Sunday, December 21, 2008

Cookie Party!

Here are some photos from Taline's cookie party last weekend. I have to admit I was a little skeptical as to how five women would get into one kitchen and make five different cookies, but it was so fun and we made so many yummy cookies - EVERYONE's cookies turned out good, can you believe it? Mine were probably the worst. Whatever...



Amelia's pretty Russian Tea Cakes. But I say they are Mexican Wedding Cookies - seriously I think every culture must claim a cookie just like this... I think these were my favorites.


Taline's Sugar Cookies. We all helped decorate - aren't they breathtaking?


My Milk Chocolate Cookies, Sara's Snickerdoodles, and Nandita's Ginger Cookies. All very yummy! Aaron was partial to the Snickerdoodles. Snickerdoodle is a funny word, don't you think?

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Turkey (Cupcake) Day


So here's my second attempt at cupcakes from the Hello Cupcake cookbook.  They look super cute, but it's a little disappointing when they start to fall apart a few hours later... hmmm. 


Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Paper Christmas Trees


These paper christmas trees were easy to make after we got the folding technique down. Martha's "evergreens" were all green, of course, with gold balls at the top, but gold's not allowed in my house, so I spiced it up!




Cupcakes!

My hip and urban mother-in-law found a video on how to make little teeny-tiny cupcakes out of clay on the internet. So we went to the store and bought some clay and had a fun-filled day of making tiny desserts. Of course, I love anything cupcake-related and tiny!


If you look next to the gigantic cheesecake, you will find the world's smallest cupcake! I think maybe that's only funny to me and my mother-in-law... . As you can see, I also made things besides treats.


Also in cupcake-related news, I got these lip glosses at Borders the other day... aren't they the super cutest?!

Monday, November 10, 2008

Domestic

While I was making super cute cupcakes, I got to wear the apron I made last week. I have to try real hard not to get it dirty...



Pretty Pretty Princess (Cupcakes)


Here is my second attempt at making the crazy cupcakes in the book Hello Cupcake. When my friend at work told me she was having a princess-themed party for her daughter, I immediately thought of these cupcakes. They were a little tricky, but not as challenging as I thought... well, except for one part; the dresses are made up of spice drop candies, smashed together and rolled out. I've never rolled so hard in my life! What a workout! Once they started coming together they looked really cute. I'm happy I had the chance to make these, it was a fun expirience.




Monday, November 3, 2008

Halloween + Dia de los Muertos


I was excited for halloween this year. I got to make lots of scary goodies for my work's halloween party and I carved TWO Martha Stewart pumpkins! My first one was better, but afer having an already terrible day, I set it down at the top of the stairs and having declared itself a loser for not winning the pumpkin carving contest, my pumpkin hurled itself all the way down and cracked in half at the bottom. Total bummer. Above, is my lesser detailed second attempt.

I was particularly excited about making brain cupcakes! The merengue buttercream frosting was a chore, but they turned out so cute and everyone knew they were brains!


A few weekends ago, my mother-in-law and I started a paper mache project for halloween. We were supposed to make these really cute little pumpkins, but it turned out to be more difficult than we thought. So, no, a first grader didn't make these, I did! It was my first time doing paper mache! Even though they didn't turn out the way we expected and they are pretty bad, they are still kinda cute, so here they are:


And lastly, the actual day of Halloween was a sad one for us. It was our dia de los muertos. Our first ever and best kitty, Miette, got very sick due to fatty liver disease. While we thought we cured her and she had two good weeks, in the end it recured and we knew it was her time to go. My heart aches when I think I will never see her again. And I know it will make me sad every time I see this posting, I can't help it. I love looking at her! She had so much personality and her absence will leave a huge void in my life.


Thursday, October 30, 2008

Meringues {Pretty Please with a Cherry on Top}


I'm a sucker for pretty much anything cute and little, so I love these little guys. They would be super cute for a party. This was my first time making meringues, so it was an interesting expirience, but they came out good. I think I took them out of the oven a little prematurely, because I was scared I was going to burn them, but discovered they could have benefitted from a couple more minutes in the oven. Oh well, next time! They turned out cute and that's all that matters.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Rustic Apple Croustade


I don't know how to pronounce croustade, but this sure was good! I got it out of the newest cookbook my mother gave me (which had about 50 recipes tabbed that she wants me to make.) It was pretty easy too. It was so yummy warm out of the oven. In fact, it was the only good part of the morning since the Chargers lost to Buffalo 23-14 ... why'd you have to throw that interception Philip? Whhhhhhy?

Monday, September 8, 2008

Gameday + Grandparents' Day

Today was the first game of the regular season for the Chargers. I hosted this special event for my family. I'm sill getting over the fact that they lost in the last two seconds...TWO SECONDS. Seriously? Ugh. But in the end, the cupcakes were good. A word of advice: don't make vanilla cupcakes OR the Almost Homemade Buttercream Frosting out of the Hello Cupcake cookbook! The cake was dry and the frosting was, due to the fact that it was made with marshmallow fluff, was suuuuper sticky and held no shape, just as I suspected. Weeeell anyways, I made it work, as Tim Gunn would say.



It was also Grandparents' Day. I made cupcakes of my Grandpa! Aaron and I spent forever on the glasses, but they turned out super cute!




Mini Pies + Milk Chocolate Cookies


Ok, I'm a little late on this post, but last week I made these mini pies when my mother and father-in-law came to over for dinner. I didn't measure anything out, just tossed the fresh fruit with a little sugar and cinnamon. They were a pretty good little treat, especially if you pop them in the microwave for a few seconds before you eat them.


And then on Sunday I made the best cookies... Milk Chocolate Cookies from Martha.  I highly recommend you make these if you like cookies and chocolate.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Botan Rice Candy




I found this candy at Vons the other day and I was stoked! I remember it from when I was a kid. It used to be in the Asian section at the grocery store, along with other goodies like rice crackers and Pocky. I loved it because you can eat the inner wrapper, which is made from rice paper. It just melts in your mouth…ahhhh. Well, I still love it!! Botan Rice Candy is back! Super neat and sweet!

Monday, August 25, 2008

Glass Bubble Magnets


These magnets were supposed to be my craft party project, but I'm not sure when that's going to happen, so I just decided to go ahead and make them by myself. They are so cute and easy! I found so many cute pictures, I just couldn't stop making them... as you can see...








Florentines



My goody this weekend was Florentine cookies. Geez, they were sooooo easy! My mom has been bugging me to make these for a while. If I knew they were so easy I would have made them a long time ago. I got this recipe from Martha. It's like 2tbsp of four ingredients! The "batter" is about 1/4 cup and you only drop 1/2 teaspoon for each cookie. They are so light and crispy, you could just about eat the whole 2 dozen in one sitting. I got the recipe from Martha Stewart Cookies cookbook, but couldn't find it online to link, so here it is:


Honey Florentines


2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp light brow sugar

1 1/2 tbsp honey

2 tbsp flour


Melt butter, brown sugar, and honey in a small saucepan. Transfer to a small bowl ans whisk with flour. Working quickly, drop 1/2 teaspoonfulls onto parchment lined baking sheets, leaving three inches between each drop. Bake at 375 for 5 to 6 minutes.


I put some milk chocolate chips in a sandwich bag, melted them in a bowl of hot water, cut the a small tip in the corner, and swirled the cookies with chocolate for a little flare.

And of course, you have to have something on hand to use with your extra melted chocolate.

Monday, August 18, 2008

Oreo Truffles


My wonderful mother bought me cuper cute little pink food processor. So, again, I had to make something, right?! I have been eyeing this recipe for Oreo Truffles for a while, so I finally gave it a whirl. My biggest problem - with all of my chocolate covered balls- has been getting the chocolate on the balls and actually have it look nice. At last I have found a solution! I stuck the balls on a lollipop stick, dipped them in the chocolate, let the chocolate drizzle off, stuck them in a block of styrofoam to dry, and then just pulled the stick out. Some I left on the stick just to mix it up. They came out pretty darn cute and yummy too.

Extra chocolate?

Softies

I woke up at 6 a.m. this morning and was bored so I made this "treeling" softie. Softies are little stuffed characters usually made from felt. I started the tea cake a while ago, but got confused on the whipped cream, so stared at it for a couple weeks before I finally improvised and made my own, which is just a rosette, but it works.

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Chocolate-Covered Not-So-Hi Hats


Did I promise to post the cute AND the not-so-cute? Oh, I guess I did... well I guess these would fit under the category of not super cute, but almost cute and still pretty yummy. Monica came over to be a guest baker in my kitchen today for the highly anticipated Chocolate Covered Hi-Hat Cupcake Project. She gets thirsty when she bakes, so she brought Mimosa fixings with her...hey maybe that's why the cupcakes turned out the way they did... hehe. We had a good time, and it was a good learning experience. My double boiler really got put to use for these - three times! 

We started around 10:30 and we didn't finish up until around 2:30 (but mind you, there were the Mimosas.) The cake came out really good and moist. Monica started out shaky, but ended very strong on piping the homemade marshmallow filling. The only part we had real trouble with was dipping the whipped-topped cakes into the chocolate. We even put them in the freezer for a while to see if the filling would stiffen and let the chocolate coating cool longer, but it didn't help a lot. I think this is one of those recipes you really need to work at to perfect. The recipe called for them to be served cold, but cake just out of the fridge tastes dry. I found they tasted better if they sat out for a few minutes before eating. The chocolate gets melty, but that's ok. I took them over to my family's house for the Chargers game (they won!) and they were a hit. Funny how not-so-cute things can taste good too, huh? Who would have thought...



Also, there was some leftover chocolate, so I made some Muddy Buddies.