiche. I don't know about you, but I'm a huge fan!

(this also serves as proof that I can make something that doesn't involve sugar :)

I made a couple quiches while in culinary school but I never gave them a second thought really. That is until I married Jordan, and he started making them for me. I was in HEAVEN, and thus began my love affair with quiche...and my husband of course ;)

They're fun, delicious, quick and easy. Once you get the gist of it you can pretty much experiment with the main ingredients as you wish and come up with an amazing one of a kind recipe to fit your likes! Here's my favorite for the week, sweet potato, ham, and Swiss cheese quiche. Even the Switzerland loving, French speaking, quiche expert husband approves this one! Score!

Sweet Potato, Ham, and Swiss Cheese Quiche
(yields one quiche, but if I were you I would double that bad boy and just make two!)

Ingredients

1 large sweet potato cubed
1 cup cubed ham
1 (8 or 9-inch) premade pie dough

1 cup shredded Swiss Cheese
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon all-purpose seasoning.

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Place potatoes in a microwaveable dish. Cover with a damp paper towel and microwave for 2 minutes, until almost cooked through.

Cover the bottom of the premade pie dough with potatoes, ham, and cheese. Place on a cookie sheet and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, and seasoning and pour into the pie shell.

Place quiche into preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes or until eggs have set.

Happy Baking, and eating.

Cheers!

New To The Shop

2013-08-16T15:54:00.001-07:00

Here's a look at all the recent toppers I've been busy making.

I just love all these cupcake decorations! All of them are available to purchase in my Etsy shop!

With that said, the holidays are fast approaching and my goal is to have Halloween decorations up in the shop by the start of September. I better get busy :)

Happy baking!

Biscoff Chocolate Chip Cookies

2013-07-16T19:18:00.000-07:00

People always tell me, "wow you're a pastry chef, your husband must love all the goodies you bake him!" Or.... "How is your husband not three hundred pounds with all the desserts you make?"

OK confession time. I hardly ever bake for my husband. I know that sounds bad. Truth be told, I'm always in the kitchen baking up a storm .... but it's usually for customers. Then when the hubby and I get a hankering for something sweet, we usually go out! It's just the two of us at home and we love date nights so we gladly let others bake for us, plus we love supporting local businesses!

Recently my husband has been pretty obsessed with the Biscoff spread. We've had it before, but he just can't seem to get enough of it lately. So to save him from eating it strait from the jar (too late I know) I thought I'd try my hands at putting it in some good old fashioned chocolate chip cookies. And this time I made them just for him :)

Biscoff Chocolate Chip Cookies (print)

Ingredients:

1 stick butter, softened

1/2 cup Biscoff spread

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

1 egg

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (I’m always generous when it comes to the amount of chocolate chips, so more than a cup is just fine!)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°.

Cream the butter, Biscoff and sugars until light. Add the egg and mix until fluffy.

Blend the flour, baking powder, soda and salt together. Add these dry ingredients to the butter mixture, and stir until completely combined. Add the chocolate chips.

Drop cookie dough by teaspoonfuls onto lightly greased baking sheets. Bake for 10-12 minute.

Happy Fourth of July!!

2013-07-04T18:59:00.000-07:00

I have been away so long.... I know I know...

My husband and I spent the better part of May eating our way through one European country after another. It was delicious. Oh , and fun of course. Which is probable the reason it took me the month of June to recover.

However, I have not been completely idle. I'm so excited to announce that I have added gourmet lollipops to the shop! I have been working hard on perfecting my recipe and am so proud with what I have come up with so far.

More varieties will be added to the shop soon. The fun part is how I will be able to customize them specific to your needs and wants! This is gonna be so fun, so stay tuned for more to come! In the meantime, these festive lollies are listed and ready for your order. They were just featured in this treasury and can be purchased here as well. Show your patriotism all year round, and have a happy and safe 4th of July!

Cheers!

So Long & Farewell + Vanilla Globe Cupcakes

2013-05-14T16:40:00.000-07:00

The time has finally arrived. The mister and I are hours away from leaving on another grand adventure. To say we are excited would just be a wee bit of an understatement (we are kinda pumped out of our minds!!) Also....twiddling our thumbs in anticipation/ boredom since we have been packed for a few days now :)

On the eve of our departure I decided to have some fun and surprise Jord with some travel theme cupcakes. I made edible flag toppers for each of the countries will we be visiting. It was so fun and easy to do! Also, these cupcakes would be perfect for a graduation party, or any travel themed get together.

Here's how to do it:

First let's talk edible images. Edible images toppers are awesome! Most bakeries in your local supermarkets can print them and the possibilities are endless, well kind of. You need to make sure the image you want printed is not trademarked or have a copyright.

For the flags I simply looked online for each image. Once I found all the ones I needed, I scaled them down to the size I wanted then printed them out on one paper. Having all my images fit on one paper was important because they charge you per printed page. So it does not matter how many images are on there, as long as it all fit on the page! You follow? I currently take mine to ABC Cake Decorating until I make this purchase which will come in so handy.

This is now an edible image. You want to work rather quickly because the images will dry out making them difficult to cut. I rolled out my fondant to the desired thickness then brushed on a small amount of water. Small being the key word here, you definitely don't want to soak the thing. Once the image is in place on the fondant, use an x-acto knife to cut it out. You want to make your toppers in advance so they have time to dry.

Now for the "globe" cupcakes ....

EEK! I just love em!

You will need one vanilla cupcake recipe (recipe to follow)

Once the cupcake batter is made, divide it evenly into two bowls. Take green and blue food dye (I used AmeriColor's Sky Blue and Mint Green) and mix in your colors until you get your desired shade. I only used about two drops of each.

Line your cupcake tin with liners and begin filling! You do not want to swirl the colors together, that will create more of a tie dye look. Simply layer the two colors one on top of the other, and fill about 3/4 full.

Perfection!

Perfect Vanilla Cupcakes Print

Yields 1 dozen

Ingredients

1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature

2/3 cup granulated white sugar

2 large eggs

½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon almond extract

¼ cup milk

1 1/2 cups cake flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

- In the bowl of a standing mixer, combine butter and sugar. Mix with a paddle attachment for 5 minutes. Butter should become pale and creamy.

- While butter is mixing combine eggs, vanilla and almond extracts, and milk in a separate bowl and set aside.

- In another bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

-With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and milk, beginning and ending with the flour. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

- Line your cupcake pan with liners, and fill about ¾ full. Bake for about 12- 15 minutes

Now all that's left to do is sit back and enjoy your creation!

^^Can you guess the countries just by looking at the flags?

We are big fans of geography in our house :)

^Lichtenstein^ ^Switzerland^

^Poland^ ^France^

^Slovakia ^ ^Germany^

^Austria^ ^this cute guy, I think Switzerland's his favorite

I will return the first week in June and when I do great things will be happening. So make sure to stop back by and check it out.

until then,

Cheers!

Fresh Strawberry Sorbet & Shortbread

2013-05-03T14:00:00.000-07:00

I can't help but be in summer mode right now. I realize it's technically not summer until June 21st, but dude, I live in AZ! It's been summer here already for about a month now. Sad but true. Still, I have nothing but love for you Arizona!

If someone were to ask me what my favorite desserts are, that would be an easy question for me to answer. Hands down, any kind of frozen dessert. ANY KIND! Ice cream, gelato, custard, sorbet, popsicles........ If it was made to be frozen, chances are this girl right here will love it. And it really doesn't even need to be hot or warm outside for me to be in the mood for a cold dessert. I will eat ice cream in the snow. And have before. It's never a bad time for ice cream!

With that being said, it's really no surprise that our ice cream maker is considered one of our favorite appliances. We leave the part of the ice cream maker that needs to be frozen in our freezer all year long, that way we can be ready to mix up a batch at a moments notice. I highly recommend this by the way:)

As soon as I saw beautiful summer strawberries in the markets I grabbed them with one purpose in mind. Fresh Strawberry Sorbet. This is already my 3rd batch. I just love it so!

Fresh Strawberry Sorbet print

Ingredients:

1 cup water

1 cup sugar

4 cups quartered fresh strawberries (about 18 oz)

3 tablespoons fresh lime or lemon juice

Directions:

-Combine the water and sugar in medium saucepan. stir over med-high heat until the sugar dissolves and comes to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer for 5 minutes. Chill sugar mixture until cold.

-Meanwhile, puree strawberries in a food processor until smooth. Add lime juice and sugar mixture to the pureed strawberries. Chill mixture until cold, about an hour.
-Transfer the strawberry mixture into your ice cream maker and process according to the ice cream maker's instructions. (usually about 20 minutes in any maker)
-Once done, transfer into covered container and chill in freezer until for about four hours.

Shortbread Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour

¼ cup sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter

Directions:

-Preheat your oven to 300 degrees. Whisk flour, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl. Cut the ½ cup butter into cubes and rub in with fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal. Knead the dough until a ball forms.

-To make the cookies you can use any cutters you have or a springform pan to form the dough into a disk which you can later cut into wedges. The choice is yours, use your imagination!
-Bake time will depend on the size and shape of the cookies you choose. Bake until pale golden.

Here are the cutters that I decided to use. To spell out 'summer' and 'love' I used tiny letters that are made for clay impressions, but I have always used them for cake decorating purposes. That's another tip I can give you. When working with fondant or gum paste, always check the modeling clay sections at craft stores. They have great tools that can be used for cakes and whatnot.

Now go! Make, eat, and enjoy.

And try to stay cool this hot summer :)

This could be the start of someting beautiful : Button Swap

2013-04-30T11:51:00.000-07:00

Now that I am a stay at home Pastry Chef (I just love the sound of that :) the thought often crosses my mind as to how I can grow by business. I love LOVE that blogs exist and so many people are able to market themselves so freely now.

While I am still in the early stages of growing my little business into the big business that I dream it can become, I thought it would be a great time to start sponsorships. But not the sponsorships you have to fork out big bucks for . I was thinking more along the lines of a button swap! So yep, that means free!

I thought if you have a blog you are trying to grow, or a business you would like to promote, then we should swap buttons. I put your button on my side bar and you put my button on your side bar. Can ya dig it?

If this sounds like something that you think you might be into lets chat. Email me at Whipplecakes@gmail.com. I think this can turn into a great opportunity!

Life Lately

2013-04-29T01:04:00.000-07:00

I feel like every time I'm absent from this blog for longer then two weeks that I owe you all an explanation.

The truth is I've just been living life.

I'm going to school, spending time with my husband, time with my sweet nephew, volunteering at my church, making big plans for an upcoming trip, and pumping out orders left and right! Yep, that little etsy shop of mine is keeping me so so busy...and I like that! So thank you to all those who have purchased orders. I truly feel so blessed to wake up each day and do what I love. It's the best feeling!

I came up with both of these toppers for some friends a while back. I had yet to put them in the shop for some reason or another but decided that it was time. And I'm so glad I did! Those TMNT just might out sell my Ninjago toppers

I have been busy baking as well. These bad boys are exactly what you think they are. A giant Oreo stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookie. The recipe is from Picky Palate, I have such a food crush on that Jenny girl. I am certain we could be friend :)

And yes, they are as delicious as they look!

So remember how I said I was in school?! Well I took my very first photography class, and I LOVED it! As a Pastry Chef I wanted to improve my photography skills (and when I say 'improve' I mean 'get' because this girl knew absolutely zero about photography) I knew how important a well photographed dessert plays into the presentation aspect, and since I want to do the best I can, I knew a class was in order! Hopefully you will start to see a difference in the quality of photos that I take (although I still grab my phone 20% of the time) Hey I'm learning folks :)

I am very happy to report that one of my pieces made it into the art show, and I won an award for Emerging Talent! The award came with the most delightful ceremony and a whopping 75 bucks! WooHoo!! :) I decided to use that money and invest it into a new lens I have been wanting. Because hey, why not! All in all, I think I'm gonna love food photography!

And that in a nutshell has been my life lately! Busy, busy, busy!
I can't believe that April is over. I have a feeling that May will be one of the best months ever. The husband and I are getting ready to gear up on an adventure, which means that I will once again be absent from the blog for a while. I do have plans to post a recipe or two before we leave. I tell you this so you can hold me to it :)

until then, cheers!

Apron Love

2013-04-07T19:18:00.000-07:00

I love aprons!

Not only are they practical for keeping your clothes nice and clean while baking up a storm in the kitchen, but they're so fashionable now. Have you noticed? Good heavens there are so many out there to choose from. Cute ones, quirky one, nerdy, fancy, frilly, retro..... the list goes on and on.

While browsing the internet this weekend I found some really great ones, and the shops where you can find them. I can't help but share because I love the creativity and talents of others!

How cute is this fun pin- up style apron! It can be found here and the owner has such a fun shop with so may other style to choose from.

Found here

This shop owner just had too many cute ones to choose a favorite.
Don't these aprons look like they could be dresses!

For the superhero in all of us.

This one is made out of a towel!

These beauties are from good ole Anthropologie .
Again, these could make the cutest sun dresses. EEK! How can one even be expected to decide!

To be honest, I don't think you can really go wrong with any of these. Hopefully y'all are not as fickle as I am, and can pick one with ease.

Whatever you pick, I'm sure you will all look fabulous!

Happy baking :)

Russian Tea Cakes

2013-04-04T21:49:00.000-07:00

I'm not quite sure why these are called tea cakes when they are in fact, tea cookies. But hey, to each their own right

All I know is that I call them delicious. Like, really delicious! On Julie's cookie scale these are right up there on the top of the list. Yep, that's how much I love em.

These are traditionally Christmas cookies. When my mother in-law came to stay with us over Christmas break she had made them. And I ate them. Every. Last. One.
Yes I know, I can be so selfish at times.
Since that time I've been craving them. Yes that's four months of craving a cookie that is so simple to make. After a quick email to the mother in-law, the recipe was now in my possession and I was free to bake away!

If you are looking for a cookie recipe that is fool proof, this my friends is it.

Russian Tea Cakes

click here to print

Ingredients:

1C butter at room temperature

1/2c sifted confectioner's sugar

1 t vanilla

2 1/4C sifted flour

1/4 t salt

3/4 C finely chopped nuts (pecans are my nuts of choice)

Directions

1. mix thoroughly the butter, confectioners sugar, and vanilla. Set aside

2. Sift together the flour and salt, then stir into the butter mixture.

3. Add the 3/4 c. nuts and continue to stir until evenly dispersed

4. Chill the dough for about an hour

5. Once ready, roll dough into 1” balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.

6. Bake at 400 degrees until set and light brown (10-12 min)

7. While warm, roll in confectioners sugar. Cool, then roll in confectioner's sugar again.

Happy Baking!

Happy April + Custom Smash Cake Candles

2013-04-03T18:22:00.000-07:00

Am I the only one who's having a hard time believing that it's already April? April!
Good grief this year is flying by.

I do love this time of year. Being from AZ, it's the time where we try to go outside as much as possible, bask in the sweet breeze, and pray that this weather will last just a bit longer :)

How was everyone's Easter weekend? Ours was filled with church, good food, family, and our friends who were visiting from Switzerland. Having them stay with us was pure joy..they were the best house guests! But more on them later :)

Let me show you what I have been working on...

Custom smash cake candles!

This idea had been floating around my brain for about a year before I actually did it. I don't know why it took me so long to bring it to life.

I got the idea after I made a smash cake for my friends sweet little boy. I put a number '1' on top that matched the cake perfectly, but it wasn't a candle... so a number '1' candle was placed on top so that her son could blow it out. With two numbers on top, it almost look as if it were an eleven! Now it was obvious that her son was not indeed eleven, but it still got the rusty wheels in my brain turning.

You can buy number candles at the store, but you can't always get them in the color that you desire. Plus what if you were having a themed party and wanting everything to match!

So this is how the idea was born.

With themed parties and smash cakes being all the rage, I thought having a custom candle would be perfect. The possibilities are endless really. And now they are available for purchase in the shop.

So excited to offer these now!

Wishing you all a happy and wonderful April

Cheers.

Easter Toppers

2013-03-25T14:57:00.000-07:00

Pastel cotton tail bunnies

I didn't put these in the shop in time to allow for adequate shipping time :( my own fault.
I'm still learning time management and realizing that when a Holiday is coming up, you literally have to make toppers for them months in advance. That way you have time to let them dry, photograph them, and list them in the shop so people can order them (and receive them) in time for the actual Holiday. I am learning people... I will get there someday :)

I still wanted to show them though. AND...... if you are in the Phoenix area and don't need them shipped, then you can still order some to adorn your cupcakes or cake for Easter Sunday!

The deadline is no later then Thursday the 28th and we can arrange pick up times for Saturday the 30th.

If you are interested please email me at whipplecakes@gmail.com and we will get started!