S'mores Pops

My daughter's and I are so excited Father's Day is coming up!  My hubby is an amazing husband and dad and we can't wait to spoil him.

These little goodies are super easy to make.  It's a good thing, because you'll be making more for the dad in your life soon after the first batch disappears!

The Recipe

Jumbo Marshmallows

Dark or Milk Chocolate Chips

Crushed Graham Crackers

Sucker Sticks

Melt about 1 cup chocolate chips in microwave for 1 minute at a time, stirring in between each minute until chocolate is melted.  (you could also use a double boiler,
but I think the microwave is quicker.)

Put two marshmallows on a stick and dip into the melted chocolate, use a spoon to completely cover the marshmallows, if needed.  Tap the stick against the rim of the bowl to catch any excess chocolate.  Roll the chocolate covered marshmallows in the crushed graham crackers.  Place on a cookie sheet that has been covered with parchment paper.  When all of the S'mores Pops have been made, transfer the cookie sheet to the refrigerator for 10 minutes.  If your making these ahead of time, put the pops in a large ziploc bag and seal out any excess air and store in the refrigerator, no longer than a day.  This will keep the marshmallows from drying out.

Smart Little Cookie Tip:

My daughter's and I are going to make a S'mores Pop Bouquet for Father's Day.  To do this, use long sucker sticks and arrange the pops in a vase.  To help the pops stay in place, fill the bottom of the vase with your husband's, or father's favorite candies.  What dad wouldn't want a delicious bouquet of treats he can eat?

You can coat the chocolate marshmallows with almost anything.  Use sprinkles, chopped nuts, coconut, or drizzle with a little caramel...mmm, the possibilities are endless!

Scrumptious Banana Cake

I made this delicious cake to celebrate my newest niece's First-Month Birthday.  I've been on bed rest and immediately following my release, both of my daughters became sick.  So, I'm anxious and excited to meet this new little addition to my extended family!
What better way to celebrate her first month of life than with a Scrumptious Banana Cake decorated in sweet pink frosting.

The Recipe

                 1/2 c unsalted butter, softened        3 ripe bananas, mashed

                 2 3/4 c unbleached flour                  1/4 c applesauce

                 1 1/2 t baking powder                     1 t vanilla extract

                 1 t baking soda                               1 2/3 c sugar

                 1/2 t salt                                        4 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line bottom of cake pans with parchment paper cut into the shape of pans being used.  Spray and dust with flour; set aside.  In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.  Mash bananas and transfer to a small bowl, mix together with applesauce, and vanilla; set aside.

In a seperate medium bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition.  Add flour mixture in two parts until blended.  Mix in banana mixture until just combined.  Transfer batter into prepared cake pans and bake about 30 minutes until golden brown, or when a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

Invert cakes out of the cake pans, peeling away the parchment paper and carefully place each cake right side up on a wire rack to cool.

Crumb Coat and Frosting

When cakes have cooled, transfer the cakes into the refrigerator until set, this will eliminate any breakage while applying the crumb coat.  In the meantime, 

make ~The Perfect Frosting~

The Perfect Frosting

(for anything you might like to frost to perfection!)

1/4 c butter, room temperature

1 16-ounce package powdered sugar

1/4 c milk

1 t vanilla

Beat butter until smooth and creamy; gradually add powdered sugar, beating until well blended.  Add milk a little at a time and vanilla.  Add more milk and powdered sugar as needed until smooth.  (Double this recipe when using as a crumb coat and as frosting)

 Crumb Coat

 Take cakes out of the refrigerator.  Working with first cake layer, frost a thin layer of The Perfect Frosting on the top and side.  Do the same with the second layer.  Return both layers to the refrigerator until set, about 1-2 hours.  

 Frosting

 When crumb coat is set, frost the top of the first layer with The Perfect Frosting.  Place the second layer on top of the first and frost entire cake.

Smart Little Cookie Tip:

Use any flavor extract your heart desires.  I use this frosting universally on everything from mint-frosted brownies, to sugar cookies, to cakes! It's my favorite, and I'm happy to share it with each of you.
You may like to use a cream cheese which would also be a delicious flavor combo with this cake.  Mmm...my mouth is watering!

This Banana Cake is both Chic and oh, so Scrumptious!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I love the rich color in this Valentine! 

I hope you each have a day full of love, love, love!

Under The Sea Birthday Party

My oldest daughter just turned 7 years old and Loves Ariel! So, for her friend party she really wanted to have an "Under The Sea" party.  

I tried to make it as original and sweet as I could.  Something I hoped a mermaid like Ariel would like to attend while on land.

The Decorations

Smart Little Cookie Tip:

Balloon "bubbles" float above the fishies I cut out of cardstock and scrapbook paper free handed.

Fishies swimming through and around the "seaweed" crepe paper.

Party Games

When the princesses arrived, they each chose a hibiscus flower clip (the flower of mermaids) for their hair and a mermaid name chosen by combining their favorite color with their favorite gemstone, 

making them mermaids for the afternoon!

Pin The Flower on The Mermaid

For this game I printed an image of Ariel and mounted it on cardstock.  For the flower, I printed a beautiful coral hibiscus flower also on cardstock 

and used double stick tape on the back so the girls could try to pin it on Ariel's hair while blindfolded.

Feed The Shark

 My hubby made this awesome shark for me.  He did a great job! For this game I purchased the cutest little bean bag fishies at orientaltrading.com.  The girls had so much fun playing, this was hands down their favorite game at the party!

We also played freeze dance to The Little Mermaid Soundtrack, which was also a big hit!

The Party Favors

 These are the adorable party favors I found at orientaltrading.com as well. The cost of a "cake" of ten is the same price as a package of colored paper bags, I had to get it! I printed and cutout starfish name cards and placed them on top of the favor boxes to add to the mermaid theme.

Under The Sea Punch

I mixed 2 liters of Sprite with 2 drops blue food coloring, that easy!

 The Cupcakes

You can make any flavor cupcake your mermaid's heart desires.  Mine loves chocolate, so I made chocolate cupcakes, filled them with lemon creme filling, frosted them with a turquoise "bubble" ring and topped them with a chocolate molded flower.  She Loved them!

Smart Little Cookie Tip:

You don't need to use the expensive chocolate melting wafers found at craft stores.  I prefer to use chocolate chips.  Melt them for 20 seconds at a time, pour into candy molds that fit the theme of your party and freeze until set.

The Ice Cream

 Smart Little Cookie Tip:

This is a great tip I read about somewhere a while back.  The day before the party, scoop ice cream into cupcake cups, cover and freeze.  No messy hands while scooping ice cream at the party, no waiting and no melted mess on the party plates or your floor during cake and ice cream time!
I LOVE this tip!

The Fun!

It was such a fun afternoon with these Little Mermaids!

Love comes in many forms, even in a sack of potatoes!

My sweet husband found this in a bag of potatoes as we were cooking dinner together. We couldn't bring ourselves to prepare it with the rest of the potatoes, so we kept it!

 

Chocolate Covered Gumdrops and Snow-Capped Gumdrop Mountains

This deliciously fun recipe came from a simple mishap while baking Double Chocolate Peppermint Cookies for a holiday party my family and I recently attended.  While reaching for my peppermint extract, I accidentally grabbed the mint extract from my spice cupboard.  Without realizing it, I added it to the cookie batter and noticed it smelled like mint which is quite different from peppermint.  It was too late to fix the mishap, so I went ahead and continued mixing, hoping they wouldn't taste like chocolate-mint flavored toothpaste (I'm now wondering why haven't they marketed that flavor yet?)  Once they were baked, I took a bite and surprisingly they tasted like how I would imagine a chocolate covered gumdrop would taste!  

That's when the idea came to me-Chocolate Covered Gumdrops-Yummy! 

 

 The Recipe

1 Bag Spiced Gumdrops
(I found 2 lbs for $3 at Big Lot's in the holiday candy section)

Bittersweet Chocolate Chips

Melt chocolate chips for one minute at a time, stirring after each minute until chocolate is melted.  Using a toothpick, gently pierce the side of a gumdrop and dip in melted chocolate until completely covered.  Lightly tap against edge of bowl until extra chocolate has dripped away.  Place gumdrop right side up on parchment paper which has been placed on a cookie sheet.  When parchment is filled, transfer to freezer for about 10 minutes, or until chocolate has set.

Snow-Capped Gumdrop Mountains

Dip top of gumdrops into melted chocolate and place right side up on parchment.  Freeze for about 10 minutes, or until chocolate has set.

Smart Little Cookie Tip:

Try using milk chocolate or white chocolate.  I'm sure each would be delish-and look very pretty at your holiday party!

I hope this Christmas Eve you have sweet sugarplum dreams along with chocolate covered gumdrops of course!

Smart Little Cookie Tip-Cooking with Butter Substitute vs. Real Butter

I don't have anything against butter, if it's 100% Real Butter.  It definitely has it's place in cooking and baking and is a great flavor in many foods! 

I'm sharing with all of you my long time baking light secret-I use I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Light Spread (ICBINB-Light Spread) in my baking recipes; Light being the keyword. I love using this spread, it already has the creamy consistency of softened butter, and it lightens up my recipes with only 5 grams of fat and 50 calories/T, as opposed to 11 grams of fat and 100 calories/T in butter. And if you've heard or read, like I have, that you shouldn't use butter substitute spreads in baking recipes, don't listen! They work great!

I use real butter when baking breads, rolls and occasionally when cooking; but I use half the amount called for in the recipe. When baking, I substitute all of the butter in the recipe with ICBINB-Light Spread. Sometimes, I like to substitute all of the butter minus 1 T with ICBINB-Light Spread and add 1 T Real Butter, melted. When used in cookie recipes, they come out dense and chewy-my favorite! 

You can have your cakes and cookies and eat them too!