Bitter Sweet Cake Shop

New blog!

2010-04-26T21:34:00.003-06:00

So the new blog is UP and running. It has all the old posts from here and the craft blog mixed together. And it even has NEW posts already! Yup Little S's birthday party was this weekend and I posted it (and the cake and all the other great foods) over there. So please check it out. Also if your a follower that doesn't automatically transfer over so be sure to follow the new blog!

This will be my last post here at Bittersweet, but the BEST news? I'm taking the plunge, I'm starting a website for my cakes. More professional and easier to market. We've decided to stop our wandering ways (for now) and are settled here in SLC for the foreseeable future. So I'm going to start marketing, and actually try to make a real effort to sell cakes! Wish me luck (and call and order!). So look for that in the next few days.

This week for dinner- Crock Pot Jambalaya

2010-04-14T02:14:00.002-06:00

My husband has been out of work for almost a year now. We were hoping to go back to school and my husband getting his PHD, but that isn't working out well either. We haven't gotten accepted anywhere yet. Either way though it's pretty tight around here, and isn't getting any better anytime soon. So it looks like I might either go back to school myself or get a "real" job in the evenings. I'm searching for good Crock Pot meals I can make before taking off in the evenings. So here is my first try. We love spicy food, and I've liked Jambalaya. But this wasn't perfect. I have some ideas for the next time. Fresh herbs, instead of dried, and I'm thinking about trying it in the rice cooker, since the main problem was the overdone rice on the bottom and underdone rice on the top.

Crockpot Jambalaya
1 pound chicken breast sautéed and cut into pieces
1 pound andouille sausage, sliced
28 oz can stewed tomatoes with juice
1 large onion, chopped
1 large green bell pepper, chopped
2 C uncooked rice
3 cup chicken broth
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste
In a slow cooker, mix the sausage, tomatoes with juice, onion, green bell pepper, rice and broth. Season with oregano, parsley, Cajun seasoning, cayenne pepper, and thyme.
Cover, and cook 7 to 8 hours on Low, or 3 to 4 hours on High. Stir in the chicken during the last 30 minutes of cook time.

This week's treat- Frozen Hot Chocolate

2010-04-09T18:00:00.002-06:00

I went to NYC last year (before the whole job loss, moving in with the in law's thing!). Anyway while I was there, with a wonderful girlfriend, we decided to check out Serendipity! We just HAD to try the frozen hot chocolate! It was good, HUGE and nice. Even better? Totally able to make at home! I just made a batch of my homemade Hot Chocolate and then put it in the fridge. Once it was cool I threw it into my ice cream maker. Since it doesn't have cream in the hot Chocolate it doesn't cream up, instead it crystallizes a bit. Anyway, I made a batch tonight! It totally hit the spot. This way I can enjoy my favorite beverage even in the middle of winter! Whatever you don't finish just put it back in the refrigerator (it get's too hard in the freezer) and you can either reheat it for hot chocolate, or refreeze another time.

Hot Cocoa
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup hot water
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
4 cups milk
1/8 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Mix cocoa, sugar, water and salt in a saucepan. Over medium heat, stir constantly until mixture boils. Cook for one minute, stirring constantly. Stir in the milk and heat, but do not boil. Remove from heat and add vanilla; blend well. Serve immediately.

This week for dinner- Spinach salad

2010-04-07T20:00:00.003-06:00

Technically this isn't a dinner, but it's a family favorite at our house and we eat it so much I figured it deserves it's own post. PLUS it's a great way to use up your leftover hard boiled easter eggs! It's actually one of the only salad's I'll eat! My husband (the veggie eater in this relationship) loves it, of course. But the surprise is my oldest! She LOVES it. In fact we've been known to BRIBE her with it. "If you eat your ...(insert something not nearly as good for her here)... you can have more salad". True! But we're trying to teach the kids to try a bit of everything so they won't totally insult someone if we go over for dinner. So I use what they like to east, like this salad! The salad itself is easy, the home made dressing really makes it!

Spinach Salad
9-10 oz baby spinach
6 hard boiled eggs sliced
Jar bacon bits
½ bag slivered almonds
Grated mozzarella cheese
Layer eggs, bacon bits, almonds and cheese between spinach

Dressing
1 Tbsp red onion (about a ¼ of an onion)
¾ C white vinegar (I've also used rice vinegar and it works well)
1 C olive oil (you can use vegetable oil if you'd rather)
¾ C sugar
1 ½ tsp Salt
¾ tsp Dried mustard
1 ½ tsp poppy seeds
puree all ingredients, except the poppy seeds, in blender until it's well blended and you don't see any flecks of red onion. Then just before serving add the poppy seeds, give it a short mix and serve!

Question?

2010-04-05T12:47:00.001-06:00

So I've had this blog since 2007, then I started the craft blog in January, AND I have a private personal blog with all the fun stuff about my kids and day to day life. That's a lot of blogs. When I started looking around at craft blogs I decided to start a new blog and keep my crafts and food's separate. But now I'm questioning that decision.

Background: My husband is supposed to be starting a PHD program in the fall, but we're worried about funds. So I've been trying to build up my cake business as well as an etsy store to try to support our family over the next 5 years until he's done and has a job somewhere. But it's not working and it looks like I might have to go get a "real" job in addition to parenting our 4 asperger children.

Posting on both blogs, trying to get followers for both, and working on selling stuff on Etsy as well as my wedding/birthday cakes is actually lots of fun. But when I'm crafting my food blog is suffering, when I'm cooking my crafts are suffering. SOOOOOOO the whole point of this point. Do you think it's better to have the food and crafts separate, or would it be okay to merge the two blogs and have crafts and food/cakes, on the same blog?

Edited to add: any suggestions for a name if I put them together? Stick with Corner Crafts, or Bittersweet Cake shop or mix the two to be Bittersweet Craft Shop ORRRR Something totally new???

Easter Egg Pancake Breakfast

2010-04-04T09:00:00.001-06:00

They look a MESS huh? Well they were SUPPOSED to look like easter eggs! Well at least they tasted great and the kids thought it was really fun. So that a good thing, right?

These are my favorite pancakes, and they are so easy to make they are my go too recipe for a quick breakfast. In fact I triple this recipe because my family eats so many of them!
Coconut Pancakes
1 1/2 C flour
3 Tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 C coconut
Wisk together
1 1/2 C milk
3 Tbsp melted butter
2 Lrg eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
Wisk together
Pour the wet over the dry, mix just until combined, should be lumpy. Add any extras ex. Coconut, chocolate chips, etc… Cook over med- med/high heat

First I dyed some of the batter, then cooked squiggles and dots and put them over to the side. Then I tried to make some egg shapes in the normal batter and put the pink squiggles on top while they were still gooey.

Flip and cook on the other side! They got a bit dark, and the pictures turned out REALLY bad, but the kids liked them.

Just be careful when your dying the batter to keep track of the dye...

This week for dinner- Pork Tenderloin

2010-03-31T20:00:00.001-06:00

I learned this one from my Aunt Karen a few years ago when we were visiting her house in Dallas. I was nursing a new baby at the time (only a few weeks old) and I ate a ton, and later that same night ate all the leftovers as well! The pork tenderloin is great, but what REALLY makes it is the Roasted Raspberry Chipotle sauce! Go out and buy some now! The recipe for the tenderloin is sometimes right on the tag for the sauce! My two youngest (AKA the meat lovers, they take after me!) LOVE this dinner. My older two used to love it, but they're going through a weird food thing right now. I like to serve it with baked potatoes or a risotto of some kind. My new favorite toy in the kitchen is my mother in law's electric meat thermometer. I think it's the secret behind the best turkey EVER this year, and has made my tenderloins PERFECT! When we move out my husband is going to HAVE to buy me one!

Pork tenderloin
2 (1 lbs) pork tenderloins
1 tsp fresh rosemary
1 tsp chopped fresh thyme
Salt and pepper
1 Tbsp olive oil
Raspberry chipotle sauce
Wash pork in cool water and pat dry. Cut off excess fat and silverback. Combine rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper. Rub over pork and let stand 10 mins. Heat oil in ovenproof skillet. Sear both sides of each tenderloin, place in oven (preheated to 350) and cook 35 mins (until thermometer reads 160). Serve with Raspberry Chipotle sauce.

This week for dinner- Gunpowder chicken!

2010-03-24T20:10:00.001-06:00

I got this recipe a few years ago from my Aunt Andrea at one of our Houghtaling World Summit's (our family reunion). I think it comes from her side of the family. I changed it a bit, made it larger and serve the rice on the side because we eat a lot more apparently! Anyway, it's one of my kids favorites and I hope you all enjoy it too!

Gun Powder Chicken
2-3 C cut-up sauteed chicken (optional- I like to cook some chopped onion and crushed garlic with my chicken and throw it in too)
1 can Cream of Chicken soup (Lrg)
2 C + Plain Yogurt
1 sleeve of Ritz or similar cracker-crushed
1/2 C of melted butter
Poppy seeds
Cooked Rice
Pre-heat oven to 350. Mix soup, yogurt and chicken. Mix butter and crackers crumble on top of soup mixture. Sprinkle with poppy seeds. Heat covered with foil for 30 minutes. Serve over rice. (can be doubled)

Blog mess!

2010-03-19T14:58:00.001-06:00

Wow! My blog's (and the one's I've made for my sisters, Hollie and Chelsea) have looked pretty crazy for the last day! I thought I fixed them all last night but apparently I didn't. They are all working now, but I had to change all the buttons! So if you have an old button it no longer works (well the LINK works, but the pretty image doesn't! Please grab a new one!

This week for dinner- St. Patrick's day Pizza's

2010-03-17T20:00:00.003-06:00

We made Green Shamrock shaped chicken alfredo pizza's! We actually made three, but only 2 fit at the table at a time. The right is the kids pizza, with chicken, green onions, garlic, mozzarella and parmesan. On the left is a more grown up version adding mushrooms and spinach to the mix.

I have to say I love my bread machine. I don't use it as often and I should or even want too! I forget about bread until it's too late WAY too often. Which is sad because I love bread! Anyway, I have a great machine with a dough setting. We're actually big enough now that I really need a larger machine, but we're making due without leftovers these days. I actually do 1 1/2 of this recipe and with the 6 cups of bread flour that's pushing it! Last time my sweet hubby started the dough for me while I was out doing errands and didn't know where I kept the bread flour. It was WAY less dough that way, and just not nearly as wonderful, so stick with the bread flour. To get the color I dyed the water before I put all the dry ingredients in.

Bread machine pizza dough
1 ¼ C water
2 Tbsp olive oil
4 C bread flour
1 ½ tsp salt
½ tsp sugar
1 tsp bread machine yeast
Place in bread machine in order of manufacturer’s directions- liquid first or dry first. Start dough setting. Knock back dough, roll out two 12 inch rounds.

So with the 1 1/2 recipe I get 3 pizza's out of this dough. So knock down the dough and separate it into three balls. To create the shamrock shape this is what I tried. I thought they worked out really well! I rolled it out a bit to create a circle.

I cut two short notches to create a stem and two longer notches to create the third leaf.

I tried to squish the corners back into the dough a bit so it wouldn't just turn into a circle with notches...

and rolled it out. This dough is amazing, especially if you like your pizza dough thick. It's wonderful. But it doesn't create the best thin crust in my opinion, a bit tough for that. Maybe if I cooked it longer...

Anyway, cook the pizza dough at 425 for 5-6 mins (and on a pizza stone, try it, there is no turning back it's terrific!), they won't be all the way done, but that's how we want it, since we'll be cooking it with the toppings more latter. While that's cooking make the alfredo! You can use store bought if you'd rather, but I have a great homemade recipe that's easy, foolproof and tastes great! I added the dye to the milk and cream before I started cooking them. In this picture the colors off. I need better lighting for the kitchen pictures.

When the pizza crust came out half done I added the alfredo right too it. When I first started making this pizza I added WAYYY to much sauce. I know what your thinking, how can there be such a thing as too much alfredo??? But it just doesn't work on a pizza. It's surprising how little sauce you really need actually. Luckily I learned from a pro (thanks Robert) who used to make pizza for a paycheck.

And finally add your toppings. I like to sauté my chicken and at the end add the garlic and onions to cook just a bit. I spread that mixture around and top with mozzarella and parmesan. Really you can add anything, my hubby likes the mushrooms and spinach and I bet some of you out there have great suggestions too! Through it back in the oven at 425 for another 5 mins to let the cheese melt and the crust finish and your ready to go!

We at ours with a green table cloth, with spinach salad, green cups and of course green milk! I hope you all had great St. Patrick's day and even better meals!

Luncheon

2010-02-28T01:21:00.002-07:00

I was asked by the ward I live in to make two cakes for a luncheon with the stake. (ever ward donated 2 cakes each). They were used as the center pieces for the luncheon and then eaten at the end. While the cakes didn't need to be fancy I figured any time I get to make a cake with no set design I might as well try something I haven't done before. For the first cake I went with this swirl design. It seemed simple enough in theory. But it's just so DRY here in UT. I had to try it 4 times before I got the swirls to actually stay stuck to the fondant wrap. I think next time I'll use a humidifier in the room with me and see if that goes better.

For the second one I wanted to try this fondant ruffle cake I'd seen. Of course when I went to go find a picture of the cake I was thinking of I couldn't find it anywhere. I guess I need to figure out some new search words, and save pictures I like better for inspiration. I'm not pleased in how this one turned out.

It was missing something, a big flower topper or something, so I decided to try my new stencil with royal icing technique again. I used a different stencil this time. I LOVED the way this turned out, and wished I had just done this around the whole cake instead. Oh well. I think I figured out how to make the ruffles work better next time. I need a larger ball tool, and larger foam pad. I still think it could be really pretty, so I'll try it again sometime.

In the end of course they were way fancier than they needed to be. But I got rave review for how they tasted, and in the end that's really the most important part. What's the point of a nice looking cake if it's not completely delicious? I decorate for myself, I enjoy it and find it fun. So while I'm glad people like the cakes I decorate, I'm more pleased when they like how it tastes. I used my Favorite chocolate cake and my pistacho Mousse recipe for filling. With Ganache frosting. My favorite combination!

Valentines cake

2010-02-19T14:00:00.002-07:00

For Valentines I was actually on a trip visiting my folks, sister and niece's and nephews up in the great northern tip of Idaho! It was 2 of my niece's birthday's, and my first time back up in Coeur d'Alene in 3 1/2 years! Anyway, it also happened to be Valentines, and while my hubby was back at home with the boys the girls and I were happy to spend it with so much family (both sets of MY grandparents were there too, it was my oldest niece's 8th birthday, which is a big deal for us)
Anyway, I got to make the cake for the family birthday party/Valentines party! I had seen this cake a while ago (martha stewart) and been wanting to try it! I used cream cheese frosting for a better flavor. I started with a thin crumb coat but because it's so runny and thin I kept the frosting refrigerated, and every few columns I had to put the cake back in the fridge too, so it wouldn't all puddle off. It would be much easier with butter cream, but luckily it's a nice and moist cake, so the fridge didn't dry it out too much.

This week's treat- best EVER New York style Cheesecake

2010-02-08T02:18:00.001-07:00

This is one of my favorite cheesecake's. Not only does it taste AMAZING! But it's easy to make. The main part of the cheesecake has only 4 ingredients. The secret to a cheesecake NOT cracking is to not over beat the eggs once you add them. Remember when you take out a cheesecake it should be golden brown on the top but still QUITE jiggly in the center. Your going to be nervous that it's still raw, but trust me it's JUST RIGHT! For cooling down the cake I turn off the oven and open the door ajar and let it cool in there so as not to change the temperature too drastically.

Best EVER Cheesecake
Crust
1 1/4 C Vanilla wafer crumbs or crushed graham crackers
1 Tbsp sugar
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1/2 C ground almonds, walnuts or pecans (optional)
Toss lightly with fork until well blended. Press firmly into the bottom of a 10 inch spring form pan. Bake at 375 on the bottom rack until crisp and golden, abut 15 min. Let cool. Reduce oven to 300 and place baking dish full of hot water on the bottom rack to create moisture.
Cake
3 lbs Cream cheese softened
1 1/2 C sugar
2 tsp vanilla
3 whole large eggs (at room temp)
2 large egg yolks (at room temp)
1 Tbsp lemon juice (optional- I don't use it myself)
Beat cheese sugar and vanilla with electric mixer on med until light and fluffy, about 30-60 sec. Scrape the bowl, beat 45 sec more. Lightly whisk the eggs and yolks together and add to cream cheese mixture with the lemon juice. Mix on low speed until they are incorporated and the batter is velvety, about 30 sec, scrape the bowl and mix 10 sec more (mix as little as possible, or just fold in by hand.).
Pour filling over crust, bake on the center rack at 300 until golden, about 1 1/4 hours. Cool cake in pan, then refrigerate overnight or top with sour cream topping first.
Topping (optional)
1 1/2 C sour cream
2 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp vanilla
Mix and spread over the top of the cake return it to oven for 5 min. Then cool completely and refrigerate.

This week for Dinner- White chicken chili

2010-01-31T23:59:00.003-07:00

I grew up on my mothers ground beef chili and loved it. But a few years ago at a church chili cook-off I tasted this amazing chili! It's perfect for me, it has great flavor, some wonderful spices, but not too hot and is creamy, which I'm always partial too. Lucky for me my husband and 3 oldest also like spicy food. Only my youngest doesn't like all the spicy food. My poor in laws! They are so kind and generous I'm not sure if they like spicy food or not, they wouldn't never tell me. I guess the fact that my Mother in law had some the next day for left overs means she liked it.

Anyway I've been making this chili for 4 years now and it's one of my absolute favorites. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

White Chili
2 lbs white beans rinsed
12 C chicken broth
2 tsp chicken bouillon
4 onions chopped
2 Tbsp Wesson or Mazola oil
14 cloves garlic minced
14 oz diced green chilies
8 tsp ground cumin
4 tsp dried oregano
4 tsp cayenne pepper
8 C diced chicken sauteed
2 C sour cream
6 C shredded Monterey jack cheese
Combine beans broth and chicken bouillon in large pot. Simmer covered for 2 hours. Sauté onions in oil till golden. Add onions, garlic, green chilies, cumin, oregano, cayenne pepper and chicken to bean mixture. Simmer another 30 mins. Add sour cream and jack cheese just before serving, heat until cheese melts (do not boil)

Who you gonna call?

2010-01-30T03:37:00.003-07:00

One of the boys in my son's 1st grade class had a birthday party today. I was lucky enough to get to make his birthday cake! He requested the Ghost Busters logo.

I stayed up WAY to late working on this one, but it was SOO much fun to make. First stacked the cakes, then I started carving away, a little at a time. Piecing together the three different fondant colors was tricky. Especially since I didn't realize until 2 am that I was almost completely out of white fondant! I barely had enough to cover the ghost! But it all worked out. And I hand painted the lines and details on the cake. I am really pleased with how this one turned out. The had hanging out the side reaching forward. I wish I had a better side and top shot. But when I was taking these pictures at 6 am I wasn't thinking too clearly!

101 in 1001

2010-01-27T03:14:00.010-07:00

So I saw this post about setting 101 goals in 1001 days, she just started. It was inspired by this post which is from a woman who just finished! It was really fun to see what both of these women chose, especially what the second woman did and didn't accomplish. I really LOVE this! I've spent the last few days getting my list whittled down to only 101 things! Harder than you think. Knowing we'll be poor college students takes certain goals or interests out easily. And knowing I have 2 and 3/4 years allows me to set some goals I wouldn't be able to with a shorter window of time! I grew up setting goals and I think it's a great way to really get stuff done. So I'll be posting on my various blogs (depending on if they are personal, crafty or food) when I complete them. In fact I already have a few in the works (the curtains for the bunk beds). This list if full of stuff I've wanted to do for years, weeks or even just days. I putting them out here in the blogshere to hold myself accountable. Some are not hard but time consuming and some are hard, I think I found a good mix of stuff I might have gotten done without this list and others I'm really trying to challenge myself with. So without further ado... My 101 goals to complete in 1001 days.

1. start etsy store
2. create line of molds for cakes and cupcakes for store
3. get my food license when we move within 90 days
4. get my business license when we move within 90 days
5. get the new cricut cake
6. triple the amount of wonky cakes for my gallery of cakes
7. get a website for cakes
8. make 6 wedding cakes in one year
9. pay off pre phd student loans
10. pay off van
11. sell Houston home
12. support the family at least one month completely by the end of the second year
13. sell vacation ownership
14. up our life insurance
15. make chore chart
16. create savings account for kids
17. get piano
18. put kids in piano lessons (at least older 2)
19. put younger kids in something, like gymnastics
20. create and stick to a tight monthly budget
21. potty train P and S
22. train the pig
23. get S's middle name changed legally
24. video at least 4 family events a year
25. go on a date with my husband once a month for a year
26. go on a parent child date once a month (each child gets 3 a year)
27. get Bill's wedding ring fixed
28. take a family vacation every year
29. go camping once a year
30. take kids waterskiing
31. have Thursday game nights every week for 6 months
32. do FHE WELL 50 out of 52 weeks
33. have family prayer once a day for a year
34. visit the temple once a month for 12 months
35. read scriptures every day for 4 months
36. hang pictures within a month of moving
37. get family proclamation or something else fun in vinyl
38. create display or shadow box for blessing outfits
39. raise master bed (so pig can fit underneath
40. learn Japanese (conversational)
41. exercise in some way 3 times a week for 4 months
42. update food blog twice a week for a year
43. update craft blog twice a week for a year
44. read each book I've bought, or buy
45. throw 2 adult parties every year (not THAT kind)
46. start a garden
47. can some kind of food 4 times a year
48. learn to make tamales
49. start an iron chef dinner group
50. make my own yogurt, don't buy any for a month
51. make my own cream cheese at least twice
52. take photography class
53. make and print blurb book for 2007
54. make and print blurb book for 2008
55. make and print blurb book for 2009
56. make and print blurb book for 2010
57. make and print blurb book for 2011
58. make and print blurb book for 2013
59. start blurb books for pre-blog years
60. make baptism slideshow for J
61. make baptism slideshow for p
62. scan all negatives (7 albums)
63. master photoshop
64. update large multi picture frame yearly
65. make silhouette art of some kind of the kids
66. learn to create scrapbooking papers and kits
67. make moveable growth chart
68. create picture frame, dry erase calendar
69. make seasonal wreaths, here,
70. use Dremel for cherry blossom art of some kind
71. etch some kind of glass
72. learn to use a pottery wheel
73. learn some glass blowing
74. buy a jig saw and make something
75. finish crochet turtle for Chelsea
76. make crochet fruit
77. make crochet princess dolls
78. make crochet tool set
79. finish B's crochet swirl skirt and make one for S
80. learn to knit, make one full project
81. knit a full sweater
82. make a petti skirt
83. sew window treatments
84. make curtains for kids bunk beds
85. make skirt for myself
86. make seasonal placemats
87. paint extra large sumi-e canvas
88. paint master bedroom in new house
89. paint kids room(s) in new house
90. paint a wall with magnetic paint
91. paint a wall with chalkboard paint
92. make my first quilt
93. finish JAP cross stitch
94. make nativity candles
95. make stocking holders
96. make Christmas wreath
97. finish Christmas cross stitch stocking
98. make stocking for everyone
99. make tree skirt
100. make a Christmas quilt
101. make homemade Christmas gifts for sisters and parents

So October 24th 2012 here I come!

This week for dinner- Gyoza's

2010-01-26T18:22:00.003-07:00

So I decided to start a new weekly post. "This week for dinner", what do you think? I think I'll also start a weekly treat/dessert of some kind. We'll see if I can keep it up with my new goals, 4 kids, etc... We live with my in laws this year and my sweet mother in law cooks on Monday and Wednesdays and then there is always at least one left over night so I only get to make dinner 3 or 4 nights a week. So that cut's down the recipes I can post. There are repeats often simply because I have some picky children. Anyway... Tonight!

Gyoza. I fell in LOVE with these when we were living in Japan. They are a bit time consuming simply because of the filling and folding and stuff. But they are SO worth it. I'd like to actually get a couple of other filling recipes, anyone have anything other than pork? These are classic and a great recipe!

So above is uncooked, I use premade gyoza wrappers. There is probably a way to make them, but I don't know what it is. But they are cheap and easy to use so I'm at the "why bother" stage with that.

Gyoza
4 leaves of cabbage
½ bunch Chinese chives (or green onions)
1 clove garlic
1 Tbsp potato starch
5 ½ oz ground pork
1 Tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp water
20 round Gyoza wrappers
Oil
Boil cabbage and let cool, then chop fine. Squeeze out as much liquid as you can. Cut chives and garlic, combine with cabbage, mix in potato starch. Combine pork, soy sauce, sesame oil and water. Add cabbage mixture. Place a tsp of filling in the center of each wrapper. Moisten half way around the edge of wrapper, fold over edge to make half moon shape.

Heat pan, add oil and lower temp. Add Gyoza, cook until bottom golden brown

Add hot water to pan to half submerge the Gyoza, cover the pan. Turn heat to high and steam until most water evaporates.

Remove lid, lower heat and cook until the pan is dry.

Dipping sauce
2 Tbsp Soy sauce
2 Tbsp rice vinegar
a few drops hot chili oil

To make the presentation pretty flip them over when you serve them so the pretty cooked bottom shows! I like to use chopsticks of course, but feel free to do your best with anything else!

I'm in LOVE!!!

2010-01-24T22:58:00.002-07:00

This is the first I'm hearing about this! Has anyone else seen it??? Cricut CAKE! Brilliant, especially for those of us with terrible handwriting. I've been admiring the normal cricut for years, but since I don't scrapbook and would only use it for the occational craft (I'm trying to craft more though) it just wasn't worth it. But THIS!! I have to make a lot of cakes to save up for it. This is going on the VERY TOP of my wishlist, even above a new SLR camera! And it's red! Could it get any cuter?

Baby shower cake tale of woe

2010-01-24T06:06:00.003-07:00

I got an order for a blue soccer ball cake for a baby shower. Cute idea, right? I do have all the paperwork for my business, but it's just a one woman show and I do it out of my house. So I usually make my cakes late at night after my 4 kiddo's are in bed. Last night I got this cake done in pretty good time. I was pleased I wouldn't have to work on it during the day at all and could get some shopping done for a craft I'm working on. Anyway. Yesterday evening I drove up to the address to deliver the cake and when I got their and opened my trunk this is what I saw...

AAAKKKK!!!!! I have NEVER had this happen to me. It was snowing, and I did have trouble stopping very well, but it still shouldn't have fallen over! I blame it on the fruit filling (I despise fruit filling, mostly because I'm not really a fan of many fruits!). Luckily the shower isn't actually until this morning. Another first, Usually I deliver the cake right before the event. But I don't usually deliver cake's on Sunday's so that' why I was delivering Saturday night. Good thing I did because I now have time to fix it.

Actually there was no fixing this cake. The top have was still in decent condition, but the bottom completely cracked and broke. SO I had to start from scratch. I asked the client if I could use ganache instead of the fruit. Once ganache dries it act's like a glue, It's really my favorite frosting to work with. The only negative is that it's not very thick, so frosting lovers aren't satisfied. But with this cake, being a star tip and not fondant there is still plenty of icing. I not only used ganache to 'glue' the layers together, but also around the entire outside to hold it better. Then a thin layer of butter cream and then the lines and the star's. I actually thought this cake was much better than the first one, but no one else can probably see the little details that bugged me about the first one. Anyway it's done and now I just have to get through the new snow without being late or getting stuck!

My dad's Chocolate Chip cookies!

2010-01-21T00:29:00.001-07:00

My parents aren't really into cooking and baking like I am (Don't get me wrong, I grew up with great food, they just don't love it the way I do.). But there was this one really special thing I grew up with. My dad's Chocolate chip cookies. My mom loves good cookies, and so my dad set out to make a great cookie. I was very young when the final cookie made it's debut so I don't remember the trial and errors, but I remember the final recipe! My mom doesn't even eat the cookies anymore, just straight dough. Since my folks are empty nesters my dad doesn't make the cookies anymore (what's the point of having a whole batch for just 1 person (he doesn't eat them!). So when my mom comes to visit I always make a batch special just for her.

Today my mom flew into town for the afternoon on her way to visit my sister (who just had a baby a few months ago). SO I had to make a batch of cookie dough for her. I also baked some of it for my kiddo's. So here is the recipe for my favorite Cookie EVER!

G'pa Dave's Chocolate chip cookies
1 C sugar
1 C brown sugar
2 cubes butter (1 C)
2 eggs
2-3 tsp vanilla
2 C+ ground oatmeal (NOT quick oats)
2 C flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
12 oz Chocolate chips (my mom likes Milk and I like semi sweet)
macadamia nuts (optional)
Mix the sugars together, beat in the butter, until smooth and then the eggs one at a time then add the vanilla. In a separate bowl mix the oats, flour, soda, powder and salt. Add the oat mixture to the butter mixture. Then add the chocolate chips and nuts. Bake at 360 for 8-12 mins (depending on how raw or cooked you like your cookies, my mom likes her dough warm, but not cooked! I like mine when the top JUST starts to turn golden).

It takes about 3 cups of oats to make 2 cups ground oats. I like to make a double batch of dough but only half of the chocolate. I like my cookies warm and fresh, so I only cook what I want to eat. The rest I make into dough balls and freeze. Then when I want fresh cookies I pull out a pan, put the frozen ball's in the oven while it preheats and add 2 minutes to the normal cooking time.

For variety sometimes I add cocoa and use peanut butter chips, or add coconut, but while these are sometimes nice changes my favorite will always be the original.

Lego Cake

2010-01-16T23:12:00.003-07:00

So I made a few square cakes and cut these shapes out of it. I measured them out so they should look the same as the Lego's they are supposed to represent. But a bit taller, since taller cakes look better. I prefer covering my cakes with ganache if I'm going to cover them in fondant, since once it dries I can get it so smooth and don't have to worry about it squeezing out the bottom when I put the fondant on. It doesn't leave much icing, but my chocolate cake is super moist so I think it's okay. Maybe next time I'll let it dry and do a second ganache layer to try to get it thicker. Or maybe even try doing a thin buttercream layer before the ganache layer... But I like the crisp edges with the ganache versus the soft pillowy effect when there is buttercream squished out all over the place.

Anyway, then I covered it with Fondant. See how sharp the corners and edges are? You can't get that with buttercream. Lovely. It looks a bit cloudy because of the powdered sugar/cornstarch mixture I use when smoothing the sides. It won't be there soon. I wanted to do a blue one too, but couldn't find it this time. I love the green though. It's my first time working with it.

Also for this cake one of the boys attending is allergic to eggs, so I made my first egg-less cake. After reading about different options online I found this post and decided to try it(using my normal recipe, with the tofu as a substituted for eggs). Using 1/4 C tofu in place of each egg. It worked great! The taste wasn't exactally the same, and certianly not a permanent change but it was surprisinly good, still better than anything in a box! And the guest with the allergies loved that he was actually able to partake of the party goodies!

And the final cake. I decided not to put the Lego logo on the top of every dot because it's just so cute this way I didn't want to risk messing it up with my horrid handwriting skills. I used the same steaming technique I used on this cake to get the shiny look. I loved it, and luckily so did my son and his friends. So there you have it, a Lego cake, the only question now is if my other son want's a Lego party too what will I do for his cake???

Lego Birthday party treats

2010-01-16T22:49:00.005-07:00

It's my son's birthday party tomorrow and the theme is Lego's. So for some of the treats I made this cool Lego Mold out of food grade silicone. I talk about how here on my Craft blog (along with lots of other stuff from the party). Anyway I made three different candies using the mold. This one was the least successful, the candy melts. They broke and cracked when I tried to take them out. I think if maybe I un-molded them sooner... I'm not a fan of candy melts, don't like the flavor, so I don't work with them enough to know how to fix the problem. Anyway, you can see the base plate in the back of the picture, I cover the mold with that to give the bottom of the candies the Lego indent so they are stack-able.

I only made one batch because they didn't come out well, but they were the biggest hit among the kids so I should have made more anyway! Maybe a different brand of melts would work better. I'm not really a fan of Wilton melts, fondant or gumpaste.

These were the most fun. Gummies! I wish the flavor was stronger, but they stack great, don't stick together, and are easy to make. I used this recipe, but next time I think I'll try using more jello and maybe throw in some citric acid for punch.

Gummies
1 3oz pkg Jell-O any flavor
6 packages unflavored gelatin
3/4 C water
Mix in a sauce pan and heat over medium until the gelatin is dissolved. Then pour into the mold. Place it in the freezer for 15 mins then pull out and unmold!

And finally I wanted to make suckers, but the molds were so small that the sticks wouldn't stay in them. But they were a huge hit. I just left them as hard candies instead. Because of the heat of the sugar I couldn't put the base plate on, so they aren't stack-able, and it cooled so fast it was hard to smooth out across the molds, or get the air bubbles out. So they looked the worst, but they tasted great, and that's really all little boys care about anyway!

Suckers
1 C sugar
1/2 C water
1/3 C corn syrup
1/4 tsp candy flavoring
candy food coloring
Combine sugar, water and corn syrup. Cook to hard crack (300°F.). Check your thermometer first to see if it is accurate with water boiling, as this burns easily after 300°F.
Remove from heat. Add flavoring and food coloring. Stir and pour into greased sucker molds arranged on a greased cookie sheet or a marble slab.

After I un-molded them I sprayed them down with some Pam so they wouldn't stick together. Everyone loved these too. They were a huge hit at the party and I think my other son want's a Lego party too so I'll get to use all of this again.

Daring Cooks Challenge- Satays

2010-01-15T20:09:00.001-07:00

This is my first month working with the Daring cooks, I'm also planning on doing the Daring Bakers challenge too. Of course I had in my mind the 15th, so I'm off by a day. Next time I'll get it right. I've been following their monthly postings for years now, but hadn't joined since I had my own cooking/baking days with friends. But now that I've been here in UT I haven't meet anyone as interested as I am in food and cooking/baking. So I figured why not? It gives a clear goal and a clear deadline and I get to try new things. Right up my alley.

This month was hosted by Cuppy and the challenge was to do a Thai Satay, it mostly involves marinading whatever meat you choose. I went with Pork and enjoyed it. Next time I might try chicken, salmon or shrimp. They all look and sound great (based on the other Daring cook's pictures)

Thai Satay Marinade
1/2 small onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 Thai dragon (bird’s eye) chili pepper (optional)
2 T ginger root, chopped (4 cm cubed)
2 T lemon juice (1 oz or 30 mls)
1 T soy sauce (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 T fish sauce (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 tsp ground coriander (5 mls)
1 tsp ground cumin (5 mls)
1/2 tsp ground turmeric (2-2.5 mls)
2 T vegetable oil (or peanut or olive oil) (30 mls)
1 pound of pork (loin or shoulder cuts) (16 oz or 450g)
Directions:
1. If you have a food processor or blender, dump in everything except the pork and blend until smooth. Lacking a food processor, I prefer to chop my onions, garlic, ginger and peppers really fine then mix it all together in a medium to large bowl.
2. Cut pork into 1 inch strips.
3. Cover pork with marinade. You can place the pork into a bowl, cover/seal and chill, or place the whole lot of it into a ziplock bag, seal and chill.
4. If using wooden or bamboo skewers, soak your skewers in warm water for at least 20 minutes before preparing skewers.
5. Gently and slowly slide meat strips onto skewers. Discard leftover marinade.*
6. Broil or grill at 290°C/550° F (or pan fry on medium-high) for 8-10 minutes or until the edges just start to char. Flip and cook another 8-10 minutes.
* If you’re grilling or broiling, you could definitely brush once with extra marinade when you flip the skewers.

Peanut Sauce
3/4 cup coconut milk
4 Tbsp peanut butter
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1-2 dried red chilies, chopped (keep the seeds for heat)

Mix dry ingredients in a small bowl. Add soy sauce and lemon, mix well.

Over low heat, combine coconut milk, peanut butter and your soy-lemon-seasoning mix. Mix well, stir often. The peanut sauce literally takes 2 minutes to stir together on low heat (all you’re doing is melting the peanut butter, really), so make your peanut sauce after you’ve made everything else in your meal, or make ahead of time and reheat later.

THIS was fabulous. We all loved it. It was easy to make and had a great flavor. As for the Satay's, I actually doubled my batch, since we have so many people living here that I cook for, and we served it over rice with the Peanut sauce. Overall we enjoyed it. We prefer Indian food to Thai so we wished it was a bit spicyer, but the flavors were a great balance and I would totally make it again, maybe with a few tweeks. But it has promise. And I'm excited to get on with my Daring Bakers Challenge now!

New Year's goal

2010-01-04T05:27:00.002-07:00

So I haven't been very good about posting this last year like I was the first year. And now that I've added a craft blog, it will be even harder. BUT my New Years goal for this blog is to post more. So I'm thinking about adding some weekly theme's. So any suggestions/desires/interests? Like a weekly dinner or desert post, maybe recipes? I feel like I'm floundering a bit and not enjoying the kitchen like I usually do! My first year blogging I had the Chocolate therapy posts with my Dallas friend. And after that I had my weekly cooking/baking with my Houston friends as well as our monthly iron chef dinners. Since we've moved here I haven't found anyone to cook with and have felt lonely and unmotivated. SO I finally joined the Daring bakers, so I'll have at least one challenge/goal every month.

It's that time of year...

2009-12-22T02:25:00.001-07:00

Goodie Plates!!!! Someone commented to me that I make too many things, that they wouldn't go to all the work. But then I thought. If I only made a few things, but still took around the same amount of plates, there wouldn't be very many leftover's for me!!! I'd rather make all my favorites (let's face it I was going to make them all anyway) and double the recipe (no extra time that way) and have plenty for plates AND my own enjoyment! Plus it isn't hard, just time consuming, and OH so worth it! So here is the set up around the island while I'm making the plates.

A sample plate. I should have gotten bigger plates so I could have fit 3 of each thing (but that mean's less for me... hmmmm maybe these plates were the perfect size). So we have (starting from the top and going counter clockwise) Sugar cookies, caramel brownies, candy cane marshmallows, peanut butter squares, almond brittle, sandies and chocolate pecan fudge. I didn't get around to making truffles, but they wouldn't have fit on the plate very well.

And here is Tonight's round of plates. I'm sure I'll be making some more (you always want one for that person that drops off a plate that you weren't expecting to so you can reciprocate right away) and Santa has to get one... And since I know I'll get some request's for recipes see below. I'll be posting each recipe for your enjoyment! Merry Christmas!

Candy Cane Marshmallows

2009-12-22T02:24:00.000-07:00

I have to give credit to Martha Stewart for this one! You can find it on her site here. They turned out great. My 2 1/2 year old can't stop eating them and they are great in my homemade hot chocolate. Pretty too! I'm not sure if I am allowed to reproduce it here so if someone knows one way of the other just tell me. For now here is the recipe (in her words, not mine- I like my recipes short and to the point).

Candy Cane Marshmallows
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
4 packages (1/4 ounce each) unflavored gelatin
3/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
2 large egg whites
2 teaspoons red food coloring
1. Coat an 8-inch square pan with cooking spray; line bottom with parchment paper. Coat the parchment with cooking spray, and set pan aside. Put sugar, corn syrup, and 3/4 cup water in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring, until sugar is dissolved. Stop stirring; let mixture come to a boil. Raise heat to medium-high; cook until mixture registers 260 degrees on a candy thermometer.
2. Meanwhile, sprinkle gelatin over 3/4 cup water in a heatproof bowl; let stand 5 minutes to soften. Set the bowl with the gelatin mixture over a pan of simmering water; whisk constantly until gelatin is dissolved. Remove from heat, and stir in extract; set aside.
3. Beat egg whites in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment until stiff (but not dry) peaks form. Whisk gelatin mixture into sugar mixture; with mixer running, gradually add to egg whites. Mix on high speed until very thick, 12 to 15 minutes.
4. Pour mixture into lined pan. Working quickly, drop dots of red food coloring across surface of marshmallow. Using a toothpick, swirl food coloring into marshmallow to create a marbleized effect. Let marshmallow stand, uncovered, at room temperature until firm, at least 3 hours or overnight. Cut into squares.

Sugar Cookies

2009-12-22T02:23:00.000-07:00

These are actually from my Grandma Houghtaling. My mom talks about how she always had some of this dough in the freezer ready for a batch. But since my mom and her siblings would sneak some every so often that by the time Grandma pulled out some dough there wasn't much left. I have about 120+ different cookie cutters and my kids and I make these cookies for EVERY holiday. My husband complains that the peppermint icing should only be for Christmas so I do experiment with other flavors, but my favorite is still the peppermint I grew up with. I use these 13x20 pans for my kids to decorate on, it catches the extra sprinkles which I pore into a misc sprinkle bag that they love to use up, you can see the misc sprinkles on the trees above.

Sugar Cookies
3 ¼ C flour
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. baking powder
½ C Butter and margarine
1 C sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
½ C thick sour cream
Sift flour, soda, salt, nutmeg and powder. In separate bowl cream butter, sugar, egg, vanilla, sour cream. Mix in dry ingredients. Chill in fridge for 3-4 hours roll out to 1/4 inch cut into shapes. Cook at 350 for 15 mins

Frosting
4 ½ C powder sugar
¼ C milk
1/3 C butter
1 ½ tsp vanilla
1 tsp peppermint extract
Food coloring (optional)
Mix butter, powdered sugar, milk, vanilla and peppermint add more milk if needed

The secret is in the thickness of the cookie's, don't be stingy when you roll them out. The dough can actually stay good in the freezer for months (if it last's that long without being eaten!). For icing flavors I've tried almond and been happy with it, and even substituted some of the milk for a flavored creamer and had success. So ENJOY! The decorating possibilities are endless.

Caramel Brownies

2009-12-22T02:17:00.000-07:00

My ABSOLUTE favorite. I made a second pan of these just so I could eat one myself! My mom always made these, and my sister's and I love them. I can't imagine Christmas without at least one batch of these. I've made them during the year at times, but something about them just feels like Christmas too me. I'm not sure where my mom got this recipe, but it's the only thing I use a box mix for anymore. This year I couldn't find caramel squares ANYWHERE. So I used the new caramel dot things. They actually are a few ounces smaller than the old caramel square bags were but my husband liked it better with less of the caramel. I also use less chips. I just like the balance better myself, but to each his own!

Caramel Brownies
½ C evaporated milk
50 unwrapped caramels squares (about 14 oz)
½ C evaporated Milk
1 package German chocolate cake mix
¾ C butter melted
1 C walnuts chopped (I prefer pecans but I think my mom and sisters would have a heart attack if I actually changed the recipe to SAY pecans)
12 oz Chocolate chips
Mix ½ C milk, cake mix, butter, and walnuts. Press 2/3 dough in bottom of glass pan (9x13) cook at 350 for 6 mins. In sauce pan melt ½ C milk and caramels pour over cooked crust. Sprinkle chocolate and rest of dough on top cook 15-20 min at 350

Peanut Butter Cup Squares

2009-12-22T02:09:00.001-07:00

I actually got this recipe from my Aunt Lynne years ago. I'm not really into peanut butter, but these are my husbands favorites. In fact I made a batch last week for a cookies exchange and it only lasted one day. So I made another batch and it's actually already gone too! Lucky it's so easy to make, I think I'll make him another one tomorrow. My chocolate actually tempered very well, and was cooling perfectly right up until the very end. I made these too late in the evening and the FREEZING temp's here in UT ruined my nice looking finish, but hey, they still taste great, right?

Peanut butter cup squares
1 ½ pkg graham crackers crushed
1 lbs powdered sugar
1 C melted Butter
½ C peanut butter
Mix all together and press into buttered 9x13 pan. Top with 12 oz milk chocolate chips melted. Refrigerate.

Almond Brittle

2009-12-22T02:05:00.000-07:00

This is a family favorite. My mom always made two batches. The first never seemed to work, but the second always did. We always thought that it was weird, but couldn't figure it out. Then I moved to AZ! Dry, DRY desert, and it worked EVERY TIME. Perfectly. It also worked in UT. Then I moved to TX and it NEVER worked. Turns out candy making is affected a lot by the barometer range. SO if it's going to rain DON'T bother! In the house we're in now we actually bought and installed a whole house humidifier. While it's nice for our nose/throats/etc... It doesn't help with candy making much. This batch started to separate right before I was about to pour it out! FRUSTRATING. But I caught it JUST in time and after soaking up the separated butter it turned out almost perfect! Not at all grainy, very crunchy, really quite nice! One of the FEW nice things about dry places (I still prefer humidity, but it is nice to get to make this treat this year).

Almond Brittle
1 C butter
1 C sugar
1 C chopped almonds
King size Hershey bar chopped
Mix butter and sugar in sauce pan heat till at “Cracked Stage” on candy thermometer or when caramel colored and smoking. Mix in Almonds. Pour onto cookie sheet spread chocolate on top and finely chopped almonds

Fudge!

2009-12-22T02:00:00.000-07:00

My mom loves fudge, but we've never found a successful recipe that we could count on. Then a few years ago she found a box mix for fudge! You read that right, a box mix for fudge, AND it not only worked it tasted GREAT! So I bought a box, measured out everything (from the prepackaged baggies) and created this recipe. Easy, quick and, so far, perfect every time! I double the recipe and use a 9x13, but just so you know it's a VERY thick fudge, I might use 2 pans next time.

Chocolate pecan fudge
3 cups semisweet chocolate chips (or a mixture of semisweet and milk chocolate)
1/4 cup butter
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans (optional- you can also use walnuts)
Place chocolate chips, sweetened condensed milk, and butter or margarine in large microwaveable bowl. Zap in microwave on medium until chips are melted, about 3-5 minute, stirring once or twice during cooking. Stir in nuts, if desired. Pour into well-greased 8x8-inch glass baking dish. Refrigerate until set.

Sandies

2009-12-22T01:53:00.000-07:00

You might also know these as Mexican Wedding Cookies. I've heard a few other names for them too. Everywhere I move I have to learn new names for recipes and ingredients I use often. But these are also from my Grandmother. She grew up in Mexico and has a lot of wonderful recipes. These are very delicate when they come out of the oven so be careful when you cover them with the powdered sugar. Of course if some break feel free to eat them!

Sandies
1 C butter
¼ powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 Tbs water
2 C sifted flour
1 C chopped pecans
Cream butter and sugar. Add vanilla and water, mix. Add flour, mix. Add pecans, mix. Form balls bake at 300 for 20 min, while hot roll in powdered sugar

Christmas cookies

2009-12-04T14:11:00.001-07:00

I got an order for 8 dozen Christmas cookies on Monday. I have a family sugar cookie recipe that is just wonderful. I love it. Anyway I made the cookies Wednesday night, and last night frosted them and delivered them this morning. The cookies turned out great. But I had MAJOR issues with the icing. It just wouldn't stay consistent. I like to outline with a thicker icing tip 3, then once it dries fill in with a thinner icing. It just looks so nice. But this time the thicker icing was too thick then too runny and after awhile it started to separate. I don't know if my recipe needs tweaking or if it's something else. It's the same recipe I've used for the last 20+ years, and my mom and grandmother before that! I think I did something wrong. Maybe added too much milk when it was too thick, then couldn't get the balance right after that. It's a lesson in only adding a tsp at a time when thinning icing! Either way I wasn't as happy with these results as last years. Oh well. Doing 8 dozen in one night I didn't have alot of time so I just got it done. Here is the recipe if your interested!

Sugar Cookies
3 1/4 C flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 C Butter and margarine
1 C sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 C thick sour cream
Sift flour, soda, salt, nutmeg and powder. In separate bowl cream butter, sugar, egg, vanilla, sour cream. Mix in dry ingredients. Chill in fridge for 3-4 hours roll out to 1/4 inch cut into shapes. Cook at 350 for 15 mins.

Frosting
4 1/2 C powder sugar
1/4 C milk
1/3 C butter
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp peppermint extract
Food coloring (optional)
Mix butter, powdered sugar, milk, vanilla and peppermint add more milk if needed.

M-i-c-k-e-y M-o-u-s-e

2009-11-23T22:31:00.018-07:00

A good friend of mine asked me to make a birthday cake for her mother. When talking about what she liked it came out that she LOVES Mickey Mouse. And that she really loves the hat's you can get when you are there. SO we came up with this design. Now I don't like to write on cake's. It makes me nervous, that and while I can make a great cake, I tend to shake when it comes to the precise details (thanks MOM- I got it from her!), which makes writing NICELY difficult! BUT I think it turned out great. The ears were really fun to do. AND I discovered a GREAT lemon cake recipe while trying out new recipes for this cake. I'm still not happy with my Strawberry cake recipe though, so anyone that has one they love let me know!

Small wedding cake.

2009-11-07T19:00:00.009-07:00

My husband's aunt called last night asking if there was anyway I could throw together a cake for a last min wedding. The only thing she has been told it that it was for about 30 people. So since there was no wedding colors or requests. I went with something I'd been wanting to try for awhile. Using stencils and royal icing on top of the fondant. It didn't turn out as perfectly as I'd like, but I learned a TON from it and can't WAIT to try it again. I might make a just for fun cake this week to try it again! Getting the royal icing black was the hardest part, of course. I used an entire container of black powder and half a container of black gel for just 1 cup of royal icing (started with chocolate royal icing). My husband loved it, how striking the colors were together. And his aunt said the wedding party liked it. The only hitch was that the guest list ended up being much bigger than 30, more like 200+! But the reception also included a full dinner, so hopefully most people ended up with at least a small piece!

13th birthday

2009-10-30T21:43:00.000-06:00

This weekend was the birthday party for last week's birthday girl. It was fun to do. I got to try out a few new techniques! It was great! Although I'm still having troubles with some of my recipes here in the high altitude of UT. My white cake fell, both of them. So I used the bottom half of both cakes to get the right height. I was able to use parchment paper to get more height out of my pan, and I think the layers look better carved out of a 4 inch tall cake instead of a 3 inch tall cake.

Also after the cake was done I used my steamer to make the fondant get all shiny! What do you think? It won't look right with every style of cake, but it worked really well for this cake! I have to say I LOVE this cake. Anyway, Happy Birthday Emily, I hope your sleepover is a blast!

Vampire Cupcakes

2009-10-24T13:54:00.038-06:00

My niece turned 13 yesterday. The nice thing about moving here is that almost all of my husbands family live here. I love making cakes for family and friends, so I hope that by living here I get to make more for family events! Back to my niece... one of her favorite books series is The Vampires Assistant. So when she found out that the movie was coming out ON her birthday she decided to go to the Saturday matinee with her friends. My contribution were these Vampire inspired cupcakes! I haven't read the books myself so I wasn't sure what other characters/themes or direction to go. So we stuck with simple. I used my Mixed Berry Coulis for the "blood", it was the perfect texture, although getting it to "drip" right was difficult! But in the end I enjoyed it. To make the "teeth" holes without pulling the frosting off I dipped a pointed dowel in cornstarch before poking the holes. It worked great!

Cupcake class

2009-10-13T22:16:00.002-06:00

For a Church activity this week for the women I was asked to demonstrate and teach different way's to frost cupcakes. I pre-made 40 cupcakes and decorated each of them a bit differently showing different options you could have.

The only one I ran out of time for (and wouldn't have had time to teach anyway) was dipping the cupcake in poured fondant. But overall I was pleased. Then during the class I showed them how to used 4 different tips, 2 ways each, to create different looks, like this closed star tip:

Versus this one made with the same tip! I was trying to teach easy things to recreate, so I didn't teach making a rose, but this rosette is an easy to make great looking alternative! It was my husbands favorite.

I also showed them how to cover a cake with frosting and fondant. And I got to use my new toys, my impression mats! I made all of these in one night, and while I'm happy with most of them, there are some that I would have redone if I hadn't just been demonstrating and teaching. Doing 40 different cupcakes in 40 different ways was very time consuming!

Luckily I had a bunch of my extra royal icing flowers left that I was able to use! They really add a nice touch to cakes and cupcakes sometimes! I was just relieved not to also have to make 40 different toppers for the cupcakes! If I had more time to teach there are some other things I would have liked to demonstrate, like creating your own fondant topper, but keeping things simple and down to 45 mins with a Q&A was hard. I was really pleased with how well the class went. I was surprised how nervous I was, but it went well.

Mario birthday Cakes and cupcakes

2009-10-10T21:53:00.003-06:00

My son got invited to a classmate's birthday party, and I was asked to make a cake and cupcakes for the party! After looking at some inspiration online I found a few cute patterns to base my cake on and I was ready to bake. I have a few great recipes that I've collected and perfected over the last few years. But the birthday boy wanted a yellow cake! I've never been asked for yellow cake so I soured the Internet and my favorite sites looking for some well rated and reviewed recipes. I tried 4 different recipes and they all fell flat! It was terrible! I'm not sure if it's the altitude, or what but it was a nightmare. Luckily the last try didn't fall too badly and it was usable. I carved the face, and was really pleased with how great it turned out!

I don't normally do cupcakes, and while they are very time consuming, it was a fun change. But I'm glad I got to do a cake too. Cakes are just SO much fun to do and it really MADE the cupcakes. I enjoyed it! And it was great to get back into cake making. Things have been really slow since the move, so if your in UT give me a call! I really miss it!

Ravioli

2009-09-03T03:49:00.002-06:00

Today I finally broke out my pasta machine and the new ravioli attachment! I experimented with a few different thicknesses and decided what I really liked. So I can't wait to try it again! It went great, and quicker than I expected! So YAY! I'm making another batch next week!

8th birthday cake

2009-08-15T02:12:00.004-06:00

One of the fun things about being here in UT again is that I get to see and visit lots of family and friends. Today was my college roommate's oldest daughters 8th birthday! It was fun to not only get to see her and her kids again (our kids are each just months apart!) but I got to make the cake! The design was all from the mind of this sweet little 8 year old, and she knew just what she wanted, mint cake for one layer and chocolate chip for the other.

For carving a Wonky cake it's best to have a nice dense cake, so I picked a peppermint pound cake, with mint ganache to hold it together. The pound cake was surprisingly good, but the mint ganache was a bit too much. The Chocolate chip cake gave me a major headache. I haven't been happy with my normal chocolate chip recipe, just too dry, so I decided to search around for something better. I found a great recipe, but after taking out the first batch it fell and was raw in the middle. But the taste was just great! So I made the same one again, cooking it longer, and it completely imploded in the oven! So I finally switched recipes, and actually forgot to try it. So I hope it was okay, the kids seemed to like it. And it was very similar to the first recipe, but I think a bit dry. I'll have to try a batch just for myself to see if it's truly a keeper or if the search goes on!

Moved!

2009-07-22T22:42:00.002-06:00

We won't be here for too long, just a year, but we moved to Salt Lake City UT this week. I won't be able to take any orders until after Labor day because of Summer vacation and reunions and all that. But I'll be ramping up and accepting more orders this year.

Finally another cake!

2009-06-30T02:23:00.003-06:00

This "cake" blog hasn't had a lot of cakes in the last little bit. But I hope you guys don't mind that I've included some of the other foods I've enjoyed making. But back to real reason we're here: CAKES!

This one was a job, which I've been turning down lately because my husband had been living in another town because of work. But he recently got let go (sad) so he's living with us again (happy!). So I was able to take this job when it came along.
A law firm actually hired me to make a cake for a retirement party for a local county judge. They were VERY specific in some of the instructions they had. A large sheet cake with a Ford Explorer on it and Firestone tires. But they didn't care about color, or what I made it out of etc... It seemed the tire was the important part, so I suggested a cute carved, fondant covered tire cake, but nope... Sheet cake. Ugh, I don't even have a sheet cake pan. Oh well!
So I found this image and decided to go for it.
I decided to use fondant and layer it to create a slightly 3D look to this 2D image. The first layer was black, and I airbrushed pearl where the windows would be. Then the red layer (a real pain, I had to do it 3 times before it worked. Also the wheels. Finally the bumpers, grill, lights, handles, explorer plate, etc... And last the Ford logo! I used gold and silver and pearl airbrushing to try to make it more realistic.

It took WAY too long, but in the end I was really happy with it. I ended up using a few doll hairs to make my own tiny paint brush to paint the Firestone wording onto the tires. Also the tiny explorer plate turned out GREAT! The only part I wasn't super happy with was the Ford nameplate. In the end the perfectionist in me was pleased enough. With any cake there is always something I wish I could change, and that is certainly true of this cake. But it actually turned out much better than I originally thought it could/would! So yeah! Happy happy!

Canning!!!

2009-06-27T02:04:00.000-06:00

Our church places a huge emphasis on food storage, and that leads to a lot of canning. Although my mom never ever EVER canned. So I never learned and it seemed very daunting. I've always wanted to try, but I'm not really a jam eater, or fruits and veggies for that matter. So I never thought there was anything for me to can. But when my close friend bought a pressure cooker and decided to try it I thought I would join her. And when the opportunity came up for 60 lbs of organic tomatoes (each) we decided to make a day of it (that turned into two!)

Here are my supplies (above) and our tomatoes (below).

The first thing we decided to make was pizza sauce, it had to simmer for awhile so we figured we should start it first. It was a LONG process. First boiling tomatoes then straining them to get rid of the seeds and peels. It was long and messy.

THEN adding the herbs/spices and boiling/simmering it down to HALF. We thought it would take a few hours, but it turned into like 6-8 hours! It was 2 am before I was done! CRAZY! Looks good though, huh?

While that was simmering away we decided to make a salsa. Check out all these chopped tomatoes! Looks good huh? (not really, I don't even LIKE tomatoes! But I like tomato based stuff like what we're making).

This one was a Spicy Salsa. Neither of us are into chunky salsa, but that's what the canning book called for. We couldn't risk blending it up and messing with the balance for canning purposes. So we'll blend it up when we open them (hoping that we'll actually HAVE power and a blender when we open them and it isn't the "last" days, he he he!)

This was not pressure canning, but water canning???? I don't really understand it all, but just followed the instructions!

Here are the first day's cans, pizza sauce, and spicy salsa!

The next day went MUCH faster, this was the Zesty Salsa! And with that I was out of tomatoes (I did double batches of my three recipes.)

And finally we ended our canning run with a tomatillo salsa! This one we made together and it went AMAZINGLY fast. We probably should have done a few of the others together, oh well, live and learn.

And the end product of two days, it doesn't look like much, but we don't go through that much salsa, so it is at least a years worth (they only last a year, so it IS a year supply whether we eat it all or not). And we make a lot of white pizza, but not red, so that will be fun too! Yeah for me!

Cheese making

2009-06-17T01:46:00.000-06:00

Today my friend and I tried our hand at making CHEESE! We started out by making Mozzarella! We tried two different recipes. Mine was a "20 min mozzarella" that took a few hours! But hers was a few hour one that totally didn't work! CRAZY! But mine turned out great!

The process of cheese from a gallon of milk was fascinating! The cheese cloth died a sad death after the cheese making. I think it's because it was a softer cheese, maybe a cheese muslin would work better. Or another 30 mins wait time, and more draining time, instead of a rush and squeeze job.

After we separated the curds into mozzarella we took the whey and made whey ricotta! Amazing that after all that we could still get more cheese out of it. For cheese making you bring it up to a certain temp, add something (in this case a vinegar) and let it react and sit creating the separation of curds and whey.

See the reaction? Look closer... The little clouds? At first we couldn't see it, but it was awesome!

Look how much we got! Since we ruined the cheese cloth (and it would have been to wide) we used a towel lined with paper towels. A cheese muslin would be perfect for this. After it drained I added a bit of salt (you could also add herbs) and it was perfect! LOVED it! I wish it had made a bit more, it wasn't enough to make anything out of. Next time I'll make some cheese ravioli out of it.

Iron Chef- Bacon and Chocoalate

2009-06-13T13:31:00.001-06:00

Tonight was another Iron Chef. The secret ingredient was Bacon (prosciutto or panchetta was also allowed) but since Bacon isn't a great dessert item they (last month winners) choose Chocolate as well. I made my Penne Rustica (it has smoked prosciutto in it).

It's been one of our family favorites for years now. I made one HUGE mistake. I made enough for the kids to have for their dinner as well. So I mixed it all up and served them just before we left, but then the pasta sat in the sauce for over half an hour before everyone else got some and most of the creamy sauce was absorbed. If I had only mixed a bit for the kids and waited to mix the rest until right before there would have been more sauce and I think it would have gone over better.

There was a bacon dip, a chicken stuffed with bacon, bacon wrapped asparagus, bacon rice (two different dishes), salad with bacon and then chocolate pie, mud pie, cream puffs, my BEST EVER chocolate Ice Cream as well as an eclair dish that I forgot to get a picture of!

The winner was a bacon pasta dish that was VERY similar to mine, but had a lot more sauce left... GRRRRR I think I might have had it but for that one mistake!

Since we're moving next month this was our last one to attend. I'm sad, and totally going to miss it. So wherever we end up moving I'm totally going to start one! I've LOVED it! Thanks everyone, I can't wait to get the cookbook at the end of the year!

Cream of Mushroom soup

2009-06-12T22:55:00.008-06:00

This week we decided to try to find a good cream of mushroom soup recipe. Not because we're into mushroom soup, actually neither of us are into mushrooms, but because we want a substitute for the canned stuff, for gravy's and casseroles.

We made two different recipes, but they both called for a while lot of button mushrooms. My recipe called for chopped, while she was able to use food processor on her mushrooms.

Mine started with a creamy sauce with leeks and other veggies. Simmered for 45 mins and FINALLY add the mushrooms.

The mushrooms were barely cooked and while the soup had a great flavor it wasn't mushroom. Certainly not a substitute for the canned stuff. It was too chunky for me, so we ground it up in the blender, and it helped get it closer to what we were looking for but not perfect.

This recipe was completely opposite. It started with the mushrooms, dry, simmering until it created it's own juice. It was amazing how much juice it created..

See? Once it got to this point THEN the cream and stuff was added. It was a great substitute, JUST the right flavor, but the chunks were too much, so we ran it through the blender and voila! PERFECT! It could have been a bit thicker, either simmering longer, or maybe draining some of the juice before adding the cream and stuff. I'm not sure, add some other thickener maybe. But it was great, and I'm looking forward to using it next time I make my pork chops!

Cream of Mushroom Soup
serves 4
1 lbs white mushrooms
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp minced shallots
1 Tbsp chopped fresh thyme
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 C cream
1 1/2 C chicken stock
1 tsp cornstarch, dissolved in 1 Tbsp water
In a food processor coarsely chop mushrooms and lemon juice. Melt butter in sauce pan and lightly saute shallots on med heat. Add mushrooms, thyme and bay leaf. Saute over low/med heat for 10-15 mins, until the liquid that is released from the mushrooms disappears. Add salt, pepper, cream and chicken stock, bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 mins. Add cornstarch and simmer another 10 mins, stirring constantly, add more seasonings and lemon juice to taste.

Yogurt

2009-06-09T21:59:00.002-06:00

We go through a lot of yogurt at our house, a LOT, so for Christmas I got my husband a yogurt maker. We, of course, hadn't tried it yet. So finally I got around to it.

First you have to heat the milk, then let it cool, add some yogurt, or other starter and then put it into the yogurt maker for 4-8 hours. Voila! Plain yogurt! It was easy, tastes good, and I can't wait to try it again!

8th Birthday

2009-05-30T08:28:00.003-06:00

It was my oldest 8th birthday today! She wanted a pool party, and the plates all had hibiscus flowers on them. So this is what we came up with. A strawberry cake, with strawberry icing (and strawberry ice cream). Covered in White fondant with Pink airbrushed on the sides and a flower airbrushed into the top. I would have liked to have done more with the cake, carved it into a hibiscus shape and make it look like a giant flower, but my youngest was up all night throwing up and ruined my early morning plans. Still, the birthday girl was happy and the cake was gone in one day. Yeah!

okonomiyaki

2009-05-29T08:28:00.002-06:00

I've been craving Japanese food again. We used to live there, and I love quite a bit of the food. Although here in The Woodlands there isn't a good Asian store that carries a lot of Japanese items. Hopefully the next place we live will have a better selection. Anyway, we make Katsudon at least once a month, but I have never made Okonomiyaki. I loved getting it in Japan, especially when we visited Osaka (where they are known for it). SO I thought I'd try my hand at it. I'll be trying homemade Yaki Soba next week!
The Okonomiyaki is like a Japanese pancake of sorts. The batter is made with water (or milk) flour, salt and baking powder. Then you add a TON of cabbage, green onions, and any other veggies or meats you desire. The pancake itself was great, but the American bacon didn't work in it like the Japanese bacon did. In fact Japanese bacon has forever ruined all other bacon for me. I don't know what the difference is, only that it is different and ours is nothing in comparison. So I'll try it again, next time using baby shrimp, or maybe ham chunks!

Torillas

2009-05-20T08:26:00.002-06:00

This week my girlfriend wanted to learn how to make Tortillas. I started making my own tortillas 5 years ago, but I haven't done it in a while. Come to think of it it's been 2 years or maybe even more. Anyway, since Flour tortillas is easy (just time consuming) we decided to also try corn tortillas too. non of us had made them before, we just used the recipe on the package (which I didn't write down so I can't give it to you)
Both recipes call for mixing up the dough, letting it sit, creating balls and then rolling them out and cooking them on the stove top (or I used a skillet to do more at one time).
Flour Tortillas
6-8 tortillas
2 C flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3 Tbsp plus 1 tsp shortening
3/4 C hot water
Place the baking powder, salt and shortening in bowl. Cut shortening until it is in very small crumbs. Then add a small amount of hot water and mix until dough is a soft spongy ball. Knead 5 mins and let rest, then knead again. Do this about 3 times. Form into 6-8 balls, and roll out. Place on hot dry skillet and cook for about 1 min on each side.
And done! I rolled mine out nice and thin, they were just like the stores, but once I finished I remembered that I liked them thicker... Oh well. Next time. They worked great for quesadillas for the kids.
As for the corn ones. The only thing I make with corn tortillas is my grandma stacked enchilada's. So a few days later I made them. These were too tough for me and not any better than the store bought, so for now I won't bother again. But if someone out there has some advice, I'm willing to try again!

Homemade pasta

2009-05-12T08:22:00.002-06:00

So today my friends and I made homemade pasta. I did a trial run last week, and rolled it out by hand. I didn't get it quite thin enough, but the taste was amazing. Here is the recipe:
Basic Pasta
Makes 2 lbs
3 1/2 C flour
5 large eggs
1 tsp salt
1 tsp olive oil
Pour flour onto the counter and create a well in the center, add the rest of the ingredients into the well. Beat the eggs lightly with a fork, drawing in some of the flour as you go, until the eggs are mixed and slightly thickened. Using your hands gradually incorporate the flour into the eggs, blending everything into a smooth, not too stiff, dough. If it's crumbly add water as needed. Knead the dough until satiny and elastic, about 10 mins. Divide the dough into 4 pieces and wrap in plastic. Let it rest for 30 mins.
Then roll it out, it can be done by hand, but by far the easiest way (and thinnest) is to use a pasta roller. One of my friends had one and after doing one ball by hand we all decided to use her roller. In fact the other friend and I bought our own that very day. Set the machine to the widest setting, and pass the dough through three times, folding it over onto itself each time. The dough will go from lumpy to smooth. Then set the rollers one notch closer together and repeat rolling. Stretch the dough gently as it emerges from the rollers. Then lay out the strips to dry a bit (but only until a bit leathery, don't over dry)
Last week, when I did my trial run, I used my broom handle for drying, it worked, but wasn't as efficient. So I bought this drying tree. We made three different pastas, fettuccine:
Bow ties:
and cheese ravioli (this picture shows the wheat pasta one of the girls made, substitute 1-1 1/2 C whole wheat flour). The filling recipe is this:
Cheese filling (also what I use for my manicotti)
15 oz ricotta
2 C mozzarella shredded
1/2 C Parmesan grated
2 Tbsp chopped herb (parsley, oregano, basil...) your choice
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 clove garlic, crushed (optional)

Iron Chef- Risotto (or other specialty cheese)

2009-05-09T07:46:00.002-06:00

Tonight was our 2nd Iron chef dinner party. Since I won last month I was in charge of picking the secret ingredient. I picked Ricotta cheese, but our leader was worried it would be too difficult for everyone so we added the option to choose any specialty cheeses (we were trying to avoid the normal cheddar, mozzarella, etc that people use all the time).
I lost my photoshop when I got my new computer and haven't been able to upgrade to the version that will work on my new vista 64 bit yet. So I apologize that the pictures don't look as nice and as appetizing as they should. I've been putting off posting hoping to get the upgrade, but finally I'm just going to start posting...
The winner was the Polla Rosa. Chicken stuffed with a cheese filling and topped with onions and mushrooms. I enjoyed it and will try it myself, but without the mushrooms (maybe on one for my husband, but I'm not a fungus fan). I also have a recipe I wanted to make, but ran out of time, for ricotta stuffed pork chops.

Here are the others that were there. Ricotta Ice Cream (mine), nuetutella with Raspberry chili sauce and crackers, spinach manicotti, key lime pie, feta dip with chips and 4 cheese calzone.
I also made a ricotta risotto. The picture is extremely unappetizing. But the flavor was great. I didn't have risotto rice and used my Japanese rice. It wasn't quite right, but worth buying the right rice to try it again. I wish it had been just a little bit... runnier? (not quite the right word, but juicier doesn't work either) I think the correct rice will fix that problem though. I'll let you know next time I try it.

Bagels

2009-04-23T08:30:00.006-06:00

Two of my girlfriends and I decided to do some fun cooking together every week. This week they wanted to learn to make Bagels, so I taught. We each tried a different recipe so we could compare textures, flavors etc... We made 2 cheese garlic, whole wheat cinnamon, chocolate chocolate chip.
The first step is the mixing. The easiest way is by using a bread machine, on the dough setting. We also did two by hand to compare. Mix warm water, 1 tsp sugar and yeast, and let stand for 5 mins (if using fast rise yeast you can skip the 5 mins waiting) Mix remaining sugar, salt and half of the flour. Stir in the yeast mixture and remaining flour. Knead, adding more flour as necessary for 10-15 mins. Dough should be smooth, satiny, stiff and elastic, the dough should spring back when poked. Then cover and place someplace warm and rise until doubled, about 45 mins to 1 hour.
Here is the dough, I forgot to take a picture of the cheese one (the bread machine), the other two are chocolate, and the wheat (1/3 whole wheat, 2/3 bread flour)

Then you have to knead the dough, mix in any to chunks, shape into circles, and place on a baking sheet and cover for a second rise, about 20 mins. The cheese was the smoothest, dough, while the chocolate was very hard to work with, and the wheat was just perfect.

After the second rise you boil some water (with honey or sugar in it) and boil the bagels, a few at a time, for a min on each side. Then you can glaze add any toppings you want and bake! Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 mins.

The cheese was delicious, but too soft, we needed to knead more flour into it. The chocolate was too stiff and needed more water, next time I won't bother with the cocoa (it only changed the color, it didn't add to the flavor, and made the dough stiffer) but just add the chocolate chips. The wheat was perfect!!!! So now we all know the correct texture. I'd made bagels before, often when we lived in Japan, but it has been a few years. The reminder was great, and I'll be back to making bagels often again now!
Here are the three we used today.

Garlic Cheddar Bagels
makes 2 lbs
1 1/2 C water
2 Tbsp oil
2 Tbsp sugar
4 tsp crushed garlic cloves
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp cocoa
5 1/2 C bread flour
3 tsp yeast
2/3 C grated or cubed cheese
extra cheese for topping

Chocolate Chip Bagels
makes 2 lbs
1 1/2 C water
2 Tbsp oil
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp cocoa
5 1/2 C bread flour
3 tsp yeast
1 C mini chocolate chips or chunks

Cinnamon Sugar Wheat
makes 2 lbs
1 1/2 C water
2 Tbsp oil
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 C whole wheat flour
4 C bread flour
3 tsp yeast
Cinnamon/Sugar mixture to knead into swirls just before shapping, and for topping

Pineapple

2009-04-20T12:41:00.001-06:00

A girlfriend of mine decided to start an iron chef dinner party. This was our first month, with the plan of doing one every month. A week before the dinner we were all emailed the secret ingredient, this month, Pineapple! There were 12 couples invited and we each brought 1-2 dishes. Then the winner gets to choose the next secret ingredient and host the next month.
This month was... Pineapple... I don't like pineapple, actually I can't stand pineapple. Not just the taste, but the texture, smell, etc... So this created a challenge for me. I called my sister for some advice and she told be about a pineapple coconut ice cream she'd made, and a pineapple chili she'd seen on a friends, sisters, blog. Since Ice Cream is something I love to make, but is also pretty simple I thought I'd make both. I thought the Ice cream turned out great, but coconut is one of my favorite foods! But the chili was too pineapple-y for me. My husband loved it though and said it was his favorite chili to date!

Here is the recipe, which I doubled. Next time I'll half the meat and add another kind of bean, white or black for another color, since my husband doesn't like a ton of meat.

Pineapple Chili

1 14 oz can crushed pineapple
1 lb Ground Pork
1 15 oz can kidney beans
1 16 oz jar salsa
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
1 Tbsp chili powder

Brown pork in sauce pan on stove. While browning meat, combine drained kidney beans, pineapple, salsa, tomato sauce, and chili powder, in crock pot. Add meat to crock pot once browned.Stir together and turn on low for 7-8 Hours.

The other foods we had were: Shrimp Avocado Salad, Calico Beans, Sweet n Sour Shrimp, Sweet n Sour chicken, Tropical Salad, Teriyaki Flank Steak with Grilled Pineapple, Salad with Pineapple dressing (?), Pineapple salsa, Pineapple Cream Cheese cookies, Pineapple bread, Moroccan Pineapple Pork in Lettuce Leaves, Bacon wrapped pineapple shrimp. It was all great! Every dish was a hit, and almost everything was gone by the end of the night. Good food, great conversation and company, the evening was a hit!

AND the winner was... My Pina Colada Ice Cream! I was shocked that something so simple won, but I have to say it WAS tasty. And homemade Ice cream is amazing, especially if you haven't had it before or often. I added an extra 1/2 tsp of coconut extract and thought it created a better balance.

Pina Colada Ice Cream

1 16 oz unsweetened pineapple chunks drained
1/2 tsp salt
1 C sugar
1 C unsweetened coconut milk
3 Lg egg yolks
1 C heavy cream
1/2 tsp vanilla
Add 1/2 cup toasted sweetened coconut at the end
1/2 tsp coconut flavor (optional)

Place pineapple and salt in food processor, blend until smooth. Combine sugar and coconut milk over low heat; stir until just to a boil. Then slowing pour into the egg yolks while mixing. Pour back into pan and, stirring constantly, heat until slightly thick (don't boil. Pour through a strainer (if desired), cool, then stir in the pineapple, cream and vanilla and refrigerate until cool. Pour into an Ice cream maker and set to manufactures directions, adding coconut during the last 5 mins. Put in freezer for 3-4 hours then serve.
So I get to pick the ingredient for next month, I have an idea, but I can't say anything yet. So stay tuned! Of course any suggestions are welcome! The next dinner is May 9th! I'm SO excited about it. Too bad we're moving and I won't get to participate all year. Although we'll be in Dallas for awhile before the move to Japan so I'll try to come down as many months as I can to keep enjoying this great dinner group! At the end of the year we'll be making a cookbook of all the recipes. I'm really excited for this!

Sweet 16...

2009-03-06T23:49:00.003-07:00

This one was another last min request from someone at church! They've been keeping me busy lately! This cake is a simple design, and should have been really easy, but it was one of THOSE cakes. Everything that could go wrong did, everything that should go right didn't. I had to take it apart and re-fill and frost over 4 times! It was a nightmare from start to finish! And forget about the fondant. It's too humid here for the bow to stay dry and hold its shape for very long, but then the fondant on the cake kept drying out and cracking? How does that work, it was a nightmare. But luckily I was able to pull it all together, albeit much later and longer than I'd planned, and the birthday girl, and her mother, were happy....

Pink Soccer Ball!

2009-02-23T23:41:00.004-07:00

On Sunday after church a got a request for a birthday cake today! Not much notice, but I was free and it was easy so I said yes. Her daughter loves pink and soccer and this is how it turned out. I had some trouble with the fondant around the bottom, it just wouldn't press back into itself very well today. I think this fondant wasn't as fresh as my last batch. Although it kneaded together fine. I did use my new pearl airbrush paint, but you can't tell very well in this shot. Just before going to deliver it I thought it needed something and I added the buttercream grass. Presto, it went from nice, to totally cute. I was so glad I thought of it. I'm still not remembering or thinking of these kinds of things these days (concussion) so I am grateful!

Traveling with Cupcakes

2009-02-08T10:46:00.003-07:00

This weekend my oldest daughter and I went on a trip together. My young High School age cousin was staring in her High School's production of Beauty and the Beast and my Mother flew all the older grand daughters up to see it. As we started planning this trip and as other women in the extended family were also planning to fly up and see it I thought it would be a great time to throw a bridal shower for yet another cousin who lived in the area and is getting married in a few months. So we arranged for everyone to come the same weekend, and invited more family members from both sides of the brides and grooms families!
We planned on a brunch but as the date got closer I couldn't NOT do something cake related. So I thought of making Purple Calla Lily cupcakes(we went with her wedding colors and flowers as our decoration colors, while the theme was "rooms" with everyone assigned a different room).
So a week before the trip I rolled out, cut, shaped and left to dry all the purple calla lilies. The plan was to take them with me and the night I arrived to make the cupcakes. But then, as I looked at my delicate flowers I thought, These will all break during the plane ride. So what is the solution. I know that fondant doesn't hold up for long in fondant, but it's only a three hour plane ride. If I put the flowers into the cupcakes just before leaving and then take them out when we get there they should be okay (we were flying to a VERY dry state). I figured the pillow of the butter cream would be much better than just shuffling around in a box... So we flew and the second the plane touched down I picked up my cupcake carrier and THIS is what I found:
In just three hours!!!! I still can't say for sure, but being sealed in the cupcake container certainly would contribute to staying moist, but THIS moist! It must have been the altitude and pressure from flying. I can't think of any other way. I guess I should have googled flying with cupcakes to learn from others who had experience this. I felt so dumb, what a rookie mistake. So we get to my aunts house and enjoy the evening. I've decided just not to serve them, a brunch doesn't need cupcakes anyway. It's the perfectionist in me I guess. By my mother and aunt all think they look fine (crazy) and will probably insist on serving them unless I throw them all out or something... So at 2 am, as I'm laying in my cousins bed with my daughter a solution hits me... So I run down to the kitchen and stay up for the next 2 hours carefully pulling the fondant out of and off the cupcake. The pealing the purple off the yellow stamen (or whatever that part is called). Then I remix the little ball with powdered sugar until it's pliable again. Then try my best to roll it into the right shape (since I don't have my cookie cutter with me) and reshape it around the center and leave it to dry (again a VERY dry state) over some wooden handled spoons. I had to do each one individually because that was the only way to get the amount right. I didn't want to mix it all together and then try to still get 24 out of the mass. In the end they were far from perfect (the edges weren't thinned and rippled like the original, and the end wasn't a nice point. Also the green "stems" I left fallen as they were. they were so soft I couldn't pull them out so I left them. But they looked good enough to present, and appease my mother. I just tried not to look at them too much.
My cousin isn't a huge chocolate fan and requested white cake with lemon icing, and since the light yellow of lemon buttercream fit into our color scheme I was only too happy to oblige. Here is the lemon buttercream recipe I mashed together from a few others I found online.

Lemon Buttercream
1 C butter or Shortening (or half and half)
2 tsp grated lemon rind
2 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
1 Lbs Powdered sugar
1/2 C water
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
In a mixer bowl, cream the butter or shortening until smooth. Add the lemon rind, vanilla, salt, water and juice and mix until smooth again. Add the powdered sugar and mix, scraping the sides, until smooth again. Add more water until it is the right consistency your looking for, thick, med or thin.

Since I was traveling with these cupcakes and had to make them the day before I used shortening. But I substituted 1/2 tsp of vanilla for 1/2 tsp butter flavoring. Also my cousin and family members LOVE lemon juice so after making this and tasting it I added another 2 Tbsp of lemon juice. It was too tart for my dad, but the bride to be loved it! And that's all that mattered!

Dinosaur egg

2009-02-05T12:25:00.004-07:00

My son just turned 6, and he picked a dinosaur party! Since my son doesn't even like cake I wanted to keep it simple! And so he picked a dinosaur egg. He wanted purple with dots. This is what we came up with.
I used purple, blue and burgundy, and mixed it with the fondant. I actually used normal fondant (trying to use up my supply before we move overseas) instead of the marshmallow fondant I've been using. I forgot how much easier it is to work with, although really gross... My baby LOVED it though, she kept eating it. Then I got to use my new pearl airbrush paint. It looked amazing, then I had to add the dots, in gold. I don't care for the dots, but that's what he wanted so... I also splattered gold and silver on the egg. The splatters looked good, I should have just done them, and told him they were spots. In the end it looked good and tasted great and the birthday boy was happy. That's all that matters, huh?

To all the January birthday's out there...

2009-01-27T01:33:00.001-07:00

Once a month the women in our church get together for a dessert night! This year they decided to also celebrate all the months birthdays during the evening so I offered to make a birthday cake. Of course something I've noticed at these things, women seemed scared to eat treats! I don't get it. Of course I live off a diet of chocolate with a side of chocolate and wash it down with hot chocolate! So very little of the cake was actually eaten! I brought plenty home for my sweet (and slightly chubby) husband.
You can't see very well, but I used my new pearl airbrush paint for the letters and small flowers. We have terrible lights at our new place and I can't seem to get a good picture of anything these days! I only had a few hours, so it was a quicky. It's not the most detailed, extraordinary or amazing cake ever, but I figured it's been so slow these days here on the blog I'd post it anyway.

Cape Cod Baby Shower

2009-01-14T01:10:00.000-07:00

A few MONTHS ago I made this cake, it was actually the week after the hurricane in September. And since then life has been a little crazy. I completely forgot about posting it, and I just found the pictures! So I figured I might as well show it now. I donated a few certificates for cakes to my daughters school last year, and this used one of those certificates. The person who ordered this was actually the future grandmother and she lives here. We designed the cake to go with the cape cod bedding her daughter had chosen.
After we had it all design I found out that the shower was over 3 hours away in Austin! Having to make a cake that can be transported 3 hours the day before the event was difficult. Especially since they wanted one layer to be carrot with Creme cheese frosting! So I had to deal with refrigeration issues, fondant etc.... To solution was to keep the layers separated and have someone put it together there (so they could put the cream cheese frosting layer in the fridge overnight. I never got a good picture of it put together, so here is the best I have, this is right before they drove off! If you can't tell the top layer is supposed to be a lifesaver!

Post concussion syndrome

2009-01-13T01:45:00.000-07:00

So I started the new year out with a concussion. It was a week ago, and then 10 days later, the 13th, I fainted, and Bill made me spend the day in the ER getting checked out, MRI and all. They said it wasn't uncommon to get worse about 10 days later, and that it was called POST concussion syndrome. Nice fancy title for basically saying I'm fine. I have headaches, dizziness, memory loss, trouble concentrating, insomnia, nausea and disorientation. I'm having trouble emailing, blogging and following conversations, but they said as long as I can dress myself and make myself meals not to bother coming back in. Also this could take 4-6 months to get back to feeling like myself. SO I apologize for email response delays, forgetting to call any of you back, and a lack of pictures and posts. I'm spending my days getting the kids off to school, napping when the younger two nap, catching the return bus in the afternoons and trying to remember to make dinner (and lunch and breakfast) in a timely fashion. And that's about all I can seem to manage! So while we have a big month with lots of birthdays, and parties and even a few cakes to make I'm not sure when I'll get around to catching up, (since it's now the last day of the month) but hopefully soon! I'm fighting the urge to panic at the thought of forcing myself to think straight enough to type!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-26T17:40:00.004-07:00

For my birthday, a few months ago, my sweet Husband got me an airbrush set! Yippee! I was So excited to try it out, but with the Hurricane, and school, and his new job and moving I haven't taken any cake orders. Plus I didn't want to say I could do it until I played around with it a few times. So here is my first airbrushing attempt.

We're joining my mom's family for Thanksgiving, and I'm in charge of the desserts. So I made my Chocolate Nemesis (my Uncles Fav) and a Lemon Sour cream pie (for my mom) a pecan pie and a chocolate pecan pie, and 2 Pumpkin pies. And finally I made this cake! It's a dark chocolate sour cream cake with bittersweet chocolate ganache and marshmallow fondant! I can't WAIT to show it to everyone! If I can keep it safe from my kids and the 4 hour drive... At least I have documentation of how great it turned out. I'm SO please!

Sorry for the large amounts of photo's, but I can't decide between flash and no flash. I really need to get a nice light, so I won't have to use flash. Maybe I'll get a good daylight shot of it tomorrow! Happy Thanksgiving. I hope you all have wonderful desserts to enjoy!

Texas Sheet Cake

2008-10-26T12:21:00.003-06:00

So about a week ago my husbands cousin emailed and asked me if I had a recipe for Texas Sheet Cake. Now I've lived in Texas twice, for a total of 2 1/2 years, AND I bake at least 2 desserts a week (I really need to post more) but I had no idea what a Texas sheet cake was. An official Texas Sheet cake? So I did a bit of research by way of checking out the Homesick Texan blog. If she didn't have a recipe then who would?
Luck for me she did! I looked at the picture and thought, "Wow that looks just like my Grandma's Chocolate Brownie" (very cake-ish, but always called brownie). Then as I read her great description I thought, "that sounds JUST like it". And finally as I got to her recipe I realized my Grandma's Chocolate Brownie recipe IS Texas Sheet cake. My recipe varies from Homesick Texans a bit, most noticeably in the lack of Cinnamon in mine. So it turns out I DID have a recipe to share and I've been making it my whole life!
I remember in High School I made this so often I had it down to 10 mins, that is until I made a batch without baking soda, and then I realized speed wasn't the most important part. I have a ton of memories making this with my friend Corey after church dances. In fact Corey and I both thought the other person had put in the baking soda and so neither of us claim error in that instance. No my husband has always complained that this isn't a brownie but a cake. So I guess it turns out he's right! I hadn't made this in year, but after reminiscing I had to make a batch. I got a few slices, but my husband ate at least 2/3rd of the batch himself! So I guess he likes it! Anyway, go read the story and description on Homesick Texans blog, then pick a recipe (cinnamon or no cinnamon) and make yourself a batch. I've always loved it with Mint chocolate chip ice cream!

Texas Sheet Cake
1 Cube Butter
1 C Water
1/2 C Oil
4 Tbs. Cocoa
2 C sugar
2 C flour
1/2 Butter milk
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
Mix sugar and flour, in sauce pan boil Butter, water oil and cocoa add to sugar/flour
Mix in buttermilk eggs, vanilla and soda. Pour into a greased pan (I always grew up using a Jelly roll pan, but you can use a 9x13 too) cook 20 min at 350, let cool a few mins, then pour on the frosting.
Frosting
1 Cube Butter
1/2 C milk
3 Tbs. Cocoa
1 Lbs Powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Boil Butter, milk and cocoa mix with the sugar. Once smooth add vanilla. Pour over cake while it's still warm.

Cheesecake on a cone

2008-10-21T11:03:00.003-06:00

A few months ago, while visiting my sister, she introduce me to this amazing Cheesecake Ice Cream recipe~ I fell in LOVE. It is a bit lighter than cheesecake, but definatly has the distictive flavor. It was wonderful. In fact her husband, my sister and myself ate an entire batch in one sitting! So for my birthday she got me The Ultimate Ice Cream book she got it from. I immediately came home and made a double batch! I didn't even share with my kids, It was wonderful!
From "The Ultimate Ice Cream Book" by Bruce Weinstein

Cheesecake Ice Cream
1 C sugar
4 oz cream cheese softened
1 egg
½ tsp vanilla
½ C milk
2 tsp grated lemon zest
1 ½ C cream
3 graham crackers crumbled (or nilla wafers)
Beat sugar and cheese together until smooth, beat in the egg and vanilla. Bring milk to boil, beat into the cheese mixture. Pour mixture back into sauce pan and heat until custard thickens. Stir in zest and cream, refrigerate until cold.
Pour the chilled custard into an ice cream machine and process according to the manufacturer's instructions until frozen. Add crackers the last 3-5 mins. Transfer to an airtight container and freeze until ready to serve.

I used Nilla wafers crushed instead of graham crackers, and a bit less lemon zest (it was a bit too strong for me the first time). The book has a few more variations I havn't tried yet, but I'm looking forward to it! Enjoy.

Announcment

2008-09-27T12:02:00.002-06:00

With my husbands new job we'll be in Montgomery county for a few more months. And then we'll be moving to Japan. I'm still taking orders, but only for a few more months. After that I'll be taking some time off focus on packing, moving and taking some time to set up our new residence. It might take up to a year before were settled enough that I can start baking and selling cakes in Japan. But I'll keep posting the monthly challenges between myself and Duff ABC's, as well as my children birthday cakes. And of course if any of you readers are IN Japan I'll be located in Tokyo, so while my phone number will be changing, my email and blog address will stay the same. I'll keep you posted as things develop.

Time Off

2008-09-27T10:42:00.005-06:00

I know... I haven't posted much in a long time. Here were a few ~~reasons~~ excuses why:

1) My husband lost his job back in May. So he spent the summer job hunting and as part of that hunt spent 6 weeks in Japan. So while he was ~~sightseeing~~ job hunting I was a single parent to our four children. Needless to say I was a bit preoccupied, so I turned down all cake orders this summer (with a few exceptions).
2) When my husband finally got a job (yeah!) I got sick. Yes, I was down and out with a wicked sinus infection for over a month. I'm finally,after 3 rounds of antibiotics AND a terrible allergic reaction, better.
3) And then came... Hurricane Ike.

SO scroll down for a few posts that I finally got around to putting up. And stay tuned for pictures of the baby shower cake I did this weekend (just waiting for pictures).

Hunt for the perfect Chocolate Brownie...

2008-08-24T11:26:00.002-06:00

For August we decided to try our hand at some homemade brownies. Now I have lots of recipes for homemade brownies, that are great and I love. But this month we were going for a certain kind of chocolate brownie. The homemade version of the fudge boxed brownie mix. You know the kind, with the crinkly top, and the fudgey center... That's perfect with or in Ice Cream. This kind of brownie is the only thing I still use a box mix for. Everything else I make from scratch, so I'm looking for a "from Scratch" recipe for brownies too.

Looking around the Internet I found a similar soul trying to do just that, Alice Q. Foodie. I decided to try out her recipe first. I've cut the batch down to just one 9x13, instead of 3, and cut out the espresso (not a coffee drinker)!

Serious Brownies
makes 9x13 pans

1 lbs of bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 stick (8 Tbs) of butter
1/3 cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed
1 1/3 cups of granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1 teaspoons of vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoons Maldon salt or fleur de sel, lightly crushed
1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 cups of All Purpose Flour
1 Tbs unsweetened Cocoa

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare your pans with parchment or grease them well.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and Cocoa.

In a double broiler gently melt the butter and chocolate together, stirring periodically to incorporate. As soon as the mixture is melted, turn off the heat and allow to cool.

In a standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the eggs with the sugar on high speed until the mixture is very pale and thick, and falls back into the bowl with a wide ribbon that folds back on itself and slowly dissolves when the beater is lifted from the surface. Add the vanilla and beat to combine.

Gently fold the cooled chocolate mixture into the eggs and sugar, then fold in the flour mixture 1/2 cup at a time.

Bake at 350 degrees until the top surface is slightly puffed and uniformly dry, and the batter no longer jiggles when you shake the pan gently - about 25-30 minutes depending on how thick they are. They will sink a bit as they cool.

Okay, so how did they taste? I have NO idea. I was suffering from a sinus infection when I made these, and while I ate one piece every day, and stretched them out over a week (my husband was out of town) hoping to be able to taste them I never could. I can say that the texture was amazing. And that the few people who tried them said good things, I can not say one way of the other. One taster said they were very dark chocolate and not too sweet, so I would like them, but would others? I will have to try them again and let you know, but at least I got these made in August...

Chocolate Hazelnut... Homemade Nutella

2008-07-31T10:53:00.001-06:00

This was from our July Chocolate Therapy Challenge. I've finally got around to posting it. We found 2 different recipes for homemade nutella. I tried one and Duff ABC's tried the other. They were both short and easy, using whole Hazelnuts that you grind yourself. And there is the issue I had with the recipe. Not the grinding, that was easy, but my at home food processor just couldn't get the nuts ground enough! The end product was just a bit too grainy. By other than the texture (a big deal for me, but not my Husband) the taste was amazing. If I could find a way to grind it better, and create a smoother finish I'd never buy Nutella at the store again.

Homemade Nutella
3/4 C (90 grams) powdered sugar
2/3 C (100 grams) ground hazelnuts
1/3 C (70 grams) butter
3.5 oz (100 grams) dark chocolate
1/2 C (1 deciliter) milk

Combine sugar and hazelnuts.
Melt chopped chocolate with butter in double broiler. Add hazelnuts with sugar in it and stir it.
Pour milk in the hot chocolate mix and stir it, until it becomes smooth (it takes about one minute).
Pour into a container and refrigerate it.

Using weight works more accurately than C's. But I did my best to get the measurement accurate. I included the original grams just in case...)

Pirate cake

2008-07-29T00:46:00.004-06:00

So I've done a few cakes lately, but nothing really out of the ordinary until now, my 3 year old's birthday cake. It was SO much fun to do, there was so much detail that went into the cake, I had a blast making it. I actually started the extra stuff 5 days before. The ladder, sides, ropes, barrel, wheel and cannon balls... I also made poles, a flag, sails and a crows nest out of fondant, but here in the Humid south they never dried all the way (too thick) and broke when I tried to use them.

You can't really see very well, but there is wooden plank detail work on the ship and the cake base (you can click on the picture for a larger image). And I also wrote D.A. on the side of the cake (it stands for Destroying Angel, a nickname) and wrote "Cap'n ____" on the water. And I added 3 black candles sticking out of the side for cannon's and that is what he blew out. I experimented and created chocolate marshmallow fondant for the ship. It worked out well, and tasted nice too! It was a huge hit, everyone loved it and I was pleased!

Itty Bitty Birthday

2008-06-06T22:37:00.004-06:00

A friend of mine turned 27 today. She's been going through some interesting challenges lately and her husband really wanted to make her birthday special, and was trying to plan some fun stuff she'd really like. Since she'd mentioned she liked my cakes he called and asked me to do something small in fondant for their family (this little cake feeds 12-14). After talking over ideas he decided to use their wedding flowers/colors. Bright Yellow, Orange and Pink Gerber Daisies. And he really liked the idea of a crazy silly wonky cake. It was a white coconut cake with cream cheese frosting (although not much, it was so warm today- and my air conditioner is broken, that it all squeezed right out the bottom...) and almond marshmallow frosting. It was a new recipe, and I was really pleased with it. A nice texture, firm, holds the shape well. A subtle flavor, the coconut is great, but not too strong or over powering. Something to make again.

Dragonology...

2008-05-23T21:08:00.000-06:00

So one of my friend here asked me if I could do a dragon cookie cake. Her daughter had recently gotten a "dragonolgy" book and was determined to have a dragon themed birthday! And adamant about having a cookie cake. So I said sure... She brought over the book and showed me the picture of a baby dragon coming out of an egg that her daughter wanted, but in Orange. So here it is... I decided to use royal icing and the color flow method to get the smooth details that would be missed if I used the basic buttercream star tip method of cake decorating. I was pleased with how it turned out, and liked the effect that painting the dragon with a luster dust/alcohol "paint" created on the royal icing. A shiny textured, grainy feel...

Cheesecake Pops

2008-05-11T11:45:00.002-06:00

So last month My friend at Duff ABC's and I were so busy that neither of us had time for a Chocolate Therapy challenge. We talked about it a lot, but not only didn't have a lot of time, but couldn't decide on what we wanted to make next! Then we saw the monthly Daring Baker's round up and knew we had a winner! It was perfect... So we got started. She finished hers the first week of the month, but I waited until this week, perfect for Mothers day.
Cheesecake Pops
makes 30-60 depending on size
5 8-oz. packages cream cheese at room temperature (2 1/2 lbs)
2 C sugar
¼ C flour
¼ tsp salt
5 lrg eggs
2 egg yolks
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
¼ C heavy cream
lollipop sticks or anything else you want (I used bamboo skewers)
1 pound chocolate or candy coating chopped
2 tablespoons vegetable shortening
Assorted decorations (such as chopped nuts, colored jimmies, etc..)
Beat together the cream cheese, sugar, flour, and salt until smooth on low. If using a mixer, mix on low speed. Add the vanilla and cream. Scrape the sides. Then add the whole eggs and the egg yolks one at a time, just incorporating and scraping the sides after each addition.
Grease a 10-inch cake pan (not a spring form pan), and pour the batter into the cake pan. Place the pan in a larger roasting pan. Fill the roasting pan with the boiling water until it reaches halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Bake until the cheesecake is firm and slightly golden on top, 45 to 60 minutes.
Remove the cheesecake from the water bath and cool to room temperature. Cover the cheesecake with plastic wrap and refrigerate until very cold, at least 3 hours or up to overnight.
When the cheesecake is cold and very firm, scoop the cheesecake into 2-ounce balls and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Carefully insert a lollipop stick into each cheesecake ball. Freeze the cheesecake pops, uncovered, until very hard, at least 1 - 2 hours.
When the cheesecake pops are frozen and ready for dipping, prepare the chocolate. In the top of a double boiler, set over simmering water, or in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, heat half the chocolate and half the shortening, stirring often, until chocolate is melted and chocolate and shortening are combined. Stir until completely smooth.
Quickly dip a frozen cheesecake pop in the melted chocolate, swirling quickly to coat it completely. Shake off any excess into the melted chocolate. If you like, you can now roll the pops quickly in optional decorations. You can also drizzle them with a contrasting color of melted chocolate (dark chocolate drizzled over milk chocolate or white chocolate over dark chocolate, etc.) Place the pop on a clean parchment paper-lined baking sheet to set. Repeat with remaining pops, melting more chocolate and shortening (or confectionery chocolate pieces) as needed.
Refrigerate the pops for up to 24 hours, until ready to serve

Okay a few notes on the recipe. For cheesecakes: I used to hear that over mixing the batter is what caused cheesecakes to crack. But then I heard that it isn't the batter that you don't want to over beat but the eggs. So now I make sure everything else is mixed and smooth and always add the eggs last, and just stir them in without a mixer. It has something to do with the bubbles that develop if you over beat the egg whites. I learned the trick from my sister who learned it from a Martha Stewart recipe or show or something. Anyway, so I took the original recipe and changed it to fit this rule. The cheesecake was nice, not amazing and will definitely make these again using my favorite cheesecake recipe instead of this one. For coating I used Ghiradellis semi sweet chocolate chips, and for the dipping I used: crushed Graham crackers, chopped almonds, chopped pistachios, coconut, colored jimmies (for the kids), melted Reese's peanut butter chips and then a mixture of melted peanut butter chips then a dip in the chocolate. Our favorites were the peanut butter chocolate, the peanut butter, and the chocolate Graham crackers. The rest were fine, but those three were really good. Also, I have more freezer space than fridge space so I kept mine in the freezer, so you can see the condensation on them... But they were still great! And I didn't have to worry about eating them all in a week (although they were gone in that time anyway)

First Communion

2008-04-26T02:34:00.001-06:00

This week I had an order for a First Communion Cake. The Cake design was based off the Plates and Napkins the client had chosen for the event. I baked an extra 1 inch cake layer to carve out the cross, dove and sun to create a 3D effect. The cake was really fun to make, and I was really pleased with how well it all came together.

Panna Cotta

2008-04-24T02:13:00.000-06:00

So I had Book Club at my house this month. I had chose the book "The Miracles of Santo Fico" by DL Smith. So I decided to bake Italian based food.

I made Foccacia with olive oil, pepper and balsamic vinegar. I got this recipe from Dad~ baker & Chef. I've made this recipe before with great results but unfortunately this time I didn't use big enough pans, so they were very thick and the centers were WAY too doughy... They still tasted great, but I felt bad for my guests. Not one of them said anything and I didn't notice until later.

I also made my favorite bread sticks with Homemade Alfredo for dipping. I love these bread sticks. I got the recipe years ago from a good friend and make them all the time. My kids can eat an entire batch in one night.

I also made some Coconut pecan bread, that while it isn't Italian itself is similar to an Italian cake recipe I like, but the bread has a better success rate. I had Italian Cream cheese frosting to put with it but TOTALLY spaced it and it sat on my counter the whole evening instead of going out on the table.

And finally the recipe I've been wanting to make since September. Coconut Panna Cotta. Of course the afternoon of book club I had grand plans of making it to the grocery store, getting fresh berries and making my fruit coulis. But did that happen? No... So the panna cotta was by itself. It had a nice flavor, subtle, sweet, but not overly grand... after the event I tried it with some chocolate sauce and a fruit syrup, but they were totally wrong and had a bad effect. In fact I would say that this is one dessert that was not made better by chocolate.

The next day I got the chance to get some Blackberries and made the Coulis. AHHHHHH..... What a HUGE difference. It was perfection, a WONDERFUL balance, a great dessert. Easy to make and I plan on doing it again soon. I'm so glad I had leftovers...

1st Birthday Cake

2008-04-19T13:07:00.000-06:00

This was for my babies first birthday! I can't believe she's one already, and for her birthday the theme was dark pink, light pink and green flowers. I found a scrapbooking set I liked, then plates and went with that. Here is the place setting (with the favors around it, edible playdough with cookie cutters, homemade coloring book featuring the birthday girl and crayons, and bubbles.)

When your guests are adults and one year old's there isn't much to do other than eat cake! And that's what we did. The birthday girl got the top, and the rest of us shared the bottom layers. Here is a shot of the layers before I assembled them, you can see how they are shaped a bit better in this photo. This is the first time I covered the cake board with fondant. It was a nice touch and I plan on doing it again.

Chocolate Cameo

2008-04-13T21:34:00.004-06:00

Today I got to deliver the Bridal shower cake I've been working on. It's a version of a cake I've previously made, the difference is size and colors. Before I made the small oval cake (not smallest, just small). But this one was the largest oval, to feed 70. And instead of my coconut pecan with cream cheese frosting we went Chocolate. And not a little chocolate, a LOT chocolate. My kind of cake. Chocolate Sour Cream layers, with Chocolate cream cheese mousse filling, Dark Chocolate butter cream with Chocolate Ganache (basically truffle, before you let it set... SO rich)! SOOOO good. Then the red flowers really added a nice touch. My husband said he liked this one WAY better. I was surprised at a few glitches I encountered during this cake. I usually make the bride cameo out of color flow (pre-made out of sugar, dries shiny and hard), but after a week of drying here in Houston and they (I made 3 just in case) we're dried and when I peeled off the parchment paper the dresses, necks and arms broke on every one. I even tried leaving the parchment paper on the last one and just cutting around it, but one I picked it up it just shattered! So... With not much time to go I went for it and did the cameo right on the cake. The challenge with anything you do right on the cake is of course messing up... And with this type of decorating, and outline and then a thinner poured filling to create a smooth picture, a mistake is un-fixable. Of course I did fine... Next time I try color flow I'll give myself at least 2 weeks, probably 3.

Also, Look what I just made myself! How cute am I? I once saw a bumper magnet that said "Slow, flowers". And thought I should do something similar myself. Lucky for me I did it... Even with my sign, and going 10 under the speed limit I still had a few scary moments. I think that would be the worst. To get the cake just perfect and then have something happen during delivery. But we made it and everyone was pleased.

Beehive cake

2008-04-03T21:49:00.005-06:00

Tonight we celebrated a birthday party for the Women's Organization in our church. It's one of the oldest and largest women's organization in the world. It's over 165 years old! Anyway, a month or so ago they called and asked me to make a themed "birthday" cake as the main dessert. Of course in the end we had WAY too much food and desserts, we always do. So there is a lot of cake left over. But it was really fun to make it and I got a new pan out of it. You can't see it very well, but I marbelized the fondant and it created a really cool effect. I wish it came across better. Oh well. I need a better camera and flash, maybe a few lenses, Oh, and photography classes...

I got the wondermold pan (those barbie cake with the doll sticking out the top and the cake being the skirt) and put it on top of an 8 inch by 3 inch round pan to give it the height and sides. I covered it with my new marshmallow fondant and added these fondant bee's. When I got there to set up I noticed a few bee's were missing... My children... Luckily I made plenty. The cake was a hit, and it tasted great too. Chocolate, chocolate and chocolate! MMMMMmmmmm. I changed my chocolate buttercream recipe a bit, I've just discovered Dutch cocoa (thanks Malina) and it is just INCREDIBLE!!!! Anyway, I have 3 more cakes on the book this month. So look for a weekly post!

Chocolate Peeps

2008-03-23T22:49:00.006-06:00

So our Chocolate Therapy challenge for the month was Peeps, but not just homemade peeps, CHOCOLATE homemade peeps. Of course after I rolled them in powdered sugar you can't tell they are chocolate... I should have taken a picture BEFORE I rolled them in sugar. BUT my camera died, and I couldn't wait any longer to roll them. I did half granulated sugar and half powdered sugar. I liked the granulated sugar ones better, a little bit of crunch to them. I was going to roll them in the dutch cocoa, but they weren't quite as sweet as I'd hoped and they needed a bit of sugar, not more bitterness.

Chocolate Marshmallows

2 cups white sugar
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1 1/2 cups water, divided
4 tablespoons unflavored gelatin
1/3 C cocoa
2 egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a saucepan over medium-high heat, stir together sugar, corn syrup and 1/2 C water. Bring the mixture to a boil. Using a Candy theremometer bring the mixture to the hard-ball stage, 250 to 260 degrees.

While the sugar mixture is heating, place 1/2 C water in a metal bowl and sprinkle the gelatin over it. Place the bowl over simmering water and stir until the gelatin is dissolved and the mixture becomes liquid.

Dissolve the cocoa in the last 1/2 C water, then add to the gelatin. Keep this gelatin mixture warm until the sugar comes to the proper temperature. When the sugar mixture reaches the hard-ball stage and you remove it from heat, carefully whisk in the gelatin mixture. Meanwhile, use an electric mixer to whip the egg whites into soft peaks.

Once the peaks have formed, set the electric mixer to medium-speed and slowly pour the sugar mixture into the bowl of whipped egg whites. When pouring the sugar mixture into the mixing bowl, keep the stream small and slow. Once all of the sugar has been incorporated into the egg whites, add the vanilla extract and continue mixing at a medium-speed until the mixture cannot become any fluffier.

At this point you can do 2 things. First you can pour it into a pan (coated with butter and sugar). Once it's cool you coat a knife with butter and sugar and cut the marshmallow into squares (re-sugaring the knife after every slice).

OR you can make Peeps!!!

Line a flat surface with waxed paper and sprinkle it with sugar. Use a large pastry bag with at least a 1/2-inch opening or tip. Carefully spoon the sticky marshmallow fluff into the bag and twist the top closed. Pipe the body of the chick shape first by making a thick line on the paper. When the body is long enough, pipe backwards on top of the body, and then make a little head. To coat the marshmallow chicks completely, let them set for 30 minutes before rolling them in bowls full of colored sugar.

The first bag full was too soft, and the peeps fell flat, the next 2 bags were perfect, and the last bag I couldn't even squeeze out! I had to cut the bag open and chop up the marshmallow! I made a double batch, and it was just too much for one person to get all the peeps made before the mixture got to stiff. So next time either a single batch or double the hands...

Horton Hears a Who...

2008-03-18T20:39:00.005-06:00

So today I made 2 dozen cookies for a Horton hears a Who birthday party! These are supposed to be the puffy flower that the speck (see the speck!) lands on. But if I have to tell you that then I guess I didn't accomplish it.. ANYWAY, It was tons of fun planning and decorating the cookies.

And THEN I got to wrap them, make a presentation out of it... I love that part! Can you see the candles in the Number 7 Cookie? I didn't get a good shot of the final cookie sandwich with the 7 candles in it. Then I put the ribbons on it with my new stickers and my new Business cards!

New

2008-03-18T08:53:00.000-06:00

New name, new look, new business cards. The name I used to have, Create Cakes, we had chosen when we were still hoping to move to Japan. We were planning on using it as the name of the baking/teaching/decorating business we hoped to open in Japan. Since my husband took a job in the states instead the name didn't really fit. So after a few months of thinking and forgeting and thinking again I took the plunge and renamed the blog, and email and business cards (I needed to change them anyway, with the move and change of phone numbers). So what do you think?

Happy St. Patrick's Day

2008-03-17T20:29:00.002-06:00

We celebrated with Green Milk and Green scones. How did you start off your day?

Texas Cookies

2008-03-14T14:06:00.002-06:00

So today I dropped 2 dozen cookies for a lunch at church for a Missionary conference. Since the Missionaries are from all over and just here in TX for 2 years I thought Texas Shaped cookies were appropriate. I was going for red, but ran out of my red dye. Time to go buy some more! I hope they like PINK! I also changed my frosting recipe for the first time EVER! I've always used my mom's/Grandma's tried and true butter, milk, powdered sugar and flavoring, Always peppermint. I LOVE mint, not just any mint thought, I love PEPPERMINT! But my Husband has always complained that when I make these cookies anytime throughout the year that they always taste like Christmas. SO I decided to go for a change. Instead of milk and flavor I took my favorite Hot Chocolate Creamer (I don't drink Coffee, but adore Hot Chocolate), Amaretto, and used that instead. I was afraid it would be too overpowering, or not enough so. I have to say it was perfect. And next time I go to the grocery store I'm going to get more flavors to try on my next batch. We make cookies about once a month. I hope they still have some of the Holiday creamers left... I've been wanting to try the gingerbread one, but had no desire for it in my Hot Chocolate, cookies would be perfect! I'm wondering what else I use milk for that could benefit from a little jolt of flavor...

Chocolate Caramel Tart

2008-02-25T09:43:00.001-07:00

I'm not dead, just sick family and late at posting

So this month for our Chocolate Therapy we chose Tarts. Since She likes fruit and I like Caramel we chose different Tart Recipes. Although I plan on making the same tart as she did for a suprise for my Hubby soon. I picked a Caramel Chocolate tart I had seen on many Daring Bakers pages back in Aug 07. I've been wanting to make it since then and now I can say I did. It wasn't too hard or even very time consuming. I did run into a little issue that I'll fix the next time I make it (definatly a repeat)

Chocolate Shortbread Crust
Single 10 inch crust

9 1/2 Tbs unsalted butter, room temp
5 Tbs powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 C plus 3 Tbs flour
1/4 C Cocoa
1/2 C ground nut (I used Pecans, but macadamia, or almonds would work too)

Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy about 1.5 mins. Add the flour and mix until light and fluffy about 2 mins. Gather dough in ball and press into bottom and sids of a 9 or 10 inch tart pan. Cook at 300 for 40-45 mins, let cool before filling. (if cooking more with your pie then cut time in half)

The crust was easy enough. I made a double batch and filled 2 tart pan with a bit of dough to spare. We made a few cookies out of the rest. I was suprised how good it was. I was worried that it needed a bit more sugar. And while a little more sugar would have made it a bit better, it was still quite good.

Milk Chocolate and Caramel Tart
1 10-inch round tart

half baked shortbread crust
1 cup sugar
½ cup water
1 tbs corn syrup
1 cup heavy cream
¼ cup butter
2 whole eggs
1 egg yolk
2 ½ tablespoons flour
1 ¼ cups whipping cream
½ lb dark chocolate

In a sauce pan bring the sugar, water and syrup to a boil over medium high. When the mixture comes to a boil, stop stirring and wait until it turns a golden caramel color. Incorporate the heavy cream and then add butter. Mix thoroughly. Set aside to cool.
In a mixing bowl, beat the whole eggs with the extra egg yolk, then incorporate the flour.
Pour this into the cream-caramel mixture and mix thoroughly.
Spread it out in the tart shell and bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
Prepare the milk chocolate mousse: beat the whipping cream until stiff. Melt the milk chocolate in the microwave or in a bain-marie, and fold it gently into the whipped cream.
Pour the chocolate mousse over the cooled caramel mixture, smoothing it with a spatula. Chill for one hour in the refrigerator.

Here is where I ran into some difficulties. I'm not sure WHAT happened. It might have been the visitors I had in the middle of the crucial step of making the caramel... My caramel never reached the color I wanted, and then started to separarate. I am still kicking myself that I just didn't start over at this faze. I've made caramel enough that I should have known better. In the end it was a sweet sugary jelly type center. That had nice texture, but was missing the cooked caramel flavor that I was going for!!! I turned it down too low since some visitors came by, and I shouldn't have done that.
But over all we all really liked it. It was a great balance between the super thick and crunchy crust, the sweet center and the dark chocolate thick, yet creamy mousse. I am looking forward to trying it again, but cooking the caramel right. I'll update you!
I have one more tart recipe to make for the month, but it will have to wait until March, as there are few days left this month and they are all a bit on the full side.

Another wedding cake!

2008-02-16T21:17:00.005-07:00

This was the cake I made for the reception tonight. I wish I had gotten a shot of the inside. It was white almond, Sour cream dark chocolate and then white almond again. In between each layer was a pistachio mousse. It was SOOO good. And I made Marshmallow fondant for a change. It was delicious. A nice change from the normal chewy gross fondant. About halfway through the outdoor reception we got one of our famous Texan sized Rain/lighting storms. And even though we were undercover the rain came right on in~ The cake got soaked, and the fondant liquefied a bit and got all stick. Luckily it was near the end of the evening. Even so we had a lot of guest leave without cake and the entire bottom layer is left! Good thing cake freezes well! If it hadn't been for that storm I think there would only have been half of the bottom layer or less left. It was a huge cake, built to feed 154. The brides colors were brown green and white. The decorations were beautiful, the setting was amazing and the food and snack were all green, brown and white. It was really beautiful, even if I did get soaked.

Gyro's

2008-02-10T21:09:00.000-07:00

I LOVE Greek food, and I especially enjoy a good Gyro. SO when I found a recipe online for homemade Gyro and Tzatziki sauce I just HAD to try it. Add some home made pita's, some tomatoes, sliced onion and TONS of feta and you have a GREAT Gyro.
The Gyro meat itself is basically a meatloaf. You can roast it or cook it in the oven. Since the Oven was the only thing available to me that is what I used. It turned out great. The only thing that would have made it better was if I had a food processor to grind up the meatloaf better.

Gyro Meat

1 medium onion, finely chopped or shredded
2 pounds ground lamb
1 tablespoon finely minced garlic
1 tablespoon dried marjoram
1 tablespoon dried ground rosemary
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Process the onion in a food processor for 10 to 15 seconds and turn out into the center of a tea towel. Gather up the ends of the towel and squeeze until almost all of the juice is removed. Discard juice.
Return the onion to the food processor and add the lamb, garlic, marjoram, rosemary, salt, and pepper and process until it is a fine paste, approximately 1 minute. Stop the processor as needed to scrape down sides of bowl.
To cook in the oven as a meatloaf, proceed as follows: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Place the mixture into a loaf pan, making sure to press into the sides of the pan. Place the loaf pan into a water bath and bake for 60 to 75 minutes or until the mixture reaches 165 to 170 degrees F. Remove from the oven and drain off any fat. Place the loaf pan on a cooling rack and place a brick wrapped in aluminum foil directly on the surface of the meat and allow to sit for 15 to 20 minutes, until the internal temperature reaches 175 degrees F. Slice and serve

The Pita bread is quite simple, and yet time consuming, like most breads...

Pita
makes 6 pitas

2 C bread flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 oz yeast
2/3 C lukewarm water
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil

Mix the yeast with the water then stir in the olive oil. Gradually beat the flour and salt into the mixture. Turn out on floured surface and knead for 5 mins until smooth. cover and let rise for 1 hour, or until doubled.
Punch down and divide into 6 pieces and let rest for 5 mins. Roll out into ovals about 1/4 in thick. let rise 23-30 mins.
Bake at 450 on pizza stone for 4-6 mins until puffed up.

The Tzatziki sauce needs to be started the day before, simply because the yogurt has to strain overnight. I was shocked at just how much juice drained from the yogurt overnight. And I read that the longer you let it drain the better the flavor. Next time I'll let it drain for a full 24 hours, not just overnight.

Tzatziki Sauce
makes 1 1/2 C

16 ounces plain yogurt
1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded, and finely chopped
Pinch kosher salt
4 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
5 to 6 mint leaves, finely minced

Place the yogurt in a tea towel, gather up the edges, suspend over a bowl, and drain for 2 hours in the refrigerator. Place the chopped cucumber in a tea towel and squeeze to remove the liquid; discard liquid. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the drained yogurt, cucumber, salt, garlic, olive oil, vinegar, and mint. Serve as a sauce for gyros. Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to a week.

I actually wanted mine a bit smoother and I ran it through my blender before serving. My husband and kids and I loved it. But I added too much garlic. I tend to go overboard with garlic because most recipes don't have enough for me. I learned my lesson though and I'll stick to the recommended amount for my first trial for now on.

Valentines Truffles

2008-02-08T21:03:00.001-07:00

For a Valentines party I attended I made the Oreo Balls from December. But instead of rolling them in sugar I rolled them in Red melted chocolate and then in crushed candy canes.

Madeline's

2008-01-23T13:31:00.001-07:00

So for this Month's Chocolate Therapy challenge My friend over at Duff ABC's picked Madeline's. Of course had to make CHOCOLATE Madelaine's, but I made both. I have to say I've never eaten Madeline's and now I know why. They taste great, but when I'm going to make something these would be pretty low on my list. I liked them, but they just didn't stand out, they are cake-y cookies, and I'd rather have a cake, or cookies. I'll try them again, but these won't be common cookies for me. I guess what I'm trying to say is this: If I'm going to eat a dessert I want it to be sensational. These just weren't worth the calories for me, I'd rather enjoy a rich chocolate cheesecake, or Ice Cream, or, Brownies, or... You get the idea. BUT that said they had a great flavor and if your into slightly sweet, light desserts these are probably for you. A bit of a crunch the first day, but simply soft after that.

Madeline's

makes 2-3 dozen regular size

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter (6 ounces)

3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

4 large eggs

a pinch fine-grain sea salt

2/3 cups sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt the 1 1/2 sticks of butter in a small pot over medium heat until it's brown and gives off a deliciously nutty aroma, roughly 20 minutes. Strain (using a paper towel over a mesh strainer) - you want to leave the solids behind. Cool the butter to room temperature.

Put the eggs with the salt in the bowl of an electric mixer with a whisk attachment. Whip on high speed until thick - you are looking for the eggs to roughly double or triple in volume - approximately 3 minutes. Continuing to mix on high speed, slowly add the sugar in a steady stream. Whip for 2 minutes or until mixture is thick and ribbony.

Sprinkle the flour on top of the egg batter, and gently fold in. Now fold in the butter mixture. Only stirring enough to bring everything together.
Spoon the batter into the molds, bake the Madelaine's for 12 - 14 minutes (7-10 minutes for smaller cookies), or until the edges of the Madelaine's are golden brown. Remove from oven and un-mold immediately.

Chocolate version

pour strained cooked butter over 6 oz broken up bittersweet chocolate, stir until smooth

I do have to say I LOVE my Madeline pan, and I've been trying to think of another cookie I could put in it. The shape is cute, and the pan is amazing! I used baking spray on the first batch, but didn't need to my Wilton non-stick pan worked! It was incredible.
The flavor of the cooked butter was a nice twist, and delicious. AND very easy and quick, but with a fancy end result. Maybe it's a good recipe to keep around for it's looks alone, an easy way to look impressive... If your into people thinking your amazing...
I think the fact was that it wasn't hearty/filling enough for me I want my cookies to be cookies, not bite size cake with no frosting... Maybe if I dipped them in chocolate, Mmmmmm... Now that could work, like mini cakes, with my thick chocolate fudge frosting on one side... Of course what isn't made better my dipping it in chocolate?
And a quick word of caution, MAKE SURE you use the paper towel and strainer for the cooked butter, look what was left in the pan after 20 mins of cooking?

My month "off"

2008-01-18T14:46:00.001-07:00

Okay, it's been almost a full months since I last posted. It's not that I haven't been baking, trust me I've been baking, just none of it has been different or post worthy. My husband and son share a birthday, but they both don't like cake! So we did Ice cream sundae's, not really all that great for posting. I did make all the ice cream and toppings from scratch... But you get the idea. I am getting ready to make the monthly Chocolate Therapy challenge, tomorrow. So look for that. And I'm doing another wedding cake in a few weeks. So never fear, I'll be back and posting now. My family blog has gotten most of the attention the last few weeks, with double birthday's and family visiting. Life is now back to normal and now so should this blog.

On the Twelfth day of Christmas...

2007-12-24T22:40:00.000-07:00

We made sugar cookies! My mother got us a nativity cookie cutter set last year, and we finally got to use it! It seems to be missing shepards, I guess I could turn a wise man into one. Also it had cut outs for a stable, but we didn't make that this year. Merry Christmas!

On the Eleventh Day of Christmas...

2007-12-23T00:25:00.000-07:00

I made Coconut "Mounds" cookies. They are Wonderful, I make them with Milk chocolate for my mom, but Dark chocolate for myself! MMMMM!

On the Tenth day of Christmas...

2007-12-22T17:30:00.000-07:00

I made peanut butter cups/squares. I usually use milk chocolate, but prefer dark chocolate, so I gave it a try only to find that I'd accidentally used bitter sweet chocolate (yes I have a lot of chocolate around the house!).

On the Ninth day of Christmas...

2007-12-21T23:02:00.000-07:00

I made my Hot Chocolate, with a Candy cane to stir it... MMMMMMM. And yes, this picture is from October, but I forgot to take a picture!

On the Eighth day of Christmas...

2007-12-20T21:33:00.000-07:00

I made Mini Cheesecakes. My mom always made these for her annual party, well, back when she used to have annual parties. And I always loved them, but never got more than 2 it seemed. Well now I have 48! I've always wanted to do an annual Christmas party, but moving every year, and bed rest every other year, has put a kink in that plan... NEXT year...

On the Seventh day of Christmas

2007-12-19T19:40:00.001-07:00

I made Caramel's. I've always enjoyed getting them on goodie plates, but scared to try them. But with all the new stuff I've challenged myself to learn I thought it was about time to tackle them. And they turned out GREAT! Definitely one to repeat every year.

Oreo "truffle" Balls

2007-12-18T18:16:00.001-07:00

Okay, this was a recipe we picked as part of our Monthly Chocolate Therapy Challenges. Now, they we're quite what I expected, simply because I wouldn't call them truffles. They are Oreo balls. Don't get me wrong, they taste good, are super easy and look good. But truffles? No, not in a million years. So I rename them Oreo Balls. Very good, a repeat.

Oreo Balls

Makes 40-50 depending on ball size

1 Pkg crushed Oreo's

8 oz softened cream cheese

Mix well, refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight. Make balls and dip in Chocolate (white, milk or dark all work) or roll in sugar. Viola!

That's it! Super easy, tasty and much cheaper that real truffles, so a good one for kids and snack-y husbands. (I really don't want to share my REAL and expensive truffles with anyone who doesn't REALLY appreciate them)

On the Sixth day of Christmas...

2007-12-18T18:13:00.000-07:00

I made my Homemade Egg Nog! Well I made most of it last night, but it has to sit overnight before you add the final whipping cream. It wasn't my best batch to date, I was doing too much at once and over whipped the egg whites, but still much better than store bought! We both love egg nog, but Bill likes it that much more than me, and I love making it for him!

On the Fifth day of Christmas...

2007-12-16T23:49:00.000-07:00

I made Pumpkin Chocolate chip muffins. And I started tomorrow's goodie (It's a 2 part recipe).

On the Fourth day of Christmas

2007-12-15T23:32:00.000-07:00

I made Sandies! These were a yearly Christmas staple growing up. I think they might also be known as Mexican wedding cookies, but I'm not sure... They are simple to make, not too sweet, and I love them! I believe they came from my Grandma, who grew up in Mexico.

On the Third day of Christmas...

2007-12-15T22:45:00.001-07:00

I made Almond Roca! This has been a family favorite since I was a little girl. I have many MANY memories making this and eating it with my mom. When we lived in AZ it seemed I had perfected it and made it almost every week. But then we moved to UT and it only worked half the time. So I was nervous, what would the TX humidity do to it? But it worked out beautifully!