Cookies, Cookies, Cookies

 

I watch my Grandchildren several days a week so I am always trying to come up with something that will keep their interest and we can do together.  I want this time with them to be memorable and they will look back on this time together with fondness.  I have done sugar cookies before and felt kind of iffy about them.  They take a long time to do and the mess can get out of control.  They are also temperamental.  Bake too long and they get hard - bake too little and they taste doughy.  I also live at high altitude and it sometimes takes things a bit longer to bake and by then can become overdone.

Hippie Girl!

Sexy Momma, Love the painted toes!

I tried two recipes and both were great.  I followed them exactly and didn't change anything for altitude.  The Best Sugar Cookie Recipe and Alton Brown's Sugar Cookies. Alton Brown's recipe doesn't spread as much as the first one does.  But if you decorate well it doesn't matter. For the icing I put several tablespoons of powdered sugar in a small bowl along with a drop or two of food coloring gel.  I added a few drops of water at a time and stirred throughly to get the icing smooth but thick. (It's easier to add more water than to put to much in at first.) I put the icing in piping bags and tied the ends with rubber bands because the kids squeeze the icing out the wrong end.  I also gave them knives to do some of the big stuff and then we used the piped icing for details.

Davy Do!

Sebby's Creations.  He loves the Christmas tree!

Chef Abby making cookie dough.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I work with the kids I pre-measure everything into little bowls and let them pour each ingredient in when it is time.  They get to turn on the mixer and scrape the bowl. They love it.  The reason why I pre-measure is because I get distracted as you will read below and I don't want to forget where I am in the recipe.  They love it.



Chef Davy the Taste Tester!

You will notice that some of the cookies got a little bit more brown than others.  Don't forget that I am watching at least three toddlers while trying to get exact baking time and that doesn't always work out when I need to drop everything to change a diaper or get a drink of water or kiss a boo-boo.  I do like having the cookies get very slightly brown around the edges, not much. What I learned was just go for it.  It all turns out in the end and we had a blast doing it together.

Sara's Baby Shower Cupcakes

I really had fun doing these cupcakes.  They are a chocolate fudge cake with chocolate pudding for filling and Butter cream Icing. I made my own fondant and colored them with food coloring gel.  I made them pastel colors and used blue and pink because Sara doesn't know what she is having and isn't going to find out.  They apparently want to be surprised.  

I looked online for images of cupcake toppers and found a number of ideas.  This is how they turned out.  I did them the night before so they could get well dried.  I think that next time I will mix half and half gum paste and fondant.  I think they will dry faster and not wither when placed on something moist.  These held up really well, but we have such changes in weather that doing a mix may work better.

I also tried the "Swirl" with two colors this time using pink icing and blue icing.  It work well.  I also practiced making "rose" icing swirls and those were a bit harder to do.  Need to practice that one more.

Quick Cakes for Friends

I made a couple of quick cakes for friends who called and asked if I would do something for them.  The first is a chocolate mint cake for Pastor Jim and another church member and friend Sara.  I did chocolate mint because Jim's wife said it was his favorite and he was turning 40.  She didn't ask Sara what she liked and I found out later she didn't like mint.  Oh well.  Everyone else did because the cake was devoured in a short amount of time. 

I used Betty Crocker Chocolate Devil's Food cake mix.  I know it's cheating, but when I have to do quick stuff I don't have time to mess with recipes especially at high altitudes.  I used Butter Cream Frosting .  I used heavy whipping cream in the recipe, about a cup, and it came out really light.  I also blended into the frosting melted  Ghirardelli Mint Chocolate Squares. This gave it a minty flavor, but I still added two teaspoons of mint flavoring as well.

For the Chocolate Mint ganache filling I melted Lindt Intense Mint Chocolate with heavy whipping cream to make a soft chocolate filling.  Very minty and decadent chocolate taste! 

The rose was one I had left over from a previous project.  It is gum past as are the leaves.  The candies on the cake are Junior Mint Candies.

The second cake was one I did really last minute for a friend who was having a wedding anniversary.  She was afraid to ask me because it was so late.  It usually takes me several days to make a nice cake so I told her that I probably wouldn't be able to do it.  But after looking around, I found some more box cake mixes and left over red roses from another project plus I had left over frosting ingredients so I made the cake.  I have heart shaped pans and made a two tiered chocolate cake with Butter Cream Frosting.  I had some sprinkles and used them to dress up the cake on the leaves.  I also had sugar pearls and used them for an added touch.  It turned out pretty good for a super fast cake and the "bride" was overwhelmed with her surprise cake.  I got the warmest hug ever and she loved the taste. 

 By the way, I usually brush my cakes with a simple syrup for added moisture.  Simple syrup recipe is 1 cup granulated sugar to 3 cups water.  Cook until the sugar is melted and the liquid is clear.  Let cool.  Us a pastry brush or spray bottle to apply the syrup. I think it's best to wait unto both cake and syrup are completely cool before applying.

I put red food color gel on one side of my pastry bag and then filled with white frosting.  I won't do that again.  It came out to grainy and not good consistancy.  Next time I will us a pink or red frosting painted on the side of the bag and see if that works better to get a two toned look.

HELLO AGAIN - MY BIRTHDAY CAKE

I haven't posted since May basically because my mother had a small stroke and I flew out to California where I helped Mom get back on her feet.  We had been planning a vacation for my folks in Colorado for the month of July so I brought them home with me.  Unfortunately my Dad took deathly ill just after getting here and I spent the next several weeks getting him back to good health.  Now that they are both doing quite well I decided to celebrate by making my own birthday cake.

I made the rose while in California. I used gum paste for that and the leaves.  For the little white flowers I used butter cream frosting.  I used a mold for the beading.  I painted the pink beads with pink peril luster dust.  

The cake itself is double layer chocolate with chocolate gnache filling.  Hey, I love chocolate and I wanted decadence.  What can I say.....it was my birthday!

I really wanted to make a Topsy Turvy cake.  But I just didn't have the time.  However, that will be my next cake once things get back to normal (whatever that is). 

By the way, thank you to all of you who gave me encouragement while I took care of my folks. Thank you for the calls, prayers, food, and texts.  You are awesome!  I thank God for you. Love to you all!!!

Mother's Day May Basket Cake

I love these flowers.  They were really fun to make.  I enjoyed making this cake for my friend Anna.  It is a triple chocolate decadent cake with chocolate gnash filling.  The recipes for the Marsh Mellow Fondant and Butter Cream Frosting are at whatscookingamerica.net/PegW/Fondant.htm. 

Mother's Day Basket of Flowers Cake

This was a total practice cake.  I wanted to make fondant flowers and so I practiced this week and then made a cake to put them on.  I did different arrangements on each side of the cake.  There are arranging errors that I see so will be careful next time to have a more exact plan.

This is my first try at basket weave.  It was too hot to make it work well though it came out okay. My hands were so hot and I had to keep putting the piping bag in the fridge.  I also wanted the weave to stand up better after putting the flowers on.  I probably should have cooled the whole cake before putting them on.

The flowers were fun to make but I think I can do better with them too. I want my leaves to look more real as well so I guess I will break down and get some veiners. I learned by watching You Tube.  There is much to learn if you are a self taught baker/decorator like me.  Whatever you do JUST HAVE FUN!

 

Hello Kitty Cake

A friend of mine asked me to make a "personal" cake for her three year old.  It is a boxed "cherry" flavored cake mix baked in small 8 inch rounds and is double layered with my usual butter cream crumb coat frosting.  I get these recipes from Peggy Weaver at

http://whatscookingamerica.net/PegW/Fondant.htm.

This is the first bow I've tried.  It came out pretty well.  I went on line and keyed in "fondant bow tutorial" and a bunch of sites came up.  Pick one, they are all pretty good.  I discovered that you have to hand it lightly as dents and marks can get in.  I also decided it was better to make the bow and put it on the cake to dry instead of putting it aside to dry and then apply it to the cake.  It is just to fragile to handle and I broke the fist one.

This was a fun cake to make and didn't take much time because it was so small.  I hope my friend enjoys it!