Happy Birthday, Kayson!

Over the weekend, I made some cupcake pops for my best friend, Ashley's son. I planned to make him little something for his birthday for a while.  I know he likes candies and everything sweet. Ashley told me that every time he went to Starbucks with her, he was telling her how much he wanted the cake pop from the Starbucks.  Based on these two clues, cupcake pops and a jar fulled of Easter's M&Ms will make his birthday even sweeter.

I am glad to see his smil-y face when he received the gift. Even better, I got to see him ate them and enjoyed them; that's priceless.  He is one of the coolest kids I ever met.  He is so beautiful inside and out, I wish he would never change.  Happy birthday to you again, Kayson; Carmen and Chris (he kept asking me where my "boyfriend" [aka my husband] is) love you!

PS.  If you want to send something sweet and special to someone you love, contact us today.  We could craft and design some beautiful cupcake pops or cake pops/balls for you and the one you love=)

Thank you, Halloween!

I am not sure how many kids knocked on your door to play trick or treat during Halloween night last month.  We got 0 kid here!  Last year, we had one kid (the kid living next door) knocked on our door when we were about to leave for a party.  We didn't prepare any candies, end up I just gave him some of my favorite snacks to take home.  So this year, we were well prepared for this special holiday.  To our surprise, we got 0 kid asked for candies from us.

0 kid = bags of left over candies at our house!  I decided to use some of the left over candies to make cupcakes.  I like PB & J (peanut butter and jam), so I created this cupcake to include these two ingredients.

I broke down the peanut butter cup in my chocolate batter and created this so air-y and creamy peanut butter mousse frosting filled with boysenberry jam in the chocolate cupcakes.  They just taste like my favorite PB&J toast!

I was just curious about who created this amazing PB&J sandwiches, and I found this information online (quite interesting):

1941-1945 - Both peanut butter and jelly were on the U.S. Military ration menus in World War II (1941-1945). It is said that the American soldiers added jelly to their peanut butter to make it more palatable. Peanut butter provided an inexpensive and high protein alternative to meat for soldiers. It was an instant hit and returning servicemen made peanut butter and jelly sales soar in the United States. Food historians haven't found any ads or other mentions of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches before the 1940s.

Baking is an Adventure!

"Baking is either an adventure or nothing."

This quotation is so right!  Once in a while, my crazy mind would have asked my hands to bake some unusual goodies.  I received a box of Blue Ribbon Roca almond candies as part of my Valentine's Day gift from Mr. G.  I was happy, but I had a very weak teeth and this little sweet treat was just ways too tough for my teeth.  Of course, I appreciated Mr. G's thoughtfulness, and I didn't want to waste the candies.  So I decided to crush the candies to make some Rocca candy cookies.

Here is my recipe and step by step photo:

Prepared Time:  30 mins
Baked Time: 25 mins

Make:  about 24 cookies

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 
1/2 teaspoon baking soda 
1/4 teaspoon salt 
1 cup dark brown sugar 
1/2 cup sugar 
1 cup butter, room temperature 
2 eggs, room temperature 
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 
1 package toffee bits 
1/4 grounded cinnamon 
4 ounces milk chocolate 


Direction:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. 
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. 
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, blend sugars with butter together on medium speed. 

      4.     Add eggs and vanilla and mix at medium speed until light and fluffy. 

      5.     Crush the candies and mix with the milk chocolate.

     6.     At very low speed, slowly add the flour mixture and then the toffee bits. 

Mix until just blended do not over-mix. 

 7.     Refrigerate dough for approximately 15 minutes. Using a ice cream scope or your hands to form a ball. 

8.     Grease the cookies sheet with PAM, then place on cookie sheets several inches apart. 

9.     Bake approximately 22 minutes and then transfer cookies to a cooling rack to completely cool. 

This new adventure didn't disappoint me.  The cookies came out so moist and yummy!  The taste of them reminder me of ginger bread man.