Baking Extravaganza

So last night I set about to make multiple different treats. Tyler's brother and sister-in-law are coming into town this weekend so I felt the need to whip up some goodies for them.

I cant say that last night was the best night in my baking career but I survived and was able to get out of bed this morning.

First item on the agenda, homemade blueberry muffins. I have never made these before and decided it would be a great time to try. Not to toot my own horn but these were a success. Kasey, my favorite guinea pig, was over and just about died when she tried one.

Next was Malted Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies. These cookies are meant to be thin and I knew this going in. So the first batch went into the oven, cooked perfectly, cooled, and then STUCK to the pan. And when I say stuck - I mean these stinkers wouldn't move - I had to soak the pan in water to get the cookie sheet clean. First major bummer of the night. Next tray went in the oven, got OVERcooked, cooled, STUCK to the pan, and went directly in a sink of water. Second major bummer of the night, now I am annoyed. So I decided to try parchment paper. Put a pan in the oven and within 3 minutes the bottoms of the cookies were black. I mean so burnt my father wouldn't even eat them. (Side note - our oven is really really sensitive - on all recipes I turn the oven down a good 50 degrees to make up for the issues - I always blame the oven - and lecture my dad on how he needs a new one) So these cookies went directly into the trash, third major bummer of the night. So my next idea was to turn the oven down really low, I am talking 250 degrees here people, and see how the cookies baked. Well they turned out, finally! Out of an entire batch of cookies, I got a measly 12 cookies. How pathetic. I was NOT feeling the love, even though you might think so from the cookie below...

(the making of this cookie was not intentional)

So I took a mental break, went to the gym, back to the grocery store, and back home to the oven. Whipped out another entire batch of cookies (all of them working this time - HOORAY!) Then moved on to my third baking item, Special K bars. I got out all of my ingredients and was just about to turn on the stove and realized I didn't have enough Karo syrup...fourth major bummer of the night...that was it, I threw in the towel and called it a night. Last night wasn't meant to be, hopefully today will go better!

Pancake Molds

I don't usually eat pancakes, I'm more of a french toast type of girl. But if I had these, I'm pretty sure I would eat a pancake.

They are pancake molds shaped like farm animals! They also have Star Wars for all the nerds out there :)

Flower Cake Pops

From the following 3 pictures can you guess what I made over the weekend?

Marble Cake Cake Balls

White and Green Candy Melt, Red Jimmies, Pink Candy Color, Yellow M&Ms and Sticks

Flower Pot

That's right, Flower Pot Cake Pops! From leveling off Kasey's birthday cake I decided to use the excess to make cake balls. The pink was a bit more fluorescent than I wanted but they still turned our pretty cute. Made for a great center piece of my mother's table.

Happy Birthday to Our Little Nugget

Kasey Jane is my fourth sister. She is our cute little nugget and our house really wouldn't be the same without her. She's pretty special...

She's gangsta fresh, clearly.

Kasey Jane turned the big 1-8 earlier this month. Remember this hideous contraption? Kasey was ecstatic when she received it, see below...

Bethany made that cake for Kasey's actual birthday, but decided for Kasey's surprise party she needed something a little nicer. Bethany requested a teal and brown cake for her best friend's big night.

Emilee and I haven't made an actual cake in quite some time...we've been far too obsessed with cake pops! The frosting was a bit uncooperative but it turned out decent and Bethany loved it. Either way, we hope Kasey enjoys it, Happy Birthday Nugget! :)

No Bake Cafeteria Food

My boyfriend Mike once told me one of his favorite things about me was that I had a sister who could bake. Every time Mike and I hang out with Emilee and Tyler, she just so happens to bring along some sort of baked good and Mike really enjoys that.


I told Mike I could bake just as well as my sister (that's a bold faced lie) so he challenged me to make his all time favorite treat. When I asked him what his favorite treat was, he didn't have a name or a recipe for the treat, he simply described them as "bars with the peanut buttery bottom, and the chocolate on top." I know your mind jumped straight to Special K bars as fast as mine did, but he said they were NOT special K bars, they were better. The lunch lady at his elementary school back in Montana used to make them and they were the BEST! You've got to me kidding me, right? But, I never back down from a challenge so I set out to make these mystery cafeteria bars. Emilee was lucky enough to stumble across a recipe that sounded exactly like what he was talking about so I set out to make them. The best part about these bars...you don't even have to bake them!




Don't worry, Mike and I had no problem dominating an entire row of these bars last night. His roommate had the tiny sliver out of the next row.

The online recipe called these "Hollywood Squares." I'm not a huge fan of the name so Mike and I decided to rename them. He's hoping we go with "Double Turkey Motor Mike Bars," and I surprisingly kind of like that, but we'll take your suggestions if you have them!

Round 2

Round 2 of the cake pops for Kelly was a success! I opted for the pastel blues, greens and browns for this batch.

The humidity once again got the best of me and some of my pops look a little more like flying saucers than cupcakes, but what can ya do!

2 batches of cake pops in less than 48 hours has worn me out a bit. I'm ready to bake something different and for Emilee to come home :)

The Fort

I am once again holding down the fort while Emilee is out of town. This time she and Tyler, along with my parents, grandparents and cousins hitched a flight to Las Vegas for a little bit of sun, gambling and Garth Brooks. I've been a busy bee since they left and the good news is, I have yet to burn anything, including microwave popcorn.

Yesterday, I received a phone call that Baby Blake was born at 1:30 am. We made cake-pops for our friend Lisa when she was hosting a baby shower for Blake's mommy. Kelly, the proud grandmother ,was going to buy some of those chocolate cigars to help celebrate the occasion, but then she thought better of the idea and asked me to make some cake pops! So last night, I was hard at work on an entire batch of cake pops all on my own. Kelly loved them so much, she ordered another batch on the spot! I'll be back in the kitchen again tonight for round 2 :)

In Emilee's words, here is the entire "slew" of cake pops.

I decided to wrap them up individually so Kelly could easily hand them out to Blake's visitors at the hospital. I just used a bit of cling wrap and red ribbon to polish the look.

Mickey and Minnie Mouse Cake Pops

I hope from the title of this post you have all started to sing M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E, Mickey Mouse!!! Mickey Mouse!!! Because that is what instantly pops into my head when people say Mickey Mouse, yes I am crazy.

Our Aunt Ann put us up to a new challenge with cake pops, Mickey and Minnie Mouse. Our first thought was this was going to be easier than the hamburgers. Well I would say they were both equally as challenging in their own ways. Mother Nature and her weather were working against us last night. The cake balls pretty much had to be in the freezer constantly otherwise they were too soft to work with.

Here are the mice pre-dipped with their ears attached.

Finished results - were a success! Well sorta...kinda. They do not sell black candy melt in the store so we bought some coloring and attempted to make black. Lets just say it was more of a muted gray. Then we ran out of the black color so some got dipped in chocolate - so we had a diverse group of mice.

Here is everyone's favorite character, Mickey Mouse, in cake pop form.

And it wouldnt have been fair to Mickey to not have his side-kick, Minnie. She is absolutely adorable!

So here you have it, Mickey and Minnie Mouse looking fantastic and ready to eat!

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

This recipe comes from a lady whom I work with. I am not going to lie, I am not a huge fan of Oatmeal Raisin cookies and usually turn my nose up at them. However, these cookies are to die for! The first time I brought these cookies home I told Krista she had to try them. When I told her what kind they were she too turned her nose up. I broke off half a cookie for her to try, no more than 2 minutes later she asked where the rest of her cookie was. =] They are that good!

The secret is this recipe is made with very special ingredients. No butter, if you can believe that and golden yellow raisins. Golden yellow raisins are 100% different then normal raisins and give the cookie a great taste.

Here is a glimpse at the dough before it gets baked. No mixer needed just your own two hands.


This is what the cookies look like pre-baked. You want to get about 1/4 cup of dough, make it into a nice ball, and then flatten it slightly to look like a saucer. This give the cookie optimal shape while baking.



Here is what the cookies look like post-baking. They are HUGE! You can seriously only have one cookie and you get your fill.

Here is a whole slew of Oatmeal Raisin cookies. I am craving one now just from looking at these pictures! YUM!

So apparently we are on a cookie kick in the baking department. Tomorrow night we are once again getting creative with cake pops. Here's a hint - think cartoon character.

Maddy's Birthday

Continental Flight 3407 went down on February 12, 2009 just outside of Buffalo, NY. Unfortunately, my dear friend Maddy Loftus lost her life in that night's tragedy. My friends have hosted many wonderful events and fundraisers since that day to help fuel a scholarship fund in Maddy's name. They wanted to make her birthday a special day when we could remember and cherish the wonderful girl that Maddy is. I was put in charge of the birthday cake, which was not an easy task. It was a lot of pressure, and after many mishaps and tears, I came up with this.




Maddy's favorite color was teal and she loved chocolate. I was proud of how it turned out and we all had a wonderful time celebrating our beautiful friend's life.

M&M Cookies

Hello, gorgeous!

M&M candies are a weakness for our entire family. Starting with my mother who is obsessed with the plain M&Ms (me too) and always has a bag in her purse. Dad and Krista enjoy the peanut M&Ms. Bre's favorite are the peanut butter and Bethany's love belongs to the originals.

One night last week I whipped up a batch of cookies. Making M&M cookies and chocolate chip cookies (Mindy, can I have your recipe?) in our house is dangerous because we usually only get about a dozen baked cookies and the rest of the dough disappears. However, this night I was at the house all by myself and I only ate a smidge of the dough. But seriously, how could you resist?

My cookies came out a little flat, too much mixing I suppose, but that didn't stop them from being devoured!

Little Bethany

So our younger sister Bethany is quite special. She is challenged in the cooking/baking department and we are not quite sure how she will fare at college but all we can do is hope for the best.

Her best friend Kasey, who is pretty much part of the fam, had a birthday on Tuesday and Bethany attempted making her a cake. Lets just say it didn't go the greatest. Our oldest sister, Breanna, also played a part in this sad tale. Bre decided it was time to take the cake out of pan - lets just say it was a bit premature. The cake ended up crumbling and Bethany was not happy AT ALL. Bethany and her friend Eleanor carefully created a mound of cake and started decorating. To say the least Bethany will not be asked to participate in the cake business.

Ice Cream Sammys

So while I was out of town over Fourth of July weekend Krista was at home slaving away over baked goods. I am pretty much a slave driver ;)

Krista was quite bad at taking pictures but her baking activities included Americana Cake Pops and Ice Cream Sammys. This is the only picture she got and of course it was taken on her cell phone.

If you have never made Ice Cream Sandwhich I would strongly suggest it. They are a great summertime treat and super easy to make.

A Brief History Lesson

So I thought I would give you all a brief history lesson on where the baking all began.

This is my boyfriend Tyler, he is pretty studly. I met Tyler at the good old University of Wisconsin Eau Claire. Tyler's hometown is Appleton WI - pretty much on the opposite side of the state. So our freshman year came and went and we were faced with the uphill battle of a summer apart. I know every person enjoys receiving mail so I decided that I would mail him a different type of cookie every week. So began the baking! He told me his favorite type of cookie was Snickerdoodle. I had never even heard of it but I attempted them anyways. They have since become a staple in the cookie making.


Tyler's birthday is July 2nd. Happy birthday last Friday Ty! So we had ventured into cakes quite yet so for his birthday I brought frosted sugar cookies in 2006. Check out that American flag action.


Apparently for 2007 Tyler didn't get anything special for his birthday. I am sure the treats included molasses cookies, snickerdoodle cookies, special k bars and whatever other weird treats I concocted.

Moving onto July 2008 Krista and I tried our hand at our very first fondant cake. We made homemade fondant and as far as I can remember we struggled. So this was Tyler's big 2-1 birthday and his cake pretty much looked liked it should have been for a 2 year old. Sorry babe, thanks for always saying you loved it!

In 2009 I tried a different approach. I told him to give me an ingredient and I would run with it. Can anyone guess the ingredient of choice?? Mint! So Tyler got some sort of mint chocolate chip chocolate cake. I'm pretty sure it was good. Do you like my artistic touch on the top?

So this past week, I'm not going to lie, I was caked-out. Cake ball overload! So Thursday night as I debated what to make for Tyler's birthday treat I settled on the old standby, Molasses cookies. These are one of Tyler's favorite and he loved them!

So we do bake other things besides cake balls! But here we are in 2010 and I am still baking all thanks to the boyfriend. So I guess I owe it to him when we make it big.

Because It's Friday

Well I want wish all of our avid followers a Happy 4th of July weekend. I will be traveling out of town with the boyfriend and Krista will be holding down the fort at home, complete with cake pops. Americana Cake Pops! Pictures to come next week. I will leave you with this platter of cupcakes that should make anybody smile.