Ninjago!!

How did I forget to post this one?  I made these last year, and as a Mom of two little boy monkeys......well, these were a huge hit.  Ninjago.  If you have little boys in your family, you've heard of it (TV show....and a crazy amount of Lego toys).  If you don't have boys.....well then, you may have escaped this one ;)  Both of my boys have been crazy for this series since it first came out, so when a dear friend told me that she was throwing a Ninjago birthday party for her Kindergartener, I jumped at the chance to try to do some Oreo pops of these guys.

What you'll need:

Oreos

lollipop sticks

yellow candy melts

black candy melts

candy melts for each of the colors of the ninjas you want to include, I used:

red candy melts

white candy melts

black candy melts

green candy melts

blue candy melts

plastic squeeze bottles or plastic bags

To do these, you'll start with the basic Oreo Pop technique that How Does She has detailed in a step-by-step.  One you've got your base color (Which ninja did you start with?  The blue and green ninjas are the most popular at our house!), you're going to add an rounded rectangle of yellow for the face, using yellow candy melts.  Next, it's time for the eyes and eyebrows, using black candy melts, or chocolate.  I found that using a little squeeze bottle was easiest to get perfect little dots for the eyes.

Lastly it's time for their head wraps.  You're going to drizzle more of the colored candy melt, just like you do for the Mummy Oreo Pops.  And voila!  You've got yourself a team of ninjas!

Have fun!  And Enjoy!

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

Carrot cake is something that falls into the "take it or leave it" category.  Not really my thing.  Chocolate.......caramel.......now THOSE are my things.  However, I do try really hard to make other people's favorite things as well as my own.

For my father-in-law's birthday I decided to try a new carrot cake recipe for him, since carrot cake is one of his favorites (as well as a favorite of most of the guys in our family).  When I think of carrot cake, I usually think of a really heavy overly-spiced cake with gobs of drab cream cheese frosting.  Hmmm......based on that description, I guess you can figure out why I'm not a huge fan of it.

I tried the Carrot Cake Cupcake recipe from the SoNo Baking Company Cookbook.  I've had the book for a while, and just hadn't gotten around to trying anything yet.  These were a huge hit!  The cupcakes are light and fluffy (it uses cake flour, instead of AP flour), with just enough spice.  And can we talk about the amazing cream cheese frosting on these bad boys??!??  It's got the addition of orange zest and fresh ginger!  It totally wakes up and brightens the frosting.  Delicious!

Give these cupcakes a try the next time you have a hankering for carrot cake.  You won't be disappointed!  Go to Project Foodie for the recipe.......and Enjoy!!

Calling All Superheroes!

Sorry I haven't posted in over a week......things have been a bit busy over here.  I've just finished a 10-day course of antibiotics for a sinus infection that left me feeling rather yucks.  Also, over the weekend we took our little monkeys out to Vegas for the Monster Jam World Finals.  Yep.....Vegas......the monkeys loved it!!  Our little guy keeps grabbing his ticket and tells me that he's going to go see more monster trucks!  Oh, and on top of it all, we're in escrow on a new place and are working on enrolling the boys in new schools for the upcoming school year.  Lot's of stuff going on around here!!

I made these super hero cookies for a dear friend's son's birthday party.  As you can guess, it was a superhero birthday party.  I've had the Marvel superhero cookie cutters from Williams-Sonoma since they came out, but hadn't gotten around to actually using them.....so this was a perfect opportunity!  The set actually comes with the Hulk as well......but I decided to keep it a little simpler for me and go with Iron Man, Spiderman, and Captain America.

Williams-Sonoma actually has posted their recipe for sugar cookies (get it here), and a decorating guide for these cookies with detailed instructions for each of them........geit it here.  The only thing I changed was that I used a black edible marker for doing the web design on Spiderman (instead of using black food coloring gel).

These guys take a little time to do.....but they were a huge hit!  For the little guys and the hubby too!  Enjoy!

This post is linked to:
Full Plate Thursday - Sweet Treats Thursday - Show Off Your Stuff - Feature Friday Free-For-All - Anything Goes Linky - Friday Favorites - Kitchen Fun and Crafty Friday - I'm Lovin' It - Friday Food - Fun Stuff Fridays - Sweet Tooth Friday - Sweets for a Saturday - Sweet Indulgences Sunday - Scrumptious Sunday - Mix It Up Monday - What Makes You Say Mmmmm? - Show Me What You Got - Tasty Tuesday - Crazy Sweet Tuesday - Tuesday Talent Show - T' Time - Tea Party Tuesday - Link Party - Mrs. Fox's Sweet Party - Tip Me Tuesday - Link It Up Wednesday

Rainbow Cupcakes

Today we're getting together for my niece's birthday, so my boys are getting all amped up to see all of their cousins today.  This year she has requested chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting......so while I'm finishing those up, I thought I'd share this photo of the cupcakes I made for her birthday last year (before I started blogging).  What little girl doesn't love rainbows?  Ok.....I'm obviously not a little girl anymore, and I still love rainbows!!  

These cupcakes came out beautifully, and are not hard at all, but will take a little patience to put them all together.  You'll make your cupcake batter, and then divide up the batter into several bowls (the number of bowls you need depends on how many colors you want to have).  Then it's time to break out the gel food coloring!  My hands looked insanely crazy when this part was done, since no matter how careful I am, I always get stuff all over me!  I went with red, orange, yellow, green, and blue.  I could have thrown in purple too, but in all honesty, I just couldn't get myself to do one more color.  Once you get all of your batter to the color and intensity that you like, you're going to start layering the batter in the cupcake liners. Put a spoonful of a color in the liner, spread it out, then add a spoonful of another color, spread it out, and on and on until all the colors are used.  Voila!  

For a step by step tutorial, check out Our Best Bites......and Enjoy!!

Happy Birthday Katrina!!

This post is linked to:

Sweet Indulgences Sunday - A Themed Baker's Sunday - It's a Celebration - Link Party - T' Time - Crazy Sweet Tuesday - Tuesday Talent Show - Tea Party Tuesday - Bake with Bizzy - Link It Up Wednesday - Mrs. Fox's Sweet Party - These Chicks Cooked - Cast Part Wednesday - Full Plate Thursday - Sweet Treats Thursday - It's a Keeper Thursday - Show Off Your Stuff - Anything Goes Linky - Fusion Fridays - Friday Free-For-All - Friday Favorites - Fun Stuff Fridays - Sweet Tooth Friday - I'm Lovin' It - Sweets for a Saturday - Seasonal Inspiration - Friday Food - Kitchen Fun and Crafty Friday

More Birthday Stuff

Yesterday was our 5 year old's birthday party (I still can't believe he's 5!!), but today was his actual birthday.....so today he had his big special day at preschool.  He got to bring a special board that will hang in class all week......got a birthday crown and a special badge......gets to be the line leader all week.....and we brought in cookies and treats for the kids!  What a day!

Our oldest son's favorite cookie is an Oreo.  Well.....I wasn't going to be bringing in a plate of Oreos to school.....so after some questioning......he and I agreed on a sugar cookie with sprinkles as long as they were L's!

I used the Cookie Craft recipe again.....not very exciting am I??  After chilling the dough, and then cutting out the L's....I covered them in his favorite sprinkles.  He loved them!  They were exactly what he wanted....and that makes Mommy happy!!

I also wanted to bring in something that the kiddos in his class could take home.....so I decided to make the Ice Cream Cone Rice Krispy Treats that I made a couple of months back.  I filled them cones with Hershey's kisses and covered the rice krispy treat in white melting chocolate with sprinkles.  These were great to take to class because they were easy to individually bag for the kids to take home, and they seemed to stand up well to the abuse of getting home in one piece.

So glad our little guy had a great birthday.....but phew!!  I'm so glad it's done!!

Check out Confessions of a Cookbook Queen for the recipe.......and Enjoy!!

Happy 5th Birthday!!

We are slowly recovering from the crazy birthday party yesterday that we had for our oldest son's 5th birthday.......I still can't believe he's already 5!!!!

We went with a Star Wars/Clone Wars theme....and of course I immediately thought of the cute Star Wars stuff that Williams-Sonoma has these days!  I already had the Star Wars cookie cutters and the Star Wars cupcake kits.....so I was already halfway there right?  Wrong!!

Since I am new to the cookie decorating thing.....I really didn't have any idea how long it was going to take for me to do the cookies......which I thought would be really cute as a party favor.  Well, dang.....it took me forever!!  I made the cookie a couple of weeks ago, using the sugar cookie recipe in the Cookie Craft book.  I've got to say that I love this recipe!  Even on intricate shapes, these cookies do not spread when you bake them.  Plus they taste yummy!  My sister-in-law said that they tasted just like the ones she used to have growing up......to me that's a good thing!  After baking these guys, I froze the baked cookies until this past week, when it was time to start decorating them.

The beginning of Storm Troopers. 

This was the most intricate bunch of cookies that I have tried doing so far, so I gave myself several nights to get through them.

Yodas, Darth Vaders, and Storm Troopers waiting to be finished.

The finished product!

The first night I did my outline piping and flooding.  Then after letting dry overnight, I came back the next day to try to finish these puppies up.

All of the little finishing work is really what took forever.  It didn't help that I was trying to do about 5 dozen of these guys so that we'd have enough for all of the kids at the party and their parents.

I also busted out about 60 cupcakes....all of which needed to be done the night before the party.  So.....I hate to admit it, but I did end up using boxed cake mix!  I was just making simple white cupcakes with a vanilla buttercream frosting....and in all honesty, I don't think there's too many 5 year olds who would turn their nose up at any cupcake (as long as there's lots of frosting on it!!).

A little squirt of frosting using a large open star pastry tip, a little dusting of sprinkles....and then topped with a Star Wars character from the cupcake kit.....and done!

I don't know that I'll be doing these again any time soon....I'm a little Star Wars-ed out!  Am I happy with how they came out?  Yeah, I guess so.....I think my biggest complaint is my outline piping on the cookies.  I need to get it smoother so that when it all dries you don't see the starts and stops.  I pretty much just need to keep practicing and practicing.  But for now.....I just want a nap!!

Happy Birthday to the sweetest little 5 year old around!!!  I love you!!

This post is linked to:

Sweets for a Saturday
These Chicks Cook Recipe Spotlight

O-R-E-O

I have a confession to make......

For as much as I love to bake yummy homemade treats, if you asked my oldest son what the best dessert is, I'm pretty sure he'd say "Oreos!!" In fact, for all the wonderful compliments he gives everything I make.......he actually never wants to eat them. Now granted, my youngest will devour pretty much anything you put in front of him, so he makes up for his brother :) My point with all of this is that I usually have a stash of Oreos at home (in fact I bought I giant box at Costco the last time I was there)......so I'm game to try any recipe that involves Oreos!

Last week was our nephew Nicholas' 9th birthday, so since the family was already going to be together on Easter Sunday, I brought him a birthday cake. When I saw this recipe for an Oreo and Chocolate French Silk Cake on Bakers Royale.....I was sold! I also know that my sister-in-law's favorite dessert is French Silk Pie.....who-hoo!!!

If you have ever made pudding at home, then this could not be easier! Actually, even if you haven't made pudding at home, it's still pretty darn easy. I happened to have some Valrhona dark chocolate on hand (my favorite!), so I knew the chocolate pudding would come out perfect. Pour that chocolate pudding over an Oreo crust and top with some whipped cream (or Cool Whip) mixed with crushed Oreos, then decorate as desired, and voila! You have a dessert that the hubby has placed in his top 10 favorites! And with the amount that I bake, there are many to choose from :)

I chose to freeze the cake/pie overnight and then just stick it in the fridge a couple of hours before serving, which led my brother-in-law to declare that it tasted like an Oreo pudding pop cake! And there's nothing wrong with that........

Go on over to Bakers Royale for the recipe.......and if you've never tried Valrhona chocolate before, you can pick some up on your next visit to Trader Joe's. I just made some of the most delicious brownies with the rest of it......post coming soon.......

Sweet Sunday

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The family got together on Sunday to celebrate our nephew James' 5th birthday.....Happy Birthday James! When I'm making desserts for the family I usually end up making one thing for the kiddos and another for the adults. This time was no exception....especially when I spied these adorable ice cream rice krispy treats.....what kid could resist??!!? And you get to put little goodies inside.......what a great little surprise for the kiddos! Of course of few of them couldn't wait to get to the candy inside, so they busted off the top of the cone to save for later. My little Henry had a different approach to getting to the candy......making a little hole in the bottom of the cone and trying to scoop out the M&Ms one by one.

For the adults I went with a recipe from Southern Plate......the Butterfinger Cake. A chocolate cake with caramel sauce drizzled on top and covered with Cool Whip and crushed Butterfinger bars......so simple and soooo good!

Go to Confessions of a Cookbook Queen for the Ice Cream Rice Krispy Treat recipe and go to Southern Plate for the Butterfinger Cake recipe.....enjoy!