Cookies, cookies and more cookies!

So I’ve made sugar cookies before, but I usually just stick with the ready-made dough and roll them out to let the kids decorate them for Santa…but I came across a recipe that was supposed to taste like Lofthouse Cookies!  You know…those sugar cookies with all the yummy frosting on them that you find in the bakery section at the grocery store…the ones that you just keep eating one more, then another one until they’re all gone?!?!  Those!  So of course I had to try it out!  Well, here’s how it goes…

Make the cookie dough…

Stop the child from eating it all!

Finish mixing the dough…

Knead the dough…

Cut out the cookies…

  Yes, the martini one is for me!  I absolutely LOVE martinis and I have had this cookie cutter forever because I just HAD to have it when I saw it and I’m finally making cookies…sooo…it was time to break it in!

Now, bake ’em!

And as I took the first batch out of the oven, I realized that I had no idea what we were having for dinner tonight!  Oh no!  We could have cookies, but I don’t think my hubby would be too happy about that one, so I found a recipe for pork chops and had to stop and marinate them…yummm!

Now, back to the cookies!  Since it’s the 4th of July next weekend, I thought we could make some patriotic cookies.  And here they are!

Chicago-Style Pizza

Finally, I got it right!  The best Chicago-style pizza south of the Red River!  Well, that’s what my hubby thinks at least.  He has been craving pizza from home and it just can’t be found in Texas!  Yes, some claim to be Chicago-style, but you just can’t match that buttery, corn meal tastin’, THICK crust from Chicago!  This is my third time to make this pizza and it’s true…third time’s the charm!  The first try was good, then the second wasn’t so good, but the third…wow…thick yummy crust and lots of cheesy filling stuffed inside!  So, I’m not giving up my recipe, but I’ll let you drool over the pictures…(cheshire cat grin!!!)…

Now that’s LOVE from the OVEN!

Brownies + Chocolate Chip Cookies = Yummmmm!

So today the girls wanted brownies, but I wanted chocolate chip cookies…so what did we do???  Combine them of course!  It made for a few extra steps, but a delicious outcome!

First, we made the brownie batter and poured it into the pan before the girlies ate it all!

Then made the chocolate chip cookie dough…

The cookie dough past the taste test by my testers!

Then we added half of the cookie dough on top of the brownie batter and swirled it together…

Then I used the rest of the cookie dough to make cookies in the mini muffin pan…turned out to be a great idea!

Then the waiting…ugh…

The cookies ended up being the perfect little bite!  Crunchy edges with a yummy soft center.  What other way can you bake 2 dozen cookies and a pan of brownies at the same time?!

And the main reason we’re all here…

Warm, yummy chocolatety goodness!  Why didn’t I have some vanilla bean ice cream on hand?!?!  These would make the perfect brownie sundae, but it’s sooo good with just a big glass of milk too!

Now, who could resist these?!  Seriously…why hasn’t smellavision been invented yet?!?!?! 

Hope everyone has a great Father’s Day weekend!  It’s going to be a hard one for me since it’s the first one without my Dad, but the girls are finally old enough to make Daddy a present all by themselves, so we’ll have a wonderful day with my hubby and celebrate him!  I’m so blessed to have had the best Dad in the world and now my girls do too!  I am thankful every day to have found such a wonderful man to share my life with and that we have been blessed with our sweet girls. 

Strawberry Cupcakes for Daddy!

My hubby went hunting all weekend, so the girls and I were home alone…and I do mean home!  I couldn’t drive since I was taking some pain meds from my out-patient surgery last week, so we have been in the house since last Tuesday!!!  AAAGGGHHHH!!!  That was hard with a 2 and 3 year old!  And since it’s been almost 100 degrees every day, they’ve only been able to play outside in the mornings.  And it was so hard to contain them in the house…see, we had a new playset/swing set put up in the backyard on Monday, so all they wanted to do was climb, slide and swing…which meant…Mommy had to be right there with them!  And…heat + pain meds + not feeling good = a Mommy that doesn’t want to be outside in the heat!  But we got through it and they destroyed the house and playroom all at the same time!  So last night after they went to bed, I cleaned.  Then, this morning when the Princess woke up, she told me that she HAD to make strawberry cupcakes for Daddy today, since he was coming home!  Yes, she IS my child!  So I tried to convince her that we could make lemon cupcakes for Daddy…since I told him we would and they are his favorite…but she had her mind made up, so that is what we did!  (Good thing we had a bunch of strawberries that needed to be eaten before they went bad!)

So I searched the internet for a yummy sounding Strawberry cupcake recipe.  The first one I found was on the Martha Stewart website and it was from the owner of Sprinkles Cupcakes…so how could you go wrong with that?!  I made a few changes to make it my own, so this is what we did…

Chopped up the strawberries and pureed them in the blender.

Then mixed a little together with milk and vanilla…

Now for the dry ingredients…

Cream the butter and sugar together…

Add the eggs…

Add half the flour mixture…

Add the strawberry milk mixture and the rest of the flour…

And you have strawberry cupcake batter!  Now you can either bake a cake or make cupcakes like we did!

Hmmm…wonder whose little finger that is?!?!  The girls were so happy that they helped make Daddy’s cupcakes, I had to include a pic of them!

Yes, we were having a jammie day!  So into the oven the cupcakes went and 20 minutes later…

Out came the strawberry, sweet smellin’ cupcakes!  Now, while they were baking, we were making something else…frosting!!!  The girls’ favorite part of the cupcakes!

Now, doesn’t that look yummy?!?!

And my idea was to make some chocolate ganache to add on top…since I love chocolate covered strawberries…why not chocolate covered strawberry cupcakes?!

I used milk chocolate, but you can use semi-sweet or even white chocolate.  Now for the fun part…putting it ALL together!

And since the girls didn’t want chocolate on theirs, I was only allowed to put it on half of them…

Now, who could resist that?!?!?!

This little Princess couldn’t!

So we were set and ready for Daddy to come home!  And when he did…the girls ran out to meet him at his truck and gave lots of hugs and kisses!  Then, brought him inside to show him what they had made for him!  I think it was the best part of his weekend…love from his girls!

What a great ending to a fun and challenging weekend!  Here’s the recipe (with my little changes) if you would like to try it.

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup whole fresh or frozen strawberries, thawed (I used fresh)
• 1 1/2 cups plus 3 Tablespoons cake flour, sifted after measuring
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1/4 cup whole milk, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 2 large egg whites, room temperature

 Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners; set aside.
2. Place strawberries in a small food processor; process until pureed. You should have about 1/3 cup of puree, add a few more strawberries if necessary or save any extra puree for frosting; set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a small bowl, mix together milk, vanilla, and strawberry puree; set aside.
4. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter on medium-high speed, until light and fluffy. Gradually add sugar and continue to beat until well combined and fluffy. Reduce the mixer speed to medium and slowly add egg and egg whites until just blended.
5. With the mixer on low, slowly add half the flour mixture; mix until just blended. Add the milk mixture; mix until just blended. Slowly add remaining flour mixture, scraping down sides of the bowl with a spatula, as necessary, until just blended.
6. Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups. Transfer muffin tin to oven and bake until tops are just dry to the touch, 22 to 25 minutes. Transfer muffin tin to a wire rack and let cupcakes cool completely in tin before icing.

 Makes 20 muffins.

Strawberry Frosting

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup whole fresh strawberries
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• Pinch of coarse salt
• 3 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted (add more if you want it thicker to pipe)
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 Tablespoons heavy cream

Directions

1. Place strawberries in the bowl of a small food processor; process until pureed. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and salt on medium speed until light and fluffy.  Add vanilla, cream and 3 tablespoons strawberry puree (save any remaining strawberry puree for another use); mix until just blended.  Reduce mixer speed and slowly add confectioners’ sugar; beat until well combined.  Frosting consistency should be dense and creamy, like ice cream.

Chocolate Ganache

12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate morsels
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
6 Tbsp butter

• In a small saucepan, heat cream and butter until just before the boiling stage.
• Pour over the chocolate morsels.
• Let stand about 20 seconds and stir until smooth.

Hope you enjoy!

I linked this to…

Making Banana Muffins with my girls!

We’ve been making cupcakes, cupcakes and more cupcakes lately, so I thought we could try something for breakfast last week.  I found a recipe on www.bigoven.com and made a few changes to it.  Our little Princess decided that we needed to make muffins instead of loaves, so that’s just what we did!  Here’s a list of all the ingredients:

3 cups Sugar
4 Eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1 1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Bean Paste (or Real Vanilla Extract)
2 cups Mashed Bananas
2/3 cup Water
1 cup Vegetable Oil
3 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour
1 cup Chopped Pecans (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Then, in a mixer, combine sugar and eggs. Whip until light and fluffy.

Guess what they’re looking at?!

Add Baking Soda, Salt, Baking Powder, Cinnamon, Vanilla Bean Paste, Bananas, water and oil mixing after each addition.  Add flour 1/2 cup at a time until mixed well.  This is what you will have…

Add pecans if you want to add them…

 
Spray 2 loaf pans with baking spray or 3 dozen muffin pans, like we did.

If making loaves, bake for 1 hour.  If making muffins, bake for 20-25 minutes.  I wish you could smell these as they came out of the oven!

If you’re like me, you couldn’t wait till they cooled off to try one!

These are the lightest and best tasting banana muffins I’ve ever had!  And yes, I’m used to those boxed mixes, so homemade muffins have so much more flavor and are so moist!  If you love banana bread…you MUST try these!  I hope you enjoy them as much as we did!

Here we go…

I’ve tried several times before to start a blog and I always get caught up in “life” and stop.  Now I’m switching to WordPress, which seems a lot easier to use, and hopefully I’ll do better.  I started an Etsy shop last year and haven’t really added much, but my Facebook page is doing better!  Please follow me on Facebook to get some FREEBIES and find out when there are any specials.

A little about me…I’m married to my best friend and a stay-at-home mom to our two beautiful daughters!  With girls that are 18 months apart…now 3 1/2 and 2…they keep me on my toes!  Some days are crazier than others, but I feel so blessed to be able to stay home with them and see the world through their eyes.  Next week, our Princess (3 1/2 yr. old) will start going to preschool this summer.  It’s only one day a week, but it’s a big step for her and me…she’s been with me every day since she’s been born and this will be her first time away from me and her sister.  She’s very excited to go, so I think it will be a good thing for her!  Our little Monkey (2 yr. old) won’t know what to do without her there, but it’ll be good for her too.  Now she can have some alone time with Mommy!  Hopefully this will give me more time to do what I love…crafts! 

I love anything to do with parties!!!  I enjoy making party printables and all the baking that goes along with each theme!  My hubby says I go overboard for the girls’ birthday parties, but that’s just me…I LOVE everything about a party…the planning, designing the invites, thank you notes, goody bag tags, etc. and especially the shopping!  Finding the perfect items for the tables and goody bags and then planning the menu, cupcakes and the birthday girl’s cake!  I’m so glad our girls birthdays are 6 months apart…that gives me enough time to plan each one…and that also means that I’m constantly planning a party!!!  YAY!!!

I’ve recently started baking with the girls too!  Yes, I was one of those moms that always made the boxed cakes and brownies…and they’re okay…but my mom gave me her KitchenAid mixer recently and I’m having so much fun using it!  The thing is older than me…and probably closer to almost 50 years old, but it still works great!  I need to get a new whisk for it, but that’s easy to get.  For the past few weeks I’ve been making cupcakes, muffins and brownies with the girls…and even pizza dough!  My husband is from Chicago and loves him some deep dish pizza, but you just can’t find anything even close in Dallas!  So, I found a recipe online and wanted to surprise him and did I?!…he loved it!  He was shocked how close it was to the real thing!

Somthing else I’ve started doing lately is sewing!  I made a skirt for our Little Monkey’s 2nd birthday party  and a dress for the Princess too.  It was just a skirt sewn onto a tank top, but she loved it and that’s all that matters!  I have lots of fabric to make them dresses and skirts and maybe even shorts for this summer.  I’m making some bows with the leftover fabric and I also have lots of ribbon to make bows too.  So you’ll be seeing a little bit of everything on here!  I’d love to make them for others too!  So if you see something you like, please let me know what you think. 

I’ll be posting different crafts that the girls and I do together and also a little bit of what we bake!  I’m excited to start this blog and I hope you’ll enjoy it too!