Valentine's Day Cookies

I love to flood and layer cookies with all kinds of fun and elaborate decorations. However, when the two little people need lots of V-Day cookies for school, I keep it simple...after all, it's doubtful that 25 first and second graders are going to be examining the decorations! Below are some of the super-simple cookies we decorated. My daughter loves the color combination of pink and green, so we varied a bit from traditional V-day colors.

Sweet Treat

Chocolate and nuts are one of my favorite combinations. I recently found myself with an abundance of almonds that I had purchased in bulk and needed to use. First, I toasted them for 5 minutes in a 350 degree oven:


Next, I melted milk chocolate chips in a double broiler:


Add one tablespoon solid vegetable shortening (this allows the candy to set up properly later):


Heat and stir until chocolate is smooth:


By this point, my nuts have toasted and are mostly cooled. Chop to desired coarseness:


Stir nuts into melted chocolate:


Spoon into miniature baking cups:


Don't rush - wait until they are completely cool and they will be easy to remove from the baking cup. Enjoy!

This Weekend in Cakes

I am happily resting with feet up and chilled beverage in hand after a very busy weekend, with two more weekends just like it on the horizon. In addition to catering, I created the below cakes:

To Each His Own

I have no words....

Cake gallery updated, click here to view!

Productive Days

I love productive days. Nothing compares to hitting the pillow completely exhausted at the end of the day. Today was one such day. We had lots of things cookin' in the kitchen and I am falling into bed knowing that my day produced the following deliciousness:

10 lbs buttercream for the upcoming weekend cake orders
Hors d'oeuvres for a client
Refreshments for my church choir
Mexican Food for my family
Soups prepared and frozen

In addition to food, I squeezed in a bit of time to finish off some administrative work and process some additional cake orders. Working hard results in a great night of sleep!!

'Night all......

Cake

The below cake was made for a sixth birthday party. The bottom tier is chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream filling and top tier is vanilla cake with lemon buttercream filling. Both tiers are covered in rolled fondant. The top tier is covered in white fondant and then painted with pink luster dust.

Faithful Friend

My faithful friend and I are celebrating ten years together this week. In fact, on this very day one decade ago, my husband presented me with my sidekick as a gift for my 21st birthday! Yes, I guess that makes me 31, but my point here is to relate that after ten years of hard work, many batches of bread and cookie dough, more cakes than I could possibly count, delectable meringues and enough garlic mashed potatoes to feed an army, my faithful aide in the kitchen is still working as beautifully as she did right out of the box:


When she first came to live in my kitchen, she was the largest on the market - the cadillac of home mixers at that time. I simply haven't had the heart to trade in my comrade....I do, however, feel that she needs a big sister....perhaps of the Professional 600 variety....