King Cake Monkey Bread
Recipe source: Babble.com
Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

4 tubes refrigerator biscuits [buy the plain Pillsbury biscuits, not the flaky biscuits! the plain biscuits will come in packs of 4 and the tubes are small]
1-1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1-3/4 cups sugar, separated
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup evaporated milk
3/4 cup butter

1. Preheat oven to 350F and spray a bundt pan with nonstick spray.
2. Mix the cinnamon with 3/4 cup sugar. Cut each biscuit into 4 pieces and roll in cinnamon sugar mix. Layer in prepared bundt pan.
3. Mix 1 cup sugar, brown sugar, evaporated milk, and butter in saucepan; bring to boil and pour over the biscuits. Bake for 30-45 minutes. [the baking time can really vary; check the pan often to see how things are progressing and remove from oven when all of the biscuit pieces appear to be fully cooked]
4. Remove from oven and allow to cool on the stovetop for a few minutes, then carefully invert onto a plate or cake stand.

For the icing:
4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
Colored sprinkles for decorating

Mix the sugar, cream, and vanilla together. I added a bit more cream to give the frosting a thinner consistency (personal preference — you can definitely leave the frosting thick and as-is! I just wanted more of a glaze). Spread over warm monkey bread and decorate with sprinkles. Serve immediately.

King Cake Knots
Recipe source: PlainChicken.com
Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

1 loaf refrigerated french bread dough (I used Pillsbury)
3 Tablespoons butter, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
1 cup powdered sugar
4 teaspoons milk (may need a bit more to get the right consistency)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Green, yellow, purple decorating sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Unroll French bread dough into a large rectangle, about 16 x 12 inches. Brush the dough lightly with softened butter. Mix together sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over butter.
2. Cut the dough in half lengthwise and then cut crosswise into strips, about 1-1/4 inches wide. Tie each strip into a knot and place on baking sheet. Bake for 25-28 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.
3. Mix together powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla. Dip each knot into icing and decorate with sprinkles.

Valentine’s Day is on Tuesday! Here’s an updated collection of my recommended Valentine’s Day recipes. XOXO.

1. Tootsie Roll Fudge
2. Chocolate Mayonnaise Cupcakes
3. Pink Ombre Cake
4. Razz-Ma-Tazz Bars
5. Pear-Raspberry Heart Pies
6. Mini Cherry Cheesecakes
7. Fudge Brownies
8. Red Velvet Cupcakes
9. Neapolitan Rice Krispie Treats
10. Brownie Bites
11. Buckeye Bites
12. Strawberry Lemon Cheesecake
13. Cherry Chocolate Kisses
14. Conversation Heart Cupcakes
15. Conversation Heart Cookies
16. Black & White Heart Cookies

I used Annie’s recipe for almond sugar cookies and royal icing. I also highly recommend her royal icing tutorial. I just started decorating with royal icing and the delay was because I was intimidated by the process for years. I’m sure most of you can relate.. seeing those super fancy cookies that look as if they take an hour per cookie to decorate. I would say to myself, “there is no way I could do that!” or “who has the time to make such intricate cookies?!” As it turns out, I could do that (so can you!) and most of the cookies really aren’t too labor intensive. There are just a few long blocks of time required for the icing to set.

Check back tomorrow for a Valentine’s Day recipe round up!

Conversation Heart Cookies
Recipe source: Annie’s Eats
Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

Almond Flavored Sugar Cookies
1 cup butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1 egg, beaten
1-1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
2-1/2 cups sifted flour

Directions:
Cream butter. Add powdered sugar. Blend in egg, almond extract, vanilla, salt and flour. Chill dough until firm. Roll to ¼” thickness on well-floured surface. Cut with cookie cutters. Place on greased cookie sheets. Bake at 375° for 8-10 min. Cookies should not brown. Frost and decorate when cool. Yield will depend on size of cookies.

White Royal Icing
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 Tablespoons meringue powder
5 Tablespoons water

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until the sheen has disappeared and the icing has a matte appearance (about 7-10 minutes). Transfer the contents of the mixing bowl to an air-tight container. This will be the stiffest consistency of the icing, and at this point it is still too stiff to use for decorating. Add water a very small amount at a time and stir by hand until fully incorporated. Continue until the icing has reached a consistency appropriate for piping.

Decorating Instructions:

• Refer to Annie’s Eats for her post about these cookies, as well as her tutorial on royal icing.

Black and White Heart Cookies
Recipe source: Annie’s Eats (cookies and white royal icing)
Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

Almond Flavored Sugar Cookies
1 cup butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1 egg, beaten
1-1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
2-1/2 cups sifted flour

Directions:
Cream butter. Add powdered sugar. Blend in egg, almond extract, vanilla, salt and flour. Chill dough until firm. Roll to ¼” thickness on well-floured surface. Cut with heart-shaped cookie cutters. Place on greased cookie sheets. Bake at 375° for 8-10 min. Cookies should not brown. Frost and decorate when cool. Yield will depend on size of the cutter you use.

White Royal Icing
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 Tablespoons meringue powder
5 Tablespoons water

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until the sheen has disappeared and the icing has a matte appearance (about 7-10 minutes). Transfer the contents of the mixing bowl to an air-tight container. This will be the stiffest consistency of the icing, and at this point it is still too stiff to use for decorating. Add water a very small amount at a time and stir by hand until fully incorporated. Continue until the icing has reached a consistency appropriate for piping.

Chocolate Royal Icing
3-3/4 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup cocoa powder
7 Tablespoons water
3 Tablespoons meringue powder

Directions:
Mix all ingredients using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Transfer icing to an air-tight container. Add water, small amounts at a time, until you’ve reached a consistency appropriate for piping.

Assembly:

• Once you’ve made the cookies and they’ve cooled completely, outline half of the heart with white royal icing and half with chocolate. Let the outlines sit for a few hours so they dry thoroughly.
• Thin your white and chocolate icings to flooding consistency. Flood each side of the heart with the corresponding icing flavor. Allow to sit overnight to dry completely.
• If you missed my post about the football cookies and have never used royal icing before, this is a great tutorial from Annie’s Eats.

Football Cut-Out Cookies
Recipe sources: Annie’s Eats (cookie and white royal icing), food.com (chocolate royal icing)
Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

These cookies involve decorating with royal icing. If you have never used royal icing or are unfamiliar with terms like “outlining” and “flooding”, please read this great tutorial from Annie at Annie’s Eats.  Bridget at Bake at 350 also has some amazing tutorials and tips regarding cookie-making, royal icing, and decorating.

I made two batches of sugar cookies to guarantee that I’d have enough dough for the footballs and the mini football fields. I used a football-shaped cookie cutter and a rectangle-shaped cookie cutter (mine was about 3-1/2 inches wide — the bigger the better for these!) for the fields. While the cookies were baking and cooling, I made a batch of white royal icing and a batch of chocolate royal icing. The recipes for the cookies and icings are below.

Almond Flavored Sugar Cookies
1 cup butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1 egg, beaten
1-1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
2-1/2 cups sifted flour

Directions:
Cream butter. Add powdered sugar. Blend in egg, almond extract, vanilla, salt and flour. Chill dough until firm. Roll to ¼” thickness on well-floured surface. Cut with cookie cutters. Place on greased cookie sheets. Bake at 375° for 8-10 min. Cookies should not brown. Frost and decorate when cool. Yield will depend on size of cookies.

White Royal Icing
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 Tablespoons meringue powder
5 Tablespoons water

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Mix on low speed until the sheen has disappeared and the icing has a matte appearance (about 7-10 minutes).  Transfer the contents of the mixing bowl to an air-tight container.  This will be the stiffest consistency of the icing, and at this point it is still too stiff to use for decorating.  Add water a very small amount at a time and stir by hand until fully incorporated.  Continue until the icing has reached a consistency appropriate for piping.

Chocolate Royal Icing
3-3/4 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup cocoa powder
7 Tablespoons water
3 Tablespoons meringue powder

Directions:
Mix all ingredients using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Transfer icing to an air-tight container. Add water, small amounts at a time, until you’ve reached a consistency appropriate for piping.

•  Once you’ve got all of your cookies cooled and the icings made, begin outlining the cookies.
• For the footballs: outline the football cookies with a thin line of chocolate icing. I use a Wilton #2 pastry tip for outlining.
• For the fields: create two small rectangle outlines on each cookie — think of these as the stands for the “people”. Next, dye a portion of your white icing green. Pipe a thin line of green icing to connect the two white rectangles together. In other words, you will want three compartments on each cookie to flood — two for the fans and one for the green field.
• When all of the outlines are finished, let the cookies sit for 1 or 2 hours or until the icing is fully dry and hardened.
• Next step: flooding the cookies. Thin your chocolate, white, and green icing to flooding consistency. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, check out the tutorial link mentioned at the beginning of this post.
• Flood the footballs with chocolate icing. Next, flood the “stands” with white icing. Let the icing stand for a minute or so and then dip into a container of sprinkles. You want the flooded icing to set up just a little bit, so it’s not running when you dip it into the sprinkles. Next, flood the “field” with green icing.
• Allow the flooded cookies to dry for at least 3 hours or overnight.
• After the icing has dried, pipe the detailing on the footballs (laces, etc) and the yard lines on the football fields. Your flooding icing will be too thin for this, so slowly add powdered sugar to it until it becomes thicker for piping.

This is just a test post (that will hopefully make you smile.. as Gus is quite a charmer and loves the camera). I’ve been having major issues with my RSS feed on this blog. Images won’t display in the feed, which I know is totally, entirely annoying. Initially I thought it was OK because of all of the content and image thievery that goes on… but then I decided to be more zen about it. I want photos to display in your RSS feeds – I want you to have the full post to look at and not be required to click through to see the photo. I think I’ve got the issue fixed, but we’ll see. Thanks for your patience, lovely readers!

This cake would be perfect for a Valentine’s Day celebration. You could use pink dyes, or do the same thing with shades of red. It’s a pretty simple process, just dividing up the cake batter and frosting and dyeing each batch a different shade of pink. I was heavily inspired by all of the amazing ombre cakes I’ve found on Pinterest. PS: If you haven’t joined Pinterest, do it! Seriously! It’s every girl’s Internet fantasy – a playground of all things pretty, stylish, delicious, and intriguing.

PS: This cake could be easily made with a box mix! No need to go entirely homemade if you don’t have the time.

Pink Ombre Cake
Recipe source: Glorious Treats
Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

Cake:
3-3/4 cups cake flour
3-3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
6 eggs
2-1/4 cups sugar
4-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups vegetable oil
1-1/2 cups buttermilk

*I know what you’re thinking: this is a lot of cake! Yes. I wanted to be sure that I had enough batter to make 5 different layers and to have each layer be substantial.

1. Preheat oven to 350*F.
2. In a medium bowl, add cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Stir together with whisk, and set aside.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, add eggs and beat 10-20 seconds.  Add sugar and continue to beat on medium speed about 30 seconds.  Add vanilla and oil, beat.
4. Reduce mixer speed to low and slowly add about half of the flour mixture.  Add half of the milk, then the rest of the flour and the rest of the milk.  Beat until just combined.  Scrap down the side of the bowl.
5. The batter will be thin.  Divide the batter, as evenly as possible, into 5 smaller bowls. Dye the batter various shades of pink. I started with the darkest shade first and worked my way toward the lighter shades. I used AmeriColor gel colorings — and in addition to pink, I added a few drops of purple into the darkest batch of batter. There’s no way to do this step perfectly — just use your eye as a judge and make the best color gradient between the 5 bowls as you can.
6. Prepare cake pans by spraying with non-stick spray. I used 7″ pans. I would not advise using a pan bigger than 7″, though you could probably be OK with 8″ but your cake layers will be a bit more thin. I only own two 7″ pans, so I baked two cakes at a time and washed out the pans between each round of baking.
7. Bake the cakes for about 20-25 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Cool the cakes entirely before assembling.

In any case, here’s a new twist on chocolate fudge. Tootsie Roll fudge!

Tootsie Roll Fudge
Recipe source: Taste of Home
Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

2 Tablespoons butter
2 cups Tootsie Roll midgees
2 Tablespoons peanut butter
3-3/4 cups powdered sugar
2 Tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped pecans (I left these out)

1. Line a 9×9″ square pan with foil. Grease the foil with nonstick spray.
2. In a heavy saucepan, melt the Tootsie Rolls, peanut butter, and butter over low heat, stirring constantly. Gradually stir in the powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla. The mixture will be very thick.
3. Spread into prepared pan. Refrigerate until cool. Using foil, remove fudge from pan and cut into small squares. Store in an airtight container.

Buckeye Bites
Recipe source: Sweet Pea Kitchen
Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

1 cup creamy peanut butter
2 Tablespoons softened butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
Pretzels (any small type will work – squares, traditional twists)
1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat peanut butter and butter until combined. Add sugars and beat until combined. If needed, add more powdered sugar until you reach a consistency that is easy to roll.
3. Roll the mixture into small balls, about 1 teaspoon in size. Sandwich the balls between two pretzels and place in the freezer for 30 minutes.
4. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler (or carefully in the microwave). Stir occasionally until smooth and thoroughly melted. Remove from heat and allow to cool for a few minutes. Dip each pretzel bit halfway into the melted chocolate and place on the prepared baking sheet. Decorate with sprinkles. Chill in the refrigerator until chocolate is set.