FLOUR & SUGAR

Mad Scientist Party

2012-01-30T18:48:00.000-08:00

Does anyone know why they call it a mad scientist? I mean are all scientists mad? Because I am sure that the scientist thinks they are pretty normal, and definitely not mad. I mean I know a lot of scientists and I am pretty sure they are not mad. So this got me to thinking, where did this expression come from? I did a bit of research and voila! Wikipedia comes through yet again! So per Wiki, they say "the mad scientist is a stock character of popular fiction, namely science fiction." There ya go, and who said you can't learn from a blog!
Now that I have completed my teaching point for the day, let me get on to showing you this mad scientist party I got to be a part of. I was in charge of all of the food and drinks and it was unbelievably fun! You know kids are fabulous and their little parties are such a happy place! The amazing mom that was throwing the party is one of my favorite customers (and friend). She is a wonderful mom and is so generous and truly wants to show everyone a good time. She allows me to challenge myself and be as creative as I want to be with the goodies she orders. Here are a couple of examples of projects I have done for her:
Pirate Cake & Cookies
Halloween Cookie Pops & Cupcakes
Christmas Cupcakes in a Jar
So when she asked me if I could help plan the mad scientist party she was throwing for her 7 year old's class, I was thrilled!
So what did I do...let me show you in pictures...
We had our healthy bites

ants on a log & bug bones & legs

fruit atoms & molecules

then our savory bites

corn dog centipede & caterpillar wraps

And the fun stuff...SWEETS!

eyeballs & slime...EEEWWWW!

here is the favor table...brain cakes and bubbling beakers

I labeled each of the kiddos names on the brain cakes in elemental fashion

(you know from the periodic table)

So I pretty much LOVED the brain cakes! They were so fun to make and even more fun to watch the kids get super excited and grossed out about them! Of course a party is not a party without a host, or two for that matter!

These two little guys were awesome little hosts!

Happy Baking, Happier Eating!

Dos!

2012-01-21T10:06:00.000-08:00

So you know what I went ahead and did on Thursday? Yep I pretty much just went ahead and forgot all about the fact that it was my 2 year blogging anniversary! What the heck!?!? I mean it is a pretty major big deal you know, because really what else would you be doing if not reading my blog...don't answer that!
More importantly, my blogiversary reminds me that it was just over two years ago when my super duper wonderful husband (p.s. his name is Barry for those of you who don't know) convinced me that I had what it takes to actually share my baking with others and has been supporting me ever since. With every complaint or tear (Me? Never!) or doubt that I am not good enough or that someone does it better, or meltdown with a failed cake or cookie; he picks me up, wipes the batter and buttercream off my face, and gladly eats every one of my failed crumbs. Many people ask me how I have the time to be a wife, be a resident working crazy hours, have a part time baking gig, and blog (sometimes more than others) and all I can say is that I've got one amazing man supporting and encouraging me to be whatever I want to be! So I simply must say thank you to my Barry for helping me get through two very busy years! Here's to 70 more! (Yes I plan on living until I am 101).
Now of course, if I didn't have such wonderful fun people following my blog, it would be hard to justify blogging. Fortunately I shed such great insight in things that you all are just dying to read my next post...HA...HA...HA! We are a tight knit group and I appreciate each and everyone one of your comments and your taking the time to read whatever crazy thing I have to say at the time! So thank you!
How does a blogging gal celebrate the 2 year anniversary of her blog? I'm not sure actually. I wish that I had cool companies sending me free stuff just because I'm cool and then I would offer great giveaways to all of you, but I don't. So I guess I'm going to have to think of something to giveaway myself. So in the meantime, I will leave you with a couple of cakes that I made for a TWO year old's birthday. It's only fitting dontcha think? The dog cake I love...the cat cake I hate, but you know part of being an honest blogger is showing the good AND the bad. Thank you all for stopping by, happy baking, happier eating!

A day in the life...

2012-01-19T23:15:00.000-08:00

So you've learned recently that I'm a little crazy neurotic. So since we are past the honeymoon phase in our relationship here, I guess I can confess to you all that I'm also weird, more like funny weird, and definitely not creepy weird, but weird all the same.
Like for one, I think really weird things while I am decorating my sweets. All these funny thoughts bubble through my brain and I like to think I can solve the mysteries of the world. You know how it is! So for example, while I was working on the cake for this post, I had the funny thought of why the sound of running water makes one have the urge to pee?

Isn't it strange?

Generally my thoughts have no rhyme or reason, but on this particular day, I think I had a reason and my reason has entirely everything to do with why I decided to make this 'day in the life' post.
So what is a typical day of cake decorating for me...well I am pressed for time to say the least, you know the pressed for time kind of day that makes doing normal bodily necessities take a back burner to the all consuming cake! Well generally, I put off all things until the cake is done, and on this particular day I was strolling along at my usual pace when I hit a speed bump...I drank way to much ~~coffee~~, I mean water, and you know how the story goes. Well usually, I just keep working, and eventually the urge just goes away (you have to understand, my bladder is pretty well trained from being in the operating room for hours on end without a bathroom break) and then a few hours later once the cake is done, I will revisit my personal needs. Because I am crazy, I somehow think a trip to the bathroom takes way to much time out of my cake mission, so I just forge on like it ain't no thang! Unfortunately, on this particular day, it was no joke, I was forced to interrupt my day of cake with a bathroom break, pshaw! And do you want to know why...because of water! Namely a water fountain! You see we just got this serene fountain from my sis and b-i-l and the dang thing makes me have to pee every time I hear it! Which brings us back full circle to my initial weirdo thought and now you guys can maybe justify that I am not as weird as you previously thought and therefore I had every right to have funny thoughts like why running water makes you pee! So after my small interruption, I spent the remainder of the afternoon trying to solve this unknown mystery but alas, I got nothin!

So besides having weirdo thoughts run through my head...what does a typical cake decorating day look like for me...well here it is:

Prior to actually doing the cake, I make a plan. I scribble down my idea in this little book and just so you guys can see it with your own eyes...I cannot draw! You see these other decorator's cake plans and it is all intricate and color penciled everywhere, um yeah, that is so not me! But hey whatever works and apparently chicken scratch works just fine for me!
Along with my scribble, I get my color palette and see how it all looks together along with gathering up my recipes. As you can see my Martha wedding cake book is one of my faves because it contains my most favorite frosting...Swiss meringue buttercream! It is a little extra work but so dreamy, you simply must try it (I will post the recipe in my next tutorial).
So when I've got the plan, I gather my supplies...Smart & Final is a bff and my local baking supply stores are ~~extremely~~ fairly used to seeing my face! I usually forget something that I don't typically realize until I'm home, so you can see why we chose our apartment based upon it being across the street from Smart & Final (sorta kidding).
Okay, then I hop to it!

Because I am a true believer that cakes are always better the 2nd or 3rd day (I made the cakes for our wedding cake 5 days prior to our wedding, it just works!), I make all of my cakes in advance, slice them as needed and then freeze them until I'm ready to decorate. This will also make them more durable. So then when I'm ready to decorate, I get em out of the freezer, plate the bottom cake, have my frosting near by and just have fun.

The following pics will give you my routine...

First I sandwich the buttercream between the cake

Then I crumb coat and place in the fridge at least 20 minutes to set.

I then begin my decorating phase, could be simple or intense, either way I want it to be perfect each and every time! Now I apologize for short changing you all on more pics of my decorating phase of this cake but I am doing a tutorial on this cake style so bear with me!

Now, it may look all quick and easy here but let me tell you, this particular 2 tier cake probably took me about 8-10 hours when all is said and done, that's why it's called a labor of love! If I didn't love it, I wouldn't do it!
I know that this day in the life is likely not as exciting as say E! channel's day in the life of Brittany Spears, but come on, you have to admit, it got ya thinking! In creating this post, I hope it may help those of you who are new to the decorating world and also shed some light on the baking/decorating world for any of those who may cast doubt on why a beautiful treat costs the amount it does. Thank you all for reading and as always, happy baking, happier eating!

trying it on for size...

2012-01-09T23:37:00.000-08:00

Were you guys aware that I am a little crazy? Well, not the crazy serial killer kind of crazy but more like the neurotic-control-freak-kind-of-crazy! Yep, it is true! I could probably write an entire post with supporting evidence for my claim, but in effort to complete this post and get on to bed, let's just say my claim is legit! Plus, I think that by the time I am done writing this post, you will have just enough evidence to agree with my claim, you'll see, just trust me!

I know you all are wondering why I have an entire post with not a single baked item in it, right? Well, that is because a very special day is almost upon us, I mean it is so important that it is pretty much a National holiday...actually come to think of it, it IS a National holiday. Do you know what that day is??? Yup, you got it, my birthday, and like I said, it is a National holiday, unfortunately it just isn't recognized nationally to be MY birthday but rather Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday. But hey, you don't see me complaining about getting an extra day off around my birthday!

Because my birthday is on its way, I like to ease into it (in other words, I like to stretch it out as long as possible to maximize the celebratory period). I am one of those people who loves to throw big celebrations for my birthday, I like to make cookies & cakes and do fun things all ~~month~~ ~~week~~ day long. So you get it, I sorta like my birthday! You know when I was younger, I actually asked my mom if she would throw me a surprise party that I had completely planned...are you seeing why I am crazy, maybe just a little...can you say control freak!

So unfortunately, last year, I felt like I got thrown into my thirties and I am just now realizing that somehow I am no longer in my twenties! Crazy how that happens! I mean as far as I was concerned, everyone around me keeps getting older while I simply stay the same. Denial...it is lovely! So anyway, after realizing that maybe I am getting older along with the rest of the population, I decided that I am going to try 31 on for size first. You know, I don't want to commit too early and then find out it doesn't match my eyes or worse...my hair! I have been looking around and noticed 31 ain't too shabby! In fact, I sorta like it and as you can see, 31 looks good in various colors, shapes and sizes. So I am thinking I will give it a chance. I still have 5 more days to decide for sure, but for now, I'm thinkin' I like it! Until then, happy baking...happier eating!

FIRE!

2012-01-07T12:33:00.000-08:00

I know exactly what you are thinking right now...what the HECK does fire have to do with engagement cookies? Then you think to yourself...ohhhh, I know, Linzy is trying to think outside of the box and create the metaphor of FIRE as it relates to the passion and love between a newly engaged couple, that must be it!
Nope sadly, that's not it, I'm not that metaphorical; I actually quit metaphors, and many other grammatical things the minute I graduated high school and realized they pretty much would never be applicable in my boring world of science an math. But now that I do this whole blogging thing, I am thinking, grammar rules and tricks would probably be useful. I'd probably have a way cooler blog and like thousands of followers who loved reading my ultra clever and grammatically correct blogs, right? Well, oh well, I'm probably never going to relearn that stuff, there just isn't enough room left in my brain. Speaking of brain capacity, did you know that there actually is a limit to the knowledge, facts, etc. that the human brain can retain? I know, its a pretty crazy concept! Let me tell you, this concept comes in handy when I have some scary senior doctor asking me questions that, for the life of me, I cannot remember the answers to. I just think to myself...I must have exceeded my brain capacity by memorizing that last sandwich cookie recipe I created. Then I further reassure myself by remembering that if I were the one questioning the scary senior doctor about the chemistry of baking, he would fail miserably. All of this happens in about 3 seconds, so it looks like I am pondering the question I was just asked and then I reply, "Hmmm...I don't know Dr. Scary, I have been meaning to reread that concept but maybe we could go over it together?" Works for me! Plus I am way better at learning by having someone tell me something than by reading it myself, because I can remember something about the learning situation, for example, the horrible shirt the person is wearing or the funny way someone says a word, and those little cues help me to remember what the talk was about, it's awesome really!

Wow, a little side-tracked. Are you still with me? So why did I name this post about engagement cookies 'FIRE'? So last Saturday I was sitting in my little work station, writing my New Years post with one of my most favorite Voluspa candles (important part of the story to remember) on the dresser next to me, giving me the perfect blogging environment. My husband came home and asked me to come downstairs because our neighbor had something to share. So I went downstairs to find out that our neighbor had just proposed to his now fiance the night before. Now a little thing about me is that one of my most favorite things about people getting married, is hearing their engagement stories, I just love it! I get all giddy and excited to hear how it all played out. So anyhow, we were going through the whole scenario, I was grilling him for all the details, when suddenly, we hear our smoke alarm chirp. I said "oh probably out of batteries yet again." Then our smoke alarm really starts going off, both of them really start going off! So I run upstairs and as I near the top of the stairs, all I see is the bright reflection of orange glancing off the white walls, my first thought..."holy crap, our apartment is on fire!" I turn the corner and look at my beloved candle that is now a complete fire ball and let out what apparently sounded like a freaked out scream (per my husband). He makes it up the stairs in 2 seconds, followed by our neighbor and I am sitting there trying to blow out this small fireball with all of my might. Our neighbor suggests water, fortunately I am constantly leaving half-full glasses of water everywhere (one of the many reasons my husband loves me, lol), so I grab one and throw it on the fireball. It subsequently becomes even angrier until my smart husband throws one of our bath towels over the top to extinguish the ball-o-fire! Yikes, right!?!? So after my husband and neighbor recovered from thinking I had started our apartment complex on fire, I realized that trying to squeeze the last hour of burn time out of my favorite candle was probably not worth the risk of being sued for arson. I came to the conclusion, that when a candle is contained in a metal tin, coated in pretty paint and gets down to the last little bit of wax; it therefore causes the tin to get SUPER hot and self-ignite the pretty paint and become a ball-o-fire that will eventually burn your house down! Are you noticing the amazing deducing skills that I gained from my $300,000 education, HA...HA...So I promptly removed all of the last-hour-of-burn-time-candles I have lying around and got excited about ~~the opportunity to buy more~~ cleaning the clutter out of our apartment! Lesson learned!

So now you can totally see why this post about the happy engagement cookies I made for our newly engaged neighbors is so appropriately named 'FIRE!' As fir the cookies, I loved them, I had a lot of fun making them and wanted a clean, modern engagement celebration look to them. Thank you so much for following my REALLY long post about how these cookies were born! I'm off to document my next post the life in a day of cake-making, exciting!!! Happy baking, happier eating!

Paris Themed Cookies

2012-01-01T23:04:00.000-08:00

You guys are shocked, I know, 2 posts in one 24 hour period...crazy! You guys may be about as shocked as my husband was the other night when I actually stayed awake for a whole movie after 3pm! Shocking I know. I used to have a 7pm cut-off for movie watching in my younger years, but now-a-days, seems that cut-off is getting closer and closer to the morning hours. I know what you are thinking...I am pri-tee lame, but let me just tell you, I get some of my best sleep during a movie, its amazing!
Let me just give you a little sample of our pre-movie night conversation...
Me "Oh hunny, we should watch a movie tonight, that would be soooo fun and cozy!!! We can eat popcorn and just relax on the couch!" (at this point I am generally thrilled about the idea of movie watching) Mr. F "Oh okay, you mean we can eat popcorn and I will watch the movie alone after the opening credits?"
Me "Not this time, I am feeling REALLY awake so I know I will stay awake tonight!"
Mr. F "Okay, that sounds good, anything you want to watch?"
Me "Hmmm...I will think about it, maybe we should browse the PPV channels?"

{fast forward to movie time...imagine a warm, dimly lit living room with popcorn aroma filling the air}

Mr. F "So what do you want to watch? I was thinking blank blank or blank." Generally blanks filled in with a mystery thriller or suspense drama type of movie.
Me "I really wanted to see blank blank or blank." Generally blanks filled in with some chick-flick romance sorta movie.
Mr. F "So you really think you are going to stay awake huh?"
Me-at this point my sleep deficit in combo with the cozy ambiance starts to imply that I may not actually make it through the opening credits so I say "Actually, let's watch something you want to watch for a change?"

And so it goes, you know how this story ends, we watch a mystery thriller/suspense drama that actually ends up being pretty good to start and then like clockwork my top eyelids slowly make it closer to the bottom, my head starts to bob, and I lose track of everything going on in the movie (because I am really asleep, trying to pretend I'm not) and then Mr. F says "are you sleeping" and I try to act fully awake alert and oriented but sure enough, the REM cycle wins out and I miss yet another movie! It's just the way I roll!

So what does any of this have to do with Paris-themed cookies you ask? Everything! We (big emphasis on we) watched the Tourist the other night and the opening scene is in Paris and I thought what a great time to post these cookies! And now we come full circle! I originally made these cookies about two months ago for a friends 30th birthday and completely forgot to post them. When I remembered that I used to actually write in my blog posts and try to be a little clever (instead of just posting pics as of late) I figured I would save posting these photos until I could come up with something to write about them. So as luck would have it...I stayed up through a whole movie and got a little clever with tying the two together, lucky you!

I loved this set, I love the simplicity of ivory and black and the friend I was making them for loves everything Paris so it was the perfect opportunity to get creative with the sophistication of black and ivory. They were all minis intended to be cute bite size Parisian bites ;) I hope you enjoy and as always...happy baking, happier eating!

Happy 2012!

2011-12-30T21:38:00.001-08:00

Did y'all know that its ~~almost~~ IS 2012 (yes I started writing this yesterday, yet ran out of time to finish)? Did y'all know I am using y'all to get ready for moving to Texas in just 6 months! Yes, I said it, 6 months from yesterday the hubby and I will be driving our 2 SUVs and a U-haul trailer to the Lone Star State and I don't even have to tell you, but I will...we are excited! Confession, I am not sure that Texans even use y'all as much as the other Southern states use it (please my Texan followers, inform me) but in my mind, they do and you better believe that I will be using it in it's fullest the minute I plant my West coast foot in Texas soil. And you are aware that my West coast foot will most definitely have a boot on it, because that is what I do! But for all of you who think that I bought boots just so that I can live in Texas...I have got a tid bit of info for you...my history with boots (the cowboy variety, not the fashion boot variety) goes WAY back. Way back that is to when I was a little toe-head running around with the sheep and horses that paint the memories of my childhood. Yep, that's right, I was a little cowgirl! I am pretty sure that the cowgirl feeling never dies despite how many urban cities you live in, you can always find it, and I think everyone secretly has a little cowgirl in them! So let's just say I am more than a little excited to explore my inner cowgirl in a place that embraces all kinds of cowgirls and boys alike! Okay, so why am I hear on this beautiful new day of a new year you ask??? To wish you all a Happy New Year and a wonderful start to your 2012! I don't know about you, but I can just feel that this year is going to be a good one and I am ready to face it full force! I mean here are just a few of the exciting things to come in 2012...

Most importantly my husband and I will be celebrating our 2nd wedding anniversary and our 8th year together! Woo hoo! I am told by a famous Texas talent Callye that I need to start saying woo hoo to get ready for when we move to Texas...lets just say, it incorporates perfectly into my current vocab! So here's to you Callye...WOO HOO!
I will be finishing my overly extended time of living like a college student and upgrading to adult status at the young age of 31, yep that's right, as of mid-January I will be the ripe ole age of 31...mark your calendars! And come June 30th, I can officially say I am finished with my journey of 13 years to become a doctor...well I have technically been a doctor since 2008, but now, I don't have to be babysat, so to speak!
Many close people to me will be celebrating many notable anniversaries as well in 2012...my parents are at 36 years in 2012! My sister and her hubby will celebrate their one year anniversary in August and my bff and hubby will celebrate their one year anniversary as well this year, that is an exciting anniversary! Come to think of it, last night as the hubby and I celebrated our NYE with a glass of wine, we each said what our favorite memory of 2011 was and mine was actually the celebration of our 1st anniversary! So 1 year anniversaries=very important in my mind!
Speaking of anniversaries...my blog will celebrate 2 years this year, actually January is the month...hmmm...I better start thinking of something fun for my blogiversary I guess...any recommendations?

Well there are just a few things that I am excited about in 2012, I won't bore you with too many lists! Any of you excited for 2012 for one reason or another? Let me know!

So I know you are dying to know how a crazy gal like me and her amazing husband celebrate on a night like New Years Eve, right? Pretty much...we go BIG! I mean go big or go home right!?!? Well that is just what we did, we stayed home, sorta our thing. We love to eat, so that is always on board and since we love to eat and I love to bake it makes our lives pretty easy. So I am sure that you can all guess how we celebrated...good food, good wine, a little country Rock Band action, and a big smooch, a big slice of chocolate cake with a glass of milk @ midnight to ring in the New Year! Perfection! I know what you are thinking...pretty outrageous eating chocolate cake at midnight, and I bet you would think it is even more outrageous if I told you that the chocolate cake had coffee in it as well right? I mean how did I expect to sleep after eating a big slice of chocolate cake at midnight? Just like I always do...like a baby! And boy was the cake good! I am actually sitting here thinking about a piece right now! That is how good it was!

So now you want to know how you can make your very own delicious chocolate cake right...
Directions:

click here: i am baker follow Amanda's directions for the cake and while you are at it, look at all of her beautiful pictures
while the cake is cooling, make your favorite frosting to dress-up your cake. For me, chocolate cake goes with chocolate frosting so I used my favorite fluffy chocolate frosting recipe that you can find at the bottom of this post.
Decorate as much or as little as you like. Trust me, when you are smelling this delectable treat, your motivation to have some extravagant design and therefore postpone your EET (estimated eating time) will go out the window.
Once decorated

grab a plate
cute a slice
grab a fork
pour some milk
grab your hunny (or hide from others if you are not a sharer)
Sit back, relax and let every morsel of this baby invigorate your taste buds!

Well all, there you have it! Here is to a beautiful new year with hope, dreams, love, laughter and smiles...and of course desserts! Happy baking, happier eating! Thank you all for following yet another year!
xox,
Linzy

Fluffy Chocolate Frosting:
1 stick unsalted butter @ room temp
2/3 cup cocoa
3 cups confectioners sugar
1/3-1/2 cup milk
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla

Cream butter and cocoa. Add sugar, milk, vanilla & salt, cream until incorporated on low/medium. Scrape bowl and turn mixer to high for a minute or two to get light fluffy frosting. I sometimes add more milk to thin it out even more to make a silky fluffy chocolate frosting...mmm...mmm...good!

Merry Christmas II

2011-12-24T16:38:00.000-08:00

Amongst the sock cookie craze, I took on a couple other orders. The first were some snowflake cookies I did for a fun group of friends. I wanted to add just a touch of color on each cookie and came up with these:

After these I did two birthday sets that a friend ordered for her two girlfriends. I LOVED these sets because I was given a couple of guidelines as to what the birthday girls liked and was given creative freedom for the design.

Next...some more Holiday cookies

Then there were some Holiday cupcakes in a jar...of course I had to put some cookie additions on them as well...I also planned a little tutorial for these so stay tuned for that...

And finally, my last Christmas order were probably my favorite Christmas cookies thus far. I was going for a modern sophisticated look and I was pretty happy with the end result...sorry about the dark pics again...

Oh wait, there were also some cakepops there at the end :)

Okay all, I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and enjoy the love life and laughter of the ones you love! I hope to hear from you all soon and thank you again for following! Happy baking, happier eating!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-24T12:38:00.000-08:00

Hmmm...if you are wondering whether or not I realize that I have not posted a single post in the last month...the answer is YES! I have been so bad at blogging this lovely month of December and every night when I sit down to blog, I realize, oh wait, I have yet another order to do! Trust me, being busy is a good thing, you know the way I think about it is...may as well take advantage of the busy times so that the not so busy times don't seem so boring! So am I complaining that I have been busy, definitely not! Am I apologizing for being so busy that I have not had time to respond to comments or post anything since November 24, definitely yes! So now I am going to give you a photo rundown of everything I have been doing in December!
Before I do this however, I want to take a moment to thank all of you for not only taking the time to read my posts (as infrequent as they are) and I really want to thank you for all of your comments! They are so sweet and thoughtful and I try really hard to reply to all of them. I am not sure if blogger even notifies you that I replied to what you wrote, but just in case you don't know, I am thankful for your comments!
So whirlwind tour of December of 2011 here we come...
My first set of Christmas cookies was for a group of soldiers stationed in Afghanistan. These cookies gave me complete satisfaction and truly made me realize why I LOVE baking. And to top it all off, they sent me the sweetest picture of a group of soldiers all holding my little sugar cookies! Amazing, and I hope that all of our troops know just how amazing they are! As for the picture quality...sorry, it was a bad day for lighting ;)

Next up, I did some Christmas cookie gifts for a friend to give to her clients...

Loved these snowflakes so I made them a few more times...

Next I did some baby shower cookies that were designed after the little lady to be's nursery

The next cookies may be some of my favorite cookies I ever made...PACMAN! These were for one my good friend's 30th birthday party that had an 80s theme

So these all got me through the first 4 days of December and then I was on to my HUGE order of sock cookies! These sock cookies were made for a fabulous gal who owns Gumball Poodle sock company, a company that sells splendid word socks. She ordered her top selling socks to be transformed into cookies to give to her client for holiday gifts and it sounds like they were a hit!

loved the bacon ones!

Yes...there were a lot of cookies!

Ok I am going to continue onto the next post so that I don't shut down your computer trying to load all these pictures...

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T01:11:00.001-08:00

Hope you all have a fabulous turkey day filled with whatever traditions make it yours!

Happy cooking, happier baking, happiest eating!

Exciting News!

2011-11-16T18:06:00.001-08:00

Yep, that's right my amazing husband and I are moving to Texas! You know a few months ago when I was talking about looking for a real job? Well what I mean is, I will finally be done with "training" to be a doctor on June 30th 2012, woohoo! So what lies after residency? A real job, with real hours-well real doctor hours which is a whole lot better than the crazy person hours I am working right now, and the best part...a real life! I am so thrilled to be almost done, and finally after an 8+ year journey, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! So where are we off to you ask? San Antonio! I am looking so forward to our new venture and although we will be leaving family (which was the HARDEST part in this whole decision) and friends behind, I just know that we will meet many new friends in our future and have LOTS of family and friends in for visits!
I thought of this cookie idea shortly after we made our decision because I wanted to send some cookies to a fabulous Texan named Callye :) to announce to her that I would be joining her wonderful state in just a few months! {So that is why there is just a girl and not a boy + girl, as my husband says, he is the one in the moving van ;) } After I completed the cookies, I realized what a great way to virtually announce our decision to all of our friends (both real friends and virtual friends) via facebook/my blog. So here is the whole set, both near and far.

As for the state cookies, I was going for the look of those embroidered state/city pillows that are ever so popular, I still have the one my best friend bought for me almost 10 years ago for my college graduation gift!The California cookie was a cinch to decorate given that I have lived in California and Northern Nevada my whole life except the 4 years I was in Philly for med school. The only tough part...trying to fit everything I wanted to include on a cookie! As for the Texas cookie, I looked at a lot of maps, referenced the Texas pillow, and used the small amount of knowledge I have about the great state of Texas to try to be as accurate as possible in portraying the state. I hope I did all of you current Texans proud & I can't wait to learn more!

Well, there it is, come July 2012 this couple will be heading east along I-10...Lone Star State bound!

Happy baking, happier eating!

I couldn't make a Texas cookie without including the hat & boots.

Plus these are my favorite to date of the hat & boot combo!

Blue

2011-11-16T01:28:00.001-08:00

A week or so ago, I had a request for some baby shower cookie favors. Generally when I do a party theme, I am usually asked to do something that matches the invitation or decorations etc. This time I was actually asked to do a cookie I had done almost 2 years ago! I thought, hmmm...how am I going to do that cookie similar to the original, because that was obviously what the client wanted, but different enough to make it look like it is not truly the same cookie. So here is what I came up with. Hard to tell, but I put little pacifiers on instead of a mouth :)

After doing these cookies, I was lovin' the blue theme! So since I needed to make some much needed cookies for a thank you gift as well as some congratulatory cookies for my girlfriend who just had her baby boy, I went all out BLUE! The first set was the cookies I did for a thank you gift for a friend of mine who was extremely helpful in my job search process. No, she is not at all country, but I thought they would be fun for her, because she lives in a place that has a lot of these hats and boots walkin' around. I have also been wanting to do some bandana print like I have seen done quite often after Sugarbelle has made it so popular, that I rounded off the set with some bandana print circles.

my favorite hat

As for the congrats present, I just had fun with these ones. Lots of swirls and details in a monochromatic sort of tone. Hope you enjoy and happy baking, happier eating!

The Classic: Apple Pie {Tutorial}

2011-11-05T18:09:00.000-07:00

Yeah, yeah...I hear ya, it has been quite some time since I last shared a recipe much less a tutorial! Well, never fear, you have got one here. I have been on a quest to find the perfect apple pie since, oh I don't know, the year I met my husband! He is a big time apple pie fan and his mom makes a stellar one that he always starts to crave right around the beginning of fall (yes people we do get fall here in Los Angeles). So me being the baker wife, I am always trying to reinvent the wheel, you know how it is! So I get these extravagant recipes and tweak them all sorts of ways to make a gourmet apple pie when you know what...he just wants a classic apple pie! Come on Linzy, just keep it simple and make a classic! I use third person purely for effect, lol! So anyway, my quest is a pretty slow one because I bake one every fall, but then we get our craving filled, I get frustrated because it wasn't what I envisioned and then I'm over it til the next year. So it is a slow quest for the perfect apple pie!
Last year at Christmas, I broke down and asked my mother in law for some help. She gave me her treasured pie crust recipe, which get this...uses vegetable oil? I had never heard of making pie crust with oil! Then she pulled out the ever so familiar red & white checked cook book so many of us know as good ole Betty Crocker! Really, it was that easy! I had Betty laying right under my nose all this time, what the heck was I thinking! So now, I have waited a sufficient 11 months to take another crack at the perfect apple pie...
First off the recipe...
Disclaimer: because I am trying REALLY hard to impress my husband this year with the perfect apple pie, I copied Betty's recipe word for word, therefore I am going to paste it here but I don't want anyone thinking I am plagiarizing, I am just making it more convenient in case you don't have a red and white checked Betty.
Pie Filling:
{I ended up with about 12 cups of apples therefore the only
modification I did was I multiplied the recipe by 1.5}

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon salt
8 cups thinly sliced peeled tart apples (8 medium)
2 tablespoons butter

Preheat oven to 425
In large bowl, mix sugar, 1/4 cup flour, the cinnamon, nutmeg and 1/8 teaspoon salt. Stir in apples until well mixed. Spoon into pastry-lined pie plate. Cut butter into small pieces; sprinkle over filling. Trim overhanging edge of pastry 1/2 inch from rim of plate.
Bake 40 to 50 minutes or until crust is brown and juice begins to bubble through slits in crust, removing foil for last 15 minutes of baking. Serve warm if desired.

peel those babies!

slice n' dice

have I ever told you that grating fresh nutmeg is one of my favorite baking tasks?

these babies are ready for crust!

Now for the...
Crust:

2 cups flour
dash of salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
5 Tbsp cold water

Place flour and salt in medium both, stir together with a fork. Make a well in the flour and pour oil in. With a cutting motion combine the oil and flour until it resembles peas. Then add the cold water over the top and sort of mash it into the dough until it just comes together.
Take half of the dough, form a disk, place disk between two sheets of parchment and roll out until approx 1/8" place this is bottom of your pie pan. Do the same for the remaining dough and save this for the top of your pie.

parchment paper makes your life way easier

Now for the final look...

my favorite pie pan

lot o' apples, this is where you put the butter on

This is my top crust on the parchment paper, the cool thing about using parchment is that the

dough sticks to the parchment making it REALLY easy to place your dough on top of

your apples, then you just peel it off and viola! I even made a video...yeah I'm a dork

Please excuse the music, I was rockin' out apparently!

Because this pie is for my hubby and he his Ohio State Buckeyes won today, I made this

pie extra special. I mean who says you can't decorate a pie! Sprinkle the top with sugar.

You know you want a piece! I will keep you posted as to how happy this makes my husband's taste buds, but I am going to give my mother-in-law a big THANK YOU in advance!

Happy baking, happier eating!

Happy Halloween!

2011-11-01T00:47:00.000-07:00

Hope you all had a safe & happy Halloween filled with lots of sugar!

Here is a drive-by of all of the Halloween treats I squeezed in!

Happy baking...happier eating!

spider web lolli

Franki-lolli

Mr. Bat lolli

Mummy lolli

Jack lolli

family-o-jacks

chocolate cupcakes with buttercream ghosts...booooooo!

creepy spiders on cupcakes (bad picture!)

Happy Birthday Taiwan!

2011-10-10T09:12:00.000-07:00

You're wondering how I know this right...but then you remember that I told you this whole baking bit has made me a smarter gal (who needed med. school?) And then you conclude that I probably learned this factoid from doing an order, and let's just say, you would be right! So 'double ten' is the day Taiwan becomes one year older, and that's pretty cool!
A lady ordered these from me to share at a party she's throwing to celebrate the beginning of her country. She gave me two flag pics so I went from there...Happy Birthday Taiwan!

Happy Baking...Happier Eating!

Final Catch-up!

2011-10-03T16:26:00.000-07:00

I am so proud of myself, 4 posts this week and yet it is only Monday! This is big for me ;) Sadly, I wouldn't count on this being the norm; however, I am going to try my best to be more on top of it than I have been the last few months! Okay, so remember these guys...

Well, crazy thing is...they just turned one! Can you believe it has been a year since I made these cookies for those special little ones! It is so mind-boggling that somehow it has been a year and yet I have not aged a day! Well since we have now entered fantasy land where people greater than 30 don't age, lets continue on and talk about Elmo. You know that furry red guy with the big orange nose, yeah, you know the one. He is absolutely adorable and I have yet to meet a kid who doesn't totally just love him, especially when he is 'tickle me Elmo' I mean who can resist!

So I made the triplets each their own furry red Elmo mini cake and I really loved how they turned out, they were almost cuddle-able except for the fact that the red coloring would never come out of whatever t-shirt I was wearing, so I resisted! Well, here comes Elmo in all of his chocolately-cake goodness and red buttercream fur. Happy 1st birthday to those special triplets!

Happy baking, happier eating!

Superhero Monday!

2011-10-03T15:02:00.000-07:00

A quick post to you from me about Superheros...a very recognizable word to all comers, wouldn't you say? Well when my hubbs picked out this shirt for my godson we both immediately looked at each other and said "superhero cookies!" Since my godson tells people that his "godmother in California makes really good cookies" I could definitely not disappoint! So I made a small batch, just four (since he turned 4), just for him to enjoy! Apparently they made his day...love you my godson! Happy baking, happier eating!

the inspiration...

Crabby

2011-10-02T23:26:00.000-07:00

Yep, that about sums up how I feel today...CRABBY! I decided to go ahead and act as though I was still 18 and play 2 hours of beach volleyball yesterday at my work retreat. Well guess what...I am definitely not 18 and I am feeling every part of that today! What was I thinking...I was diving and blocking like I hadn't missed a beat since high school, but again I emphasize...I have missed plenty of beats and was so not in good enough shape to be 'goin all out' like that! So since I am feeling a bit crabby, I figure what better time to post some recent crab cookies I did for a 1st birthday!
I love when people show me the party theme or the invitation or whatever inspiration they have for the party because it really helps me fine tune my design. I was given the link for this little guys birthday party theme and therefore I was able to make the crab cookies look just like the rest of the party stuff! I think this little guy is so cute and as my hunny says, "he looks punch drunk" and I agree!

Happy baking, happier eating!

Dainty

2011-10-02T23:13:00.000-07:00

These dainty little cookies were made for a wonderful friend's grandmother who apparently really enjoys my cookies. This is yet another huge part of why I love this whole baking thing...so satisfying have people love what you make them! I was going for simple beauty and wanted to keep the color theme simple (coral & black, I almost did ivory & black but changed my mind at the last minute!) So this is what I came up with...happy baking, happier eating!

100th Day Celebration

2011-10-02T00:08:00.000-07:00

You know what is one of my most favorite parts about this whole baking thing I do? Learning about all of the different things people celebrate! It's so exciting to know that no matter what, people celebrate! Mr. Poor Economy, you can kiss my butter because guess what...come rain or shine one thing you can't steal from us is the excitement of celebration!
One of the most recent celebrations I learned about through doing a cake was the Korean 100th day celebration. The Korean people believe that the first 100 days of life are a difficult time. Therefore once a baby makes it to the 100th day, there is a celebration to thank the god that protects the baby & mother during this difficult time.
Cool right?
So this is the cake that I made for a 100th day celebration. The cake was vanilla bean with raspberry cream filling & Swiss meringue buttercream, Yum! The party colors were pink and purple so I did various shades of purple buttercream flowers with just a splash of pink. What a great reason to celebrate!

pink disco dust makes everything better...

Happy Baking, Happier Eating!

Baby Shower Treats

2011-09-28T14:17:00.000-07:00

For some reason I cannot think of an interesting title for this post...I am stumped! I wanted to name it 'clothesline baby' but then when I wrote it out, I realize I don't know how to spell clothesline! So I decided I don't want my title to have a poorly misspelled word and for anyone just looking at my post titles to be like "man this girls does not know how to spell!" So I figure the potentially misspelled word fits better in the body of the post. I know what you are thinking...wouldn't it have just been easier to Google the word and not write this whole paragraph on not being able to spell? Well yes, that would be easier, and yes I thought of that, but...this is a blog, and blogs are honest thoughts, and honestly, I am a terrible speller (? word probably not). It is sort of a trait you must exhibit to be a doctor, you pretty much have to be a poor spelling bee contestant. I blame it on the fact that we spend years learning these crazy Latin terms and names of things that have no "sounding out" ability. So I blame my lack of spelling on that! The other problem I had with this title is...doesn't it sort of sound like there would be a baby hanging on the clothesline, yeah, definitely not! The point of this whole post is to show you the treats I made for a dear friend of mine who is having a baby! Yay! And had the most sophisticated shower I've ever been to that happened to have a clothesline theme. So long story short, I tried to keep the clothesline theme in both the cake and the cookies I made for the shower.

The invitation was my inspiration. Initially I thought I would do some simple onesies, orange with white polka dots, but somehow I lost my onesie cutter. Losing it was a blessing in disguise because it forced me to do an even better idea! I loved how the clothesline cookies came out! They were placed at each person's place setting at the table which was perfect!

the invite

As for the cake, the flavor was an easy decision...carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, the mother to be's fave. I had this great idea for the cake completely spacing out that it is near impossible to do anything too decorative with cream cheese frosting, so you just have to roll with the punches and go to plan B. So this is what I came up with. Blue sky with clouds and a little chickie standing beneath a clothesline that I crafted out of cake pillars, skewers & twine. So check, check, check it out!

Happy Baking, Happier Eating!

Wedding Bells

2011-09-18T16:44:00.000-07:00

As you know, I have been a busy bee these last two months. The best part about my busy-ness is that I got to be a part of two of my bestest-friends' weddings: my sister & my sister-like childhood friend.
As you know, I am still waiting on cashing in on the photographer's pics of the awesome dessert spread I did (with a ton of help from my mom) for my sister's wedding, because silly me forgot to snap some shots...duh! Fortunately, I did manage to get a couple of shots of the cake I did for my friend's wedding but silly me again did not get a pic of the final set-up or of the 150 individual strawberry shortcakes that again my mom and I put together...duh!
So I will describe in words while I hope the photographer gives me some smashing shots of the dessert table in the very near future!
"C" aka sister-like childhood friend, LOVES her some strawberry shortcake, so naturally she wanted strawberry shortcake at her wedding. In addition, C & J (aka bride & groom) were getting hitched at a berry farm in our home town, so again...the strawberry thing fit right in. Instead of doing just any ole strawberry shortcake, as we all know historically speaking strawberry shortcake is not the most decorative of desserts. I had the idea of doing each one individually in a mason jar. Fortunately C & J went for it and they turned out perfectly! As a side note, can I just mention that C & J have had a crush on each other since 5th grade...but didn't really date until their 20s and now they've gone and tied the knot! So cute dontcha think? Okay, back to cakes...so I baked 7 full sheet pans of rich buttery cake. Then with a lot of help from the bride, cut out 150 cake circles using a 3.5" circle cookie cutter. We then plopped them into the bottom of the pre-ribboned jars (which BTW the mother of the bride likely spent DAYS tying bows on each of the 150 jars) and prep'd them for filling. We had a strawberry slicing party thinking we had more than enough strawberries and later my mom had a strawberry slicing party of her own when her & I realized we were short, thank the Lord for my mama! On the day of the wedding my mom and I had one heck of an assembly line. My mom filled every jar with strawberries and I made 1.5 gallons of fresh vanilla bean whipped cream and piped each one with just enough...have you ever seen what 1.5 gallons of heavy whipping cream looks like!?! Then we sealed them shut and placed a little C&J sticker on top (even my wonderful hubs got in on this action). We then brought them to the farm and waited for the perfect time to put them out to make sure they didn't get too hot. Fortunately a thunder storm broke and brought the newlyweds best of luck in their marriage and brought the 95 degree heat down to mid 70s so that we could set-up the most perfect dessert table with a precious little wedding cake and 150 strawberry shortcakes on the most enormous cupcake stand I have ever laid eyes on!

unfortunately, this is the only picture I got of the strawberry shortcakes...

they are missing strawberries, whipped cream and lids!

As for the actual wedding cake, C & J wanted something small and just enough to slice for the cake eating portion of the reception. So I made a two tier vanilla bean cake with strawberry buttercream filling & Swiss meringue buttercream frosting (my personal fave in the frosting department) with some fondant strawberries on top. Since the reception was at this cool, rustic berry farm, I wanted the cake to take on a similar theme. So I did the green scroll work on the bottom tier to match the invitation and used the strawberries and gnarly sticks as a cake topper. I really loved how the cake turned out! Unfortunately or fortunately? the cake was just enough for everyone to want a piece and the entire thing got eaten! However, this is the best part about having your bff as your baker because she will gladly remake the cake top for your 1-year anniversary and then you are eating delicious fresh cake not frozen year old cake!
So that is about it you all! It was a great celebration and I hope you enjoy a couple of pics!

fondant strawberry...I made a bunch of these little guys

the cake detail that matched their invitation (below)

the beautiful bride!

Happy baking, happier eating!

Fire Truck Birthday Party

2011-09-18T16:21:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I was asked to do some treats for a 3 year old's birthday party. The theme was fire trucks and his mom is a terrific party planner who had thought of everything! The set-up was adorable and she even had red and yellow chairs to match the red & yellow bouncy house that was shaped like a fire truck!
This kiddos mom wanted to stay away from cake so I did chocolate sandwich cookies with vanilla cream filling, vanilla bean sandwich cookies with vanilla cream and of course some fire truck sugar cookies. To make the sandwich cookies even cuter, his mom had gotten these adorable fire truck pics that I placed in each of the sandwich cookies. Everything looked great and she was so nice to send me pictures of her final set-up. Good thing because I totally didn't! So here are the pics that she sent me, isn't her lil guy adorable? I don't think I've ever seen a face that wanted a cookie so bad, great marketing, lol!

Happy baking, happier eating!

Almost Sugar-Free Cake

2011-09-13T18:22:00.000-07:00

I know what you are thinking, seriously, what could be good without sugar...yeah yeah, I hear ya! But for some of us, the processing of sugar is not quite so easy and unfortunately if you are born with a sweet tooth yet don't process sugar well, you are well...in between a rock and a hard place. But...I have a little bit of a solution, baking sugar-free!

So I found some great on-line sources for sugar-free baking, we have come a long way in 10 years I tell ya. So I tried out a cake and a frosting recipe and added a couple of my own additions. Overall, the cake and frosting were pretty darn good! I am unfortunately super sensitive to the taste of any sugar replacement. I wouldn't go so far as to saying I am a "super-taster" as my big sis calls it, but it just doesn't sit right on the ole taste buds. I used Splenda which I hear is the best of the sugar replacements and it was pretty decent.
In terms of the overall review of the recipes I used here is what I think...
Cake: texture is similar to angel food cake that is on the denser side. It also tastes a bit like angel food. It is pretty decent on its own or with frosting.
Frosting: texture of the frosting is totally perfect, loved it! I will actually probably use this frosting in the future in a non-sugar-free form. As for taste, I would give it an A in the sugar-free world, again not a huge fan of sugar replacements, but you know, you do what you can do!

Cake: slightly modified from Food.com

1 1/2 cups Splenda
3 3/4 cups cake flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup sugar
2/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
7 egg whites
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
1.5 tablespoons vanilla paste

This cake is a little different from most in that you basically start by mixing all of the dry ingredients together in your bowl, then mix in the butter. You will have a paste like situation. Then add in your eggs, mix well and finally add in the buttermilk and vanilla. Bake at 350 as per the pan you are using.

Frosting: slightly modified from Allrecipes.com

1 (1.4 ounce) package sugar-free instant pudding mix *I used 2 oz. of SF lemon
1.5 cups milk
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
1 (8 ounce) container lite frozen whipped topping, thawed
1 TBSP vanilla bean paste

In a medium bowl, combine pudding mix and milk. Mix well and let stand until thickened.
In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add pudding and mix well. Finally, fold in whipped topping.

Filling:

I used my lemon curd for the filling, I know its not sugar free but it is so good and I reasoned out that there is not THAT much sugar in it! Hey let me know if you try out the lemon curd with Splenda...I'd be interested in hearing about it!

See why I like the vanilla bean paste? You can see the beans in the frosting, love that! Oh BTW...I did not make these flowers, I had them left over from a previous cake that I made years ago before I knew you could make them yourself!

Happy Baking, Happier Eating!

Catching Up...

2011-09-02T04:16:00.000-07:00

Seriously?!?! Seriously?!?! How the heck is it September ~~1st~~ 2nd and I am pretty sure I haven't posted at all in the last month! So saddening! Not to worry, I have been doing a LOT of baking but just haven't been doing much sharing :( sometimes there just aren't enough hours in a day, well there pretty much are never enough hours in my world!

So you ask...what have I been up to...let me count the ways...I have been on a "real job" search because just in case you are interested in my countdown, I have less than 10 months until I am done with my 12 year journey of school, more school, and residency! That's right, I will be on my own, and I cannot wait! So naturally, I have got to get a job lined up! In addition to that, I have been doing my fare share of baking and decorating, wouldn't want to let you all down. So pardon the mass post, but here is what I have been workin' on...

Alfajores: homemade dulce de leche sandwich'd between two flaky buttery cookies...these were for a sophisticated bridal shower tea.

In addition, I made these for cookie favors, think I loved them!

My next big deal was my wonderful sister's wedding...I am going to have to do an entire post on the extravaganza, however let's just say 6 different cakes, sandwich cookies, and a little thing called bread pudding...all prepared in a summer camp! The only bad thing...I didn't get a SINGLE picture except the one below of the sugar cookie cake topper I made...so I can't post all about it until I get the pics from the photographers!

(Like how I posted the pic twice? I pretty much love this lil' thing!)

Right after the wedding, I did some baby shower cookies for a little gal named Taylor. Chocolate cookies with deep pink & white icing.

I then made sandwich cookies galore and adorable firetruck sugar cookies for a 3rd birthday (more on that to come). And finally, I made this little cake, which actually, despite not having slept the night before (because of the "real job"), I ended up really liking it! It was a sugar-free cake (hard to imagine, I know) that I will definitely be posting about, because rumor has it, it was actually delicious! Who knew fake sugar could be so good!

Now, I leave you with that...I will be seeing you all soon with lots more about what I have been up to with recipes!!! Scouts honor, lol!

Happy baking, happier eating!

Happy August!

2011-08-02T23:07:00.000-07:00

Hi all! So I have been busy busy with lots-o-baking but I wanted to post this to kick of the month and also I wanted to send out a happy happy birthday to my little brother, my brother-in-law to be, and my best friend-in-law to be (hmm...what does that mean you wonder? My best friends fiance of course), and what better way than to show off a birthday cake I made this past weekend!
Now, I cannot take credit for the design of the cake because the woman who ordered the cake showed me the pic of how she wanted it. However, I will take credit for the hours I put into making every part of this guy edible...even the treasure chest! Let me tell you, it was a challenge but I LOVED doing it! It was chocolate, vanilla, and red velvet with cream cheese frosting and fondant cover/decor. If you want to check out the cake I designed it after...click here

Here are some cookies I did in addition for the pirate birthday theme

another shot...

a close up of the fondant skull & crossbones...

more views of the middle "map" layer...

Hope all is well with you all and as usual...Happy Baking...Happier Eating!

A Favorite...

2011-07-13T15:05:00.000-07:00

So I'm definitely not re-inventing any wheels here with these cookies, but what I am doing is enticing your tastebuds through visual cues to break out your peanut butter and get to baking! You know you want to, even if it means heating up the kitchen in these dog days of summer!

Good Ole Peanut Butter Cookies: (adapted from Bon Appetit)

makes 36 medium size cookies

3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cup JIF creamy peanut butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1-2 cups chocolate chips! Depending on how chocolateeeee you want them...I used milk chocolate but do as you like!

Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix flour, baking powder and salt in medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter until creamy, and peanut butter and beat until perfectly smooth and creamy. Beat in both sugars. Next mix in the vanilla and eggs, one egg at a time. Mixture will be a consistency similar to cottage cheese at this point :) Scrape down sides of bowl. Slowly encorporate the dry ingredients until fully mixed.

Grab out some handfuls and plop them on the cookie sheet (yes, this is literally what I do) Then with the finest sophistication, press your fingers into the middle to spread the dough out and make them into a circular flat disk sorta thing. Know what I mean? Now you are ready to bake, pop them in the oven until just golden, about 10-14 mins depending on size.

Alright, have at em...they are yummy! Happy baking, happier eating!

Ice Cream Sandwiches

2011-07-07T23:53:00.000-07:00

Ever want to make ice cream sandwiches but you know the ice cream part won't last but a second in the summer sun? Then try making a literal ice cream sandwich cookie! I had a 4th of July party to go to and you know...my 'thing' is sandwich cookies (hard to tell with all the sugar cookies I do!) So naturally I wanted to do something in the sandwich cookie family but I didn't have a lot of time so I got creative and made chocolate-filled-vanilla-ice-cream-sandwich-cookies. They were the perfect mini sweet treat for an afternoon of heat!

To make these I simply cut out the mini cones from some sugar cookie dough (I always have dough rolled out in my freezer, makes life simpler). I under-baked them just slightly to make sure they are soft just like the filling. Then I made the below recipe for the chocolate filling. Once the filling is made, I roll it out between 2 sheets of crisco'd (this is now a word, lol) plastic wrap and then I cut it out with the same cutter I used to make the cookies...clever eh? That way you have perfectly matching cookies & cream! Then simply press your cream between you cookies and enjoy!

Chocolate Cream Filling: (modified from The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion)

3/4 tsp. gelatin
1 tbsp. water
1/4 cup shortening
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder

In small bowl, soften gelatin with water and place in a larger bowl of hot water until fully dissolved.

In meantime, cream shortening and vanilla, then add in dry ingredients, cream together. Finally add in the gelatin and mix to combine.

Well there you have it...enjoy! Happy baking...happier eating!

Summer Fun!

2011-07-07T21:23:00.000-07:00

These were some cookies I did for a friend from high school. She is throwing a dual birthday party for her two boys and wanted to give out some cookie favors! Yay! She wanted a luau theme with the 4 cookies below. Happy baking...happier eating!

X Rated (18 and over only)!

2011-07-02T23:14:00.000-07:00

Alright you all, you've twisted my arm...so here are the non-G rated cookies I did in conjunction with the rainbow cookies I showed you last week! In addition to those, you will also find some hot pink cookies I made for my sister's bachellorette party! What party is a party without cookies!?!? So check them out via the link below, I want to keep my blog G-rated so you will have to click below to find them. REMEMBER IF YOU ARE NOT 18, YOU SHOULD NOT BE LOOKING! Happy baking, happier eating!

X-Photos

Bridal Shower

2011-06-30T14:45:00.000-07:00

These may be one if my recent faves! I was asked to do some favors for a bridal shower that was going to be a lingerie party. The hostess of the party wanted to do lolli-cookies and I thought what a great idea to do a pair of matching top & bottom lingerie together on the stick! I think they turned out just as I had planned and I even made a special one just for the bride!

Happy Baking...Happier Eating!

Rainbows Galore!

2011-06-30T14:39:00.000-07:00

So this next set makes me very sad... I made them for a group of people celebrating the Gay-Pride festival in Chicago this past weekend. I popped them in the mail last Wednesday and to my despair found out today that they never made it :( I spent a LOT of time on these so they would be just perfect and I'm so sad they got lost where ever it is packages get lost at! Well I hope the person who stole them enjoys them...
Now, there were a few other cookies with this set, however since I run a PG blog around here, I am not going to post them...unless you really persuade me, lol!

Happy Baking...Happier Eating!

A Lotta Boy!

2011-06-29T12:38:00.000-07:00

OMG can I just tell you how thrilled I am right now, I just realized there is a Droid application for Blogger...YIPPEE! Now I have no excuse! So exciting I tell ya!
So since I have no excuse I'm going to post some more pics! These gems I made for a lady at work while nephews were coming into town and she wanted to spoil them with some sugar cookies! Nice auntie, right?!?! The order request was to make them "boy theme" and mentioned they like superheros, trucks, and anything "boy." So I had fun, there were 3 boys so I made 3 of each cookie and I tried to make a pair of cookies to fit an inner theme...so here they are!
Superheros:

Creepy-Crawlers:

Trucks:

Dinoaurs:

Hope you all have a happy Wednesday! Happy baking, happier eating!

Scrub Tops

2011-06-27T13:49:00.000-07:00

These were ordered by a good friend who recently finished her residency program and wanted to give all of her fellow coworkers a little something to say congrats. This idea was from something my friend saw on ETSY and I wish I could give that person credit but I don't know who they are, any way you look at it, they were a great design! Congrats all of you new docs!

Pirate Cookies!

2011-06-27T13:29:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! I have returned from a very wonderful, un-relaxing, but very fun 2 weeks of vacation, and by vacation I mean 2 weeks free of my "real job" and a lot of traveling amongst our wonderful country and keeping busy in the kitchen ;) After all, vacation is a subjective term, right?

So I am going to rapid fire some posts with pics and then a couple that may take a bit longer with recipes...yay recipes! Hope you all enjoy!

The first set of cookies I am posting is a set I did at the beginning of June for a little girl who wanted a pirate party! I love the pirate theme, but I really LOVE the pirate theme for a little girl! I tried to make it just girlie enough without losing the pirate look!

Teddy Bear 1st Birthday!

2011-06-08T18:57:00.000-07:00

Wow, where is time going. Ya know, I know I say that a lot, but seriously...where is it going. It's like I blink and suddenly it is almost the middle of June and more importantly almost our first wedding anniversary! Can you believe a year already, ummm...I cannot! And where better to celebrate you ask? Yep, that's right...we're headin' to Texas and I cannot wait! I have always been a southern gal at heart, even though I was raised in the sticks of Northern Nevada, and I am looking so forward to checking out all that Texas has to offer!
So back to why I am here today, weeks since I last posted anything, it is crazy dontcha think! I wanted to share a dessert theme I did for a little lady turning one. I realized I love doing entire dessert themes, it is so fun to tie it all together!
Of course there were sugar cookies for favors and while I was at it with the sugar cookies, I decided to take a great idea from Callye and make some mini sugar cookies on sticks for cupcake toppers.

So obviously if there were cupcake toppers, there were cupcakes. Two varieties: chocolate with creamy fudge frosting and vanilla bean with vanilla-caramel frosting.

Finally there was cake, a 'smash cake' of course, frosted with lots and lots of baby pink frosting perfect for the birthday girls excited hands to plop into! The cake was vanilla bean cake with good ole' sugary buttercream goodness! Yummy!

Well I hope that all of you are well, and I know many of you have asked for some recipes and I have all intentions of posting some of the recipes I have recently made, I PROMISE! I just gotta find a couple more hours in the day! Happy baking y'all (gotta practice, lol) happier eating!

Toy Trucks!

2011-05-24T16:54:00.000-07:00

These next cookies are some of my favorites! I made them for a 2nd birthday party and they turned out just as I had hoped, a little old-school style toy truck flair to each of them.
I had to get a bit creative with the tow-truck and the cement truck. For the tow truck, the cutter I had was not as big as the other trucks I was using for the set. So since I know how kids are and I know that they would be bummed if they got a smaller cookie than the others, I had to make it a bit bigger by adding the towed truck with a broken window behind it. I think these may be my favorites of the bunch! As for the cement truck, I couldn't find a cement mixer cutter, so I improvised. I took a basic truck cutter, cut off the bed of the truck and used my 2" circle cutter (smooshed into an oval) to create the cement mixing part of the truck. Did ya get all that? Lol, I think you can see what I mean when you look at the pics. Unfortunately, I was running low on time, so a tutorial for these gems was not in the stars. So you will have to use your imagination and I am free to ask questions if you really want to know how I did it! Sorry for the blahblah picture quality...it is so hard for me to finish cookies during the daylight hours and therefore my pics do the cookies no justice when taken at night in artificial light! Anyway, hope you all are having a lovely week...happy baking, happier eating!

See why I love these ones???

Paris!

2011-05-22T23:27:00.000-07:00

I absolutely love when I get a challenging request...well let me re-phrase that...I absolutely love when I get a challenging request and it actually turns out! I got asked to make these Paris themed cookies for a girl from work. She requested the two designs and since I didn't have time to order up some new cutters, I decided that I would test out the ole free-hand skills yet again. Fortunately they turned out just how I envisioned, and I only had to say a few curse words when my ultra thin tip was getting clogged up with black RI. I couldn't help it!

Although it is difficult to tell in the pictures, I used the classic Paris color combo of light pink and black. They were dainty and just perfect for the birthday girl! Happy baking, happier eating!

Thank You!

2011-05-19T21:52:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to send out a huge THANK YOU to Callye for asking me to guest post for her May Flowers series! Head over to her AMAZING blog and check out my guest post! Also...welcome all of my new followers! Can't wait to share with you all!

Flour Cake...

2011-05-17T22:17:00.000-07:00

Hope the week is treating all of you well! I just wanted to post a few quick pics of a cake I did for Mother's day for a gent I work with who ordered it for his wife. The cake was to die for...hopefully...chocolate brownie cake with salted caramel filling and chocolate caramel ganache frosting...sounds like a food coma waiting to happen, eh?

Happy baking, happier eating!

Itty Bitty Bee Tutorial

2011-05-15T16:53:00.000-07:00

So here is a short and sweet tutorial on cutting out your own itty bitty bees to make, in my opinion...the cutest little bee cookies you'll ever see! They are so simple and it beats buying a bumble bee cutter, which trust me, I have looked through bunches of sites for the perfect bee cutter, and yet have had no luck finding it! So here you go!
Supplies:

mini heart cutter
large piping tip (1M or equivalent size), you can also use a 1" circle cutter if you have that instead.
sugar cookie dough & icing

Now I am just going to show the steps in creating the cookie, I will leave the decorating up to you. Mostly because by the time I got to decorating these cuties the sun was no longer cooperating with photo time, and I am not a fan of yellow tinted photos from artificial light. But you can see my finished product above!

First off, cut out your hearts and mini circles. I was making about 40 of these little guys, so I cut out all of my hearts, popped them in the freezer. Then cut out all of the circles and popped them in the freezer to hold their shape.

Next take your circle cutter and cut off the bottom of the heart, just leaving your "wing" portion.

After the pieces have had a few minutes to re-set in the freezer, put them together like so. You do not want them to be too mushy (technical term) because otherwise you will lose their shape so make sure you've got a good freeze on them before you do this step. Once they are together...bake em off!

Voila! Now you are ready for decorating!

Happy baking, happier eating!

Bumble Bees & Sunflowers

2011-05-07T22:39:00.000-07:00

Here is a quick sneak peak on some cookies favors that I made for a 1st birthday. The request was one large sunflower and 2 mini bees per favor. So I searched and searched for the perfect bee cookie cutter without success, I decided I may as well make my own! So look out soon for a quick tutorial on cutting out your own itty bitty bees! Happy baking, happier eating!

Woodland Critters

2011-05-07T22:19:00.000-07:00

So I really must say, these cookies may just be my favorite baby shower favors I have made yet! My dear friend Brook asked me to make some baby shower favors for a friend of hers that she was throwing a shower for...and the theme was forest animals & the shower was going to be in shades of green. So after a short little discussion, we came up with various trees and woodland critters and I must say, these cookies turned out just as I saw them in my head. I love when that happens because often it is the opposite! I hope all of you moms out there in blogland have a FABULOUS Mother's Day, and to my very special, amazing mother...Happy Mother's Day! Happy baking, happier eating!

Lots of fun trees...

Lil Critters...

Better Late Than Never?

2011-04-30T23:22:00.000-07:00

Ummmmm yes, I am 100% lameness when it comes to blogging lately! I just have not had any time, which I understand is totally a lame excuse, I am sorry, but as I said, I am 100% lameness right now, so just deal! Anyway, I wanted to post the pics of the very limited Easter cookies I did. Although I had intentions of doing a bunch of Easter designs and sending them to all of my family and friends and then also dropping some off on all of my neighbors doorsteps...alas, I did none of the sort, and just barely made these.
So...now that we are past my apologies of having no time, I hope you enjoy looking at bunnies a week after Easter. If only they would still sell Cadbury Eggs a week after Easter...hmmm...that would be a great thing! Well, I hope you all had a lovely holiday and I promise to get more interesting posts with cool pics and recipes soon! Happy Baking, Happier Eating!

Tutorial

2011-04-12T16:41:00.000-07:00

Hi all! Just wanted to let you know to head on over to The Baking Sheet to check out my tutorial on brush embroidery flowers(on cake pops). In addition to checking out the tutorial, take a minute (or an hour) to check out Loren's AMAZING work! Everything she makes is simply stunning and she is even featured in a 1,000 Ideas for Decorating Cupcakes, Cookies, and Cakes with 3 of her creations! So head on over and prepare to be impressed!

Happy baking, happier eating!

Brushing Bride!

2011-04-05T18:49:00.000-07:00

Here is a cake that I made for a bridal shower that I employed the ever so popular brush embroidery. It was a divine cake: vanilla bean cake with raspberry mousse filling and Swiss meringue buttercream. Rich in taste but light in texture! I love using the brush embroidery technique with buttercream, it mixes the two colors just enough to make them look more natural.

Happy Baking, Happier Eating!

Sea Sugar

2011-03-27T21:50:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time, this girl turned 30 and received some adorable sea-life cookie cutters. This girl's plan was to use these adorable sea-life cutters ASAP, but sadly life got in the way. Fortunately this past week, life got out of the way and this girl got to make some adorable sea sugar! What is better than sea sugar you ask...sea sugar on sticks, because everything is better on a stick, even sugar cookies! Please come check out my lollicookies!

Happy Baking, Happier Eating!

Oooh Baby Baby...

2011-03-27T21:40:00.000-07:00

Today I wanted to share with you probably my most favorite baby cookies I have made for a while. My goal was to make them sophisticated, modern and gender neutral.

So Just 19 more followers to go before I give away those adorable little cupcake luggage tags, I know we can get there, help a gal out! Happy Baking, Happier Eating!

Flickr

2011-03-18T23:05:00.000-07:00

Yeah yeah, so I am a bit slow sometimes...but I am finally on Flickr! Probably did things a bit backward compared to most, but I figure better late than never! Come check it out for new updates!

Jungle Boogie!

2011-03-16T22:35:00.000-07:00

So...a while back I had a plan to do a brief tutorial on my Jungle cookies that have become quite popular for baby showers...and I am happy to say I am FINALLY doing it! I am kicking my own butt into gear right now! No more slacking!
Ok so, I have posted my jungle cookies before but I thought it would be fun to do a quick tutorial on how I make the most interesting one...in my opinion of course...the lion!
First off you need the cookie cutter. I have the 3-piece jungle theme by Wilton because I seem to like faces more than the entire body, but I am sure you could use some of what I do even if you have a full body lion cutter. That statement just sounds so funny!
Anyway...bake off your cookies (I love when Paula Dean says that, must be a Southern thing...man I so wish I were from the South!), let cool, make royal icing etc. you know the drill.
Now for the deets...

As for the colors you will need:

golden yellow flood icing: equal parts gold and lemon yellow for the face
light pink flood icing: small amount for the ears
chocolate brown really thick piping icing: for any cookies that I have a lot of texture or detail on, I always use really thick royal icing. I make my normal batch of RI, take out the amount I need for the thick icing, color it, and then add a little extra powdered sugar (by hand) until it makes stiff peaks.
white piping icing for the eyes
black piping icing for the pupils and mouth

Now for the picture tutorial...

Notice that it does not matter if the yellow is perfectly uniform

because the edges will be covered with the mane.

Now put your pink accents in the ears, yes I know it looks

like white, but I assure you it is pink.

With your really thick brown icing fitted with an open star tip (I use #22) start piping the mane.

Go all the way around (skipping the ears) sometimes on the bottom I add

two layers of mane, just depends how it looks to my eye once it is on. If it

is too sparse I add another if it looks good, I leave it!

Now take a closed star tip (I use #16) and fill in the ear areas with mane. I have tried

it with the larger open star tip and it really does not look as good.

Put on his face...nose first, dry, eyes, dry, mouth, dry, done!

{yes this guy is different than the one I showed in the tutorial because the pic

I took of the final tutorial lion turned out really grainy}

Well all, hope you enjoy making these lions as much as I do, and beware when you make them, they all have a little personality of their own.

Happy Baking, Happier Eating!

One!

2011-03-15T22:05:00.000-07:00

Isn't one such a fabulous age! I think so! I was so excited when I got asked to make these cookies by a friend from college. She wanted to give them to a friend who's daughter, Violet, was having a 1st birthday. Here is what I came up with...and I have a little tutorial on how to make the flowers.

Put your number right in the middle.

With really thick royal icing & tip #81 (curved side up) pipe a

plus sign making each side equal in length.

Pipe 4 more equal length segments in between the 4 arms of the plus sign.

Fill the entire bottom with long segment, then start overlapping with shorter segments

until you have about 4 layers on top of eachother. Then simply fill in the top with

short segments to make the mum look full.

Place 3-6 colored sugar pearls in the center. Remember don't spend a bunch

of money on buying sugar pearls in every color of the rainbow, you can easily

make a variety of colors by following my tutorial.

Happy Baking, Happier Eating!

Happy Birthday Hubby!

2011-03-13T21:53:00.000-07:00

Just wondering...does cake and coffee constitute a balanced meal? Hope so because I think I had it for at least two meals today. Don't judge because I know if you were at my house with this cake lying around, you too would convince yourself it is totally a balanced addition to any beverage, wine anyone?
So as I said it was my wonderful Barry's thirty-ish birthday yesterday, so of course I had to make him a wonderful birthday cake with all of his favorite ingredients! I had recently read this amazing gals blog which she said was referred to as being "calorie heavy" (aka my kind of recipes) and I had the idea to use her concept with a bit of a twist. So instead of using chocolate covered cherries as the filling, I used Reese's miniature peanut butter cups, and instead of doing just one layer, I figured why not two? So just in case you are having a hard time picturing, here is what it looked like. Please for the how-to, refer to Amanda's tutorial...she has a great one!

For the cake, I used just a basic butter cake recipe.

For the frosting between the layers I used a peanut butter buttercream:

1 cup peanut butter
1 stick of butter
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar

Finally for the frosting covering the cake I used a basic chocolate buttercream:

1 stick of butter
2/3 cup of cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
3 T. milk
1/4 tsp salt

Let me just tell you, this cake is pretty much DIVINE, however it is REALLY difficult to finish a whole piece, so my advice, set it on your kitchen table with a fork and just take a few bites every time you pass by it, that way you don't overdose! Happy baking, happier eating!

Henna Cake

2011-03-09T22:04:00.000-08:00

Party people, we are at 100 followers! Way to go...only 25 more until I can give those lucky people the adorable cupcake luggage tags! If you have no idea what I am talking about, check out my on-going giveaway!
So what am I sharing today, a cake that I made a couple of weeks ago for a 30th birthday. I had a lot of fun with this cake and I am hoping to have a tutorial on it soon. The problem is that I am usually pretty pressed for time when it comes to my baking (damn day job) so I rarely take pics for a tutorial. But I promise, someday soon!

This cake has some definite pros and cons...

Pros:

looks amazing
creative & fun
hides flaws in your frosting job

Cons:

very time consuming!
your hand will be sore from piping
if you are a perfectionist like me, it will be hard to get over the fact it is not going to look 100% perfect because it is a work of art and perfect in its own way!

Okay give it a try if you like, and by all means if you give it a shot, post pictures to my facebook page, I would love to see what you create! Just have fun with it! And if you are not a caker but you are a cookier (yes those are both nouns, lol!) try it on your next batch of cookies!

Happy Baking, Happier Eating!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Shortbread

2011-03-06T22:18:00.000-08:00

So if you are like me...the title of this post has more than enticed you to read a bit further. Chocolate...Peanut Butter...Shortbread! Yes it is as good as it sounds, maybe even better than it sounds! Because it is the week before a very special day, my hunny's birthday, I figured I would share a recipe that I made for him a couple of months ago.
I have been meaning to share this recipe for weeks and I have no idea why it has taken me so long to get my act together and post about it. Well I sort of know why it has taken me so long, I have NO time! I usually do not make that excuse, it is just one of those statements I have never been too fond of, because in all truth, we all have time. That is one thing that is certain in this life, time will always be there, it will also continue to tick away, so saying you have no time defies logic. But when we are saying that, we simply mean we do not have enough time to do the things we WANT to do because we are too busy using our time up for the things we HAVE to do! So that is my excuse, I have not had enough time to get to all of the things I want to do lately; therefore, something had to give and sadly it is my baking and blogging. But now that I'm here lets chat about this scrumptious treat!First off, let me tell you, this recipe is SUPER easy and it requires just a few simple ingredients, so what's not to love! I originally saw this recipe on Martha's Cookie Of The Day blog and I starred it in my mailbox because I knew it would be a great treat to make for my husband. Since he is my number one taste tester and eats all of my "goofs," I figured this treat was the perfect way to show him my appreciation for working so hard!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Shortbread Squares:

Vegetable oil cooking spray
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons coarse salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, melted
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar

Coat a 9x9-inch square baking pan with cooking spray. Line with parchment, leaving a 2-inch overhang on 2 sides, and coat parchment with spray.
Beat butter with a mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Add sugar, and beat until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture, beating until just incorporated. Press dough evenly into pan, prick fork over dough to prevent air bubbles when baking. Cover, and refrigerate until firm, about 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Bake shortbread until golden brown and firm in center, 45 to 50 minutes. Let shortbread cool in pan on a wire rack.
Use parchment to unmold shortbread from pan, and trim edges to create a square. Cream peanut butter, powdered sugar and vanilla until fluffy. Spread peanut butter muxture evenly on shortbread.

Melt chocolate in 30 second intervals until melted, careful not to overheat. Place melted chocolate in piping bag fitted with a circular tip (or just cut off the tip of the bag). Pipe chocolate design over the peanut butter. Allow to set. Cut into squares and enjoy!

Happy Baking, Happier Eating!

Giveaway!

2011-02-27T14:31:00.000-08:00

So I promise to get out of my blogging drought, I dont know what the heck happened to February, how is it gone already, I swear it was just the 1st and somehow Valentine's Day escaped me and now it is almost March, CRAZY! So because I have been in a drought and because I feel so badly for it, I am making it up by having a giveaway. But like all things that are free, there is a catch!
So here it is...because more is always better, well except according to the popular Notorious B.I.G. song 'Mo Money Mo Problems' man I used to love that song, we used to listen to it over and over before volleyball games in high school, and yes I am aware that I am dating myself with this statement! Ok back to the topic at hand...so lets just say 'Mo People Mo Betta' is the theme of this giveaway. I am hoping to increase my reader following and although it has been a slow and steady climb, I do believe that the more the merrier! So first off, what's up for grabs you ask...the most adorable cupcake luggage tag you will ever see (pictured above). I recently received one as a gift from a very wonderful person, and I love it so much that I want to share with all of you! Now how can you win, more importantly? Since I am in such a giving mood, I am offering not just one, but two and here is how you can win them:

I will be giving the first one to the 125th person to publically follow my blog (remember to leave me a comment if you are the 125th person to follow with your email address so I can contact you to get your shipping info). Also please include who referred you to my blog :)
I will be giving the second one to the person who refers the 125th person to follow my blog, because after all, gratitude is always a great gesture!
Now if the 125th person happens to stumble upon my blog without being referred by someone, I will be giving the second one away to one lucky person who wins it at random. This is how you enter to win at random in the event that there becomes a random winner: go visit my dear friend Carolyn's website at Thirty-One gifts and after you stop oogling all of the adorable things, come back here and post a comment to tell me what your favorite item is. Who knows, I may give away three if your lucky!
And just in case you are one of those people who just wants to get your own and not wait for the luck of the draw, here is how you can get your very own cupcake luggage tag:

go to Carolyn's Thirty-One page
click Place an Order at upper part of page
click Place an Order again in lower right area of the page
shop away! The cupcake luggage tag is under Accessories!

All right, so hopefully we are all not too confused, I hope you all are having a lovely Sunday and I hope to get a bunch of posts up this week, wish me luck! I have a lot of baking to share! Happy baking happier eating!

Frosting For The Cause

2011-02-26T22:51:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to tell you all to head on over the Frosting For The Cause and check out my guest posting. It is an amazing cause and I hope you take the time to explore the other great stories featured on the site. Happy Baking, Happier Eating!

Happy Hearts!

2011-02-14T20:45:00.000-08:00

Ok I hate doing short non-wordy posts...but being that I need to be unpacking and then I should probably think about sleeping at some point, here it goes. A picture-full post...I promise to get back in gear soon! Happy Baking, Happier Eating!

what's Valentine's Day without homemade oreos?!?!

and s'mores?!?!

and lots of sugar cookies...

Happy Valentines Day!

2011-02-14T20:33:00.000-08:00

Oh sweet Valentine, you have come again another year and now you leave us this night. Valentine's Day is not about the hype of commercial love but rather true love, and let me just say...I've got it! A short but sweet post to say thank you to my hubby for the best Valentine's gift ever...he unpacked and organized my computer and decorating area all while I was at work!!! Hands down better than any flower bouquet or box of chocolates! Oh how I love him!
To honor my Valentine I leave you with a snap shot of my his decorating expertise. Looks like I better watch out! He is on his way! Happy Baking, Happier Eating, and Happiest Valentine's Day!

Word Play {Part 2}

2011-02-03T19:19:00.000-08:00

Here are the rest:

Enemy:Natural

Concrete:Quiet

Wet:Spectacular

Punish:Delightful

Geometric:Truth

Dark:Dawn

Dry:Attractive

Bitter:Adorn

Harsh:Delight

Old:Excited

Tough:Ice

Happy Baking, Happier Eating!

Word Play {Part 1}

2011-02-03T19:08:00.000-08:00

So this past week I had an awesome opportunity to make some cookies for a photography exhibit opening. I was psyched! I obviously love to bake or decorate anything, but this was a new venture for me, total freedom to interpret the concept and display my interpretation on a sugar canvas. So here is the concept:
"Local photographers from The Shutter Clique picked two random words each - one positive and one negative - and will interpret their two words into a single image."
So how did I interpret this...originally I thought I would display one of the words in picture form and the other word in writing. However, after consulting my trusty partner (aka hubby) he suggested the picture should be something that can represent both of the words. Um hello, great idea! I did 30 cookies total: 21 word pairings and 9 logo cookies.

Noisy:Beautiful

(one of my faves)

Bad:Happy

Anguish:Virtue

Repulsive:Light

Hate:Calm

Vice:Charming

(I took this pic before I piped on the Charming)

Dusk:Gentle

(again, didn't have gentle piped on yet)

War:Accept

(awaiting drying to pipe accept on there)

Dirt:Friend

Ugly:Peaceful

Look for part 2...

Are You Ready...

2011-02-03T18:38:00.000-08:00

For some football!!! As you all know a very special day is coming upon us this Sunday...yep, that is right...Superbowl Sunday! In honor of 2 great teams (one obviously better than the other-go black & gold) I made some cookies to celebrate a great game to come! Happy Baking, Happier Eating!

Giveaway Results!

2011-01-27T12:12:00.000-08:00

Just want to congratulate Lisa who won the Jessie Steele oven mit! Yay!

Happy Baking...Happier Eating!

Lisa B. (Berksgirl) said...: Happy Blogiversary to you! :) I'm a new follower under GFC under Lisa B. and on Google Reader now...and can't wait to read all your posts. lisaberkery at gmail dot com

New Sandwich Cookies {Part 2}

2011-01-23T12:57:00.000-08:00

Let me warn you, read this post quickly, preheat your oven now, and get out your supplies PRONTO because these are the best cookies you may ever taste! I was asked to make some sandwich cookies for a birthday gift and whenever I do an order I always try to find out a little about the gift receiver. So for these I was told that the birthday girls favorite candy was plain ole Hershey's chocolate bars. Yum!
So I had a fabulous thought...what about Hershey's milk chocolate filling inside of a buttery chocolate chip cookie! Double YUM! It just so happened that I had recently seen a recipe, again on Callye's site, for chocolate chip roll out cookies. Ok these cookies are great at baseline...but when sandwich'd around my Hershey's filling...UNREAL! So here's what you do...make and bake your cookies, prepare your filling-chill slightly, and then assemble the sandwich cookies.
I made a couple of changes to the cookie recipe which I must say really amped it up a notch.

I used milk chocolate chips to stay in line with the milk chocolate filling.
I used one rounded tsp.(instead of 1/2 tsp.) of course salt, THIS IS KEY! When you are eating these delectable treats you will come across a piece of course salt and it gives you an unexplainable flavor burst and takes these cookies from a 10 to a 10+!

Ok so make your cookies with the above hints and the above link. Then lets get to the filling...my desire here was to minimize changing the taste of the Hershey's chocolate bar in any way, therefore I wanted to use non-dominating components to create a filling that is not only delicious but also sturdy enough to hold up in the mail since I was shipping them. So here is what I came up with.

Hershey's Chocolate Filling:

1/2 cup vegetable shortening (come on shortening is not bad for you, just use it!)
2-3 cups confectioners sugar
1/8 tsp. fine salt
1/2 tsp. butter-vanilla emulsion (or just regular vanilla extract works just fine)
1 1/2 king size Hershey's bars

Cream shortening, sugar, salt & vanilla until well combined. Melt the chocolate bars in the microwave in 30 second intervals (Hershey's melts quickly; hence its usefulness in S'mores, so be careful not to burn it). Allow chocolate to cool for 5 minutes and then fold chocolate into the shortening mixture. Fold until completely combined. Refrigerate a few minutes before spreading on your cookies.

Now to assemble, pair off all of your cookies. Spoon, spread or pipe the filling onto the bottom cookie and seal with the top cookie. Refrigerate to set.

Yields about 24 2" sandwich cookies

So I asked my hubby what the first thought that came to mind when he taste-tested the filling and he said...a Hershey's bar. This to me was a slam dunk as he had no idea what I was making or who I was making it for so therefore it was a blinded taste-test, right! And it does taste just like a Hershey's bar. So seriously stop reading this post and get your butt baking, these are worth it!

Happy Baking...Happier Eating!

New Sandwich Cookies {Part 1}

2011-01-22T22:32:00.000-08:00

So, you may not have noticed from my last few months of blogging about sugar cookies, but my "thing" is actually SANDWICH COOKIES. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE decorating sugar cookies and seeing how happy they make people, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE creating delectable sandwich cookies! The enjoyment created from a sandwich cookie is two-fold: they offer nostalgia as they bring adults back to their childhood when eating sandwich cookies was a daily event (Oreos anyone), and they combine the best components of the sweets world, cookies and frosting! Seriously what is better?

This past week, I have had not one but two very successful combos, so tonight I bring you the first...lemon-poppy seed cookies with lemon curd buttercream...sound good? If you are a lemon lover, then you will love these! I must give big THANKS to Ms. Callye for offering two great cookie recipes recently that helped to inspire both of my sandwich cookies.
To make these gems, you need to first of all make, bake and cool your cookies. I used Callye's recipe for lemon poppy seed cookies. The only changes I made were that I used real lemon juice (1 tbs) and double the amount of salt and vanilla. So while you are baking the cookies, go ahead and make your filling, it is always good to get a little chill on your filling before sandwiching the cookies around it.
Lemon Curd Buttercream:

1/2 cup butter
3 cups powdered sugar (or more if filling is too thin)
1/2-1 cup lemon curd-I have a great tutorial on making homemade lemon curd-it's so worth it! I actually make lemon curd every time I have yolks or whole eggs that need to be used (the recipe I use can handle either yolks or whole eggs). Then I freeze the whole batch in Tupperware and just bring it out when ever I need some. This curd freezes beautifully...ok enough about lemon curd.

Cream the butter and sugar until well combined. Fold in the lemon curd and continue folding until completely combined. Lick once or twice to taste test ;)

Now to assemble, pair off all of your cookies. Spoon, spread or pipe the filling onto the bottom cookie and seal with the top cookie. Refrigerate to set.

Yields approx 18 2" sandwich cookies

Happy Baking...Happier Eating!

Electric Pink!

2011-01-21T22:13:00.000-08:00

I will let you in on a little secret, I have never been much of a pink girl, but that was before I met electric pink. Now after our meeting, I must say that Ms. Electric has become one of my favorite colors especially when it comes to decorating with her! I did three orders last week and what did they have in common you ask? Yep, that is right, electric pink! Enjoy a couple of pics and stay tuned for a post sometime this weekend with two of my new favorite recipes, since we are talking about favorites and all!

I don't know if you can tell how truly vibrant and cool electric pink is because pink never photographs well, but just take my word for it...AWESOME!

Flamingo get-well soon gift

Happy Birthday cookies

Thank you gift

Happy Baking...Happier Eating!

Keeping With The Theme Of Birthdays!

2011-01-20T19:30:00.000-08:00

So as you all read it was my blog birthday yesterday and it was my birthday over the weekend. How old you ask...the big 3-0! Yay for getting older, I love it, I feel like every year it gets better and better! So what was a gal to do on her 30th birthday...have a party filled with lots of food, family, & friends! And that is exactly what I did! It was so much fun, I have not done much in terms of celebrating for my birthday in the last 8 or so years (I blame it on med-school and residency) and let me tell you, I had so much fun! My hunny planned the menu, my wonderful mom and sister executed the menu to a tee, let me tell you the food was amazing! I of course had to make a couple of sweets (big surprise)! I thought I would post a couple of pics, please forgive me as they are not the best of quality given that I was taking them at night with artificial light, 5 minutes before the party started ;)

Snickerdoodle Cake with Marshmallow Creme Frosting

decorated with silver disco dust

The most delicious Chocolate Marble Cake with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

decorated with gold disco dust

Red Velvet Cake Pops with White Chocolate Coating dipped in yellow sanding sugar.

Can I just say these were gone in about an hour!

Lemon Poppy Seed Sandwich Cookies... recipe post & credit to Callye to follow!

Yellow & White Sugar Cookies

Happy Baking, Happier Eating!

{GIVEAWAY}Happy Birthday To My Blog!

2011-01-19T22:14:00.000-08:00

Wowza! One year today, crazy! I started this little guy one year ago and how much fun we have had. It is amazing how many great people I have met through blogging and sharing similar likes in the baking world. It is truly lovely! And because it is so truly lovely, I want to give-away something truly lovely to celebrate one year!
I had a birthday just a few days ago and I received these ADORABLE oven mitts. They are by Jessie Steele and you simply must check out her site because she has by far the cutest things to make you fashionable in the kitchen. I am usually a folded-up-towel kind of gal when it comes to taking stuff out of the oven, but my knuckles are tired of being burned and these adorable mitts have saved my hands, I love them! And because I love them so much, I am offering a chance to win one of these adorable mitts for one of my followers.

How do you enter...it is as easy as 1-2-3:

To become eligible for one entry, become a follower on my blog or sign up to receive my posts via email/reader/RSS feed.
To become eligible for a second entry, become a fan of Sandwich Cookies & Cakes on facebook.
To be eligible for a 3rd & 4th entry, post a little something about my giveaway on your blog if you've got one and you get two entries for that!

Now to ensure that I am aware of all of your eligible entries, please include in your initial comment what other actions you took for more entries. Also you must include your email address!
The contest will close on Wednesday January 26th @ 11pm PST.
The winner will be chosen at random and announced via blog post on Thursday January 27th. Please make sure you check back, you will have 3 days to claim your prize.
Please note, contest is only open to US residents, sorry.

Happy Baking...Happier Eating!

Thoughts & Prayers

2011-01-09T21:20:00.000-08:00

I am writing this post tonight to wish my godson the best of luck tomorrow morning for his surgery. I know that all will go just perfectly and he will be back to running, jumping and being a 3 1/2 year old boy in no time! Good luck Logan, I hope you will enjoy these treats I made for you and I hope they help to speed along your recovery! Please keep Logan and his family in your thoughts and prayers!

Happy Baking...Happier Eating!

{Recipe Share} Vanilla Pizzelle Sandwich Cookies

2011-01-09T08:58:00.000-08:00

Hi all! So it is nearing my one year anniversary for this little blog, hard to believe where time goes but it has been one week short of a year. Since I have been posting a lot of sugar cookies as of late, I figure I needed to get back to my blog intentions of recipe sharing & reviewing, it has been a while! So what have I got for you today you say...PIZZELLES! And what good are pizzelles by themselves(they actually are good plain as well)...BUT they are so much better sandwich'd around thick creamy frosting! Deciding what frosting is the best match may just be your biggest challenge with these gems!

I received a pizzelle maker from my mother-in-law and although pizelles were never on my list of things to bake, I always remember thinking how pretty these little cookies were after seeing them in gourmet cookie books. They are very pretty cookies but they also taste quite delightful! My review of the cookie is quite satisfactory: crisp, light (aka guiltless), and just the right amount of sugar to satisfy a sweet tooth. However, because I am the queen of making anything into a sandwich, I had to kick them up a notch. I did two versions: the first with chocolate ganache filling and the second with my toasted pecan & cinnamon buttercream. The winner...I will let you guess!

Recipe Source: adapted from BHG Cookie Recipes-Pizzelles
Recipe Difficulty: easy-peasy
Recipe Satisfaction: Would definitely make again!

Pizzelle Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
3 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 tbsp. vanilla (or flavoring of your choice)

Directions:

In a medium mixing bowl stir together the flour & baking powder; set aside. In a glass bowl whisk the eggs until frothy and well combined. Gradually whisk in the sugar until well combined.
Temper the melted butter with the egg mixture, add butter into egg mixture, stir well. Mix in vanilla.
Add flour mixture; mix until combined.
Heat electric pizzelle iron according to manufacturer's directions. (Or, heat pizzelle iron on range top over medium heat until a drop of water sizzles on the grid. Reduce heat to medium-low.)

For each pizzelle, place a slightly rounded tablespoon of batter on pizzelle iron, slightly off-center toward back of grid. Close lid. Bake according to manufacturer's directions. (For a nonelectric iron, bake about 2 minutes or until golden brown, turning once.) Turn pizzelles out onto a paper towel to cool. Repeat with remaining batter. Makes 18 pizzelles.

Filling Ingredients:

Chocolate Ganache:

-2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
-1/2 cup heavy cream
Place the chocolate into a medium bowl. Heat the cream in a small sauce pan over medium heat. Bring just to a boil, watching very carefully. When the cream has come to a boil, pour over the chopped chocolate, and whisk until smooth. Allow to cool until thick, then whip until light and fluffy.

Toasted Pecan & Cinnamon Buttercream:

                -1/2 cup toasted chopped pecans
                -1/2 tsp cinnamon
                -1 stick of butter @ room temp
                -1 tsp vanilla
                -2 cups powdered sugar
Cream butter with electric mixer. Add cinnamon and vanilla until combined. Add in powdered sugar until well combines. Lastly add in toasted pecans and mix until well combined.

Assembly:

match up pizzelles in pairs of two
spread 1-2 tbsp of filling on bottom pizzelle (make sure filling is room temp so that it is easier to spread without breaking the fragile pizzelle)
place top cookie on and give a gentle squeeze to seal the two together
refrigerate 15 minutes to set

Enjoy! Let me know what you think, and the answer to my above question...vanilla pizzelle sandwich cookies with toasted pecan & cinnamon buttercream would be otherwise known as my favorite out of the two! Happy baking, happier eating to all!

Fore!

2011-01-02T20:57:00.000-08:00

This set was done for a birthday gift. I got to be creative with the golf theme in mind and I really wanted to have a lot of texture going on so this is what I came up with...

Happy Baking...Happier Eating!

Animal Cookies...

2011-01-02T20:43:00.000-08:00

Here are two black and white animal cookies that are just too cute to eat...well almost! I am sure you could twist my arm! The first ones are a set I did for my sister. I found the cutter a few months ago and just knew I had to give them to her for Christmas. You can see in the below picture that my sister loves her sheep, so these were the perfect cookie for her!

So my sister (left) is the one squeezing the life out of that little guy, while I am sitting there like "do not bother me little lamb." My hubby says I have not changed a bit ;)

The second set I was asked to do for a thank you gift. I tried to make them as real-looking as possible with frosting, and I think they turned out to be pretty cool cats!

Here is what I was going off of:

Here is what I came up with:

Happy Baking...Happier Eating!

New Years Cookies...

2011-01-02T20:22:00.000-08:00

So here is my final holiday post...I could theoretically wait until next year to post these Christmas-New Years cookies, but I just love them too much to make them wait! So here they are. I got my inspiration from a kitchen towel that I got a few years back from Crate & Barrel (funny that much of my inspiration comes from there), and when I was pulling out my Christmas stuff this year I immediately knew I wanted to do cookies just like it! So here they are funky, retro & fun trees...

Were you noticing this awesome vintage hobnail cake stand I used in all of the photos? Yep, pretty awesome Christmas present right? Thanks mom & dad!

Happy Baking...Happier Eating!

Fudge Shoppe...

2010-12-24T13:05:00.000-08:00

So one day when I was being crazy...I decided that in between batches of cookies, I should use my time wisely by making a few batches of fudge for a fun post on how you can become your own little fudge shoppe! Now I sit here three weeks (really? wow!) later realizing that I am just now getting around to having time to post about it, and guess what, I am writing this post in between baking a few batches of sugar cookies because I just cannot stop! I have to finish my last idea that I had a month ago when all of this baking madness began and I must finish it before the New Year is upon us!
So here you go, a post all about fudge...a lost art in my opinion and highly undervalued in the baking world! It is technically considered a candy since it is not in fact baked, but despite the technicalities, it is my favorite baked-good to eat at Christmas time. I simply love it! Since Christmas comes once a year, I take full advantage of eating it as much as possible in the month before Christmas! However, there was one other time that I ate fudge this year and that time was strangely on our honeymoon! Now you are wondering where the heck did we go on our honeymoon that we were eating fudge...Disneyland? The shore? Nope guess again...Hawaii! Who knew Hawaiians make fudge, and good fudge to boot! Where did we find this delectable treat you ask...in a snow-cone cafe that is! They had dozens of different flavors, that were all simply amazing, Barry and I had our fair share of taste testing and bought some to share along our journey to see one of the many gorgeous valleys that the Big Island has to see!

Now back on track to the matter at hand...If you are like me and love fudge but don't love the average $16-20 per pound to obtain the goodness, why not make your own? I am here to say that if you have just a teenie amount of baking experience, a candy thermometer and an hour to spare, you can make some yummy fudge to share with all of your family and friends...and you can make it just in time for Christmas Day so let's get started!

Here is the recipe...
adapted from a recipe I ripped out of a very old Martha Stewart magazine years ago...

Makes 36 pieces

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for pan

3 tablespoons cocoa powder

2 cups sugar

2/3 cup milk ***you can use milk, half and half or cream. More milk fat = creamier & better!

1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons semisweet chocolate chips

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

Mix-In: here is where you get to be creative...we will call this ingredient our "mix-in" for the directions portion.

Directions:

Butter a 6-by-6 inch pan. Sift cocoa powder and sugar into a medium bowl.

Prepare an ice bath. In a small saucepan, combine milk and cocoa-powder mixture with a wooden spoon until a sandy, pastelike texture forms. Add chocolate, butter, and corn syrup. Cook on low heat, stirring constantly, until sugar has completely dissolved, 7 to 10 minutes.

Using a pastry brush, wash down sides of pan with cold water. Increase heat to medium. When a candy thermometer registers 236 degrees remove the pan from heat, and place in ice bath for 5 seconds. Transfer pan to a heat-proof surface, and let sit until thermometer registers 121 degrees, about 45 minutes.

Using a wooden spoon, stir fudge briskly until it begins to lose its sheen, 2 to 3 minutes-set a timer. Add mix-in and stir to incorporate. Spread fudge into prepared pan with wooden spoon. Using your fingers, smooth fudge. Cover with plastic; chill 30 minutes. Cut into 1-inch squares.

Now the bolded areas are mucho importante! I speak from experience. If you fail to allow adequate time for the sugar to incorporate into the mixture initially, it will turn out grainy and believe me no one likes grainy fudge. If you skimp on the stir time, you too will be sorry, it will turn out hard as a rock and crumble when you cut it. So my advice...set a timer for both of these steps, you will be a much happier eater!
You now ask, how do I turn this recipe into a fudge shoppe? And I answer you...get creative! Figure out the taste you want to achieve and go for it! Here is what I did...

Plain = no mix-ins
Pecan = 1 cup of toasted pecans
Rocky Road = 1/2 cup of large marshmallows cut into small cubes + 1/2 cup of almonds
Mexican Chocolate = a pinch of cayenne pepper + 1/2 t. cinnamon *for this mix-in, add it in the beginning when you combine the sugar and cocoa together.

and now for some other ideas that I just didn't get to...

Peanut Butter = 1/2 cup Jif peanut butter +/- chopped peanuts (if you like a little extra)
Kahlua = 1 T. Kahlua added at the beginning when milk is added
Espresso = 1 T. espresso *for this mix-in, add it in the beginning when you combine the sugar and cocoa together.
Crispie(not a word) = 1 cup Rice Crispies (vanilla or chocolate)
Peppermint = 1/4 t. peppermint extract *add at the end, just make sure you incorporate well!
Peppermint mocha = 1/4 t. peppermint extract + 1 T. espresso *for this mix-in, add it in the beginning when you combine the sugar and cocoa together.
Hazelnut = 1/2 c. Nutella spread + 1/4 c. chopped hazelnuts
Vanilla = 1 T. vanilla extract or 1 vanilla bean *added at the end

So you get the point, be creative, start your own little fudge shoppe for those you hold near and dear at the holidays, it is fun and is such a great home-made gift! Merry Christmas Eve! Happy Baking...Happier Eating!

Christmas Cookies {Last But Not Least}

2010-12-23T20:10:00.000-08:00

These may just be some of my favorites...

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Baking...Happier Eating!

Christmas Cookies {Sandwich Cookies, Ornaments, Gifts & Snowflakes}

2010-12-23T20:02:00.000-08:00

to die...

Christmas Cookies {Reindeer, Trees, Penguins, Candy Canes, Holly Leaves}

2010-12-23T19:57:00.000-08:00

Christmas Cookies {Santa & Elves}

2010-12-23T19:52:00.000-08:00

I was so fortunate this year to get a bunch of Christmas orders and even more lucky to get time off before Christmas so that I could actually accept all of my Christmas orders! I think in total I did 230 Christmas sugar cookies, 12 dozen snickerdoodles, 5 dozen malted chocolate sandwich cookies, and 5 lbs of fudge all in 5 days...needless to say, I was busy! But it was fun! So although I am not a huge fan of just posting pictures...I usually like to say something witty or intelligent (haha) in addition to posting pics, but I am not sure there is much else to say! I only wish I had pictures of my kitchen throughout this process...so awesome, let me tell you! As for my family and friends who were hoping that some of this baking madness would show up in their mailbox...sadly...I am starting a new tradition called New Years (Christmas) gifts. Sorry, there was not a minute to spare and I didn't want your treats sitting in some strange place over the holiday weekend, so it is the thought that matters and that thought is there, but you won't be seeing that thought until next week! Anyway...enjoy some pics!

This was my favorite Santa I must say! I just used a heart cutter turned upside down.

gotta love green disco dust!

more to come...

Holiday Traditions

2010-12-23T17:10:00.000-08:00

{sorry all photos were lost in this post}
I was so happy to receive my most favorite holiday treat from my parents last night, in addition to my Christmas tree, that Barry promptly set up. Now, I can officially say I am in the Christmas spirit! In my family, since we have gotten older and each of my siblings and I have lived all over this and other countries, our Holiday traditions are few. Fortunately, few as they may be, they always make me feel the warmth of family and love and despite any amount of bah-humbug-ness, I get into the holiday spirit. One of these dear traditions is the making of Krullers (crullers to some). Krullers are essentially fried dough +/- powdered sugar or glaze and were a popular treat to many European countries. Krullers in my family, I believe came from my paternal grandmother who was Danish, whom I think used to make them when she was younger (maybe?), but in my memory, they were always made by my mom, dad & us kids every Christmas.

I actually do not have the recipe for our krullers, surprising I know, but they are one of those things that means home to me, and it just wouldn't be the same making them in my 2x2' kitchen, not to mention, the recipe makes a TON! All I know is that they are fried in crisco and have a wide range of flour; I vaguely remember the recipe written in my grandmother's handwriting saying something like 4-7 cups of flour, wide range eh? Every time I sink my teeth into them I am brought back to childhood happiness awaiting the day in which Santa would bring me everything I wanted because I was ALWAYS a nice girl! Even though we will be away from my family this Christmas, I just wanted to share one of our Holiday traditions and thank my wonderful parents, and brother who was the messenger, for reminding me of childhood memories! I wish you all a wonderful next couple of days with family and friends, and just take a moment to remember what it means to have Holiday spirit. Do you have any holiday food traditions? I would love to hear about your favorites!

I am so behind on posting and I am going to try my hardest to get caught up before Christmas morning, but I just have to post this short post about something that makes Christmas for me. Happy Baking...Happier Eating this Christmas season!

Cookie Dilemma

2010-12-12T12:09:00.000-08:00

Before I start...dilemma, that is a funny word don't you think. It is one of those words that when you say it, it just sounds odd. Anyway, back to my post, sorry, I am a little scatter brained at times and I figure I may as well share that part of my personality with you all so you can get some insight into me! So why am I here today on my second day of vacation? To discuss sugar cookie recipes of course! Before I start, can I just tell you how phenomenal vacation is, no matter what I do (or don't do), there is something unbelievable about vacation. No where to be, nobody asking me to make decisions and wondering if my decision is in fact the best choice for the situation, no stress, no pager, and best of all-I get to catch up on my many months of sleep deprivation which has been making me a little kookoo these past few days!

So on to the topic of the day...sugar cookie recipes! I was hugely inspired from Sweet Sugarbelle's post on the debate between RI vs glaze frostings. Now this post requires some reader participation from anyone who bakes sugar cookies, and I thank you in advance for your help! So I never put much thought into the recipe I used for sugar cookies, mostly because I believed that sugar cookies are more about looking than eating. But for about the last year and a half, I realize, taste really does matter! So up until the last month or two I always used adorable Marian's recipe from Sweetopia with a few adjustments (more flour), and I absolutely LOVE the taste! It is almost like a shortbread cookie, so buttery and delicious. There are many pros to this cookie in the taste department; however, there is one con...they tend to be a bit fragile and since I tend to ship most of my cookies, this was so heartbreaking to find out they would occasionally break on transit. So I started researching some other recipes and through a fellow blogger friend Amalia @ Cookie Construction she told me she used Pam's recipe at Cookie Crazie. So I gave this recipe a shot. What did I find???
Pros:
definitely more sturdy
less trips to the store for butter
probably more figure friendly, but since I don't eat my own cookies, I guess that is ok ;)
easy to work with
lighter in color and bakes more evenly
tastes pretty good and the consistency is light and fluffy
Cons:
the taste is not quite as taste bud tantalizing

So what is a gal to do? I simply cannot figure out what is more important in a cookie...taste or texture! Let me know what you all think, I would love to hear anyone's opinion on the matter at hand! Hope you are all enjoying your Sunday and like always...Happy Baking...Happier Eating Stay tuned for my post of fudge making, which let me remind you is my FAVORITE holiday treat!!!

12 Dozen Days of Christmas {Part 4}

2010-12-10T16:57:00.000-08:00

Last but not least, on the 12th dozen day of Christmas my true love gave to me...a potpourri of Christmas cookies. I made these for my dear friend Carolyn to give as a hostess gift. For this set, I wanted all things Christmas and I think I just about got it. A little more time and I had a couple other ideas, but I think these will suffice!

Modeled this guy after a little Christmas sock I love to wear during Christmas!

What's Santa without an elf?

Rudolph of course!

I saw these cute spherical penguin ornaments @ Crate and Barrel

and I had to make it into cookie form. I love this guy!

Unfortunately this gal made me so mad when she got air pockets that I then attempted to repair...bummer but I guess she looks okay still?

Well all Happy Baking & Happier Eating!

12 Dozen Days of Christmas {Part 3}

2010-12-10T16:47:00.000-08:00

Dozen 9, 10, 11:
My next order was for teacher gifts from a friend that I work with. Here marks my Christmas baking obsession that will continue on until Christmas :) Lots of red and green and of course disco dust and nonpareils! Let me tell you, there is not a place in my kitchen that is not displaying a light layer of red disco dust...it is everywhere!

See all the disco dust on that scarf??? Love it!

Last dozen to come...

12 Dozen Days of Christmas {Part 2}

2010-12-10T16:35:00.000-08:00

{sorry all pics were lost in this post}
My next two dozen were some repeat players in my repertoire...I made these for a one year old's birthday party. His auntie wanted my monkey and doggie cookies that I made a few weeks ago. Now the doggie cookies I love and hate all at the same time. They seem so ugly to me the whole time I am making them, and then somehow when I finish them, they are oddly cute and then I love them. Well here they are!

Part 3 here we come!

12 Dozen Days of Christmas {Part 1}

2010-12-10T16:28:00.000-08:00

The past few days, I have ventured on a little something I am going to call 12 dozen days of Christmas. I was so fortunate to have a handful of orders this week, but they happen to all be due around the same time and since we are headed to Ohio to visit my in-laws, I had to have them all done by today. All 12 dozen that is! So now that I have finished them, I figured I would share the pics to get you in the mood for some Holiday baking!
The first 6 dozen cookies were for a December birthday. I had the freedom to whatever I felt fit for these birthday cookies and I ended up loving the theme. Given that I have a birthday around Christmas, I know how getting your birthday combined with Christmas can be a bit sad. So with this in mind I wanted to do something 0% Holiday and 100% birthday and this is what I came up with...

Happy Baking Happier Eating!