Girls Night Out

I knew I couldn't go until after our trip without making some sugar cookies.

Did anyone have bets on me?

I made these girly cookies for a special group of ladies. I hope they enjoy them!

I must admit they are not my favorite cookies that I've made. I wasn't copying any designs and more "winging" it. That was my problem. I needed to borrow some ideas from someone!
Nothing says ladies like strawberries and margarita's!

Was trying to be a bit creative and make some cookies that looked like lipstick. Not too pleased with how they turned out and not sure you would know what they were if I didn't tell you. But hey, have to try, right?


Happy Baking.
I do have some cookies planned for next week :)
Another special occasion that I just couldn't miss making cookies for.

Jen

Thank you teachers!

The end of the school year is here for Trevor. Wow....did that go by fast or what? He has loved being in Pre-K with a wonderful teacher, Mrs. Binder. And now, drum roll please....we are going to be off to Kindergarten in the fall. I can't believe it, can you? To thank the teachers in Trevor's classroom I of course decided to make some cookies. They have 5 different teachers that all have 12 kids in their group. While Trevor only has one teacher, those other teachers have certainly spent time with him this year and gotten to know him to. So I couldn't forget them.

Strawberries to thank the teachers BERRY
much for all they have done for us this year. I'm glad I have my new cookie tips that are small so that I could make the details on my little worms on the apples! Tedious let me tell you! I got the idea for the little worm from Sweet Celebrate. My happy face apples.This idea came from one of the first blogs I even looked at Bake at 350. She is wonderful and has so many neat ideas and beautiful cookies too. My inspiration from this was my favorite baker friend, Amalia Standard. She is FABULOUS and the best decorator I know. (not to mention wonderful at everything she does - mom, friend, wife, etc). She has a great blog that you should check out. Cookie Construction. Everything she does is amazing. She recently made the cookies below and I had to try them because I thought the idea was so neat. These bees are made out of a circle and a heart cookie cutter put together. Pretty clever, right? I made a few different sizes and had fun making something outside the box! Amalia was inspired by another blog for these...Flour and Sugar Thoughts.

Have to thank our teaches a BZZZZZillion times for all the thing they do for us during the year. Teachers are so very important in this world and Trevor really had some wonderful ones! These flower pot cookies were an idea I got from The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle. She had another great idea. See the Frosty cookie cutter? Well, turn it upside down and it becomes a flower in a pot! How neat is that? It requires some free hand decorating which I definitely need more practice at, but these were fun to make.
I added some tiny ladybugs to the pots for fun too. Here's the whole assortment of cookies for the teachers.
Here's Trevor carrying the baskets that I put the cookies in. He was so happy to help deliver these! I found the cute little baskets at the dollar store and thought they were neat....that place has some of the best things if you ever stop in there! Thanks teachers! You've brought Trevor a long way - he can write his name, knows his alphabets, numbers, colors....that's my boy!!! And here's to a fun summer session at Brookridge Day School for him. HAPPY BAKING.

Homemade Angel Food Cake and Oreo Truffles

Hello there!!!
I decided this past week when I was looking at dessert options that I wanted to make something with Angel Food Cake for company. I used a Martha Stewart recipe HERE But, I couldn't just buy the angel food cake...I wanted to make my own! The recipes looked simple enough. That's funny to me now! Because I ended up making it 2 times - with 12 egg whites in each, that's a lot of eggs! Opps! My first attempt I didn't want to have to buy a special pan to make the cake in and was thinking I needed to cut it into squares in the first place so let's just use a rectangular glass pan I have. That plan was fine I guess. What really went wrong was making it - I never got the stiff peaks I was supposed to get according to the recipe and the UTube I watched on angel food cake. I even put it in the mix master and mixed for about 20 minutes when it should have taken two!!! I finally gave up and cooked it. Really not bad, but not what I was going for as you can see with the picture below.

Attempt number 2....not sure the difference, but I was able to whip the ingredients just like supposed to. This time not almost killing my mix master and getting the peaks like I should have the first time. I was quite proud!



And I used the correct pan - an angel food pan that I got at Michael's with my 40% off coupon. Of course you always have to have one of those handy if you are into baking. Saves you most of the time! The ironic thing is though - I was in the grocery store just before stopping at Michael's and saw the exact same thing. With my coupon, in the end I only saved $2 from the grocery store. Wondering if the extra trip was even worth the $2!!!!

This time it turned out pretty good. BUT I already know something for the next time. (I'm determined to perfect this recipe for some reason). I'm not going to follow the recipes directions when it says put in UNGREASED pan. Why do I trust that? Has that ever worked for anyone? If I had put pam and parchment paper down like my instincts wanted I wouldn't have had the crumbles getting it out like I did.



I decided to make 2 totally different desserts since I had both angel food cakes. The first angel food cake attempt that wasn't the greatest...I made a caramel sauce to go on top. This was an adventure in itself for me to make. The recipe said mix until reaches a soft-ball stage for 234 degrees....hm.. I didn't have a candy thermometer and wasn't really sure what the soft-ball stage meant. I had made a double batch of this just in case the recipe didn't make enough. So my pan I was mixing in wasn't quite big enough. It took a few times of boiling over and the smoke detector to go off for me finally to transfer the sauce to a big enough pan. It was a nice mess to clean up let me tell you that! Hard caramel sauce that had burned on the stove. Fun! The picture doesn't look that pretty below. I agree...but the taste was pretty good. Next time I wouldn't chill it though. It had been in the refrigerator like the recipe said and this made it too stiff. But the flavor of the caramel sauce was tasty! This is the Link to the recipe from Allrecipes.com - a website I use a lot. I didn't drizzle like they did and didn't put the cream cheese middle in...probably would have been much better if I did - my goal really was just to try the sauce!
The strawberry Angel Dessert was the BEST by far. This was the 2nd attempt angel food cake which came out great. This tasted really yummy. It was made with gelatin, strawberries and whipped cream. You mix those all together and then toss in the angel food cake to coat it. Light and fluffy cake just like it is supposed to taste like too! This was a winner recipe.
Last but not least. Oreo Truffle Balls. Which are to die for! I got this recipe from a good friend at work and they are always a hit. And very easy to make! I have also seen this recipe on a blog - here's the recipe from Spirals and Spatulas.
As you can see I was busy baking this weekend and having a good time doing it all!!!!