Candy Cane Cookies.

I know that Christmas has come and gone but I still wanted to share these wonderful, delicious treats that I made.  I used a recipe from a Company's Coming cookbook that I got as a wedding gift.  It is from Most Loved Treats.  I did a quick google search and found it online, including other similar recipes with other variations, so if you are interested, you can check them out here.  The second recipe is the same one I used, by Company's Coming.

Once you have made the dough, they suggest seperating it into two pieces, and colouring one of them red.  As you can see, I decided to use green as well, so seperated the dough into three pieces.

It took me a few tries to get the right amount of dough to roll out nice, and I even twisted them wrong the first few times.  Not that it still didn't work, but when I finally figured it out, it was much easier.  My first few cookies were also huge.  It was easier to roll out with more dough, but trust me that you should stick to the suggested 1 tsp. of each colour.  Roll out each colour and then pinch the edges together. 

Next twist the two rolls several times, and then shape into a candy cane.  Don't over complicate it like I did.  To start I tried to keep the bottom of the cookie flat- don't!  Here is what your cookie will look like with one twist...then do a bunch more!

I made red and white candy canes, green and white candy canes, and red and green candy canes.  So many options and everyone loved them.  Mmmm!

Bake at 350 F for 10 mins, cool and enjoy!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday and is enjoying the new year so far! 

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Merry Christmas Sprinkled With Love!

I was very excited to receive the Kitchenaid Professional 5+ 5 quart stand mixer in metalic chrome colour from my parents for Christmas.  What a great gift that will keep on giving!  I can't wait to use it and to share my creations with all of you!

Since it is rather big and quite heavy, I sadly had to leave it at home. :(  I can't wait for the summer when I get to go home and use this wonderful new gift.  Thanks Mom and Dad!!

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Smash Cake Fun

I just wanted to add a link to Fresh Photography and some cute pictures she took.  Shawna ordered a giant cupcake for one of her clients to smash...it was for a first birthday photo shoot.  Check out some of the fun here:

http://www.fresh-photography.ca/blog/?p=221

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Finnish Pancakes

I first got introduced to Finnish Pancakes when my husband was playing hockey in Manchester, NH and living with a Finnish couple.  I  loved to visit, especially when Meri made delicious Finnish Pancakes to eat while playing a game of Sequence.  I sadly lost Meri's recipe, but have since found a new one that I like as well.  Meri would always make a big, thinner pancake by pouring the batter onto a cookie sheet.  I have done this, as well as cooking them in a 9x13 cake pan, as I did this time.  Both work great. While searching online, I noticed that some people cook them in a frying pan on the stove too.

The following is the recipe that I have been using the last few years.  I am sure I found it online, but am having trouble relocating it so that I can add a link.  If I find it, I promise to link it to my blog!  Until then, here are the basic instructions.

Ingredients:
3 Tbsp. butter
3/4 Cup flour
3 eggs, beaten
2 Cups milk
3 Tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp. salt

First, place the butter in a 9x13 pan and place it in the oven while it preheats to 400 F. 
Meanwhile, beat eggs, add flour, milk, sugar and salt.  Beat well.  Pour batter into hot, melted butter.  Bake for 30 mins.  I usually poke it with a fork about 20 mins in.  ( If you use a cookie sheet make sure to do this more often).

Here is a picture of my baked Finnish pancake.  

I like to add whipped cream & strawberries and serve it as dessert!  Mmmm, sooo good!  You can serve it with other fruit, syrup, jams, or any other delicious combination you can think of!

The leftovers are good too.  Just warm them up in the microwave and they are just as good as when they come out of the oven.

Enjoy!

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Pumpkin-Chocolate-Chip Squares

On Sunday, we enjoyed another Thanksgiving meal with some of our friends here in Oklahoma City.  I was in charge of buns (watch for upcomig blog) and dessert.  I decided to try Pumpkin-Chocolate Chip Squares from the Martha Stewart Website. 

Here are the ingredients that you will need.  Plus Chocolate Chips...not sure how I missed putting them in my picture!

 Mix the flour, baking soda, salt and pumpkn pie spice together.

 Cream butter and sugar.  Add the egg and vanilla.  Next, mix in the pumpkin.

Don't forget to add the chocolate chips! 

Here it is ready to come out of the oven.  Make sure you let it cool COMPLETELY before cutting it or trying to take it out of the pan.  Mine was still warm and the middle sort of melted in.  Still tasted good but didn't hold up as a square.

Here are some of the squares.  I spread a little Cream Cheese Frosting from the Pumpkin Cupcake post on top of the squares and it was delicious together.

Enjoy!

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Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

I have been eyeing up lots of great pumpkin dessert ideas the last few weeks as today is American Thanksgiving.  I already got to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving before I moved to Oklahoma City, but I love a great excuse to do baking and cooking.  Plus, who doesn't love turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes and more.  Mmmm...it sure smells good in my kitchen right now.  It is wonderful to have my parents visiting, and my Mom has definately been a great help in the kitchen today! 

So, for dessert I decided to do something we had never tried before.  I found a recipe for Pumpkin cupcakes with Cream Cheese frosting that can be found here.  How fitting that it is from a Canadian magazine!  I didn't have buttermilk so I used a mixture of plain yogurt (about 1/3 cup) and 2% milk, to make a total of half a cup.

Here are some special pumpkin ingredients I picked up.

 How about these great pumpkin cupcake papers.  I brought them with me from home and was excited to finally get to use them.  They are very festive.

The recipe says that it makes 12 cupcakes, but it makes 12 BIG cupcakes.  This is the amount of batter that was in each wrapper. 

When baked they looked like this.  Mmmm....they smell delicious!

Next add some of the Cream Cheese icing and some Autumn Sprinkles.

Check out these delicious, pumpkin cupcakes!

Our Thanksgiving meal is almost ready!  I can't wait.

P.S- we of course had to have a taste test of the cupcakes and they are nummy.  Everyone likes them and the icing very much!

Happy American Thanksgiving to everyone!

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Football Oreo Truffles

I first got to taste an oreo truffle at a Super Bowl Party last January.  They were delicious and everyone wanted the recipe...yet I never did get it!  So, I decided to do a Google search and came up with a few recipes like the one found here: http://www.food.com/recipe/easy-oreo-truffles-186726

This past weekend my husband's hockey team and a bunch of the wive's & girlfriend's went to an OU football game.  There were over 85, 000 fans at the game- what an experience!  Of course we went early and did some tailgating, so I decided to make some Oreo Truffles to take along.  I was inspired by several posts on Bakerella's website to make them into the shape of footballs.

First, crush whole Oreo cookies in a food processor.



Empty the crumbs into a bowl.



Mix in a package of cream cheese.  I used a spoon and my hands when needed.

Shape the mixture into balls, or in this case, mini-footballs.

Now, this is where I need more practice!!  I melted the chocolate almond bark in a pot on the stove and then poured it into a small bowl.  I dipped the footballs in chocolate and then set them on wax paper to dry.  I tried to dip them with a toothpick and then hold them to dry a bit but they started to break apart.  Next time, I will put them into the fridge for a while to make them a little harder.  Since I set them down wet, the chocolate dripped down and formed a flat bottom.  Maybe if I wouldn't have been making them at 10:30 at night I would have taken more time.  I placed them in the fridge to harden the chocolate quicker.

Once they cooled, I used a knife to very carefully cut away some of the flat base.  Next, I melted some white almond bark in the microwave and placed it in a decorating bag, cutting off the tip.  I cut the whole a little big so the laces turned out a little messy too.  I drew one line down the middle and then three smaller lines across it.

The mini-football Oreo truffles were a HUGE hit and the football game was a blast with Oklahoma taking home a big win!  The truffles may have been referred to as 'heaven' and I may have a few orders for the next road trip! 

Mmmmmm! Delicious!



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Lemon Update

So, the lemon icing was delicious, but I found it a little strong for my tastebuds.  At first I thought it was too lemony, so I tried adding some salt and more powdered sugar.  After some more tasting by my husband and I, we decided that it was maybe too sweet.  Eventually, I decided to add some Cool Whip as I had some in my freezer.  I probably ended up adding close to two cups of Cool whip to the icing and it tasted soooo good.  Of course with so much Cool Whip, it was no longer an icing that I could use to decorate, but rather a glaze to put over the cupcakes.

Find the Lemon cupcakes and the Lemon Kissed Buttercream frosting at http://the-cupcakery-blog.blogspot.com/2008/02/week-8-lemon-cupcakes-with-lemon-kissed.html

The cupcakes have a light lemon taste that goes nicely with the frosting, but I would suggest not putting too much icing on top unless you love lemony sweetness. 

Here are some alterations that I made to the Frosting, making it more of a Glaze.

1 stick of unsalted butter

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 Tbsp. plus 1 tsp milk (1%)

2 Tbsp lemon juice

2 cups Cool Whip

I will update this post when I get around to making this a scond time since this time I was really just playing around and didn't keep track of exact measurements.  We really did like the taste of it though! 

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Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Frosting

I recently visited Pinkitzel located in Bricktown of Oklahoma City.  Check it out online at: http://www.pinkitzel.com/  It has a super cute interior and delicious cupcakes.  I must admit that this place has truely inspired me to get baking and creating once again.  Yesterday I spent many hours checking out great baking blogs and found delicious recipes that I just can't wait to try! 

So today I went and picked up some last minute ingredients and baked up a storm.  I chose a lemon cupcake with lemon frosting, and while they are pretty tasty, I found the lemon frosting a little overpowering so I will definately need to do a little tweaking to get it to perfection. 

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Jewelery Box Cake

I made this jewelery box cake for Taryn's 7th birthday.  I used a square cake, cut it and layed one portion on top of the other.  I used graham crakers to make the sectionals on the top layer.  The 'lid' of the jewelery box was not edible as I made it using cardboard covered in tin foil and icing.  It was fun to add some candy heart rings and candy necklaces to the jewelery box.  The kids loved them!  

I added some colourful gumballs around the edge of the bottom drawer to add some colour and fun for the kids.

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