Fiona wanted hearts on her cupcakes…
May 7, 2012 Food, Posted From My Phone
I might have gone overboard. But I think she’ll like them, and so will her classmates.
This is so easy to do, by the way. I piped melted dipping chocolate onto waxed paper, let it dry for about twenty minutes, then carefully peeled the hearts off and stuck them into the frosting.
I’ve even piped cursive words to place on cakes. As long as you’re very careful when peeling them from the paper, they’ll hold their shape. Plus, you can keep trying on the waxed paper until you get it right, instead of messing up your cake trying to draw with frosting.
So cute, so simple, so many different shape possibilities!
Originally posted on Selfish Mom, from Amy’s cell phone (so please excuse any weird formatting). All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 0. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
Cake Pop Stands from KC Bakes
Feb 28, 2012 Product Review
I’ve been making cake pops for a few months now. They’re fun, easy, and incredibly delicious (and a nice morning treat with my current “dessert with breakfast” diet). But the one thing that bugged me about the whole process was the Styrofoam blocks I was going through. I tried wrapping them in packing tape and poking holes through with a sharp pencil so that they wouldn’t fall apart so easily. I tried buying the denser blocks used to make “fake” wedding cakes. I even tried making the cake pops upside-down, which gives them ugly, flat tops.
Then I found the pretty, practical, affordable cake pop stands by KC Bakes. I purchased three of them at a discount, with a promise of a write-up if I found them useful. And oh my yes, I do. So does my number-one cake pop helper.
First of all, they’re infinitely reusable, as opposed to Styrofoam, which breaks down rather quickly with all of that poking and wiping. If you’ve been using Styrofoam, these stands will pay for themselves after not that long.
The holes are the perfect size for regular sucker sticks. They’re well spaced so that you have access to each cake pop. They come in a variety of sizes and colors.
These stands clean up easily. If you drizzle chocolate on them you just wait for it to dry, and it lifts right off cleanly with the help of a fingernail. If you drip chocolate into one of the holes, it can be picked out easily with a toothpick. This was the biggest improvement over my Styrofoam blocks: those were nearly impossible to clean.
The “skinny mini” six-hole size is also perfect for gift giving, at $15. If I’d had my act together I would’ve bought a half dozen of the small ones and given them to teachers for Christmas, filled with cake pops, of course. End of the school year, perhaps.
If you’re a cake pop maker – or want to be – I’d definitely recommend these stands. They’ll make it so much easier to produce pretty, professional-looking cake pops. Your friends and family won’t believe you didn’t buy them from a bakery.
Plus, I can’t wait until my next party: the centerpiece of the buffet table will definitely be a gorgeous display of cake pops!
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 1. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
Christmas cookie Tree centerpiece
Dec 25, 2011 Cooking & Baking
A couple weeks ago I saw this video of Gail Dosik, of One Tough Cookie, making a Christmas tree out of cookies. I was totally inspired.
I immediately started searching Amazon for graduated cookie cutters and found a set of star-shaped ones from Wilton. I never make a holiday centerpiece. If we have one, it’s because Fiona took it upon herself to make one. So I decided that this year, our centerpiece would be a Christmas cookie tree!
I’m rather glad that I couldn’t find the kind of cutters that Gail used because her tree requires a kind of precision that I just don’t have. Maybe next time. If I take a Valium first.
Last night I made a massive amount of roll-out cookie dough, and this morning made the cookies. At first it seemed like the cookies would take forever, but once I got past the two biggest stars it went a lot faster.
I used Gail’s method for rolling out the dough. Before discovering her secret, I rarely made cut-out cookies because they always looked fairly terrible and tasted even worse, due to all the extra flour I’d have to use to keep them from sticking. But trust me, her method is genius. You’re crazy if you don’t use it.
I’ve never used icing on cookies, so I decided to give it a try. I wanted to outline the cookies in frosting then pour the icing on very thin and let it spread, but I just couldn’t get it thin enough. The recipe I was using said to just keep adding light corn syrup until it was the right consistency but I started getting afraid that it would taste funny. So I spread the frosting to the edges as best I could.
Assembly was really easy, since it didn’t have to be exact. I just had to check every few cookies and make sure the tree wasn’t lopsided.
You can see that some of the frosting near the top gushed out and dripped down. I decided that those looked like icicles and weren’t a mistake. :-)
I sprinkled the whole thing with silver-colored sugar, although I think it would have looked better if I’d done that before stacking the cookies.
I’m quite proud of myself, but this design left a lot of room for error. I’d like to try another one that’s not so haphazard. I think it may be time for some private lessons with Gail. :-)
I made way too much dough, so I let Fiona make some cookies (I think The Ass ate about half of them).
When she got tired of it I made some to share with the choir at Christmas Eve service.
And I still have about a third of the dough left. I might try making some smaller trees with it tomorrow – just the top five or six layers. Maybe I’ll make a whole cookie forest! And populate it with little gingerbread men! And the men will need a house…
I think this is the most relaxing Christmas Eve I’ve ever had. The presents were all wrapped days ago, and I did nothing today but bake.
I hope you all have a nice Christmas, filled with cookies and gifts and family. And if you don’t celebrate Christmas, well, at least your kids will let you sleep in tomorrow.
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 0. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
I think @TheToughCookie would be proud!
Dec 24, 2011 Posted From My Phone
I’ll put up a how-to post later, along with the video from Gail Dosik that inspired this cookie tree. But for now I have to jump in the shower to get to Christmas Eve service for choir!
Originally posted on Selfish Mom, from Amy’s cell phone (so please excuse any weird formatting). All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 0. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
Dessert with Friends, or how I get people to like me
Dec 15, 2011 Paid/Sponsored Post
Thanks to Duncan Hines for sponsoring my writing. There’s no limit to the baking possibilities, so grab your favorite Duncan Hines mix and Comstock or Wilderness fruit fillings and Bake On! www.duncanhines.com.
***
My mom is a baker. She never goes anywhere without bringing bread, cookies, a cake, something. I’m so glad I inherited this habit from her. I love showing up at gatherings with baked goods!
I have nothing against anyone who doesn’t bake. In fact, the fewer people who like baking, the better, because that makes me look good by comparison. But I really do like being the one who can make people happy with something I made. I went to a recording session yesterday for the Blogging Angels, and I brought my latest obsession, cake pops (a really fun treat to make with kids, by the way). Nancy gave hers to her kids and they looked so good, her daughter didn’t believe I’d baked them!
After my friend Jennifer’s husband died, I asked her what I could do. And she told me to make her some brownies. I was so touched, especially because she’s a food writer! She can bake circles around me. But she wanted my brownies to help her feel better. Actually, it was on a Blogging Angels podcast, where Jennifer was the guest, that I revealed to our listeners that my famous brownies, the ones I bring to every bake sale, the ones my kids beg me for, the very ones that Jennifer requested, were from a Duncan Hines brownie mix.
That’s why I wanted to be part of this campaign, to spread the word that homemade does not have to equal difficult, or time consuming, or expensive. I’m busy, and knowing that I can get a pan of brownies into the oven in five minutes, with just one bowl to clean up, means that more of my friends get to enjoy my baked goods.
Around the holidays I have even more fun because Christmas is a great excuse to experiment with packaging – pretty boxes and bags, or mason jars filled with sweets and decorated with a bow.
And no, I don’t bake so that I can get people to like me. But I hope it makes the people who already like me, like me even more. :-)
Want to make those chewy, fudgy brownies I mentioned? They’re really easy. Bring these the next time you’re meeting friends and there won’t be a crumb left.
I want to stress that this isn’t my recipe. I’m almost positive I got it off of the back of a Duncan Hines box about a decade ago.
Thick and Fudgy Duncan Hines Brownies
Ingredients:
- 2 family-sized Duncan Hines Chewy Fudge Brownie mixes
- 3 eggs
- 3/4 cup water
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees and prepare a 13”x9” metal pan by greasing the bottom only
- With a spoon (not an electric mixer) mix together all of the ingredients, except for the chocolate chips
- When the batter is well mixed, add the chocolate chips and blend
- Pour into prepared pan and spread evenly
- Bake for 55 minutes, or until center is set but not dry (if you jiggle the pan, nothing should move)
- Cool completely before cutting
Or, if you like to watch me stir things, you can watch a video I made of how to make these brownies. It’s not rocket science – you don’t need video instruction to make these – but I like pretending that I have my own cooking show.
Remember to check out Duncan Hines’ website www.duncanhines.com to find some great recipes for your holiday get-together! I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective.
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 13. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
Tags: baking, brownies, Cake Pops, Duncan Hines
Today’s Agenda: not eating doughnuts edition
Dec 8, 2011 Today's Agenda
So I’d completely planned on today being a normal Slim-Fast day. Yes, I’d gotten a Babycakes doughnut maker in my gift bag at yesterday’s BJ’s holiday shopping event, but I figured I’d try it out this weekend (I’ve fallen into taking Slim-Fast breaks on weekends – it works as long as those are the only breaks).
However, when I came down to get the kids’ breakfasts and lunches together this morning, it was sitting on the counter, staring at me, saying “Open me – you know you want to!” So I did. And OMG they were good. And easy. The kids loved them. (Of course if my husband is reading this I’m going to get a lot of crap for making them doughnuts for breakfast; I’ll try to distract him with a full sock drawer and clean bathrooms.)
I only made one little batch of doughnut batter, but there are still eight or nine mini doughnuts left. I know I should just throw them down the garbage disposal, but that’s such a waste!
So aside from trying to avoid the doughnuts, I’ll be writing today. Lots of writing. And laundry. And hopefully posting the things I wanted to work on yesterday and never got around to.
Also, today is day 6 of ONE’s 12 Days of Change campaign. Yesterday’s Day 5 post was by Emily McKhann of The Motherhood (who recently went to Africa with ONE!), and today’s action is being announced by Ellen Seidman of Love That Max. I won’t give away what today’s action is, but I will say that I did mine already, and it was fun!
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 1 (Babycakes Doughnut Maker). Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
Today’s Agenda: Wet baked goods edition
Dec 7, 2011 Today's Agenda
So yesterday I made a double batch of cake pops (about five dozen) and a quadruple batch of brownies, and packed them up ready to take to the school this morning. In retrospect, with that many cake pops, I probably should have made them upside-down on purpose – flattened the top, so that they would be more stable on a tray for transport. I had to drive them in because it’s raining here in Brooklyn, and they slid around quite a bit in the car, and by the time I got to the school four or five had cracked. Not a big deal, but still annoying after making them look so pretty.
Hopefully that won’t happen again though. Last night I ordered several wooden cake pop stands, and they should be here in a few weeks!
Also, if you haven’t been following along with ONE’s 12 Days of Change campaign, you should catch up (it’s why I was making the baked goods for the school). Today is day five. The four posts that have gone up already are:
These are “actions” that you can take each day for twelve days to help ONE.org further their goals of helping people. And you’ll feel good about doing something that doesn’t involve writing a check.
After I hit “publish” on this I’m jumping into the shower and then back into the car to go to BJ’s Warehouse, to an event that I’m guessing will be about holiday shopping. BJ’s is one of my favorite stores in the world. Why? Because I have a deep need not to run out of things. I don’t know why. So being able to buy a 112-pack of anything makes me happy.
I’ve been a BJ’s member since we moved to Brooklyn almost ten years ago, but today I’m going to a newer location in Queens. Should be fun – I’m leaving time at the end to pick up some gifts for the kids’ teachers. BJ’s is great for that. I might also pick up some guacamole. I can’t remember the brand name, but BJ’s has the only packaged guacamole I’ve ever liked, and I’m very picky about guac.
When I get home I’m hoping to find the time to put together two posts. First, I still haven’t posted about our Thanksgiving! I mean, when it starts with your mother doing an autopsy on the turkey’s organs, how can you not post about it?
Second, I made some videos while I was making the cake pops yesterday, so I want to edit those together and get them posted. Cake pops are so much fun to make, and they’re really easy to make reasonably cute, but I feel like I still need a lot of practice to get them looking really great. My chocolate doesn’t always look smooth. Coating them in non-pareils helps a lot, but I don’t really like that much crunch on them, so that’s a crutch I don’t want to use all the time.
Hope you enjoy your day, and hope I work a nap into mine!
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 0. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
Tags: baking, BJ's, Cake Pops, Thanksgiving, volunteering
Today’s Agenda: not eating cake pops edition
Nov 22, 2011 Today's Agenda
So over the weekend Fiona & I tried our hands at making cake pops. It was a smashing success. Literally. I let her do all the cake smashing by hand. Actually, I let her do everything. So they tasted fantastic, but didn’t look as good as they could have (even though she did an awesome job, for a seven-year-old). For that, I’m so sorry Fiona, but you have to be out of the picture. So I’m making some more this morning. Of course, if they still don’t look great, then I can’t blame Fiona.
I’m going to do my best to figure out how many calories are in each, and then only eat one. Or two. We’ll see how that goes.
Last night I posted a review of the most comfortable over-ear headphones I’ve ever worn. They’re a little pricey – around $100 – but would make a great gift for the audiophile in your life, especially if she’s complained in the past about headphones being uncomfortable.
Later today I’ll be sharing a little sponsored gift guide I wrote for “Gutsy Smurf” from the new Smurf’s movie, which is coming out on Blu-ray. Basically, it’s all stuff an adventurous ten-year-old kid would love, blue or not, so if you have one of those you can find some great gift ideas, in a range of prices.
And after that will be my cake pops post. Hopefully they’ll be beautiful, but no matter what, they’ll be delicious. I mean, cake mushed together with frosting coated in chocolate? No way that doesn’t taste great.
And, the cleaning continues. Despite my mom leaving the best comment anyone’s ever left on my blog.
Enjoy your Tuesday!
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 1 (headphones, Smurfs’ Blu-ray). Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
