July Birthday Lunch

M&M Cake

I saw this idea a few months ago and I have been saving it until now. The July birthday person loves M&M's and even has an M&M dispenser in his office. It's a chocolate cake with chocolate icing and kit kats and M&M's, so it was major chocolate overload. If I ever make it again I think I'll go easy on the M&M's because they were all over the table and floor once we cut into the cake.

Firecracker Bites

This was a 4th of July recipe that I found on kraftfoods.com, but it was after 4th of July when I made them, so I just decorated them with colorful sprinkles instead of like a firecracker. They were very tasty and I was surprised that the cookie doesn't get soggy at all.

1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
1 cup cold milk
1 pkg. (3.4 oz.) JELL-O Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding
1-1/2 cups thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, divided
1 pkg. (12 oz.) NILLA Wafers
1/2 cup mixed red, white and blue sprinkles
42 pieces red string licorice (1 inch)

Beat cream cheese in large bowl with mixer until creamy. Gradually beat in milk. Add dry pudding mix; beat 2 min. Whisk in 1 cup COOL WHIP.

Spoon about 1-1/2 Tbsp. pudding mixture onto each of half the wafers; (I used my small cookie scoop) cover with remaining wafers to make sandwiches. Freeze 2 hours or until filling is firm.

Spread tops of wafer sandwiches with remaining COOL WHIP. Dip in sprinkles. Insert licorice piece in top of each for the fuse. Freeze until ready to serve.

Here is a picture from the Kraft Foods website of what they look like as firecrackers:

Father's Day is a Bakerella Day!

My favorite blog to follow is http://www.bakerella.com/. She has some super cute ideas and this is where I learned to make the cake pops. She has a whole book of cake pops coming out in September and I can't wait! :) For Father's Day I tried a couple of her recipes I had wanted to try for a while. She does such a good job of documenting the recipes step by step, so I am just going to give you the link for each one.


Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls

These cinnamon rolls looked so good that I just had to try them. Although I did think twice after I saw the recipe called for "plenty of melted butter" rather than an exact measurement. Considering 6 out of 7 of us at the table were in a wedding party 3 weeks later, it probably wasn't the best thing to make, but they were SO good! And the recipe does make a TON. I had either 6 or 7 pans of rolls, but they are freezable. Here's the recipe/instructions: http://www.bakerella.com/swirls/


Congo Bars

I love chocolate chip bars and these looked delicious so I made them to take to my grandma's house. I think I overbaked mine a little, but they were still good and the plate was empty at the end of the afternoon, so I guess they were a hit. Here's the recipe/instructions: http://www.bakerella.com/i-hope-you-have-chocolate-chips-handy/


Mini Maple Pancake Muffins

I also recommend this recipe: http://www.bakerella.com/mini-maple-pancake-muffins/ Laura made them for our brunch and they were very tasty. She used regular syrup rather than pure maple syrup (which is pricey) and it worked fine. I would recommend the mini chocolate chips rather than the regular ones because it was a little too much chocolate for me. Next time Laura said she wants to try blueberries.


Homemade Almond Joys

This recipe was not from Bakerella, but it was part of my dad's Father's Day present. They were pretty easy to make, but were time consuming because you had to wait after each step. I followed Variation 1 in the recipe below.

3/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups light corn syrup
1/2 cup water
3/4 package flaked coconut (14 oz)
1/2 teaspoon almond extract, or vanilla

Combine sugar, corn syrup and water in a large saucepan.
Cook, stirring constantly, just until sugar is dissolved.
Cook without stirring to 236 degrees (soft ball); remove from heat.
Stir in coconut and flavoring; cool.

Variation 1: Chocolate Coconut Almond Drops (otherwise known as Almond Joys)- Shape cooled coconut mixture into 1-inch balls, flattening bottoms.
Top each with a toasted almond. (Toast raw almonds on cookie sheet in oven for about 10 minutes)
Chill at least 1 hour.
Dip in melted chocolate.

Variation 2: Acorns- Shape in balls, tapering one end to cone shape.
Chill 1 hour.
Dip large end into melted chocolate.

Lots of Cakes

Believe it or not, I made all of these cakes in the past week...


For the Hello Kitty fanatic:



For a company's 15th anniversary:



My very first hat cake, I even made the logo by hand:

Cards jersey, I ran out of time on this one, so the logo is paper, but I made the buttons:

For the Cardinals fanatic:

For the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle fanatic:

Cake pops for favors for a baby shower:

Baby Shower cake, my first half white, half chocolate half sheet cake:

May Birthday Lunch

I found these silicone cupcake wrappers that look like flower pots at Michaels and just had to buy them. For these I made chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing and cookies and cream sprinkles (also found at Michaels). The flower is using my new daisy cutters and made out of gumpaste.

Fondant & Gumpaste Class

The fourth and final class in my series of Wilton classes was the Fondant & Gumpaste class. It wasn't really what I expected it to be, but I did learn that I prefer to work with fondant & gumpaste much more than I do buttercream.

In the class we learned how to cover a cake board in fondant and make a few flowers. Here's the cake for the final week:

Bridal Shower

I hosted a bridal shower for my friend Laura who is getting married in July. I love planning showers (or entertaining in general) because I get to make some of my favorite recipes. The shower went pretty well considering the disasters I kept running into while preparing for it. Nothing was going my way this weekend, especially the desserts. I really wanted to make a 3D bride cake and mini fondant covered cakes, but neither turned out right. After ruining 7 cakes I gave up and went with plain ol' cupcakes. At least the cookies I made turned out cute (and were delicious). Here's the recipes for the food that was served:


Lynn's Mandarin Orange Salad:

I got this recipe from a coworker and it is one of my favorites. I seem to get a lot of recipes from coworkers, we must all be good cooks. ;)


Dressing:
Dash of Tabasco Sauce
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
Dash of pepper
1/4 cup corn oil

Salad:
1/2 cup slivered almonds
2 tbsp sugar
1 head romaine lettuce
1 cup chopped celery
4 green onions
2 - 8oz cans mandarin oranges, drained

* I usually quadruple the dressing recipe and douple the salad recipe for a large group

Combine all dressing ingredients in a jar or container with tight lid and shake well, set aside.

Cook almonds and 2 tbsp sugar in skillet over medium heat until sugar melts and turns light brown. Turn almonds onto waxed paper and let cool.

Combine lettuce, celery, green onions and oranges in a bowl, add dressing (shake well first) and almonds, toss well.


Pop's Fruit Salad

This recipe has been in my family for generations. I am pretty sure it is my grandpa's grandpa's recipe. It is definitely a family favorite, but it is a ton of chopping and it makes a ton. For some reason this recipe does not turn out right when you half it or leave out the walnuts, so be sure to follow the recipe.

3 apples (I used the pink lady apples from Sam's that are already sliced)

12 oranges

2 1/2 pounds grapes

2 cans pineapple (drained, but reserve juice)

1 - 6oz pkg chopped walnuts

2 cups sugar

10 bananas

Slice all fruit and mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Soak the bananas in the reserved pineapple juice to keep them from browning. Add bananas just before serving, draining the pineapple juice first.

Shortbread, Straight Up

The idea for these cookies came from a book named "Cookie Swap" by Julia Usher. They are shortbread cookies cut in 3 different sizes, covered in royal icing and stacked on top of each other. They are decorated with sugar pearls and handmade gumpaste daisies.

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup blanched slivered almonds

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup sifted powdered sugar

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Approx 2 tbsp granulated sugar for sprinkling (omit if you are icing the cookies)

In a food processor fitted with a metal blade, process 2 tbsp flour and the almonds until the nuts are finely ground but not pasty. Add the remaining flour and salt and process until well combined, set aside. I actually don't own a food processor, so I just used a blender.

Place the butter and sugars in a bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Stir to bring the ingredients together. then beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 1 minute.

Turn the mixer to low speed and add the vanilla extract. Gradually add the flour mixture, blending just until incorporated. Scrape down the sided of the bowl as needed to ensure even mixing.

Flatten the dough into a disk and wrap tightly in plastic. Refrigerate 1 to 2 hours or until firm enough to roll without sticking.

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Line two or more cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Roll the dough on a lightly floured surface to a 1/4 inch thickness. Cut with a cookie cutter and carefully transfer to cookie sheets using a spatula, spacing them 1 inch apart.

Sprinkle the remaining sugar evenly over the cookies to thinly coat them. (Omit if icing cookies) Bake 25 to 30 minutes, or until lightly browned on the bottom and firm to the touch. Immediately transfer to wire racks with spatula. Cool completely before storing.

Emergency Backup

These are the cupcakes I created at the last minute, when nothing else would go right. At least they tasted good....

Cinco de Mayo

I hosted a birthday dinner for one of my friends. Since her birthday is on Cinco de Mayo I thought a taco night was very fitting. With all the leftovers I made this:

Taco Salad

This is probably the only recipe that you will find on this blog that has ground beef in it that I actually eat. Don't ask me why I will eat this and not a hamburger, I really can't explain it. ;) I got this recipe from a co-worker, but can't seem to actually locate the recipe at the moment. But, that's OK, you don't really need one. Just toss these ingredients together to your liking:

Lettuce
Ground beef (I seasoned mine with taco seasoning, but you don't have to)
Shredded cheese
Catalina salad dressing
Tortilla chips
Sour cream (optional)

And for dessert....

Chocolate Overload

Chocolate cake with chocolate icing and kit kats on the border and chocolate covered strawberries on top.