Category: Recipes

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Perfectly Perfect Snickerdoodles

No, no. I mean it. These guys are soft in the middle, chewy-crunchy on the edges and cinnamony all over the place. That, my friends–spells perfectly perfect. You may just find yourself stuffing a couple of these in your purse, and skipping down the road singing a few bars of, “Oh, happy day…”

And rightly so.

Perfectly Perfect Snickerdoodles

Ingredients:

3 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. cream of tartar

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

2tsp. vanilla

—————————-

1/4 cup sugar

2 tsp. cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix together flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt, and set aside. Cream butter and brown sugar and 1 cup of white sugar on medium speed until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, then add vanilla. Slowly add flour mixture and beat on low just until mixed.

Mix 1/4 cup sugar and 2 tsp. cinnamon in a bowl. Roll dough into 1 inch balls and then in the cinnamon sugar. Place 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes and allow to cool slightly before moving to cooling rack.

Go get ’em.

Return with honor.

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Perfectly Perfect Snickerdoodles
 
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Ingredients
  • 3 cups flour
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 2 tsp. cream of tartar
  • ½ tsp. salt
  • 1 cup butter
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2tsp. vanilla
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • 2 tsp. cinnamon
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  2. Mix together flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt, and set aside.
  3. Cream butter and brown sugar and 1 cup of white sugar on medium speed until fluffy.
  4. Add eggs one at a time, then add vanilla.
  5. Slowly add flour mixture and beat on low just until mixed.
  6. Mix ¼ cup sugar and 2 tsp. cinnamon in a bowl.
  7. Roll dough into 1 inch balls and then in the cinnamon sugar.
  8. Place 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.
  9. Bake for 10 minutes and allow to cool slightly before moving to cooling rack.

 

 

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Easter Egg Cake Bites

I have to admit–I was a little nervous how these little cake bites would turn out. But look! Aren’t they pretty?

1-spring-258-500x375

Check them out more closely now–so that you can truly appreciate their glorious-ness. Oh, and that’s a pink bunny in the middle, not a wisdom tooth. Just saying…

Followed the simple tips for making Cake Bites from the Bakerella blog a couple of years ago while making Halloween Cake Pops. It goes like this~

Bake your favorite cake as directed. Once cooled, crumble into a large bowl. Now add 3/4 of a tub of compatible frosting and stir.

Scoop the cake into balls and then form them into egg shapes…

like this. Refrigerate or freeze about an hour.

Once cooled, dip your little cake bites in melted white chocolate…or regular chocolate…whatever you like.

Spoon each egg onto a waxed paper lined cookie sheet.

Some of these eggs may look a bit scary to you–but we had so much fun. Also, after they were decorated, I was shocked at how good they looked.  :}

Once set–decorate any way you like. We used green candy melts–striped across–and colored sanding sugar.

And let me just tell you—

some sweet things are impossible to resist!

Note: Once your eggs set completely, store in an air tight container for up to 3-4 days…like they’ll last that long.

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Easter Garden Carrots

You are about to see a lovely row of carrots in a whole new light–and totally garden dirt free.  This is one of those posts that don’t really need any words—but when did that ever stop me?

I saw these adorable carrot tops in Parent’s Magazine and didn’t bother to read the official instructions. I mean, seriously, how hard could it be?

Take a cute little marshmallow Circus Peanut…

and cut the top half from the bottom half…

like this.

Pinch the top half of the peanut into a carrot shape. Do whatever you want with the bottom half.

Now take the green Twizzlers from the pack and cut them into pieces about 1 inch long.

You can snip halfway down to make the “carrot top” flay a bit.

Once your favorite cupcakes are out of the oven, let them cool. Frost with white icing….

and assemble your carrots and then the green tops by pressing them into the frosting. What do you think? Aren’t they simple and amazing?

Yes…yes they are.

Now go forth my friends…and garden.

:}

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Better Than Cadbury Eggs

Cadbury Eggs

Tell the truth now–aren’t these adorable? I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, “Heyyy, if I make these lovelies, I can fool all my friends into believing that I bought them.”

Why you would want to do that, I’m not sure, but it doesn’t matter.

Pretty sure your friends will see right through the gag–because first of all these eggs won’t be wrapped in pretty colored foil and secondly, because they actually taste even BETTER than the ones you’re used to.

Hard to believe–eh? Well, I’m not kidding. These are just ooey and gooey enough to be marvelous, but firm enough to stay put while you’re eating them.

Big plus.

Better Than The Famous Chocolate Eggs

Ingredients:

1/4 cup butter

7 oz. marshmallow cream

1 tsp. vanilla

3 cups powdered sugar

yellow food coloring

12 oz chocolate chips

2 Tbsp. shortening

In a mixing bowl, blend the butter, marshmallow cream and vanilla until smooth. Slowly beat in the powdered sugar. Separate about 1/4 cup of the mixture into a small bowl. Add a few drops of the yellow color and mix well. In the first batch, I added a couple of drops of red. It turned out too orange…oh, well. You may need to chill the dough a bit to make it more firm and workable. If so, give it about 30 minutes.

Next–It helps to dip a spoon into the powdered sugar to coat it—

then when you scoop up a bit of the yellow dough–it won’t stick as much.

Shape them into small marble sized balls and set aside.

You can use a regular spoon–but if you’re lucky enough to have a small scoop–dust it with sugar and roll up little egg sized mounds of the plain white dough.

Wrap one piece of plain dough around each yellow ball and form into an egg shape.

Place on waxed paper-lined cookie sheet and freeze for about 15 minutes.

Melt chocolate chips and shortening in a double boiler. Stir until smooth and shiny. Dip eggs in chocolate until coated…

and set back on waxed paper.

If you can tap off a bit more excess chocolate than I did–yours will be prettier than mine.

Chill until set. I suppose you could wrap them in foil if you want…

or decorate them with icing or candy, but I’m a bit of a purist–so we left these cute things just like this.

Did I lie? Aren’t they adorable?

These might even fool that famous bunny.

Cluck-cluck.

:}

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Better Than The Famous Chocolate Eggs
 
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Ingredients
  • ¼ cup butter
  • 7 oz. marshmallow cream
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • 3 cups powdered sugar
  • yellow food coloring
  • 12 oz chocolate chips
  • 2 Tbsp. shortening
Instructions
  1. In a mixing bowl, blend the butter, marshmallow cream and vanilla until smooth. Slowly beat in the powdered sugar.
  2. Separate about ¼ cup of the mixture into a small bowl.
  3. Add a few drops of the yellow color and mix well.
  4. You may need to chill the dough a bit to make it more firm and workable. If so, give it about 30 minutes.
  5. It helps to dip a spoon into the powdered sugar to coat it—then when you scoop up a bit of the yellow dough–it won’t stick as much.
  6. Shape them into small marble sized balls and set aside.
  7. You can use a regular spoon–but if you’re lucky enough to have a small scoop–dust it with sugar and roll up little egg sized mounds of the plain white dough.
  8. Wrap one piece of plain dough around each yellow ball and form into an egg shape. Place on waxed paper-lined cookie sheet and freeze for about 15 minutes.
  9. Melt chocolate chips and shortening in a double boiler.
  10. Stir until smooth and shiny.
  11. Dip eggs in chocolate until coated and set back on waxed paper.
  12. Chill until set.
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Evil Ham and Egg Strata

My sister and her brand new husband came to our place for dinner a few nights ago. In an attempt to be incredibly impressive we whipped up this savory little dish so that they’d believe that they’d been magically spirited away to a romantic Italian bed and breakfast, or a local Cracker Barrel or something. In fact, we made two of them–believing, naively, that we’d eat the second one the next morning.

Pretty sure we had Corn Chex for breakfast, cause I’m telling you–there was nothing left of this lovely thing. Want everyone in your world to think you’re a culinary genius? Read on my friends…

Ham and Egg Strata

Ingredients:

1/2 cup smoked ham–sliced, or diced

2-3 slices of Sour Dough Bread

6 eggs

1/4 cup Evaporated Milk

1/4 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. ground pepper

1 cup shredded Cheddar Cheese

Lightly grease an oblong casserole dish. Butter the bread and trim off crusts. Place bread, butter side down into casserole dish.  Some people like to tear the bread into bite sized pieces–but I like order, so do it my way.

Whirl eggs, salt, pepper and evaporated milk in blender for about 1 minute–or until mixed completely. Pour evenly over bread.

Let it sit for about 5 minutes to get all soaky.

Sprinkle ham over the top.

Now you have a choice to make. You can either cover with foil and let it rest in the refrigerator overnight or not.

~If you choose to not…then proceed to the next step. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200. Your dish will be light and fluffy and incredible.

~If you choose the overnight option, be sure to take the dish out of the refrigerator about 30 minutes before cooking to allow it to warm up. Your dish will be more dense and moist and also fabulous. Don’t skip the warm up step or your dish will cook unevenly and you won’t be able to tell anyone that you got the recipe from me because it will be cooked in some places and gooey in others. Not cool. Heed this warning my friends.

Sprinkle with shredded cheese.

Bake uncovered at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until it looks slightly golden on top.

Let it rest for about 5-10 minutes then serve warm with something elegant like…oh, what the heck–Tatertots work great.

Email me when your making this. I’ll be right over to help you pick up all the money and roses and stuff that your family will be tossing your way…

you genius, you!

——————

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Evil Ham and Egg Strata
 
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Ingredients
  • ½ cup smoked ham–sliced, or diced
  • 2-3 slices of Sour Dough Bread
  • 6 eggs
  • ¼ cup Evaporated Milk
  • ¼ tsp. salt
  • ⅛ tsp. ground pepper
  • 1 cup shredded Cheddar Cheese
Instructions
  1. Lightly grease an oblong casserole dish. Butter the bread and trim off crusts. Place bread, butter side down into casserole dish.
  2. Whirl eggs, salt, pepper and evaporated milk in blender for about 1 minute–or until mixed completely. Pour evenly over bread.
  3. Let it sit for about 5 minutes to get all soaky.
  4. Sprinkle ham over the top.
  5. Sprinkle with shredded cheese.
  6. Bake uncovered at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until it looks slightly golden on top.
  7. Let it rest for about 5-10 minutes then serve warm.