Smart Cookie – Graduation Time!

May 22, 2013May 21, 2013 ~ Angela ~ 7 Comments

It’s graduation time!

All across the country young men and women are graduating from college, brimming with excitement for their futures. A few months from now many of them will be realizing that the only thing that oh-so-expensive piece of paper has done is cause them to be overqualified for that job at Target they applied to. A few years from now a bunch of them will still be living with their parents – part of the Boomerang Generation. Maybe a few years after that they will be like me – contemplating going to grad school, hoping that maybe a BETTER degree will be the key to getting out of a dead-end job.

But for right now let’s let them celebrate, shall we?

Congrats Grads!!

A coworker asked me to make cookies for her sister who is graduating from Rutgers University. Being a Rutgers grad myself, I thought it would be pretty fun to make this set. I used a tutorial from The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle for the basic design of the caps and diplomas. I had originally planned on just doing the letter R for the logo cookies but I had forgotten how tiny the letters in my alphabet cookie cutter set are. The little “R” looked so small and forlorn next to the other cookies that I decided to added the “U” to bump up the size a bit.

I ran into a little trouble when I was outlining the letters. I usually have a pretty steady hand when it comes to writing on cookies or cakes but this time around I was a shaky mess. My outline was kind of wobbly and I really didn’t like the way it looked so I covered the outline is black sanding sugar. This is a great way to cover up a not so smooth outline and let’s face it, what girl doesn’t like a little sparkle on her cookies?

I found the perfect ribbon to tie the cookie bags with – red and black polka dots:

I wish that I had been making cookies when I graduated – I would have made these for myself!

In other education related news I got a B in my Statistics class!!! Take that p-hat!! (Seriously, I still don’t know what the point of the whole p-hat thing is. Why are we playing dress up with the alphabet? What does that have to do with anything? I think I have post-traumatic Stats disorder…)

One Smart Cookie (blovelyevents.com)
It’s Graduation Season! (sugarcookiesandconfections.com)
Rutgers graduates largest class in its history; Degrees conferred on 14,000 in the rain (nj.com)
Diplomas, Diplomas Everywhere! (blovelyevents.com)
Graduation Mortarboard Cap Cookies (margebake.wordpress.com)

Da dun dada da da da da…TEQUILA!

May 14, 2013July 7, 2013 ~ Angela ~ 15 Comments

Guess what?! I am participating in my very first recipe challenge!

As you can see, it’s called Spiked and it is being hosted by Carrie at Frugal Foodie Momma and Julie from This Gal Cooks. The challenge is to create a recipe – anything other than a drink recipe – using the chosen liquor of the month. Entrants can use other recipes as inspiration, but must make them their own somehow.

I must admit, I am nervous! I checked out the competition and everyone has such lovely blogs full of fabulous recipes and pictures. Meanwhile, I’m over here doctoring cake mixes and snapping pics with my point and shoot camera. Don’t get me wrong -I love my camera, but it apparently does not help me in taking Foodgawker worthy photos.

I thought doing this challenge would be a perfect way to expand a bit on my usual repertoire of cookies, cupcakes and cocktails (again, don’t get me wrong – I LOVE my cookies, cupcakes and cocktails!). The ingredient for this month is tequila and it just so happens that a few weeks ago I had a very awesome mango margarita at Chili’s. I loved the mango/tequila combination so much that I made my own version of the cocktail for Cinco de Mayo weekend. However, the rules say no drink recipes so I spent some time trying to come up with ways to translate those flavors into a baked good of some sort.

I think I managed to come up with something pretty different (for me anyway!). Drum roll please!!!

I am always eyeballing the alcohol infused whipped cream cans at the liquor store, so I thought it would be fun to make my own tequila whipped cream – especially after I recently discovered the existence of 1800 Coconut Tequila. Everything is better with coconut, right?

When I think of whipped cream and baked goods I think of strawberry shortcakes – the kind made with a biscuit like my mom used to make. However, I had originally wanted to go mango and not strawberry so I decided on making a mango shortcake with coconut tequila whipped cream. Since I really don’t know how to invent a recipe from scratch (how do you decide what measurements you need of all the ingredients? how do you know what ingredients you need?!) I adapted two different recipes and combined them to come up with my dish.

I made the shortcakes using the traditional strawberry shortcakes recipe from the good old box of Bisquick. It can be found here on Betty Crocker’s website. For the whipped cream, I adapted this Tequila Lime Whipped Cream recipe from Domestic Fits.

This is a pretty simple recipe to make if you don’t count trying to get the stopper out of the tequila bottle. After several attempts I finally wrenched it loose only to end up soaked in tequila. At least I smelled like coconut…

Mango Shortcakes with Coconut Tequila Whipped Cream

Mango Shortcakes

2 1/3 cups Original Bisquick mix
1/2 cup milk (I used almond milk)
3 tablespoons and 1 teaspoon sugar, divided
3 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
3 mangoes, diced
2 tablespoons agave nectar

Heat oven to 425 degrees. In a bowl combine diced mango, 1 teaspoon of sugar and agave nectar; set aside.

In another bowl stir Bisquick mix, milk, 3 tablespoons of sugar and the butter until soft dough forms. On an ungreased cookie sheet, drop dough by 4 or 5 spoonfuls, depending on how many you want to make. Bake 10 to 12 minutes.

While the shortcakes are baking, prepare the whipped cream:

Coconut Tequila Whipped Cream

1 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup confectioner’s sugar
1 tablespoon lime juice
1/4 teaspoon lime zest (optional)
2 tablespoons 1800 Coconut Tequila

Combine all ingredients in a chilled metal bowl and beat on high until soft peaks form.

Once shortcakes have been baked and slightly cooled, cut in half and fill with mangoes and whipped cream.

Double Shot

May 3, 2013March 23, 2014 ~ Angela ~ 4 Comments

I’m baaack! Yup – two posts in one day!! One might say I am procrastinating because I really don’t feel like studying any more for my statistics final, but I just remembered these margarita cookies I made a few months ago and wanted to share them for Cinco de Mayo!

If you’re looking for something with a little more kick to it, check out these recipes from my blog:

Blackberry Margarita
Mango Margarita
Beergaritas

Coconut Creamsicle Margaritas (howsweeteats.com)
10 Fabuloso Cinco de Mayo Recipes (thedomesticrebel.com)
Mango Coconut Margarita (snappygourmet.com)

The Bunny Trail

March 27, 2013March 23, 2014 ~ Angela ~ Leave a comment

I am hoping to get a giant gummy bunny for Easter, and maybe some sunshine and a little warmth? We did have the first day of Spring last week, right?

I also wouldn’t mind getting some of these cookies in my Easter basket. They are pretty cute, if I do say so myself.

PEEPS Glorious PEEPS!

March 22, 2013April 14, 2014 ~ Angela ~ 26 Comments

It’s that time of year again folks!! Peeps are here!!

Technically, Peeps are becoming a bit of a year round thing. They have Halloween Peeps, Christmas Peeps, Valentine’s Peeps, star shaped Peeps for 4th of July….but the best Peeps are the iconic Easter Peeps in bright, happy Spring colors. Even if you don’t like to eat them, you have to admit they’re pretty damn cute!

Last year I told you about some of my favorite PEEPS related activities and tried my hand at making PEEPS Bunny cookies. (Is the word “Peeps” starting to look funny to you too?) This year, I bring you the Rainbow Peeps Trifle!

This oh-so-colorful and perfect addition to your Easter festivities was born from a failed attempt at making rainbow Easter egg cupcakes.

A friend at work gave me the Wilton Easter Egg Cupcake Pan. I decided that I was going to make swirly multi-colored eggs with said cupcake pan. I whipped up some white boxed cake mix, separated it into five different bowls, colored the batter in each bowl with my gel colors and then plopped some of each color batter into the egg cavities. I swirled the colors together with the handle of a wooden spoon and stuck them in the oven.

Then I watched them grow, and grow, and GROW (kind of like a Peep in the microwave)! Turns out I put waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much batter into each egg. When they were finally done baking I had eight swirly-rainbow conjoined blobs. The colors were exactly what I had been hoping for, the shape…not so much.

So, I ate one just for the hell of it and stuck the rest in a Ziploc bag. I wasn’t sure what to do with the rest of the “eggs” besides eating one for breakfast every day. I briefly entertained the idea of making cake pops but I made a gooey mess last time I tried those and I just don’t have the time for the rolling and dipping and drying and dipping again right now, so that was out. Then it hit me – I’d crumble up the cake and make a trifle!

And what better to put in a rainbow cake trifle at Eastertime than some brightly colored Peeps?!

Rainbow Peeps Trifle

Rainbow Cake

Box of white cake mix and ingredients listed on box
Blue, Green, Yellow, Pink and Purple gel colors or food coloring

!. Prepare cake mix according to directions on box.
2. Separate the cake mix into five bowls and add the coloring to the batter
3. Spoon blobs of the batter in a random color pattern into whatever cake pan you are using and give them a little swirl to mix up the colors. Don’t swirl too much or you will end up with an unattractive mess.
4. Bake according to the directions on the box for the type of pan you are using.
5. Let cake cool completely, then cut into bite-sized cubes.

Trifle

Rainbow Cake Cubes
12 oz container or Cool Whip, thawed
22 oz can of lemon pie filling
4 10 count packages of Peeps Chicks in the colors of your choosing (there will be extras – eat them!)

In a clear bowl (because a Rainbow Peeps Trifle is no fun if you can’t see all the layers) make a layer of the cake cubes. On top of that, spoon a layer of the lemon pie filling followed by a layer of Cool Whip. I used a piping bag to make the Cool Whip layer rather than trying to smear it around with a spatula – it kept things nice and tidy. On top of the Cool Whip make a ring of Peeps, alternating colors as you go around. Once that it done, start your second layer in the same order, topping off the whole thing with another Peeps ring.

Refrigerate until ready to serve.

And there you have it! A bright, fun and refreshing dessert perfect for gracing your table at Easter dinner (and a great way for me to redeem some seriously deformed should-have-been-egg-shaped cupcakes).

March 14, 2013 ~ Angela ~ Leave a comment

Since the gods of what’s-cool-now have declared Thursdays to be Throw Back Thursday, I thought I’d share my blog post about last year’s St. Patrick’s Day cookies. I had just started blogging, so I’m sure a whole 5 people saw it at the time… Enjoy!

Shake Bake and Party

It’s almost St. Patty’s Day!!! Since it falls on a Saturday this year I figure most people will be too blasted all day to bother reading my blog, so I decided to share my St. Patrick’s Day cookies a wee bit in advance! But first, a little music to set the mood from my favorite Irish band – Flogging Molly!

Okay. So, I had grand plans for shamrock cookies and pots o’ gold and I’m happy to say everything turned out better than I had hoped!! I even got some props and whatnot so I could take snazzier pictures than my standard fare of snapping shots of cookies just lying forlorn on my dining room table.

As you can see, I did not have a black icing disaster this time! To read about when I did – click here! I was a little worried at first, because when I…

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The Cocktail at the End of the Rainbow

March 13, 2013July 26, 2013 ~ Angela ~ 6 Comments

Today I bring to you a multipurpose libation.

With St. Patrick’s Day right around the corner, I am sure many of you are looking for a good green cocktail. Usually if an alcoholic drink is green it contains one of two things: green creme de menthe, or melon liquor. I have nothing against either flavor, but if you are looking for something a little different you have come to the right place!

Remember Little Hugs? Tiny barrels of sugar laden “fruit drink”…ahhh, childhood. Well, the lemon-lime flavor is the perfect shade of green to make a lovely St. Patrick’s day drink while steering clear of the usual suspects. I mixed it up with Pinnacle Whipped Vodka and some Sierra Mist. Before I tried a sip, I named it the Whipped Leprechaun.

After I tried a sip, I realized I had something on my hands that transcended March 17th. This thing tasted like one of those popsicles that I spent my summers slurping down as a kid. You know, the ones with the cream inside? I renamed it the Whipped Popsicle. Don’t want to box myself in you know.

This drink is perfect to celebrate St. Patty’s Day with or to sip by the pool come summertime, and I know from all the Facebook and Pinterest posts I’ve been seeing lately that a bunch of you are already thinking summer.

Whipped Popsicle

2 oz Pinnacle Whipped Vodka
Lemon-lime Little Hugs drink
Lemon-lime soda of your choice

Add vodka to glass. Fill 3/4 of the glass with the lemon-lime Little Hugs drink, and then top off with lemon-lime soda. Stir, add ice, consume (unless you are under 21 – in that case just go eat a popsicle and come back when you’re old enough!)

Oh So Good!

March 5, 2013July 26, 2013 ~ Angela ~ 5 Comments

Oh’s! in the kitchen usually aren’t a good thing. They happen when you notice a pot boiling over, get splattered with bacon grease, or come home to find that your boyfriend’s dog got into a bag of groceries you forgot to put away and is now covered head to toe in cornstarch and smashed raspberries (yes it happened, and unfortunately I was too pissed off at the time to grab my camera and take a picture because someday I would find the whole thing funny).

There is one kind of Oh! that is good in the kitchen, and it comes by the box.

near 13th St & Lawry Ln — Oh’s Cereal (Photo credit: vikasiamoto)

I LOVE this cereal. It is my absolute favorite, which kind of sucks because sometimes it can be hard to find. I don’t know why every store don’t carry TONS of this stuff, cause I’d buy it! The sweet, crunchy little circles always hit the spot, so when I saw that my Dollar General had some, I did a little happy dance.

And then I bought some.

And then I made muffins with Oh’s topping.

Oh yeah.

First I made a batch of honey oat muffins with the Oh’s topping. They were okay, but not the flavor I was going for. Then my boyfriend suggested I make a banana muffin. So I turned to my trusty internet to find a good banana muffin recipe and I found what I was looking for on Food.com.

Banana Oatmeal Muffins (click here to view original recipe)

2 cups flour
1 cup quick-cooking oats
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 cups bananas, mashed
2 eggs
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

1 . Preheat oven to 375°F In medium bowl, stir together the flour, oatmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. In a separate bowl, combine the mashed bananas, eggs, vanilla and butter. Add the banana mixture to the flour mixture, stirring just until the dry ingredients are moistened.

2 . Spoon batter into greased muffin cups. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes (start watching around 12 minutes; oven temperatures vary) or until toothpick inserted into center muffin comes out clean. Let cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove muffins from pan and let cool on wire rack.

Oh’s and Oats Topping

2 tablespoons flour

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons oats

1/2 cup Oh’s cereal, crushed

3 tablespoons melted butter

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. After muffins have baked for about 5 minutes, remove muffins from the oven, add topping, then put muffins back in the oven for the remaining bake time.

The muffin has a nice density which balances perfectly with the crunchy topping. They were delicious, but pose one problem – do I have a muffin for breakfast tomorrow, or a bowl of Oh’s?! Decisions, decisions…

* I have to give a quick shout out to Jess at On Sugar Mountain for sharing her tip of using scrapbook paper for picture backgrounds. A wonderfully useful tip AND a recipe for Chocolate Dipped Potato Chip Cookies all in the same spot?! Thanks Jess! As you can see, I grabbed a few packs of scrapbook paper and am already having a blast with it!

Ahoy!

February 7, 2013 ~ Angela ~ 2 Comments

Today’s project was Navy themed cupcakes for a coworker’s son. She wanted cupcakes with anchors on them.

I can’t draw. Even my stick figures are crappy looking.

Despite my faith in my total inability to draw an anchor that actually LOOKS like an anchor, I took the order. I have a little trick. It involves clip art, waxed paper and melted chocolate.

I went into MS Word and found a clip art anchor that I liked the look of, then filled the page with it. When I was ready to make the anchors, I put a piece of wax paper over the sheet with the pictures then traced the shapes of the anchors in melted chocolate that I had placed in a pastry bag with a small round tip.

This technique not only results in cupcake decorations that are edible and (in my case) identifiable, it also ensures uniformity in size.

Anchors aweigh!

February 5, 2013 ~ Angela ~ Leave a comment

YUM!!

The Domestic Rebel

When I was a little kid, I always got pretty stoked for Valentine’s Day.

There was something about picking out the perfect box of Valentine’s cards at the grocery store, filling them out individually with every kid’s name, and attaching some kind of candy to the greeting.

Similarly, I’d be equally stoked to make my “Valentine’s mailbox” which I’d decorate with a ton of brightly colored hearts and stars and things as to attract a simple-minded child’s attention and perhaps they’d drop a few extra Conversation hearts my way.

In first grade, I remember staying up super late one night, drawing everyone in my class a picture in addition to their personalized Valentine’s and candy. I wanted to do this because I wanted to attract the attention of the boy I liked: Robert.

Robert looked like the brother of Zach Morris and had a cutie comb-over in our class…

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