The Freshman Cook

Cookie Journey Thursday!

2012-02-23T23:21:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my first Cookie Journey Thursday! Join me every Thursday as I attempt to improve my cookie decorating skills, which are seriously lacking!!. Today I attempted to put silver luster dust on these cookies that are cut out to look like a Hershey's chocolate kiss. I have used the luster dust in the past, for New Years Eve cookies. When I made the NYE cookies I used the luster dust as an accent. Maybe that is what it should be used for. Today I used the luster dust as the main color and I wasn't happy with the results.

The colors were streaky and not very dark,

even after a couple of coats.

This is the luster dust I used, along with a little water.

I started with the cookies, which had been frosted

with white Royal Frosting.

Using a small paint brush, I dipped the brush

in a little water, and then....

barely dipped the brush in the luster dust.

I then brushed the dust on top of the icing.

This is not what I was looking for at all!!!

I am going to keep working on this during the week,

and hopefully by next Thursday I will have some sort

of way to go with this. Maybe I should have used a

different base color for the cookies. I will definitely be

investigating! If you have any answers or suggestions,

please let me know!!I really want to learn how to do this!!

Thanks for joining me today!

Giveaway Winner!

2012-02-22T23:21:00.002-08:00

The winner of the Random Acts of Kindness Giveaway Blog Hop is............. Linda Henderson!!!!

Congratulations Linda!

Your prize will be on it's way to you soon!

Cookie Journey ~ Day 4

2012-02-21T23:55:00.000-08:00

Today is the last day of our mini cookie journey. Today I decorated cookies while they were still wet. I have done this in the past, but I used a little different technique in the past.

This is really simple to do. The hardest thing to do is to get the

dots all the same size. In the past when I made these, I used

a stylus to make the dots. This time I put the icing in

decorating bags. I think the stylus lets you have much more control,

and I plan to go back to doing it that way.

Here is how I did this.

I outlined and filled in the cookie, just like we did

in the last couple posts.

I had my bag of yellow icing ready to go. The icing will

dry quickly, so all your colors must be prepared before

you start. Then, I dropped dots of yellow onto the

cookie in random spots. The problem is that the

yellow came out fast. When I used the stylus, I could

go a little slower. Let them dry overnight.

These would be pretty for spring, or for cookies where you need

a pop of color to match decor.

Thanks for joining me today.

The Random Acts of Kindness Giveaway Blog Hop
is ending shortly. I will let you know the winner within
24 hours!!
Good Luck, and Thank You so much to everyone that entered!!

King Cake Cupcakes!

2012-02-21T19:40:00.000-08:00

Today is Fat Tuesday and the last day of Mardi Gras, so I thought I would make a version of the King Cake~

King Cake Cupcakes!

Printable Recipe

(adapted from Coastal Living)

1/2 cup warm Milk

2 (1/4 oz) Dry Yeast Packs

1/3 cup Sugar, divided

1/2 cup Butter, melted

3 Egg Yolks

1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1/2 teaspoon Lemon Zest

3 teaspoons Lemon Juice, divided

1 1/2 cups Flour

1/2 cup Cake Flour

1 tablespoon Ground Cinnamon, divided

1/4 teaspoon Salt

1 large Egg, lightly beaten

1 cup Powdered Sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons Hot Water

Purple, Green Yellow Sprinkles

Combine yeast, milk, and 1/4 cup of the sugar, in a bowl.

Stir well, and set in a warm place for 10 minutes.

In another bowl, combine butter and next 3 ingredients,

stir in 2 teaspoons lemon juice.

Combine flours, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl.

Add milk mixture, and butter mixture, and beat, adding a couple

tablespoons of flour, 1 at a time, if the dough is too sticky.

Mix the dough until it is smooth, but soft.

Spray a bowl with pan spray.

Put the dough in the bowl.

Roll the dough around until it is coated with the pan spray.

Cover it with a kitchen towel.

Place in a warm place and let it rise for about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Once the dough has risen, punch the dough down.

Place the dough on a lightly floured surface.

Roll dough into a 12" X 8" rectangle.

Combine the remaining 1 teaspoon cinnamon and

4 teaspoons sugar.

Sprinkle over the dough.

Roll dough into a log.

Cut log into 12 equal pieces.

Place pieces into muffin cups.

Brush cupcakes with beaten egg.

Bake 15 minutes.

Remove from the pan, and cool on rack.

Combine the powdered sugar, water, and 1 teaspoon

of lemon juice.

Drizzled frosting on top of cupcake.

Add yellow, purple, and green sprinkles.

Happy Fat Tuesday!

Cookie Journey~Day 3 and a Giveaway!

2012-02-20T23:59:00.001-08:00

It is Day 3 of my Cookie Journey. Yesterday I decorated a couple heart shaped cookies. They did not turn out as nice as I wanted them to. But today I took some of the heart cookies, applied the frosting again, with a steadier hand and they turned out pretty good.

This is what I started with. I did the exact thing that I posted yesterday,

but my hand was steadier.

Years ago, I took a folk art painting class. The instructor

taught the basic little touches you could do to

decorate wood pieces. One of the things I learned was to

make a heart that was simple and cute. I used the same thing

on the heart cookies, only I used frosting.

With my bag of frosting, I piped 2 dots right next to each other.

They are barely touching. I used a Wilton #2 tip.

With a very small tipped paintbrush,

that I only use for cookies, I pulled the frosting down from

the left side dot. I pulled it to where it would eventually end up

at the bottom of the heart.

Then I pulled the other side down until the heart was formed.

They turned out fairly well. A few of the hearts have tiny

globs of icing at the tip of the heart. I need to work on that!

This is not the best picture, but I went around the outline of the

small heart with my frosting bag and the same #2 tip.

I just piped little dots, trying to even space them all the way around.

I am happy with this one. The dots did not get any little points on them,

which I was glad about. The consistency on the icing must have been

right because they were really great dots!

Thanks for stopping by for Day 3 of my

Cookie Journey!

Don't forget about our

Random Acts of Kindness Giveaway Blog Hop!

We are giving away a cookie decorating kit full of

useful things you are sure to need!

Click on the link for your chance to win.

Our giveaway ends Tuesday at midnight!!

Thanks for joining me today!

Hope to see you tomorrow!

Tomorrow we will be doing some

cookie decorating on our wet cookies!

Secret Recipe Club~Apple Empanadas!

2012-02-20T09:00:00.000-08:00

It's time for another Secret Recipe Club reveal. We took a little break in January, but we are back in full force this month, cooking and baking our way through the blogging world. For February, I was assigned the blog, The Foodies at Work. This blog is so unique, with the 2 girls who are the foodies, writing from two different cities. Melissa posts from Boston and Angela from New York City. This fantastic blog features original recipes, local food events, and restaurant reviews. Stop by their blog, and say hi! I made their Apples Empanadas a la mode today. They are just wonderful. They remind me of some wonderful commercial pies I used to eat when I was a little girl. The pies brought back warm memories for me!! Try these. You will love them!

Apple Empanadas a la Mode

4 tablespoon unsalted Butter

3 large Baking Apples

3 tablespoon Dark Brown Sugar

1 teaspoon Cinnamon

1 box frozen Puff Pastry, thawed(this takes about 40 minutes)

Flour, for dusting

Pinch Salt

Optional: 3 tablespoon Dark Rum

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Peel your apples.

Core your apples, and dice them into small bite sized pieces.

Melt the butter in a saucepan.

Once the butter is completely melted, add the apples

and stir them until they are soft. This does not take long.

Once the apples are soft, add your brown sugar,

cinnamon, salt, and rum, if you so desire. I omitted the rum.

Let this cook for 10 minutes, stirring often.

Once the 10 minutes are up, mush the apples with a fork

until it looks like lumpy applesauce.

During the 10 minutes, start to cut out your circles

from the puff pastry. Unfold the puff pastry. Use something

that is 4-5 " in diameter to cut out your circles.You can see

that I used my funnel which was 4 1/2" wide. It worked great!

Using a paring knife or pastry wheel, cut out your circles.

There is 1 of the 4 circles I cut from 1 puff pastry sheet.

I made 1/2 of the recipe,

so I only ended up with 4 empanadas.

Scoop 2 tablespoons of apple mixture onto each circle.

Fold each pastry circle in half.

Pinch the ends closed.

Crimp the ends of the pastry with fork tines.

Pretty!

Take the 1 tablespoon of butter that you didn't use,

melt it, and gently spread it on the empanadas.

Poke a couple holes in the top of each pastry,

allowing it to vent while baking.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until they start to

turn light brown.

Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream!

Enjoy!

Cookie Journey~Outline and Fill

2012-02-20T00:28:00.000-08:00

Today I thought I would start my cookie journey by outlining a few cookies, and then filling them in. I baked my cookies using heart cookie cutters, and I made pink icing. They did not turn out like I wanted them to. I will say that I did all this late in the evening, and I was tired. Tomorrow I am going to try to decorate in the morning. I am just more alert in the morning!

I started with a bowl of the icing that I made yesterday.

I added a little water to make it a better consistency.

I drew a knife through the icing, and counted to 10

to see if it would be 10 seconds until the line disappeared.

It was, so the icing was a good consistency.

This is called 10 Second Icing!

I used an AmeriColor brand Soft Pink. I love this

brand because the color is dropped in by squeezing the

bottle. It is so easy to control.

I put in five drops and mixed.

I filled my bag about 1/3 full with the pink icing.

I outlined the heart cookie. I think I should have outlined

by leaving a little bit of an edge,

so the icing is not on the very edge of the cookie.

I filled in by continuing to go around the design until the

heart was covered, then I moved the cookie back and forth

until all the spots were filled.

Then I did the same thing to several small cookies also.

They are ok. But just ok.

I wouldn't want to give them to anyone!

So therefore, they are not good!

But practice makes perfect, and I will continue to

make some more heart cookies.

For more information of how to decorate this way,

go to Sweetopia's YouTube page. She has a

wonderful tutorial on what I did today, except

hers look so, so great!

Click here to see how she does it!

See you tomorrow when we will do some

add ons to the basic decorated cookie

that we did today!

Don't forget about our

Random Acts of Kindness Giveaway Blog Hop!

We are giving away a cookie decorating kit full of

useful things you are sure to use!

Click on the link for your chance to win.

Our giveaway ends Tuesday at midnight!!

Thanks for joining me today!

Hope to see you tomorrow!

My Cookie Journey! and A Giveaway!!

2012-02-18T20:36:00.000-08:00

Today I am starting on my journey to be a better cookie baker and decorator. I originally said that I would be posting about my attempt to improve my lack of cookie decorating skills throughout the 5 days of participating in the Random Acts of Kindness Blog Hop. I will do that, but I am also going to continue to work on improving my limited skills by practicing whenever possible and posting my accomplishments and failures on my blog every Thursday. This ensures that I will make a step toward fulfilling my goal of becoming a cookie decorator, because I will at least be practicing once a week! That day will forever be known as Cookie Journey Thursday!
So, let's get started. Today I am posting the cookie recipe and the icing recipe I usually use. It is very possible that both the cookie recipe and the icing recipe are ones you use. They are all over the internet, and I have read many blogs where cookie decorators use these recipes. The cookie recipe is called "No Fail Sugar Cookies". I found the recipe on the Kitchen Gifts blog. I love the recipe, and I have used it for years, but I made one change that has made it a great recipe for me. The original recipe calls for 6 cups flour. I use only 5. For some reason it just makes a better cookie for me.

NO FAIL SUGAR COOKIES

5 cups Flour

3 teaspoon Baking Powder

2 cups Butter

2 cups Sugar

2 Eggs

2 teaspoon Vanilla or Almond Extract

1 teaspoon Salt

Cream butter and sugar.....

until light and fluffy.

Add eggs and almond extract, and mix well.

Mix dry ingredients a little at a time to butter mixture.

Mix until flour is incorporated and the dough comes together.

The dough needs to be chilled. On the Kitchen Gifts web site

they recommend this great idea so you can start cutting out

your cookies sooner than later. Take a spatula full

of dough, and put it in the middle of a piece of

parchment paper. Cover the dough with the same size

parchment paper. Roll out the dough to 1/4" thickness.

Place the dough on a baking sheet, cover with plastic,

and let it chill in the refrigerator. Repeat the process

until all the dough is used, and all the sheets of

parchment are in the fridge. By the time you are done,

the first sheet you put in should be done. If not, wait about

1/2 hour. They should be done by then.

Take out the first batch, cut out, and start baking at

350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

The best thing is that you are not adding any additional

flour to your cookies.

If covered properly with the plastic, these can stay in

the fridge overnight. Many times I have made the recipe

before I go to bed, and then I cut them out and

bake them in the morning.

ANTONIA74 ROYAL ICING

6 ounces warm Water

5 tablepoons Meringue Powder

1 teaspoon Cream of Tartar

2.25 pounds Confectioner's Sugar

I have been using this recipe for a little over a year,and I

really like it. It makes up quick, and I have

had lots of comments of how good it tastes.

I found this recipe on the Cake Central website. I love this site.

I can truly spend hours browsing the cookies that bakers have

posted. It's a great site to see what's new and what everyone else is

baking! There are so many talented people out there!!

In the mixing bowl from your mixer, pour in the warm water

and the meringue powder. Mix it with a whisk until it is frothy

and has thickened a bit, about 30 seconds.

Add the cream of tartar and whisk for another 30 seconds.

Pour all of the confectioners sugar in the bowl,

and place the bowl on the mixer.

Use your paddle attachment on low speed, and mix

for 10 minutes. I usually stop the mixer at least one time

during the 10 minutes to push down the icing that gathers

on the wall of the bowl.

Your icing will get smooth, thick and creamy.

Place in a sealed container until you are ready to use.

That's it. Tomorrow we will talk about some cookie

decorating basics like how to outline and fill in.

Don't forget about the

Random Acts of Kindness Giveaway Blog Hop!

We are giving away a cookie decorating kit full of

useful things you are sure to use!

Click on the link for your chance to win.

Our giveaway ends Monday!!

Thanks for joining me today!

Hope to see you tomorrow!

Random Acts of Kindness Giveaway Hop

2012-02-16T21:00:00.000-08:00

The Freshman Cook is having a giveaway!!! I have linked up to the Random Acts of Kindness Giveaway Hop The giveaway starts today(Friday) and ends on Tuesday 2/21 at midnight.! That's only 5 days to enter to win!! There are 150 different blogs participating in this giveaway. Check them out at the bottom of this post. This is going to be fun!! What are we giving away?

A Cookie Making, Baking, and Decorating Kit!

Your kit includes:

1 Sil-pin Rolling Pin

10 Various Cookie Cutters

5 Decorating Tips

Several Couples

Several Tip Covers

A wash bag for your decorating tips

2 Decorating Colors

How do you win? There are 2 ways.

1 is mandatory. You must follow

The Freshman Cook, and send me a comment

that you are following.

The 2nd way to enter is to follow

The Freshman Cook on Facebook. This is optional.

Then send me a comment telling me you "like"

The Freshman Cook on facebook.

That's it!

For the next 5 days of the giveaway, I will be sharing

my lack of cookie knowledge with you.

I have always wanted to spend time

decorating cookies in the hope that I might

get a little better.(I am terrible)

Well, throughout the giveaway, I will be sharing

my trial and tribulations as I attempt to

decorate a cookie I am happy with.

I hope you will join me!! :)

Improv Challenge~Carrot Cake Whoopie Pies!

2012-02-16T06:00:00.000-08:00

Today is the day for the Improv Cooking Challenge! This is such a fun challenge, I just love participating! This month our ingredients are carrots and ginger. I immediately thought of carrot cake, but I was looking for something a little smaller, like cookies. This got my brain thinking about cookies, and then whoopie pies, the ultimate cookie!

Carrot Cake Whoppie Pies

(adapted from Whoopie Pies by Sarah Billingsley)

2 cups Flour

1 1/2 teaspoons Baking Soda

1 teaspoon Baking Powder

1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon

1 teaspoon Ground Ginger

1/2 teaspoon Ground Nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon Salt

8 tablespoons Butter, softened

1/2 cup packed Light Brown Sugar

1/2 cup Sugar

2 Eggs

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1 cup Grated Carrots

Whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder,

cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt together.

Set aside.

In the bowl that you can use a mixer with,

cream together the butter and both sugars.

Cream on medium for 4-5 minutes

until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each one.

Mix in vanilla.

Add the dry ingredients and mix just until combined.

Add carrots.

Chill the batter in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

While the batter is chilling, make the cream cheese filling.

This is a recipe I have used for a very long time. I love it!

Cream Cheese Filling

8 ounces Cream Cheese

5 tablespoons Butter, softened

2 teaspoon Vanilla

2 cups Confectioners Sugar

Cream the cream cheese and butter together.

Add vanilla.

Add sugar 1 cup at a time. You might need more

if you want thicker filling.

Put filling in a pastry bag with a Wilton #12 tip.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Use a small cookie scoop, and place circle of dough

on your baking sheet. Cook for 10 minutes.

Let cool!

Pipe the filling onto the bottom of 1 cookie,.....

and put the other cookie on top.

Delicious!

Thanks for stopping by The Freshman Cook!

Club Baked~Soft Candy Caramels

2012-02-15T00:00:00.000-08:00

Today is the day for Club Baked, and we are revealing our Soft Candy Caramels. I can't lie about this. I had some problems with this recipe. I have made caramels before, so I know how important the correct temperatures are to the finished product. The recipe even warned me to make sure my thermometers were calibrated correctly. But I had just checked my thermometers during my Christmas candy making marathon, and they were good to go. So what happened? Somewhere between then and now, my thermometers stopped working correctly, resulting in my first attempt at this delicious candy to be not so delicious. More like a sticky, gooey, messy disaster. But, I am so glad I tried again. My second attempt was perfection, if I might say so myself! The result was a creamy, chewy, deep caramel taste that lingers on your tongue, and coats your throat with warmth. Try this recipe. Your tongue will thank you! I am the host this time around, so here is the recipe!

Soft Candy Caramel

2 cups light Corn Syrup

1 cup Sugar

1 cup Firmly Packed Light Brown Sugar

2 cups Heavy Cream

2/3 cups Condensed Milk

1/2 cup unsalted Butter, room temp,cut into cubes

2 teaspoons pure Vanilla Extract

1 teaspoon Sea Salt

Lightly spray a 9" square baking pan with nonstick cooking spray

and line it with foil, allowing the foil to just overhang the sides

Lightly coat the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

In a medium saucepan, gently stir together the corn syrup and sugars,

along with 1/4 cup water. Set the saucepan over low heat and continue

to stir gently until the sugars are dissolved.

Once the sugars are dissolved, clip

a candy thermometer to the side of the pan,

turn the heat up to medium high,

and wait for the mixture to reach 240-245 degrees.

This should take about 7 minutes.

You do not want to exceed 250 degrees.

Watch your temperature carefully.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, stir together the cream

and the condensed milk and set over medium heat.

Gently warm the mixture, but don't let it boil.

Once the sugar mixture turns amber, remove it from the heat

and stir in the butter and warm milk mixture until completely combined.

Be careful about splattering; it may bubble up when you add

the milk mix. Place the pan back on medium heat,

stop stirring, and bring the mixture back to 245-250 degrees.

Remove the pan from heat, stir in the vanilla and the salt,

and pour the caramel into the prepared pan.

Allow the candy to set for 8 hours, or overnight.

Place a sheet of parchment over the caramel,

and invert it onto a cutting board. Remove the foil.

Spray a chefs knife with pan spray.

Cut the caramels into 1" by 1/2" pieces.

and wrap them in wax paper or candy papers.

Twist the ends of the papers to resemble old school candies.

Distribute with brio to friends and family.

This great recipe is from Baked Explorations

by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito. We are baking

our way through this wonderful, tasty book.

We would love for you to join us!

Next recipe we will be making~Nutella Scones!! Yum!!

Thanks for joining us!

Say Good Morning to Red Velvet Pancakes!

2012-02-14T12:56:00.000-08:00

Here is one last Valentine's Day post, although this certainly does not have to be eaten only on Valentines Day! These are wonderfully delicious any and every day of the year.

Red Velvet Pancakes

(adapted from about.com)

Pancakes

1 1/2 cups Flour

2 tablespoons Sugar

2 teaspoons Baking Powder

1 tablespoon Cocoa Powder

1 teaspoon Salt

2 Eggs

1/4 cup Milk

1 cup Buttermilk

4 tablespoons Butter, melted and cooled slightly

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1 teaspoon White Vinegar

2 teaspoon Red Liquid Food Coloring

Butter or non stick Cooking Spray

Cream Cheese Glaze

4 ounces Cream Cheese, softened

1 cup Confectioners Sugar

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1 tablespoon Milk, if needed

Preheat a griddle to medium high heat. In a bowl whisk together

the flour, sugar, baking powder, cocoa powder, and salt.

Set aside.

In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, then add milk, buttermilk,

butter, vanilla extract, white vinegar, and food coloring,

whisking to combine completely.

Add the dry mix into the wet mix bowl. Stir just until

combined. Don't overmix.

Brush butter or pan spray on your griddle or frying pan.

Spoon batter onto pan.

Cook until done.

Make the glaze by mixing the ingredients. Only add milk as

needed. Just mix together with a fork. For best results,

make sure your cream cheese is really soft! That helps

it mix better.

Place pancakes on a plate and drizzle with glaze!

Happy Valentine's Day

from The Freshman Cook!

Share the Day with Someone You Love!

My Heart Chip belongs with Pico!

2012-02-13T23:37:00.000-08:00

There are few things I enjoy more than tortilla chips with Pico de Gallo. It's always the perfect appetizer, welcome at any party or get together. When you think about it, it's kind of a chameleon. It fits in everywhere.
Well, this Pico de Gallo will fit perfectly into your Valentine's Day plans. After all, it's red and white, and the chips are heart shaped!!

Pico de Gallo and Heart Chips

Flour Tortilla Chips

2 Roma Tomatoes

1/2 Onion

Fresh Cilantro

1 Garlic Clove

1 Jalapeno (late for the pic)

Chop your Roma tomatoes into small bite sized pieces.

Mince your garlic.

Chop your onion into small bite sized pieces.

Chop the cilantro and the jalapeno.

Remove the jalapeno seeds, and mince the pepper.

Be careful not to touch your eyes after touching the pepper.

They will sting. Also be sure to not inhale the fumes when you are

seeding the pepper. They can make you cough.

Add everything to a bowl .

Cover and refrigerate.

(The peppers are in there, they just were put in later)

Take the flour tortilla, and a heart shaped cookie cutter,

and cut out heart shaped chips. Place them on a baking sheet,

spray the chips with pan spray, and then...

sprinkle with garlic powder. No salt here!

Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Let cool or eat warm.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Homemade Chocolate Kiss!

2012-02-13T23:03:00.000-08:00

I love chocolate kisses. I love to eat them right out of the bag, or sneak one off the top of a Peanut Butter Blossom. I love that they come in flavors and colors to match all the holidays. This Valentine's Day is a special one to me. My husband and I got engaged 30 years ago this Valentine's Day! So I make him this chocolate kiss with a special message that I hope he likes. This is easy to do, and I love the personalization. These would be great for a wedding, a wedding or baby shower, or a birthday. By designing the message you can express how you really feel!

Homemade Chocolate Kiss

12 ounces Milk Chocolate

Vegetable Oil

Pan Spray

Medium Size Funnel

Aluminum Foil

Message Printed on White Paper

Melt the chocolate over low heat,

Add vegetable oil as needed to make the chocolate smooth.

This is the funnel I used. This is the middle one in a set of three.

I covered the bottom with foil and taped it on.

I sprayed the inside with pan spray.

Then I set it in a glass measuring cup. The measuring cup

is a stable holder for the funnel.

Pour the melted chocolate into the funnel.

Set it in the freezer until it has set, then

flip over and release it from the funnel.

Cut the top down. The marks on the chocolate are from

the foil being wrapped and unwrapped. It doesn't usually

look like this. It is usually very pretty and smooth.

Wrap the chocolate with foil, twisting the foil.

Print a saying with the computer. When you print it,

leave some space to the right, so you can tuck the

blank space into the kiss wrapping.

Attach your message and watch the lucky recipient smile!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Disappearing Valentine Danish!

2012-02-13T21:41:00.000-08:00

These little danish are so cute! I filled Pillsbury Crescents with chocolate and cherries, and caramel bits, rolled 'em up, baked 'em up, and drizzled some glaze on them. I call them Disappearing Danish because they disappeared from the plate way too quickly!

Disappearing Valentine Danish
Cherry Filling
Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips
Caramel Bits
Crescents
Glaze for Danish
1/4 cup Powdered Sugar
1-2 teaspoons Water

I made Cherry Danish,

Chocolate Caramel Danish,

and Chocolate Cherry Danish.

Roll up the crescent dough.

Bake for 25-30 minutes. These take longer then the
plain crescents because they are stuffed
with all the ingredients.
While they are cooking, make your glaze. Add water
until you get the correct consistency.

Drizzle with the glaze.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine Candy Bag Tags

2012-02-12T23:48:00.000-08:00

These little bag tags are something I came up with to make a couple bags of Valentine candy just a "little something special". They are simple to make, don't cost much, and don't take too much time. But they are sweet! And, the tags can be used long after the candy is gone!

I bagged up the candy, and tied curly ribbon to cinch

the bag closed.

I cut out Valentine and heart clip art from Print Shop.

I cut out a heart for each one to use as a background.

I glued a mini clothespin to the back of each cutout.

Then I clipped the cutout to the bag, and arranged the

ribbon to look pretty.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine Heart Lollipops!

2012-02-11T23:30:00.000-08:00

I have made lollipops in the past, but it has been a while. I had forgotten how easy, quick, and cute they are to make. I added these to the Valentines goodies I sent my son and his roommates.

Lollipops

(recipe from LorAnn Oils)

2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup light corn syrup

3/4 cup water
1 dram (1tsp.) LorAnn Raspberry Flavoring

Neon Liquid Food Coloring

Heart Shaped Lollipop Mold

In a large saucepan, mix together sugar, corn syrup and water.

Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves.

Spray your mold with pan spray.

Place candy thermometer in pan.

Bring to a boil without stirring.

Make sure to have a dish of water and a pastry type

brush ready.

Cover a baking sheet with foil, and the spray with

pan spray. You may need this if you have left over

syrup after filling your molds.

Cook, without stirring, until the temperature reaches 260º F.

The syrup will start to spray sides of the pan above the

mix. If that happens, carefully use the pastry brush

dipped in water to eliminate the syrup by brushing the side of

the pan back and forth until it drops into the mix.

Add drops of coloring, but still do not stir.

The boiling will incorporate the color into the syrup.

Continue boiling until the syrup reaches 300 degrees.

Remove from heat and wait for boiling to stop.

Add flavor and stir.

Pour syrup into molds.

A couple of the molds overflowed a little.

I waited for them to set up just slightly, then I took

a paring knife and cut the excess while it was warm,

but not hot enough to scald.

I had some excess. so I poured it onto the pan we prepared

earlier and added these candy hearts.

I will crack it later.

Not a very good pic, but here are the five lollipops.

I tried to add a conversation heart to one of them,

but it didn't turn out how I wanted it to.

Here are the finished lollipops.I wrapped them in

Valentine cello bags and tied them with ribbon!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Chocolate Valentine Bark!

2012-02-11T20:38:00.000-08:00

Here is a sweet and simple Valentine treat! I made these to put in Valentine Tins that I sent to my son and his roommates. I love making sweet treats for him while he is away at college. It lets him know I miss him; a lot!! And it's so much fun for me!!

Valentine Bark!

12 ounces Milk Chocolate

12 ounces White Almond Bark

M and M's

Conversation Hearts

Valentine Heart Sprinkles

Melt the chocolate chips over medium heat in a double boiler.

Melt and stir until the chocolate is completely smooth.

Spread the milk chocolate onto a baking sheet until it is smooth.

Put the chocolate baking sheet in the freezer for approx. 15 minutes.

Melt the white Almond Bark over medium heat in a double boiler.

Mix until it gets smooth like the milk chocolate did.

Smooth it out over top of the milk chocolate.

Sprinkle the M and M's, the hearts, and the sprinkles

on top of the white chocolate.

Let sit at room temperature until set.

I let mine sit overnight.

Place in freezer for approximately 20 minutes.

Take out of the freezer.

Start randomly cracking the bark in 2 bite sizes.

Wrap up in a Valentine bag.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I will do 1 thing different when I make these next time.

I'll add something salty, like pretzels or peanuts.

This would help cut the sweetness.

Sweets for the sweet!

You Heart Meatloaf and I Heart You!

2012-02-08T20:36:00.000-08:00

My husband is a meatloaf lover! I am not. He has always loved it. I have always barely tolerated it. Of course, as a chef and as a wife and mother, I have made meatloaf a million times. I love making it for my husband. He always appreciates it. So this is for him. His favorite meatloaf recipe with my touch!

The meatloaf is heart shaped. It is rather difficult to see in the pictures.

Ingredients:

1/2 pound Ground Beef

1/4 cup Parmesan Bread crumbs

1/4 teaspoon Pepper

Dash Salt

1 small Onion~chopped( but not too small)

1 Egg

Mix the ingredients together in a bowl.

I use my hands to get it thoroughly mixed, but you

can use a fork instead. Make six little balls with the ground beef.

Flatten the beef out with your hands.

Cut the meat with a heart shaped cookie cutter.

Place the six hearts on parchment paper on a baking sheet.

Adjust them by making the center V of the heart a little deeper.

These are going to shrink a little. Firm them up with your hands by

pressing the sides so they are together. We don't want them to fall

apart like a burger might if it is not molded together well.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.

Keep an eye on them. See the spoon under the baking sheet.

I put that there so the grease would run away from the meat.

They kept their shape pretty well. I flipped over each one,

and cleaned any edges or grease that might have collected.

I added mashed potatoes and gravy!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Valentine Cheesecake!

2012-02-08T19:49:00.000-08:00

I have been making this cheesecake forever! I like to write in the margins of my cookbooks, and I usually write down the date I made the recipe and what it was for. I also try to include my thoughts on the recipe, like changes I want to make, or if it was successful or not. From my notes I see that I made this recipe for the first time when my now 22 year old son graduated from kindergarten. I can't count how many other times I have made this. I even made this when I worked as the chef in a gourmet restaurant. This cheesecake is the ultimate cheesecake. It is not dry. It is so creamy and rich. For Valentines Day, I made individual little cakes, topped with chocolate ganache and covered with cherries. You're gonna fall in love!!

Ingredients:

3/4 cup finely crushed Vanilla Wafers

a short 1/4 cup of melted Butter

12 ounces softened Cream Cheese

1/3 cup Sugar

1/4 cup Whipping Cream

2 1/2 teaspoons Cornstarch

2 Eggs

1 Egg Yolk

a short 1/4 cup of Vanilla Syrup

1 teaspoon Vanilla Bean Paste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Put about 15 or so Vanilla Wafers in a plastic bag.

Take a rolling pin and crush the wafers until they are

very fine. You can also use a food processor.

Pour crushed wafers into a bowl.

Add melted butter, and mix together thoroughly.

Distribute evenly between the 3 pans.

Using your fingers, smooth the wafers over the bottom

of the pan, making it as evenly as possible.

Set pans aside while you make the filling!

In your bowl, combine together the softened cream cheese

and the sugar.

Add the whipping cream and the cornstarch.

Beat with an electric mixer until smooth.

To get the smoothest possible mix, your cream cheese

should be very soft when you begin.

Add the eggs and the egg yolk, one at a time, beating

after each addition.

Add the vanilla bean paste and the vanilla syrup.

If vanilla bean paste is not available, use vanilla extract.

I like to use this paste because the flavor is so intense.

It especially comes out in this recipe.

You can see the little flecks of bean in the picture!

Pour the cheesecake mix into the pans.

This recipe makes three individual cakes!

Place all three in the oven.

Cook at 350 degrees for 8 minutes. Turn down the temperature

to 200 degrees and bake for approximately 50 minutes.

To check to see if they are done, stick a toothpick in the

center like you would a cake. Also make sure the center

of the cakes do not look wet or shiny.

When you take the cakes out of the oven, let them sit

on a cooling rack. Take a knife or offset spatula around the

edge to loosen the cake. Don't release the pans right now.

Wait at least 30 minutes, so they have a chance to cool.

Then you can release the pans, but let the bottoms stay on for a while.

When the cakes are completely cooled,

wrap in plastic and place in the fridge to chill. Still keep the bottoms on,

or transfer them to some other type of base.

Chocolate Ganache

1 cup Milk Chocolate Chips

1/2 cup Whipping Cream

Place the chocolate chips and the whipping cream

into a saucepan and heat on low.

Stir the entire time, to melt the chocolate,

until it is beautiful and smooth.

Place chocolate on top of the cake,

covering the entire top.

Cover the top with the chilled cherries!

Enjoy!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

This recipe comes from a cookbook called

Cheesecake Extraordinaire by Mary Crownover.

I have changed the recipe some. If you would like to make

a large(9" springform pan) cheesecake, double all of the ingredients,

except for the egg yolk. Still only use one!

You can also use vanilla liquor in place of the vanilla syrup.

Chocolate Cake w/ Cherry Filling and Cream Cheese Frosting

2012-02-07T09:00:00.000-08:00

It's time again for the Crazy Cooking Challenge! This is such a fun challenge. Each month we are assigned a featured food. This month it is chocolate cake! Yum! Our job is to go out into blog land and find a chocolate cake made on a fellow bloggers blog. Then make the cake, and post it on your blog. There are some rules, of course, so once you join, you'll have to read the fine print. But you are going to join, right? It easy, fun, tasty, and really interesting! You will love it!! You should join!
I found my chocolate cake on a blog called Chef in Training. This blog is so incredible! I love it. It is authored by Nikki, who has the most incredible recipes ever! Her chocolate cake is the BEST! EVER! I am in love with her Copycat Wingers Sticky Fingers recipe. I love Wingers, so I can't wait to make them. Her Navajo Tacos recipe looks incredible and honestly, I never met a Navajo Taco that I didn't devour! But wait until you try the chocolate cake!! Here it is:

THE BEST CHOCOLATE CAKE RECIPE EVER!

1 box Devil's Food cake mix

1 small pkg Jello instant chocolate pudding mix

1 cup sour cream

1 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Put all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix well.

The batter will be thick.

Pour the batter into your prepared pans.

Let cook until done, about 20-30 minutes.

Let cool on a cooling rack.

Cream Cheese Icing

2 8 ounce Cream Cheese, softened

1/2 cup Butter, softened

1 teaspoon Vanilla

2 cup Confectioners Sugar

Make your icing by creaming the cream cheese

and the butter together. Add the vanilla.

Slowly add the confectioners sugar.

Make sure it incorporates and mix well.

Cut the two layers in half, widthwise.

Cover each inside half with a thin layer

of cream cheese frosting.

Then on top of the bottom cream cheese

frosting, place a layer of cherry filling.

Put the top on the cake.

Frost bottom layer.

Do the same thing to the top layer.

Add top layer to cake before frosting.

Frost top.

Decorate how you wish.

Because it is the season of love I

thought this cake was begging to be decorated with a heart!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Some changes:

I changed a couple things from the original recipe.

Nikki used chocolate chips in her cake. I omitted them.

In Nikki's recipe she decorated with chocolate icing and

Skor candy bars. It looked beautiful, and I'm sure it

tastes heavenly. But when my husband discovered that I was

baking a chocolate cake, he asked if I would make cream cheese

icing and add cherries to the layers.

Because I can't say no to him, I honored his request.

It was delicious!

My husband swears that this cake is

the moistest, unbelievably best chocolate cake he has ever had!!

He is right! You will love this!

Here is the original recipe.

Thanks Nikki for making this such a great

Crazy Cooking Challenge!

Valentine's Cherry Pie for 2!

2012-02-06T22:15:00.000-08:00

My husbands favorite pie is cherry. He absolutely loves it. So whenever I want to make him something special, I make cherry pie! During the summer months when fresh cherries are plentiful, I love using them in everything. However during the winter months, he loves the canned cherries. So that is what I use.

Down Home Cherry Pie

Pie Dough for Lattice-Top Pie
(adapted from: The New Best Recipe)
3 cups Flour

1 teaspoon Salt

2 tablespoons Sugar

7 tablespoons chilled Shortening, cut into 1/4" pieces

10 tablespoons cold, unsalted Butter

10 tablespoons Ice Water

Add flour, salt, and sugar in to

your food processor.

Add shortening and process until the

mix has the texture of coarse sand.

Add butter pieces and cut in until it resembles

coarse crumbs. Butter pieces should be

no larger than peas.

Empty dough into a bowl.

Sprinkle the dough with 5 tablespoons of ice water.

Mix the water into the dough with a spatula.

We are looking for the dough to come together.

Add more ice water, a tablespoon at a time until you get it

to come together.

Divide the dough into two pieces and flatten into disks.

Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least one hour,

or up to two days.

When the dough is chilled, you will need sugar and cherries.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

After the dough has been chilled, flour a surface.

I use large sheets of parchment paper or my cutting board.

Roll one of the dough packs out to 1/4 " circle.

Place the dough on to the top of the skillet.

Fit the dough into the skillet, and using your knife,

trim around the top of the pan.

Fill with cherries.

Set aside.

Make a floured surface.

Roll out your second piece of dough to 1/4" thick.

Cut a straight line with a pizza cutter.

Mark a line 1/2" in from the edge. This means that

your lattice top strips will be 1/2" wide.

Cut along the 1/2" mark with the pizza cutter.

Continue to make strips.

You should end up with strips that look like this.

Cut these in half.

Start fitting the strips over the cherries.

Press the ends of the strips into the dough of the shell.

Cove the pie like this.

Weave other pieces, going the opposite way,

until your pie looks like this.

Remember to gently press the edges of each

strip into the bottom dough.

Sprinkle the top of the lattice work with sugar.

Bake pie for about 50 minutes.

Remove and cool on rack.

Serve warm, ala mode with vanilla bean ice cream.

Happy Valentine's Day for 2!!

I am getting behind with my 14 Days of Valentine's posts, but I will try to be caught up by Wednesday evening.(cross my fingers).!!

See you tomorrow!

Happy Super Bowl Day!

2012-02-05T10:43:00.000-08:00

It's Super Bowl Sunday!

I hope everyone has a day full of good times, good food and good friends!

Here are some last minute chocolate footballs I made for the game!

I made them with chocolate and white candy melts.

I used this candy mold of footballs.

You can see the detail on this one a little better.

I used the white candy melts, in a decorating bag

to mark the laces on the ball and the side stripes.

Then I simply melted the chocolate candy melts

and poured it in the mold. I put the mold in the freezer for

about 5 minutes, and they were done. After about three minutes

of sitting outside the freezer, they popped right out!

I wanted to put sticks on them to make lollipops, but they

just didn't look how I wanted them to. Maybe next time!

Have a super Super Bowl!!

A Classic Valentine Meal!

2012-02-04T14:34:00.000-08:00

Isn't this the sweetest? This scene from Lady and The Tramp
came to mind immediately when I discovered that this
months theme for the Very Good Recipes

challenge is BE MY VALENTINE!

This month I am one of the judges for this fun challenge,

so stop by Very Good Recipes.com,
find out all the details, and all about the prize!

Yes! There is a prize! You're gonna love it!
There are 2 things you need to know.
Your recipe must include something red,
and you have until February 27th to enter!

A CLASSIC VALENTINE MEAL!

1 pound Ground Beef
1/2 cup Parmesan Bread Crumbs
1/4 cup Milk
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce
1/4 teaspoon Pepper
1 small Onion, chopped
1 Egg
Bridgeford Bread Loaf
Butter
Garlic Powder
1 can San Marzano Crushed Tomatoes
3 tablespoons Olive Oil
8 fresh Garlic Cloves, minced
Salt and Pepper
Angel Hair Pasta

Heart Rolls

Thaw a loaf of Bridgeford Bread.
Roll it out on a floured surface,

cut out heart shapes with a cookie cutter, and let them rise.
Bake at 350 degrees for 6 minutes.
When they are done,
brush a mix of garlic powder and butter on top of them.

Sauce

Pour your olive oil in a saucepan, and add the garlic.
Cook until the garlic turns light brown.

Add the can of tomatoes.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Let simmer.

Meatballs

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl.

Form the meat into small meatballs with your hands.

Put a little bit of oil in a pan and start frying the meatballs.

Brown the outside, all around.

As your meatballs brown, take them out of the

frying pan and put them in a pot. They will

cook the rest of the way in the sauce.

Cook your pasta in a pot of boiling water

for about 4 minutes. Drain.

Put your plate together.

Top with your favorite cheese!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Luv U! Marshmallows!

2012-02-02T22:35:00.000-08:00

Our Valentine post today is homemade marshmallows! Homemade marshmallows that are heart shaped, pink, cherry flavored, and have sprinkles! The total Valentine package!

Luv U ! MARSHMALLOWS

Ingredients:

2 teaspoon Butter

3 envelopes unflavored Gelatin

1 cup Cold Water, divided

2 cups Sugar

1 cup Light Corn Syrup

1/8 teaspoon Salt

1 teaspoon Cherry Flavoring

Pink Coloring

Line a 13" X 9" pan with foil, and grease with butter.

In a large metal bowl,sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup water

and set aside. Make sure the bowl is one you can

use a mixer with.

In a large heavy saucepan, combine the sugar,corn syrup,

salt, and remaining water. Bring the water to a boil.

Cook until a candy thermometer reaches 240 degrees.

Remove from heat and carefully add to the gelatin.

Beat on high until mix is thick and doubles in volume.

This should take about 15 minutes.

Add your vanilla.

Add your coloring.

Spread into prepared pan.

Spread as evenly as possible.

Cover with plastic and let it sit at room temp for

6 hours or overnight.

Sprinkle a piece of parchment paper with confectioners

sugar. Take the marshmallow out and out it on top

of the sugar. Lightly sprinkle the top of the

marshmallow with sugar.

Using a small heart shaped cookie cutter, that is coated

with pan spray, start cutting out hearts,

and then roll the sides in sprinkles.

Place on a rack to dry a little.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Thanks for joining me today!

Stop by tomorrow for a classic Valentine's Day meal!