Bummer and a Brownie

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First for the bummer. I didn't make it past the first round of American Crafter. It slightly embarrassing getting kicked off the first round, but I wasn't the only one. Five of us got the boot this week and I was only 2 votes away from making the top 10. I would have loved to continue on, but my husband is relieved that I didn't make it. Well what better to soothe my pain of rejection then a nice chocolate brownie.

A heart shape brownie no less. Isn't everything made into hearts this time of year? Have you ever wanted a brownie, but went to your cupboard and had no brownie mix? The old me would have called defeat and given up, but not any more. You may all think I am weird, but I had never made brownies without a mix before. I think I must have thought they were complicated or something. Then one sunday I was telling a friend how I had signed up to make brownies for something that night, but had forgotten to buy a mix. She looked at me and said do you have coco powder. Yes I did. She then wrote down a a short little recipe and handed it to me. How had I never thought of that before. So now we can have brownies whenever we need a chocolate fix. This new found knowledge was probably the most dangerous in my husbands hands (he is a chocoholic).

1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 cup cocoa
mix
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
mix
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
mix
put in 8x8 pan and bake @350 for about 25 min

Super easy

To make into hearts just cut with heart shape cookie cutter. My husband likes to add chocolate chips to make it super chocolaty.

All that is left is to eat your 'heart' out. A little corny, but oh so good.

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Apple Treats

We went to a local apple orchard last weekend and came home with 10 pounds of apples and some raspberries. I thought it would be a fun family outing, and while it was I then had 10 pounds of apples to deal with (good thing I didn't get the 20 pound bag). So All week I was making different apple and raspberry treats and I am going to share them with all of you my faithful readers.
First I made apple crisp.

I prefer apple crisp to apple pie and it is so much easier. I don't measure things when I bake I just throw things together and apple crisp is a great one to throw together because it doesn't really matter, but for those of you that need a recipe this one from Betty Crocker is similar (pictured above).

4 medium tart cooking apples, sliced (4 cups)
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
1/2 cup quick-cooking or old-fashioned oats
1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Cream or Ice cream, if desired

1.Heat oven to 375ºF. Grease bottom and sides of 8-inch square pan with shortening.
2.Spread apples in pan. In medium bowl, stir remaining ingredients except cream until well mixed; sprinkle over apples.
3.Bake about 30 minutes or until topping is golden brown and apples are tender when pierced with a fork. Serve warm with cream.

Next I made Apple, raspberry, mango crumble. The crumble part was the same as the apple crisp recipe, but I coated the fruit (apples, raspberries, and mango) in a little it of sprite. I had noticed that many people put some sugar and lime or lemon juice on their fruit well I didn't have any lime or lemon juice, but I did have lemon-lime soda and really all it is is sugar and lemon and lime flavoring plus the carbonation maybe added a little. Sorry no picture I don't know what I was thinking,probably more about eating it than taking pictures.

Then This past weekend with still at least half our apples left we made carmel apples.
These are such a fun fall treat and not that hard to make. All you need is
5 Apples
1 pkg carmels (the individual wrapped candies)
2 tbsp Water
1 tsp Vanilla
Popsicle sticks

Melt the carmels over the stove with the water and then stir in the vanilla. Take your apple and stick a stick in the stem area and dip the apple in the carmel. I then scrapped off the bottom of the apple on the side of the pot and placed them on greased tin foil. It worked really great for getting them off later.
If all you wanted was a plain Carmel apple then you are done, but you can fancy them up how ever you want. Drizzle melted chocolate over then, roll them in your favor candy or cookie crumb whatever you can come up with have fun. Now I did remember to take pictures of these.

And with the left over Carmel and chocolate we make Carmel chocolate popcorn.

The best banana cake ever

I am not a big Banana fan, but I love this bread/cake. I got this recipe from a co-worker in Iowa Carla who is amazing at quilting and I think she she should have her own crafty blog. I use to have her make it all the time especially when I was pregnant and the pregnant lady always gets what she wants.

It is also made in a bundt pan so if you are like me and went out and bought a bundt pan just so you could make the chocoholic cake then here is a way to get even more use out of it.
I made it into a little more of a dessert cake by adding a basic powder sugar glaze and added some bananas for a little decoration and to show that it is banana incase those at the party can't eat bananas for some strange reasons.

2 bananas, mashed
4 eggs
1/2 C oil
1 t. vanilla
1 pkg instant vanilla pudding
1 yellow cake mix
Mix all together. Pour 1/2 into a greased bundt pan.
mix up:
1/3 C brown sugar
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. nutmeg
Add to bundt pan and add remaining batter. Use knife to swirl.
Bake @ 325 for 1 hr

How to dress up a cupcake

Sometimes I like to dress up a boring cupcake made from a boxed cake mix (check out the Cake Doctor for ideas) but sometimes I don't have time and I just wip up the cake mix and dump it into the cupcake tin. Well since I like to wow people with the stuff I make just a little I can't just throw some frosting on top and go where's the fun in that. So here is an easy way to dress up your cupcakes without spending to much time. If you don't have a cake decorating kit, but like to decorate you can get a basic kit from walmart for $10 (that is the it that I have). My favorite cake decrating tip is the star tip. I just covered the cupcake with stars added some sprinkles and people think you spent a lot of time and that you are supermom.
This are some cupcakes I made for a 4th of July BBQ. I tinted the frosting blue and added a little bit of red sprinkles and I got instant firecracker cupcakes.

THe fancy frosting job doesn't really make the cupcake taste better, but people seem to think they are the best cupcakes ever.

Yummy Sugar Cookies and Royal Icing

I made these sugar cookies for my daughters birthday party. The cookie recipe is from a girl at my church and the royal icing recipe is a modified form of Martha Stewart's recipe.


Sugar Cookies
2/3 c. butter
2 lg eggs
3 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 c. milk

Cream butter and sugar, add beaten eggs and vanilla, sift dry ingredients, add together. Chill overnight (or at least 2 hours) Roll out 1/4 inch thick. place on lightly greased pan.
350 degrees, 7-8 minutes, cool on pan

Royal Icing
2.5 tablespoons meringue powder
1/4 cup water
1/2 pound powder sugar
1 tsp vanilla

I liked using the royal icing it gave the cookies a more finished glossy look. I put the icing into a squeeze bottle to make it easier to decorate (thats what they always do on Martha Stewart). I found the meringue powder at walmart for not very much and it is easier to use than egg whites and makes it so that ids and pregnant ladies can eat the icing. I added the vanilla to make it taste a little better. Sometimes I think frosting/icing made with powder sugar can have a weird taste sometimes.

Delicious Chocolate Cake

If you are a chocoholic then you should check out this recipe from little birdies secrets I made it last night and it was delicious. It wasn't to hard either. I made it with a devils food cake mix instead of with a chocolate cake mix and I added a little bit more water to the glaze because it was kind of thick. The batter for the cake is much thicker than normal cake batter so it is a good idea to stick with a bunt pan unless you want gooey center. I liked it so much I am making it again for my daughters birthday party on Saturday.


Chocoholic Cake
1 chocolate cake mix
1 small package (3.4 oz) chocolate pudding
1 cup milk
1/2 cup sour cream
4 eggs
1 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Mix all ingredients except nuts and chips on low until well blended. Beat 2 minutes on high. Add nuts and chips. Pour into greased and floured bundt pan. Bake at 350 for 55-65 minutes. Cool cake 10 minutes then turn out onto platter. Glaze with the following recipe.

Glaze:
1 bar (2 oz) semi-sweet baking chocolate
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 T. butter
2 T. water
1 tsp. vanilla
Melt chocolate and butter in microwave 30 seconds at a time until smooth and melted. Cool. Add powdered sugar alternately with water. Add vanilla. Pour over cake.

Cupcakes!

I started a new hobby. I decided that I wanted to learn cake decorating. I bought a cake decorating set from walmart and my first attempt were these cupcakes that I made for the SNDA bake sale at my husband's school. I thought they weren't bad for a first attempt. They sale all of their baked goods for $1 but one lady thought my cupcakes were with $2 so she paid $2 for one of my cupcakes. My favorite were the ones that I just used the star tip and covered the top of the cupcake. It is so easy but makes a cute cupcake. I added a little bit more detail by putting a different color poka dot in the middle of the stars.