Tis The Season!

Yep, That picture of stacks of cookies and bowls of icing looks pretty intimidating!  But Tis the season for Christmas cookies!! I have been in desperate need for some Christmas spirit in my apartment and have no decorations :(  BUT of course I had ingredients for sugar cookies and icing! So I set to it!  

It was a lot of fun, but not the same as decorating with the ones you love!  The holiday movies on the television tried to keep me company though and here is the result! :D

Not the best decorating job, but there were just too many cookies!

How can I bake at school?

So, since I haven't been able to bake because of crazy schedules... and other problems with living situations, I needed a way to enjoy my baking while at school !  So here is how I did that!! :D

Do you recognize the cupcake?

Thanksgiving Treats~

Crisscross Apple Crowns!

So the latest baking experience was for the wonderful holiday of Thanksgiving!  My little brother came to visit me since I wasn't able to go anywhere (thanks to black friday).   Sooo I decided to try a new recipe for apple pies!   What I made were little versions of apple pie, Crisscross Apple Crowns!  They are very simple and delicious!  They are perfect, just the right size and not as messy as apple pie!!  I highly suggest you trying them out!

Long time no see!

Hello!!  So a lot has happened since I have posted last!  Had Katie's Baby Shower, then her beautiful baby girl, Aubrey Elizabeth was born on November 10th!  I'm so excited to meet the cutie!!  I have been super busy with school and work that I have not been able to bake or post at all :(   Here I will try and catch up real fast.  Prolly won't get recipes up super fast, but show you some of what has been happening.

Firstly I made a whole bunch of stuff for Katie's baby shower, I made brownie pops, little square cupcakes, and a square cake!  Lots of treats for everyone!

So basically the brownie pops were just cake pops, but with brownie mix instead, they were a big hit!  Good thing cuz there were a lot of them!  Then I made little square pieces of cake and put strawberry gel inbetween to make cute cakes... They were supposed to be decorated like little letter blocks, but that failed quickly so they were pretty plain and unimpressive.   Then I made a large letter block for the main cake!  That poor cake just didn't want to live.  First it got squished on the drive there, then kitty cats wanted to eat some.. well lots of the icing... it looked pretty terrible after a while.  O well, I tried, Live and you learn!

Our little cousin admiring the selection~

One tip to give everyone from these couple of baking experiences is how to keep cake pops or brownie pops standing up while you are making them!  The perfect solution isn't one of those stands they sell at Michaels (tried them, they are terrible).  It is floral foam!  My sister and I were trying to find ways to keep them all up to dry and that is what she had, and it worked wonderfully!  I have some right now for the next time I make cake pops! So keep that in mind for when you make them again, or for the first time! :D   You can even use them to display your cake pops as we did.  We just wrapped them in wrapping paper to make them match the baby spirit and there you go! :)

The Tiniest Cupcake!

Hello!

Ok.. so I know this isn't a baking project, but here is the tiniest cupcake I've ever seen!  I had a project in my Material Science and Engineering class, and had to make a tiny little something with special stuff (Yes I should know what it is called, but I don't. ) My bad I was more excited about creating a tiny cupcake!! The first version came out more of an ice cream cone, but try number two came out Awesome-ish!  So I had to share!  Enjoy this tiny little cupcake! :)  O the things you can do with technology :P

Original Cupcake Creation!

I finally did it!  I created my own cupcake.  Not just the decoration either like my red velvet cupcakes!  As I said in a past blog, I bought some small thin mints from a seller going door to door.  So today I got some ingredients went through some of my cookbooks and put together my own cupcake creation!

Mint Chocolate Cupcakes
Andes Mint Buttercream Frosting
Thin Mint on Top

It's pretty exciting to me, and thankfully my design project for school has to do with baking or I couldn't make excuses to use my time this way...   Anyway!   It's a mint chocolate cupcake that I found out of one of my cookbooks.  I then found a normal buttercream frosting recipe, but changed it.  I added Andes mint chips to the frosting to make it a little minty!   I then tried to color half of the frosting green, because I wanted to make them a swirl of green and white on top of the cupcake.  Well it didn't work out exactly.  I do not have a big enough tip for my frosting bags and so the mint chips got stuck and prevented the frosting to go on correctly.  So I used what I could find, it worked alright, but they are not that pretty looking.. next time I'll invest in something that will work better!   To top off the cupcakes I used the thin mints that I bought from the boy going door to door!    It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed how they tasted, and so did my roommate!! :)   I am now taking the rest to my classmates tomorrow morning and see what they think as well!

Recipes are Here!

Yes, I failed, This will be my last post for the day!!  It is an important one though!  I had the request to add the recipes I use in the blog to my blog, so I have!   On the ride side of my blog you will see them all listed underneath the heading Recipes!    I will put the recipes I use on there, plus some added things that I think will help you in your baking!  For instance, when wanting to color frosting or cupcakes, use food coloring Gel rather than the original food coloring.  You will get a better color with less!  Anyway check them out and see what you think! :)

Side note,  a boy just came buy selling stuff for some fundraiser (i confess I wasn't really listening).  Anyway, I bought Thin Mints and they are small and awesome.  The main reason I am telling you this, is because once I got them and saw their size, I instantly thought, "how can I add these to a cupcake??"  So! I am on a mission to find/invent a recipe for cupcakes and frosting that will do these Thin Mints justice!  Keep a look out for the post and the recipe! :)

Time to get Healthy!

Last post of the day! ...I'm pretty sure.. :P

Alright, this baking experience is a little bit different for the others.   Like many others, I am wanting to thin down a bit, so I have been eating less and working out more.  It has been working, but it doesn't seem to be very healthy.  I eat things that tell me how many calories are in it, to be easy and fast for my busy life.  Although I lose weight alright, I don't feel healthy, and the things I eat are not that healthy, even though they try to tell you it is.  My plan is to start making my own snacks, although they may have more than 90 calories a serving, they are healthier and I have to work for it!  If I want something, I have to take the time to make it, and if not, then all the better, because it means I wasn't that hungry to begin with!

Banana Muffins with Mini Chocolate Chips on Top!

Of course I have plenty of cookbooks, and luckily many of them are for recipes that have been changed with healthier ingredients, so I am going to start using them more!  Since I cook only for myself, these meals will last me a very long time!  Today I made homemade sloppy joes, and have plenty for the rest of the week, if not more!  

I know you're wondering,  wait this is a baking blog, this isn't baking, this is diet, health food blah, blah, blah... Well,   I also need to have some snacks through out the week!  Can't always be eating sandwiches!  So I baked me up some Banana chocolate chip muffins!  They are easy, yummy, healthy, and low in calories and fat! :D  

Grab and Go Muffins!

Since I am on the run all of the time, I need a way to grab food quickly to go to school, or work (when I get another job)  To help me with that and not leave me hungry, I wrapped them individually for a quick grab!  I'm really excited to see how this works!  I'm tired of counting calories and ready to be healthier, and hopefully the weight with come off because of it!

Practice Makes Perfect!

A very important date is coming up pretty fast!  Yes, you guest it! My little niece will soon be blessing this planet with her presence!! And to prepare for that we must have a baby shower!  I have plenty of presents for the little baby, but I really need to get working on what I am going to bake for everyone to snack on!  I know what I want to do, but I need to find the perfect recipe so it tastes as good as it looks!  

Yummy Brownies Test Recipe 1

So last weekend, I started on a brownie recipe, because I know my sister loves brownies!  No I am not just making brownies, but I do need a recipe! :)    So I picked a recipe and tried it and they turned out pretty well!! :)  I might try a couple more, just to have some choices!  Everyone at work seemed to enjoy these though, they sure disappeared fast!

Gosh being a baker takes lots of time, money and space!  Guess what!  I will be getting more time soon, as my last day of work is Wednesday, because the company is dying :(  Now I can bake and do homework!  And since my work is closing, I got an amazing deal on a little wooden table that will be a perfect island in my kitchen to give me more space!! :) I'm pretty excited about that! ... I couldn't fit it in my car though, so thankfully my friend is lending me her truck Sunday to pick it up! Then I might just have to test it out :P  I will send a picture of it, if people are interested!  Sadly because of this ability of free time and awesome deals, means I will no longer be getting funds... guess I better get on those applications!

Strawberry Update....

So I know I am very behind on my blog right now.   I will start by explaining what happened with my cupcake sending experiment.  Well it failed before it even began :(.   I had them all ready, frozen about to get in my car to head to the post office, when I thought, maybe I should check some prices online first... Great idea by the way, because it would cost me about $100 just to send this small, light package to my sister overnight.... Let's just say my funding for my baking project isn't even close to being able to cover that kind of shipping cost.

They seemed to do alright...

I did not give up all the way though!   On Labor Day I decided to do some discount shopping at the outlet mall about 20 minutes from my house, so I through my cupcakes in my trunk that morning, left them there while I drove around.  I even left them there overnight to get the time limit covered a bit.    It worked alright, I think my trunk treated them better than a delivery vehicle would have, but you have to use what you can!

Then I finally found a cupcake company that would send me some cupcakes via mail for under $20!  (only because they gave me free shipping for pre-ordering,  they are a starting bakery.)  I should get them next week, so I can see how they send things!! Wish me luck with my project!

Sneeze of Happiness

Hello!
Sadly, yesterday I was going to try to send my cupcakes to Katie, but I do not have the funds to be able to do so.  So now she will not be able to tell me how they turn out or if they taste any good... BUT no worries, this morning I got a text/pic from a co-worker I just have to share, it made my day.

"Dear emily, thanks for the cakes of cup. It made my heart sneeze with happiness. Sincerely, chelsea mega-beast white"


Guess my cupcakes aren't too terrible to get a text like this! hehe

Hope all have a great day, I am off to the first football game of the season! GO ILLINI!!

Will they Survive?

So the trying begins...

Cupcakes ready to be shipped!

I have spent my free evening baking beautiful strawberry cupcakes to send to my beautiful sister is Texas.  I just hope they survive!! I am sending a test box, so see how the current packaging fails to get cupcakes from one place to another!  (lets also hope it doesn't cost me an arm and a leg... Not looking forward to that!

Strawberry Cupcakes
Strawberry icing
Strawberry on top

Anyway back to the more important Strawberry cupcakes! I've never baked with berries before, and wasn't sure how it would turn out!  Well they sure look pretty to me,but I do not like strawberries.  I have no way of seeing if they taste good or not!  Thankfully my roommate does like them and tested them for me.  I ended up giving in and seeing what I could taste.  Well... they aren't that flavorful, not as I had expected.  Of course strawberries are not in season and I didn't eat the strawberries in the cake, so I really am not sure if they are tasteful or not! My roommate also said they weren't that sweet, but she also licked the frosting off first, then ate the cake, so... not really how they are supposed to be eaten.  Guess the best way to find out is to, you guessed it.. take them to work!! hehe    If they survive the trip to Texas, Katie is a strawberry lover (the reason I made this kind) so maybe she can let me in!  As of now, this is a one time thing, not a huge winner as before!  


To tell you a little bit more about the cupcake.  I was a bit lazy tonight, seeing I have papers to write, and used boxed white cake.  Instead of the water and oil, I inserted the juice from frozen strawberries in the mix.  I then added the sliced strawberries to the mix.   For the frosting, I added some of the strawberry juice to a regular sugar frosting.  To finish it off I added a "fresh"(as you can get from Walmart in the off season) strawberry on top!  

To Design for Cupcakes

Hello All!
As you may know I have recently started back into school and that means the projects begin.  Don't worry though!  My first project is not going to be so bad!  Yes, I am doing a project about cupcakes!  More importantly about how I can find a solution to ship cupcakes through the mail without them getting destroyed (by melting, shaken up, etc.) and at a lower cost.  I found someone who tried to send their cupcakes through the mail, it worked, but cost them $150! Just for shipping, not for the supplies to actually ship them!   That is not right, I will fix this... I have decided, shipping food will change after I am done with this project... i hope :P

We don't want this anymore!!

Now it comes to my lovely readers, do any of you have any ideas on how to make this possible?  Do you know anyone who tries to send them, and have found something that works for them?  It doesn't have to be about shipping cupcakes either, how do you send food so that it does not get ruined in the process?

Well I must be off to do some more research elsewhere, yes part of this research will have me baking cupcakes and sending them (as long as funds can afford it)!

Away from my Loves

Me and Justin on his graduation day! 

I have been asked to post once again...  This one will be different, because it is not about baking.  I am forced to be away from that love at the moment, because of some housing arrangements, not going the way I have planned...   Sadly I have no idea when I will be baking again, and I even got some new awesome cookbooks to use Thanks to my Aunt Denise!! :D

Guess I will catch you up on the past few weeks.  I ventured out to San Diego California to see Justin graduate from Marine Bootcamp!! It was wonderful and I am so proud of all that he is doing right now!  His ten days of leave have come and gone.  That was the best ten days of my Summer vacation though!  Now I'm back in class, learning some things and getting for life after college!

So as you can see I am away from my loves and hope to be rejoined with them soon!  Hope all is well with everyone else as well! :D   At least I know I will be baking in about a month for my Katie's baby shower!! :D

Happy Birthday Butterfly!

Here are the butterfly cupcakes finally finished for Dawn's Birthday!   I think they turned out alright, would have been easier if some things weren't packed up.   It also took a little bit to get them to stand up and they aren't quite right yet.. but this was the first try! They will be better next time!!

So more good news! I got the Hello, Cupcake cookbook today at work!  It was the last day to get our employee discount, so I took advantage and got the book before it was too late!  I'm excited to see what I can make out of it!  

Happy Birthday Dawn! :)  Excited to spend the weekend wiith you!

Make Your Own Happiness

Today for me did't start off on the best foot.  Nothing is wrong, I was just incredibly tired, felt bad, because I didn't feel like covering a shift for my sick friend (thankfully she found someone else to cover for her)  I was also hungry, but I have no real food in apartment because of the move.

I went to work to take the cupcakes to them, which they were happy about, found out that the computers were being shut off.  This means people will be even more upset that we will not be able to find the books they are looking for.. I'm not really looking forward to work tomorrow!   So I walked around and called some people to just chat.   Then I decided, I wanted some real food, but I couldn't afford to go eat, or buy groceries for an apartment I will be leaving soon.  So I called my dad and he saved my stomach!! Once before he had ordered me pizza and had it sent to my apartment, so I asked him if he could possibly do it again for me... and he did! :)  That is the best pizza I have seen in forever! :P   I also have enough for meals for the next few days!

So after having some good conversations and a full belly, I decided to make cookies that I had agreed to take to work :).   I wasn't feeling like it earlier in the day, but it was a great time!   It also got rid some of the ingredients out of boxes that would possibly get ruined by the time I moved into my new apartment in more than 3 weeks!   It also helped me procrastinate packing and cleaning the apartment!   I hope you all find a way to make your day happier, even if it is finally asking for some help to have a real meal!

Love in the End...

Red Velvet Cupcakes
Cream Cheese Frosting
Dark Chocolate Mint Hearts

..So a couple of days ago, I found out that my place of work is getting liquidated.  That is not very good news to anyone, especially some of my coworkers who depend on this job for everything.    So Today was the first day the public started to find out about what was happening and constantly came in asking question about their beloved books being taken away from them.   I mean, I understand how they fell, I will also miss my books, but they don't seem to realize the workers will be losing a lot more...

During this first lovely day of questions with unknown answers, I worked 14.5 hours, quite a shift.   During my first break my co-worker came in the the break room and said, "You know what we need to make this better, Emily?"  "No, what's that?"  "We need some of your cupcakes and cookies, I know I told you to not bring them in (because he ate too many), but I don't know what that man was thinking."

So here I am baking at the wee hours of 3 o'clock in the morning.  At first I had no idea what to make, just thinking store bought, because everything is packed up, but I asked my co-worker what his favorite cupcake was, and he saws Red Velvet with cream cheese frosting.     One cupcake I have never made in my life, so I took advantage and here it is!  My first try at Red Velvet Cupcakes, cream cheese frosting, and added a dark-chocolate mint heart.    I think they turned out very well actually!   I'm even thinking next time to add mint into the batter or frosting.  I was unsure if the flavors would blend at first, but it worked beautifully!    The real judging will happen tomorrow when I take them to my coworkers to cheer them up!

Chocolate Art

So today is the first day of trying to use chocolate to make my own decorations for cupcakes. I am learning that it is going to be tough teaching myself how to do all of these baking things, especially since I am in the  middle of a move.  Luckily I enjoy baking and cooking so it is not very stressful!  Quite the opposite and very exciting to see how things will come out!

As you can see I started my learning of chocolate art with butterflies, which will be put onto cupcakes on Thursday for Dawn's Birthday!  It took a while to figure out what was the best way to use the chocolate  and how to keep the chocolate melted long enough for everything to work!

Can find candy melts in all colors!

To save you trouble,  here is how I did it that worked the best:   Put the candy melts into decorating bags (or sandwich bags).   Then fill a pot will water and place it on the stove at the lowest setting.  Place your bags of candy melts into the pot.  Every once in a while pick up the bags and squeeze them to mix up the chocolate and get it all melted.   When the chocolate is all melted, cut a whole at the bottom of the decorating bag (or corner of sandwich bag) and decorate away!

Places like Michael's or Hobby Lobby have little squeeze bottles that you can put the candy melts into and place those bottles into the hot water.   These are nice, because you can continue to keep the chocolate melted easier in between colors you are using.   I did not talk about them before, because while using the orange candy melts, the bottle didn't work as well.  I did use a bottles for the dark chocolate  the whole time and it worked wonderfully.  I also suggest the plastic bags, because they are much easier to clean up in the end.

Explorations To Come

Although I do not have any new cupcakes to show, I am excited for the possibilities coming in the future!  This coming week has a few very important birthdays!  First my Mom, Karen's, birthday is tomorrow!! Happy Birthday!! Sadly I am not there to make you any awesome cupcakes :( ... 6 days later is Justin's mom, Dawn's, birthday!  She is coming to visit that weekend, to hang out and to help me move my stuff out of my apartment.  So it is the PERFECT time to try some new cupcakes!! I should have some made and ready to show Wednesday or Thursday! :D

The cupcakes this week are going to be about the decoration, since my apartment is pretty empty and can't make them from scratch, expect the ones in the future to be from scratch and new exciting tastes!  I invested in a cookbook that will help me create the flavors that I am wanting in the cake and frosting!! I am really excited to try them out! :)    More exciting is that Michael's had a 50% off a baking item, so I got to get a very important item to help create the cupcakes for my sister's baby shower! :)  So expect great things soon! I am really excited about these new explorations! :)

The Famous Chocolate Chip Cookies

Today got incredibly better after my original post for the day.  Justin called!  It was only 53 seconds, but brightened my gloomy day. So I got up and left once more, saw a movie, bought baby gifts, and went to meijer to just walk around.  But low and behold!  Chocolate Chips were on sale! The only missing ingredient I needed for cookies!  So I also got to bake today! :)  I hope everyone at work tomorrow is hungry, they have a few dozen cookies to eat!

Now here is a question for my few followers, should I post recipes? or anything else to make this blog a little more interesting?  Let me know your ideas!

Gloomy on a Sunny Day

Today is a beautiful, sunny day, but I couldn't even enjoy the weather when I went for my run this morning.  Still haven't heard from Justin at bootcamp and it has been about three weeks.. no good.  Also bills are piling up and blah blah blah.... On top of that I have to start packing up my kitchen... yes, that means, my baking supplies!! :'(  I will not be able to bake for a few weeks and that is no good! I need to practice for my first party in September!  Do notice though, I have yet to tape up the box, just in case a baking moment happens to come along!

I also got a text today from somebody really special.. SO I must mention her!  The one and only person who got me to love cooking and baking, (although she does not share my love for coffee, I guess I will forgive her for that) my Mom, Karen! :)  She is the one who had to deal with me not allowing my little brother to get his disgusting chubby little fingers in my cookie dough, and some other things through the years, including eating that disgusting butter cake hehe. :)  Thanks Mom! :)

Next Steps

My newest goody I tried were Cake Pops!  They turned out to be amazing!  I decided to make them, 1. because my dad said I should try them, and 2. because I wanted something to take to a Fourth of July party, but wanted something more than a cupcake with red, white, and blue sprinkles.  I tried it, it turned out awesome, and people loved them!  I went to another party and Justin's cousin asked me what I brought, because she wanted some more! Yay!

I have a few more ideas for cake pops.  I am wanting to make some, take them to school and sell them on the main quad or the south quad.  I think they would be eaten up quickly~  My other idea must be kept secret from a certain someone, so read on later and find out! :P

The Beginning.

Hello!! Thanks to my lovely sister Katie, I have decided to start this blog and share my baked creations, recipes and ideas.   I will also talk about myself, because why not?  To begin with I'm a student, I work in a bookstore with amazing people and have no idea what I will do after I graduate!!   Sorry, but I am taken by my wonderful boyfriend Justin, who is off in San Diego right now at boot camp for the Marines. I miss him a lot, so don't be surprised if I talk about him waaaaaay too much :D.   Other big news in my life is that my beautiful sister is having a baby girl!!! :D  So in November my amazing niece Aubrey Elizabeth with be joining this world! :D  And of course I will be making amazing treats to her baby shower (sorry no details now, want to surprise the mommy).

I'm guessing you might be wondering why I love to bake so much.  Well it started a long long time ago, when I learned how to make the best chocolate chip cookies in the world.  Yes the best.  I still have that recipe memorized from when I was in second grade.  That's where I started and went from there, I remember the first cake I made from scratch, a butter cake,  it was horrible... I like to say I've gotten much better since then!  I've done much more since, but that is the start and from now on I will share with you my creations!!  To start with here is a cupcake I made a few weeks ago!  Enjoy!