The One Where I Feel Guilty (even though it wasn't my fault)

Christmas means LOTS of parties with LOTS of goodies, so I made up a HUGE batch of Christmas cake balls for a few different things: a cookie exchange, my brother's youth group party, and my mom's work party. I made 2 kinds - white cake with white frosting, and white cake with mint chocolate frosting (just add a little mint extract to store bought chocolate frosting - make sure to get the kind with box tops for me!). Then, to make them a little more festive, I decided to add mini candy canes. For the mint chocolate ones, I used a candy cane stick to dip them, and then left it in. I think they kind of look like Christmas ornaments...

Then I decided to do a little stress relief by putting the rest of the candy canes into a little plastic baggie and slamming it onto the counter to make even smaller pieces (I was a little alarmed by how much I enjoyed this part)!

Next I made little piles of the candy cane crumbs, dipped the cake balls, and put them on top of the candy canes. After they hardened, I turned them over, and they looked super cute!

When they were all done, I put Kim (yay, home from Africa!) in charge of arranging them, and here they are, looking all festive and Christmas-y... 

I thought after this that I was done with cake balls for a while, but when I went to work on Thursday for our holiday potluck lunch, I realized I was wrong. This is where the guilt comes in...Even though I had made delicious mini pumpkin cheesecakes to share, I was yelled at for not bringing cake balls! Apparently someone (not me) had promised there would be cake balls (made by me), so they were expecting cake balls! So, to make everyone happy, I went home and made a new batch. They turned out just as cute, especially when I wrapped them up in cute Christmas bags to give to the people who complained the most!

The One with No Baking

These don't actually have much to do with baking, but they are just too cute, so I decided to share...

First, my snowman for the bulletin board at work. The secretaries passed one out to everyone, then we were supposed to decorate them. I thought ok, just get out the magic markers - draw a hat, scarf, whatever. But then, the other snowmen started to go up and I started to get stressed out because they were SO creative. So my mom (thanks, mom!) kind of took over creating my snowman (I know, I'm like the kid who's mom does their homework), and sewed her a little apron so that she could be a snowbaker! Look how cute she turned out...

Also school related, we have been learning about the Polar Regions (penguins, polar bears, snow, etc...). The other day, I got desperate and decided to bribe the kids with a polar bear art project. So then I actually had to find a polar bear art project! I looked around and found a cute idea where you cover a picture of a polar bear with coconut to look like the fur. I think they turned out super cute, plus now my classroom smells good! Next step is to cut them out and write some polar bear facts (did you know that they don't have eyelashes?), then stick them up on our winter wonderland bulletin board! Cute, right?

Now this last one has absolutely nothing to do with baking (at least the coconut project has a baking ingredient involved), but it's too cute not to share. Every year at Christmas, my mom, sister, aunt, and I help with a Christmas store for the Community Outreach Center in Carol Stream. We collect money and then get to go on a HUGE shopping spree to buy tons of toys for the kids. It's so fun spending someone else's money on all kinds of fun stuff. This year we filled 7 shopping carts, overflowing with clothes, books, games, dolls, and toys. And our favorite, this sweet bird bean bag chair...

I promise next time, there will be more baking involved...Stay tuned for my family's favorite Christmas treats...

The One With the Thanksgiving Project!

In my family, it's not Thanksgiving without all of our crazy traditions. One of the best is the (mandatory for everyone) Thanksgiving Project. Over the years, it has been everything from painting birdhouses to team gingerbread house building to decorating candle holders. The one my sister and I always remember (and beg to re-create) was the year we made a gingerbread village. It was fronts of houses that we decorated, then set up around a lake made of foil, and surrounded with coconut snow. This year, our wish came true when my Aunt pulled these out...

Everything is included: Frosting, Candy, Gingerbread, etc... The pieces come already baked, and hooked together, so all you have to do is break them apart and frost them back together to look like a house!

Everyone got their own to decorate. Here's my before and after...

After all of the decorating, my sister, cousins, and I may or may not have gotten a little bit carried away with constructing the village! You decide...

 Here are some close-ups of the different village buildings...

The Bakery



In the front: the Christmas Tree farm, with the Barn and the Bank behind it. Up on the hill: Santa's House and Toy Shop.



In the very back: the Candy Shop. Up on the little hill: the Church.



The Little Neighborhood (Can you spot the foreclosures?)



The Skating Pond and Christmas Tree (where Whos from Whoville should be gathered around singing "dah who dor-aze"

Hope you enjoy looking at it as much as we enjoyed making it!



The One with My New Favorite Thing

In honor of Oprah's Favorite Things Show (hilarious reactions, if you haven't seen it), I would like to introduce you to one of my new favorite things: A Mini Cheesecake Pan! (Sorry to say you won't all be getting one at the end of this blog, but if you love it as much as I do, you can buy your own here). It makes the cutest little cheesecakes (and I love cute little things, which might explain part of why I love this pan so much)!
To fully appreciate the genius of the mini cheesecake pan, you need to see the pan before anything is baked in it. The pan is kind of like a cupcake pan - you can bake 12 at a time - but the bottoms are different. There is a hole in the bottom of each cup, like this...

Before baking, you put a little disk over the top of each hole...

Next step is making the crust - basically just graham cracker crumbs, melted butter, and a little brown sugar mixed together. Put a heaping tablespoon in each cup, then moosh it down so that some of the crumbs spread up the sides. (I used a mini tupperware cup, which worked really well). It should look like this...

Then, pick your filling. I made 2 different kinds - one pumpkin, the other chocolate peanut butter. Use all of the batter to fill up the cups - they will be super full, but don't worry, they kind of shrink down as they cool when they come out of the oven.


Filled up with batter and ready to bake.



After they are baked, ready to cool.

The great thing about these mini cheesecakes is that they aren't complicated to bake, like a full size cheesecake, where you have to have a springform pan, a roasting pan to put it in, and then leave it sitting in the oven forever!
The only tricky part comes after baking, when you have to get them out of the pan. This is where the holes in the bottom come in handy. After they cool for about 20 minutes in the pan, you take your finger and poke it up through the hole in the bottom to push the cheesecake out.

Be careful, because as the cheesecake starts to pop out, it also starts to tip over, so be ready with your other hand to grab it!

 The finished cheesecakes are adorable - and I think they will be even cuter with a little whipped cream on top when we eat them later tonight!

Happy Thanksgiving!

More Scones!

I still haven't had enough pumpkin treats yet, so after making pumpkin cupcakes, pancakes, and cakeballs, I decided to make some pumpkin scones (stay tuned for mini pumpkin cheesecakes, too). I went searching for a recipe and found one that claimed to be better than Starbucks. I've never had pumpkin scones from Starbucks, but I thought they sounded good.

I got the recipe from Food.com and I mostly followed it, except for a few minor details...1. I used whole wheat white flour, 2. Instead of half-and-half, I used skim milk 3. I kept adding more milk because the dough was so crumbly.

They turned out pretty tasty, and I think they look kind of pretty on the baking rack.

I made 2 different kinds of glaze to go on them. One just powdered sugar and milk with some cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. The other molasses, milk, and powdered sugar. They were both pretty tasty!

The One with the Scones

I know most of you just read the title and pronounced "scones" like it rhymes with cones. Allow me to instruct you on the correct pronunciation: It's really "scones" like it rhymes with cons (like a con artist). How do I know this, you might ask? From spending time in the "Mother Country" (AKA Scotland), where my Great Auntie Grace and Uncle Bill owned a book shop/tea room and sold scones for many years. So now that you know, feel free to instruct others. (Just continue calling them scones, rhymes with cones, at Starbucks otherwise they look at you like you're crazy.)

Anyway, my mom's work has been CRAZY lately, so I thought they deserved a special treat. I decided to whip up a batch of "Sara's Scones" for her to share. This recipe is from a friend of my aunt. Her sister, Sara, came up with the recipe. It is such a simple recipe, but also really tasty. Everytime I make these, they are a hit! So here's the basic recipe...

• 3 c. flour (I use whole wheat white flour and I actually use a little less than 3 cups or it's too crumbly)
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1 1/2 Tbs. baking powder
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 c. filler: cinnamon chips, craisins, blueberries, etc... (I like to use cinnamon chips, buy them at Mejer)
• 2 c. heavy cream (save a little for brushing on top)
• Extra sugar for sprinkling on top

1. Mix the dry ingredients with whatever filler you choose. I actually like to use a little more than 1/2 a cup, FYI. Then add the cream. It will be a little crumbly, like this...

2. Split the dough into 2 balls and use a little flour to form each half into a ball. Then just kind of smoosh it down onto the counter so that it is a flat circle, like this...

3. There are 2 options for scone shapes: triangles or circles. In the Mother Country, scones are mostly circles, but around here they seem to be mostly rectangle. To make rectangles, cut the circle into 8 triangles (you can also cut those triangles in half for mini scones).

3a. To make circles, I use these great circle cutters I bought in Scotland. I love them for so many reasons: the fun color, the great handles, the crinkle edges...

4. Once they are cut, put them on a cookie sheet or pizza stone, and brush them with the leftover cream. I don't actually have a brush, so I just dump a little on with a spoon and kind of smear it around. Then sprinkle some sugar on top of each one. I like to use what I call "Big Sugar".

5. Bake at 425 for 12-15 minutes (make sure to check on them for browning early).

They come out looking good, no matter what shape they were when they went in!

Grab yourself some tea, and go enjoy your scones (and make sure you pronounce it correctly!)

The One With All the Pumpkin!

A few weeks ago when I was making all the cake balls, I had some leftover pumpkin in the fridge from making pumpkin pancakes. I thought, how great would pumpkin cake balls be?! So I went in search of a good recipe. I found this super easy, super good one at Bake at 360. All you do is get a cake mix (hopefully one with 2 box tops like the one I got, so then you can give them to me, so my class can win!) Mix that together with...

1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp allspice (I didn't have any, but I don't think it made a difference)
1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
3/4 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
4 large eggs (Actually, I only used 3 and it turned out fine)

Bake the cake, then crumble it up and mix it with cream cheese frosting (I used a can, with box tops, since it was just for cake balls). Roll them, freeze them, dip them (see more detailed instructions here), and you have...

Pumpkin Cake Balls!

These were so good, (and I also really liked the way the cake tasted all by itself), that I decided to make some pumpkin cupcakes using the same recipe. This time instead of using canned frosting, I made some spiced cream cheese frosting to go on top (so much better than canned). I also wanted to make frosting because, the last time I was at Whole Foods, I discovered fair trade powdered sugar and it was ON SALE!

So not only did these cupcakes taste great, they also helped out the sugar makers farmers producers.

I added a candy corn on top to finish it off, but I kind of like this picutre with the little pumpkin in the background (look close, you'll see it!) Happy Fall!