New Cookie Cutters

My obsession with iced sugar cookies has reached an all-time high and I came to this conclusion while frantically searching cabinets to locate one particular cookie cutter and was having a difficult time.

On to the counter went all of the cutters and the pile was significant. Time to categorize:

Baby stuff

Christmas (this took 3 gallon sized Ziplocs and one plastic tub)

Halloween / Fall

Hearts (yep, a full bag just for hearts!)

Animals

Stars / Spades / Diamonds

Easter / St. Patrick's Day

and my favorite....."Fun Stuff"

That one includes things like Crowns, a cupcake with a candle in it, a house, lollipop, dogbone, wedding cake, football helmet, a martini glass and one of my favorites, a John Dere tractor.

9 gallon sized Ziplocs total.

Crazy, huh?

So, you know what happened next, right?

Had to get out the sprinkles and dye,

And just went all kinds of crazy...

 Is he cute or what?  More on him later.

 Happy Birthday to You...

Poor Mr. Man....the kitchen was a complete disaster.

Next time?

Martini's and tractors.

Happy Baking!

Chicks and Ducks

If I had all time time in the world at my fingertips, with no responsibilities or deadlines, every single day you would find me in the kitchen baking to my hearts content. 

There are millions of recipes out there just waiting to be tested and so many ideas running around in my head that there aren't enough hours in the day to bring them all to life.

So I must be content doing what I can in the time I am given.

After completing my orders last week, I had extra cookie dough and decided to surprise a few of the children in my life with Easter sugar cookies.

I ordered the little candy eyes online and they came in a box of 1,000.  It's been fun to use them; they make such a difference compared to how the bunnies looked last year.

Hi Mr. Easter Bunny.

The best part was that I got to deliver this package myself.

Red Velvet Cake

When you come across a great recipe, it's a good practice to give credit where credit is due.

This Red Velvet cake recipe is out of the book, Stories and Recipes from Mia Famiglia: Cake Boss written by Buddy Valastro from the TLC TV series.  It's wonderful and very moist.

Makes two 9-inch cakes or 24 cupcakes

1 1/4 cups vegetable shortening
2 cups granulated sugar
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
4 1/2 teaspoons (2 tubes) red food-coloring gel
3 cups cake flour, plus more for dusting pans
1 1/4 teaspoons fine sea salt
1 1/4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoons distilled white vinegar
3 extra-large eggs
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
Unsalted butter, for greasing 2 cake pans (about 2 tablespoons); non-stick cooking spray or vegetable oil may be substituted

1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Put the shortening, sugar, cocoa powder, food coloring, cake flour, salt, vanilla, baking soda, and vinegar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Paddle, starting at low speed, then raise the speed to low-medium and mix about 1 minute. Add the eggs, 1 at  time, mixing for 1 minute after each is absorbed into the mixture. Add the buttermilk in two stopping to scrape the sides of the bowl between additions.
3. Grease two-9-inch pans with the butter, and flour them.
4. Divide the batter evenly between the two cake pans, using rubber spatula to scrape down the bowl and get as much obattar as possible out.
5. Bake until the cake begins to pull from the side of the pan and is springy to the touch, 35 - 40 minutes.
6. Remove from the oven and let cool for at least 30 minutes, preferably an hour. The cake should be at room temp. before you remove it from the pan. Put a piece of parchment paper on a cookie sheet, top with sugar, dump onto parchment; the sugar will keep it from sticking. Refrigerate or freeze until ready to decorate.



Life

In my mind I've written about 10 blog posts over the course of the last 4 weeks, but haven't found the time to actually sit down and do anything about it.  Does that ever happen to you?  That running list in your mind goes on and on and when you have a few minutes to do what you feel you really need to do, you stop and whoosh...it's gone.  Just gone from your mind.

I feel as if it's happening to me more and more.

So, here's the highlights from the last few weeks:

• Honey Girl scheduled her C-Section. Granddaughter will arrive March 29th. (this one trumps everything else)
• Had classes on bread, pastry dough and custards.  No major failures
• Have participated in 2 Brunches at school; 1 more to go (for this semester)
• Baked and shipped decorated heart shaped sugar cookies all over the country to squeals of delight and surprise, which is really cool and fun
• Lost my mind in class and called the Chef Instructor "Dude"
• Learned not to the call the Chef Instructor "Dude," no matter what he is doing to my pastry
• Tested and found a Red Velvet cake recipe that rocks
• Successfully made Italian Meringue at home
• Rode over 200 miles in 3 days on my trainer and am ever so grateful to Mr. Man for Netflix
• Have come to the realization that my dreaming about baking means I need to really do something with this passion
• Have to figure out how to not freak out about following my passion

Some days it's overwhelming, some days is manageable.  No one pushes me harder than I push myself and no one ever will.

There's a lot going on but isn't that what life is about?  Learning, growing, risking, evolving and becoming the very best version of you that you can be?

My first wedding cake

The son of one of my best friends, someone I've known for nearly 20 years, was married on January 15th and I had the honor of making their wedding cake and the grooms cake.  The bride and I talked about the overall design of the cake and the theme of the wedding along with colors which would be purple and silver, nice colors for early January.  Along with those colors, the bride wanted to incorporate peacock feathers into the design and feathers would also be part of the flowers worn by the men.  She gave me all the flexibility I wanted/needed in the overall design on the cake and we all settled on white cake for the flavor. Naturally I right away went to my white cake recipe that is used for most of the birthday cakes I make.

There is a nice almond flavor in this cake and the texture is just perfect. I knew it would be a hit.

Two weeks before the wedding, on a Sunday afternoon, I baked the cakes that would be put together for this wedding cake that would need to feed 200 guests.

two 13 x 2 inch layers
two 11 x 2 inch layers
three 8 x 2 inch layers
two 6 x 2 inch layers

I made the white cake recipe 10 times to make all of the layers and then carefully, once they had cooled, wrapped them tight as can be in 6 layers of Saran Wrap and then popped them into the freezer where they would wait patiently  until being called upon to be decorated.

The day before the wedding I mixed up 6 lbs. of powered sugar and 3 lbs. of butter, along with vanilla and a pinch of salt to create the yummy buttercream frosting that would be used to frost the cake.  If you think no one can tell the difference between Crisco frosting and the real deal, think again. They can.

The first two layers of cake were frosted quickly and then I did the same for the next two layers.  After they were iced I carefully placed them on top of a cake board that had been covered in white fondant and the rim was covered with purple ribbon that has been purchased from a craft store.

For the 'grooms cake" his mom and I decided on individual lime tarts because Corey really likes key lime pie.  The week of the wedding I made 115 tart shells and four batches of fresh lime curd.  In honor of the Groom's Irish heritage, I found 1 inch shamrock decorations online and they were just perfect.

The wedding went off without a hitch, the cake was a hit and didn't fall over. I consider that a success.

CONGRATULATIONS TERELL AND COREY!
January 15, 2011

This week

This is a crazy week, just like every week has been for the past several months. On Saturday, Corey McConnell, the son of one of my very best girlfriends, is getting married and I was asked to make the wedding cake and the grooms cake.

Corey loves key lime pie, so his mom, Vivi, and I decided to make little key lime tarts for the occasion.  The wedding cake was selected by his fiance, Terrell, and will have to feed 200 guests.  Oh my.

To say that I am thinking about this event non-stop is an understatement to say the least.

Last week I prepared my white cake recipe 8 times to create 2-13x2 inch layers, two 11x2 in, three 8x2 and two 5x2 inch layers, which are all wrapped up like Ft. Knox and stored in the freezer till Friday when I will take it all out, layer it with buttercream frosting and insert dowels so it won't shift or fall over. The color purple is going to be incorporated on the cake in the form of a long strip of fondant that will start at the top of the cake and then trail down the side of the cake.  The bride is also a fan of peacock feathers so those will also be incorporated into the design.

Yes, I am breathing into a paper bag every chance I get and will keep you all posted on the cake and post a photo of the final product.

This morning I baked 57 tart shells, and yesterday I made enough lime curd to feed the Russian Army. I'll need to make 100 more tart shells then they will be filled, stored in the walkin and topped off with whipped cream and a darling little sugar shamrock in honor of groom's Irish heritage.  That's a surprise for him.

Pushing myself to do things I've never done before is so much fun and making people happy through baking tops that.

Life's Wonderful Moments

Mr. Man and I were very fortunate this past Christmas to have both of my children visit and stay with us at the same time over the holiday.  Our home was going to be full of life and we were both looking forward with anticipation to the noise and excitement that comes with being surrounded by people we love.

Plus, our grandson, Jacob was going to be here and of course everything is much more fun with a grandchild in the house.

Everyone arrive the afternoon of December 28th and after the hugging, unpacking and settling in, it was time to start thinking about dinner and preparing a great meal to share with the family.  I thought it would be fun to make ravioli and spaghetti so Chef Jackie and I commenced to do just that.

For me, it was one of my favorite times of the week.  You see, 20 something years ago, in the midst of the craziness that was then my life, I would have never imagined things would have turned out so well for me.  But, here I was.

In my beautiful home, married to a truly wonderful, patient, caring and loving man, both of my adult children married to kind, loving and thoughtful people, with a healthy, bright and delightful grandson.  All of us together enjoying the company of one another.

In that very moment I just soaked it all in and paused to reflect on how much God has blessed my life.  Even during the times that I thought were so dark and unbearable, He had a plan for me and it was my job just to get out of the way and let it happen.I'm so fortunate that I did just that. 

Okay, well, maybe I wasn't as patient as I make myself out to be, but it did all work out.

 Our meal was delicious and Chef Jackie learned how to make pasta mother-in-law style.

 We made a great team and a lot of ravioli!

This is my favorite photo of the night.  Me with both of my girls, in the kitchen.

This was a great moment in my life and one I'll treasure always.