christmas cookies :: baking with kids

so, once a year, around this time, i go on a baking binge... for just one night.

i bake for hours and hours and honestly, i do it just for my children. i'm not a huge cookie lover really, but i want them to have memories of our home filled with smells of baking, of helping me in the kitchen, and of that sight when the entire dining table is filled with different types of sugary treats.

and that's just what we did last friday night. there must have been 10 dozen cookies. and guess what? they were all gone by monday. i think my husband helped with that part though.

xoxo

s'mores on a stick :: baking with kids

like i've mentioned before, we have "dessert night" once a week at our house. more often than not it's spent baking chocolate chip cookies or some variation of that. not sure what happened to me once i turned 30 but i can't get enough! anyway, not only do i hold this tradition so that our cookie jar is always full, but also so that my boys will have memories of baking with me in the kitchen. a draw back to being over 30 is that i have pretty much lost all motivation to cook a nightly meal. i'm too busy and too tired and too bored. there is absolutely no creativity in cooking any more because none of my boys like anything that is the least bit different.

but desserts... that's something i can experiment with and the boys always devour. so, we spend these moments destroying the kitchen and then, in the end, we sit around our table and enjoy our creations together as a family. it's one of my favorite nights of the week!

this time, in honor of the autumn season, we made s'mores on a stick. did you know you can buy graham cracker crumbs?! seriously. this dessert took very little effort. i basically set up the 3 stations (poke pretzel into marshmallow, dip into chocolate, and dip into crumbs) and the boys took over.

if you try this, be sure to store any leftovers in sandwich bags or tupperware... the marshmallows will get stale and hard... and that's no fun.

xoxo

skylander giant cake :: cake decorating

i haven't shared a cake decorating post in a while.  for "the monster's" birthday dinner dessert, i made a simple double layer swirl cake then tried my best to decorate as the portal of power from the skylander giants video game (which is my son's current obsession).  it's actually a neat concept... players can collect action figures and then place them on the portal to enter them into the video game.  for a seven-year-old, this is the perfect combo because he actually plays with the action figures outside of the game as well... kind of like how i did with barbies.

i purchased a set of skylanders to place on top of the portal cake, however, due to the electronics at the bottom of each, i could not let icing get inside.  to prevent this, i traced each onto a thick paper and then cut out the shape.  it was easy to tape the paper to the bottom of the figures and then remove when he was ready to play!

for a little more decor, i placed the instant photos i had taken that morning around the cake table for guests to look at.  overall, this may have been the easiest birthday celebration i've planned yet.  (did i mention "the monster" wanted pizza hut for dinner so i didn't even have to cook?!)

edible easter nest :: diy

these edible easter nests are the perfect combo of salty & sweet.  simply melt some white chocolate, then stir in broken pretzel sticks.  form into a nest and add egg-shaped candies of your choice.  yuummmm...

halloween ghosts :: baking

happy halloweenie friends!  last night, while we finished up our costumes, i put together a fun little treat for us.  it was so simple and such a big hit with the boys, i thought i should share...

you see, these little ghosts are just marshmallows with a swirl of icing on top.  sugar overload!  but so stinkin' cute.  don't you agree?

decorate cake in under 10 :: baking

picture it:  any holiday, hosting at my home (guests arriving soon), and i'm running around like a crazy person picking up toys & clothes and yelling at my family to do the same.  i have a load of laundry going, dishes soaking, food cooking, vacuum moving, crafty decor glue drying and cake baking.  and, i'm still in my robe.

o, and my husband keeps telling me to 'calm down'.

i know you've been there.  here's a little tip for the next time you find yourself decorating a cake with soaking wet hair, no makeup and covered in your bath robe with guests arriving any minute.

how to decorate a cake so it looks like it's from a professional bakery in less than 10 minutes:

• cover with icing
• use a fork to create a vertical line pattern along the sides
• using an icing nozzle, like a flower tip or star tip, and dab icing along the edges.  don't forget the edge along the cake stand.
• decorate with sliced fruit.

voila!  happy hosting!

craft not cook :: baking

i'm not the best in the kitchen, but that never stops me from trying.  and... as you can see, if it's sweet enough, the boys will eat whatever i make... gladly!   each wednesday, it's dessert night at our house.   sometimes i try a fancy new recipe that looks pretty, but mostly, i bake cookies to fill the cookie jar for the week.  last wednesday, i tried this recipe, however, my cookies didn't turn out quite like martha's.  i think i used too big of marshmallows and the wrong amount of baking powder (to sub for the baking soda i didn't have).  otherwise, these turned out incredibly rich and decadent.  these cookies are not for the faint of stomach!

do you have a favorite cookie recipe you'd like to share?  i'm always looking for something new!

marshmallow pops :: kid project

so easy, so cute!!

you can get candy sticks at any baking store

just stick colored marshmallows on one end

then dip in melted chocolate (we used white chocolate)

add some sprinkles and you've got the prettiest, easiest kid treat ever!