Funfetti Birthday Cake!

Upon request: a Funfetti birthday cake for my friend Richard. You know, the same one that ate my gingerbread house... >:-\  (I'm still a little bitter about that.)

This is basically your best white cake recipe with a quarter cup -or more ;) of sprinkles. (Make sure they are the long kind. I have tried to make a confetti cake with the flat and non-glossy sprinkles before... doesn't work. They "bleed" in the batter.) 

White Cake + Sprinkles = Funfetti Cake

I didn't have a white cake recipe but I found one at The Way the Cookie Crumbles...she did all the hard work for me! :) She compared three white cake recipes: Cooks Illustrated (always fantastic!), Dorrie Greenspan's Perfect Party Cake, and a combination of the two - a recipe which she tweaked to be her ultimate white cake recipe. So, I gave hers a try. Here is my review: Flavor was perfect. Texture was pretty darn close. Her review said it was a little too sweet and she added a little extra milk to replace the sugar she took out.  I think the sweetness was just right but I think it could have been slightly moister.... I wonder if I remembered to add the extra 2 tbs milk when I made this cake. Hmmm....? Maybe I'll try 3 next time ;) Note that its important to keep your ingredients in proportion... so don't try to over do the extra milk... you'll end up with a sloppy mess.  More on the science of baking at Culinate.com; my most recently discovered foodie website. 

White Cake

The Way the Cookie Crumbles

Serves 12 -16

Nonstick cooking spray
2¼ cups cake flour (9 ounces), plus more for dusting the pans
1 cup + 2 tablespoons whole milk, at room temperature
6 large egg whites (¾ cup), at room temperature
2 teaspoons almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1½ cups + 2 tablespoons granulated sugar (11.35 ounces)
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon table salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1½ sticks), softened but still cool

1. For the Cake: Set oven rack in middle position. (If oven is too small to cook both layers on a single rack, set racks in upper-middle and lower-middle positions.) Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray two 9-inch round cake pans with nonstick cooking spray; line the bottoms with parchment or waxed paper rounds. Spray the paper rounds, dust the pans with flour, and invert pans and rap sharply to remove excess flour.

2. Pour milk, egg whites, and extracts into 2-cup glass measure, and mix with fork until blended.

3. Mix cake flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in bowl of electric mixer at slow speed. Add butter; continue beating at slow speed until mixture resembles moist crumbs, with no powdery streaks remaining.

4. Add all but ½ cup of milk mixture to crumbs and beat at medium speed (or high speed if using handheld mixer) for 1½ minutes. Add remaining ½ cup of milk mixture and beat 30 seconds more. Stop mixer and scrape sides of bowl. Return mixer to medium (or high) speed and beat 20 seconds longer.

*If making a funfetti cake add 1/4 cup - although I think it could have used a half cup - of sprinkles.

5. Divide batter evenly between two prepared cake pans; using rubber spatula, spread batter to pan walls and smooth tops. Arrange pans at least 3 inches from the oven walls and 3 inches apart. (If oven is small, place pans on separate racks in staggered fashion to allow for air circulation.) Bake until thin skewer or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 23 to 25 minutes.

6. Let cakes rest in pans for 3 minutes. Loosen from sides of pans with a knife, if necessary, and invert onto wire racks. Reinvert onto additional wire racks. Let cool completely, about 1½ hours.

I frosted this cake with a fluffy white frosting that tasted like a cross between "Fluff" and "Cool Whip".  I think I'd like a buttercream for this recipe better... but no doubt the fluffy white frosting was delicious. I'm planning to use it to top off some s'mores cupcakes ;)

Nutrition Facts: (1/12 of cake)

Calories 318, Fat 12.5g, Carbs 47g, Sugars 28.6g, Protien 5.1g, 

Rosy Nectarine Tart

 "What is your favorite flower?", a question for which I never have an answer.  But, I can tell you it would most certainly not be a Geranium.  Growing up we had about ten of those potted plants on our glassed-in front porch.  Every so often, my sister and I were each given a paper grocery bag and told to go pick the brown leaves and dead flowers off the Geraniums so they would "look nice".  I wonder why people don't ask: "What was your least favorite chore as a kid?" because I would definitely have an answer for that! :)

We had several other flowers around the yard and while Pansies were okay, I loved Snapdragons the most. They were so neat.  Most flowers are only good to look at but these you can actually 'play' with. Snapdragons "open" when you pinch them at the bottom of the blossom. I tried to find a video for you but had no such luck.

A close runner-up to the Snapdragon are these yellow Roses. Its the second time in a row I bought the "Rosy Outlook" bouquet from Trader Joe's. I looked around, just for variety, but kept coming back to these. I think they are absolutely beautiful.  Pale yellow petals with a peachy trim. So soft and elegant and the perfect bouquet for my yellow kitchen. :)

"Did you know that the rose is the national flower of the United States, the United Kingdom and the Maldives as well as being the official flower of several states and the province of Alberta. Rose once served as Honduras' national flower as well." (flowerexpert.com) 


Proflowers.com says yellow rose is symbolic of friendship and aboutflowers.com states that the yellow rose represents zealousness.

Anyways, enough about flowers... Lets talk about this tart. A while ago I stumbled upon a recipe for a "rose tart".  It looked just like the roses I buy! Absolutely lovely. I have been waiting to make this for my Mom's birthday. I knew she would appreciate the laborious process of making  this beautiful tart.
Happy Birthday Mom!

The flavor was delightful and it was well worth the effort -- once, but probably never again...Sorry, Mom. :(  It took more than three hours and I only got halfway through the tart! Thank goodness I had some blueberries leftover from the galette I made earlier that morning.  It looked funny at first but how is it any different then a half and half topping pizza? :-)

This recipe originally comes from Martha Stewart but I found it at Ciao Chow Linda.  She has a wonderful picture tutorial so I won't bother trying to explain how to make the roses. With the quality photos from my camera phone its really not worth trying to document the entire process. She warned her readers, so consider my advice your second warning: be prepared to set aside some time and patience. You will need them.  But seriously, enjoy making this. It really is something different.

Almond Crust
(can't remember where I got this but its pretty basic. 
Alternately you can use a crumbled cookie crust or pie crust of your choice)


1 cup almond meal (aka. almond flour or ground almonds)
3/4 cup AP flour
5 tbs sugar
1/4 tsp almond extract
5 tbs butter

Blend ingredients and press tightly into a long tart pan or a 9 inch springfrom cake pan.

Rosy Nectarine Tart


7 + nectarines



Filling: (This part is a Martha Stewart recipe)
1 1/2 tbsp all-purpose flour
3 tbsp unsalted butter
1 large egg
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tbsp Chambord or brandy * I omitted this since I didn't have any
1/4 tsp salt 

1. Make and pre-bake a tart shell according to a recipe of your choice.  Set aside to cool completely.
2. Melt butter in small saucepan over medium heat, whisk occasionally until butter solids begin to brown, about 5 mins. Remove from heat, set aside.
3. In medium bowl, whisk egg, sugar, lemon juice, Chambord and salt until light in color and double in volume, about 2 minutes. Add flour and reserved brown butter, whisk until well combined.
4. Slice nectarines into 1/8 inch slices. Make roses by loosely coiling a thin slice of nectarine for the center, then wrapping each additional slice around it, offsetting each slice from the previous one. Make and transfer enough roses to fill tart shell, filling any gaps with extra nectarine slices.
5. Whisk filling briefly, pour evenly over fruit, using a spoon to fill empty spaces. Bake at 375F, rotating tart halfway through, until filling has slightly puffed, about 40 mins.
Cool on wire rack. Makes one 9 inch tart. 

Nutritional Facts:

(1/8th of tart)

322 calories, 18g Fat*, 8g Saturated Fat, Carbs 36g, Fiber 3.3g, Sugars 21.7g, Protien 5.7g

Vitamin A 14%, Vitamin C 9%, Calcium 5%, Iron 8%

*The high fat content comes from the almond meal. So its the good kind :)

Gingerbread House

The December 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes.

The story of this little house begins with The Great Scandinavian Gingerbread recipe. As it turns out: the not-so-great Scandinavian recipe. It was dry, and crumbling everywhere. Never having worked with gingerbread dough before I wondered if this was normal.  I read other Daring Bakers were having similar issues but this month's hosts said: rest assured the dough will become more moist over night.

As a good baker would, I let my dough rest and returned to it the next morning. Sadly, the dough was still stiff.  With my determination to make a cute little gingerbread house I continued. So, I rolled, I cut and I baked all the sides as I planned in my designs...

...which even included a sleigh.

I chose this recipe because I already had all the ingredients in my pantry. So, although the better baker in my knew this was just going to result in double the work I had convinced myself otherwise.

Well, lesson learned - just go with what you know - and I knew this was going to be a flop when I saw the first crumb.

I am not a quitter! I was going to make this gingerbread house if it took every last ounce of flour I had!

And so it did... I used the other recipe this time and it was much better!! A good stable dough.  {my mom suggested it could have been a difference in the type of flour they have available in Scandinavia. She always has to alter her Hungarian recipes because of the differences in flour, milk and butter between the two countries. So that might explain why the dough was so dry. I'm sure it would have been a good recipe if I had the proper ingredients.}

Recipe # 2. comes from Good Housekeeping

Spicy Gingerbread Dough

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cup(s) packed dark brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cup(s) heavy cream or whipping cream
• 1 1/4 cup(s) light (mild) molasses {I used unsulfured}
  
• 9 1/2 cup(s) all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoon(s) baking soda
• 1 tablespoon(s) ground ginger

---

Directions

1. In very large bowl, with wire whisk, beat brown sugar, cream, and molasses until sugar lumps dissolve and mixture is smooth. In medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and ginger. With spoon, stir flour mixture into cream mixture in 3 additions until dough is too stiff to stir, then knead with hands until flour is incorporated and dough is smooth.{I used my trusty Kitchen Aid}
   
2. Divide dough into 4 equal portions; flatten each into a disk to speed chilling. Wrap each disk well with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight, until dough is firm enough to roll.
3. Grease and flour large cookie sheets (17-inch by 14-inch). Roll out dough, 1 disk at a time on each cookie sheet to about 3/16-inch thickness. (Placing 3/16-inch dowels or rulers on either side of dough to use as a guide will help roll dough to uniform thickness.) 
   

 I think rolling dough on a cookie sheet might be a little difficult so I suggest rolling it onto parchment paper for a simple, non-stick transfer.

4.  Trim excess dough from cookie sheet; wrap and reserve in refrigerator. Chill rolled dough on cookie sheet in refrigerator or freezer at least 10 minutes or until firm enough to cut easily.

5.  Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Use chilled rolled dough, floured poster board patterns {I just sketched and cut out on regular printer paper}, and sharp paring knife to cut all house pieces on cookie sheet, making sure to leave at least 1 1/4 inches between pieces because dough will expand slightly during baking. Wrap and reserve trimmings in refrigerator. Combine and use trimmings as necessary to complete house and other decorative pieces. Cut and bake large pieces and small pieces separately.

6.  Brush house pieces lightly with water before baking. {I must have overlooked this step - Mine turned out fine without brushing them with water.} Bake 25 to 30 minutes, until pieces are firm to the touch. Do not over-bake; pieces will be too crisp to trim to proper size.

7.  Remove cookie sheet from oven. While house pieces are still warm, place poster-board patterns on top and use them as guides to trim shapes to match if necessary. {I highly recommend this! Even though your cookies look like they didn't change in shape trust me, when trying to assemble the house you will notice the slightly curved edges from that occurred because of the dough rising.} 

Cool pieces completely on cookie sheets before

removing them from parchment and decorating.

 

There was only one piece of the original house that remained in tact (that is, from the Scandinavian recipe.) It had already been decorated and I was saving it for assembly once I re-did the rest of the house..until Richard got to it! AGHHH! I can't believe of all the broken pieces he chose to eat the one that actually did not break!!

Time to assemble, decorate and Have fun!!

Use royal icing to glue the house together and to decorate. You can use food coloring to make different colors. Or add candies, sprinkles, chocolates etc.

 

Royal Icing:

1 large egg white
3 cups (330g) powdered sugar
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon almond extract  
{you dont have to add the extract especially if you're not going to eat the stuff.  No need to waste precious extracts!}

Beat all ingredients until smooth, adding the powdered sugar gradually to get the desired consistency. Pipe on pieces and allow to dry before assembling. If you aren't using it all at once you can keep it in a small bowl, loosely covered with a damp towel for a few hours until ready to use. You may have to beat it slightly to get it an even consistency if the top sets up a bit. Piped on the house, this will set up hard over time.

 

Christmas Kisses Cookies

I got the idea to decorate these from Betty Crocker.  The peanut butter blossom cookie is already such an adorable cookie with a kiss smack in the middle... but I just couldn't resist!


But lets make the cookies first...

Hershey’s® Kisses® Peanut Butter Blossom Cookies

(recipe courtesy Hershey’s)

• 48 Hershey’s® Kisses® Milk Chocolates, unwrapped
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 3/4 cup Reese’s Creamy Peanut Butter (Use what ever PB you'd like)
  
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 & 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F for baking.
Using an electric mixer, beat shortening and peanut butter together until creamy. Add 1/3 cup granulated sugar and brown sugar, beating until fluffy. Add egg, milk and vanilla; beat well. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking soda and salt; gradually beating dry ingredients into wet mixture until dough forms.

Using your hands, shape dough into 1-inch balls.

Roll shaped balls in granulated sugar; turning completely to coat. Place sugared balls of dough onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper for easy clean-up.

Bake in a preheated 375 degree F oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until cookies turn a very pale brown. Immediately remove sheet from oven and press a Kisses® Chocolate into the center of each cookie.
Carefully remove cookies from cookie sheet to wire rack and allow to cool completely.

Store cooled cookies in an airtight container....or decorate :)


To Decorate:

Believe it or not the Kisses do not really melt when you press them into the hot cookies. (They melt just enough to adhere to the the cookie but I was worried I would end up with a puddle of chocolate. Nope.) So, since sprinkles wont really stick to a dry surface dip the cookie (Kiss only!) into a cup of water, like so....

Be careful not to get the cookie part in the water...soggy cookies are not all that good - unless of course they were dipped in milk : )) Yummm...

If your Kiss falls into the water just fish it out and stick it right back on to the cookie. No damage done.

Now sprinkle your cookie!

Nutritonal Stats: (makes 36 cookies)

Calories 133, Fat 8.1g, Carbs 12.9g, Sugars 7.8g, Protein 2.7g

Calcium 2%, Iron 3%

Sweet Dinner Rolls - Memo: We wear parsley to parties

Sweet Dinner Rolls

(updated 12/1/09) 

These dinner rolls are sweet, chewy and fluffy and are a classic addition to any home style meal. They delivered great reviews, as promised.

 

 

More on how to get the elegant parsley look below - These are my rolls!

Okay, so I know there has been a stream of posts recently but all are well worth it...Imagine yourself back at the same Thanksgiving dinner I've been talking about in my previous two posts (you know, the one my friend Will hosted - the same place you ate the delicious Crackling Cranberry Chutney and the Puffy Pumpkin Pie). Or you might find yourself back at Grandma's table, and for some people, apparently at O'Charley's. This has to be the O'Charley's dinner roll copy cat recipe - or so I've been told. (I've never actually had one from that restaurant so I can't confirm that statement - but if you have, let me know how the two compare)

 

The only bread I've ever made is a soft pretzel dough - if that counts. But this dinner roll dough required a small amount of kneading and I was nervous about possibly over working it.  Well, I know I've said this about my other recipes but I wouldn't lie -they turned out pretty darn good for my first attempt at bread- people liked them- a lot! :)  

This recipe makes a lot so its perfect to bring to a bigger get-together and its done in about 2 hours start to finish (not much time at all for a bread!).  The hour and a half resting time was perfect to assemble and bake my maple apple pie - I love multi-tasking!

Memo: We wear parsley to parties

I wanted to decorate them with some flat leaf parsley but the recipe was hidden deep within my millions of well organized foodie blog bookmarks (so much for sub folders). With little time and lots to do I popped the rolls in the oven and tried to adhere the flat leaf parsley when they were done. Then I realized it should have been done before baking. : (

The second batch was just as delicious and as big of a hit as the first -- even more so now that I managed to decorate them with the parsley.

Sweet Dinner Rolls

Recipe courtesy of Food Network

Ingredients

• 1 package dry active yeast (1/4 ounce)
  
• 1 cup warm water, about 110 degrees F (its okay if you don't have a thermometer - just don't make it steamy hot - this will kill the yeast and your bread will be a flop.)
  
• 1/2 cup white granulated sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 cup milk, scalded but cooled to warm (I used skim)
  
• 4 ounces melted butter, plus 2 ounces (4 oz = 1/2 stick)
  
• 5 cups flour, plus more, as needed (I used about 5 1/2 for the dough plus more for dusting the work surface)
  
• 6-cup, 3-inch muffin tin pan (I baked them in a pie tin and a spring form cake pan. Both worked perfectly)
  

Directions

In a standing mixing bowl with dough hook, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let sit until lightly foamy, then stir in sugar and add egg, salt, warm milk, and 4 ounces of butter. With machine on medium-high speed, slowly add 5 cups flour, adding more as needed to make an elastic dough (dough might still be a tad bit sticky). Mix well, then roll out to floured surface and knead dough for about 5 minutes.

Place dough in buttered bowl (I just coated it with cooking spray), cover with towel, and set in a warm place to rise until double in bulk, about 1 hour.

Lightly oil the muffin pan. Punch down dough and form dough into 1-inch balls. Place 3 balls in each muffin tin. (I made tennis ball sized rolls and placed them about 1/2 inch apart in a spring form pan) Fill muffin pan, cover with towel, and allow to rise an additional 1/2 hour.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Brush with remaining melted butter.(This is where you would use the egg wash and parsley to make the decorated rolls) 

Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 15 minutes, until golden brown.

These are best served warm but you can reheat them in a warm oven and no harm will be done. :) Just make sure its not on broil - eek!

Nutritional Stats: (1 roll - Recipe makes 30)
Calories 131, Fat 3.5g, Carbs 21g, Sugars 3.8g, Protein 3g
Vitamin A 2%, Calcium 2%, Iron 6%

Baked Tilapia & Pretty Parsley Potato Crisps

 These are absolutely beautiful! [almost too pretty to eat!]

2 (or more) baking potatoes
Fresh herbs such as flat leaf parsley, sage, dill, chives
Salt or seasoning
Cooking spray

I'm on fall break, and what better way to spend time with family (and Michael Buble) than in the kitchen. : ))
My mom helped me assemble these pretty potato crisps and they were done in no time at all. To begin, we used a Kitchen Aid attachment to slice the potatoes and chose flat leaf parsley to place between the slices. If you don't have such fancy contraptions a simple slicer will do or you can make thin slices using a knife (this may take some practice : )). Make sure they are thin, a couple of millimeters - don't worry if your slices are not transparent, they will become more translucent as they bake. Our potatoes were a bit old and somewhat soft...but it didn't make a difference. [Note: we did not peel our potatoes, the peel makes a nice edge.]

Place the potato slices on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Spray them with cooking spray (you can try using flavored sprays such as garlic or butter).

Use your choice of fresh herbs to "decorate" the chips. We used flat leaf parsley. It did not provide for much flavor, so it is a good choice if you're going to serve these with a flavorful dip.  The original recipe suggested sage, dill or chives.

Top the decorated slices with the remaining potato rounds.  Note this important step: Spray the tops of the assembled chips with cooking spray before placing another sheet of parchment paper on top. I somehow missed this minor detail and after carefully peeling back the baked on paper, my mom and I managed to salvage most of the chips...

Salt or season the chips. Place another baking sheet (another flat cookie pan) on top of the second layer of parchment paper and use heavy casserole dishes or a skillet to weigh it down.  This will help the chips stay flat and prevent them from bubbling up. Bake the chips at 400F for 12 or so minutes. Then flip the chips to avoid burning (I skipped this step too..oops!). Bake for another 10-12 minutes.

Admire your beautiful potato chips. Serve them your guests and wait for oooo's and ahhh's.

Tilapia & Crisps

with an orange infused balsamic vinegar reduction

Not your typical Fish & Chips

2 Tilapia Filets
1 lemon
2 cloves of galic; chopped
Parsley or dill, chopped
Olive oil or butter

Simple. Healthy. Delicious.  Set your oven to 400F.

Place the each tilapia fillet on lightly sprayed or oiled aluminum foil (I separated each fillet. You can use your fish of choice, Salmon would work well for this recipe because the balsamic reduction lends a strong flavor).


Coat the fish with some light olive oil or cooking spray.


Squeeze some lemon juice onto the fish. (I used a half lemon for two tilapia fillets approximately 1lb total.)


Sprinkle one clove of chopped garlic (on each) and add chopped parsley (or perhaps dill) on top of the fish.


Fold the foil to make a pouch. Place the folded pouches on a baking sheet and bake for 40 minutes, or until the fish flakes.

Orange Infused Balsamic Vinegar Reduction


A friend of mine, Will, introduced this recipe to me and I fell in love with it immediately! You'll feel like a true chef and no one has to know all you did was add the ingredients to a skillet and left it to simmer for 20 minutes. : ))

1 cup balsamic vinegar
1 large orange
2 tsp orange zest
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp olive oil


Heat the olive oil on a medium sized skillet and add the chopped garlic. Occasionally toss the garlic until browned. A few minutes.


Add the balsamic vinegar and turn the heat up to medium high.  With the vinegar at a rolling boil, stir every 5 or so minutes.  After about 10 minutes add the juice of one orange and orange zest.


Continue to let the sauce boil for another 5 minutes. 


Reduce heat to a medium-low and let sauce simmer until it begins to thicken. 


Important note: do not cook your sauce until it is very thick. Although, you would like a thick sauce for the end result it will continue to thicken after you remove it from the heat. Simmer until it very slightly resembles a runny syrup. 

Serve with the simple tilapia and as you receive boucoups of compliments and requests for the recipe, let every one know its quite complicated and you'd rather them just enjoy it. ; ) It can be our little secret.

Starry Night Mini Cupcakes

* Starry Night *
sweet, dreamy, cupcake minis

It was a long night, but a beautiful one spent in my new kitchen! I just moved into my new apartment...I was sold when I saw wood floors and stainless steel appliances. Sure, I'd love to sign a lease...on the granite counter tops :D

I originally wanted to do rainbow cupcakes.. they look like so much fun! but I had already beaten the batter to death so I knew stirring it more to add the food coloring would just make for a cupcake shaped brick! Mmm.. so I added sprinkles instead : ) But the colors seemed to run.. The desired effect was clear confetti spots...the colors swirled (still pretty) but different than I had imagined. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what kind of sprinkles to use?


If Van Gogh baked he would have made these : ))

I got the idea for the swirled icing from Big Red Kitchen

Poor, Unfortunate Cookies

The Chinese, they're too smart!! Even their cookies are tricky to make! ((well, they weren't hard to make but will be hard to perfect. I'm sure that after a few attempts the craft of folding fortune cookies will become easier))

None the less, they tasted just like a fortune cookie you get at your favorite Asian restaurant. They would even be good made as a decorative crispy cookie served with ice cream. Mom loved them. Who ever you're making these for will really enjoy the personalized fortunes.. no more lame fortunes like "You are pleasant and charming " .. great, tell me something I didn't know : p

Fortune Cookie Recipe:
Adapted from about.com

• 2 large egg whites
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 8 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 3 teaspoons water

Preparation:

1. Write fortunes on pieces of paper that are 3 1/2 inches long and 1/2 inch wide. Preheat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease 2 9-X-13 inch baking sheets.

2. In a medium bowl, lightly beat the egg white, vanilla extract, almond extract and vegetable oil until frothy, but not stiff.

3. Sift the flour, cornstarch, salt and sugar into a separate bowl. Stir the water into the flour mixture.

4. Add the flour into the egg white mixture and stir until you have a smooth batter. The batter should not be runny, but should drop easily off a wooden spoon.
Note: if you want to dye the fortune cookies, add the food coloring at this point, stirring it into the batter. For example, I used 1/2 teaspoon green food coloring to make green fortune cookies.

5. Place level tablespoons of batter onto the cookie sheet, spacing them at least 3 inches apart. Gently tilt the baking sheet back and forth and from side to side so that each tablespoon of batter forms into a circle 4 inches in diameter.

6. Bake until the outer 1/2-inch of each cookie turns golden brown and they are easy to remove from the baking sheet with a spatula (14 - 15 minutes).

7. Working quickly, remove the cookie with a spatula and flip it over in your hand. Place a fortune in the middle of a cookie. To form the fortune cookie shape, fold the cookie in half, then gently pull the edges downward over the rim of a glass, wooden spoon or the edge of a muffin tin. Place the finished cookie in the cup of the muffin tin so that it keeps its shape. Continue with the rest of the cookies.

My Tips: Wear gloves when handling the cookies. Brilliant idea. I wish I would have taken that advice before folding my first cookie. Make sure to keep the cookie sheet well greased if you are making these in batches. They stick especially easily since they are so thin.

Have fun and may your cookie making be filled with good fortune!

Curve Ball Krispies

Look out, this baker makes a mean rice krispie . Crushed oreos and vanilla chocolate give these classic treats a curve!

My sister's boyfriend plays baseball for his college team. I spotted this recipe and couldn't resist! So we made it another bake and bond afternoon. : ) I give credit where due so I have to say she did most of the work... She even learned how to double boil! I'm proud.

The recipe from Cookies and Cups:

2 bags marshmallows - I used 2 10 oz. bags of jumbo
8 cups Rice Krispie cereal
4 cups coarsely chopped Oreos -approx 15 cookies
1 stick butter (1/2 cup)
1 bag white chocolate candy coating

Now just make the krispies like you usually would melt the butter on low, add the marshmallows and stir until melted. Remove from heat and add the krispies and Oreos. Stir until combined. Pour into a greased 9x13. (you may want to use a bigger pan, read the review below) Using waxed paper press down firmly until the krispies are even and smooth. Let cool...about 20 min or so.
Now cut into circles, or if you have a round cookie cutter that you like the size of, use that. I cut mine approx. 2 inches in diameter. After you have them all cut out melt some white candy disks and dunk the tops in the candy...smoothing it across the top so you get a smooth finish.

Review: The Boyfriend said they were great and actually perfered the ones diped in vanilla flavord candy coating over the peanut butter dipped treats. (Note: this guy is a HUGE pb fan. I'm pretty sure it would be his choice food if he had to pick one). He also said to make them a little thinner next time. With the extra chocolate they are pretty sweet so you dont need as much to satisfy.

Flag Cake

Where to begin? Two sisters, two trips to the grocery store, two batches of cake, two crazy dogs and two very long days later.....finally, a Flag Cake!

I went home for the Fourth of July, and my sister and I wanted to bake something for the occasion. Strawberry stripe cakes with Blueberry stars: cute but expected. Cutting into this cake: a flag, unexpected. Perfect! And if the pattern isn't enough to impress, a hint of almond flavor in this cake is guaranteed to pleasantly surprise your taste buds.

Because this recipe would be extremely long to post I have provided links instead. The process seems intimidating but is really quite simple. I used this recipe for the cake base. Full instructions and cream cheese icing recipe can be found at 17 and baking.

Here are some tips:

When you are cutting the circles, make sure to cut in a completely vertical fashion. Otherwise your blue ring of cake will not be wide enough and there will be a gap between your red and white layers. - if this happens just use the left over blue cake to stuff it into the gaps.

I used the cream cheese frosting suggested by the original blogger although mine did not turn out fluffy like in her picture. It was almost transparent and covering the bright red and blue cake was difficult. I would suggest making a buttercream instead.

Dogs + Car = Disaster:

So I bet youre wondering what two dogs has to do with this cake? We slaved for two days (baked one day, decorated the next). My sister had to drop off our energy surged dogs to my Mother's house before she joined her boyfriend's family for festivities. She did not have time to return home for the cake so she carefully covered it with foil and placed it on the floor on the passangers side of the car. Our dogs (both vizslas) are quite full of life. And to cut to the chase of a long and painful story, Reka (the female) somehow managed to sit on this cake!! FURIOUS! Luckily the cake was salvageable and was re-iced. I now have my dog to thank for the thin red layer at the top. >:-| Despite the mishap the cake got great reviews (there was only one slice left the next day!)

The cake as it was originally decorated:

A Fisherman's Birthday Cake

Upon request, this is a simple chocolate cake with chocolate icing. ((Dad is a Chocolate fiend!)) He also loves fly fishing.. so, my sister and I came up with this crafty cake.

The little man is actually a "grow me" boyfriend. You know, you throw him in the water and he magically expands. His fishing pole is a tooth pick and for the line I used floss. Baby Goldfish look much bigger in this river and toothpicks spell out "Happy Birthday Dad"

Don't judge a book by its cover. Although, this is not the most impressive design, it was the most MOIST cake I have EVER made! Click here to see the recipe and discover the secret ingredient. (Don't freak out, oil isn't any better!)

Close up of the fisherman

Zebra or Bullseye

Two cakes- in one :)

I LOVE this cake! Its so much fun. It requires a lot of patience but is really quite simple and makes for an impressive dessert.

Zebra

Bullseye

The details on how to make the cake along with the recipe can be found at Baking Bites.

Have FUN!

Princess and the Pea

Princess and the Pea

You're never too old for a cute cake! I made this cake for my sister's 19th birthday. I was furious when I unwrapped the fruit roll up and noticed the Scooby-Do print! Nowhere on the box did it say there was a cool little pattern. >:|

I started with a basic jelly roll cake. {note that throwing sprinkles into a jelly roll cake does not result in the ultimate confetti cake. Save those jimmies for these cupcakes.}



That's my sis, and the eight colorful cake layers! I used a basic buttercream icing mixed with food coloring. The girl's face is a simple vanilla sandwich cookie and her hair is mini chocolate chips. The pillow she rests on is actually a piece of cake I had left at the house. Just get creative, use what ever you've got! The official recipe for this cake can be found here. Since i was taking the cake for a half-hour car ride the chocolate headboard in the original recipe would have been in trouble. So, I used the curly candles instead. Bellow you can see a green jelly bean for the pea. : )