Brewers Cake!

I apologize for the lack of baking posts since the cookies. I am going to step my game up soon! No excuses! In the meantime heres a quick shot of my brothers cake I made this weekend. It's Brewers themed, and has a fruit Twizzlers border =) Candy on cakes = current obsession.

Ombré love!

This is a little baby post about a cake I made this weekend! It turned out so cute I wanted to share :)

I love ombré like I love chevron ... a lot! 

Here's my favorite chicka with a slice

The process was super simple, and I found pre-dyed cake mix so I didn't have to add a whole bottle of food coloring to get a good blue.

Baby Steps Pt.2: Icing Icing Baby

Welp, I did it! First round of sugar cookies turned out, I think, pretty successful. I didn't take too many pictures of the process, sorry for that, but I did take a bunch of the finished product before I nommed them all down! Very delicious.

I again used Bridget from Bake at 350's royal icing recipe. Definitely check her site out for some tips.

Royal Icing

4 TBSP meringue powder

scant 1/2 c. water

1 lb. powdered sugar

1/2 - 1 tsp light corn syrup

few drops clear extract (optional, I used almond to match the cookies)

 Combine the meringue powder and water. With the paddle attachment of an electric mixer, beat until combined and foamy.

Sift in the powdered sugar and beat on low to combine. (Do NOT skip the sifting!)

Add in the corn syrup and extract if desired. ( I think the corn syrup helps keep the icing shiny.)

Increase speed to med-high/high and beat for about 5 minutes, just until the icing is glossy and stiff peaks form.  (You should be able to remove the beater from the mixer and hold up and jiggle without the peak falling.) 

Do not overbeat.

Cover with plastic wrap touching the icing or divide and color using gel paste food colorings.

To ice the cookies I first used the stiff icing right away to pipe borders around the stars. Once that was done and the border was stiff I added some later to the icing so I could "flood" the area inside the border. It's best to do it a table spoon at a time (I've read somewhere misting it with a water mister works really well?). It can vary how much water you use, but you want the consistency to be about maple syrup. 

Once the cookies were flooded I waited for them to dry just a bit and added the sprinkles. I left them out to dry for at least an hour and then I ate maybe 2 or 3 of them...maybe. 

I think my first shot went pretty well, and I'm excited to learn more and try more with decorated cookies! Leave a comment if you have any helpful hints or ticks you'd like to share.

Baby Steps: Cookie Decorating 101

I have a huge, HUGE girl crush on many cookie bakers these days. Whether it’s Jill FCS, Bridget, or Arty McGoo, I droll in jealously every time they post new cookies. I never had the time to really try to learn to make awesome cookies like them, but now I do and I’m getting back in my #workflow (hashtag necessary) and learning how to do this. I started today by making the base, with Bridget’s cookie recipe. They were super easy to make and they taste great. Step one = great success!

Perfect Every Time Cut-Out Cookies, From Bridget at Bake at 350.

3 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 c sugar

2 sticks (salted) butter, cold & cut into chunks

1 egg

3/4 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/2 tsp pure almond extract

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine the flour and baking powder, set aside. Cream the sugar and butter. Add the egg and extracts and mix. Gradually add the flour mixture and beat just until combined, scraping down the bowl, especially the bottom.

The dough will be crumbly, so knead it together with your hands as you scoop it out of the bowl for rolling.

Roll on a floured surface to about 1/4" to 3/8" thick, and cut into shapes. Place on parchment lined baking sheets (I recommend freezing the cut out shapes on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before baking) and bake for 10-12 minutes. Let sit a few minutes on the sheet, and then transfer to a cooling rack.

Once I rolled them twice, I used the scraps to make chocolate chip minis =) I may have over chocolated them, but they taste JUST like cookie dough. Try it, thank me later.

Easy Peasy Cranberry Sauce

I was going to make a thanksgiving post before the holiday actually happened, but I got too busy. So here, is a recipe you can make for any holiday, and it's easy and smells delicious. I took the general idea from Ina Garten, but just messed around until it was sweet enough for me.

(On a side note, did anyone else watch Food Networks "Thanksgiving Live"? It is one of my favorite traditions, Bobby and Giada trying to talk over each other and Alton, weird live questions, and this year Giada cut her finger and it was like the world was ending...ain't no drama like Food Network Drama!!)


Cranberry Sauce
1 bag of fresh Cranberries, washed and dried.
1 C water
1 C brown sugar
1/3 C or to taste, Orange Juice
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 lemon zested, and then half the lemon's juice.

In a sauce pot bring sugar and water to a boil. Add the cranberries, OJ, lemon zest and juice, and cinnamon. Bring to a boil. Around this time you'll hear lots of little cranberries popping like rice crispies. Once it comes to a boil turn off the heat and allow to cool. I left it on the stove and continued to stir every now and then to cool it down. Do a taste test here, you can add more OJ if it's too tart for you. Cranberries are of course tart by nature which helps bring a zing to your turkey, but too much tartness isn't fun.

You can find Ina's recipe here, hers has raisins and apples in it, which was a little too funky for me.

Fun facts I learned this thanksgiving: when a cranberry is ripe is will bounce when you drop it! Also that the cranberry was once called “crane berry” by settlers because of its blossom’s resemblance to the sand hill crane. I should start calling this crane berry sauce... 

I hope you all had a wonderful safe and happy thanksgiving, and I am thankful for anyone reading this little blog =) Seeing page views go up makes me smile everyday to think of someone reading this!

Sticky Fingers!

I've never been a huge fan of scones. I mean normally it's like a rock with some dried fruit in it. Sticky Fingers Scones however, have turned me into a scone lover. I found them for the first time at Woodmans, and bought the Cocoa Chocolate Chip for my mom the chocolate lover. They were a big hit, and I soon after found they had a ton of other flavors. Besides chocolate, my favorite has to be the Coconut Chocolate Chip. Delicious and super easy. 

All you do is add 3/4 C of water, mix, shape and bake!

You can add more mix-ins, frost or glaze them, or do anything you'd like! They come out super soft and moist and last for a few days. 

If you see these at the store, buy three. Seriously, easy to make when you have company over or to share with friends =)

To find out more about Sticky Fingers Bakery click HERE!





*this post was in no way endorsed by Sticky Fingers

Wow!

Thank you to everyone who reads this blog, today I reached 1000 site views =)