Happy Pi Day: Key Lime

Happy Pi Day!! 3.14159... we love both Pi and pie around these parts, and always enjoy both on March 14th. Today, we had lunch with our buddies Karen and Alex at 1:59 because we're math geeky like that, and we made our own pizza pies. We followed this up with Key Lime Pie topped with strawberries, and whipped cream on the side. The Pi symbol on the top was the cut-out part from the top of the apple Pi(e) that I made too. It's sprinkled with Vanilla sugar.
I've been making this Key Lime Pie for years and it is beyond easy. You mix one can of sweetened condensed milk (I used the fat-free kind with the green and white label), 3 egg yolks, 1/2 cup Nellie & Joe's Famous Key Lime Juice, and (my addition) the zest of one lime. You mix it up (by hand is fine) and pour it into a pre-made graham cracker crust. Bake at 350-degrees for about 15 minutes. Then, cool, top and eat!! A homemade crust and fresh-whipped cream would be extra-special, but this way (whipped cream in the spray can), works too.

These three pie (and pi) - loving kiddos all agree on the greatness of this pie! Enjoy!!

Sous Saturday

They were beyond excited to get some knife time in tonight, and were very good at listening and minding. They also zested, pressed, stirred, juiced, toasted, buttered, drizzled, snapped, and set. Good team effort on an awesome dinner.
Gremolata for the Osso Bucco; delicious, and because he made it, the E man even tried the parsley-full (Green!) stuff. Love it!

Sous Chef Erik

When it comes to the kids helping in the kitchen, Erik is far and away the more enthusiastic helper. Madeline can be recruited, but Erik seeks out the sous-chef position on a regular basis. And, I say "You're welcome," to his future spouse, partner, and/or roommates. The boy knows what fondant and pesto are... and the difference between Miso and Phở , and he's four. This can (hopefully) only bode well for the future.

Here's the boy rocking some old-school English Muffin pizzas (that were a huge hit at our Dr. Seuss party this week)...
And, using gum paste to apply flowers to Sophia's castle birthday cake...

Amethyst luster dust? He approves!

Happy 6th Birthday to cousin Sophia! Erik loved pasty chef-ing it up with this fun creation. Especially the fondant. And, I was very pleasantly surprised by how easy and fun fondant was to work with too... easy to mold and shape, and much less messy to transport this cake on a 2-hr car ride when covered with sweet, smooth fondant rather than Swiss Meringue Buttercream.

iLove

I LOVE Family Fun magazine's crafts and ideas... so fun! We made a few of these iLove Valentine's for ♥-day! You just need conversation hearts (in boxes), Reese's mini-size peanut butter cups, paper, string, foil, glue/tape, scissors and their cut-out template... easy, fun and sweet!

Hey, Jelly Man!

Our fabulous buddy, Gavino turned 6 last Monday, and today we're celebrating with him and his family. His cake-request this year? Jelly Fish. And, so...

I started out by looking at ideas online, then showed three cakes to Madeline and asked what she though we should do. She wanted to combine two styles into what we have here (which was my idea too, although she didn't know that). And, of course, we added our own flair as well, with all the decor ideas. The kids had a blast helping decorate... (all that candy, fruit leather and licorice)

And, in the end, Madeline said that it needed "bubbles from the jelly fish swimming," so voila!

The cake is 9x13-inch vanilla bean, frosted with tinted vanilla buttercream. The "Mama" jelly is a slice of cream-filled chocolate roll (from the QFC bakery), and the baby jellies' bells are each an end-slice of a Twinkie! The white tentacles are vanilla-sugar-sprinkled pie dough strips, and the other tentacles are Nerds ropes, fruit leather, slices of red licorice (Madeline's idea), and frosting. I hit all the jellies with a little Wilton tinted spray (purple) at the end.

Wordless Wednesday: After-school Snack

*inspired by the folks @ Family Fun

Really? Cookies, again?

Yes, because they are fantastic, and with Aunt Peggy's jam, they are heaven.  Recipe is from Deb at Smitten Kitchen, right here. You're welcome!

Bûche de Noël - 2011

Key-lime filled, tinted-whipped-cream frosted jelly-roll Bûche de Noël this year for 2011. I decorated it solo, since the kids were busy playing games with Grammy, Ukki and Papa.

It really is the very best recipe for a jelly roll, is from Daisy Martinez, and rolls nicely from either the short or long end (I used the long end for the Yule Log). I also trim the sides before rolling, which makes everything nice and neat.

Here We Go!

Happy Birthday, Scooter!

Four years ago, right about now, I was waking up and realizing that the 14th would be the day that Scoot would be joining us in the world. So, it seems appropriate that I'm still up getting things ready for his party day... and, that it's a very stormy night — in honor of the little stormbringer.

He wanted a "helicopter-drawing cake," and so here it is, in frozen buttercream transfer. He chose the many colors, and (with the help of his Papa) wants "pineapple cake with pineapple filling." The baking, etc. will have to be done later this morning, or in the afternoon... we'll see. Luckily, he and big sis will be a school for a few hours later today.

Happy Birthday, litttle E! You are my very favorite little fellow in the whole, wide world!

Santa in Ski Goggles & Nutcracker Mice

Baked all weekend, and am just ready for some R&R now. Will post recipes (including one for the perfect Madeline cookies) when I have time (which might not be this week, judging from the calendar).
Italian Cucidatti (filled fig-orange-cocoa) cookies, Rugelach, Chocolate Cherry cookies, Play Dough cookie cutouts, Light Chai Shortbread Slices, Nutcracker Mice and Santa, Coconut Macaroons, Snickers-filled Peanut Butter cookies, Play Dough shaped-trees cookies, Madeline cookies, and Oatmeal Coconut cookies. That's all for now.

Hooray for Snow Cream!!

Last year we never got the chance to make this, so today we got busy on making a batch right after lunch!

Vanilla Snow Cream

Freshly scooped snow from the backyard...

Snow Cream

1. Scoop up a big bowl of clean snow from your backyard, and bring it inside.
2. Take a cup of cream, half-and-half or whole milk, a couple Tbs. of sugar, 1 tsp (or so) of real vanilla (and 1/2 tsp of real peppermint extract if you have it). Mix it all up until the sugar dissolves.
3. Scoop snow into dessert bowls and pour "cream" on top!
4. Enjoy!! Delish! (Can also top with whipped cream and sprinkles or crushed candy canes for an over-the-top snow cream sundae!)
5. **I'm also tempted to try eggnog snow cream... doesn't that sound fabulous?!

A new look for an "old" tradition...

I didn't have the supplies on hand to make our regular rafter of turkeys, so I improvised. I mixed up a white cake mix, and added about 2 teaspoons of ground cardamom and 1 teaspoon of vanilla, and baked them in brown cupcake liners. Then, I whipped up a batch of buttercream, reserved some white and added cocoa powder to the rest (and some extra-fine ground cardamom).
Then, I dug around in the cupboards. I had some Anna's ginger cookies — perfect for the tails, and these great "ghost shaped" Halloween Jet Puff marshmallows (orange, white and brown in the bag), so I used two brown ghosts for the turkeys wings and cut an orange triangle of marshmallow for the beak. The wattle was a dried cranberry, and I piped white on for the eyes, and green star sprinkles (sideways) for the pupils of the eyes. They were a hit with the kiddos and the grandparents! And, delicious too!!

Cupcake Love!

Birthdays are coming up, and while I'll still be making Joel a cake (with lots of help from the kiddos), I decided to try some of Amanda's cupcakes. She's started up Sweet Charley B's Cupcakery in Olympia and is taking orders while trying to get a storefront opened. And, her husband works in Redmond, so was able to meet me for a convenient delivery.

We stopped at Jen's today for an early birthday celebration too, and I split the two dozen I bought so that she'd have a box. The Cherry Limeade's were delicious and as sweet as a super-tall Sonic Cherry Limeade. The frosting complements the cake perfectly. The kids adored these cute cakes and I thought the lime cake-base was spot-on—not too sweet, with an excellent flavor and texture.

The other dozen was Caramel Apple, and have a perfect vanilla cake-base filled with homemade apple-pie filling (Yum!) and topped with exquisite caramel frosting, then drizzled with caramel sauce. They were absolutely fabulous, and while I can never do as much frosting as is popular now on cupcakes... this frosting is hard to pass up.
Cupcake Flavors (and they're open to suggestions too)

• Apple Pie
• Candy Cane
• Candy Corn (Yellow Cake with Honey Buttercream)
• Caramel Apple
• Carrot Cake w/ Cream Cheese Frosting
• Cherry Limeade
• Chocolate on Chocolate
• Chocolate on Vanilla
• Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
• Chocolate Malt
• Chocolate w/ Peanut Butter Frosting
• Coconut
• Fauxtess Chocolate Cupcakes (like everyone's classic childhood favorite)
  
• Fudge Brownie
• Hot Fudge Sundae
• Lemon Blueberry
• Maple Bar (Butter Cake with Maple Frosting)
• Mint Chocolate Chip
• Mocha Chip
• Pecan Pie with brown sugar butter cream
• Orangsicle
• Oreo Oreo’s
• PB & J
• Pumpkin Spice w/ Cream Cheese Frosting
• Raspberry Cream
• Red Velvet w/ Cream Cheese Frosting
• Root Beer Float
• Samoa (like the Girl Scout cookie... yellow cake, carmel frosting, toasted coconut and chocolate ganache)
• S’Mores
• Vanilla on Chocolate
• Vanilla on Vanilla

All other frostings are made with a rich butter cream base to start.

**Note** Amanda is very allergic to strawberries. If you need a strawberry recipe please let them know in advance so they can find an alternate baker.

Call @ (360) 888-0416 or email zachandamanda@comcast.net to get some!

A Very Merry Year: November

So, instead of going crazy with holiday baking last year, I decided that it would be much more fun to spread the joy out over the year and gift someone each month with something lovely from my kitchen.

And, this month, I just happened upon a new recipe that involved wrapping peanut butter cookie dough around a chunk of frozen Snickers candy and baking until golden-brown. I immediately knew who I must make these cookies for—John. He loves peanut butter as much as I do, and loves candy as much as Joel, so these cookies are absolutely perfect for him.

Oh, and he loves cookies too; and we all love him. It even says so in the birthday card that Madeline made for John (complete with rainbow, sunshine, tent, and people). He's a great friend, a fellow cook, hunting partner, fabulous (and very organized) traveling companion (who drives very well on the wrong side of the road -and car- through crazy round-abouts in the UK and Ireland), my best friend's husband... oh, and Madeline and Erik adore him. So, what better for a gift than these over-the-top cookies...

Happy Birthday, John!

Snickers Peanut Butter Cookies 
(adapted from here)
Makes about 4 dozen cookies

Mini-size Snickers bars or large Snickers bar cut into bit-sized pieces 
2 sticks butter, room temperature
1 c. sugar
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. creamy peanut butter
2 eggs
4 tsp. vanilla
3 c. flour, sifted
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt

Either unwrap the mini Snickers, or unwrap and cut up larger Snickers. Freeze until the cookie dough is ready.

Preheat oven to 350-degrees F, and line a cookie sheet with parchment (or lightly spray with baking spray w/flour and wipe sheet with paper towel). Cream the butter and sugars in Kitchenaid until light and fluffy, then add peanut butter and combine, next add egg and vanilla, mix until well combined. Add the dry ingredients and blend to finish dough.

Scoop dough out of bowl with a large soup spoon, and flatten the dough in your hand. Place one frozen Snickers pieces in the center and wrap evenly, sealing around candy. Do about 6-9 cookies at a time. As many as nine will fit on a cookie sheet at a time as they do spread a bit. Keep additional candy in the freezer when you're not shaping cookies to go on a pan to pop in the oven. Bake for about 12-13 minutes. Cool on wire rack, and beware. These are delicious!!