Spring and Summer Baking

I haven't been blogging, but that doesn't mean I haven't been baking.

Our favorite babysitter had a birthday in April and her favorite flavor is lemon, so we made white cupcakes and filled them with homemade lemon curd.  It was my first time to make lemon curd and while it requires a bit of prep and a lot of stirring, it was not too difficult.  I used a cupcake corer to remove the center of the cake (similar to this one).

I topped some with perfect cupcake frosting and colorful sprinkles.

And the rest with homemade whipped cream (whipping cream, powdered sugar and vanilla) and clear sugar sprinkles.

It's not baking, but I tried making a mini fruit bouquet for a friend's birthday.  I used mini cookie cutters to cut out the fruit.  I trimmed bamboo skewers to the right length and added the fruit.  Packaging is from Joann's.

And I was in the mood to make giant sugar cookie pops.  I used a large sunflower cookie cutter and thick cookie sticks.  I tinted cream cheese tub frosting yellow with oil-based food color, and topped with yellow sugar sprinkles.  Then I piped on chocolate tub frosting and added mini chocolate chips.  I put them in a pail from the dollar spot at Target.  (Next time I will have someone help me transport them so they don't fall off their sticks!)

A friend of mine returned from a vacation to Australia with an exciting announcement, so koala cake pops were in order.  Thank you to Bakerella for the idea.  I used my own technique for the ears -- I used a small circle cookie cutter to cut a Ghirardelli white chocolate melt into an ear shape.  Then I used a squeeze bottle to pipe gray chocolate around the white ear.  I chilled the chocolate in the refrigerator and then trimmed it with a paring knife.  The noses are dark chocolate covered blueberries from Sprouts.  Packaging is from Target.  My cake pop wrappers wouldn't fit over the ears, so I wrapped the whole thing in cellophane and tied it with a ribbon.

I decided to make my own birthday cake this year.  My whole family loves Nothing Bundt Cakes, so I tried this copycat recipe.  It was amazeballs!  The only thing I'll do differently next time is to chill the frosting a bit before piping.

Individual Valentine Tarts

Every year I try to think of fun food to make for valentine's day.  This year a friend gave me a set of heart-shaped spring form pans, so that was my inspiration.

I made a half batch of my favorite sugar cookie dough recipe.  I baked it in the spring form pans until golden.  Since it's cookie dough, it puffed up.  Before it cooled I used a spoon to press down on the center to make a well for the filling.

I filled one with Trader Joe's lemon curd and topped it with blueberries.  The other one I filled with Nutella and topped with raspberries.  I'm not sure which is tastier!

With the extra dough, I made giant cookie pops.  I rolled the dough thick and inserted a cookie stick before I baked it.

They will make a sweet gift.

Stars & Stripes

I wanted to make a thank you gift for one of my colleagues, and since it's July I went with a patriotic theme.

This cute bucket from Target was begging for some cookie pops.  I love how it turned out!

Sugar Cookie Pops

Tomorrow I am teaching a lesson to our women's group at church and the lesson uses the sunflower following the sun as a symbol for us following Christ.  I decided to send the ladies home with a little reminder of the lesson.

I made my favorite sugar cookie dough recipe.  I used my mini flower cookie cutter to cut out the dough.  I added a lollipop stick before baking the dough.

I tinted store bought frosting with food color, frosted the cookie and added an M&M.  I packaged the cookie pop with a treat bag and ribbon.

Tomorrow is also our babysitter's birthday, so I made a few extra cookie pops for a birthday cookie bouquet.

My sous chef was a willing helper:

Pops for Gifting

Everything is cuter on a stick!  We've been experimenting with pops lately...cookie pops, marshmallow pops and chocolate lollipops.

I use treat bags and ribbon to wrap the pops, and I gift them in cute $1 buckets from the One Spot at Target.

Cookie Pops:

Make your favorite cookie recipe (mine is from Pioneer Woman)

and add a lollipop stick before you bake them

Marshmallow Pops:

Put a marshmallow on a lollipop stick and dip in chocolate candy melts

Chocolate lollipop:

Pour melted chocolate into a mold and add a lollipop stick

My new favorite candy melts are the Ghirardelli melting wafers.  They come in dark chocolate and white chocolate and are available at Kroger and Wal-mart.  I want to start experimenting with coloring the white chocolate with oil-based food coloring.