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.

St. Patrick's Day Treats

We love to make treats for our friends for the holidays.  This year we made sugar cookies and chocolate-mint suckers and packaged them for giving.  I hope they bring our friends good luck!

Recipe Review: All-butter Pie Crust

I decided it was time I learned how to make a good pie crust.  I asked my friend who pursued the pastry track at culinary school to recommend a recipe.

Here is the recipe she recommended.  It was a bit time consuming but yielded a crust that was both crisp and tender.  I even ate the crimping, which I usually leave on my plate because it tends to be tough.

Pie crust is a lot of work. I will probably still buy Pillsbury.  But now I have a recipe and the skills for those special occasions when I have the time and devotion to make my own crust.

Heart-shaped Lasagna

I was inspired by an ad that came in the mail and an online article about heart-shaped lasagna.  Even though two articles cautioned against trying this at home, I wanted to attempt it.

My large heart-shaped pan did not arrive in time for valentine's day.  So I decided to make individual lasagnas.

I used my own easy lasagna recipe.

The only trick to making heart-shaped lasagna is to cut the sheets of pasta to fit the pan.  I discovered that I had a heart-shaped cookie cutter just smaller than my pan.  That was a life saver!

I layered each one like a regular lasagna.

 

 

After baking the lasagnas, I topped them with cheese and put them under the broiler.  To get the cheese in a heart shape, I used the cookie cutter as a template.  I added sauce around the outside of the cookie cutter to keep the cheese from spreading.

I put the lasagna in the oven and crossed my fingers.

It was the perfect day to wear my new apron that was a gift from my in-laws.

Happy Day of Love and Friendship!

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.

Valentine Pops

I made a big batch of chocolate suckers to give to my colleagues, my son's preschool classmates and teachers, and our favorite babysitter.  I like using a thinner chocolate for suckers so it settles nicely into the mold.  I used 2/3 Ghirardelli melts and 1/3 Wilton melts.

I found valentine buckets and shred at the One Spot at Target.  I found the milk bottle and ribbon at Joann's.  I think they turned out cute!

Recipe Review: Chicken Pot Pie with White Sauce

I was looking online for ideas for freezer meals, and a website suggested chicken pot pie.

I made this highly rated recipe from the Taste of Home website.  The recipe makes two pies, so I made one for our family and one for a friend.

To keep things easy, I used refrigerated Pillsbury pie crust and frozen mixed vegetables--I cut the green beans in half for a better size.  I cubed and boiled red potatoes with the skin on (2 cups is about 1-1/2 large red potatoes).  I purchased salt-free chicken stock instead of broth (stock has a richer flavor).  I followed the recipe and LOVED the white sauce that goes into the pie.

I appreciated that the recipe including instructions for freezing the pie and baking it later.

This is not low calorie -- it's definitely comfort food (lots of butter!).  But just a slice fills you up.  I want to try this again in the future using coconut milk for a dairy-free recipe.