Cupcakes Galore

Hello kids! What have you all been up to?? I have been baking up a storm here recently, although I don't have too many pictures of my creations. No good reason for that, just laziness on my part - but I do have a little treat for you all today.

Last weekend we went to a pig roast, which was a lot of fun. Our neighbors have one every Spring, and this year I think they out-did themselves. The boys played non-stop for HOURS and actually were asking to go home before 9PM because they were so worn out. It was a fun night for all. And you can't beat a party that you can walk home from...it just doesn't get any better than that!

For my food contribution I made two different kinds of cupcakes. Cherry Chocolate and the much raved about "Carbomb" cupcake. Honestly I have to say the cherry variety was my favorite, but everyone else seemed to LOVE the "adult" variety. Although I do have to say that I could have ate the whole batch of Bailey's butter-cream frosting all by myself - no cupcake needed. Of course I probably would have landed myself into some sugar induced coma and then missed out on all the fun, but that stuff is so good it might have been worth it. ;)

For the cherry chocolate I just used a chocolate cupcake, filled it with butter-cream, then frosted the top with a cherry butter-cream icing and topped with a cherry. I also added in some chopped cherries into the cake batter. YUM! I have to say I think they turned out so cute!

Filled and waiting for their toppers

Adorable AND Tasty

The Carbomb cupcake recipe can be found here. I followed the recipe exactly - with the exception that I left out the alcohol in the ganache filling. Overall I was happy with how they turned out, and was glad that everyone seemed to enjoy them.

All "dressed up" and ready to go to the party

So, that was our big event last weekend. This weekend we have NOTHING "planned" and I am actually almost just as excited about that. We're going to the farmer's market tomorrow, so I'm hoping to pick up some goodies to do some baking Sunday. I LOVE the farmer's market and am so glad it's that time of year again. I hope you all have a fabulous weekend, and I'll be back soon (I hope) with more yummy goodness.

Steamy Goodness...

* working on getting the pictures up - blogger is really trying my nerves!! *

Oh boy - let me just first say it's a good thing I don't live somewhere that steamed puddings are more easily accessible because I would no longer fit into my pants.

Okay, maybe I should back up a bit. It's the end of the month, so you all know (or maybe you don't but you soon will) that it's time to post my Daring Bakers challenge for April.

The April 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Esther of The Lilac Kitchen. She challenged everyone to make a traditional British pudding using, if possible, a very traditional British ingredient: suet.

I did not have, nor could I find suet, so I used good old fashioned butter, and a lot of it, which is why it's a good thing I don't eat this more often, because after eating my small slice, I did some mental calculations of calories, and let's just say, it wasn't pretty - AT ALL! But it was yummy, and I don't eat sweets too often, even though I make them all the time, so I figure it won't kill me or the ability to fit into my jeans.

I enlisted some help from my big kid in making this treat today, and I have to say I think he did a very nice job.

already a pro with the mixer

We take quality control very seriously around here...

We chose to make a lemon steamed pudding and then a Grand Marnier strawberry syrup for the top. The flavors together were pretty delicious I have to say - maybe my favorite part of the whole dessert.

These were about to be on the "un-usable" end so they were perfect for syrup

Strawberry syrup on bottom of dish, ready for the batter.

This recipe was different from anything I have ever made before. It's sort of a cross between a cake and a bread pudding. It's very moist because of the steaming process - so that's a bit different for me, and I have never made anything that you steam to cook. I didn't have a strainer/pot combo big enough for my baking dish, so I did mine in the crock-pot and just set my dish on-top of a tea towel and it worked out just fine. I have to say, it was nice to have dessert cooking away and still have my oven free for fixing supper.

Ready to go into the crock pot for a few hours of steaming
after a good steam - ready to be flipped


FLIP

I served it up with a little bit of cream in the bottom of the dish. Overall it was a nice dessert. I don't know that I'll be making it again anytime soon, but I did enjoy the challenge. So, thank you Esther for broadening my baking horizons!!



If you're interested in trying this out on your own, go to the Daring Kitchen website and there you will find bunches of recipes in the "recipe archives" section! Enjoy! :)

testing

April Showers

Okay, so here's my corny joke...if April showers bring May flowers, what do may flowers bring??

Give up??

Pilgrims... Ha Ha! Okay, I told you it was corny, but my big kid loves that joke.

We have had some rain the past few days, and yesterday woke up to a pretty rainy morning. The boys (well really just my big kid) actually requested something OTHER than cereal so I took the opportunity to try a pancake recipe that I've been wanting to make for awhile now. Because what is better on a rainy morning than a big old stack of pancakes??


They turned out FABULOUS and are now my most favorite "go to" pancakes. They are fluffy, sweet but not TOO sweet, with a hint of butter - YUM! Of course I could have ate the whole batch, but I had to settle for a bite of the munchkins stack. The boys and the husband also gave these a double thumbs up. And, one of my favorite things about this recipe, is it doesn't require any ingredients that I don't usually have on hand. Don't get me wrong, I love me some buttermilk pancakes, but I don't always have a carton of the buttery goodness on hand.

So, if you're looking for a good go to pancake recipe, might I suggest the following:

Fabulous Pancakes

recipe adapted by me from HERE

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 cup milk + 1/4 cup heavy cream (or just use all milk)
1 egg
3 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk, egg and melted butter; mix until smooth.

Heat a griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot. Enjoy with a hot cup of coffee - or a nice tall glass of milk.

So, what else have I been doing other than making rainy day pancakes?? Not much actually - although I feel like I've been really busy, it's just normal day to day ins and outs. The school year is almost over, and we are looking forward to the summer and all the fun it brings. I've been baking up a storm, which means the guys that work with my sweet husband have been enjoying lots of goodies. Today I sent in a batch of those banana sticky buns that I posted a few months ago. I heard they were a hit! I also made some creamy lemon bars, which I will post hopefully this weekend.

That's about it for me...until next time...go make some pancakes and get your upcoming weekend started off right!!!

Feels like home

Well...tastes is more like it really, and "home" is sort of questionable seeing as how I have moved every two years or so since I turned 15, so there is more than one place that I call "home". But in this case we are going with "home" as in Georgia - where most of my family and my husbands family is, and where we just came from. (Okay - "just" is also stretching it - but go with me here.)

The 2010 April Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Wolf of Wolf’s Den. She chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make Brunswick Stew. Wolf chose recipes for her challenge from The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook by Matt Lee and Ted Lee, and from the Callaway, Virginia Ruritan Club.

Brunswick stew became a favorite of mine when we lived in south GA. There were some great BBQ places there that served up some amazing Brunswick stew. So, I was really excited when I read about this challenge a few weeks ago.

Ready to get things started

We were given two recipes to choose from, a long one and a short one. I picked the long one, and actually made it even longer by letting it cook in the crock-pot all day. There was a mishap along the way, but nothing too terrible. I was taking this photo of my progress and realized something...

I had added in the onion and carrot before I was supposed to. The stew turned out fine, the veggies were just a little softer than they would have been had I put them in at the end. When it came time to serve it up I had to get a picture of the "spoon sticking up" in the pot - SUCCESS I must have done it right!

I made a few changes - in addition to the crushed tomatoes, I added in some tomato paste because I like my stew with more tomato flavor. I also added in some smokey BBQ sauce because the stew I am used to is made with smoked BBQ and seeing as how I don't have a smoker, I figured this would be the next best option. It worked and tasted wonderful! I also only made 1/2 the recipe, and it was MORE than enough for my little family, in-fact we froze about 1/2 of it and are having it for dinner again tonight!

served up and ready to dig in

So if you're looking for a great stew recipe, I highly recommend this one! Thanks Wolf for a great challenge! You can find the recipe for both the long and short version HERE.

cookies by Kel??

So, remember a few posts ago when I was raving about those delicious sugar cookies that I made for the baby shower?? Well...it seems that I am not the only one that thinks they are wonderful. I made another batch last week for little Easter gifts and to go to my friend that has now HAD the baby that we had the shower for. I sent these cute little baggies off with the big kid to give to his teachers as well.

Well (big dramatic voice) yesterday when I dropped big kid off at school his teacher told me how wonderful they were then asked me if I would be willing to make cookies for the graduation party in May for the whole preschool!! HOW COOL IS THAT?!?!?! They are going to hire me to BAKE - and apparently are even going to pay me to do it!? I about jumped out of the car with giddiness over this - but figured that would hold up the drop off line so I contained myself.

I don't know any details yet, but I'm guessing it will be about 200-300 cookies. She did tell me they want butterflies, so that will be fun when decorating time comes. I'm just so excited, I had to share!!

Things here are going well. We found out that we are definitely here until mid-August, the owners of our house approved our lease extension, so that is a HUGE blessing! It's nice not to have that hanging over our heads. And while we do get to stay longer, we still are only about 4 months out - which isn't THAT long. I hate to say it but the bubble is deflating rapidly... The hubs and I have sub ball this weekend, so that should be a good time. It's always nice to get dressed up and get out for a bit. Plus, I got some super cute new shoes ON SALE that I am wearing and very excited about. Yes folks...it's the little things.

Well, that's about it for me. Just wanted to leave a quick post with some updates. I have had a major itch to do some baking, so chances are you will see something from me this weekend. Happy hump day everyone!