Saturday, February 25, 2012

Goodies Galore!

First off, I know this is such a terribly long over due post and I don't even have the excuse of being busy...only lazy!
Anyhow, there has been ever so much baking in the house lately resulting in an overabundance of tasty things to snack on during the day. So here are some of the best or most interesting things.
Banana muffins with a crumb topping

I love muffins. I went a little nuts and made four different kinds one day; banana with crumb topping, almond cranberry, blueberry with a lemon sugar topping and blueberry with crumb topping. Good thing my family love muffins too or else I would have been eating them for a month!

I wanted to experiment with making a version of strawberry shortcake but in cupcake form. I made pound cake cupcakes and then made a glossy/silky/almost marshmallow-ish kind of icing. It was very interesting. I then mixed in some frozen strawberries which completely changed the consistency and made it a bit too thin for what I was looking for (it also tasted mush too sweet). I topped them with a chocolate glaze, coating some and drizzling others. Needless to say, they need a bit more work.

An up close shot of my creation.
My mom made a new cookie, and I think every baking ingredient is in it! But it is SO very tasty!

My sister found a recipe for a Sweet Potato cake! We were so intrigued by it so she made it...it took a whopping 26 tablespoons of butter too! The walnuts on the top were sauteed in butter, sugar and rum...yummmm!

And finally, today I made chocolate cupcakes today, but the recipe was not the regular kind. There was no butter, milk or eggs in the batter. Instead there was coffee, vinegar and olive oil. Apparently this type of recipe was common during the Great Depression and the 40's. They turned out quiet tasty too!


Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Arctic Buddies

Last week my youngest brother turned 7. He is a whole seven years old now! No one here can believe it, or rather, we don't want to believe it. Never the less, we had a party to celebrate and the house was invaded by many little bodies with heads only reaching up to my waist or hips. Since the birthday boy loves snow, it is common for him to pick and arctic theme, last year he had polar bear cupcakes, and this year he asked my sister and I to make penguin cupcakes. We were up for the challenge!
All of the items needed, ready for construction!

The night before the party, we began to assemble the cupcakes, working on piling the "supports" onto the cupcake its self. We had to stop when we realized we didn't buy the right frosting to coat them with and that we didn't have the right items to make it at home either. The next day I went into town and bought the frosting that was required and proceeded to make the cupcakes with my little brother watching over my shoulder and talking the entire time.
The first one ready for decorations to go on!

Making some friends so they don't get lonely.

The first one of complete! He is rather round though :)

After a few experiments and accidents, I got the penguin making down to a system, (which my brother approved of because I was 1. making them faster so that meant that 2. there were more little leftovers he could eat!) and made about 10 of the little guys.

There is some of the colony! (sorry, not a great picture)

Of course I was seeing everything that I would have like to perfect or change and my sister would just say "they are going to be eaten by a bunch of 7 year olds...I don't think they'll notice the little things!" I guess she was right because they were gone within minutes of being handed out!
Now after writing this, I'm in the mood for more baking and decorating...hmm, what shall I make next?