Snickers cupcakes...caramel and peanuts, how could you go wrong?

A dear friend of mine loves all things caramel.  She brought caramel lollipops to a ladies evening we had.  I promised her I would make her caramel cupcakes some day.  When it was her birthday, I thought is was the perfect opportunity to surprise her with them.  I looked through Pinterest and found the perfect combination.  I stumbled upon makingitwithdanielle.com, and there it was.....Snickers cupcakes!

They were a bit labor-intensive, but to say they were worth it would be an understatement!  Oh my goodness, I got so many compliments.  It even prompted a phone call for an official, professional-type job the next day!

Here is the recipe from makingitwithdanielle.com...
http://makingitwithdanielle.com/2012/08/13/snickers-cupcakes/

Doc McStuffins Birthday Party

It's November already?  Whew...just realized I haven't posted since July!  Oh my, I better get busy.  November brings my granddaughter's birthday.  Last year, she asked for Princess cupcakes.  This year, she asked for a Doc McStuffins cake.  Uh oh....what is a Doc McStuffins?  After some extensive research on Google and Pinterest, I had my plan ready to go.

Time to bake...and bake and bake and bake!  The bottom and middle tiers each had 3 layers.  The bottom had 2 vanilla (white) and 1 chocolate.  The middle tier had 2 chocolate and 1 vanilla.  The top tier, which was sculpted to resemble the character's medical bag, was vanilla with a little food coloring to be pink and purple layers.  I also found some edible glitter for the top of medical bag.

I got my tiers crumb coated.  I debated whether or not to cover all of the tiers with fondant.  I am relatively new to the whole fondant thing, and I didn't want to take a chance, so I just used buttercream.  I did cover the top tier with fondant because of the medical bag decorations.  Next up, molding the characters.  I had gone to Michael's to look for some baking staples and found moldable dough.  Oh my goodness is that they best!  You can check it out here...http://www.michaels.com/Shape-%27n-Amaze-Decorating-Dough/bk1421,default,pd.html?cgid=products-bakeware.

Today was my granddaughter's party.  I took the cake in 3 sections.  I do not trust myself to construct a cake before I leave home and then drive it an hour to its destination.  We get to my daughter's house and I start construction.  My granddaughter is jumping up and down next to me as she sees the characters go on her cake.  I feel like a total rock star.  All those hours of baking and molding were definitely worth it.

Here's the final product...

As American as....chocolate chip cookies

The old saying is "as American as apple pie" but in my world people would much rather have chocolate or peanut butter than apple pie.  

If you have been reading my blog (thank you!!!!!), you will know that my passion for baking comes from my grandmother.  She was a true homemaker in every sense of the word.  She babysat me when I was a child.  There are a fewer things that remind me of her than these chocolate chip cookies.  They have just a bit of crunch on the outside and the inside is soft and chewy...especially if you eat them when they are still a little bit warm.

This recipe is not her exact recipe, but it's the closest thing I can find to hers.  I usually have to make a big batch, so I double the original recipe.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

ingredients:

1/2 cup soft shortening (I use stick margarine)

3/4 cup sugar (half brown sugar/half granulated)

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1-1/8 cup flour (measure before sifting)

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup nuts (optional)

1 small package of chocolate chips

Mix together the shortening, sugar, egg and vanilla.  (I used my KitchenAid and let it go for about 5 minutes).  Stir in the sifted dry ingredients and add nuts and chips.  Drop by teaspoons 2 inches apart on a lightly greased cookie sheet.  Bake at 375 degrees for 8 minutes.  Yield: 2 dozen.

My son turned 18 last week.  When I asked him what he wanted on his cake, he said "surprise me."  He is a masonry student at the local vocational/technical school.  He got a chocolate cake with chocolate peanut butter frosting in the middle and fondant "bricks" around the outside.  The fondant was a little too soft.  I think I need to add more powdered sugar and let it dry a little more before I start "construction."

                                     

Happy Father's Day...Here's your cake!!

My husband, bless his heart, is very difficult to buy for.  If he wants something, he goes and gets it.  So, for Father's Day, I was left high and dry for a present idea.  He very rarely has big reactions of "oh, I'd like to have that" over anything.  However, we were watching a competitive baking show on TV the other day, and he saw a cake with strawberry mousse inside.  He did have a big reaction to that.  TA DA!  Father's Day present.

I wanted to surprise my husband with this cake, so while he attended church yesterday morning, I went to work on the cake.

I started by dipping the strawberries into the melted chocolate.  Then, I made my version of strawberry mousse.  Half a bag of mini marshmallows melted in the microwave, a tub of Cool Whip, and strawberries cut up into tiny bits.  I then made cream cheese frosting.  Dear Hubby does not like sweets too much, so cream cheese frosting is his usual choice.

I then baked a chocolate cake and a yellow cake (I was in a hurry, so I used boxed cake mixes that I embellished).  Once the cakes were cool, I dug out a moat of sorts around both cakes.  Then, I put the strawberry mousse inside the moat.  I put the cakes together, hoping that the moats would line up.  Then, it was time for the frosting.  Once that was done, I put the strawberries on top and then drizzled melted chocolate around the edge.    

So....the moats didn't exactly line up the way I had hoped....BUT, Mr. I Don't Like Sweets So Much loved the cake!  

Bacon, egg and cheese croissant ring

Brace yourselves...this is going to knock your socks off.  Croissants, scrambled eggs, melted cheese and BACON!  What could be better?

We have several steps to get through, but I promise it's worth it.

First, preheat your oven to 350.

Next scramble 6 eggs in a bowl and cook them in a frying pan.  I let them a little under cooked since they will continue to cook in the oven.

Then, you want to get your croissants out of the tube and arrange them in a little starburst pattern like this.

 Now, take your scrambled eggs and spoon them around the circle made by your croissant starburst.

After you have done this, add shredded cheese of your choice on top of the scrambled eggs.

I forgot to take a picture of this step; but in this family it's the most important.....add BACON!  I used bacon bits (or as the comedian, Jim Gaffigan, says...the fairy dust of food).  After you add the bacon, fold the croissant points in to form a ring.

Now it's time to put it in the oven.  Let it bake for about 12-15 minutes, or until your croissants are golden brown.  Again, I was not fast enough with the camera.  As soon as I took it out of the oven, my family jumped on it and began to devour it.  I was lucky to get a picture of at least part of it.  Next time, I must remember to make 2.  

Not your average peanut butter cookie

I might have mentioned earlier that I have a bit of an addiction to peanut butter.  When I came across this recipe, I thought it was too good to be true.  It was not.  The cookies are soft but have a crunch on the outside.  Mine were a hair too dry so I will have to make a minor adjustment, but it did not keep me from eating some.

Preheat your oven to 350 F.

List of ingredients:
1 boxed cake mix - yellow
1/2 cup oil (I used extra virgin olive oil)
1 cup peanut butter
2 eggs

That's it!  I literally just threw everything into the bowl and started mixing.  Once it began to get to get stiff, I abandoned my fork and finished mixing with my hands.  It will form a ball...

Once you get the batter all mixed up, form small balls and place on a cookie sheet.  I sprayed my cookie sheet very lightly with non-stick spray.  The batter is thick, so it did not run.

After I had all the little dough balls on the cookie tray, I flattened them out a bit.  Again, I just used my hands to do this.  

Put the cookie tray in the oven and bake for about 6-8 minutes.  You may need to play with this.  My oven runs a bit hot.  When the cookies begin to brown around the edges, remove them from the oven.  Use a clean fork to make the criss-cross pattern and then onto the cooling rack.

If you can wait until the cool...do that.  Otherwise, pop one in your mouth and enjoy!