Yarn Wreath Craft Night

This past Saturday night I was invited to a craft night at my friend Brooke's house.  There were two crafts that you could pick from; one was a berry letter and the other was a yarn wreath.  I chose to do a yarn wreath, I let my mom pick out the materials.  Her birthday is coming up and I am giving the yarn wreath to her as an early present :)  Instructions on a yarn wreath are HERE.  It was a good project and I had so much fun, but be prepared, putting the yarn on the wreath takes some time.  The best part was decorating with the Christmas stuff that my mom had picked out.  The wreath turned out really cute and I think I am going to make two more for our back door.  Here is my wreath, and yes my mom loves it :) I could not wait and gave it to her early.

Also for the craft night we were to bring a Pinterest recipe.  I chose to bring Pumpkin Bars, they are so good.  There was also Buffalo Chicken Dip, Pumpkin Dip and Skinny Puppy Chow.  (F.Y.I. these are the links for the pins on Pinterest, if you click on the picture of the pin it will take you to the recipes.)

Many Thanks to Brooke for inviting me, I had so much fun.

Enjoy,

Tabitha

Shania's Baby Shower and Buckeyes

 

Saturday was my friends baby shower, and we had so much fun.  Shania was recently married and this is her first child; it's going to be a boy.  Shania and her husband Derick got some really good presents for Cameron and they had some really fun games to play as well.  We played four games total but my favorite was the candy in the diaper to look like poop, LOL, I won the prize for this one when I got 4 out of the 6 candy's.  My other favorite, believe it or not was tasting baby food, Ashton won this one she got all of them right.  We had a really good time.

A few weeks ago as the baby shower came closer I had asked Shania if there was anything I could make to bring.  Shania had no preference so I decided to make Buckeyes.  If you do not know what a buckeye is, it's kind of like a homemade Reese's Cup.  They are so good and very easy to make, although Ashton will tell you differently :) she did not like rolling them into little balls.  Here is the link to the recipe I use, it is a Toll House recipe, Toll House Buckeye Candy.  I hope you like them.

 

Enjoy,

Tabitha

Ghirardelli Chocolate Chip Cookies

 

My mom has been begging me to make cookies again :)  And a friend of hers and mine made these Ghirardelli Chocolate Chip Cookies.  They are my new second favorite chocolate chip cookie, with Toll House still on top :)  These cookies are amazing, I usually do not make chocolate chip cookies with the nuts but I decided to this time and yummy.  I hope you go out and get your self a bag of Ghiradelli Baking Chips soon and try these cookies, I used the Semi-Sweet chips because they are my favorite.  Here is the recipe, you can also find it on the back of the bag of chips or on the Ghirardelli web site.  BTW, check out Ghirardelli's website they have some awesome looking recipes.  The Dark Chocolate Cupcakes look really good, I might have to try them.

Ghirardelli Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 bag (12 oz.) Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup walnuts or pecans chopped

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Stir together dry ingredients, set aside.
Beat butter, sugar together med. speed until creamy add vanilla, then eggs one at a time on low.  Gradually add in dry mixture.
Stir in chocolate chips and nuts.

Drop onto ungreased cookie sheet and bake 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown.

 

Enjoy,

Tabitha

Snickerdoodle Cookies

This past weekend I wanted to take something special to a class that I have been attending.  I decided that I would take my Great Aunt Carol's Snickerdoodle Cookies.  I don't know where she got the recipe but I have been making these cookies for as long as I have known how to bake, my mom calls these one of my specialties.  Snickerdoodles are a favorite in my house and as soon as I bake them they seem to be gone.  They were a great hit at the class, everyone enjoyed them.  Here is the recipe, I hope that you like them as much as my family and friends do.

Great Aunt Carol's
Snickerdoodle Cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup shortening
1/2 cup margarine softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 3/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

*you will also need some cinnamon sugar, about a half cup sugar and about a half teaspoon cinnamon in a bowl you can eye ball this

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Mix shortening, margarine, sugar and eggs until combined.
Add flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt until combined
Roll into 1 in balls and then coat in cinnamon sugar.  Bake 8 to 10 minutes.

Enjoy,

Tabitha

Trisha Yearwood's Sweet and Saltines

Last night my family wanted something sweet after dinner, so I decided to try a recipe that I saw on Sunday's episode of Trisha's Southern Kitchen.  She referred to these Sweet and Saltines as crack (lol) so I had to try them.  Mine did not turn out as pretty as hers but this was just my first batch, I will be making them again.  My family loved them and yes they are addicting once you have had some.  They are a really good combination of sweet and salty, they were also really easy to make and easy to clean up.  Here is the recipe and check out Trisha's Southern Kitchen it comes on Sunday on the Food Network.

Trisha Yearwood's
Sweet and Saltines

Ingredients:
Cooking spray
35-40 saltines
2 sticks butter (1 cup)
1 cup light brown sugar
8 oz. semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Line one large or two small cookie sheets with aluminum foil, spray with cooking spray.  Arrange saltines on cookie sheet(s).  In med. sauce pan melt the butter and brown sugar until boiling and light caramel color.  Pour over crackers, covering evenly.

Bake for 3 to 5 minutes until bubbly, watching carefully.  Remove from oven and put on chocolate chips, let melt and spread evenly with a knife.

Place cookie sheet in freezer to harden up 15 to 20 minutes.  Break into pieces and enjoy, store leftovers in air tight container.

Enjoy,

Tabitha

*This picture of Trisha Yearwood is from Food Network.

Jamie Deen's One Bowl Chocolate Cake

So if you have not guessed so far, I love chocolate :)  This past week I was on vacation from work and decided I wanted to try a new cake.  I have been watching Jamie Deen's new show on the Food Network.  His show is all about making dinner for his family, its called Home for Dinner with Jamie Deen and I am in love with it.  On one of the shows he made a One Bowl Chocolate Cake, and I decided this week I would try it out.  So here is the recipe, and again this is Jamie Deen's cake recipe not my own so full props to Jamie Deen.

(Picture from the shows website, and this is where he is making the One Bowl Chocolate Cake)

Jamie Deen's One Bowl Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

Cake:
Nonstick baking spray w/ flour (I used regular PAM because I did not have the kind w/flour and the cake did not stick)
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup warm water
1 stick melted unsalted butter, cooled
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Frosting:
1 stick unsalted butter
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups confectioners' sugar
2/3 cup sour cream

Directions

Cake:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.  Spray two 9 in round cake pans with PAM.
Add the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt to the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.  Turn on mixer and let dry ingredients blend for a min.  Turn mixer up and while running, add the eggs (one at a time), the buttermilk, warm water, melted butter and vanilla extract.  Beat until combined, about two minutes.  The batter will be thick.

Evenly divide the batter between the two pans.  Bake until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean about 30 minutes.  Cool in pans 10 minutes. then turn out onto wire rack to finish cooling.  Cool completely before icing.

Frosting:
Add butter to a medium saucepan over med. heat.  Add chopped chocolate and stir to melt.  Remove from heat.  Stir in cocoa, and vanilla. Using an electric mixer beat in the confectioners' sugar.  Slowly beat in the sour cream.  Let cool for 20 minutes.

Frost cake by spreading the frosting between the layers, then top with cake, and continue frosting the top and sides of the cake.

The cake was really good.  I was surprised by how much I liked the sour cream in the frosting.  Over all I would make this cake again.  :)

Enjoy,

Tabitha

Lemon Drop Cake

Baked: New Frontiers in Baking by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito

So last week my Aunt Cissy came down from Indiana to visit with my mom, and I said that I would make them a cake. I decided on the Lemon Drop Cake by the guys at BakedNYC. I have already made one of their cakes, The White Out Cake, you can see what I thought about that cake here, White Out Cake.

Ever since I made that cake I have wanted to try another one, and I chose the Lemon Drop Cake. It was just as good as The White Out Cake and very similar to make. Again this is one of those cakes that if you do not have a stand mixer I would not try to make it. My aunt, mom and I really liked the cake, it was light and fluffy and the icing was my favorite part. To be honest I don’t usually like icing but these two cakes might have changed my mind on it. Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito did an amazing job on these cakes and I can’t wait to try another one. Next time though I am picking something out of their other cook book, Baked Explorations: Classic American Desserts Reinvented.

Enjoy,

Tabitha

Hershey's Deep, Dark Chocolate Cake

        So my mom has been asking and asking for me to make a Hershey's Deep, Dark Chocolate Cake and today I gave in. In honor of the 4th of July and having guests over I decided to get to work this morning on the cake. It is a chocolate cake with chocolate icing (my favorite :). Also, it is a very simple cake to make especially if this is your first from scratch or homemade cake. Here is the cocoa you will need to make the cake and icing, Wal-Mart carries it and you can get a big container at a reasonable price.

Just a note:  The recipe for the cake and icing are also on the back of the container. But here it is as well. Again this is HERSHEY'S Deep, Dark Chocolate Cake and not my own recipe so full props to Hershey's because this cake rocks.

 
Cake:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup Hershey's Cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup boiling water

     Combine dry ingredients in large bowl. Add remaining ingredients except boiling water. Beat at med. speed 2 mins. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin) Pour into 2 greased 9" pans or 3 8" pans and bake at 350 for 30 to 35 mins. I recommend checking with tooth pick after 25 mins. Cool for 10 mins. And remove from pans. You can also bake this cake in an oblong cake pan but make sure you test it with a tooth pick after 25 mins.  Cake is done when tooth pick in middle comes out clean.

Icing:
1 stick butter (melted)
2/3 cup Hershey's Cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

      Blend with mixer med. speed until smooth; add more milk or powdered sugar if needed for desired consistency.

Enjoy,

Tabitha

White Out Cake

Baked: New Frontiers in Baking by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito

http://bakedshop.com/banewfrinba.html

*This book is available on amazon as well however; the one from bakedshop.com is signed by the authors.

 

I made this cake last month for my best friends 21^stBirthday and she absolutely loved it. It was a big hit with the party guests as well. She also told me that when she took the left overs home her younger brother wanted to know if I would make his birthday cakeJ. So over all I would say huge SUCCESS. This is the first cake that I have tried out of one of the Baked cookbooks and it did not disappoint. (Just a note: if you don’t have a stand mixer I would not recommend making this cake).
I can’t wait to try another cake from this cook book. Also, Baked has two other cook books out with another due out this fall called Baked Elements: Our Ten Favorite Ingredients, I can’t wait to buy it. There are many things that I want to make out of these books, I have also tried their No-Bake cookie recipe which is in Baked Explorations: Classic American Desserts Reinvented and love them as well. If you would like more information about Baked NYC just visit their web site http://bakednyc.com/.

Enjoy,

Tabitha