Chocolate Frosting...Because it is a Chocolate Kind of Day!

The boys and I baked some goodies today. I made my favorite recipe of chocolate frosting to go over our brownies. It is the absolute best chocolate frosting ever and goes well over both cakes and brownies! We love it!

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup crisco
• 3-4 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 cups baking cocoa
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4--1/2 cup milk

Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and crisco so is completely smooth. It helps to soften the butter and crisco a little bit in microwave. Add vanilla and mix well. In separate bowl whisk together cocoa and powdered sugar. Slowly add to large mixing bowl adding a little at a time to butter mixture. Add enough milk until frosting reaches spreading consistency.

Crazy for Cookies!

I ran across this sugar cookie recipe on allrecipes.com and simply had to try it out with the boys. It was really simple. The only changes I made was I used the butter flavored crisco sticks and added a bit of almond extract in addition to the vanilla extract the recipe calls for. Our cookies only took 8 minutes to bake in our oven and they cooled perfectly and were perfectly soft. Might have to keep this recipe around for the holidays this year when we make our sugar cookie cutters. Could be a new favorite!

http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/soft-sugar-cookies-iv/Detail.aspx

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup shortening
• 2/3 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar for decoration

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, shortening and sugar. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt, stir into the creamed mixture until dough comes together. Roll dough into walnut sized balls and roll the balls in sugar. Place them on an unprepared cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.
3. Bake cookies 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven, until bottom is light brown. Remove from baking sheets to cool on wire racks.

Don't steal me' rainbow cupcakes!

The boys and I made rainbow cupcakes yesterday for St Patrick's Day. It was a great way to practice colors with Thomas. We went over which colors when put together make other colors. The recipe was super easy to do. You just make your cake mix as usual. Then you separate it out into 6 equal parts. You add food coloring to each bowl to make the six colors of the rainbow. Then you layer them with a spoon or teaspoon into your cupcake pans in the order of a rainbow. When you pull the cupcake liners off it looks like a rainbow down the side of the cupcake. Bite into them and they look even cooler!!! For extra flair we decorated the top of them with green sprinkles for St. Patrick's Day. Thomas helped me with everything and even Ollie helped in the kitchen. He had his own bowl and spoon he played with in the kitchen.

Here Thomas was practicing lining up the cup cake liners. I will have to remember how much fun it was for him to do this. He kept counting them over and over as he re-stacked them each time.

He thought the liners were just hilarious. We normally don't make a lot of cupcakes so these are cool to him. I like that it is less mess, he likes that they, "are like blocks but make crinkly noises." Go figure.

Thomas loves to help stir the cake mix. He kept asking me what things he can do. I don't let him crack the eggs but boy would he love it if I did. He had fun using the whisk to mix the ingredients together.

Here the batter has been divided up into ceramic dishes. It took a little bit of trial and error to get the dye colors right but the turned out perfectly with a little extra hard work.

Here is the batter all layered in the liners. Just remember if you try this yourself to allow for a little room from the top since the batter will expand. A little batter goes a long ways.

Here you can just about see all the colors. The trick I think is using just a dab less on each layer if you want it to bake just right.

Showing off the cupcakes before going in the oven. He was very proud of our hard work in the kitchen. Both the boys kept wanting to watch through the glass window in the oven.

Ta da!!! They are done!!! He begged me to let him eat one right away. How could I say no?

Unfortunately one meant TWO. I made him wait to frost the cupcakes before eating any. Oliver was getting pretty testy with me--he wanted those cupcakes right then and there!

Thomas couldn't decide which one he wanted. This picture just cracks me up. You can just tell how excited he is to get his hands on that cupcake!

Silly boy!

Better take one last picture before they are all gone!

The destruction of the first cupcake! Youngest always come first!

At last....cupcakes for all!

The aftermath photo. They both ended up with frosting all over their face. However Oliver also had a little sugar rush. He loves his sugar. Don't tell our dentist! :-)

Cookies for Church!

Mmmmm hot and fresh cookies!!! And no they are not for me. Our focus for the second week of Lent was to give as much as we can of ourselves. Through out the week we focused on what we can do to be kind to others and how we can use the gifts God has given us to bless others in our lives. So to wrap up the week, I am bringing some yummy MONSTER size cookies for the treat cart at church. I am going to have to resist the temptation to eat these all up, and to keep the kids out of them too. But it feels good to give.

Thank you Lord for blessing us and allowing us to give back to those around us. Sometimes all it takes is taking the extra time to listen to a stranger who needs help. Sometimes you ask us to give financially. And other times you call for us to use our own great gifts that you have given us and share those with others. Help us to make sacrifices and share our gifts so that we can share joy and peace in your name. Amen!

Here is the recipe for anyone who wants to try it! We found it on Cooks.com and used the Easter M&Ms for some fun spring colors!

M & M PARTY COOKIES

1 c. shortening 1 c. brown sugar 1/2 c. granulated sugar 2 tsp. vanilla 2 eggs 2 1/4 c. sifted flour 1 tsp. soda 1 tsp. salt 1 1/2 c. M & Ms Blend shortening and sugars. Beat in vanilla and eggs. Add remaining dry ingredients and mix well. Stir in 1/2 M & Ms. Reserve the rest for decorating. Drop onto ungreased cookie sheet. Decorate as desired and bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until golden.

A Valentine Treat for YOU!

Thomas and I baked cupcakes after church on Sunday night. They were super yummy! They were gone in days and even that is quite amazing since we love eating goodies in this house! Enjoy our Valentine's Day Photos!

Family sent some special cards and presents in the mail. The boys are opening their gifts here:

Showing off the goods!

The boys gave their daddy the card they made him!

It's not Christmas Eve without a little baking in the kitchen!

Thomas and I made Kringlas today! They turned out beautiful! Up next are gingerbread men and more sugar cookies! We ate all of ours from last week so now we have to make more for Santa. Weight Watchers and gym membership...see you in 2010! ;-)

Here is the recipe we used:

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups of sugar

1 egg

2 cups of sour cream (2 8 oz size containers)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp almond extract

3 1/2 cups of flour

2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease baking sheets.

Combine the sugar, beaten egg and sour cream together. Add vanilla extract and almond extract. Stir well. Mix in the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Blend thoroughly.

Gather dough into a large ball. Take a freezer size ziplock bag. Spray with a little nonstick spray on the inside, then sprinkle in about a 1/4 cup of flour and shake up. Place dough in ziplock bag. Cut off a 1/2 inch or narrower tip of the bag in the corner. Use to squeeze out little tubes of dough. This keeps your hands from getting super messy in the sticky dough.

Roll lightly with hands on lightly floured board into a tube about 6-8 inches long. Form into a figure "8" , and pinch ends together. You can wet your fingers with water if necessary if dough doesn't want to stick very easilly.

Place figure 8's on cookie sheet. Repeat with remaining dough. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 10 minutes or until tops are just starting to brown.

Upside-Down Peach Cake

I tried this recipe for the first time and it was so yummy. I have to share it with you to try!

A recipe for peach upside down cake made with a white cake mix.

Prep Time: 15 min
Cook Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 can peach slices, (29 ounce can)
maraschino cherries, halved
2 eggs
1 box white cake mix

Preparation:
Pour oil in 13x9x2-inch pan; sprinkle brown sugar evenly in pan. Drain peaches, reserving syrup in a large measuring cup. Arrange peaches and cherry halves in the sugar mixture, I used a bundt pan and made a ring of peaches. Add enough water to peach juice to make 1 1/3 cups of liquid; add liquid and 2 eggs to cake mix. Mix as directed on the package. Pour batter over the fruit. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 60-70 minutes or until cake pulls away from sides of pan. Let stand 5 minutes then turn upside down onto a cake dish or large platter. I recommend placing a pizza pan or baking sheet with edges covered in foil underneath where you would like the cake because it can be messy when you flip the cake. Serve warm with peach or vanilla ice cream.