Monday, November 21, 2011

10-0 Baby!

Yesterday, Tyler and I went to the Packer game. Go Pack Go! It was my first time at Lambeau field and it was amazing! I am glad I experienced Lambeau in its true state, game time temp 30 degrees! Brr was it cold out.

Here we are in all our Packer glory. Like our new hats? They were a hit in the Kelly family.


Tyler is rocking his new B.J. Raji jersey. He scored a touchdown. I really wanted him to do a Lambeau leap. Wouldn't that have been awesome? I mean check him out.

He likes to dance

Due to Krista's and my lack of baking our FAS, that stands for Favorite Auntie Shannon, stepped up to the plate and decorated some awesome cupcakes. Our FAS took cake decorating classes way back when and we had a blast sharing those Monday evenings together.

Shannon decorated cupcakes for her son's girlfriend, Carey. Happy Birthday Carey, hopefully Zack spoiled you rotten!

Happy Birthday Carey!

FAS, you still have the knack!

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Official House Warming

Remember my attempt at making house warming cake pops for my friend Megan? I sure do, because they were horrific. Well, last Friday I had the honor to make her official house warming cake pops. Even though they were requested last minute I was able to throw together a nice fall-ish theme for the pops.

House Warming Slew

Chocolate cake dipped in light yellow candy melt sprinkled with a fall assortment
Yellow caked dipped in mint green candy melt topped with white nonpareil sprinkles

I ended up mixing my light yellow candy melt (combination of the white and yellow candy melt) with blue candy melt and it made a gorgeous mint green color.
I was in love with it!

Orange jimmies make me smile =]

It felt good to redeem myself and make some decent looking cake pops. Congrats on the new house Megan! 

Friday, November 11, 2011

Fall Wedding

We have been baking, if you can believe that! Last weekend we made baby shower cake pops for our wonderful friend, Lisa. We had a mental breakdown and forgot to take pictures.

This week we were asked to make cake pops for a rehearsal dinner. The wedding colors were brown and burnt orange. We made one bride and one groom cake pop. The remainder were either dipped in burnt orange or brown and drizzled with the opposite color. Simple. Perfect. Fall Color Scheme.

Fall Wedding

Bride and Groom

Perfect Fall Color Scheme

Thursday, November 3, 2011

New Ideas...

Mike and I recently took a trip to the beautiful state of Colorado. Mike's sister Denise and her boyfriend Aaron were kind enough to take us in for the weekend.
Aren't they cute?
While in Colorado we did a ton of fun and exciting stuff!
First, we attended the Northern Colorado vs. Montana State football game
Go Bobcats!
Yes, I bought yellow nail polish specifically for the occasion:)

Climbed a mountain (Blackhawk Rock)

Hung out with some Elk

AND spent a lovely evening at Aaron's parents house eating, drinking, playing games and talking cake pops! Yes, you heard right, I spent a Friday night talking cake pops with Liz, Aaron's mother and owner of Gr8 Balls of Cake. She is so sweet and funny and we were so excited to meet and talk cake! She had some great ideas for me on how to get creative with the actual cake within a cake pop/ball. Her first recommendation included peanut butter so you know I just HAD to try that as soon as we got back!

So this past weekend I baked one of our classic chocolate cakes. I crumbled it down to small pieces. Like so:


And added multiple spoonfuls of JIF peanut butter!

I slowly mixed the peanut butter in and noticed it was not as wet as frosting usually is. There was nothing scientific or specific about my measuring...I just kept adding peanut butter until the cake "stuck".
Then I did my usual rolling



And dipping


Then sprinkling
Ta-da!

And sharing with friends and family. General consensus (direct quotes):

"Very rich and delightful!" - Emilee Ann, Holyhannah's Baking Specialist

"My mouth is in heaven." - Erica, Thomson Reuters

"These cake balls are amaze-balls." - Malisa, Thomson Reuters

"This is the best treat ever!!!" - Amanda, Thomson Reuters

"I just ate that cake pop and it was mmm mmm good!" - Mom, via text message


At the very least, we can say these were a hit! Thanks for the great idea Liz!

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Moist Pumpkin Spice Muffins

As promised many days, ahem weeks, ago I made October's ROTM. Moist Pumpkin Spice Muffins. Tyler had a group of friends in town for Halloween so I did some baking for them. I made these muffins along with the amazing Pumpkin Caramel Blondies.

In the Duffey household we have a Baking Room and a Baking Cupboard. Over the past few years we have accumulated ALOT of tools. I was rummaging through the cupboard and happened upon the cutest cupcake liners. Perfect for this recipe and Fall.

Orange Polka Dot Cupcake Liners

The recipe was very straightforward and easy to follow. I didn't fill my liners as full as the recipe called for because I wanted a bigger quantity of muffins.

My mother was the first guinea pig and her review was of mixed feelings. It had a great spice to it, however she wasn't crazy about the raisins. Note to self, make again for the mother, exclude the raisins.

All the boys raved about how good they were, but I think a bunch of guys will eat anything home-baked and enjoy it.

My review, they were OK. The title includes the word MOIST for a reason. They were very very sticky which I guess is better than being dry as a desert. If you are in the mood for a pumpkin muffin, this recipe will do the trick.

Muffins pre cream cheese frosting.
Tyler claims they become cupcakes once frosting is added.
However you can eat a muffin for breakfast =]

There is a brown sugar crumble you put on the muffin before it is baked.
When I went to put on the frosting the crumble mixed in and gave it a nice look.

Moist Pumpkin Spice Muffin

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

November

Happy 1st of November Holy Hannah's followers. The month of October flew by. I have updated the ROTM to an absolutely amazing dessert. I have made it three times since last Friday. No joke. It's another Fall themed recipe that will be perfect at a dessert table for Thanksgiving.

I found the recipe online at Tasty Kitchen. The name of the recipe is a mouthful, which I suppose is equivalent to the actual bars, Ooey Gooey Caramel Pumpkin Blondies. Say that three times fast. Please do yourself a favor and put the ingredients on your next shopping list. You wont regret it!

Ooey Gooey Caramel Pumpkin Blondies

PS I did not forget about last months recipe, check back tomorrow.