maybe strawberry

Chocolate Crinkles

2012-01-06T16:22:00.000-08:00

I had a wonderful Christmas but kind of feel like I missed a lot of Christmas. My second daughter was born a few days before Christmas so I didn't get to bake much or attend any Christmas parties. December went by so fast! Too fast for my liking! I just love Christmastime. Anyway, I'm loving having 2 kids. I'm super tired but just about recovered from the delivery and getting adjusted to be a mommy of two.

Today, I made Chocolate Crinkles. I've never eaten them or made them before, but I've seen them a lot around the holidays. This recipe made beautiful cookies that were light and fluffy, not really with a rich chocolate flavor. They were alright but I prefer cookies more dense and rich. Maybe next time I'll make these with a recipe that asks for chocolate instead of cocoa powder.

I used a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop and baked for 15 minutes at 350

Sorry for the blur in the center of the pictures. I recently started letting my 2 year old use my camera so she can learn to take pictures. After I downloaded the pictures and saw the blur, I noticed a big fingerprint on the lens of m camera.

Ice cream and brownies

2011-12-12T09:48:00.000-08:00

I made this tiny ice cream dessert for family who came over for lunch this weekend. Ganache, 3 tiny scoops of vanilla ice cream and a brownie in the shape of a star. I loved this dessert. First of all I love tiny dishes! I just bought these from Bed Bath and Beyond 12 for $20 and used the $5 off coupon. And two of my favorite sweets are ice cream and brownies. I prepared this ahead of time and kept them in my freezer on my tray.

I am a loyal fan of Ghiradelli brownies and have only made those. But I didn't have any brownie mix at home so I found this recipe that I really liked which I used this weekend.

Ingredients

1/2 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons water
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease an 8x8 inch square pan.
In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, butter and water. Cook over medium heat until boiling. Remove from heat and stir in chocolate chips until melted and smooth. Mix in the eggs and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; stir into the chocolate mixture. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until brownies set up. Do not overbake! Cool in pan and cut into squares.

My baby shower favors

2011-11-12T21:24:00.001-08:00

We had our baby shower last week. It was wonderful! My sister asked me what theme I wanted for the shower and I didn't have a preference but I knew I wanted pumpkin pie, pecan pie and other autumn desserts. The shower ended up just being decorated like it was Thanksgiving. It was beautiful and so delicious.

I made the favors for the guests. Nothing new, it was pretty much the same favor I've given at many other parties. I already had some little boxes (from papermart.com) and I used one of my favorite chocolates: Lindt Truffles. Costco used to carry bags of the milk chocolate truffles all year long but in the last couple years or so, they only carry them just before and during the Christmas season. The bag they carry now has assorted truffles: milk, white, dark, peanut butter and 60% dark. Oh So Good!!

Here, my daughter and nephew were helping me fill the boxes. Three truffles per box.

I made labels with MS Publisher and instead of using ribbon, I printed out orange and white checkers and cut them in strips to use on the favors.

Tangled tower pinata

2011-10-01T14:39:00.000-07:00

One of my nieces is having a Disney's Tangled birthday party. My gift for the birthday girl is making the pinata. Recently I've seen a lot of birthday cakes that look like the tower. I loved how the purple shingles on the roof looked made out of fondant. I thought it would be interesting to see a tower pinata with little pieces of purple tissue flying in the wind as it hung outside at a birthday party.

Below are some pictures that I used to help me design the pinata. I wanted to add more to the pinata, but the pinata is such a short version of the tower, I had to leave a lot of details out.

a screen shot from the movie

The international movie poster

the top of the princess float at the Disneyland parade

another shot of the float

Just a box that i shaped

I used some packing tape and tacky glue

I wrapped it in black construction paper. I wish I had beige instead but didn't have any, so I decided on black.

I made spacers out of squares of cardboard to for the top portion of the tower (where the windows are)

My little helper, helping me to stack the cardboard pieces

I let them dry for a few minutes

I glued them near the top

The top of the tower was just construction paper glued to the spacers. I changed it though, not sure why I made it black, but later I changed it to white.

Sorry, by the time I took this next picture, I had done a lot but didn't take any pictures of the work. My daughter was "helping" me and it was just a big mess on my dining table. Here I had added strips of brown paper to the base of the tower and glued on different colored rectangle paper to look like bricks. I also started making the roof after I attached some hemp string on the inside. I used glue and tape to keep the rope in place in 4 places. Then I used strips of cardboard to start making the roof

Here I glued on a bunch of little pieces of white paper to complete the roof

I made little squares of purple tissues for the shingles and just started layering them from the bottom

I curled the ends of brown paper with a small paint brush and added some flowers

the vines are just green tissue i rolled tightly together

The pinata is about 17 inches tall and the bottom diameter is about 7.5 inches. I don't know how long this took. But it was hours and hours. If I had a few minutes or an hour free during the day I would work on the pinata. It was a lot of fun, I love doing this stuff. I think I may try making another and see if I can sell it online. I want to remain a stay at home mom, but if there is something I can do when I have free time, that I enjoy, I think I better jump on it because some extra cash would be nice right now.

Lego Birthday Party

2011-09-18T21:53:00.000-07:00

My daughter Sofia turned 2! We had her party earlier this month and the theme was Legos. She (and I) acquired the love for Legos from my husband who loved Legos as a kid, as still does. He has some Lego sets that are maybe 20 years old that we still have. Sofia loves playing with them and Duplos as well.

We had a had a smaller party this year, we invited half the amount of people. Big parties are nice, but expensive.

We only had 3 games/activities but our guests enjoyed them and they occupied them the whole duration of the party. No one left for 5 hours or so. I was so happy to see them have so much fun.

The first was an activity similar to Build and Test at Legoland. I asked my dad to build a ramp where the kids could race cars they made. I wish I had time to paint the ramp black with yellow stripes to look more like a road, but I ran out of time. We wanted to have a lot of bricks and wheels so there would be a good selection for our guests building cars so we bought some Lego knock offs. They were so cheap (price wise and quality wise) but I'm glad we bought them because some were lost and broken after the party. Costco sells them, they are called "Best Lock" and I believe it was $18 for 900 pieces. We bought 2 boxes. We had the kids build and race first and then later in the day it was the adults turn. It was a lot of fun.

The second game was a Duplo game. Whoever could build the tallest tower in 60 seconds was the winner. This game was great, it was easy and everyone enjoyed it. We had a prize for the kid and adult who made the tallest tower.

The third game was a Lego building game. Whoever was fastest building this little airplane was the winner. Again we had a prize for the kid and adult who was the fastest.

We ordered food this time. I learned my lesson from last year. I was trying to save money so I made all the food last year and I was so stressed out that I didn't enjoy the first part of the party. So this year we looked into Souplantation, Rubios, and Pick Up Stix but it was about $9 per person. We decided on Panda Express. It was less than $5 per person. I was happy about that because with this pregnancy, I've been craving food from here.

We had lots of cakes! I made one chocolate vegan cake and 2 ice cream cakes. One was neopolitan and the other was toffee/chocolate and they were both covered with whipped cream. Nothing pretty but my family just loves ice cream cakes. Also, I had little chocolate mini figs on the side of the cake and a little mini fig holding goblets that held the 2 candles.

My friend, Jane, of Short and Sweets, made a vanilla smash cake, a mini fig that looked like my daughter (even wearing clothes that looked like what my daughter was wearing) and mini fig head cake pops! I mentioned to her that I would like some Lego themed desserts but I wasn't impressed with any of the cakes or mini fig cake pops I've seen people make. They look messy and usually people stick an M&M on top which makes it even more messy looking and disproportionate. But she made some, and they were perfect! You need to check out her work. I'm so amazed every time I see a new cake creation she has made.

I was so happy I found this Lego mini fig ice mold. I was going to buy it on Amazon but couldn't get it cheaper than $15 plus about $5 for shipping but I found it at Downtown Disney at the Lego store for $8!!
I tempered some semi sweet chocolate and used the molds to make chocolate mini figs.

The cake and food tables were decorated with Legos. I used some of our Lego sets but I also asked my 7 year old nephew, who has loved Legos almost all his life to help me decorate too. So he brought some of his Legos to display.

Banner I made with scrap booking paper I bought from the craft store. I found an image of a mini fig's head online and just made many sizes of them and printed them out. Then made a template from card stock and traced them on yellow paper to make big and small mini fig heads in yellow for the banner and for the favor bags.

Here are the favor bags. I think I made about 14 or so.

Time consuming. But I did this when I was watching my daughter playing in the sand box and I had nothing else to do.

Bags from Michael's. I think it was about $5 for 13.

This is what I filled most bags with. I bought the snacks from the Costco Business center. There are only about 6 Costco Business centers in the U.S right now. I'm so happy one is close by. They have lots of prepackaged food, I guess for vending machines, so It was nice to find these things that normal Costco's don't have. I bought the crayons from Kmart when they had a sale, 24 crayons for 24 cents! I bought the Lego favor packs from Toys R Us. Most kids got the Lego airplanes because I opened up many of the the Jeep favor packs and just threw those pieces and wheels with the big box of bricks for the Build and Test activity. Some kids that attended have some food restrictions so I bought some other things for them.

A different kind of candy apple

2011-06-21T16:27:00.001-07:00

I found this super cute idea on Lisa Storm's blog and had to try it out. I had a niece and nephew graduating from kindergarten this year and made a few for the both of them. I doubled up on the red tissue paper so you couldn't see the Ferrero Rocher wrapper which made the stem really thick...but i think it still looks ok. I didn't have time to look for brown floral tape. I think would have worked well to wrap up the red tissue at the top. I just glued brown paper instead and glued on a little leaf.

super cute Easter "eggs"

2011-04-20T08:36:00.000-07:00

Last weekend my family had an Easter egg hunt for the kids. Each family brought eggs and we hid them in my parent's backyard. I already had 3 dozen eggs that I have been reusing for the last few years. But this year, I bought a few more. I couldn't resist them when I saw them at the store, they were so cute.

Walmart sells filled Easter Eggs in different themes. I bought the ice cream themed eggs. 30 eggs for $5. The box had popsicles, ice cream cones and eggs. I gave the egg shaped ones away but kept the others. They would be great in a favor bag if I ever decided to have an ice cream parlor birthday party. The best thing though, they were durable, not like the usual flimsy plastic Easter eggs you usually see at Walmart or Target and they were made in the USA!

I found these Hello Kitty Easter "eggs" at Target. They come in a 3 pack for $2.50. I had one pack from last year. Those Hello Kitties have the flower by the ear. The ones I bought this year have a bow. Again, I could give these as favors to guests at a Hello Kitty birthday party, but who am I kidding, I don't want to give these away!

Raw strawberry cheesecake

2011-02-28T11:43:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago my in-laws came to visit. I wanted to make something for my mother-in-law who is vegan. She is not a raw foodist but she loves the raw "cheesecakes" made by Earth Cafe. I found this recipe at the Post Punk Kitchen and loved it. I prefer this over any of the Earth Cafe's desserts and I've tried most all the flavors. I am definitely not vegan or a raw foodist, but LOVED this recipe. I made it yesterday for a second time with my new food processor and it was so easy.

I only used the recipe for the crust and filling, I didn't make the frosting or the strawberry coulis and it was still darn good. Here is the recipe:

Crust
1 cup pecans
1 cup almonds
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 medjool dates, pitted and chopped

Filling
3 cups raw cashew pieces, soaked overnight (or at least 3 hours)
1/2 cup agave syrup
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
32 oz strawberries (reserve 9 for decorating), hulled and halved - about 4 cups
3/4 cup coconut oil, melted

Please see the recipe on the Post Punk Kitchen for the original instructions because i made a couple modifications.

The instructions call for a 9 inch round spring form pan, but i decided to use my 17X12 jelly roll pan. I doubled the crust and it all fit in the pan beautifully. The first time I made this, I had a problem with slicing this up. It set, but not firm enough to make clean cuts. The dessert is frozen in all the pictures here. It's really easy to cut when frozen. It also tastes great when frozen.

Since pecans are so expensive, I used more almonds for the crust. When i doubled the recipe, I used 1 cup pecans and 3 cups almonds. It was good. I understand now why the Earth Cafe pies are so expensive (they are between $5-$6 for a tiny slice) because the ingredients aren't cheap.

In the food processor, grind up the nuts til fine and add the dates until you get a nice even texture.

Blend all the filling ingredients, adding the strawberries second to last, then adding the melted coconut oil slowly while keeping the food processor on.

Pour filling on the crust and use spatula to even out. The filling is a bit thick so shake pan gently to help smooth the filling. After setting 4 hours in refrigerator, it's ready to eat!

Food processor

2011-02-27T09:07:00.000-08:00

I've never owned a food processor and have always wanted one. I finally got one yesterday! I ordered it from Bed, Bath and Beyond on Thursday. This particular one is available only online, but I paid for it at the store and it was shipped to me. Yay for free shipping and a 20% coupon! I was out of town yesterday and found it on my doorstep when I got home last night.

I did a lot of research over the last few months, and a lot of saving of money to get this baby. It is a big one but I think it will best fit my cooking/baking needs. No more frustration making hummus or pesto in my VitaMix. A couple weeks ago, I made a pie crust from nuts and dates and had to use my VitaMix. Oh it was a HUGE pain. I can't wait to chop a head of cabbage for cole slaw in the food processor. It takes so long for me to chop, by hand, the cabbage real tiny for cole slaw. So excited!!!

My daughter was also excited to see something new in the house. I'm so glad that it came with a locking container to store all the blades.

Whippable soy topping

2011-02-19T16:31:00.000-08:00

I highly recommend this stuff! Soyatoo Whippable Soy Topping. I've seen the Soyatoo in a pressurized can in all the health food stores I've been too, but not this whippable one. The only store close by that carried it, that I was aware of, was the Loma Linda Market and I don't want to make that 2 hour drive. I've also seen it at Briar Patch a Co-op in northern California but it was a dollar more expensive. And it's already darn expensive since it's made in Germany.

My mother-in-law and her friend introduced me to this when they used it on a cake they made for me when my daughter was born a year a half ago. What I love about it is that you can flavor it in so many ways or even if you just whip it up with a bit of sugar to top a pumpkin pie, it is sooo yummy.

I only had one Soyatoo left (that i bought in Loma Linda) and decided to bring it to Whole Foods in La Jolla to see if I could order some. I thought it didn't hurt to ask since they already carry the brand in their store. I was so happy to hear that I could order a case (12 pack)! Plus I got a 10% discount. And then I got more good news when I went to the store to pick up the Soyatoo a few days later! They said they will be stocking it regularly soon! yay! I can't remember the exact price, but I'll look for the receipt and post the price soon.

update 2/24/10: I can't find my receipt for the Soy Whip. But I know they were less than $5 each. Also today I went to Whole Foods, I didn't see the Soy Whip being sold in the refrigerated section yet.

The Snowy Day Christmas party

2010-11-15T14:41:00.000-08:00

Over the weekend we had an early Christmas party with family because all the weekends til Christmas are already booked. Because my 14 month old daughter absolutely loves The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats, I chose this as the theme.

I use to host big Christmas parties every year and make gingerbread houses for all the kids to decorate, but I didn't want to make too much work for myself. So we bought half of the food, didn't do the gingerbread houses, had it after lunch for a dessert party, and only invited family.

I made paper napkin rings with Peter from The Snowy Day. I found this image online and cleaned it up a bit in Photoshop, printed them out and used a scalloped punch.

I used these also to decorate some of the candles.

We served baklava, cheesecake, 7 layer bars, lemon bar s, chocolate mousse with an oreo crumbs, cookies from Coscto, puff pastries, and had cheese and crackers.

ohhhh, these puff pastries from Costco are soooo yummy! they come frozen and you bake them for 18 minutes.

This is the chocolate mousse with oreo crumbs at the bottom. Do you like the tiny glasses and spoons? I bought the shot glasses from Ross (6 for $4) and the spoons from Ikea (6 for $5). And the spoons are the perfect size for my daughter who is learning how to feed herself with a spoon.

These are from Costco too. love them!

My cheese ball snow man. I enjoyed making this guy. He's made from Philadelphia cream cheese (chive and onion flavor). I rolled him up in mozzarella and Parmesan and used peppercorns and a carrot to decorate him.

I absolutely love these flameless wax candles from Costco. (Can you tell I am a huge fan of Costco?) They use AA batteries, have a timer, and smell like vanilla. But in addition to that, they are non toxic like some real candles and don't have the possibility of burning down the house if my daughter knocks them over. They come 4 to a pack for $20 (but i got mine with a coupon for $16). I was telling my mother in law about them and how much i love them and guess what? she bought me more! she is so sweet!

I had a craft for the kids to make, a Christmas ornament. I used Photoshop to get headshots of all Sofia's cousins on one photo and printed it at Costco. I made 2 different sizes because I wasn't sure what size would be best. I found an image of the plush doll from The Snowy Day online and printed a few different sizes so that I could find one the perfect size to match the pictures of the kids. I made a template and cut out the snowsuit in felt.

I was planning on giving each kid 2 pieces of felt, one with a hole in the face for the picture to show through as it was sandwiched between the 2 pieces. But after making the ornament for my daughter, I gave up and wanted something easier. It was a pain cutting out the pieces from the felt, especially the hole where the face would show through. So i just had the kids cut their faces in a circle and glue to one piece of felt.

the finished product.

the is the one I made for my daughter.

The party favors were red, snowflake, Christmas ornament frames with each family's picture in it. I used them during the party to decorate the mantle.

My daughter was supposed to wear this red velveteen pants and hoodie so she would match Peter from the book, but i completely forgot about putting it on her. she actually wore her pajamas all day that day! oh well. The party was great! i ate so much and we had a white elephant gift exchange. I love being with family and love Christmas time! So this year, I'll be experiencing Christmas a little longer since the house is all decorated even before Thanksgiving.

Tiny caramel apples

2010-09-27T13:55:00.000-07:00

Caramel apples are one of my favorite things to eat. When I was at Whole Foods this weekend, I saw these tiny apples. I actually thought they were cherries at first! They are crab apples, super tart and super tiny. I just had to buy some to see if I could make tiny caramel apples. So this morning, this is what I made.

In this picture, you can't really tell how tiny they are.

Looks just like a regular apple but with a huge stem.

Beautiful tiny things.

Just ignore the unmanicured fingernails and rough hands. Who has time for that anyway? I sure don't. I can barely take these pictures with a 1 year old tugging on my legs for me to carry her.

Oh you are so cute, I could just pinch you!

I melted a few caramel square in the microwave for about 45 seconds and added a bit of water until I got the consistency I wanted and dipped the apples.

So tiny!! So cute! I can barely stand it!

mmmm. But I need to eat more than one to satisfy my caramel apple craving.

My daughter's 1st birthday party

2010-09-10T21:15:00.000-07:00

Here are rest of the pictures from my daughter's Wallace and Gromit birthday party. To save money, I tried to make most of the food. I also made most of the decorations since I couldn't find party supplies for this theme. I worked on the party about a month before the party spending 1-2 hours on it a day, then the week of, I put in several more hours.

We served Mexican food for lunch. Most was homemade. I made a lot of the food beforehand and froze it. I did some research for food that can be made in advance and still taste good after being frozen.

The food table wasn't very pretty so I'm not posting any of those pictures, but the dessert table was my favorite project. I made several bite] sized desserts. The table is a little too immaculate, I think. Maybe a green tablecloth would have been better.

I made the banner and these little Shaun and Gromit faces from paper.

I made more cake bites, similar to what I've made in the past, except these were made from strawberry cake. Also I used my brownie pan to make them square shaped. I did that a couple weeks before the party and froze them. I dipped them 2 days before the party.

These were also strawberry, but covered in chocolate

This is the only Wallace and Gromit thing I own, besides the DVD's. I love this clock. I bought it from the Suncoast Motion Picture Company years and years ago when Wallace and Gromit was a new movie. I wish there were stores in the US where I could buy more stuff. I could buy online but I'd like to avoid shipping costs.

I made rice krispy treats a couple days before the party. Such a easy to make dessert and one of my favorites.

I made seven layer bars, but left out the butterscotch chips, so that made them 6 layer bars.
These freeze really well. I made these a week in advance and froze them.

Brownies!! love these boys! I ate a bunch. I made these a week in advance too, and froze them.

My friend made these beautiful whoopie pies.

Behind the whoopie pies in the 3 tiered stand, are a walnut vegan dessert my mother-in-law made.

Gromit sugar cookies I made.

I made the cake from a cake mix from the store. I also bought the icing from the store too. I colored some green and pink for the flowers and the grass. Shaun is made from polymer clay.

I had pictures from each month of my daughter's first year of life and mixed them up for a game. People were supposed to put them chronological order....but got too busy and forgot to do the game. Oh well, at least it was pretty! ha ha!

And that is that!! It was a lot of work but it was a labor of love. Anything for my favorite little girl! But it was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed baking and crafting. Since I've become a mommy, I haven't had time like I used to do all these things.

I'm a member of the Wallace and Gromit website and they have contests each month. I've submitted a few things in the past. I submitted the above picture this month. Oh I would love to win!! There's nothing like free Wallace and Gromit stuff!!

Banner and Food Lables

2010-09-10T18:10:00.001-07:00

I made a banner and food labels and a few other paper decorations from pretty paper I bought at the craft store for scrap booking. About a month before the party, I started looking online for ideas for a banner to put by the dessert table. I saw a few banners made with a pretty ribbon stringing the pieces together. But I didn't like the way the ribbon bunched up with the curvature of the banner. I just used a thin white string.

I made several sketches until I thought I had Gromit and Shaun with the correct proportions, then I traced those images on cardboard to make a template. One note, I made the small Gromits and Shauns small enough so that their eyes were the size of a hole punch. So instead of having to cut out a bunch of tiny white circles, I just used a hole punch to make the circles. I did sort of the same thing for the large Gromits and Shauns. I don't have any tools to make perfect circles, so I used a AA battery and traced the round part on a sheet of paper, and those were the eyes. Then I made the head proportional to the eyes.

I labeled all the food and desserts so people knew what they were eating. I made all the food labels with Gromit.

I used a black marker to write out the letters for Sofia's name

As you can see, my circles are not perfectly round. This is a big Gromit, where the eyes were traced from AA batteries. Also the noses were drawn in with a black marker.

Shaun the Sheep favor bag labels

2010-09-09T17:16:00.000-07:00

I made favor bags for my daughter's birthday that had chocolate and cookies it them. I wish I could have afforded to put a little Wallace and Gromit or Shaun toy in it, but I had to make 30 bags and couldn't afford to buy that many.

I was hoping to get light pink or light green favor bags. They cost approximately $4 for 12 at a few different stores. But then I found some plain white lunch bags that I bought instead. I got 50 bags for less than $3. But you (usually) get what you pay for. They bags were poorly made, the glue that was used at the bottom of the bag sometimes stuck to the sides of the bag and when I opened them up some were torn a bit or got wrinkled. They also were thin, so you could see some of the contents of the bag. Not a big deal though...I don't think the kids cared and these bags ended up in the trash anyway.

I used Microsoft Publisher to design a personalized label for each child that RSVP'd to the party. I cut them with my paper cutter.

A year ago, a friend gave me this thing. I don't even know what it is called. She is a scrapbooking master and she has all sorts of REALLY COOL paper punches and die cutters (I don't even know if that's what they are called! hahaha!) Well this little contraption, trims the corners of a piece of paper to round them out. I used this on the square favor tags.

I folded the bag and glued on the tag. And that's it!

Gromit sugar cookies

2010-09-04T18:22:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to make these for a while now. It was fairly easy making those other dog cookies, I thought just a few minor changes and it will look like Gromit!! And sure enough, they do! These are cookies I will be serving for my daughter's birthday party tomorrow.

I didn't make these from scratch. You'll know why when I post about my daughter's party. It's all about the easy way right now because I am making pretty much everything for the party.

I bought a cookie mix from the store and just added egg and butter. I took about 1/3 of the mixture and added a tablespoon of cocoa powder for Gromit's ears.

I used a 2 teaspoon cookie scoop for make even amounts for Gromit's head.

The ears were 1/4 teaspoon of dough.

A semi sweet chocolate chip makes Gromit's nose.

Here's a picture of the dough.

Here they are fresh out of the oven! After baking, I added royal icing eyes. I bought these from a local cake decorating store because I'm too lazy to make them myself.

Gromit, you are soooo deliciously cute!!!!

Wilton silicone brownie pan

2010-08-26T13:30:00.000-07:00

I bought this pan a couple weeks ago. It's a really good pan but it took me a while to get the brownies just right. I didn't mind though, because I would just eat the mistakes! :)

As I've mentioned in the past, Ghirardelli Triple Chocolate brownie mix is my favorite brownie mix (I refuse to use any other brand). So if you are going to use this pan, here are some tips for you that will probably work even if you don't use Ghirardelli:

oil each cavity generously

use a 2 teaspoon cookie scoop

350 degrees for 20 minutes

wait at least 30 minutes before removing brownies from pan

The brownies should pop right out with minimal effort.

I was able to make 43 brownies from one pouch of brownie mix (the pan makes 2 dozen.) I also recommend baking something else you need on the same day you bake brownies. What I did was bake the first batch and while it cooled (and while I washed, oiled and refilled the pan), I baked a few dozen cookies. This way I didn't have to turn off the oven when the first batch was done, then preheat again an hour or so later.

delicious 1.5 inch square bite sized brownies. i can eat 20...or more

Shaun the Sheep Cake Topper

2010-08-20T13:13:00.000-07:00

I am a big fan of Aardman's Wallace and Gromit. Love Wallace and Gromit and I love claymation! My favorite is "A Close Shave" where Wallace and Gromit meet Shaun. I also love The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

My daughter's first birthday is next month and naturally I chose Wallace and Gromit for her theme. Yeah, yeah, I know she won't remember her first birthday and she doesn't even know Wallace and Gromit yet. I do let her watch Shaun the Sheep though. Unfortunately though, I haven't been able to buy/find party supplies. I was hoping to at least buy a tablecloth and napkins, but I couldn't find any. Nevertheless, I'm still going to have a Wallace and Gromit theme. I'm just going to have to make everything. I do have one thing... guess I can put it on the dessert table or something. It's a clock. A really awesome clock. It's the clock tower from "A Close Shave" with gromit on the side washing it, Wallace on the other side and Shaun on top. Gromits arm starts moving to scrub the tower when the clock alarm goes off.

Shaun the Sheep cake 2002

A few years ago, I made a Shaun the Sheep cake topper from Sculpey for a friend. And this was way before Shaun had his own show. My friend loves Wallace and Gromit as much as I do, So I decided to make the cake topper for her birthday. When I first made Shaun, I bought some fabric that looked like wool. This time I found yarn that was woolly and fluffy and it was much easier to use.

Here are the pieces I made. I baked them seperately, then glued them together after they cooled. I didn't make the black of the eyes with Sculpey. After I baked it, I used a Sharpie marker to draw in the iris. You'll see here that the body is quite thin. That is because Shaun is a thin sheep and I wanted to wrap it with lots of yarn to cover any little bit of black Sculpey without making him thick.

I made holes in the body and legs to insert a toothpick after it was baked. I wanted the legs to be somewhat moveable. Here you will see I had a clip holding the leg...that was because the hole I made in the leg was too small. When I inserted the toothpick, it broke. So here I glued it and put the clip on to keep it in place.

I wrapped the body and the tail a couple times. Then I knotted up some yarn and glued it on Shaun's head.

Here is Sofia with Shaun. She broke his ear shortly after I gave it to her. Thank goodness for glue!

Wish me luck as I attempt to make Wallace and Gromit themed banner, favor bags, and a few other things in the next couple weeks. And if any of you have seen pictures of a Wallace and Gromit themed birthday party, please give me the url--I need more ideas. many thanks.

Oreo Ice Cream Pie

2010-08-06T09:07:00.000-07:00

I've been craving an Oreo Ice cream pie for a long time now. About a month ago, I bought a couple of tart pans and made a few things. One I made with an Oreo crust. When I ground up the Oreos and just had a pile of Oreo dust in front of me, I wished i had vanilla Ice cream to top it. I would eat it just like that, a mountain or Oreo crumbs with a scoop of ice cream on top! Then I thought some day I would buy a spring form pan and make an ice cream pie. Well i didn't buy a pan, I borrowed one from my cousin and I attempted to make one. It didn't work. I think the bottom of the pan wasn't securely snapped into place and look what happened. I was very sad!

A week ago i thought I would try again. It was successful, but it still somehow ended in tragedy.

I bought the big box of Oreos from Costco. Here you can see my little helper on the kitchen floor, playing with the Oreo box and some pots.

As usual, I forgot to take a picture of the crust. I used 15 cookies. Most recipes say to use 10 cookies and scrape off the filling of the Oreo, but i just bended it all up, it seemed to stick pretty well, but after the fact, I should have at least used a T of butter. Then I mixed by hand, half a quart of Vanilla Ice cream with crumbs of 5 cookies for the 1st layer.

The next layer was only vanilla ice cream.

Topped it off with broken pieces of cookie.

Right after I took this picture, I set my camera down on the counter but forgot to check for the camera strap. It was hanging over the counter and baby grabbed it. I was very thankful it didn't hit her head, but it hit the ground right on the lens. When I turned it on it displays "zoom error" on the screen and it sounds like the lens is stuck. I brought it to a camera repair shop yesterday and was told a gear is broken in the lens and only the manufacturer will be able to fix it, and the whole lens will probably need to be replaced. :( so not sure now if I will just have to get a new camera, I'll have to check with the manufacturer to see how much a new lens will be.

The following pictures were taken with my cell phone.

The pie should be frozen for at least 4 hours. But I couldn't wait that long so the pie was a little soft in the pictures.

My husband and I ate the pie in 2 days. It was sooooooooooooo yummy!

Herb twists

2010-06-04T20:20:00.000-07:00

I've been craving these for a long time. mmmmmm warm bread, full of flavor and salty...

I started with a no oil pizza crust recipe. I added the water, yeast, and sugar and let it sit for 10 minutes, then let my Kitchenaid do the rest. I love my mixer! it makes baking so much easier when one arm is holding a baby

1 package active dry yeast (2.5 teaspoons)
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 cup warm water
2 cups bread flour
1/2 cup whole what flour (for a bit of flavor and fiber, but you can use all white bread flour)
1 teaspoon salt

I let the dough rise for 30 minutes

1 tablespoon rosemary
1 tablespoon thyme
1 tablespoon granlated garlic
2 tablespoons parsley
1 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
olive oil (I brushed it on so I'm not sure how much, maybe 1/5 cup)

I cut the dough in half and flattened into a rectangle. I brushed the dough generously with olive oil and sprinkled on half of the herbs.

I folded the dough in thirds and cut about an inch apart. Stretch and twist. Sorry, I forgot to photograph these parts. Bake at 400 for 13-15 minutes until golden brown.

Tastes so yummy warm out of the oven, dipped in marinara.

Makes about 14 twists. Note to self: next time double the recipe

Eggs and sandwiches

2010-05-10T09:42:00.000-07:00

I hope all you mother's had a wonderful day yesterday. I had brunch with my family. It was potluck. I decided to make mini sandwiches and eggs.

i used mini bagels to make a cheddar cheese sandwich.

I saw several people of Flickr make these chick eggs during Easter and thought they were so cute! The beaks are made from carrots and they eyes from black sesame seeds. What you see on mine aren't black sesame seeds though! They are burnt sesame seeds! I only had regular sesame seeds so I burnt them in the toaster oven to make them black! hahaha! of course then they were really hard to work with because they were fragile pieces of coal.

I cut the bottom of the egg slightly so that the egg wouldn't roll over.

Candy Barrel Cake

2010-04-25T15:09:00.000-07:00

I've seen this type of cake on many websites and was happy to finally make one. It's supposed to look like a barrel of candy. I made it for my sister's birthday party yesterday. She's been craving brownies so I used brownies for this "cake."

I haven't been able to make brownies from scratch that taste as good as this one. It's my absolute favorite brownie. I always buy the box from Costco because it make SIX batches. oh, I love brownies!

I needed to use less batter in the 8 inch pans because I wanted my 2 layer brownie cake to be shorter than the Kit Kat bars. So I thought I would take out some batter and make a tiny candy barrel cake also. I used two bags of brownie mix and took out 1/3 cup of the batter for each of my 4 inch pans. Unfortunately I ran out of candy after making the big cake, so my husband gladly ate the brownies meant for the tiny cake.

I had M&M's left over from Easter. I thought I had enough to cover the top of the cake to give it the illusion of it being a barrel full of M&M's, but I did not. I did not feel like making a trip to the store just to buy more. I had to use some mini M&M's and some peanut M&M's, which I already had, to fill in the holes. But I wish i had another handful or so of M&M's because the top still wasn't completely covered.

I put a thin layer of icing in between the 2 layers and around the cake. I tried to make it as thin as possible because the brownies are really rich and sweet. But you can't skip the icing, it's needed to hold the candies in place.

here's a little animated gif I made of me putting the candies on. This was a fun cake to make. next time i think i'll make a few tiny ones with my 4 inch pans.

Chocolate swirl cake

2010-01-12T13:19:00.000-08:00

wow it has been a long time since my last post!! this mommy business is a new thing for me and keeping me really busy! there's usually no time for baking pretty things anymore. i did have time though to make a birthday cake for a friend last week. no new recipe or anything though. but i thought i'd try some big fat swirls....from this picture, it looks ok but it was quite messy...the surface, the piping. i don't know what happened to my fine motor skills since the baby was born. i guess i know what i need to work on.

Lemon birthday cake

2009-07-26T14:43:00.001-07:00

my sister in law's birthday was yesterday, so I made this cake for her. i'm still terrible at smoothing the icing on the cake, but these swirlies masked the imperfections. The swirlies were time consuming, but i think worth it to hide the flaws in the cake. I'll try to think of another design that might be easier to try for next time.

My baby shower favors

2009-07-17T09:53:00.000-07:00

I wanted to make the favors for my baby shower (which was last Sunday). The shower was a luau and I made the favors to match.

I borrowed my friend's Sizzix die cut. I've never used one of these, but I would love one!!! My friend also has a computerized one that makes the die cuts in any size you want and automatically cuts the number of die cuts you need. Someday after saving up, i'll get one of these because they are expensive!!

I glued the 2 pieces together to make the hibiscus. And i used regular paper and cut them in strips on my Fiskars paper cutter with a squiggly blade.

I made little thank you notes to put into the box with the chocolates.

I bought the chocolate from Costco.

mmmm yum. there were 4 flavors: milk, hazelnut, almond and crisp.

I put in 3 pieces of chocolate in the box with the note.

I made 50 favors

Lion birthday cake

2009-05-18T18:58:00.000-07:00

My nephew requested that I make a lion cake for his 5th birthday party. He wanted it orange because his favorite color is orange. I used prepared icing from the store but to make sure the icing didn't melt (like it has for me in the past when i pipe different designs) i added 1 t corn startch per container of icing. it worked perfectly, it was the perfect consistency!!!

Sorry for the lack of posts....I have been making and baking lots of stuff recently but nothing new so I didn't want to bother posting something you've already seen.

Butterfly Themed Baby Shower

2009-03-09T20:20:00.000-07:00

This weekend was my good friend's baby shower. I made the favors and two of my friends and I made the desserts for the dessert buffet. I made the chocolate covered strawberries, mini chocolate cupcakes and square cake balls. Here are a few pictures:

the favors had an assortment of Hershey Nuggets in them. I just used regular pink and purple paper. I cut the butterflies freehand and the flower was made from a punch.

I made mini chocolate cupcakes with Valhrona chocolate on top

square cake balls

Mini Pecan Pies

2009-03-01T09:54:00.000-08:00

I have been craving pecan pie for a while now. I decided to make some mini pies.

I still haven't perfected pie crust, actually I haven't even tried yet. Too busy or too lazy. But this is my favorite pie crust that I always use when I need pie crust. The box has 2 crusts.

I was able to make 4 doz little dough balls, about an inch in diameter

I found this recipe on Allrecipes.com, i only used the filling recipe since I already had pre-made crust.

I doubled this recipe:

1 egg
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup chopped pecans

25 minutes at 325 degrees in the oven, and they popped right out of the pan. AND so delicious!!

I have to get my sugar fix from things other than chocolate, because for some strange reason now that I am pregnant, I don't crave for chocolate anymore...sad, I know. It's ok, and I'll still eat it, but before pregnancy, I had to fight myself to not eat it with every meal and snack.

Cake bites for a wedding

2009-02-25T14:31:00.001-08:00

I decided to make cake bites for my friend's wedding reception (which was last weekend) since they're probably the easiest and cheapest thing when hundreds are needed. A week before the wedding I was told I only needed to make enough for 200 people, I was so relieved!! (Initially I thought I needed to make enough for 400-500 people)

I used my mini cookie scoop to make uniform pieces, then shaped them into squares. I made almost 400, which was only 4 boxes of cake mix.

I used candy melts instead of real chocolate so I didn't have to temper it. I was trying to make this as easy as possible for me. I'm pregnant in my first trimester and feeling quite crappy currently.

I used white candy melts to pipe on an "L" for their last name

To keep that trays from smashing down on the chocolates, i used these paper cups as spacers.

Chocolate rice crispies

2009-02-06T15:41:00.000-08:00

I made these chocolate rice crispies in 20 min. I didn't have anything to bring to the Super bowl party I went to last Sunday. I forgot to go to the store to buy something to bring so I made these at the last minute. They were pretty crunchy and delicious. Since one of my favorite candy bars is Nestle Crunch, I enjoyed eating these.

I just nuked the chocolate in the microwave because i didn't have time to temper them. I think i put this chocolate in the microwave for 1.5 min on high.

I put them in the refrigerator for 5 min before i put them in mini cupcake liners and heading off to the party

Truffles

2009-02-06T03:49:00.000-08:00

In 2 weeks, my friend is getting married and I offered to make something sweet for their reception. Whatever I decide to make, i need to make A LOT. There will be 400 people or so at the wedding, so I'm guessing a good number of desserts will be 500-600. I'm quite overwhelmed at this points. A few weeks ago (sorry for the late post) I thought truffles might be the easiest dessert, so I made two kinds to let the bride and groom taste. I think both recipes are delicious and pretty easy to make, except not easy enough if I want to make hundreds.
The first recipe I made was a basic truffle recipe from AllRecipes.com

12 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

It was a huge hassle trying to make them into balls. I let the truffles cool in a bowl and then later i tried to scoop them out with my mini cookie scoop to make them uniform. they would not scoop out without me using another spoon to take it out. I should try cooling it in a jelly roll pan and cutting them after measuring them with a ruler like Chuck Seigel did on the Martha Stewart show. Then when i tried to roll them, they started to melt immediately in my hands.

The other recipe I made were for "fake truffles," but AllRecipes.com calls them Easy Decadent Truffles

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
3 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
3 cups semisweet chocolate chips, melted
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

I still had a hard time scooping these ones out, (i used a measuring spoon and regular spoon). These were easier to roll in my hands because they didn't melt so fast. Both kinds of truffles I covered in cocoa and in crushed almonds. I think it would be easier if I had a 2nd pair of hands because once they are hand rolled and warm, they stick to the nuts easier. That way someone could roll and someone could cover them in nuts instead of me rolling a few, washing my hands, then rolling them in nuts. I would rather dip these in chocolate, but they will take too long, plus I'm not the greatest at tempering. Also, I want these fresh, and I am off the Friday before the wedding so I only have one day to make these.

mini birthday cake

2009-01-04T18:20:00.000-08:00

One of my nieces had a birthday several days ago. Her family came over for dinner this weekend and I gave her this tiny cake. From the first picture, you can't really tell how tiny it is... icing this this was SO hard! that's why it's not smooth at all. i couldn't keep the cupcake from sliding around on the plate. i should have put it in the refrigerator for while, so that icing on the bottom "gluing" it to the plate hardened up a little.

a cupcake covered in butter cream icing, plus a mini cake stand (it's really a pillar candle stand) makes this cake

i bought this candle stand just because it could pass for a mini cake stand. if you've been reading this blog regularly you'll know that i love cake stands and cake plates.

a cake for one

Christmas chocolates

2008-12-19T21:51:00.000-08:00

i made these chocolate a couple nights ago to bring to work. these are the same chocolates i usually make with the walnut and caramel inside. i used 3 red sprinkles and a leaf to make it christmasy.

i think this is my friends/co workers favorite thing i make because they go fast! and i like them too, they don't take long to make and are really easy to make. so i made more tonight to share with my friends this weekend.

3D snowman cupcakes

2008-12-19T21:44:00.001-08:00

I made these cupcakes a couple years ago and made them again this week to bring to work. I piped out the "carrot" noses from royal icing. the last time i made them, i used regular chocolate chips and cut them up for the eyes and mouth. this time, i used tiny chocolate chips, which was much easier.

i made a bunch of noses

Lego cake

2008-12-08T21:51:00.000-08:00

i made my nephew's birthday cake. the party theme was Legos. i thought i would try to make little cakes that looked like legos that i've seen online, but i'm still struggling with making the icing smooth and it seems hard to make those little rectangle cakes with the lego bumps on top nice and smooth. it would drive me crazy trying to smooth it out, and i don't want to attempt fondant yet. So to make plain round cake Lego themed, i just stuck on some of my nephew's Lego people on it. I also bought Lego shaped candy, but i didn't like that they weren't the bright colors of Legos, so i decided not to put them on the cake.

23 mini gingerbread houses Part 2

2008-12-07T21:01:00.001-08:00

the gingerbread house decorating activity was a success. the kids really enjoyed it. here are some pictures from yesterday the candy and wreaths and christmas trees that i made
(candy canes, chocolate santa claus, m&m's, mini chocolate chips, lemon heads, nerds, cinnamon candy, peppermints, and gum drops)

i also piped some mini christmas wreaths and trees (but the trees didn't look very good)

the trees are on the right of this picture

i made tiny signs to post in the "front yard" of each house

i forgot to take a picture of all the decorated houses last night, but here are a few of them

here's my house

here it is without the dome

23 mini gingerbread houses

2008-12-04T20:22:00.001-08:00

my husband and i are hosting a christmas party this weekend. this is the 3rd year i've made gingerbread houses for the kids (and some adults who want to participate) to decorate at the party. i made the dough last night and baked for almost 3 hours today, then assembled the houses which took just under an hour. i did make a big mistake this year though...i ran out of white flour making the dough, so when i was rolling out the cookies, all i had left was whole wheat flour to use. i tried to brush off the whole wheat flour (before and after baking) but the houses are still tainted with flour. oh well.

here is the recipe i used from allrecipes.com

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1 egg
1 cup molasses
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons warm water

here is the template i made (cardboard covered in plastic wrap). the the front of the house is about an inch shorter than the ones i made last year. and the side wall is more of a square than a rectangle for a shorter house.

a bunch of walls unbaked

a bunch of walls baked

i decided to cut out the door, rather than tracing it on the dough like last time. and i didn't make windows on the side of the house this time to save time.

each stack makes a house

here's an animated gif i made.
it took me 56 minutes to put all the houses together. so here are 56 slides to show my progress.

harvest festival

2008-11-02T22:08:00.000-08:00

here are the other things i sold at my church's harvest festival last Sunday.

pumpkin bread

german chocolate cupcakes

this is the sign i posted at my booth in case people wanted to know the ingredients.

Best Big, Fat, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie

2008-10-25T10:50:00.000-07:00

I made these cookies this morning. The recipe: The Best Big, Fat, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie was found on AllRecipes.com and got rave reviews. I did modify the recipe slightly by substituting in 1/2 of the flour with whole wheat flour. I made them for a harvest festival at my church tomorrow. I'm making a couple others things...I'll post pictures later.

I haven't tried one yet, but they smell DELICIOUS!

Nurse Cake

2008-10-10T21:08:00.001-07:00

I've missed baking! I've been really busy lately and just haven't had time to bake anything until today.

i made this 8 inch, 3 layer, chocolate cake for my cousin who recently finished nursing school. The red and black icing is Wilton decorating icing that comes in a tube that i attached the tips to.

this is a mini cake, (it's a bit bigger than a standard size cupcake) it's supposed to be a nursing cap

honey, peanut butter, almond rice krispies

2008-09-18T19:43:00.000-07:00

honey, peanut butter, almond rice krispies

one 10 oz box of cereal.

1/4 cup almond, roughly chopped

mix almonds with 1 cup honey and 3/4 cup peanut butter

mix it all up

put it in to a pan and flatten with oiled spatula

and then eat

chocolate cake with cupcakes to match

2008-09-03T18:08:00.000-07:00

i made these cupcakes and cake for my friend who's birthday was last week. the cake was a tiny 4 inch 2 layer chocolate cake with sprinkles. i decorated the cupcakes so they would match.

2 chocolate cakes

2008-09-03T18:05:00.001-07:00

i made 2 cakes last week. one was for my sister. she wanted to give a cake to the person who was her patient during her boards. the other was for a friend who is now a chief in the navy.

6 inch 2 layer chocolate cake (that white thing is supposed to be a tooth)

4 inch 2 layer chocolate cake

another lion cake

2008-08-24T08:30:00.001-07:00

i made this 4 inch chocolate cake yesterday also. this one was for my nephew, no reason, except that his sister is the one i made a cake for last week. it was nice playing around more with my grass tip #233. since i was in a hurry making this cake and the cake for my sister, i didn't cut the top off the cake to level it or cut it in half to add a filling.

yellow buttercream icing colored yellow

you know, before i added the nose and mouth, he looked like a hamster or something like that. i think it's because i gave him small ears, next time i'll need to make them 2-3 times bigger

Cake for my sister

2008-08-23T17:58:00.001-07:00

my sister called me early this morning to tell me she got her board results. she passed and is now a registered dental hygienist!! i made this 4 inch chocolate cake for her. i would have made her a bigger and better cake but i didn't have time before i saw her a few hours later.

single layer chcolate cake

2008-08-17T16:25:00.000-07:00

friends from out of town with a new baby named Havilah, came to visit this weekend. i made this cake for them. I used the vegan chocolate cake recipe but the ganache was not vegan as i used milk chocolate to make it.
I wanted that Hostess cupcake look on this cake with the name stretching from one end of the cake to the other like the loops on a hostess cupcake. i messed up on the h at the end. i had to wipe my mistake and add ganache to cover the mistake then re write the h. hope you can't notice it too much

Flower cake for my niece

2008-08-14T21:16:00.000-07:00

One of my nieces starts kindergarten next week. i made this little 4 inch chocolate cake for her. it has chocolate fudge filling, covered in buttercream. i'm still struggling with making the cake smoother and learning how to use the different tips, plus keeping my hand steady. i think it will be easier if i make my own icing since store bought icing is so soft. but for now, store bought icing will have to do just because it's cheaper. i used 2 tips i've never used before, the one to make "grass" and one to make "leaves". i definitely need more practice with making leaves.

the cake says "have fun at school Emeline"

another attempt at that German chocolate cake

2008-08-14T21:00:00.001-07:00

I made this German chocolate cake for my brother-in-laws birthday last weekend. this is the same vegan recipe I used a few weeks ago. Everything was great about it, but last time i didn't do well on the ganache at all. I almost perfected it this time. It was still a bit thin, but much better than last time. this is the recipe again:

1/3 cup soymilk
4 oz bittersweet chocolate (i doubled the chocolate to 8 oz)
2 T maple syrup

purple cake

2008-08-06T22:00:00.001-07:00

today i made this purple lemon cake for some good friends who just moved back to San Diego. i meant to make it blue (like the sky and add white "clouds"), but when i put the food coloring in, it wasn't the light blue i was hoping for, so i added red to make it purple instead. i'll have to try experimenting with food coloring also. so far, i've only used the liquid food coloring from the grocery store.

the border was supposed to be white and purple mixed together, oh well

after i made the top border, it started to droop! it was really hot and humid today, plus i made the border too close to the edge, i guess, and the border fell in a couple places. i've been able to make a smoother cakes, but after i had to clean this up, this cake was kind of a mess.

lemon cupcakes

2008-08-05T19:33:00.000-07:00

I made a dozen cupcakes for a party for my boss tomorrow. His wife is going to have their baby (c-section) on 8/8/08 (what an awesome birth date) and tomorrow is his last day before his leave of absence. These are lemon cupcakes with lemon buttercream icing

I used a big fat 1M tip to make the swirls

chocolate lion cake

2008-08-03T18:32:00.000-07:00

i made this tiny 4 inch cake today. it's a 2 layer yellow cake with milk chocolate frosting inside and covered with chocolate fudge icing. i bought the edible eyes and tiny little cake box from Do it With Icing.

The cake is leaning a little bit, so that is something i need to work on on future cakes. I wasn't meaning to make a lion but i was trying something different when i was working on the top border and when i finished, i thought it looked like a lions mane so i decided to make a chocolate lion.

i only have one offset spatula and it was too large to use on this tiny cake, so i used a butter knife. i tried using my lazy susan last time i made a cake, but it didn't turn smoothly. i'll have to go buy another one.

inside the box

i have a new label

Vegan German chocolate cake

2008-07-28T19:15:00.001-07:00

My husband and I are not vegan, but it's nice once in a while to cut back on animal products. the cake recipe is one i've used many times, when i'm making something just for me and the husband. it's a really great recipe. i also use whole grain flour, turbinado sugar and try to use organic products. I think lots of people prefer the boxed cake, which is fine for me. since i need to practice cake decorating more i'd rather use the boxed cake mixes and ready made frosting because it's cheap and people want to eat it. so most cakes/cupcakes/icing you see on this blog is probably from a box mix unless otherwise stated.

the recipe is taken from here at AllRecipes.com

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
1 cup water

dry ingredients

sugar with the wet ingredients

i mixed it up and poured the batter in two six inch pans lined with parchment paper

here they are out of the oven after baking for 30 minutes in 350 degrees

here they are unwrapped

here are the ingredients for the German chocolate frosting. I made half the recipe since i made a small cake.

I found the recipe here

1 cup plain soymilk
1/3 cup coconut milk
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup cornstarch mixed with 1/4 cup water until smooth
2 1/2 cups sweetened flaked coconut
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans

mix the cornstarch, soymilk, coconut milk, and sugar on medium high heat until boiling.

after one minutes take it off the heat. it will be nice and thick now

mix in the coconut and nuts. i didn't have pecans on hand so i just used walnuts

the frosting between the 2 layers

here is the recipe for the ganache

1/3 cup soymilk
4 oz bittersweet chocolate
2 T maple syrup

bring the soymilk to a light boil. remove from heat and add chocolate and syrup and mix until smooth.

i wanted to put the frosting inside the cake and cover with vegan ganache. but i didn't mix the ganache well or wait for it to cool and thicken up (i was in a rush) so it's not so pretty. the cake was moist and delicious and i was pleasantly surprised because the German chocolate frosting was REALLY yummy.

Chocolate cake

2008-07-26T10:00:00.000-07:00

I made a couple of 6 inch chocolate cakes last night as a thank you gift for some friends.

This was the prettier of the two. Even though this cake is smooth, it's quite messy. I think a mistake i made was that i used the gigantic tip for the border and I was running out of icing. in addition to that the buttercream was melting. I can't wait to try this again.

Thank you all for your recommendations on how to make a smooth cake. I think with just a bit more practice and using a lazy susan, my cakes will improve even more.

i love cupcake liners!

2008-07-25T20:43:00.000-07:00

i bought some blue and white striped mini cupcake liners today from Do it With Icing. i just love cupcake liners! some are so pretty! i've been looking for some with flowers but haven't found any yet. let me know if you know where i can get some. i thought i'd show you my current collection. have a great weekend!

turtles for my husband's birthday

2008-07-21T20:38:00.000-07:00

i made some turtles for my husband. it was his birthday last week. i used caramel from Whole Foods and walnut halves from Trader Joes. The turtles were medium sized made from 3 walnut halves. i melted the caramel and the chocolate in the microwave. it wasn't too hard, just make sure to heat your caramel on medium for about 20 seconds at a time, it's easy to burn, especially if you are only melting a little bit.

i only made a 8 turtles. i used a dinner plate and stretched plastic wrap over it tightly. i highly recommend using plastic wrap, it's the best surface for chocolate and/or caramel because they peel off the plastic so easily. i hate foil which is recommended in a few recipes for caramel apples. ugh, i used foil once and it was really, really hard to peel off the apples.

i don't like a ton of caramel on the turtles, so you can see here that i used about a teaspoon or so of melted caramel

i poured on about a tablespoon and a half of chocolate

and here they are, the finished product.

Pink birthday cake

2008-07-13T14:34:00.001-07:00

I made this cake for my sister in law's birthday party yesterday. it was a 4 layer lemon cake with butter cream frosting. i'm still struggling with making the icing smooth but it was a fun cake to make. the beaded bottom border was pretty easy and the swirls on the side i made free hand. but next time i make swirls, i'll use a smaller round tip.

2 four inch cakes

2008-07-12T22:26:00.000-07:00

I made a tiny birthday cake (for a friend) and a tiny white "wedding cake" (for a couple of my friends who are engaged) yesterday. i'm not too happy about them. i guess since they are so small, it's easy to see all my mistakes in the icing. but i did learn how to make a new border which i made on the white cake. i haven't yet found something online that list the different kind of designs you can make with each icing tip, so i'm not sure what this border is called.

If anyone knows of a good site with the different icing tips and the designs they can make, can you let me know? thanks

chocolate rose cupcakes

2008-07-10T19:43:00.000-07:00

yes!!! i learned how to make a rose! last night i watched a 2 minute video on how to make a rose. it wasn't too hard. i was so happy about this!

Someone from work ordered a dozen cupcakes from me for tomorrow for someone's birthday. i decided to make roses on them since i finally know how to make roses. yay! ahhhhh, i love how these roses smell.

chocolate buttercream on a chocolate cupcake

Easter chocolates

2008-07-07T22:03:00.000-07:00

I found more pictures of things i made before i had this blog. Here are those same walnut caramel chocolates i've made many times, but this time they look like a delicious, spring chocolate garden. (Sorry, i know i make some of the same things over and over, i need to be more adventurous, but these are no fail desserts unless you don't know how to temper chocolate or are trying to serve these to someone who's allergic to nuts)these were made with dark chocolate. i bought the candy box from a local candy making store and made the "grass" from gift wrapping tissue paper.

3 flower sprinkles on each chocolate

two 6 inch cakes

2008-07-04T08:29:00.000-07:00

I bought a 6 inch and a 4 inch round pan earlier this week. I thought it would be nice to have smaller cakes to practice my decorating on. With the economy like it is, I think I'm going to have to skip the cake decorating class. I'll just spend the money on some supplies (which i'll need to buy anyway) and find some tutorials online and practice by my self.this is a cake I made for a friend who just had her first baby girl (she has 4 boys). I should really try something new, but i just love those dots. but i did make the swags on the sides, i wanted to see if i could figure out how to make them even on all sides. it wasn't too hard. But i do have a hard time smoothing the sides and top. i only have an offset spatula, i think i need something else for the sides, i'm not sure what the name is, but i've seen people use it on tv.

I messed up the name, so i had to wipe everything off and try it again, that's why the top is even less smooth than before.

i bought the little pink shoes from Do it with Icing.

this cake should have a bottom border, but i put it on the plate that has a dome that is only about 1/2 inch wider than the cake. oh well. i need to keep it under the dome while i transport it to the 4th of July party we will attend today. I tried to make a swirly border on the top, but i messed up bad so i wiped it off and just made a star border instead. this cake decorating sure is harder than i thought. but i'm sure will get easier with time.

4th of July chocolates

2008-07-03T17:18:00.000-07:00

I made these walnut, caramel chocolates again. I brought them in to share at work today. They are always a hit and go quickly!

yummy little bite sized things!

cute huh? i just love this container

Some other things I made before I had this blog

2008-06-28T18:26:00.000-07:00

i started a Flickr account and was posting some of my pictures there. i found i have a few pictures that i haven't posted here because they were taken before i started this blog. here they are:

i made these cupcakes last Christmas. They are chocolate cupcakes, covered with vanilla frosting and decorated with pieces of chocolate and a royal icing "carrot." I really liked these. I'll make them again this Christmas. by the way, it's only 6 months til Christmas, yay!!!!!!!

The next few pictures are from my sister's baby shower a year ago. This is the dessert table

my sister in law made these cute little ducky cupcakes

the favors were 2 inch boxes with chocolate inside. the ribbon was from Michael's and the ducks were from Wal-Mart. They were really cute fuzzy stickers

i filled the duck with miniature M&M's

mini lemon cupakes

This was the first cake I've decorated (a year ago). it's kind of messy. i still haven't taken a cake decorating class....i would really like to this summer

My nephews football themed, 1st birthday party

2008-06-16T17:05:00.000-07:00

One of my nephews turned one yesterday!! we had a wonderful football/San Diego Chargers themed party.

i made the mini footballs from the cake ball recipe from Bakerella.

i left out the stripes on the edges of the football just to make it easier on myself. since i have trouble "drawing" with white chocolate, i just used white icing for the laces.

do you like our dessert table, table cloth? jane let us borrow this astro turf and gave us this idea (of making it look like part of a football field by using masking tape) which she used at her superbowl party this year.

3X3X2 box from Papermart filled with chocolate
football ribbon from Michaels

tiny smash cake for the birthday boy. i was pretty happy about this as this is only the 3rd cake i've decorated.

the green cupcakes are supposed to be a football on the football field. it doesn't look a good as i wanted. i've seen this type of cupcake before where it actually looks like grass. i don't have that particular tip, so i used a star shape instead.

i ordered the cupcakes with the Charger helmet on it from Ralphs grocery store.

mini chocolate cupcakes

2008-06-13T22:12:00.000-07:00

I made mini chocolate cupcakes for a friend's daughter's 1st birthday party last Sunday. The party's theme was Cat in the Hat. I've not read the book but i knew the colors were red and white with blue. I couldn't think of anything creative or great, so i just used red stars. now that i went to the party, i have a good idea. i could have made faces on the cupcakes with blue icing for crazy blue hair for the "things" or whatever they are called. next time...

here are a couple pictures from the party. my friend Jane is really creative and made all these things

cake bites

2008-05-26T13:13:00.000-07:00

i made cake bites for my sister's graduation party. i made some round ones and some square ones. i've always wanted to make some petit fours but i haven't tried, they look intimidating, so i made flat squares instead of the balls. i bought the purple flowers from a cake decorating store. they were 10 for a dollar. i need to learn how to make those flowers too someday

more chocolate cake balls

2008-05-18T10:02:00.000-07:00

my sister in law requested that i make the cake calls for my nephews birthday party yesterday. the theme was lady bugs so i tried to make the cupcake balls match the theme.i also made walnut caramel chocolates as well

chocolate cake balls

2008-05-11T13:39:00.000-07:00

i found a site long ago (before it was advertised on Martha Stewart) that i just love!! Bakerella makes the cutest things on her site. i especially love the cupcake bites on her site. i decided to try to make them for a party yesterday. but they were falling apart so i just made balls instead. i'll have to try making the cupcake bites again sometime, because theses are the cutest things i've ever seen.

i didn't have cream cheese frosting on hand so i just mixed the cake with chocolate icing. and i dipped them in real chocolate, not chocolate bark so maybe that is why i had trouble dipping the cupcake shapes.

the small cake balls were dipped in milk chocolate, and the large cake balls were dipped in dark chocolate

my famous cheesecake/apple dessert

2008-04-20T21:48:00.001-07:00

before sugar and cinnamon and baking

i've been making this dessert for a long time time. i really like cheesecake but sometimes there's too much cheese and not enough pie crust. whether it's graham cracker crust or regular buttery pie crust, i just love it! i made a dessert with just a little filling and lots of crust and topped it with apple, sugar, and cinnamon.

here's the recipe
12 oz packages cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup sugar (sometimes i use turbinado sugar)
2 eggs
1/4 vanilla
1 apples, thinly sliced (you can peel it but i don't)
1/3 cup sugar mixed with 1 t cinnamon

since i haven't been able to perfect pie crust from scratch, i just buy it from trader joe's (it's the best!). i lay both pie crusts together and roll it out and put it into a large 16 inch round pan. after spreading the filling, i cover it with apple slices and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. then bake for 30 min at 350 degrees

strawberries: tuxes and wedding gown

2008-04-20T21:37:00.000-07:00

i made some strawberries for some friends who just got engaged. the strawberries i bought were pretty small and kind of hard to decorate. i didn't do so well making the bows on the tuxes or the buttons. it's hard "drawing" with chocolate. i was going to make a string of white pearls on the "wedding gown" strawberries, but it was too hard.

spring birthday party

2008-04-13T14:38:00.000-07:00

we had a very pretty birthday party for one of my nieces yesterday. she just turned 2 years old. it was a simple party with cake/dessert/ice cream. i volunteered to make the cake. it was hard decorating the cake as this is only the 2nd cake i've decorated before but i was happy with the results. i also made some chocolate covered strawberries in addition to the chocolate's in my previous post. here are some pictures

i love runnunculus (sp?)

i made party favors with 2 inch square boxes from papermart.com and used ribbon from michael's. the party favors had chocolate inside

i use trader joe's milk chocolate to cover the strawberries.

i found really cute tulip cups and fulled them with milk duds and m&m's

originally the cake had yellow beads around the top of the cake but i made the mistake of putting the cake next to a hot pasta dish in the car on the way to the party so the icing on the sides of the cake fell down. i scraped off the sides and redid it but didn't have time to add the beads at the top.

walnut, caramel chocolates

2008-04-10T21:35:00.000-07:00

one of my nieces is celebrating her 2nd birthday this weekend. i made some chocolates to serve at the party and made some extra to bring to work today. they are made from walnut halves, caramel and milk chocolate. i bought the walnuts and chocolate from trader joes and the caramel is from whole foods. i buy my caramel from whole foods or trader joes because they use real butter instead of using partially hydrogenated oils in their caramel. the caramel from whole foods is just a bit cheaper than trader joes.

here are some pictures

don't you just love this cheese dish? it looks like a tiny cake platter. i just love it. i have 2 of them. one thing i collect is cake platters. i especially love the domed ones and footed ones. i love love love them. if i had more money and more storage area at home, i would buy more.

Wedding favors

2008-04-07T21:11:00.000-07:00

125 favors

I made the wedding favors for my husband's cousin in Bulgaria. She is getting married next month. We aren't able to make it to the wedding by my in-laws will be going and they will bring the favors. a couple years ago I made similar favors for my parent's 40th wedding anniversary celebration. I bought the boxes from papermart.com, the truffles from Costco, and the ribbon from Michaels. My husband helped me with the writing the names in Bulgarian.

Easter treats

2008-03-30T21:47:00.001-07:00

This Easter, instead of buying a bunch of plastic eggs and filling them with candy, i just bought Jelly Bellies and filled little bags to give away to some kids. i was trying to help the environment by not buying a bunch of plastic eggs that will just be thrown away. but i guess when the kids are done eating the jelly beans, they will throw away the packaging which is the same things. my sister was telling me that she took her kids to an easter party and there was a huge abundance of eggs for all the kids there. at the end of the party, the host asked the kids to take all the candy but to return the plastic eggs so they could reuse them next year. i think that's a great idea.

Personalized labels

2008-03-17T21:06:00.000-07:00

last december i bought labels from www.myownlabels.com
i found this site a few years ago when i was planning my wedding and thought their stickers were wonderful, but never ordered them til now. i bake things and give them away often and wanted a sticker to stick on the stuff i make. so i finally bought some. here are a couple pictures. i made cookies and brought them to work last friday and my friends thought i bought the cookies from a bakery because of the packaging. i bought a cake box from the local cake supply store and stuck my sticker on in. i may never have my dream come true of having my own bakery or cafe but at least the stuff i make looks professional. anyway, i love these. take a look at the website and you'll see they have such great designs and colors. i could probably make the stickers myself, but my printer broke a long time ago and i haven't bought one yet. plus i don't know if there is paper that is of this quality for a home made sticker anyway.

mini cupcakes

2008-02-04T17:50:00.000-08:00

recently i've made a bunch of mini cupcakes for church. i just used boxed cake mix and icing from the store-i know, not the best ingredients, but why does it taste so good?

Brownies

2007-12-04T18:08:00.000-08:00

I had some extra dark chocolate and decided to make brownies from it. i had lots, so i quadrupled this recipe. it was almost too big for the pan i baked it in. i have never made brownies from scratch so this was exciting.

p.s. since the recipe was quadrupled, i baked it for 40 minutes, which was just a bit too long. Next time i'll bake it for 36 min. and also i used whole wheat flour

MMMMM... Brownies

INGREDIENTS

2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup water
6 cups semisweet chocolate chips
8 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2-2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease an 8x8 inch square pan.
In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, butter and water. Cook over medium heat until boiling. Remove from heat and stir in chocolate chips until melted and smooth. Mix in the eggs and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; stir into the chocolate mixture. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until brownies set up. Do not overbake! Cool in pan and cut into squares.

gingerbread houses

2007-11-29T19:29:00.001-08:00

me and my husband are hosting a christmas party for our friends on saturday. i made 4 inch tall gingerbread houses for the kids (and some adults) to decorate. the 9 houses on the right are made from a gingerbread house recipe from marthastewart.com and the other ones are from a chocolate cookie recipe. I've never baked chocolate cut out cookies..this one is really yummy.

p.s. i used Wilton meringue powder instead of egg whites for the royal icing. the last time i made royal icing, i used egg whites and i could really taste the egg-yuck. and i just used the recipe from Wilton. 1 lb confectioners sugar with 3 T of meringue powder with 6 T warm water.

Gingerbread house Ingredients from MarthaStewart.com

Makes enough for 5 small house kits (i was able to make 9 because i made my own template to make smaller houses)

1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup dark-brown sugar
4 teaspoons ground ginger
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
1 teaspoon finely ground black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups unsulfured molasses
6 cups all-purpose flour

Directions

In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, and baking powder; set aside.
In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Mix in spices and salt. Beat in eggs and molasses.
Add flour mixture; mix on low speed until thoroughly combined. Divide dough into thirds and wrap in plastic. Chill for at least 1 hour.
Heat oven to 350 degrees. On a well-floured surface, roll out dough to 1/8 inch thick. Cut into desired shapes, or using template instructions, if desired. Place dough shapes on ungreased baking sheets; chill until firm, about 15 minutes. Bake 15 minutes, or until gingerbread is firm in the center, but not dark around the edges.

---

INGREDIENTS for chocolate cookies from Allrecipes.com

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/4 cups white sugar
1 egg

DIRECTIONS

Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt; set aside. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg. Gradually stir in the sifted ingredients to form a soft dough. Divide dough into 2 pieces, flatten and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 2 hours.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/8 inch in thickness. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Dough is sticky so be sure to add more flour to the rolling surface as needed. Place cookies 1 1/2 inches apart onto cookie sheets.
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

pumpkin pie

2007-11-08T21:26:00.000-08:00

my most favorite dessert this time of year is pumpkin pie. but if it doesn't have whip cream, then it's not. it just not as fantastic without the whip cream. anyway, i made this yesterday.

here is the recipe from all allrecipes.com
i just used pie crust from the grocery store. this is the first time i used a whole wheat crust. it wasn't as bad as i thought it would be.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 eggs
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
1 1/4 cups milk
1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a large mixing bowl, stir together white sugar, brown sugar, salt, and cinnamon. When these ingredients are well mixed, stir in the eggs followed by the pumpkin and milk. Transfer mixture to the pie crust.
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 1 1/2 hours, or until a toothpick inserted into the pie comes out clean. Cool before serving.

turtles

2007-11-04T11:23:00.000-08:00

i had extra caramel so i decided to make almond and walnut turtles. i've since learned that when i make things with caramel or chocolate not to let things set on just a cookie sheet, parchment paper or foil because they get SO stuck (especially the caramel)! so when i make caramel apples, turtles or chocolate covered strawberries, i use plastic wrap to line my cookie sheets or pans and it just peels right off.

below is the recipe for the caramel apples i got from http://allrecipes.com which says to use aluminum foil.

INGREDIENTS

6 Granny Smith apples
6 wooden sticks
1 (14 ounce) package individually wrapped caramels, unwrapped
2 tablespoons water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

Insert wooden sticks 3/4 of the way into the stem end of each apple. Place apples on a cookie sheet covered with lightly greased aluminum foil.
Combine caramels and water in a saucepan over low heat. Cook, stirring often, until caramel melts and is smooth. Dip each apple into the caramel and gently run apples around insides of saucepan to scrape off some of the caramel. Scrape excess caramel from the apple bottoms using the side of the saucepan. Place on the aluminum foil and chill until ready to serve.

caramel apples

2007-10-31T20:30:00.001-07:00

here's a better picture of the mini caramel apples. i forgot to take pictures of the regular sized apples. i made caramel and chocolate covered caramel apples.

sneak peak

2007-10-26T20:40:00.000-07:00

i love this time of year. one of the reasons i love it is because we have a harvest festival at church. i've always had my "bakery" booth and of course this year, wanted to do the same. but it's been busy and kind of crazy due to the fires here. so i didn't have time to bake all the stuff i wanted too. i've been making caramel apples every year and i made them today. but i was so excited because i found these tiny apples and decided to make tiny caramel apples (in addition to the regular sized granny smith apples) for my booth. since it's evening, the picture isn't that great because of the flash. but i'll take more on sunday so i can show you the other apples.

dog shaped cookies

2007-10-06T07:57:00.000-07:00

i found the cutest horlick dog shaped cookies on happy home bakers blog a few months ago. i've been wanting to make this for a long time but didn't know what horlick was or where to find it and i've never seen the cereal called koko crunch in the US before.

anyway, i just got back from a visit to Bulgaria and found a cereal called chocapic and they are perfect for the dog ears. i decided just to use a sugar cookie recipe. so here they are!!! i was so happy that they turned out! my niece will have her 2nd bday party on sunday, so i'll serve them then, unless my family eats them today!
here is the cereal

here they are before baking

English Toffee

2007-09-14T19:42:00.000-07:00

i made toffee this week. i used to make toffee a lot years ago and i thought i would try it again. i tried a recipe on martha stewart's site. the toffee tasted great but it was a little messy trying to cut it up in pieces because i forgot to oil that pan. oh well.

here's the recipe

Makes about 70 pieces
1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter, each stick cut into 8 pieces
1/4 cup light corn syrup
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 pound bittersweet chocolate, chopped into small pieces
3 cups pecans, chopped very fine and sieved to remove fine powder
Vegetable-oil cooking spray

1. Spray a 15-by-10-inch baking pan, a 16 1/2-by-11 1/2-inch baking pan, and an 8-inch square baking pan with vegetable-oil spray. In a heavy 3-quart saucepan, combine butter, 1/2 cup water, corn syrup, and sugar. Clip on a candy thermometer. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring with a wooden spoon. Continue stirring until mixture thickens, about 2 minutes. Wash down sides of pan with a pastry brush dipped in water to remove sugar crystals. Reduce heat to low; stop stirring. Let mixture come to a boil.

2. Let boil, without stirring, until temperature reaches 280 degrees.(soft-crack stage). This will take from 35 minutes to just over an hour; it is essential that the mixture continues to boil. Remove from heat. Without scraping pot, pour into prepared pans as evenly as possible. If needed, use a spatula to smooth. Let cool at room temperature for 1 hour.

3. After 45 minutes of cooling, melt chocolate in a double boiler over medium-low heat, stirring with a rubber spatula. Pour over toffee; spread with a spatula if necessary. Let cool about 15 minutes. Sprinkle with nuts; press them into the chocolate.

4. Let stand at room temperature for 24 hours. Using a large knife, lightly score 1 3/4-by-2 3/4-inch rectangles over chocolate. Cut toffee along scored lines; lift pieces out with a spatula. Alternatively, toffee may be broken into shards. Store in an airtight container for 3 to 4 weeks.

Sugared Pecans

2007-09-06T16:38:00.000-07:00

I was craving for pecans so i decided to try out this recipe from simply recipes. it was really easy and the pecans taste so good! as i was baking them, the house smelled so yummy. i didn't have cloves or nutmeg, so i just added 1/2 teaspoon of a pumpkin pie spice i had.

1 egg white
1 Tbsp water
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
8 oz pecans - about 2 cups
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 Preheat oven to 300°F.

2 Put sugar, cinnamon, salt, ground cloves, and ground nutmeg in a plastic bag, shake to mix.

3 Put egg, water, and vanilla in a bowl. Beat until slightly foamy, add pecans and coat well. Lift pecans out of bowl with a slotted spoon and put into the bag of sugar and spices. Shake pecans in bag making sure they are well coated.

4 Bake 30 minutes on a baking pan lined with silpat or lightly greased aluminum foil. 15 minutes into the baking, stir up the pecans with a fork. Let cool completely before serving.
Makes about 2 cups.

Now i know why it's called a pudding cake

2007-08-26T22:13:00.000-07:00

i had some extra milk so i looked up a recipe that needed 1/2 a cup of milk. i found a pudding cake recipe on all recipes.com that sounded interesting. the instructions to put it all together seemed strange but i followed the recipe. when it was done and i took a bite out of it, it looked and tasted like pudding under a thin layer of crust. it was alright, but i won't be making this recipe again. luckily my husband likes it, glad he's easy to please

INGREDIENTS
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup white sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups hot water

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In an 8x8 inch square pan, stir together the flour, white sugar, 1/4 cup of cocoa, baking powder and salt. Add milk and oil, mix well. Sprinkle brown sugar, remaining cocoa and chocolate chips over the mixture. Add the vanilla to the hot water, then pour the water over the top.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, until the surface appears dry. Serve warm with a spoon or at room temperature.

baking blog

2007-08-24T19:08:00.000-07:00

i thought i'd start a blog for the things i make. i'm not a good cook but i love to bake. i'm not that good of a baker yet. i love to bake, almost as much as i love to eat baked goods. i love to make things that look cute or pretty or different. i'll post the pictures/recipes when i make new things here. in the meantime, here is a few things i have made in the past.

chocolate covered strawberries with white chocolate wedding cake that i made for some newly wed friends

spinach feta rolls

meringue mushrooms