Dorm room baking memories

This weekend I get to reunite with my college roommates. It's amazing that we saw each other every day for four years, but since college has been out we've probably all been together only a handful of times. We all went our separate ways as people do.

It's Kelly's turn to get married this summer, so we're all heading back to the Quad Cities for her bridal shower and bachelorette party Saturday.

I can't wait to catch up with these girls and see what they've been up to. When you have sleepovers with the same group every night for four years, you create a different kind of friendship that only roommates know, and ours was awesome.

Of course, baking played a big part in our bond. The first two years were a struggle without a kitchen, but we got our sweets in where we could:


by ordering cakes on random Tuesday nights from Cold Stone Creamery,

I wonder where the freshman 15 came from.

by downing milkshakes while watching Friends,





and by dipping everything in chocolate.



And when we were really desperate...

 


Finally, I got a job at a cookie factory so that we could all have sweets on a daily basis. My roommates would put in their orders before I left for my shift. I'd come home with boxes of cookies and sometimes random cookie cakes like this one:


Junior year, we finally had an oven. We celebrated the first day of classes with freshly baked cinnamon rolls instead of the usual cereal or pop tart. That was a great day!

We made pans of brownies or funfetti cupcakes almost every week because they were simple and fast. And they never lasted long in our dorm.

Now we get to see each other again for the first time in almost a year for Kelly's big bachelorette party...

...and I made a surprise cake! For my partner in crime through college, this is going to be one heck of a party, and one heck of a cake.

How did you get your sugar fix or baking fix in college? Leave a comment :)

Recipe review: Blue Moon cupcakes

Hot days call for cold beer, and cupcakes.

I tried this recipe for a friend's haluski cook-off. Since I have no business cooking, my job was to bring dessert. My friend was pretty proud of the Blue Moon keg he was getting for the party, so I thought it would be best to follow theme. Sure enough, there was a recipe on Pinterest for these citrus-y cupcakes.

This cupcake falls in my top five, it is that good. Not only is the cake fluffy and moist with just enough hint of orange, but the frosting is freaking out-of-this-world delicious. It's a cream cheese frosting, which contains a little bit of the booze and orange zest. This is a must try!

Don't forget to add a quarter-slice of an orange for decoration. They're more intriguing that way and everyone will want to try them.

Warning: Make these once and you WILL be asked to make them again and again.

Blue Moon Cupcakes

recipe from spoonforkbacon.com

Makes 12
 
 Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 2/3 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 oraange, zested (plus more for garnish)
2/3 cup Blue Moon beer
2 tablespoons whole milk

Orange cream cheese frosting:
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a muffin tin with 12  cupcake liners.
2. In a mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt.
 Set aside.
3. In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer, cream butter for 1 minute. Add sugar and cream together with butter for about 3 to 4 minutes.
4. 
Add eggs, one at a time, scraping down after each addition.
5. Add vanilla and orange zest and mix until just combined.
6. In a mixing bowl whisk together beer and milk. Alternatively add beer mixture and flour mixture to butter mixture until fully incorporated.
7. Fill cupcake liners 1/2-2/3 full.
8. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
 Transfer cupcakes onto a cooling rack and allow to cool completely.
9. For frosting: In a stand mixer, or with a hand mixer, cream together butter and cream cheese. With motor running add sugar, 1/2 cup at a time until all sugar has been added, scraping down sides of the bowl after each cup of sugar. Stir in the orange juice until fully incorporated.
10. Pipe frosting onto cupcakes or spread with an offset spatula and top with fresh orange zest. Serve.

Project: Name my business

A little over a month ago, I received my first professional cupcake order. Alas, a business was created! Who knew the hardest part would be coming up with a name for it?

There are thousands of cupcake businesses out there already, which leaves me with little room for an original name.

Readers, I need your help. I have a couple options I'm throwing around, but would like readers to have an input. If you have a suggestion, please leave a comment below. Later this week, I'll narrow down the options in a poll that readers can vote on. The person who suggests the winning name just might get some cupcakes!

Note that my business is cupcake oriented, but I also make cookies, cakes, and several other bakery items.


Thanks for your help!

Sugar cookie traditions

kidszone.sailusfood.com

A cookie is definitely a tradition when the recipe card is as old as you are, or outdates you. My mom's treasured sugar cookie recipe came handwritten from a neighbor, Marilyn, before we moved into this house, meaning I was younger than three.

Throughout the years, Mom has lost it several times. She usually realizes it is lost right before we need it, like around Christmas time or before my bake sale last weekend. Then she finds it a week after. This is just how things work in our house.

We've always followed Marilyn's recipe either from the card or by memory, but we only make sugar cookies at Christmas. We have cookie cutters for every holiday and occasion, including St. Patty's Day, Girl's Night Out and the dog's birthday, but the only ones we have ever used are the Christmas cut-outs. Yet, we keep buying random cookie cutters because they're so darn cute.

Exhibit A:


When have I ever made cupcake-shaped cookies?

Last weekend I finally made use of our cancer ribbon cut-out for my Susan G. Komen 3-Day Walk bake sale. I quickly realized just how neglected sugar cookies have been in my family.




They are so much fun! Cut-out cookies are cute as can be because you can decorate them with all sorts of colors, and your shape is already cut out for you. And sugar cookies are so darn tasty, too! They're still a lot of work, but they store and keep so much easier than cupcakes. From a baker's view, that's a world of difference.

So, why not make them more often?

It's become an assumption in my family that we make chocolate chip cookies 51 weeks of the year and sugar cookies the other week. I guess it's time for a new project: make more sugar cookies!

Tips for making successful sugar cookies

• Refrigerate your dough for at least one hour before use.
• Lightly flour your rolling pin and work surface.
• Work with one portion of the dough at a time. Keep the rest in the fridge so it doesn't get too warm and difficult to handle.
• Dip your cookie cutter in flour so it doesn't stick to the dough.
• Roll your dough out so it's thick. I couldn't figure out why my cut-outs kept crumbling when I picked them up. Then, my noggin kicked in and I realized that if your dough is thick it will hold its shape when you transfer it to the cookie sheet.
• If your cut-outs keep breaking, roll out your dough directly on the cookie sheet. That way you don't have to deal with all that crap.
• Place cookies in the freezer for 15 minutes after frosting them to allow the frosting to set. This makes them easier to transport or store without getting a mess of frosting everywhere.

Warnings

• Making sugar cookies always results in a flour fight.
• You will probably eat more than you give away, so have your sweat pants ready. They're so good!

Cut-out cookies are great for summer occasions: graduation parties, pool parties, softball teams, cook-outs. You name it and I have a cookie cutter for it. Keep me in mind if you want something like this:



or this:



And how cute are these!

Marilyn's Sugar Cookies:

3/4c. shortening (part butter or margerine, softened)
1c. sugar
2eggs
1tsp. vanilla or 1/2 tsp. lemon extract (or both)
2 1/2c. flour (not self-rising)
1tsp. baking powder
1tsp. salt

Mix thoroughly shortening, sugar, eggs and flavoring. Blend in flour, baking powder and salt. Cover. Chill at least one hour.

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Roll dough 1/8in. thick on lightly floured cloth covered board. Cut into desired shapes. Place on ungreased baking sheet.

Bake for 6-8 minutes or until very light brown.

Make four dozen 3-inch cookies.

Cupcakes, cookies and a cure: an irresistable fundraiser

Thank you to everyone who supported my bake sale Saturday. Because of your cupcake consumption and generous donations, I was able to raise $260 toward the Susan G. Komen 3-Day Walk I'll be participating in later this summer! I only have about $150 more to raise, and I'm confident I'll get there.

Bake sales are hard work, but they are a hoot of fun! What was really nice for me was that I used to work at Walgreens, where we held the bake sale. It was nice to have every customer come up to me with a smile rather than with a return item, a pocket full of coupons and a grumpy attitude.  When people walk in the door and see a table full of baked goods and pink posters, they're automatically happy. That's a fact.

Who wouldn't smile at the sight of all this?

7 Steps to a Successful Bake Sale (from cozi.com)

•  Gather a team.

  I wouldn't have survived this bake sale without some help. I asked my friend Kayla a month ahead of time if she would bake a couple things, but she also volunteered to help sell with me. She helped set up, take down, and price and wrap items. Sometimes I forget how important she is to my level of calmness. Without her, I'd be lost in my own little fairy land. She brings me back to reality when I need it. Her mom was also a big help, making a cute little cake that captured what the whole fundraiser was about. I also had volunteer baking from my friend Abby and a worker at Walgreen's who heard about the sale. And of course, my momma, who drank wine with me while I baked. Let people help you. You'll realize how much you need them.
• 
  

  

  Thank you to my awesome team of helpers

• Choose the best spot: Walgreens on a Saturday is poppin. We nearly sold out after 2 1/2 hours!

• Get the word out: Tell EVERYBODY about your bake sale. Post photos on Facebook and advertise. One girl I know came promptly at 11 am for two cupcakes and no need to even be at Walgreens. How exciting!

• Start baking! Cookies were a hot item at our bake sale. We also had brownies, banana bread, banana muffins, cupcakes of all kinds, pineapple upside down cake, puppy chow, and a cake!
• Boost sales with bonus items: Momma had breast cancer ribbon tattoos and pink beads for little kids. Buy a cookie and get a tattoo! Kids fell for it.
• Pay attention to presentation: Make sure you have a way to package everything. Extra sacks will help for people who want a ton of your yummy baked goods. Have cool posters that dress your table up, too.
• Be prepared! Make sure you have a cash box with plenty of change, a folding table, napkins, paper plates, price tags, posters, serving utensils, and anything else you might need. And don't forget your smile!

Most importantly, remember why you're doing it. You can't help but feel good about all that hard work work when it's going to something that will help others. Being in a small town, we knew just about everyone who came by. But a couple customers who I didn't know saw our table, came by and said they had lost someone to breast cancer. They said they'd be a fool not to support the cause.

Life isn't always as good as cupcakes and cookies, but when you can eat one knowing it's for a cure to end breast cancer, they taste even better.

Keep calm and sell cupcakes.

Check back tomorrow for more on these fun breast cancer ribbon sugar cookies.

Bake sale for the Susan G. Komen 3-Day

Sometimes we feel guilty when we eat cookies and cupcakes loaded with sugar, fat and awesomeness.

My bake sale tomorrow will give you a reason to feel GREAT about eating sweets!

Several of these bad boys will be at the bake sale. Will you?

All proceeds go to the Susan G. Komen 3-Day Walk. I'm participating in the Young Women Walking portion of this fundraising event in Chicago this August, for which I need to raise at least $700 and will walk 20 miles with fellow supporters of a cure. I'm walking in honor of Carol Branz, who lost her courageous battle with breast cancer earlier this year.

Carol walked last year, and was very passionate about the cause. Her team, Carolyn's Crusaders, raised $12,444 for the fight against breast cancer.

 

This August, I'll join my mom and Carol's daughter Kelsie, to be a part of Carolyn's Crusaders.So far our team has raised $2,680 and our goal is $12,000.

With your help of cupcake and cookie eating, we can get closer to our goal and closer to ending breast cancer.

So come to Walgreens in Streator tomorrow between 11 and 2. My sweet friend Kayla will be helping me, as she is a pro at bake sales. We are smiley people and we'll have lots of pink goodies for you to choose from. Every treat sold is another step closer to ending this disease that takes too many of our strongest women.

Stop by, and feel good about eating a cupcake.

If you're unable to attend tomorrow, you can donate here without the happiness of cupcakes. All donations are very much appreciated!

Recipe Review: Neopolitan cupcakes

Tomorrow is the first day of summer! Which means it is the perfect time to be adding ice cream to our cupcakes.

There is one dish I might love more than the sacred cupcake, and that, as many know, is ice cream. In my ideal version of life, I would have ice cream after every meal. Or as every meal. Unfortunately my hips don't agree with that lifestyle, so I usually stick with one small bowl after dinner.

If I'm going to really indulge, I go for this two-for-one dessert: Neopolitan cupcakes. You have the idea of ice cream stuffed into a delicious little cake, and actual ice cream mixed in the frosting. It's the best of both sugary worlds! You also get three delicious flavors, vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate, to make a colorful and yummy cupcake.

If you're looking to wow people but can't put in the extra time and effort of making something from scratch, this recipe is the winner. Just separate your white cake batter into three bowls and add strawberry preserves to one and cocoa powder and melted chocolate chips to the other. It takes a little monotonous time spooning each layer into each cupcake tin, but it's nothing that can really be screwed up. (Catch up on your TV shows while doing this.) It just looks so pretty that it's worth the extra time. 

And if you really don't have the time, that's what I'm here for!

 

 

 

It's fun to bite into this cupcake and get three classic flavors. The frosting recipe here is whipped and sweet. In hindsight, I wish I would have used real ice cream instead of whipping cream. I have way too much whipping cream at my house, (don't ask why,) that I'm trying to use up. It tastes creamy and pairs well with these cupcakes, but using ice cream certainly intrigues me. Challenge for next time.

Wedding Cake Review

Kyle and I went to a wedding last weekend for a couple of his friends from school who live in Harlan, Iowa. We may have missed a Luke Bryan concert for it, but we were definitely still in the country.

The bride's family lives on a farm, where they held the wedding. Farms make me nervous, as I have relentless allergies, but this was nothing like I expected.

The wedding was absolutely beautiful and the couple, although I didn't know them before, were the sweetest people.

But let's get to the part we're all interested in - the cake.

While I'm sure the couple spent a ton of money to get their land in tip-top shape for the wedding, they had to have saved so much in other areas. It's nice to see that such a beautiful and heartfelt wedding can happen without shelling out hundreds of dollars for a fancy hall, or a professional cake.

I believe the bride said the cake was made by a family member. She joked that the top layer fell off the day of the wedding, but you couldn't tell anything was amiss with this simple, beautiful end product:

The bride and groom cut themselves a chunk from that cake. The guests were served a different cake, that our friends decided was probably a Jell-O poke whipped cream cake. These cakes are easy to make and I'm sure was a huge money saver. They were made in pink and green to match the wedding colors.

It wouldn't be right if I didn't try one of each.

This cake was delicious. It's not your usual wedding cake, but it's good and it's going to please everyone. The colors were a cute addition.

I had three pieces.

Here is a link for a Jell-O cake recipe.

They also put out on the tables these little sugared roses and other cute designs. Simple sweet pleasures while you're waiting to eat, just my style.

Cake pop catastrophe

Warning for those who giggle at everything: I refer to the term "cake balls" a lot in this post.

Last week I had an order for cake pops, never mind that I had never made cake pops in my life. Of course I had seen it done, I have a whole book on them, and the concept seemed like common sense. How hard could it be?

Very.

Somehow, I came up with a finished product that I was proud of and tasted awesome. But, like many of my baking adventures lately, it was a journey of chaos.





Cake pops are a two-day project. No one has the sanity to play with cake balls for more than four hours, not even me.

Day one of Project Cake Pops was a breeze and a ton of fun. Bake a cake, any cake you want. Pick a frosting of any kind. (I confess that I used box mixes since this was my first time and I correctly projected there would already be enough stress.) Let the cake cool completely.

I watched The Office (baking orders has gotten me up to season seven now!) during the next part. You will need something to entertain you, as cake balls only provide so much excitement.


Ready for the fun part? Take a section of the cake, about one fourth, and crumble it into a bowl. Crumble it all up so there are no large pieces.

 

Once you've crumbled your whole cake, mix the crumbs with your frosting. My book says to use 3/4 of your frosting. I think I probably should have used more - my cake balls weren't very firm and several of them broke when I tried to coat them. I'd recommend using enough so that the mixture is firm and not too  crumbly.

Next, take a cookie scoop and make little balls. One cake will yield 48 cake balls. 48!




If you're being smart and making this a 2-day project, keep your cake balls in the refrigerator overnight. If you're Superwoman and you're going for it in one day, place the balls in the freezer for about 15 minutes.

Project Cake Pops: Day Two

Recommendation: proceed with wine

This part could be fun if you know what you're doing, and if you're not very messy. I am neither of those things most of the time.

Melt almond bark as you would for making chocolate pretzels. I first tried using candy melts and the mixture was too thick. (First mini breakdown: driving to WalMart to get almond bark.) The thinner the candy coating the easier it is to coat your cake balls. Now, the "book" says to place your cake ball in the candy coating and cover it, pick it up with a spoon. It also says to dip it in with the stick in place. This all makes sense if your cake balls are set and firm. Mine were not.

One dozen crumbled cake balls later, my candy coating was speckled with cake and my kitchen was speckled with candy coating. Broken cake ball after broken cake ball is frustrating to say the least. I managed to get my head on straight and keep the balls in one spoon while using another spoon to coat them. That worked pretty well.

After they're covered, put any sprinkles you want on there and set them on wax paper. I put the sticks in after they dried and that worked out fine.

Obviously, I'm not too advanced yet in decorating cake pops, since I'm at entry level in assembling them. But they are intriguing and very popular. I'd like to get better with them since they'd probably make a great seller.

It will take a lot of wine to get over those broken cake balls, but I'm not ready to give up on them.




 One day, I'll be whipping up cake pops like these!

www.magicalkingdoms.com

Dads and their cookies

As I said in my Father's Day ideas post, I wouldn't be making any fun cupcake recipes for my dad. 

I learned this year that cookies are the desserts for dads. It does make sense: eating a fluffy, frosted and sprinkled cupcake looks and sounds a little girly. Stuffing a half dozen cookies in your mouth is maybe more acceptable for a man, (although this girl does it often, with grace). 

Since Tom Chalkey is afraid of change and very much stuck in his ways (I can't wait to see how he handles moving to the suburbs), all he wanted was chocolate chip cookies.

"No M&Ms or pretzel crap. Just plain ol' chocolate chip cookies. Can ya do that for your dad?"

How boring. Delicious, always, but why not try something new.

This year I've been blessed with the gift of baking for a second father, Kyle's dad, John. He also wanted cookies, but luckily I got to mix it up a bit. John has been asking me to make him cowboy cookies since the first time I brought cupcakes to their house.

Every time I show up with a newly inspired cupcake to test on the Barichello's, John greets me with, "When you gonna make me some cowboy cookies, man?" For Father's Day, he deserved to get his cowboy cookies.

I had never made them and I'm not sure I'd even tried one before. Cowboy cookies are thick and chewy. They typically are made with oats, chocolate chips, coconut flakes and pecans. They can be made with several variations, such as peanut butter, walnuts, white chocolate, cranberries, etc. John wanted me to make them how his mother used to make them when he was a kid. Of course, he couldn't tell me how she made them, but he remembered that they were called cowboy cookies.

So I made a recipe I found online, which is about the same as a recipe for chocolate chip cookies. You can add 2c. of oats, 1/2c. shredded coconut, and 1/2c. chopped pecans.

Fresh out of the oven, soooo good!

I could have eaten the dough by itself without ever getting around to baking them. These cookies are so delicious. You get the awesomeness of a chocolate chip cookie, with a crunch of oats and pecans and the sweetness of the coconut. Those of you who don't like coconut (unfortunately there are a lot of you), you should probably just suck it up for this cookie. The coconut isn't overpowering and complements the other ingredients well.

Sharon said these were gone the next day. John must have liked them!

I didn't get to see John's reaction or hear yet if they matched his mother's, but I hoped they at least reminded him of them a little bit. I'm happy to have a new recipe, and awesome dads who like cookies.

Happy birthday, Maddie!

Kyle's sister Maddie turns eleven today!

Do you remember what eleven was like? I will always remember it as the worst birthday I ever had. It was the summer between grade school and junior high, as Maddie's is now, and there were girls and there was drama. It didn't end well.

I don't think Maddie will have those problems this birthday, but just in case, I made sure she has plenty of cupcakes to make it through anything.







 I asked Maddie what her favorite cupcakes were last week on my birthday. However, I had accidentally consumed alcoholic beverages before this conversation (don't judge, it was my birthday) and didn't quite remember what her answer was. At the last minute, I remembered "CREAM CHEESE FROSTING!"



 Maddie is girly, but not to the extreme like I am. So I balanced a little girlyness with coolness.


If I had known when I was eleven that cupcakes would get me through life, I wouldn't have asked for a Dairy Queen birthday cake.

 

I'm so glad she has a sweet tooth like me. Happy birthday, Maddie!

Impress Dad with these cupcake-inspired Father's Day treats

My dad doesn't give a crap about cupcakes. Breaks my heart. But for those of you whose dads appreciate cupcakes and all of their joy, here are a couple ideas to wow him this Father's Day.


http://www.bakerella.com/happy-meals-cupcake-replay/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Bakerella+%28Bakerella%29

 

I really want to try this one, but there's just no point. Daddy would rather have his cupcakes in beer form. Perhaps he'd like something like this:

Father’s Day Cupcake Bouquet (There’s Beer in the Cupcakes!)

Read more at http://www.cupcakeproject.com/2013/06/fathers-day-cupcake-bouquet-theres-beer-in-the-cupcakes.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CupcakeProject+%28Cupcake+Project%29#zTLPMLa2SCSKGfgQ.99

 But even that would be pushing it. Tom Chalkey would rather have something like this:





Or perhaps even a good book:


 


I guess I'll have a beer with Dad on Father's Day, and make pink girly cupcakes for myself.

Cupcake Photo of the Week

It's too bad I don't share cupcakes.