Polka Dot Peanut Butter Bananas

Posted in food & flavor & recipes by Rosemary Lynn

I gotta tell ya . . . ever since I was a kid, I could just never get into Ants on a Log.

You know those things where people spread peanut butter over pieces of celery and dot the peanut butter with raisins meant to resemble little bugs?

Yeah. I can’t stand celery.

It’s one of those things that I do – very, very occasionally – cook with. Like in soups. BUT, I dice up the celery super small and use less than what’s called for.

In other words, if I don’t like the taste and texture of something, I’m not going to eat it as a “snack.”

So, especially considering that I’m not a huge raisin fan either, Ants on a Log was never a thing for me.

Until now.

See, bananas I like. And combine them with peanut butter and chocolate chips, and BOOM: super awesome.

Seriously. The combo kind of tastes like cookies or cheesecake. It’s like a dessert, but in a slightly healthy snack. Well, it’s fruit anyway. And you could use any type of nut or seed butter.

Best part? The kids can make these treats themselves.

I went ahead and sliced the bananas in half and then in half again (to make four quarters out of one banana, which was easier for their little hands to hold), but then I gave them plastic knives to scoop and spread the peanut butter, and I put out a little dish of chocolate chips for them to stick in the peanut butter.

So it was interactive for them and they got to eat something they made.

Ridiculously simple and ridiculously good.

Happy Eating!

30Jun2016

Grobswitchy Cake: a BFG Recipe from Roald Dahl

Posted in activities for kids, books & book reviews, food & flavor & recipes by Rosemary Lynn

We read The BFG by Roald Dahl recently and my kids LOVED it.

It may have been a bit of a trogglehumper to gobblefunk around with some of those propsposterous words – especially at bedtime when my coffee has long worn off – but it was SO worth it! It was totally whoopsey-splunkers to see my girls burst into fits of laughter worthy of a big friendly giant.

And then, after reading the novel, we took a look at Roald Dahl’s Even More Revolting Recipes (which is a sequel to Roald Dahl’s Revolting Recipes), and decided to make the Grobswitchy Cake featured in the book, with just a few small changes.

We wound up using walnuts, because my oldest daughter loves them, and we traded out the amber crystals they suggested to use as grobswitches for Cake Mate’s Gold Sugar Cupcake Gems.

Now, I don’t know exactly what we did wrong, since baking with two kids can be … distracting … but somehow we had too much batter for our little pan. I put it in the oven like that anyway, but with some foil below it to catch the drippings.

(And – just FYI – dripped cake is actually kinda fabulous.)

It’s a pretty typical coffee cake recipe, but with a really beautiful sentiment, since it references how the BFG mixes up dreams:

“It is a little bit like mixing a cake,”the BFG said. “If you is putting the right amounts of all the different things into it, you is making the cake come out any way you want, sugary, splongy curranty, Christmassy or grobswitchy. It is the same with dreams.”

And to explore the story a little more, I suggest stopping by Roald Dahl’s official website.

Happy Baking!

10Jun2016

Shredded Spicy BBQ Chicken Crock Pot Freezer Meal

Posted in food & flavor & recipes by Rosemary Lynn

I haven’t made this recipe in a while, and I really don’t know why.

This Spicy Shredded BBQ Chicken is great. And it’s a Freezer Crock Pot meal, so you store them in the freezer, and then on the day you want to eat it, you just pull the bag out of the freezer and dump it into the crock pot.

A bit of work to shred it, but after that, you’re done!

And there’s leftovers, too. Can’t beat that!

This recipe makes two bags, but you easily can double or triple it and fill up your freezer.

But remember, it IS spicy. If you’re looking for a more mild version, go easy on the chili powder and consider using fewer green chilies per bag (the recipe calls for 2 oz) or splitting the 4 oz can between 4 bags instead of 2.

Here’s what I love about this (besides the ease of cooking and the leftovers): you just dump all the ingredients in a bag.

That’s it.

The prep is literally this: dump everything in the bag.

Sweeeeeeeet.

Make sure you write your instructions on your freezer bags first, before you fill them.

Then prop up the bags on the counter by folding the edges over themselves to keep it open.

Okay, okay…. there is ONE step before the dumping.

You do have to dice up the onions and garlic.

I use a garlic press and squeeze those babies right in the bag.

See?

Chicken in the bottom and everything else piled in on top. You may have to cut one chicken thigh in half if you have an uneven amount in your package.

And I guess you could – theoretically – measure out everything, but when it comes to the tomato sauce and chilies, I just go ahead and dump or scoop what looks like half the can into each bag. It’s close enough.

After that, the easiest way to mix it up is to massage the bag gently with your fingers for a minute.

Then you’ll want to squeeze out as much air as possible and seal the bag.

Lay each bag flat in the freezer on a tray or large box or anything that will allow it to freeze flat. Smooth flat any lumpy sections that might be sticking up.

Check after a couple of hours. Once frozen solid, the bags can be stacked or arranged on a shelf in an upright position.

When you take the bag out of the freezer, run it under the cold water in the sink for one minute to break up any large chunks – making sure the bag is still sealed and no water gets inside.

Then dump it in the crock pot. Cover and cook.

You can flip the chicken over a few times and stir it, if you like.

Or you can just leave it and let it cook. It doesn’t need stirring. But I compulsively check on crock pot stuff if I’m home when it’s cooking. Especially if it smells good. ;)

Once it’s cooked, remove the chicken to a bowl or plate and shred it with two forks.

As you work, add the shredded chicken back to the pot.

It should shred easily, and it’s best to have it shredded finely so that the sauce can cling to all the tiny moist pieces, but even if you’re in a super hurry, you can still mush it up pretty quickly.

Doesn’t that look good? And it’s not even mixed in yet!

Stir the shredded chicken back into the sauce and set the crock pot to the “stay warm” setting until you’re ready to serve it.

And there are so many ways to serve it. I sometimes serve it by itself with rice on the side, or you could put it on the rice. You can put it on a salad, in a taco, on some nachos, or – like in the photo at the top of the page – in a hamburger bun.

If you put it in a bun, you’ll want to toast the inside of the bun to help hold in all the juicy goodness. Maybe even top it with a little cole slaw.

From one bag, we made a dinner of sloppy joes (in the hamburger bun I mentioned), and then the next day, I constructed some taquitos with the leftovers, pictured below. I put a little chicken and a little cheese in a 6-inch tortilla, rolled up 15 of them and put them in a 13-by-9-inch dish with some nonstick spray. Then I baked them at 375°F for about 20 minutes and we dunked them in a little dish of sour cream to eat. My kids devoured them.

(Oh… and I turned on the broiler for a minute and walked away. Don’t do that. Don’t ever walk away from an active broiler… just sayin’)

Here’s the recipe:

Shredded Spicy BBQ Chicken Crock Pot Freezer Meal

Ingredients:

2 to 3 lbs. boneless skinless chicken thighs
1 sweet onion, diced
3 to 4 garlic gloves, diced or pressed
8 oz. can tomato sauce
4 oz. can diced green chilies, drained
1 tablespoon tomato paste
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon sweet or smoked paprika
2 teaspoons dry powdered mustard
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Label two gallon-sized freezer plastic bags with the instructions: Shredded Spicy BBQ Chicken. Cook on low 5-6 hours (or high 3-4 hours). Remove chicken, shred, return to sauce, stir, serve.

Evenly distribute all of the ingredients between both bags; for example half the chicken (even if you have to cut one thigh in half), 4 oz. of tomato sauce, 1 ½ tablespoons cider vinegar, et cetera, in each.

Gently massage the bag to mix the ingredients and press out as much air as you can before sealing. Lay the bags flat in the freezer, on a box or tray, and allow to freeze solid. Then you can stack them or store them upright until ready to use.

When ready to eat, dump the contents of the bag into a crock pot. You can run the closed plastic bag under cool water in the sink for a few minutes to make it easier to break it up. Put the lid on the crock pot and cook for 5 to 6 hours on low or 3 to 4 hours on high.

Remove the chicken to a plate or bowl and shred it with two forks. Allow it to cool first, if you need to. Return the shredded chicken to the crock pot and stir well. Serve or put on the “keep warm” setting until ready to eat.

Serving suggestions: over rice, inside hamburger buns, inside tacos or burritos, on a salad, or all by itself.

This recipe makes two bags/dinners. Each bag serves 6 to 8 people.

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To print the PDF version of the recipe, click here:

Shredded Spicy BBQ Chicken Crock Pot Freezer Meal

Happy Eating!

20Apr2016

Cookie Butter Fudge

Posted in food & flavor & recipes by Rosemary Lynn

So I decided to create a recipe for Cookie Butter Fudge.

And … oh … this is quite possibly both the best and worst thing I have ever done.

This fudge, people, is RIDICULOUS.

If you’ve read my other fudge recipes, you know that I abhor the types of fudge that don’t set and require refrigeration. So, in that vein, this fudge has no condensed milk, or even marshmallow creme or anything like that. It’s just good old fashioned homemade fudge.

With cookie butter.

*drools*

If you are here, I’m assuming you’re familiar with cookie butter. If not, you should seriously consider acquainting yourself immediately.

I used the Trader Joe’s Speculoos Cookie Butter which I ~~often~~ sometimes eat by the spoonful straight from the jar because, you know, it’s awesome. So that’s what I recommend.

But if it’s not available in your area (or you don’t want to order it from Amazon), I’ve seen similar products at Publix (European cookie spread) and Target (Biscoff creamy spread).

So, here we go…

Simple ingredients. Just milk, cream, butter, and sugar for the base, and cookie butter and vanilla for the extra flavor.

Dump the first ingredients in the pot and whisk together.

If you’ve forgotten to set out your butter ahead of time, just slice it and throw it in cold. Bring up the pan to a boil slowly, making sure the butter melts and gets combined.

But once it gets to a boil, do NOT stir it again. (It will get all grainy and weird.)

As it comes to a rolling boil, it’s going to expand. A LOT.

So use a very large pot.

As it cooks, it will reduce back down.

Once it gets to soft ball stage, it will be much thicker with larger bubbles.

This takes about 15 minutes.

Unless I’ve forgotten to leave it at a rolling simmer. If the temperature is too low, it can take a lot longer than 15 minutes to get to soft ball stage. Just make sure you get there, or the fudge won’t set.

Take it of the heat and quickly stir in the vanilla and cookie butter.

You’re going to beat it over a bowl of ice to help it cool down and set.

Stir it well, but as soon as it is thick enough to pull away from the sides and bottom of the pot while you stir it, go ahead and dump it in your prepared pan.

You’ll need to let it sit for awhile to finish setting up.

Once it’s hardened (this should take between 30 minutes and an hour), pull it out by the foil. You can let it sit longer, on a cooling rack, if it feels wobbly and soft.

Then place a large platter over the fudge and use that platter to flip it over:

You’ll want it to rest upside down for a bit to make sure the bottom dries out.

Then place a cutting board over it and flip it back to right side up.

Cut the fudge with a long sharp knife, wiping the blade on a towel between slices.

Let the fudge rest for awhile (at least two hours but I’ve left it out as long as overnight) so that it hardens all the way around.

You want it fully set not only so that you can stack the pieces on a plate or in a container, but also for the wonderful texture balance of the sugary, buttery flakiness of the exterior that contrasts with the utter softness of the interior that will melt in your mouth like a liquid drop of cookie joy.

Cookie Butter Fudge

Ingredients:

1 cup whole milk
1 cup heavy whipping cream
3 cups sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/2 cup Speculoos Cookie Butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Prepare an 8×8-inch baking dish with tin foil and a light coating of butter or cooking spray.

Whisk together the milk, cream, sugar, and butter in a large saucepan. Bring it to a rolling boil.

Reduce the heat and simmer it without stirring. This is important: do NOT stir the mixture! After 15 minutes, test the temperature with a thermometer. Once it reaches 235°F or soft ball stage, remove from heat. Do NOT stop simmering until it reaches this temperature, or it will not set. This may take more than 15 minutes. It will be noticeably thicker when it’s done.

Remove from heat and stir in the cookie butter and vanilla extract.

Fill a large bowl with ice and place the saucepan into the bowl on top of the ice. Stir the fudge over the ice until it is very thick. Then (making sure not to let any of the melted ice get into your fudge) pour it into the prepared baking dish, spreading it smooth.

Place baking dish on a wire rack and allow to set. This may take a half hour or longer, depending on the temperature and humidity of your home. Carefully remove the fudge from the dish by pulling out the foil. Place a large plate over the fudge and flip it over so that the fudge can rest upside down for a few minutes, to let the bottom to dry. Follow the same procedure to flip it right side up on a cutting board.

Cut into squares or rectangles with a sharp knife, wiping the blade on a towel between slices. Allow the pieces to sit without touching for at least a 2 hours or overnight to make sure each piece is fully set and has a nice solidity all the way around the smooth interior. Then store covered.

Makes about 3 dozen 1-inch pieces.

[Note: I used Trader Joe’s Speculoos Cookie Butter, but you can substitute any European cookie spread.]

**********

And to print the free PDF of the recipe, click here:

Cookie Butter Fudge

Happy Baking!

12Apr2016

Triple Chocolate Iced Scones

Posted in food & flavor & recipes by Rosemary Lynn

I recently made some Sweet Honey Scones (they’re awesome btw, you should try them) and I was still in the mood for scones, but also really in the mood for chocolate.

This was my solution.

And a pretty darned great one, if I do say so myself.

These Triple Chocolate Iced Scones are thick and crumbly like a biscuit, but moist too and so very chocolatey.

I’ve been eating these for breakfast and dessert.

I love versatility. ;)

They’re freshest within the first 2 or 3 days, but that shouldn’t be a problem. They are SO easy to eat.

Oh, and the “triple” in the name comes from them being chocolate scones with chocolate chips throughout and topped by a decadent chocolate icing. *drools*

Getting set up.

After you mix together the dry ingredients, you’ll cut in the cold butter.

Then comes the cream and vanilla (yum!) and the chocolate chips.

Looks good once it all comes together, no?

Knead it gently to pull it together. Overworking the dough will make it tough.

And sprinkle some cocoa powder instead of flour over your work surface to keep it from sticking.

Shape the dough with your hands into a circle or a square.

A circle will make 8 large wedges. The squares above come in a count of 16, but as you can see in the photo below, I further cut these squares down by slicing them diagonally to make small triangles.

Which made it easier to eat two or three or four at a time…….

The dough is just slightly sticky enough that you may have to reshape it after cutting, especially if you use a pizza cutter like I did.

But that’s okay. They reshape easily with your fingers. Just press the dough where you want it to go.

The icing is optional, technically, but such a nice touch.

Just blend the cocoa powder and powdered sugar and stir in a little vanilla and water until you’ve got smooth ribbons of chocolate easily dripping from your fork in thin ribbons.

The baked scones, pre-icing.

Try not to over bake them or the bottoms will burn. The bottoms will be a little darker than the rest anyway, but keep an eye on them towards the end.

They’ll be done when they look puffy and solid, and there’s no indent left behind when you touch the top with your finger.

How wonderful do these things look covered in icing??

Cover your work space with waxed paper or something similar to catch the drips of icing.

To decorate your scones like this, scoop the fork into the icing and then wave it back and forth over the scones to drizzle them generously with the liquid yummy-ness.

Let the icing dry completely before storing. I usually let things like this sit for at least an hour (or more) to make ultra-certain that the icing is hardened all the way through and won’t get smooshed when I stack them in a container.

Triple Chocolate Iced Scones

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/3 cup cocoa powder
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (one stick) cold unsalted butter, sliced
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips

Icing:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon vanilla
2 to 3 tablespoons water

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

Whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Use a pastry cutter or two knives to cut the cold butter into the flour mixture until it resembles large crumbs.

Add the cream and vanilla to the dry mixture and stir until just moistened. Add the chocolate chips. Knead it gently with your hands to pull it all together. Do not overmix.

Sprinkle a little cocoa powder over your work surface, and shape the dough with your hands into a circle or square about 8 inches across and one inch high. Cut the circle into 8 large wedges or cut the square into 16 smaller squares. If you’d like mini triangles, as shown in the photos, cut the 16 squares in half diagonally to make 32 pieces. Place them an inch apart on a baking pan lined with parchment paper.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until the dough is set and leaves no indent when you touch the top. Let rest on pan for two minutes then transfer to a cooling rack.

Make the icing by mixing the powdered sugar and cocoa powder with a fork. Add the vanilla and 2 tablespoons of water and stir well. Continue adding water a teaspoon at a time until the icing smoothly drips from the fork in thin ribbons. Drizzle the icing over the completely cooled scones.

**********

To print the free PDF of the recipe click here:

Triple Chocolate Scones

Happy Baking!

8Apr2016

Sweet Honey Scones

Posted in food & flavor & recipes by Rosemary Lynn

I first made these a few years ago, and I recently changed the recipe a little.

So here are the updated Sweet Honey Scones!

These scones are crumbly yet moist and permeated with a distinct honey flavor. And boy do I love me some honey.

But why “sweet”?

Not only are these made with honey, but they also have a small amount of sugar in them, which you don’t always find in scones. Plus, I added in some vanilla, which adds a beautiful aroma and pairs well with the honey.

Just a few basic ingredients.

Make sure the butter and cream are cold.

Once you cut in the cold butter pieces, you’ll mix together the honey, vanilla, and cream and stir that in.

Stir just until everything is moistened. You don’t want to over mix the dough or the scones will be heavy.

To bring the dough fully together, gently knead it.

I knead it right in the bowl, since all you’re really doing at this point is making sure it comes together.

On a lightly floured surface, press the dough into a square or a circle.

Shape it with your hands by patting it out into the shape you want. A circle will make rather large wedges, and the square pictured above can be further cut down to make small triangles by cutting each of those squares diagonally.

Oh, and I find a pizza cutter is the easiest way to shape your scones. :)

Spread out your pieces on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet, leaving some space to spread.

Brush the scones with cream and sprinkle generously with raw sugar.

Then bake until set and browned. The bottoms will get dark much faster than the rest, so keep a close eye towards the end of the baking time.

And, as you can see, some of mine were touching because they were close together on the cookie sheet. But as long as you gave them some room to spread, they’ll be fine. Even if they touch a little.

Don’t those look delicious?!

Here’s the recipe, and the printable version below:

Sweet Honey Scones

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (one stick) cold unsalted butter, sliced
1/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon heavy whipping cream
3 tablespoons raw or turbinado sugar

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

Use a pastry cutter or two knives to cut the cold butter into the flour mixture until it resembles large crumbs.

In a small bowl, mix the honey, vanilla, and the 1/2 cup whipping cream. Add that to the dry mixture and stir until just moistened. Then knead it gently with your hands to pull it all together. Do not overmix.

Sprinkle a little flour over your work surface, and shape the dough with your hands into a circle or square about 8 inches across and one inch high. Cut the circle into 8 large wedges or cut the square into 16 smaller squares (at this point you could also cut each square diagonally to create 32 triangles), and place the pieces an inch apart on a baking pan lined with parchment paper.

Brush the tops with the reserved heavy cream and sprinkle with the raw sugar. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until the edges are just browned.

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Click here to download the free printable PDF:

Sweet Honey Scones Recipe

Happy Baking!

7Apr2016

Triple Chocolate Spice Cookies

Posted in food & flavor & recipes by Rosemary Lynn

If you like chocolate and you like Spice Cookies, then you’re going to agree with me that these cookies are Uh-MAZING!!

They’re gooey and chocolately and bursting with fragrant flavor! A total hit with everyone who has tried them. Well … the ones I was willing to share! ;)

They’re loosely based off of the Land O’ Lakes Chocolate Chai Latte cookies. I like how those had a soft chocolate cookie base, are flavored with spices, filled with chunks of chocolate, and iced with a cinnamon glaze.

So I made this recipe to incorporate those elements, but with all the individual ingredients instead of starting with a cake mix. Cake mixes differ a lot, and I wanted to know exactly what was going into my cookies. Plus this way the cookies all turn out the same, unlike if you have a different cake mix on hand from the last time.

I played around with the measurements until I found something I loved, including adding more spice into mine. I picked out spices I liked and measured them out, instead of using using a drink mix like the Chai cookies.

Because, really, I’m far too unorganized to have a specific cake and drink mix on hand whenever I decide to make these. All of the ingredients I use here are things I usually have in the pantry. Except if I’ve forgotten to stock up on powdered milk, but that’s shelf stable, so I usually keep that around, too.

(Scroll down for the printable PDF of the recipe.)

It looks like a lot of ingredients, but once you get everything set up, it’s super simple to whip up a batch.

And you can see that I used milk chocolate for these. I suppose you could use semi-sweet or dark, but I like the way the softer and gentler milk chocolate chips contrast with the rest of the cookie.

The chips are one part of the “Triple” chocolates for which I named these. Aside from the cookie itself, there is also chocolate in the icing. :)

Would you just LOOK at all that FLAVOR!?

The dough is coming together…

A little thick, but that makes for soft, puffy cookies!

Scoop it out onto parchment paper or on a pan like this that releases the cookies easily.

The just-baked cookies.

See that moisture in the cracks? Get ready for some moist, fudgy goodness!

And the icing ingredients.

I made this icing with both cocoa powder and cinnamon for maximum chocolatey-spicy flavor.

The icing consistency is ready when it easily drips from the fork or spoon in thick ribbons.

Drizzle the icing over the cooled cookies by dipping the fork back into the icing then waving it back and forth above the cookies.

Wait until the icing hardens completely to eat them. The slight crunch of the icing makes a wonderful combination with the soft cookies.

Store them covered, and if you’ve waited until the icing is completely cooled (doesn’t smoosh and melt apart when you press it with your finger), then you shouldn’t even need to separate the layers of cookies with paper or anything. Just throw the ones you didn’t consume immediately into a container.

Triple Chocolate Spice Cookies

Ingredients:
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ cups sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/3 cup instant nonfat dry milk powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
2 large eggs
3 tablespoons milk
2 cups milk chocolate chips

Icing:
2 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 to 5 tablespoons water

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°). Combine the first 11 ingredients in a large bowl with a whisk or fork. Add in the butter, eggs, and milk and blend with a mixer on medium speed until fully combined. Stir in the milk chocolate chips by hand. The dough should hold together but be thick. Scoop rounded teaspoons of dough onto cookie sheets, about two inches apart. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. The cracks in the cookies will still look moist when they are done. Allow to cool on cookie sheets for two minutes, then transfer to cooling racks and allow to cool completely.

Using a fork, combine the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and cinnamon in a bowl. Add in 3 tablespoons of water, stirring well until icing is smooth. Add a teaspoon more of water at a time until the icing drips from the fork in thin, unbroken ribbons. Line your workspace with waxed paper beneath the cooled cookies, and use the fork to drizzle the icing over the cookies. Allow icing to harden completely and store cookies covered. Makes four dozen.

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Click here to print the free PDF version of the recipe:

Triple Chocolate Spice Cookies

Happy Baking!

2Apr2016

April Showers Sprinkle Surprise “Raining” Cupcakes

Posted in food & flavor & recipes by Rosemary Lynn

I know: it’s a mouthful.

Both the cupcake and the name. But so much fun!

I love the idea of food with hidden surprises inside, and with spring coming at us full force, I wanted to do something in that vein.

Thus was born the April Showers *Sprinkle Surprise* “Raining” Cupcakes!

April Showers for the fact that it’s now April and raining. A lot. The day we made the cupcakes, in fact, was hounded by heavy thunderstorms. Sprinkle Surprise because of the sprinkles hidden inside. And Raining because the cupcakes “rain” out sprinkles like raindrops when they’re opened or bit into.

Here are all the supplies I used. I did use blue sugar crystal sprinkles to top some of the cupcakes, which you can see in one of the photos, just not on all of them. In the end, I decided I preferred the way it looked without the sprinkles on top – when the icing looked like just a white fluffy cloud on top of the blue “sky” cupcakes.

The sprinkles we used to fill the cupcakes were the Wilton White Sugar Pearls. You could use just about any kind of sprinkle here, except maybe sugar crystals, but I liked how these represented raindrops so well. They’re one of the pricier sprinkles, too, but we didn’t use the whole container, so there’s still some left for future projects.

Oh, and to make life much easier, we used store bought cake mix and icing. I got the Blue Velvet cake mix because it’s in stock around here during springtime, but you could always add blue food coloring to any plain cake mix to achieve the same result.

The steps to create the hidden surprise of the raindrops/sprinkles inside the cupcakes is done after the cupcakes are baked.

Once the cupcakes are fully cooled, scoop out the center with a melon baller, but hang onto that little piece you remove.

Fill the hole in the center with your sprinkles. Be generous here. Add as many as will fit, because if you only put a few, then they won’t really “spill” out when you split open or bite into the cupcake.

Take that little piece of cake you’ve removed with the melon baller and pick off some of the fluffy interior of the cake from the flatter top portion of it, to make it more of a smooth and flat piece instead of a ball.

Then put that flat piece back on top of the hole that’s filled with sprinkles. And put aside (to discard or eat or whatever) those extra fluffy interior pieces that were removed to make room for the sprinkles.

It doesn’t have to fit perfectly – I didn’t exactly keep track of which piece went with which cupcake. Just put a little piece on top of the sprinkles just to hold them in a little better.

Then top the cupcakes with icing.

I put the icing into a bag with a large round icing tip to make this process quicker and easier. If you try to spread on the icing with a knife, things could get a little messy because the icing is what holds down the piece that you cut out, trimmed, and replaced on top of the sprinkles.

At this point we added the blue sugar sprinkles to the tops of about half of the cupcakes. Like I said, this part is up to you.

Just make sure to remind people to eat these over a plate, since once you bite into them they will “rain” sprinkles!

Enjoy!

Please share your own baked goodies with me on my Facebook page and follow me on Pinterest for more ideas!

Happy Baking!

23Mar2016

Vampire /Monster Teeth Doughnuts for Halloween

Posted in food & flavor & recipes, holidays by Rosemary Lynn

These Vampire Donuts were the biggest hit of our last Halloween season.

I always do a lot of crafts and recipes with my girls during Halloween, as it’s my second fave holiday (following quite closely on the heels of Christmas). But these right here? Totally made it to the top of the list of awesomeness.

And how incredibly ridiculously EASY???

Seriously. I went and picked up a dollar bag full of vampire teeth and stuck them in some glazed donuts from Publix.

I had to push open the holes a little to make the teeth fit, but that was no big deal.

You could mix it up with some chocolate or autumn-flavored (apple or pumpkin spice anybody??) donuts instead, and you could dress it up by adding a little red gel icing to look like blood dripping from the fangs too.

But I’m a big fan of sweet and simple. :)

Share some pics if you try it!

7Dec2015

Eggosaurus Dinosaur Shaped Eggs

Posted in food & flavor & recipes, toys & games & gifts by Rosemary Lynn

When I first saw this dinosaur shaped egg mold I very nearly squealed with excitement.

How cool is a breakfast that’s shaped like a brontosaurus??

If your answer is DUDE THAT ROCKS then we’re probably on the same page about this.

The pictures below show my journey of eventual success. It wasn’t overly successful the first time I did it, but it only took a couple of tries. And, you know, I could still eat the mistakes. So no biggie.

Anyway, here are my tips:

Grease the pan AND the mold with nonstick spray.
Separate the eggs whites and yolks ahead of time in separate little bowls.
Try to hold down the mold with a spatula or something while you pour in the egg, so that it doesn’t leak out from underneath.
Make sure the pan is hot when you pour in the egg and cover it as it cooks (like with a pan lid) so that the top of the eggs cook as well.
Move the entire mold with the cooked eggs to the plate and remove the mold from the eggs on the plate instead of in the pan.
Practice it a couple of times before you attempt to serve it to children.
Enjoy!

Mine might not be quite as pretty as the example picture from the manufacturer, but I was totally happy with the results.

Next up? Pancakes!

Rawr.

You can get the Eggosaurus on Amazon, but beware: the prices tend to fluctuate. You really shouldn’t pay more than ten bucks for this, but I haven’t really searched for it anywhere else. I actually bought mine from ModCloth, but they don’t carry it anymore. If you find it anywhere else, please let me know!

Happy Eating!