Elmo Party!

 

My niece turned 2 a couple weeks ago and this was the party she and her mama decided on.  Cookie Monster was integral to our success--only he can truly appreciate these chewy chocolate chip peanut butter chip cookies [recipe below].  This cookie is beyond delicious.  Kristan from Confessions of a Cookbook Queen [best. blog. evah.] originally suggested I should try these, and I am so, SO glad I listened!  Very delicious cookie.  I suggest in any case to own a digital scale, they make measuring ingredients a breeze, but it is especially useful for this recipe. 

 

We were trying to go with a simple design for the cake, using the letter S for her name and the number 2 for her age.

I was running behind schedule and painted these cookies literally 20 minutes before they were supposed to be picked up for the party.  Oops...yeah.  They still came out very cute, and were a teeeensy bit wet when we put them out on display and some maaay have smudged a teeensy bit.  Hence the awkward angle of the picture.  If I didn't disclose that little tidbit, you'd never know!

  

 Sienna's mama made these Marshmallow Pops and they turned out so adorable.  I was swamped the weekend of the party and could not provide any desserts on sticks myself, so she taught herself to make these and they turned out perfect!

  

We switched out the cake stand last minute to put this one on.  We had made it for a party the day before for a cake that actually matches it.  We didn't have the materials on hand to make a matching cake stand tutu for this cake, but Sienna is a girl, and pink is one of the things she is keen on, so it works. 

Chewy Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Chip Cookies
recipe barely adapted from Alton Brown's The Chewy
makes 24 cookies

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces unsalted butter 
• 12 ounces bread flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 ounces granulated sugar 
• 8 ounces light brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 ounce whole milk [I used 2%]
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 12 ounces chocolate chip peanut butter chips [Alton suggests using semisweet chocolate chips]

Directions:

Melt butter over low heat.  Set aside to cool. 
Mix flour, salt, baking soda, set aside.
Mix butter and both sugars on medium speed for 2 minutes.
Whisk egg, egg yolk, milk, vanilla and add to butter and sugar mixture, mixing for 30 seconds.
Gradually add flour mixture.
Add chips.
Chill dough for 1 hour in the fridge.
Preheat 375.
Separate dough into 1 1/2 portions and bake six cookies at a time on a sheet, as they spread. 
Rotate pans half way through.
Bake for 12-15 minutes, checking after 12 minutes.  Cookies should be golden brown on the edges.

The only changes I made in his recipe are the type of milk and the chips I used and that is because it is what I had on hand.  This recipe is so delicious.  I know it can be a pain using a kitchen scale if you don't have one or you are not used to it, but it is so much more reliable and honestly easier to measure everything out.  I am super lazy so this really appeals to me. 

Thanks for reading!  Have a great week :)

Triple Chocolate Brownie Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Being a baker can be tough.  Everyone wants everything they've ever seen ever every day. 

Oh hey, I found these super ridiculous panda cakes, wanna make them for me?  Um, no? 

Well, actually yes, but I want you to help me with them. 

My brilliant solution to fix this is that I promise each of my close friends a freebie dessert on their birthday.  This can range from boring chocolate chip cookies [ehem, Nicole] or the most fantastical cake known to man [my sister's cake for this year...freaking ANGRY BIRDS.  Seriously?!?!]

These babies were requested by my best friend, Stephanie.  Triple Chocolate Brownie Peanut Butter Cupcakes.  A pretty descriptive title, eh?  I "adapted" these by Bakerella, which she simply named Brownie Candy Cups.  And by adapted, I mean I read the directions wrong and unknowingly changed this recipe.  Oops.  It turned out quite delicious, especially warm, so I ran with it.

I've said this before, and I will say it again, Bakerella is a genius.  She was one of the first food bloggers I've ever followed, and her creativity with cake and frosting has inspired me to bake [and eat] more sugar!  So...thank you?  I guess I have to compensate for this increase of sugar intake with exercise, bleh.

And since I NEVER exercise, I thought I'd start off small...by doing a Gladiator Rock n' Run Mud Run!  Woo hoo?  It benefits TACA -- an organization that helps families affected by autism.  Come see me run!  Or hobble and fall in mud a lot.  It is only [?!?] a 5k.  Which I didn't train for.  But it is in mud, so it is fun right?  It also has obstacles.  Which IS fun. 

Today I had to run, literally 14 feet to my car, and was out of breath and kinda in pain.  This is not going to be good for me.  Saturday is going to be a mixture of wonderful and awful. 

And I know that most of those pictures are pretty much exactly the same.  But it took me forever to "style", shoot, "edit", and write this, so I deserve to put all my faves up.  Oh, and by "style", I get hungry while taking these pictures and take a few bites.  Then I decide to take a picture of that because you know ya'll wanna see the inside of my cupcakes. 

It all began with this box.  So many magical memories, and all because I couldn't find the brand of brownie Bakerella used.  I'm not going to lie, these are better.  100x better because it comes with a gazillion different ways of getting chocolate into your mouth.  Chocolate brownie batter.  Mini chocolate chips.  Chocolate-glaze-fudge-frosting magic on top. 

Recipe:  Triple Chocolate Brownie Peanut Butter Cupcakes
makes:  around 18
slightly adapted from Bakerella

recommendation:  make these mini like Bakerella did in her recipe and if you do, follow her directions.  I didn't see that part until the end, so I accidentally adapted this recipe!

Ingredients:

• 1 package Ghiradelli Ultimate Fudge Brownie Mix
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 18-30 mini Reeses cups unwrapped [I used 18 for regular sized cupcakes, but if you do mini cupcake liners, use 30]

Directions: 

• preheat oven 350 
• prepare cupcake tin with liners
• mix brownie mix, eggs, water, and oil together for 2 minutes. 
• fill each cupcake liner with 2-3 tablespoons of batter [basically fill 1/3 of the cupcake liner]
• bake for 15 minutes and remove from oven
• push a reese's peanut butter cup into the center until level with the batter
• bake for 5 more minutes
• while warm, coat each cupcake liberally with chocolate fudge from the brownie mix
• chop up additional reese's to spread on top 
• eat with wild abandon and then get sick and fall into a sugar coma [true story.]

I think using Ghiradelli's brownie mix made these over the top delicious.  So much melty, yummy chocolate.  

Thank you for reading!  Happy baking!

Brush Embroidery on Dress Cookies

I made these cookies a few weeks ago for an Oscar Party.   I love them!  These cookies are pretty versatile and can be used for so many events.  Like the Grammy's.  Teen's Choice Awards.  SAG Awards.   Ok, so I've never actually watched any of these, but they all feature people dressed up right?  And these cookies are dressy. 

I also made Sugarbelle's cookies to mix things up a bit.  She has a wonderful tutorial up for them.  You can also find the brush embroidery at Sugarbelle's blog via Ali Bee's guest post.  Her cookies are gorgeous!  I love how easy to follow her tutorial is, and how striking her examples are.  Ali Bee's video is amazing, so check it out if you want to learn how to do it.  

Thanks for reading!  Happy baking :)

Laurel

Is anyone here addicted to Draw Something?  It is absolutely ridiculous how much I play it.  I first heard about this game a couple weeks ago from Darla of Bakingdom [the most delightful blog.  I'll wait while you go read it.]  I'm literally playing it as I write this blog post.  As in, I'm staring at my phone and typing without looking.  I really don't need to be double tasking to this level, but I find myself constantly doing it.

Oh, I'm sorry, were you trying to have a deep and meaningful conversation with me?  Sorry, just real quick, what do you think this is? 

Driving.  Ok, while I'm at red lights, but still not safe or smart.  Don't judge me.  You try driving 3+ hours a day and not slip up every once in a while.

Cooking, yup my food will suffer for this game too.

I have no less than 15 games going on right now, which is pretty much the lowest amount I've had since I began.

I have pestered my love ceaselessly to download, but he steadfastly refuses.  So I made him that cookie up there.   It is his favorite design and he likes to use it to represent himself.  Like, if this were the Song of Fire and Ice, he'd be House Laurel and this would be his seal.  His house words would probably be: To Mark with Honor.  Of course a laurel is not as intimidating as a lion or dire wolf, but his house would rise above that by being in command in the first place and making it law that everyone find it intimidating. 

Thankfully, he never reads this thing, or else he'd probably NEVER play me on Draw Something.  I'm hoping that if I keep painting his favorite things on cookies, he'll come around.

Muppets!

I'm warning you now, the pictures for these cookies aren't the greatest.  I was working on a crazy deadline to get these made and I was sick during that time period to boot.  I found these cookies on Oh Sugar!  Events, as I posted earlier, in my Valentine's Day post.  I think it is worth mentioning again, how amazing Oh Sugar! 's cookies came out.  I hope I have that talent one day.  Seriously, check out this and this.  Outrageously good!

I foolishly tried to take pictures during the process, but it was such a stressed time period, I'm surprised I got as many shots as I did.  I originally wanted to take step by step photos of each cookie, but that proved to be overwhelming. 

The first step to making cookies of something more complicated is coming up with a game plan.  I try to figure out which icing consistency is best for the project, how many steps the cookie will take, and how to break down each step.  These cookies were particularly challenging, because there are 10 gazillion steps [or so it seems like] 50 icing colors [approximately], and there is at least a half hour of drying time in between each step [for real] in order to get the detail required for character cookies.

Another thing worth mentioning is that I did these cookies GFCF, which is why the cookie part seems a bit weird, most notably with Gonzo.  These are more challenging to bake with as well, and requires some practice in getting it to look professional.

What you'll need for Statler and Waldorf:

20 second icing in flesh, white, gray
piping icing in black
1.5 PME tip  (or equivalent)

First start with outlining and immediately flooding with 20-second icing this portion of his face. Watch half an episode of Jersey Shore while you wait 30 minutes.

 Add in one eyebrow, and his upper lip?  Hang out for 30 minutes.

Add in the chin, another eyebrow, and the nose.  Stand around bored for 30 minutes.

Add in the hair and eyebrow hair.  Wait 30 minutes before putting eyes and black outline on the lip.  Whew, done with that cookie.

Fill in this dude's face.  Wait 30 minutes.

Add white hair, flesh colored second chin, the whites of his beady eyes.  Hang out for 30 minutes.

Finish with remaining details [yeah, apparently I forgot a few photos here...].  The way I approached this cookie was by adding details that were far away from one another, so that you can do more steps in each 30 minute period.  So I basically did both cheeks, the upper part of the eyes, and the chin, then waited, did the inner parts of the nose, the bottom part of the eyes, waited, and then did the big nose.  My nose caved in a little because there was an air pocket I didn't noticed while piping.  Sugarbelle recommends dragging a tooth pick around your icing and filling in more if you found an air pocket.

Kermit the Frog
20 second green, light green, red, white icing
black piping icing
1.5 PME tip [or equivalent]

I chose start with the top part of his face and his collar.  Get stuck on the phone with your grandma for a half hour.

Fill in the bottom part of his face, and the bottom of his body.  Wash dishes or something else good for your house for a half hour.

Fill in the eyes and [not pictured] the red tongue.  Daydream about vacationing in Costa Rica for a half hour.
Once that dries, you can put in details, such as outlining the eyes, adding a dot in the middle of the eye ball, and putting pink on the tongue.  I used pink lustre dust, but I recommend making some pink icing and putting that on top of the red once you have waited a half hour.

During this ordeal, I discovered an amazing trick.  I have been tempted to buy icing stands for the icing I have in bottles, but have resisted because it seems like too much money for something that is not a necessity.  Sure it is annoying to constantly have to shake icing down, but should I really pay $20 bucks to avoid that annoyance?  Actually, that doesn't sound half bad anymore... Anyways!   I bought these smaller bottles from Karen's Cookies , one of my favorite cookie stores, and they have come in quite handy!  You can fit pretty much any other bottle inside of them comfortably, and they stay upright and they are good to go when you are ready to flood.  Just make sure you have a top on your tip so that it doesn't leak.   It's not a bad solution if you already own these. 

Thanks for reading!

A Painted Cookie

I decided to learn a new technique in my cookie decorating journey by painting on a cookie instead of piping on one with royal icing.  This is the first time I've ever painted a cookie.  The paint is actually Americolor gel food colors and completely edible.  You begin by baking the cookie, outlining/flooding a cookie with royal icing, and then waiting until completely dry before painting.  Like, 8 hours dry.  I'm such a bad procrastinator that completely dry to me usually means, like half an hour.  I know, terrible.  Cookies aren't even a little dry after that.  But hey, the TV isn't going to watch itself. 

Here are the supplies I used.  I followed Ali Bee's advice and bought somewhat nicer brushes to paint with.  The round number 2 was so versatile!  I also bought some clear vanilla extract to use for this project.  There are several fabulous tutorials out there.  I highly recommend Ali Bee and Arty McGoo.  They are both geniuses.  This is my new favorite-st thing in the world.  Check out this and this for wonderful tutorials on how to paint on your very own cookie.

 I followed Arty McGoo's advice about not overworking areas.  Our canvas is sugar and will pit if you stay in an area too long.

 Is it bad that I can't just choose one photo?  I have to post them all*? 

* the word all in this manner was used in place of the truth.  I took many, many more than these.

This cookie was one of the gifts I gave my love for his 30th [!!!] birthday.  He loved this image from a post last summer and so I decided to recreate it again for him.  There are so many cookie designs that are too intricate for my piping skills, but now I think I can approach them through painting. 

This was the first time I ever felt bummed that someone ate my cookie.  I think it's because painting feels more like artwork to me than piping.  I'm sure once I get used to it, I will feel happy when someone eats it.  When I was trying to take pictures of it, my love kept trying to get past me to eat it.  It was a hilarious battle of wills, and I'm shocked that I got even this many pictures without blur. 

Thank you to all my lovely readers, followers, and friends for reading my blog.  I truly appreciate all of you! I wish I could give everyone a painted cookie.  I was thinking of hosting a giveaway once I reached 100 likes on my facebook page...what do you guys think?  Nothing fancy, since I work two jobs to support myself, but maybe a dozen cookies to the winner?  Anyone interested?

Happy 1st Birthday!

It's my blog's first birthday!  Yay!

I am so blown away by how much this little blog has changed my life.  Through this experience, I've developed a passion for baking that has surpassed any amount of money I expected to spend on it [haha].  On a more serious note, it has led me to express my creative side on a nearly daily basis, which has been such a positive outlet for me.

I appreciate all my readers, new and old, for supporting me through this year.  All of the comments I receive make my day. :)

I hope in my second year, I will be able to post more recipes and pictures.  My computer is still out, so for now I'm using my cell phone and emailing pictures, so be patient with me!

In order to properly celebrate this momentous occasion, I made a cake.  Chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting covered in chocolate ganache to be more precise.  I seriously cannot wait to eat it!  I haven't because I already had a couple of cupcakes, cake balls, slice of a different cake, and cupcakes in a push pop container.  These things are just not going to eat themselves.  They need me.  Plus my blog's birthday cake was getting lonely and wanted a cake party.  Hence all the other stuff I made.  I'm not even sorry either.  Every bite was delicious!

Thank you all for reading my blog!  Now who wants to come over and eat my cake with me?  SERIOUSLY.  I refuse to eat this by myself!