Oh Christmas Tree!

Today was a great day of baking with my mom and decorating with Miss A and a very dear friend I have not seen in forever and her children. We made Christmas tree cupcakes that were a gift for some friends of my moms and with the extra green buttercream we decided to make Christmas tree cookies for our family! (And Santa of course!!!)

Just a few fabulous cookie designs by Miss A, my fabulous niece Olivia and ME! 

All thrown in together!! 

Remember the McDonald's Fry Guys???? This is what this cookie reminded me of!

Just a few simple design trees.

The cupcakes! I had sparkle edible dust, silver balls, and of course the yellow stars as decoration. Oddly enough the yellow stars were supposed to be royal icing stand up stars that stuck up in the top. But they did not dry fast enough. 

All the cupcakes! There are the stars in the far left that were supposed to stand atop the cupcakes. BUT, instead we had to settle for icing stars since the 3-D ones did not dry in time to deliver. 

Once we couldn't use the stars for the cupcakes I thought we would use for the cookies. I googled a faster way to dry the royal icing stars and it said to stick in a very low oven for 3-4 hours. So I stuck them in as low as possible and checked them at one hour....ummmm.....yeah....they popped like popcorn!!! Hahah! Although they tasted like burnt cotton candy not popcorn! Miss A and I had quite a few I must say!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE!!! 

Punting zebra??

This weekend I had two birthday cakes. One was Friday which was a purple passion zebra cake and Saturday was a first birthday football cake.

These are the loops for the bows and of course we have the corkers that I wrapped around wooden skewers to get their shape. 

A few of the corkers broke but I made them longer then I needed for that exact reason so it worked out just fine!

First time to do zebra stripes. There are tons of videos on you tube and I watched about 4 of them and then just went for it!! 

 A little smash cake that had a base that was a 4 inch circle and the football was a 4 inch circle whittled down to a football!

Just admiring the awe-inspiring technique of the grass!! HAHAHAHA! Let's just say my arm was super duper tired after all that grass.

A dynamic pair of a big football and little football smash cake!

Last two Christmas Bentos....

Last week got away from me....I forgot to post Miss A's Christmas bentos for Thursday and Friday. We had one rice reindeer with a babybel nose, blueberry eyes, and some mini sausage antlers. Then we have a sandwich snowman with chips and blueberries. The funny one is the sandwich snowman that has those Welch's fruit snacks for the buttons on the snowman. Miss A tried one while making lunch and she discovered she truly did not like them. Therefore she made me use saran wrap to cover her sandwich and put the fruit snacks and fruit roll up accents on top of the saran wrap!! hahaa. She is so funny!

Butter me up Santa!

Well...for those of you truly following the poem bentos from Twas the Night Before Christmas...this next sentence may disappoint you. We stopped following the poem.... I KNOW! SORRY! For one...Alexa has only a few more days before she is out for Christmas, which is what I told her. The real reason is I started to get uncomfortable with the poem. I did not realize Santa had a pipe and he was smoking it up in the poem!! hahaha. Ummmm yeah...don't remember that part of the story. Anyway....for today Miss A wanted butter noodles some of her favorite. We also had strawberries so she wanted me to add those in there somehow. My bento's are a far cry from the best and most creative out there, no doubt. But, I will say at least I utilize food that my daughter will eat and survive a lunch box with an ice pack for 5 hours. 

So we have noodles all nice,warm, and buttery in her Hello Kitty thermos. Then we have a Strawberry Santa! Adorned with a Reddi Whip bear and hat trimmings. I had some leftover icing from my Spongebob Cake so Miss A dotted his eyes and made his nose and mouth. We added a few blueberries and then added some string cheese cut like little discs. There you have it boys and girls. And remember..smoking is bad!! HAHAHAH!

Santa and Miss A!

To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!

Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,

When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,

So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,

With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.

Miss A loves her babybel cheeses. So as soon as she heard the next few lines of the poem she knew she wanted to do Santa out of babybel cheese. We used a part of the red casing for the nose and fruit roll up for the eyes. Then I showed her how to take cream cheese with a toothpick and make a beard and a little ball at the top of his hat. Then we made a house sandwich and she cut out cheese windows and a door. We added a few grapes and there you have Miss A's fabulous St. Nicholas bento!! 

Now, Dasher, now Dancer....

More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,

And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;

"Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!

On, Comet! on Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!

Happy Monday everyone. I am a bit under the weather so Miss A took the lead on this one. We focused on the reindeer of course so we made a little reindeer sandwich!! Cheese nose and eyes with black olive nose and pupils. She used pretzels for the reindeer antlers. She added some baked chips (she ate half for breakfast) added some oranges and cheerios!! Go Miss A Go!!!

Who lives in a pineapple under the sea.....

Well this weekend was a fun weekend indeed!!! I had the pleasure of making a 1st birthday cake for a handsome little boy!! It was a Spongebob Cake! Again I like to use buttercream and smooth it with a Viva paper towel. The fondant is all the accent/decorative pieces only.

So here we have the pineapple! I used 2-8inch rounds for the bottom layer.  The pineapple I used the Pampered Chef medium batter bowl!!! It is glass and can be in the oven at 325 degrees! Worked great! It did get a little too brown for my taste along the top edge but at least it was cooked all the way through!!

Here we have the Mini-Bob smash cake!!! The Spongebob was a candle and I honestly did not calculate his size for Big Bob so we just put him to the side! A one year old doesn't really blow a candle out anyway! The fondant "1" is too far to the left...drats...oh well. I actually used a 4inch cheesecake pan and the pineapple is the glass Pampered Chef prep bowl!! 

For some reason the seaweed and nautical life safer are my favorite!! I used floral wire and bent it to curve into the cake!! I also posted this pic because oopsies are always a part of baking I have learned. One of the octopus legs came off!! Oh well...just smush it and stick it where it belongs and hope no one notices!! haha!

Here we have Big Bog and Mini-Bob side by side! Totally a fun cake to make!! Thanks to my fabulous neighbor for taking a chance on this novice baker!!! 

Miniature sleigh, minus the tiny reindeer...oh well.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow

Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,

But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,

I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.

Well this morning was a little rough...my hubby was out for a sleep study (boy does that boy snore!) last night so this morning it was me, myself, and I for the morning routine. It was also trash day which just really puts a wrench in an already trying morning! So we kept it pretty simple this morning. As the poem goes the moon is represented by cheerios, per Miss A's direction. We have the miniature sleigh ham sandwich adorned with a swirly adornment made out of cheese! Miss A was hoping for the 8 tiny reindeer....when she asked I gave her the "look" and she said a sleigh was just dandy! hahaha! Gotta love her! I just realized I was talking about "this morning" but it is already Saturday 12:22am. I have been working on some princess chocolate mold party favors for a friend and also a fabulous little boys 1st birthday cake for tomorrow...I mean today! So...off to bed, ok not really. If you haven't figured it out yet....I don't sleep much! Can't wait to show you pics of the cake I am finishing up. Have a great weekend everyone!

Mamma in her kerchief...and I in my cap!

And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,

Had just settled down for a long winter's nap,

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,

I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.

Away to the window I flew like a flash,

Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

To continue our "Twas the Night Before Christmas" bento series we pick up with mamma and pappa in their bed. For Pappa we have a sandwich with provolone cheese eyes and cap with a fruit roll up ball on the end. For mamma we have a babybel cheese with her shower cap looking kerchief made out of the babybel. Miss A said the chips are like pillows. hee hee. Then we have some corn...because...well we need a veggie. Then we have a window sitting atop some apples. There you go! 

The children were nestled...

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,

While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;

So as we continue on our Twas the Night Before Christmas bento journey we had fun with this particular part of the poem! We have the hot dog children with cheese hair and mouths along with grape skin eyes all nestled in a loaf of bread bed! We put the rest of the hot dog at the top on a fun little pick. We have some green beans and for the sugar plums we added grapes dipped in sugar on one side on a neat leaf pick! She ate everything but a piece of bread and 3 green beans!!! It was definitely a hit!

Twas the night....

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

Well here we go...we are going to try the poem and try to match the bentos...we may not make it because she is out for 2 weeks!! haha. So here we have pizza cut into the strips to make look like a fireplace. Cheese stockings and a fire in the fire place. A baby bel cheese mouse, green beans and some apples slices!! 

So we have a

The Santa red myth....

Where have we been you ask? Well...Miss A has had a crazy schedule. Her Christmas program for school is this week and things have been just a little discombobulated. So apologies for that. But we are back and challenging the Santa wears red all the time question. When he goes night night Miss A believes he has a different wardrobe just for sleeping. And not always red!!! So we have some mash potatoes for his beard and mustache. A turkey face with black olive eyes and an apple mouth. We have a cheese sleep hat with a mashed potato ball, and some rice as filler. He see's you when he's sleeping...

My first "sort of" wedding cake!

This weekend I had the pleasure to make a cake for a new family who moved in across the street. Their realtor in our neighborhood who is not only beautiful, sweet, she truly is a completely thoughtful person. The couple who moved in recently got married but did not have a wedding cake and their honeymoon was moving to Prosper!! So their realtor decided to have a little wedding cake available for them when they closed on their house and moved in. I had to deliver it and they absolutely loved it! The lady of the house said she has never had such a beautiful cake in her whole life. That made me feel pretty darn great!!!

Here is the 3 tier finished product....

I used a Christmas ornament for their initial topper so they could use as an ornament on their Christmas tree.

I used shimmer powder on the magnolias which made a beautiful subtle touch, but hard to see in the pics. 

Snail away....

For dinner we had these new Pillsbury crescent rounds. Super yummy and Miss A said they looked exactly like a snail! So we saved one for her lunch. We have a hot dog and crescent round snail next to a green bean and bow tie pasta tree. We have some grapes for filler and the extra pieces of the hot dog along the bottom!!! Miss A did mention that the tree looked kind of sad but she would fix it at lunch...that kid kills me!! haha

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Well....after a week off of school for Miss A we are back! Thanksgiving is over we had many many things to be thankful for. Christmas has been in full swing for almost a month now in all the stores, and finally this weekend we got into the Christmas spirit and decorated most of our house. For Miss A's bento we also tried to get into the Christmas spirit. We used some of our left over fried rice and did a turkey Christmas tree with peas and carrot decorations! We added a cheese star on top and she wanted some popcorn in there as well. She told me the tree was unrecognizable at lunch but she turned it into something fabulous as she always does!! haha.

Yeah...not the most creative Christmas tree...definitely not the best lighting. Not to make any excuses but we woke up late and Mighty Max is eating solids now so it put a major cramp in our morning routine! ha ha! But he sure is cute! 

This is the fireplace. Just need to get our stockings embroidered.... :)

We had to go for tall and skinny tree instead of wide and squatty...I must say I kind of like it!!

This sadly is all the other crap that has not quite found a home....still have the kitchen, kids game room, and most importantly my Department 56 Snow Villages!! Miss A is super excited!

Make it a great week....see you tomorrow!! 

REDO!!! Chocolate Pumpkins and Sweet Potato Cookies

Well just a quick recap. I added a few more accents to the chocolate mini pumpkins. I also did the second batch of sweet potato cookies. These came out MUCH better and definitely the right shape!!! Have a great turkey day everyone!!!

Chocolate & Pumpkin Mini Bundt Pumpkin Shaped Cakes

Yeah...that is a long title. Hopefully it makes sense. Soooo not exactly the way I wanted them to turn out. I should have put orange food coloring in the glaze so it would be pumpkin orange instead of white. BUT, my daddy-o is a diabetic, cancer survivor, and has a whole list of other health related concerns. So keeping things as simple as possible is always best. The less preservatives or additives the better! The stem and leaves I made out of fondant. They kind of look like apples, because I did not have teardrop leaf cutter. Well..you live and you learn. I must say the cake still tastes scrumptious!! It was just a chocolate cake mix and a can of pumpkin to replace the oil!

Sweet Potato Pie Cookies

Mmmmmm sweet potato pie makes me so happy I could cry!!! 

Sweet potato pie COOKIES make mes crazy happy kooky!! 

My hubby Hungry Hank was watching the food network and came across this little gem of a recipe!

Here are the pictures of our cookies...I could have done a nicer job on the glaze application but it was 2:30am in the morning and this was one of 4 projects. 1) slow cooker tequila cilantro lime chicken 2) chocolate pumpkin mini pumpkins 3) fondant stems and leaves for mini pumpkins 4) preparing to freeze the 14 pureed sweet potato servings. 

We may need to make these again tonight because they are flying off the plate pretty darn quick!!!!

Sweet Potato Pie Cookies with Orange Glaze

Recipe courtesy The Neelys

Prep Time:

25 min

Inactive Prep Time:

1 hr 0 min

Cook Time:

18 min

Level:

Easy

Serves:

24 to 36 cookies

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) salted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1 egg, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup sweet potato puree
• 1 cup chopped pecans

Orange Glaze:

• 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and adjust racks to the middle position. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, nutmeg, and salt.

Using a hand held mixer cream together the butter, granulated sugar and the brown sugar until light and fluffy and the volume has increased. Add the egg and the vanilla and mix until incorporated. Stir in the sweet potato puree and blend until smooth. Beat in the dry ingredients in increments and combine well. Stir in the pecans.

Drop by heaping tablespoons onto the prepared cookie sheets, leaving about 2 inches of space between each cookie. Bake until the cookies are lightly golden around the edges and they spring back from the touch, about 18 minutes. Let cool completely on the cookie sheets before glazing.

For the glaze:

Combine the confectioners' sugar, orange juice, and vanilla in a small bowl and stir until smooth. Drizzle over the cookies and let harden for 1 hour before serving.

Cook's Note: If you need to thin the glaze, add more orange juice. If you need to thicken it, add more confectioners' sugar.

 Copyright 2011 Television Food Network G.P.
All Rights Reserved

Where there is birthday there is cake!!!

Miss A of course is a product of her environment so my little baking hobby obviously affects her. If someone has a birthday she feels the impulse to bake something special for them! One of her amazing teachers was having a bday and she really wanted to make her cupcakes. So we made flower cupcakes with butterflies on top! Miss A took a butterfly cutter and cut out all the butterflies out of fondant. I took a piece of cardstock and fanned it like the letter M. After the butterflies were cut out Miss A placed them in the valley area of the cardstock to allow the butterflies to dry with their wings at an angle. Then after they were dried Miss A brushed pearl edible dust and make them sparkly! I wanted to make the icing on the cupcakes different so I learned a new technique on you tube!!! haha. Using a petal tip I learned on how to make the icing look like a flower. Not perfect but practice makes perfect!

Thankful Bento #6

Well only two more bento's for Miss A before she is out next week for Thanksgiving. When we picked up her little brother Mighty Max at the babysitter's house Miss A saw a single yellow rose in her front yard. She thought it was so beautiful! So when she woke up this morning she said she was thankful for the beautiful flowers God creates like the yellow rose. So for today we have a ham rose with a green bean stem and carrot petals. Then we have a mandarin flower with lima bean stem and carrot petal. Then we added some grapes to fill in the empty spaces. She is such a sweetie!!!