Congratulations Graduates!

My niece Tori has graduated from North Callaway High School this year. She is an awesome girl.  I don't know too many high school graduates that have had as much dedication to their school work as she has. Not to mention surviving those four years without so much as blinking an eye towards that ever so popular peer pressure monster. She is pursuing a nursing degree and I know that she will make one compassionate, smart, dutiful nurse.
I'm sure she will have a party this summer, but for now I just sent a couple of cookies to congratulate her.

Doesn't she just look like a smarty pants?

Congratulations Tori! We love you!

Cancer is a jerk.

I just looked up the statistics on how many women will get breast cancer in a lifetime and it's 1 in 8. That doesn't make me like my boobs very much, or cancer.  My mom, two of her sisters, my grandmother (dad's mom), and a few other women I know have had breast cancer. It's scary to think about how many people you know that have had to fight for their lives unexpectedly and without knowing the outcome.
I do admire the strength that these women around us exude. I know nothing of what it takes to have to care for oneself when taken over by an illness such as this.  I do know that the support of other women must mean something. To have someone take care of you and not just offer. I am not comparing a c-section to cancer, but that was the first time that I have ever had to lean on anyone in my adult life. There is something to say about the people that come to your side because they love you.

The pink ribbon is supposed to be a symbol of hope and the color of strength.  If you wear it, post it, display it, or in my case eat it, it shows that you support these women. Shannon Picard asked for me to make some cookies to take to a funeral luncheon for her husband Jeremy's late Aunt Jenny.

Jennifer (Jenny) Kay Mitchell

5/17/72 - 4/28/13

I wrote a post with an example of how to create a cookie using cutters that you currently have, to make a cookie in a shape that you don't have.  The picture above shows another way to do this, by making a template.  All you have to do is draw out your design and cut it out, place it on the cookie and use a sharp knife to cut around it.

You'll want to use something plastic like a lid from a large oatmeal container. This way it won't get soggy from all the yummy butter that is soaks up from the dough.  It will take about three times as long as using a cookie cutter, but your results will be the same. This is the first time that I have done this, but I will definitely take the time to do it again to make a cookie with a special meaning such as this.

I love my mom.

I love my mom. I think everyone could say that they love their mom even more after they've had their own child. It's only been a little over a year since Amelie was born and the time has made me appreciate the effort that my mom put into raising me even more. I love having a child to care for and my mom had four pretty close in age. She must have been supermom.  I think about her numerous times when Amelie wants me to hold her while I'm unloading the dishwasher or cooking dinner.  You know, the tasks that normally require two hands.  I can't imagine that my mom's hands were ever empty.  Even now she said that she has a habit of standing around in the kitchen to eat her meals because she never really sat down to eat when my brother, sisters and I were around to keep her busy.  My mom has always been a helper to everyone around her and she has been such a blessing to me since Amelie was born. Of course she has to have her time with her granddaughter, but I know she tries to help me as well.

I made a few cookies (surprise!) for my mom and John's mom. 

 Teapots for my mom to match her favorite collections.

Flowers just because for my mother-in-law.

A card I made to tell her of my new revelation.

My post today would not be complete if I didn't include some pictures of Amelie since I am a proud mother on Mother's day. I am so thankful to have been able to experience the joy of mothering such a happy little girl.

Everyone loves smiley pictures of little ones, but I like pictures with silly faces that you just don't appreciate until you see that single second captured by the camera.

On another note...I've been wanting to make my own ice cream for some time. I've looked at ice cream makers but I really didn't want another kitchen appliance. Johnny was thoughtful enough to buy a separate bowl for my kitchen aid mixer that churns ice cream as a gift for Mother's day.  I am really excited to use it. I think it is supposed to be in the 80's on Tuesday - perfect day. I'll have to get busy looking for a good recipe.

I hope every mom has had a great day today!

My Favorite Dessert

This past week I've done a little bit of baking. It's fun to know someone's favorite dessert or dinner and even better when you know that you can make it for them just the way they like it.  I know how to make Johnny's favorite chocolate chip cookies and just the way he likes his steak shish-ka-bobs. I know that my sister-in-law, Andrea loves white or yellow cake, buttercream frosting with some almond flavoring. I know that my brother loves chocolate eclair cake, carrot cake, and those peanut butter cookies with the hershey kisses smooshed on top. I know that my Dad loves fruit pies, ice cream, and that he wishes he could have his Mother's orange cake with frosting.  I know that my sister-in-law, Jenn loves lemon desserts and lemon bars. As for my sisters, Bev and Michelle - they are kind of like me, anything sweet goes.  However anyone can make my very favorite, brownie ice cream sundae.  I'm not even picky about the brownie, it can come from a vending machine and I'd be happy. I also love bananas foster and yellow cake with chocolate frosting.  If you've never had bananas foster, you need to stop what you are doing and look it up right now. Johnny made it for my birthday one year and now that I know he can make it I'll be requesting it every year.
My Mother-in-law's birthday was this past week her favorite dessert is white/yellow cake (lucky for me) and I was happy to make her birthday cake for work and also a few sweets for the get-together at my house.

If you look in the back right corner of the photo above you'll see some petit fours or "small cakes". The words petit four in French means "small oven." I've added a few photos below to show you the process.

Blanching and peeling the almonds to make almond paste for the cake.

The cake is baked in 3 separate jelly roll pans in very thin layers. Jam is typically spread between the layers.

A special cutter is used to cut the cake, but my cake was short enough to use a cookie cutter.

A pourable fondant is prepared to spoon over the cakes or alternatively the cakes are dipped into the fondant.

It can take a layer or two of icing to cover the cakes if the consistency of the icing is not thick enough.

I pre-made some buttercream icing pansies to place on top of the petit fours which you saw in the photo above.

I used this recipe from Martha Stewart's head baker.  I thought that if I am going to take the time to make petit four the long way, I would use a good recipe. The cake tasted great, but the icing was not to my liking. The icing is Martha's pourable fondant icing.

You could also buy some pound cake, cut it in slices, use a cutter for the shape you prefer, and dip the cake in fondant.  That might be cheating but I don't think anyone would know.

So....Is everyone thinking of their favorite dessert and wishing that someone would make it for them?

Clearing My Sweet Conscience

Today I thought I'd share a few recipes. It's really a way of clearing my guilt. My sugar addiction guilt, that is. These recipes are healthy sweets. No food coloring, no white sugar.
As long as we're clearing my guilt here, I might as well confess my love of sweets right now(like it isn't obvious.) I believe my Mom did a great job of keeping good food in our house growing up.  She grew up on a farm in Georgia which probably led to the fact that we were pretty lucky in the way that we always had a home made dinner.  She didn't cook with any pre-made mixes and even now she will never use a cake mix. The only sweets I remember in our house were gallon size containers of vanilla ice cream that lasted exactly 2 days (thanks Mike), vanilla sandwich cookies, and nutty bars. Maybe those were her favorites.  I still had my ways of getting sugar.  Whenever my mom or sister was making a cake or brownies I stuck around to lick the bowl.  Of course I used a spoon, until the "scrape, scrape" sound made it obvious that I needed to use my fingers.  Elbow deep I would get every last spot.  No fear of raw egg in my family.  I taste every batter even now.  Especially  Even if it's just chocolate chip cookies.  It's a good thing I do because just this last week I was testing a cake recipe that I was really excited about. It was a fairly fragile vanilla cake that used a reverse creaming method to change the structure of the cake. After carefully weighing all ingredients with my scale and mixing for the exact time that the recipe calls for, I excitedly reach for my spoon and taste it....blech, it's horrible! With no clue as to what happened I look around here and there. Directly behind my propped up ipad (which was so faithfully leading me through the recipe) there sits my bowl of sugar sparkling in the glow of the under-cabinet lights.  I guess I'll have to make the cake again to see if it's any better when the ingredients are added in the correct order.
Back to my sugar history.....I do have a distinct memory of scavenging for chocolate or anything sweet at all,  finding none it seemed that Nestle's chocolate chips would have to do.  My Mom must have been looking forward to her sweets too because the next time she pulled them out to bake something, there were quite a few missing.  I lied and lied when she accused me.  "No Mom, it wasn't me, it wasn't!!"  There was probably still chocolate on my face.
Fast forward to high school and there were plenty of days that I bought a $1 Honeybun and ate it for lunch.  That kind of went along with coming home from school and making a package of Ramen noodles. (Gross.)  I can just say right here that I never had to cook anything while living at home with my parents. I didn't learn to cook until I got married and moved out.  Poor Johnny, he was already living on his own, but good thing for me, he already knew how to cook.  I did start the oven on fire one time, but there was a fire fighter in the house at the time.  Before I got adventurous it was Hamburger Helper. After that, for the last 11 years of marriage I have grown to cook and bake almost every thing that goes into our mouths.
I think it's been maybe 3 years ago that I discovered a website called 100 Days of Real Food.  I learned a lot about what we are putting into our bodies just by eating a normal slice of bread or some "healthy" crackers. I will never walk the aisles of the grocery store with the same perspective.  After reading a few books on the subject of "Real Food,"  one being Food Rules by Michael Pollan, I decided to eat mostly organic for the food that I feel it's necessary, make my own granola bars, whole wheat waffles, pizza dough, bread (a lot of the time.) We do our best to eat "good" meat such as grass fed beef, raw cheese, organic milk and yogurt from grass fed cows. We stopped eating lunch meat slices, sugary yogurts, no soda, etc.  I take the time to read all ingredient lists to determine which box of crackers to purchase.  There were a lot of changes, it gets tiring and it's ongoing, but it's worth it because we just feel better. In my house I've tried to create an environment to keep us healthy and that allows me to indulge, including the pretty food-colored tinted icing on the cake.  Don't get me wrong, outside my house or at yours I will eat the store bought taco dip and brownies and I will probably eat more than you. These are just choices that we've made for OUR family in our home and I completely respect the way that others choose to define healthy in their diets too. I do hope that anyone who reads this will choose to check out the 100 days of Real Food website just to see what you think about it, because I believe that it can make an impact on how you feel every day. Also....check out THIS post specifically.

Sweets have been the one thing that I just didn't want to change.  When I want a dessert I want a dessert, not something that is supposed to taste like a dessert. And I feel as though I deserve it when I'm eating healthy otherwise.  Only now since I'm baking more and more for the celebrations in life when we can truly indulge, I am tempted more and more.  This past week and for the next few I'll be baking a lot of cookies and cakes and I know I'll need a way to satisfy my sweet tooth so I don't eat the sweets I'm intending to gift to others! It's a good thing I have a small stash of these health(ier) goodies to get me through. Oh - I'll eat my fair share of sugar cookies and decorated cakes but hopefully in the moderation that we should all practice.


I know this recipe is from a diet book that I just thumbed through for recipes, but I can't remember the name of it.

Spice Cupcakes with Honey Cream Frosting

10 oz baked sweet potato
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp ginger
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp allspice
1/4 cup extra light olive oil (I used coconut oil)
1/3 cup honey
1 large egg
2 large egg whites
1/4 cup water

Frosting:
6 oz cream cheese
2 Tbsp honey
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 and line 12 muffins with liners.
In a medium bowl whisk flour, cinnamon, ginger, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and allspice.
In a medium bowl mix with an electric mixer: oil, honey, add eggs and beat well after each one. Beat in sweet potatoes and water.  Fold in flour mixture.
Bake 15-17 minutes. (I had to bake 19 minutes.) Cool in the pan on wire rack for 10 minutes then transfer to the rack to cool completely.
For the frosting, beat the cream cheese with the honey and vanilla.
These freeze very well.

My mother-in-law passed along the following recipe to me and gave us these cookies so that Amelie could try one, minus the nuts and softened in the microwave. It's Amelie first and so far only cookie that she's had - that I know of. I do know that one day she will have her first sugar cookie and with my luck it will be with red #40 dyed icing, but that will be one special occasion.

Healthy Oatmeal Peanut Butter Banana Cookies

2 ripe bananas mashed
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
2/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
dash ground cloves
dash nutmeg
1 1/2 cups quick cook oats
1/4 cup chocolate chips plus a few more to sprinkle on top.
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut
1/4 cup chopped nuts

Mix banana, peanut butter, applesauce, vanilla, and spices.  Add oats, nuts, chocolate chips, and coconuts.  The batter will be rather loose.
Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes on parchment paper lined cookie sheets.
This recipe doesn't make very many - about 12 slightly larger than a tablespoon size.

Enjoy!

Since I'm new(er) to trying healthier sweets, I'm sharing these recipes with you in the hopes that you all will share some with me too. Leave a comment below with a link to your favorite healthy sweets website, or send me an email with a healthy sweet recipe.

Since I've cleared my conscience a little, here are some sugar cookies I made for Johnny's aunt to take to her great niece's 4th birthday.  Good thing I remembered to use the color violet to write Violet's name.

EEEwwwww there's a hair in my cookie!

Not really, but that would be pretty gross. I do make sure to tie back my hair when I'm baking.
I made some cookies for my hair girl, Kristin.  I've been seeing her for maybe 8 years or more?  That sentence sounded kind of personal. Do you ever notice that you tell your hair dresser more than you ever imagined you would?  I guess if you see them every 8-10 weeks they get to know a lot about you. I think they must have some sort of class on listening in hair cutting school because if you open your ears in a salon you hear an awful lot.
Ruffolo's in Kenosha is a great place to get yourself done. Hair, nails, makeup, ear candling, they do it all.  And no, I have never had my ears candled.

I didn't have a scissors cookie cutter so I made one out of two others that I have. A large heart and a party hat.

Of course there are cookie cutters that you absolutely can't do without such as Santa or the Easter bunny.  But I don't think I'll use the scissors shape very often. This is a great way to repurpose your existing cutters. If you look close at the second picture, you'll see how I shaped them together.  When they bake, they seal together - very easy!

I hope the girls at Ruffolo's enjoyed their cookies!

Occasionally when I'm baking or cooking Amelie has to entertain herself. She races for the refrigerator every chance she gets (and the garbage can, but we won't talk about that.)  If you can see that lemon she is gnawing on, you'll see that I have my doubts that she has inherited my sweet tooth.

Naughty Bunny

I'm a little late with this, but Happy Easter!

I spent quite a bit of time baking in preparation for Easter this year. I started with egg-less sugar cookies for Heather Picard's son Brayden.  He has an egg allergy and I was up for the challenge to find a tasty egg-less cookie recipe. They turned out great! In the process I came across a blog called "Egg Free Bakery." It's a great resource for anyone with this unfortunate allergy. I used a glaze instead of an icing, as the icing uses meringue powder. It was fun to see him scarf one down. I'm really bummed because I completely forgot to take a picture of the cookies!
Of course I had to make some regular old sugar cookies for my family for Easter. I chose a non- traditional color palette for my eggs.

The last time I was at Hobby Lobby I discovered an Americolor food dye called Ivory.  You would think that you could just add a bit of brown to make ivory but it turns out a lot different. Well, a lot different to me, but I'm a color nerd and I kind of like studying color. So you might not agree. I got on a kick and added Ivory to every color I used and it gave it a really unique tone.

I mentioned that I spent quite a bit of time baking this past week. I have been asked how long it takes to make a batch of sugar cookies.  A lot depends on how fancy I get with them and that is the fun part so I could spend hours and hours if I wanted to stay up all night.  Mixing, rolling, and cutting out about 18 cookies takes about an hour. Whipping up a batch of icing takes about half an hour. Coloring the icing and preparing the bags or bottles with tips takes an hour. Both the base layer and details of icing takes about 2 hours with clean up.  It's usually between 4-5 hours total. Yes, it's a long time, but I have never done it all in one day.  I break it all up over the course of several days so it doesn't seem like that much. I'm not really counting the time I take to come up with a design and draw it out but that part is fun and it's not always necessary if it's an easy cookie.

So needless to say I'm always looking for ways to shorten up the time it takes for everything but the actual icing details - I love that part. I've tried protecting my pastry bags with saran wrap for easy clean up which does sort of work.  And these new squeeze bottles that accommodate decorating tips, they work great!  I know most people can figure out how to do a simple batch of sugar cookies, but I've narrowed down some preparations that work great for me. I think I'll use a post soon to share some tips in case anyone out there might be trying it for the first time.

I also made a cake with a recipe from my mom. She found it on the Allrecipes website and it's a pretty tasty cake. It's a 9" round, 3 layer carrot cake with a crusting cream cheese frosting.  I saw a cookie with a bunny butt and I knew I had to use that somehow. What is better that a mischievous bunny stealing some carrots from the garden?  My husband wouldn't think that it's funny.  Every chance he gets, he protects our landscaping from the vermin with a bb handgun. It's makes me a little sad but I don't particularly enjoy our bushes eaten down to the ground either.

What a naughty bunny!

Here is our mischievous bunny in her pajamas having fun with her Easter basket.

I hope everyone had a great day!