cookies easy
  • 14th February 2011

    Happy Valentines Day!!

    Hellooo Everyone! Happy Heart Day!  This has always been one of my favorite holidays because my mom made it so special when we were young! Not only did she surprise us with chocolates and treats, but she would always cook an all "pink" dinner, and take the time to dye the biscuts, pasta, even the apples in the salad bright pink!  It's always made today extra special and it makes it so much more than a "Hallmark Holiday", (to which I'd like to respond, which holiday ISN'T???) .

    Anyway!  For today I decided to do something a little fancy for LMJ.  I borrowed a recipe from one of my favorite inspirational baking blogs, www.annieeats.com, and decided I would give it a go!  A note about these treats...they are mainly for looks, Not sure if anyone out here has ever had a whoopie pie, but its main taste is similar to air..hence the name whoopie I guess?  The frosting helps though!  It's a very rich cream cheese frosting, yum yum!  So you start out by tracing hearts (from card stock, cookie cutters, etc) on parchment paper.  Then you take your batter and pipe it into the hearts, leaving enough room for expansion of the cookies. Use your biggest piping tip for this:

     

    Process

    After you fill in the cookies with ther remaining batter, place in the oven at 375 degrees for no more than 8 minutes. You want to make sure you watch these VERY carefully in the oven, like I said earlier, there is not too much to the batter and so they burn very quickly (lets just say I had a mishap with batch one...).  When you take them out its important to let them cool for at least 10 minutes, or until they are entirely cold so that the thick frosting doesnt mess up the soft cookie!  Next, pair the cookies together and sandwich them into little heart shaped treats and enjoy your reward!

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    And here is what LMJ awoke to on Valentine's morning :)

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    HAPPY DAY TO ALL THE LOVERS!!!

  • 8th February 2011

    RENO 911

    Well, the bday weekend went perfectly in RENO!  Reno is kind of like an intense dive bar you can't escape; there are so many characters and the only way to keep it entertaining is to keep a cocktail in hand!  I made LMJ's bday cupcakes on Friday and they turned out great!  I ended up having to make my own frostings with food coloring.  Turns out no matter how much green you use, its really hard to get a dark green like I had imagined, but the moss green and light yellow still looked great!  

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    I can't even begin to plan my next baking venture in this state of mind!  I must say, Reno knows how to keep the wives and girlfriends busy: Sex and The City Slot machines that play clips of the show between spins=UH MAZ ING.  Loved it.  Probably help that I won on a "Mr. Big" Special" Spin! 
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    All in all, It was a great weekend and I'm happy with the way the cupcakes turned out!  Love you LMJ!

  • 3rd February 2011

    Theme Dreams

    So it's clear this blog is not gonna get off the ground if I don't get a theme going..maybe I can start with a baby theme and work my way up from there?  For this week I've decided on: BAKING.  LMJ's bday is on Monday and I will be doing some serious baking for this monumental event! He's turning 27, but one would never know, since he has requested FUNFETTI for his birthday cake.  I've decided to make funfetti cupcakes with white Frosting and Green O's to represent his real love, the Oregon Ducks (PAC 10 CHAMPS!), I'm imagining them turning out just like this, but in cupcake form:

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    Nothing will ever top the football cake I made our first year together, dont throw all your eggs in one cake basket early on you guys!  Okay so now we have a plan, and a semi-theme and I will post my results as soon as they're done!