Holy Giant Oreo Batman!

 Dear youngest Son celebrated a milestone birthday recently....21....
 a milestone for both of us....his sort of coming of age, although 21 is hardly the norm these days, it's more like 16 or 18. A milestone for me as well as he's the last one, the baby is now a young man. Where did those years go?
We celebrated with an awesome Oreo Cookie cake which was a HUGE hit, pardon the pun. The cake disappeared in a record time frame...next day it was completely devoured.

I liked it as it was super easy peasy to make and looked like I slaved all day. Just this simple two layer pan from Sonoma Williams, a Duncan Hines cake mix and a jar of pre made white icing and voila.

 I loved that you didn't actually even have to ice the whole cake, just the middle!
The whole thing is just a bit TOO big to dip though!

Happy Halloween!

These skeleton gingerbread cookies are adorable ….but tons of work. You would only want to give them to our favourite munchkins!

It’s an all in one cookie cutter….cut out the shape then press the embossed side of the cookie cutter into your dough and it makes the indented shape which you fill with royal icing once they are baked.

The cookie cutter is from  FredandFriends.com…I picked it up in Brighton UK when we visited in September as I had not seen anything like it here in Canada.

Had to laugh…as I was baking, cutting out shapes and lining them up on cookie sheets, Dear youngest son comes in and says…aren’t you rushing things a bit….bless his heart, thought I was making gingerbread boys for Christmas!

Here’s how you do it

Make your favourite cupcakes…for this one I chose Strawberry Velvet…

Using a handy dandy cupcake hole-r….remove the innards, but save them.

Now with a piping bag full of your favourite filling…for this one, I used strawberry crème cheese, fill the holes with goodness.

Carefully place the outies…inny, then ice with your favourite frosting…mine is Very Berry Strawberry …..

sprinkled with Huckleberry natural cane sugar.

Then top off the display with mini balloons, candy necklaces and candles. This was a sweet treat surprise for my youngest daughter’s birthday.

Scrumptious

Homemade Ice Cream Sandwiches

Super simple to make and a sure fire hit for any event.
Start with your favourite homemade cookies. I use my favourite cookie recipe called Cup O’ Love Cookies. Nice and chewy.

Then add your favourite ice cream…the only catch….it needs to be in a small round container. I love this Salted Caramel one.

Cut the ice cream container into slices, then just remove the container wrapper…perfect circles of ice cream goodness.

Stack a cookie on either side and wrap the sandwiches in parchment paper squares tied up with baker’s twine.

MMMM    MMMM Good!

Strawberry Goodness

I love baking. The only problem with baking is that you have to sample your wares to make sure that they taste good. I should curtail the amount I bake because I have noticed the pounds creeping up namely because of all the taste tests. I can't help myself, I love to bake, love to smell the aromas coming from the kitchen and love to see the finished product.

I'm giving you the recipe because why should I be the only one with a wide end load....Enjoy!

Strawberry Braided Bread

Ingredients

• 2 cups biscuit/baking mix
• 1 package (3 ounces) cream cheese, cubed
• 1/4 cup cold butter, cubed
• 1/3 cup 2% milk
• 1-1/4 cups fresh cut strawberries
• 3 tablespoons strawberry jam
• 1/4 cup vanilla frosting

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425°. Place biscuit mix in a large bowl. Cut in cream cheese and butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in milk just until moistened. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; knead gently 8-10 times.
2. On a greased baking sheet, roll dough into an 18x12-in. rectangle. Spoon strawberry jam and sliced strawberries down center third of dough.
3. On each long side, cut 1-in.-wide strips about 2-1/2 in. into center. Starting at one end, fold alternating strips at an angle across strawberries; seal ends.
4. Bake 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to a wire rack to cool slightly. In a microwave-safe dish, microwave frosting on high 5-10 seconds or until of desired consistency; drizzle over pastry.

Say Cheese

The latest edition of Taste of Home Contest Winners had a fabulous recipe for homemade bread in it and it looked so yummy I couldn't resist.
Have a sneak peak.

You can find the recipe here
http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/cheddar-cheese-batter-bread

It has a delicious topping of cheddar cheese, minced garlic, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, paprika and celery seed.

I have to stop cooking with cheese

Or chocolate chips……

If these boys are ever to move out! I think the reason that my boys, actually not boys but young men, are still at home is because I make it too tasty for them.

You should see them inhale these muffins. I don’t bake them in the typical muffin pan with the typical muffin liner but use these great tart muffin liners. They look super cute and you get more muffin top than your typical muffin to eat.

This is a great recipe…enjoy

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup applesauce
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips

Directions: In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg. Combine dry ingredients; add alternately with applesauce to the creamed mixture. Stir in oats and chips. Fill paper-lined muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes. Yield: 12 muffins.

Cheater pies

Ok, sometimes I get so busy and overwhelmed I have to cheat…not on my Dear Hubby, who has time for that, but with my baking.

I buy these premade 4” pastry shells from a local bakery, they come frozen in a pack of 24. I also buy a pack of regular size frozen pie shells…I let all the pie shells thaw before I’m  ready to bake…I fill the 4” shells with a canned pie shell filling, roll out the larger pie shell and cut out circles that fit the top of the minis. I cut out a little heart with a mini  heart cookie cutter, then place the circle rounds on top, brush with an egg wash and sprinkle the top with castor sugar. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes and pass them off like I slaved all day in the kitchen, plus they look super cute!

Bite Me!

That’s what I should have told my son in law…..however I’m nice.  I really had no intention of doing Christmas cookies for the holidays. It was the day before Christmas Eve and he was over visiting with the grandkids…..he was looking around in the kitchen, then finally came out and asked where the sugar cookies were. I felt a little guilty telling him I decided not to bake this year only to have him tell me he loves my sugar cookies and it wouldn’t be Christmas without them.

Oh the guilt we can feel as mothers!

The next day I got out my sugar cookie recipe, and a new set of cookie cutters that I had bought with good intentions….

So Christmas Eve I’m baking up Gingerbread Boys with missing limbs!

They were cute…..and I love the little frowns. Dear Son in Law got a whole box of half eaten treats…

Cold enough to freeze an igloo

We had lots of celebrating this Christmas at our house. Lots of company, lots of food, lots of baking and goodies. I am very thankful that our power outage was short lived compared to so many families that went days and days without heat and power over the holidays. Our power was only off for about 6 hours. It was cold enough in the garage to keep this little igloo frozen till served on Christmas day.

It’s made by moulding your typical rice krispies squares recipe in a bowl for the base and then rolling a smaller piece for the entrance. Once set, you smother the whole igloo in cool whip. I was lucky to find a cute penguin during one of my shopping frenzy days and he is a perfect addition. The pictures of the ice glistened trees are taken from our back deck.

Constructing a Birthday Cake

Dear Hubby’s birthday is right before Christmas…..I always feel sorry for people who celebrate these special occasions so close to the holidays…they always seem to get gipped somehow.

We always have all the family over to celebrate birthdays  and of course it wouldn’t be complete without the grandsons there as well. I decided to do a birthday cake that the little ones would enjoy and came across this construction cake on Pinterest. Super easy to do with store bought cake mix, icing and a little dump truck filled with Maltesers….the grandsons thought it was great…right up their alley.

Everything is better with butter

Ingredients:

5 Tbsp. butter softened

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup Delight Butter Pecan Creamer
• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• . . SUGAR CRUMB FILLING/TOPPING
• 1/4 cup cold butter
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 cup flour

Instructions

1. First make sugar crumb filling. In a medium bowl, combine sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon and flour. Cut in COLD butter until a crumb is formed. Set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
3. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together.
4. Beat in egg.
5. Add sour cream and creamer and blend until well combined.
6. In a small-medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together.
7. Pour half of dry ingredients into batter and stir in with a wooden spoon until just combined.
8. Add in remaining half of batter until just combined. Don't over stir. Note that the batter WILL BE THICK. Totally normal and perfect.
9. Drop by large ice cream scoop into large free standing baking pans, spread an even layer
10. Sprinkle some crumb mixture over batter. Layer another layer of batter over the top of crumb. Layer a second layer of crumb.
11. Bake at 375 degrees F for 25-30 minutes or a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Fabulous with a coffee, and a bit of peace and quiet first thing in the morning…mmmmmmm!

This recipe was an adaptation from http://www.chef-in-training.com/2013/03/creme-brulee-muffins