Snicker Doodles aren't just cookies anymore!!

My husband and son are cinnamon addicts.  They go absolutely crazy for anything with cinnamon in it.  In stark contrast, my husband does not like things too sweet.  What a dilemma for someone who wants to pursue baking!  I wanted to surprise them with a cupcake packed with cinnamon, and I found this recipe on Pinterest.  Let me just tell you, they did not last more than 2 hours in my house!  My husband told me I could make these often if I wanted.  

Cinnamon is not my favorite, but I tried one of these cupcakes anyway.  Oh my…it was good. Considering you put cinnamon in the cupcake batter, brush the still warm cupcake with melted butter and dunk it into sugar and cinnamon and THEN put cinnamon in the frosting..I thought it would be cinnamon overkill.  However, it was quite the contrary.  The cake was moist and the flavor subtle.  

You can find the recipe here

I guess I’m going to have to put this in the regular rotation….only I might just have to double the recipe so they last the day!

Chocolate, caramel and peanut butter...a perfect blend

What could be better than chocolate, caramel and peanut butter?  To me, not much. I have a particular fondness for all things peanut butter.  A very dear friend has the same affection for caramel. When deciding what to bake for her birthday, I stumbled upon makingitwithdanielle.com, and there it was.....Snickers cupcakes!

They were a bit labor-intensive, but to say they were worth it would be an understatement!  Oh my goodness, I got so many compliments.  Inside the cupcake is a caramel filling.  The frosting is peanut butter.  Drizzle more caramel over that and top with chocolate shavings.

Here is the recipe from makingitwithdanielle.com...
http://makingitwithdanielle.com/2012/08/13/snickers-cupcakes/

Whoopie Pies...the real deal

I am from, and currently live in, Central Pennsylvania.  It's an area steeped in German culture.  We have families of Amish and Mennonite living near by.  Admittedly, I am attached to my cell phone and iPad, but something about that plain culture intrigues me.  Maybe it's the sense of community or maybe it's just the fat and sugar-laden treats.

There seems to be somewhat of a discrepancy as to where whoopie pies originate.  Are they from the Amish in Central PA or from the New England states?  Being that I am here, I'm going to go with the Amish.

As I stated in a previous post, my mother's Pennsylvania State Grange Hall cookbook (from 1972) LEAPED into my things as I was moving into my own apartment.  I always meant to replace it, but I could never find another copy.  This poor cookbook is so beat up and worn out, it's not even funny.  However, it has the BEST recipes for my kind of baking.

I recently baked for a fundraiser for my son's percussion ensemble, Phoenix Percussion.  The fundraiser was for miscellaneous holiday favorites.  I went looking for a whoopie pie recipe and found this.  This one is so "legit" it calls for LARD!  For those of you who may not know what lard is, here is Google's definition...pig fat in both its rendered and unrendered forms.  Lard is not something I have readily on hand, so I substituted shortening.  To make it super simple, I used the Criso sticks.  

Here's the recipe:

1 cup shortening (or lard if you prefer)
2 cups sugar
2 egg yolks
2 whole eggs
1 cup cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 cups flour
2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup sour milk
1 cup hot water
2 teaspoon baking soda

Mix the first four (4) ingredients.  Add dry ingredients and liquid.  Drop by spoonful on cookie sheet.  Bake at 450 degrees F for 5 minutes.



The original filling recipe called for egg whites.  I did not see a mechanism for cooking those at all, so that scared me a bit.  I found another filling recipe, this time for gobs.  My husband, being from western PA, like this better anyway.  

1 cup shortening
1 box powdered sugar
4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons vanilla

Beat all ingredients until light and fluffy.  Spread filling on bottom of one cookie and place another on top.  

YIELD:  2-1/2 dozen

Gingerbread cookies

When people think about the holidays, they think about gingerbread cookies and houses, egg nog, peppermint bark and shopping 'til you drop.  That's most people.  Me?  I think of peanut butter fudge, but I have an somewhat obsessive relationship with peanut butter.  I HAVE to have it.

Anyway, I digress.  Since not everyone shares my opinion on the peanut butter thing, I have to satisfy the cravings of my family for the normal holiday faire.  My dear husband does not have a particularly sweet tooth (seems almost unnatural doesn't it?), so I decided to start with gingerbread cookies.  

I shopped for recipes and stumbled across this one from Glorious Treats.  I went to work making the dough and boy, about that dough.  There's a ton of it....and it's thick.  My poor KitchenAid was begging for mercy.  It was all worth it in the end though.  To say there were a lot of cookies would be an understatement.  

The first thing I noticed was the aroma coming from the oven.  It was heavenly.  I decided to try one, and I was glad I did.  I might just be tempted to come to the "normal" side of holiday treats!  They were fantastic.  You control whether or not the cookies are crispy or soft by the thickness of the dough.  

A note about the frosting...the first time I made the frosting, I added too much water and the frosting was way too thin.  It slid right off the cookies.  The second time around, I added a bit of clear corn syrup (because the powdered sugar just isn't sweet enough), and that seemed to do the trick.  

My husband was drawn to the kitchen by the aforementioned heavenly smell of these cookies baking.  He found me decorating these.  He is a very artistic person, so I think his interest was piqued.  He asked me if he could help decorate them.  Against my better judgment, I agreed.  I gave him the piping bag and he went to work.  Within 5 seconds, I see frosting spewing from his hand like lava from a volcano.  He looked at me like I was going to beat him.  That man and his Kung Fu grip, I tell ya'.  We had a good laugh about it, and it's something that we will remember every time gingerbread cookies are made.

My little monkey.....cake

Even before my grandson was born, his world was covered in monkeys.  Monkeys on the onesies, monkeys on the bibs, stuffed monkeys and monkeys on the crib sheets.  It only seemed fitting that when his first birthday rolled around that his smash cake would have a monkey.  The only problem with that logic is that Mimi (that's me...to the little ones) didn't know how to make a monkey from fondant.

My answer to my 18-year-old son when he asks me about something is "Google it."  Now faced with my own dilemma, I decided to take me own advice.  I sat down and googled "how to make a fondant monkey."  To my surprise, up popped some YouTube videos!  That's all fine and good, I thought to myself, but can I really get mine to look like the one in the video?  Well, here's the finished product.  Aside from the face looking a little like a cow-monkey combination, I thought it looked close.

The day came for my grandson's birthday.  My daughter and son-in-law took their places in front of him and waited for him to dig into the cake.  NOPE!  This boy proceeded to pick the blue and green circles very carefully and delicately off the cake and eat them.  I have never found fondant to be especially appetizing, but hey, to each his own right?  He giggled and giggled about the monkey and tried to eat him too.  My daughter had enough of this, so she put his hand in the cake and tried to show him how to smash it.  He still was having no part of this, so it was decided to just break off a piece of the cake and let him taste that.

Am I the only one who thinks it's hysterical when 2 adults are outsmarted by a 1-year-old?

Doc McStuffins cake for 5th birthday

Each year, my granddaughter asks me to make her birthday cake.  This year's request was for a Doc McStuffins cake.  It has been quite a long time since I have watched television for the little ones.  I had no idea what a Doc McStuffins was.  I did some research and found out some details.  It's a really cute show!

Something you should know about my granddaughter is she just turned 5, but inside this girl is trapped a 25 year-old woman.  Nothing gets past this child.  Last year, she asked for Disney Princesses for her birthday.  I made her a small cake with a tiara and then made cupcakes in all the colors of the princesses gowns.  I then added some coarse sugar to make them sparkle.  Well, long story short, she was thrilled with her cake and her cupcakes, but then told me how I missed a princess in the cupcakes.  Apparently, there is a princess from the movie Tangled that I did not know about.

Anyway, I'm getting off track.  I did feel a bit of pressure as I started to put the pieces together for this cake.  I am completely self taught, so the thought of making figures for the cake made me quiver.  There are things I would do differently in hind sight; but overall, I am pretty proud of this cake.

The bottom and middle tiers are 3 layers each alternating white cake and chocolate cake.  Cheater alert:  I used box cakes.  They were on sale at the grocery store, and I add thing to them to boost them up a bit.  The top layer, the medical bag, is a total of 4 layers...all vanilla dyed to be purple and pink.

Peanut butter fudge

I am pretty much in love with all things peanut butter.  However, good peanut butter fudge is hard to find.  I do not like my fudge to taste more like marshmallow or sugar than peanut butter.  I volunteered to bake some goodies for a fundraiser to benefit my son's indoor percussion unit and I wanted to include peanut butter fudge.  I found lots of recipes with the marshmallow fluff, creme, etc. in it.  I was getting a little discouraged when Pinterest pulled through again.  Thank you, Shop Girl!

I liked the fact that I did not need a science degree to make this fudge.  No stirring constantly for 3 minutes and 24.6 seconds exactly.  It could not have been easier.  

I could barely contain myself long enough for the fudge to set.  When I could no longer stand the wait, I cut into the fudge and sampled a piece.  I was literally weak in the knees.  So smooth, so peanut buttery, so fudgy.  I cannot wait to make more!

Here's the recipe (from Shop Girl):

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup milk

2 1/4 cups brown sugar

3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Optional: add chopped unsalted peanuts for extra crunch

DIRECTIONS:

First, measure out all your ingredients, because you will need to have them on hand, as the fudge comes together pretty quickly. Place the confectioners' sugar in your electric mixer bowl. Then, in a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat, making sure that it doesn't burn. Once the butter has melted, add in the milk and brown sugar and whisk until you have a smooth mixture. Constantly whisking, bring it to a boil, then cook for another two minutes, continuing to whisk. Remove from heat, and add in the peanut butter and vanilla extract and stir until you have a thick, creamy sauce. Pour it into your electric mixer with the confectioners' sugar, and mix until completely smooth and creamy. Pour into an 8x8 inch pan (line the pan with parchment paper) and let chill until the fudge is firm, then cut it into small pieces using a sharp knife. (*Note: I cut the recipe in half and made a smaller batch, and it was still a lot of fudge!)

Chocolate Chip Cookies as good as grandma made...or close to it.

My love of baking comes from my grandmother.  She was your stereotypical housewife.  They believed in living a simple life.  They had no television, and she would wash the clothes in an old wringer machine.  The clothes would then be hung on the line to dry, winter or summer.  She ironed everything, from my grandfather's cloth hankies to sheets, everything got ironed.  

I stayed with my grandmother while my parents worked, so we spent a lot of time together.  Once a week she would say "time to make the chocolate chip cookies" and she would get to work.  I can still see her as she would measure the ingredients and mix up the batter.  She used the "2 spoon" method to drop the batter onto the cookie sheet.  I can remember how the cookies smelled as they came out of the oven.  

My grandmother has been gone for 9 years now; but she was not able to bake for quite some time before she passed.  When she passed, my step-mother got some of her recipes.  She has been trying to replicate the chocolate chip cookies, among other things, with little success.  My father and uncle say "Nope, it's close but not like Mom used to make."  

Well...when I was leaving home many, many years ago to get married, I noticed that my mother's Grange Hall cookbook jumped into one of my moving boxes (honest, it did that all by itself!).  Over the years, I have been perusing through the pages of this cookbook.  I found this chocolate chip cookie recipe.  The ingredients sounded similar to what I remember from all those years ago with my grandmother.  I decided to give it a go.  I'm so glad I did!  These cookies taste just like hers did.  Whenever I make these, I think of her and the many things she taught me all those years ago.  I miss her, and what I would not give to have her back just for a little while to give me more tips and pointers along the way.

Here is the chocolate chip cookie recipe:

ingredients:

1/2 cup soft shortening (I use stick margarine)

3/4 cup sugar (half brown sugar/half granulated)

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1-1/8 cup flour (measure before sifting)

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup nuts (optional)

1 small package of chocolate chips

Mix together the shortening, sugar, egg and vanilla.  (I used my KitchenAid and let it go for about 5 minutes).  Stir in the sifted dry ingredients and add nuts and chips.  Drop by teaspoons 2 inches apart on a lightly greased cookie sheet.  Bake at 375 degrees for 8 minutes.  Yield: 2 dozen