Summer Sweets

I've been busy in my kitchen again.......

These are the cupcakes I made and sent with the Doc to share with his colleagues for his 30th birthday.

I made an additional batch and took them to the family gathering after he arrived home from work.  

The family LOVED them!!!

This is the scrumptious Carrot Cake that DrH requested for his birthday dessert.  I told him I would bake him anything he wanted and the Carrot Cake was his #1 choice.  

 A closer look!

All boxed up and ready to transport to the In-Laws where we celebrated his birthday a day late... July 4!

Look at those layers!  Mmm....

 I also made a Cheesecake with Brownie Crust.  It was served with a drizzle of raspberry glaze.  Oh my word.... it was incredible! 

 I had another cupcake order for a fun girl.  She isn't a fan of pink and prefers skateboards and electric guitars.  Being a musician, I had to go with the guitars.  = )

 The neon green and neon purple were a hit with my lil' friend, Clare.  She's a rock star!!!

 This is a photo her Mom took.  

These are the cupcakes I made for the Landrunner party.  They are chocolate buttermilk cupcakes with PB frosting.  I also took classic white cupcakes with vanilla buttercream frosting and my famous banana pudding.  It was all a hit!  Of course, I think it's safe to say that the Banana Pudding was a notch above the rest. 

Cupcakes!

I've had quite a few cupcake orders this year.  
Everybody LOVES them!  

My most recent order was for a birthday party for a 10 year old.  These cupcakes were a lot of fun to make.  

In case you're wondering..... the cupcakes and icing are ALWAYS from scratch.  I do NOT like boxed cake mixes.  Ick!

Have I ever mentioned that we live within walking distance of my favorite bakers supply store?  Well, we do and it's quite convenient.  I've really enjoyed going there earlier in the day this summer.  I like not having to wait in line to check out.  

Today marks a special day in history!  I was asked to cater a 50th Birthday party!!!  I was so flattered!  That's quite the compliment.  : )

Cheesecake with Brownie Crust

OH MY GOODNESS!  This cheesecake was absolutely divine!

It was only my third cheesecake to ever make.  The top was smashed a bit from the foil in transport.  

I've now made this cheesecake with a spongecake crust, an Oreo crust, and a brownie crust.  Pretty sure the brownie is my favorite.  I look forward to experimenting with different cheesecake flavors.What should be next?  Should it be raspberry swirl?  Peanut butter swirl?  Or even something else?  Oh, the possibilities!

This may be going on my list of offered baked goods.  = )

Zebra Cupcakes

The day after the Little Rock Marathon is the birthday of not just one, but TWO friends that are running the LR full with me.  We're celebrating their birthdays the night before the marathon with dinner and dessert. 

 It was requested that I make a birthday cake, so I decided I'd like to make birthday cupcakes.  Cupcakes are easier to transport (6-hour drive) and don't require plates, plasticware, or anything else.  They're easy!  Since my female friend is an OKC Zebra, I've decided to attempt zebra cupcakes.  I had my first trial run and I think they turned out decently well.  It's chocolate and vanilla cake with peanut butter frosting.  We sort of have a thing for peanut butter.  Hahaa... 

Clown-inspired

Here are a few photos of my most recent cookie job.  They were clown-inspired for a sweet little girl's 5th birthday party.  Her mother made the adorable cupcakes.

VOTE

Please VOTE for my BEACH COOKIES over at Sweetopia.net. They're featured in Sweetopia's Sweet of the Week Contest.  


It would be pretty amazing to win since this is only a hobby for me. My cookies are competing against creations by people who are actually in the baking business for a living. : ) Happy Voting! Thanks so much!

O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A

To all of my friends & family living somewhere 
other than Oklahoma.  

Howdy, from Oklahoma!  You are missed!

Life's A Beach!

I had a fabulous time decorating these cookies.  

The theme was fantastic! 

New Addition!

My DH knows how much I used my mixer so he treated me to this BEAUTY!

I'm currently working on a dessert order and it was the perfect opportunity to try out my new mixer.  One word = WOW!  I LOVE it!
As you can see from the photos, it's the KitchenAid Professional 600.  It has a 6-qt. bowl and a 575 watt motor.  That's some power!  I may need to take a few more cookie/dessert jobs to help pay for this, but that's currently in the works.  Contact me if you're interested in placing an order.

RIP

I had to say my farewells to a wonderful friend. My KitchenAid Artisan mixer bit the dust.  I plugged it in and turned it on hoping to make some homemade whipped cream, but it was completely non-responsive. I did try other outlets and my DH started taking it apart, but it was no use.  I'll get it to the repair shop one of these days to see how much it would be to get up and running again.

  

My guess that I worked it to death and burnt out the motor. 

It was a super sad day.

Dec. 2004-June 2011

SLU Cookies

I made 2 batches of sugar cookies for David's Graduation Celebration that is this Sunday.  

These will be at the party if I can keep the Doctor's hands off of them.  = )

On Top Of Spaghetti!

April Fool's Day hasn't ever been something I've participated in or celebrated.  So, I decided to change things up a bit this year.  
We had another teacher luncheon at school where we all bring stuff to share.  I brought spaghetti and meatballs.  Take a look...... 

Okay, okay... It was really spaghetti and meatball cake.  And don't worry, there wasn't any meat involved. 

I used a basic boxed white cake mix (nothing fancy) and baked it in a 9x13 pan.  Once the cake was completely cool, I made my homemade vanilla (sorry, but I think almond frosting is gross) frosting and placed it in a quart-size ziploc and cut off a small corner.  Then, I randomly piped out the frosting to look like noodles.  The "meatballs" were made of peanut butter, honey, and oats.  They were formed into the "meatballs" and placed in the fridge to chill and keep a good shape.  Finally, the meatballs were placed in a bowl of strawberry preserves and then placed on the cake.  

I wasn't sure how the cake would go over at school.  It made for some interesting looks and comments, but was the only cake that was completely demolished.  So, for as "weirded out" as some may have been, it must have tasted pretty good.  hahahaaaa...

Hope you had a Happy April Fool's Day! 

Seuss!

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!  

It's Read Across America Week 
and today is Dr. Seuss' birthday.

We've been celebrating all week at school.  Tomorrow we are supposed to dress up like our favorite Dr. Seuss character.  I won't be dressing up as anything in particular, but I'll be slightly jazzed up for the occasion.  ; )

I baked and decorated sugar cookies inspired by "The Cat In The Hat" for a few of my fellow teacher friends.  
I hope they enjoy them.  

Cookie Tips:

The "hat" was achieved by using a mitten pancake mold from Crate and Barrel.  I simply cut off the thumb and cut of a bit of the top portion to achieve a smaller size (aka get more cookies out of the batch). 

I use Wilton's coloring and #3 Wilton tips 
(should have used #2).

I also use LOTS of toothpicks. 

Check out sweetopia.net for cookie/icing recipes.

A Day In The Kitchen

The average person would probably be tired of being in the kitchen after baking and decorating over 6 dozen cookies. It's a good thing I'm not average.  ; )

I prepared some yummy food for me and the hubster today. Here's what I made and/or ate...

Brunch:  

Multigrain Banana Nut Pancakes

• Whoa!  These were good. I used Trader Joe's multigrain pancake and baking mix. I halved the recipe on the box and used unsweetened soy milk instead of regular milk. I also added an entire mashed banana and chopped pecans. Mmm...
• David absolutely loved eating these with a cup of fresh coffee while chillin' in his pajamas. We LOVE lazy days

Snack:

On Your Own

• We munched. David had baby carrots and some other stuff. I munched on LF string cheese, raisins, and raw almonds.  

Dinner:

Garlic, Herb, & Wine Baked Chicken

• I marinated boneless, skinless chicken breasts with a seasoning packet by McCormick and then baked it this evening. So tasty!

Roasted Carrots

• I took whole carrots, scrubbed them well, cut off the ends, and placed them in a corningware baking dish with a bit of olive oil, salt, and pepper. I baked them at 375 for 30 minutes then turned the carrots, topped with a bit more olive oil, salt, and pepper.  They baked for another 30 minutes. I made them once before (recently too!) and David loved them so he actually requested them while we were at Sams today. We purchased a 5lb bag of carrots for 2.98.  Awesome!
• I experimented by making glazed carrots too. I scrubbed and cut off the ends of the carrots and then cut them in bite-sized pieces.  They were placed in another corningware dish along with 1Tbsp (all I had open at the time) and a nice sprinkling of brown sugar. The carrots were baked for 30 minutes at 375. When the timer went off, I pulled them out, gave them a good stir, and baked them for another 30. I was worried they'd be too sweet, but it only provided a very thin glaze. These were really good and similar to the glazed carrots that Red Rock Canyon Grill serves (but I bet mine were healthier). I'll be making these again.  

Cracker Barrel Limited Edition Cheese

• This cheese is out of this world amazing. For real. Cheese is expensive, but I can't live without it. It's honestly one of my favorite foods. I was at Walmart the other day and saw they had this cheese marked down to 1.98. I bought one to try and ended up going back to purchase four more. Like I said... it's out of this world (and currently affordable!).  

Olives

• I finally made it to an OKC Aldi the other day. My first Aldi experience was in St. Louis. Times were tough and ALDI helped us survive.  Whew...  Anyways, I became a huge fan of many of their products. Unfortunately, Aldi isn't as convenient or close to me as the one in STL so I won't be going there every time I go grocery shopping. Some of the products I love from Aldi are their OLIVES. I don't know what it is, but they have THE BEST BLACK OLIVES! I purchased some from Walmart and ended up throwing them out. A co-worker of mine agreed and informed me that she purchased a name brand can of olives at a local grocery and ended up throwing them out. I'm tellin' ya, ALDI's OLIVES ARE BEST!  I also love their Spanish olives, refried beans, canned beans, canned tomatoes, canned veggies, turkey ham, guacamole (just like Wholly Guacamole, but much cheaper), and their frozen turkey meatballs.  Oh Aldi, I have missed you!!! My pocketbook has also missed you. I promise to not wait so long before visiting you again.  

Oatmeal Cake

• I was obviously having baking withdrawal. I told you I wasn't normal.  = )  This recipe came from my Grandmother and it's incredible. It's the perfect winter dessert. The cake itself calls for 1 cup brown sugar AND 1 cup white sugar. I experimented and replaced the 1 cup white sugar with 1 cup Splenda for baking. The cake still turned out wonderful. It's topped with buttery coconut brown sugar goodness. I cut the cake into small servings, but David still had 3 pieces. How funny is that?! The man LOVES sweets.I keep telling him that he's sweet enough already.  ; ) 

That's our day in a nutshell. We'll be eating leftovers for the next couple of days. That gives me time to decide what I want to do with the turkey ham that's in the fridge and the pie crust. Hmmm...  Decisions, decisions.  

Cookie Compositions

 A sweet friend commissioned me to bake these cupcake cookies cookies for her granddaughter's first birthday party.

  

 Cookie art is a step-by-step process that 

requires a great amount of patience.  

In the above photo, I iced the bottom "cupcake liner" with white and added pink dots 
while the white icing was still wet.  It dried as one smooth palette.  
Once that dried completely, I added the white lines  on the cupcake liner.   

I colored the royal icing by using the neon gel food coloring.  The colors turned out beautifully.   I'll definitely be using the gel food coloring again. 
I used Wilton's #3 tips, plastic couplers, along with their 12in. disposable bags.  
Clean up is a breeze!

Finished piping, now drying

In the above photo, I piped on the pink swirls last. 

 They dried raised because the rest of the cookie dried overnight.

I topped each cookie with a cherry flavored M&M that I had purchased at Christmas.  I just knew I'd find something fun to do with them.

 The finished product... Pink Cupcake Cookies!

 I added a bit of glam to the green cookies 

with a few edible pearl sprinkles.

        

These cookies were almost as big as my hand. 

"Ta da.....  "

My first order was for 2 dozen cupcake cookies and 1 dozen round cookies iced with pink and polka dots.  

I have a few extra cupcake cookies.  One was enjoyed by my in-laws last night, another will be shipped by my Grandmother on Tuesday, and I'm sure David will probably be happy to take care of the other three unless I manage to find a home for them.  With the remaining cookie dough, I baked small heart cookies and quickly topped them with icing.  

We were in a hurry to leave the house so I could purchase another pair of Uggs to run an errand.  

= )

If you're interested in learning more about cookie decorating, please visit SWEETOPIA.  She has many tutorials and step-by-step posts that explain everything.  Her site has helped me tremendously.

Banana-Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Banana-Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

from Cooking Light, July 2009

1/2 cup mashed ripe banana (about 1-2 medium bananas) (I used 3 medium bananas)

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick, 4 tablespoons), softened

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 large egg (I used 2 large eggs)

1 1/4 cups (5.6 ounces) all-purpose flour (I used 1/2 c. white whole wheat flour, 1/2 c. all-purpose flour, and 1/2 cup almond flour/almond meal)

2 cups old-fashioned oats (I used quick oats)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips (I also added about 1/2 cup Reese's peanut butter chips)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. (I didn't use any parchment paper because I didn't have any on hand.  I had no problems with the cookies sticking to the baking sheets.)

Combine banana, sugars, butter and vanilla in a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat at medium speed until smooth (about 2 minutes). Add egg; beat well.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, baking soda and salt. Add the flour mixture to the banana mixture and beat at medium speed until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Drop batter by heaping tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

Yields 2 dozen cookies.

*********

I found this recipe posted on another blog a while back.  I printed out the recipe knowing that I'd make it one of these days... well, today was the day.  There were 4 bananas sitting on my counter that were starting to ripen past my liking.  I knew I wasn't going to eat all 4 tomorrow, so I used 3 to make these cookies and I'll eat the last one for breakfast in the morning.  

Sometimes I just can't leave a recipe alone.  I really do enjoy creating in the kitchen.  = )

I made a few changes before even trying the original recipe.  I'd like to think that some of the changes made my version healthier, but I know the Reese's peanut butter chips wasn't one of them.  Hehee.....  

Monster Cookies

My parents made a quick trip to visit me in St. Louis so I prepared for their arrival by baking some goodies. My Dad's birthday is this month and I don't ever get to celebrate with him anymore so I sent him home with lots of deliciously edible gifts.

I thought about baking a cake for my mini celebration, but I know how much my Dad likes cookies. I decided to try out a recipe for Monster Cookies which you can find by clicking HERE or you can just check out the recipe below.

WARNING: These cookies were dangerously good. Extreme consumption may result in a sugar high, weight gain, and being dissatisfied with any other cookie on the market. I'm not responsible for any side effects. ; )

Monster Cookies

Makes about 24 large cookies

(I made about 13 XL)

1/2 lb butter, softened

8 oz. peanut butter, creamy or crunchy (I used creamy)

3/4 c. granulated sugar

1 1/2 c. packed light brown sugar

3 eggs

1 tbsp. vanilla extract

2 tsp. baking soda

2 1/2 c. AP flour

3 c. quick cooking or old fashioned oats (I used quick cooking)

1/2 c. raisins (I used jumbo flame raisins)

1/2 c. mini chocolate chips

2 c. M&Ms (I used dark chocolate M&Ms)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Add butter and peanut butter to the bowl of a stand mixer, beat on medium for 3-4 minutes, until well mixed and light.

Add sugars, continue to beat for another 3-4 minutes.

Turn speed to low, add vanilla and eggs, one by one until they are incorporated.

Add baking soda, flour and oats, mix until just combined.

Add half the M&Ms, raisins and chocolate chips.

Touch dough, if it's sticky and pulls away, add another 1/4 c. flour until it's loose but rolls into a ball.

Place dough in the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour.

Line baking sheet with parchment. (I skipped this step and used nonstick cookie sheets)

Roll cookies into 4 oz. balls, a little bigger than a golf ball but smaller than a tennis ball.

Press onto the cookie sheet and press 3-4 (I put as many as I could fit on top... 8-12) M&M's on the top of each.

Bake for 13 minutes.

Remove and place on a cooking rack. Store in an airtight dish.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 cups white sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cup cocoa powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In large bowl, beat butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt; stir into the butter mixture until well blended. Mix in the chocolate chips. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.

3. Bake for 8 minutes in the preheated oven, or just until set. Cool for one minute on the cookie sheets before removing to cool completely.

I'm not exactly sure where I found this recipe, but kudos to whoever came up with this masterpiece. This is a recipe I'll be enjoying again. Thanks so much for sharing!

Cookie Time!

If you've talked to me recently (the past year) or have been reading my blog, you're probably aware that I've been EXTREME DIETING. I quit everything that's even remotely bad for me. This included baking.

I've never been a big sweet eater, but who can resist sampling something that's freshly baked? Not me. So, my KitchenAid mixer has been taking a long leave of absence. I haven't baked a single thing in months other than chicken. Boring, I know.

Well, today I had the urge to bake. I haven't had any sweets or carbs in so long that I figured it would be safe. I'm really NOT tempted at all. Stupid me decided to try a new recipe that uses whole wheat flour. I made a batch of Whole Wheat Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. Of course, I had to sample a freakin' cookie. And honestly, it wasn't that great.... I mean, it tasted good and all, but it wasn't worth it. The thought of it possibly making me sick wasn't real appetizing either. Yes, that's what sugar does to you when you haven't had any in 7 months. It makes you feel like crap! I know from quitting sugar and carbs back in 2004. So, I didn't even finish one small cookie. I had the hubby take care of that for me.

I've discovered that......

Being skinny feels better

than that cookie tastes!!!

I think I may start experimenting in the kitchen with some no sugar baked goods that incorporate protein powder. I've been researching it online for a while and I think I could create something that'll work for me. We'll see.

For those of you who enjoy cookies.... here's some Cookie Porn. = )