Notes from A Cottage Industry

Nothing inspires me to get back to baking like a new cookbook.

Does anyone else still buy old school hardback books?(Cook books in particular...)

Okay, I try not to. Mainly because it is actually easier for me to google up a recipe I like than to flip through several cookbooks trying to find a recipe, but...

when I find a cookbook with an incredible cover...or title...or it's from a famous restaurant or bakery.....my knees get weak, and I head for Amazon. (Unless I am lucky enough to find the a fore mentioned cookbook in a thrift store, or at a yard sale. Then, I just grab it up.)

What can I say? I am a sucker for pretty pictures, and clever marketing.

Anyway, such was the case a couple of Saturdays back, when I spied with my little eye, a copy of this cookbook in a little shabby chic type boutique with my daughter. The cover melted my heart, and then, I read the inside cover and found out these are recipes from a San Francisco Bakery...And, oh! The scalloped pages? It was love at first sight.

I took a picture of the cover, and when I got home, I went to Amazon.com to snag myself a copy. It arrived yesterday, and my-oh-my, it is even better cover-to-cover than I imagined.

A recipe for homemade graham crackers? Shut the oven door. (Imagine those with a generous cuppa homemade hot chocolate....)

Cakes, and tarts, and cookies galore. All that is left is for me to decide which recipe I will try out first.

Sharing a little cupcake love.

A couple of week's ago I attended my daughter's MOPs group and taught a cupcake decorating class. I shared how to make simple spiral posies and coordinating teeny tiny leaves on both average sized, and baby cupcakes.

It was a hands on class and the Moms all got to decorate their own cupcake as I went table to table demonstrating the easy technique. By using a number 2,3, or 4 tip and piping a simple spiral coil, you create a little posy. Using a leaf tip (number 352) you simply press the tip next to the posy, squeeze slightly, stop and tip the tip away, and voila'! You have aperfect little leaf.

So, Much. Fun.

And so yummy.

Comfort food dessert. (Parfait glass version.)

When I was out thrifting this past weekend, I scored a set of the most charming parfait glasses, and I could hardly wait to break them in.

I whipped up a batch of banana pudding parfaits, which until recently, I assumed all Mom's in America had in their dessert recipe arsenal. 

It turns out that a lot of folks here in the Pacific Northwest don't know about it.

So I thought I'd share it here today.

It's easy peasy, an takes only a few minutes to make. Simply take on package of instant banana pudding (make it according to directions and place in the refrigerator. Cut up one banana and open a box of Nilla Wafer cookies. (Now, I usually serve this yummy dessert all on one larger bowl, with the original sized Nilla Wafer Cookies, but for the cutie patootie parfait glases, the mini Nilla Wafers were a no-brainer.) Layer the banana slices, nilla wafer cookies, and pudding.

Mmmmmmm.

It's total comfort food.

Have you ever made this dessert, or some version of it?

Seashells make a comeback, some six years later.

When my son married the love of his life, some six plus years back, I got to help make these darling cookies, (in bags of raw sugar for sand!) for favors at the reception....remember them?

Anyway.

My company picnic was last weekend, and we had our second annual Bake-Off, so I got out my cookie cutters and made a batch of seashells and starfish, and then tossed them in raw sugar for a sweet little beach scene.

I took second place, behind a friend that did the yummiest individual little blackberry cheesecakes.

Yay!

 

Chill out.

 

We all owe Ronald Reagan a big fat thanks-so-much.

 

Yessirie.

 

Okay, maybe you didn't know that in 1984 Ronald Reagan declared the entire month of July as National Ice Cream month.

 

Mmmm hmmm...Happy National Ice Cream month!

 

You might remember from last summer, that I am a bit of a homemade ice cream fan.

 

(I shared my passion for the creamy concoction of chilled heaven right here, and here...and here.)

 

(Oh, and here.)

 

You know, half of the fun for me is foofying up my containers, and turning the newest falor of ice cream into a party.

 

Anyway, I am currently gearing up to add a sweet (pun totally intended...har, har, har..) little line of ice cream accessories to my etsy shop, and I thought I'd give you a sneak peek at one a couple of the printable signs.

 

Oh, one more thing...The third Sunday of the month is National Ice Cream Day.

This year, that date will be July 21st.

 

Now you know.

 

Mark your calendars accordingly.

 

And host an ice cream party that day, (homemade or storebought...) or, at the very least, plan on sharing some ice cream with someone you love.

Coconut limeade smoothies.

We've been enjoying some pretty fabulous weather here in the Pacific Northwest, and warm weather makes me think of ice cream. Ice cream makes me think of coconut, and when I spotted a recipe for coconut limeade smoothies the other day on Pinterest, I knew we had to make up a batch.

Oh. My.

So yummy.

All coconut-y smoothness with a hint of citrus-y lime.

Ice-cream-headache-worthy goodness.

These babies are filling, so one smoothie is pretty much all I could imagine drinking, but...oh! Such a treat.

And...it's another boxed cupcake post.

Right about now you're probably rolling your eyes, and thinking, "Good-God-a-mighty, how many of these silly boxed cupcakes does she need to share?"

Um, apparently at least one more.

You see, when I bake cupcakes, I always make a few extras and pop them in a zip lock bag in the freezer, where I can pull them out as needed, for dessert, or for...well, little boxed prezzies for friends.

Today I went with a double papered look (the black cupcake paper is a bit larger than the white one I baked the cupcakes in) and decided to go with yellow and black.
I made a cute little tag with a birthday candle on it to accompany the usual Happy Birthday tag....a sweet, unexpected surprise.

I think she's gonna like it.

Oh-so-easy cupcake packaging.

One of my friends at work had a birthday last weeka nd I wanted to do a little something special for her. I keep unfrosted cupcakes in the freezer, and so I pulled one out, along with some pink frosting I had frozen in a tub as well.

After frosting the sweet little cuppy-cake, I put it in one of my clear cube boxes, and to make it look more festive, (and to make it so the cupcake wouldn't move around in the box) I sprinkled Valentine (red, pink, white)candy corn around the bottom of the cube.

I added a big fat ribbon and a home made tag.....viola'!

Instant party.

Nothin' says lovin' like somethin' from the oven.

Mmm hmm.

Valentines day is hot on the heels of Superbowl Sunday, and I've been busy working on some pretty little somethin' somethins' for the occasion.

Last night I started things off by baking a batch of my very-nearly-world-famous signature croutons.

They're so easy to make, and it's a great use of left over bread, burger buns, or dinner rolls. At Christmas time I sometimes use tiny star shaped cookie cutters, and for Valentines day I decided to make them hearts. (Of course, most of the year I just cube up my bread and make them that way....they still taste yummy!)
To make them, all I do is melt some butter (or margarine) and add some Italian season, garlic powder and grated parmesan cheese. Drizzle this mixture over your cut up bread in a bowl, and toss to coat.
Place coated bread on a sheet of aluminum foil on a cookie sheet and pop in a 425 degree oven until brown (around 13-15 minutes. Stir them around if you like mid-way through) Voila'!

Little mouth sized bites of heaven to top your salads or soups.

If you don't eat them right off the cookie sheet hot out of the oven, that is.

The coolest tool on earth for making apple pie.

My, oh my.

I am embarrassed to tell you exactly how long I owned this tool before I ever tried using it.

Wait. Let em back up.

Way back.

Maybe eight years or more ago.

I first saw this tool at a Pampered Chef party. I was wow'd, (wowed? wowwed?) but I couldn't bring myself to buy it because, even though I am a baker at heart, pies rather intimidate me for some reason. Well, that and the fact that I was suffering from sticker shock. This little baby is about fifty bucks, if you get the little wooden stand to go along with it. (which pretty much is a must, I think.)

Fast forward a few years, to about three years ago. My Pampered Chef friend was making her last order and I said, in a total weak moment of bakers insanity, "Order me one, please."

It arrived shortly thereafter. The mere thought of assembling the little wooden base seemed overwhelmingly too mechanical for me. Completely intimidated, it sat there in it's little Papmpered Chef box.

Mmm hmm, just like that.

Years passed (um, as I stated before...three years) and then,  this past spring, while out yard saling with a friend, there on an old bookshelf in someones driveway, sat the identical Pampered Chef tool.

Assembled.

It mattered not that I already owned this too-cool-for-school-tool, I grabbed it. For three dollars, I had to. (That and that fact that it was ready to use...fully assembled!)

So, I gave one of my girls the new-in-the-box Pampered Chef Apple Corer Peeler (While I can agonize over dropping fifty bucks on myself, I have no problem giving a fifty dollar item to family or friends.) and I kept the thrifted one.

And, it sat there.

For months.

Until now.

My Rock n" Roll Buddy called me one day last week at work and said he had just bought ten pounds of honey crisp apples and could I make a pie from scratch for Thanksgiving?

Well, certainly I could. (After all, I had that handy-dandy-ready-to-use tool.)

That brings me finally to the point of this post.(Hmmm, I got a little wordy I am now noticing. Oh well. You like that about me, right?)

Anyway.

Last Tuesday evening we got our the gadget and I realized I still did not know how to operate it. Luckily, Ralph is the King of YouTube, and so he immediately suggested we look there(He swears you can teach yourself anything on YouTube, and I do believe he is right.)

Oh yeah, baby.
After watching a thirty second video of a fifth grader demonstrating the corer-peeler, we were in business. Within five minutes Ralph had cored, peeled and sliced all the apples for the pie, thankyouverymuch.

He was having so much fun with it that I had to stop him, lest we have ten punds of skinless, cored apples on our hands.

The pie came out perfectly, by the way. Sweet, and juicy, and yummy.
I think 2013 just might be my year to take on mastering pie making.

Happy Independence Day, Twenty Twelve!

Because I am a cake girl at heart.

I have been meaning to share the latest fabulous cookbook purchase I made for a couple of weeks now, but then other topics kept coming up and I very nearly forgot about sharing it. Last night I remembered, and here it is.

I had pretty much sworn off hard copy cookbooks, because I can find any and every recipe I might desire online.

But then I stumbled upon this cake cookbook, and since I have always been first and foremost, a cake-girl...well, I pretty much had to get it.

I know...I have been on a pretty extensive ice cream run of late, but cake will always be my first love.

And cupcakes.

And frosted and decorated sugar cookies.

Which are both still kinda-sorta in the same family if you think about it.

So. This cake-cookbook.
Not only does it have some absolutely mouth watering recipes,(and great photos)it's a good read. Melissa Gray works at NPR and her writing style is smart and witty. The premise of the book is that she began bringing in a different homemade cake each Monday, and then the book idea came from that. It's full of little stories about politicians, the chapter titles are a hoot, and you feel like you're sitting at a table chatting with her.

I love that.
So, while I have discovered that I prefer (for the most part)finding recipes online which saves me from having to dig through cookbooks looking for a certain old recipe, I still have a place in my heart for little gems like this one. Without gushing too much, I must tell you that this book inspires me. With each page I find myself wanting to whip out my mixer.

To run to GoodWill in search of old bundt pans.

To throw on my apron.

To bake.

And, if you take a peek inside this book, I daresay, you will feel these things too.

Not another ice cream post.

Nope.

Not ice cream.

Popsicles.

Made with a not-to-syrup-y-sweet concoction of coconut milk, pineapple, and bananas. Perfect for a warm weather snack; complete and total yummy goodness, and only 117 calories, which really isn't too bad.

I got these most incredible popsicle molds last week.
I had to order them online, as all the ones I found in stores had plastic sticks attached, which is great for little kids, but not what I was after.
I love the fact that they use wooden popsicle sticks. They just have a more vintage-y look, if that makes any sense at all.

So very Martha looking, you know.

And, I am all about how my food looks.

So this set really wow'd me.

Anyway, they're de-lish, so I wanted to share the recipe with you all here today.
I'll be trying Martha's Banana Blueberry Swirl recipe next.

A little entertaining secret....

It's no secret to anyone that knows me that I love to entertain. I love planning the menu, coming up with a theme, (whether it is a color, or a type of food, or an event like the Superbowl...)and I especially love to design and set up the table scape and the buffet area.

Now, all of that might sound intimidating to some of you, and so today I wanted to share a little caterer's secret that I use. You don't always have to bake, or cook everything you are serving yourself when entertaining.You can make store bought pastries and fruit look like a million bucks.

You just have to make the right choices. WalMart, for example, has the most incredible itty-bitty-baby cinammon rolls.

To. Die. For.

And cute as all get out.

When I'm feeling really creative, I take a bit of powdered sugar, milk and a drop of vanilla or orange flavoring and make a runny frosting to drizzle over them...yummy (and totally like you-slaved-in-the-kitchen looking!) Stack them on a cake pedestal with some other pastries (or a giant pile by themselves) and the finished look is perfection.

So, there you go. If you want to wow your family, this is one easy way to do it.

Ice cream, foofified.

Okay, I promise-cross-my-heart-pinkie-swear that this will be my last ice cream post for a while. (Mainly because I just got a fabulous new cake baking cookbook I am dying to share with you!)

So, yeah. Ice cream.

Ice.

Cream.

I can't decide if I am more enthralled with the taste of this heavenly treat, or the seemingly endless options and ideas for presentations and recipes for it. (Quite possibly it is the latter.)

We'll start with the coconut ice cream I made. I was talking  with one of the kids at work (I can call them kids, since they are younger than any of my grown children...) and he was saying how much he loved Almond Joy candy bars. That got me thinking about the ice cream places that mix goodies into your ice cream. I decided to surprise my friend Nick with an ice cream that equalled the ingredients in an Almond Joy.

I took the last bit of the homemade coconut ice cream and I added more coconut, slivered almonds and chocolate syrup. I stirred it in just enough to blend without turning it into chocolate ice cream, and I put it in one of my sweet little corrugated cardboard containers....
I decided it needed a cute label, so I made some with my cheesy print program...
(I felt like my label came out a bit too wide, so next go round I will fine tune that)

...And I made a cute name tag with the darling ice cream scoop clip art I found. I added a couple of the butter wafer cookies and a wooden spoon, all tied with a coordinating ribbon. I took it in to work and called Mr. Nick, letting him know that if today was one of those days he might be "feeling like a nut" (as the Almond Joy tag line says..) I had a lil'-sumthin'-sumthin' for him.

I think it will make his Tuesday.

Win friends and become wildly popular with an ice cream buffet.

Talk about an easy-and-fun dessert set up that looks like you slaved all day! If you want to wow your guests, go with an ice cream buffet. That's what we did this past Saturday night. We had three kinds of ice cream for our friends to sample and make treats from; the two kinds of strawberry and the coconut.

First off, I got a fabulous assortment of cones and toppings. I got some of these cute little baby cones at WalMart (I think all the grocery stores sell them)... Before everyone arrived I made a few ice cream sandwiches with these oh-so-yummy butter wafer cookies from Trader Joe's....Here is my version of an Almond Joy sandwich, with coconut cream, chocolate , almonds and toasted coconut...(sound good?)

I took ordinary sugar cones and dipped them in a small amount of melted chocolate, followed by dipping some of them in sprinkles or coconut. (chocolate chips, or the Wilton colored candy melts would work, but I used left over chocolate from my chocolate fountain)Literally, all you do is melt the chocolate and dip, then roll through the goodies as you like. Set them on wax paper to set up. Within minutes you have an assortment of pretty and impressive cones!

I also took my fabulous vintage cassettes and set them out to use as ice cream dishes..perfect!
Needless to say, a grand time was had by all, and it really looked like I had spent all day prepping, when in reality it took less than a half hour.

We had plent left overs the next day, (another great thing about this dessert buffet...leftovers keep really well!) so I had my little men do some further taste testing...
In fact, all three of the boys got to sample...tee hee hee!

Strawberry ice cream takes it's turn in the spotlight.

We're off and running, with the first round of the second flavor of ice cream in the ice cream maker. This time we tried a couple of different strawberry recipes. The first one (pictured above on the right side of the bowl.)was supposed to taste like Ben and Jerry's strawberry ice cream. I'd say it was an okay recipe over all. The recipe was very easy, but I think the strawberries needed to be cut into fairly tiny pieces, and I had simply cut them as I do when I make strawberry shortcake, so, if I make it again, I will do that. Better yet, pureeing the berries in the blender is an even better option.The second recipe (on the left side of the bowl.) was for a roasted strawberry ice cream, with a bit of balsamic vinegar (oh-so-very Italian!) and it is my personal favorite of the two recipes.This recipe has you roast the strawberries,mixed with sugar and the balsamic vinegar, and later, chop 'em up in the blender, which I think was what made it a more flavorful treat.

The reason I tried two recipes was that the first coconut ice cream recipe bombed, and I figured there was a chance it could happen again (but I hoped not!) I didn't want to chance anything.  We are having friends over this Saturday night for a barbecue, and to play cards...and we'll need to have dessert...homemade ice cream! (Hence the need to find a really yummy strawberry ice cream recipe...)

( Of course, we will also have more of the homemade coconut ice cream as well, 'coz I want a variety, and it's so yummy too.)

Because homemade ice cream goes best with good friends.

The second batch of coconut ice cream came out so well that I decided to take a bit of it to share with a couple of my friends that help me out a lot at work today.

I ordered these fabulous little containers (and wooden spoons!) a couple of weeks ago from one of my all time personal favorite online shops. (This was when I was beginning to get excited about warm weather and the new ice cream maker I would be breaking in...)

Not only did I get the white pint sized containers, I also got a few of these equally darling corrugated cardboard tubs.(I plan on using these containers filled with ice cream as to-go favors at summer barbeques this summer when we serve homemade ice cream for dessert. Pictures will be coming, of course!)
I made labels that read "Ice Cream for daily happiness" and tags with "I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream" and "Life is short, eat dessert first" on them to add some whimsy. A foot of ribbon from my ribbon stash, and my hand-crafted,homemade tags, and...voila!

I think they're pretty cute, and tasty too.

Ice cream, anyone?

Well, that is what it was supposed to be, anyway.

See, I got an ice cream maker for Christmas, and I have been waiting for ice cream weather to get here so I could break it in. The moment finally arrived this past Sunday.

At least I thought it did.(We're back to rain and hail here today, and for the rest of the week, supposedly.)

I had ordered a cookbook all about ice cream, and it had arrived last Friday. (I'll be honest here and tell you I bout it partially for the fabulous cover, which I plan to set out on a book easel in the kitchen for the summer months...)After perusing the book for a half hour,I chose a coconut ice cream recipe from the back of the book. It was far more complicated than I remember ice cream recipes being. For starters I had to cook it. Five egg yolks, and a whole lot of cream. Coconut. Some straining, and more cooking.

My Rocker added his two cents, sharing that a secret tip he used in the past was to add pudding mix.

Hmmm, okay. That seemed like a pretty good idea.(Did I ever tell you how I love pudding? I do.)

Finally, the cooked, cooled ingredients made it to the ice cream maker on the back deck, with lots of ice and salt around the container.

Forty five minutes later, and still it wasn't resembling ice cream.

Uh-oh. Houston, we have a problem.

Still soupy...er...uncooked pudding-like.

At that point I realized that I was using the wrong salt in the ice for the ice cream maker. (I was using Kosher salt, not rock salt. Don't ask. I have no idea why, other than to claim a brain freeze.) Another hour later, and we gave up and sampled the cold pudding-ish creation. Not, bad, but not exactly good, either. (All I can say here is that the texture was weird.)

Undaunted, I decided to start over the next evenig after work. (When at first you don't succeed, try, and try again, right?)

Second night, second try. I was determined to get it right. I found another coconut ice cream recipe online. I picked up some rock salt. We re-read the instructions with the ice cream maker.

No cooking this time. No pudding. Back out on the deck, we added the ice, and the rock salt and plugged in the ice cream maker.

Forty five minutes later (give or take) and we called it good. We brought in the tub of ice cream, and...yes! It was ice cream... a soft serve texture of coconut goodness. I moved the ice cream from the container to a vintage loaf pan, and covered the top with waxed paper. In the freezer it went. (And it looked oh-so-vintage-and-yummy at the same time. Martha would have been so proud of me.)

We I couldn't stand waiting too much longer, so after an hour I pulled it out and we each sampled a bowl. Mine was dressed up with toasted coconut and a few slivered almonds on top, thankyouverymuch.

Ohmygosh. Yes. Ice cream!

We're going to tackle strawberry next.

More comfort food.

I know most of us do not think of comfort foods in warm and sunny weather. Still, even if it is April,if it's chilly, or looks chilly outside, one of my most favorite comfort foods to whip up is grilled sandwhiches. This past Saturday started out pretty gray, and even though it wasn't all that cold, it looked like comfort food weather, so I made us each a grilled turkey, bacon, and cheddar cheese on sourdough. Mmmm, mmm, mmm.

The trick that makes them so yummy is to use a bit of mayo on one slice of bread, and some thousand island dressing on the other.
Start by grilling up your bacon, and set it aside. Butter the outsides of the two pieces of bread. (Here is where you make them special, with the mayo and thousand island on the flip sides of the two pieces of bread.) Add the cheese, (I used cheddar, but gouda coud be great too.or any other kind of cheese you crave.) followed by the turkey, and the bacon.

Grill.

Flip.

Grill.

Enjoy with a cold drink of your choice, and some really good company.

Perfect.

 

Strawberry short(cut)cake.

You know I love to bake. Cakes. Cookies. Any kind of treat. Love it all.

So, when I make strawberry short cake for dessert, that typically means that I bake the cake part of this treat, in an eight inch round cake pan. I slice it in half, horizontally and layer the cake, berries, whipped cream, and repeat it all. It looks pretty spectacular for company, if I do say so myself.

The past several days, spring weather has finally hit the Pacific Northwest (the entire west coast I believe!) and yesterday I just felt like it was a strawberry-shortcake-for-dessert kind of day. The only problem was that it was just going to be my Rock n' Roll Biddy and me for dinner.

I found a quick, Sandra Lee -like solution. I bought a  pre-cut pound cake from the bakery at the grocery store, and a can of extra creamy whipped cream to go with the strawberries.
I layered cubed bites of the pound cake, berries, and whipped cream in my large water glasses.
Perfect. Just the right amount of yumminess and so pretty too. NExt time you're doing dessert (or a fruit salad for that matter) for yourself, or two people, remember, it can still be a pretty spectacular presentation!

Playing with my food.

I love having little surprises for my guests to see (and eat!) and I also love chocolate dipped strawberries. (who doesn't?) One of the fun desserts I did for Easter this year was an idea I found on Pinterest. So easy, and so stinkin' cute. Start with freshly washed starwberries, and leave the leafy tops on them.
Melt orange colored Wilton candy melts (they taste like white chocolate) in the microwave and dip your berries, being sure to cover them entirely except the tops....
Use a butter knife to add some details of lines on the "carrots" as you set the covered berry on wax paper to cool.
The entire process takes less than 20 minutes and they're ready to go on a tray in the fridge until you are ready to serve them.

Obviously I did them for Easter, but I think the faux carrot look could work at any spring or summer time BBQ or garden party!

 

Cozy (and yummy) dinner for two...in no time at all.

Here in the Pacific Northwest, we have been experiencing some rather unpredictable weather, with sunshine and low 50's one day, followed by blustery winds, rain, hail, and even snow flurries the next. (The news guy actually referred to it as "Winter-Spring" last night on the news.)

Yesterday was one of the closer-to-winter-than-spring days, so I wanted to make something hot and hearty for dinner, but without a whole lot of work involved.(Monday's seem so extra long after a leisurley Sunday for some reason)

Anyway.

I headed to the deli counter at the grocery store and got some Baked Potato Chowder and a bag of round loaves of Sourdough bread (The bag called them Cannon Balls.) I rubbed butter on the tops of the bread loaves and popped them in the oven on allow shelf with the oven set to Broil, and heated the soup at the same time.

When the bread was hot and slightly crisp looking I pulled it out of the oven, hollowed out our soup bowls, ladled in the hearty chowder, and sprinkled the tops with sharp cheddar cheese.

Mmmmmmm, mmmmm, mmmmm.Ya baby, that's what I'm talkin' about.

Ready in no time at all (with hardly any clean up!) and for under eight bucks, to boot.

Oh. My.

Comfort food to the highest degree.

 

 

"Coz nothin' says lovin' like somethin' from the oven.

Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for all the comments on yesterday's post! I brought home a pitcher of roses from the party..er...the wedding!...and I smile each time I look at them. I don't think I will ever be able to be that surprised again in my life time. Such a thrilling, fun feeling!(Click here to see MORE pictures...from the photographer!)

Anyway.

I spent Sunday afternoon baking in the kitchen while my Rock n' Roll Buddy held band practice in the living room. I'll be giving out my goodies to neighbors, and friends...

I went with a white Christmas baking theme for the most part this year. I'll add ribbon wrapped milk bones for my neighbors next door that have pups.....

.....I stuck with my old stand by, favorite recipes...snowballs, and star shaped sugar cookies......

I also dipped pretzels in white chocolate and sprinkles for more added frosty white bling.

So pretty and so yummy! What about you? Do you go with a theme (snowmen? Stars? Red and Green?) when baking for the holidays?

Creating a better world with cookies and milk.

**Before I begin, let me say that my photos came out really poorly due to the lighting in my office....**

Christmas decorating isn't only reserved for your home, you know.

We are having so much fun at work this week! We're decking the halls...er....the main lobby areas on two floors, along with the reception area...for Christmas! To kick off the festivities on Monday afternoon we had Christmas music playing, and I decided to offer up a lil' buffet of milk and cookies.

I began by emailing everyone on my floor (we have three entire floors of employees..) the following quote:

(in case you can't read it in the photo: Think what a better world it would be if we all - the whole world - had cookies and milk about three o'clock every afternoon...Robert Fulgum) and I invited them to help create a better world by stopping by the reception area for a treat.

I served the milk in old wine carafes I got a long time ago at a thrift store, tied with little gingham ribbons and placed in a bucket of ice....

The cookies were a nice combination of homemade (by me and a friend at work) and my good pal, Trader Joe. (I adore his dark chocolate star cookies!)

I am decorating the entire reception area (more pics in a post to follow later...)in traditional red, white...and non-traditional grey tones.....

A five dollar scarf from WalMart makes a fabulous winter-time runner, a jingle bell from a place setting a few years ago (remember it here? Wow. Was it really 2007?!Feels like it was last year...)

....and dollar mittens complete the look.(Oh! And, aren't you lovin' my stocking cap birdies from Camas Antiques?)

So, how's your work space looking this Christmas season? What do you do to add some cheer? I'd love to hear!

Happy Turkey-Day, my friends.

 Thanksgiving dinners take eighteen hours to prepare.  They are consumed in twelve minutes.  Half-times take twelve minutes.  This is not coincidence.  ~Erma Bombeck

I came across a photo from Thanksgiving 2007 and thought I'd share it again. (such a beautiful and delicious pie my daughter-in-law made!)

Wishing you all a cozy Thanksgiving, filled with love, and laughter, and gratitude.

Oh me oh my it's time for pumpkin pie.

Well, almost. Thanksgiving will be here before we know it.

Autumn chills and shorter days are here, and I'm ready to start baking up some different pumpkin goodies, even though I should be spending every spare moment unpacking... 

Anyway.

I usually make my my Pumpkin Maple cake several times each fall and this year I have added another amazing (and easy!) pumpkin dessert to my list of pumpkin recipes.

A friend at work made this for a Potluck and I simply had to have the recipe. I've made it twice in the past week.  (Earlier this week for a family dinner, and then again yesterday as we watched Game 4 of the World Series with an out of town friend!) I think it's going to be a staple in my home for the rest of the season, and I wanted to share it with you!

Pumpkin Crunch

1 package yellow cake mix

1 large can (30 oz) pumpkin pie mix (Not 100% pumpkin)

1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk

3 eggs

1 ½ cups sugar

½ t salt

1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

1 cup melted butter

Whipped topping (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom of 9x 13 pan.

Combine pumpkin, eggs, sugar, evaporated milk and salt in large bowl. Pour into pan.  Sprinkle dry cake min evenly over pumpkin mixture.  Top with pecans.  Drizzle with melted butter.  Bake for 50 to 55 minutes or until knife inserted comes out clean.  Cool completely.  Serve with whipped topping. Refrigerate left overs  (if you have any!)

And so I baked some cupcakes.

I went with my Rock n Roll Buddy to his Office BBQ the other afternoon. Don't ask me why, but it never occurred to me until the night before the BBQ to ask if it was a pot luck and if so, was there anything I could bring along? He said no, he'd just grab some Popsicles at the store on the way to the party.

Dang it. I missed an opportunity to bake.

Well, after thinking about it, and then dreaming about it all night, I woke up and whipped out a quick batch of cuppy-cakes to take along to the event.

*sigh* I felt ever so much better after that.

A cupcake egg-stravaganza as far as the eye can see.

I'm late with today's post because I was busy with, among other things, baking cupcakes for my daughter's LLS fundraiser. Baking 240 baby-cupcakes to be exact. (I know. You thought I might be getting prepared to take over the front window next Thursday at Camas Antiques...not to worry, I will be ready.)

The baking part actually went relatively fast; less than an hour and a half. The four colors of frosting on those 240 baby-cakes? Notsomuch.
Then, there was the time to load 'em into their lil' cartons....*sigh*

So sweet. And so yummy. Folks are gonna love them, and it's all for such a good cause.

My easy-peasy-tastes-like-scratch version of Coconut cake.

...with coconut cream filling, and coconut buttercream frosting, thankyouverymuch.

Many of you asked for my recipe from the coconut birthday cake yesterday, so...here it is, in it's all-too-easy entirety, and I guarantee that it will impress most anyone that enjoys coconut cake.

The Cake:

1 Duncan Hines white cake mix (follow complete baking directions, except...in addition to the egg whites, water and vegetable oil, add:

1 cup real mayonnaise

1 Tablespoon Coconut flavoring

Bake as directed, cool (I like to put mine in the freezer, as it seems to keep it more moist and is much easier to cut to fill later)

While the cake is cooling....make coconut filling:

1 box Jello Brand coconut cream pudding mix (instant or cook and serve...your choice) Follow directions. Chill.

Coconut Buttercream Frosting:

1 Bag or 2 boxes sifted confectioners sugar

 1 cup margarine or butter (I use Imperial Brand myself...)

1 Tablespoon Coconut flavoring

milk to thin to desired consistency

2 cups toasted coconut (I brown mine in the oven on a foil covered cookie sheet at 425 degrees until brown- about 5 minutes, then stir and go 5 more minutes or so)

Beat all ingredients together except browned coconut.

To assemble:

Cut both 8 inch layers lengthwise, creating 4 layers. Place 1 layer on cake plate.  Pipe a fat bead of frosting around the edge of the layer, fill in with coconut pudding, add next layer, slather with frosting and sprinkle with toasted coconut. Add third layer, repeat the bead of frosting and pudding, then top layer more frosting and top off with toasted coconut. No need to frost the sides of the cake..it's pretty enough as is.

See?

I told you it was easy.

 

Blooming cupcakes and more on the lil' flutter-bys.

The lil' bouquet of edible flowers came out nicely and the butterflies were a perfect finishing touch!

The butterflies were easy to do. Once I made the pattern, I simply laid a piece of parchment paper (available on the aisle with the aluminum foil at the grocery store) on top of the pattern and then piped out the main color of my butterflies...
I then filled another parchment bag with the darker color frosting and piped the outline and details. I let them dry for several hours and they were ready to be placed on my cupcakes. For those of you that are interested in learning how to create the sweet lil' flowers, as well as the recipe for making the butterflies, I have added several new pages, with complete step-by-step instructions to the booklet that accompanies my "Make it Special- Cookies and Cupcakes" DVD kit. You can order it here.

I've linked this post to Metamorphesis Mondays from Naps on the Porch. Check out LOTS of other great ideas by clicking here.