You're the Snicker to my Doodle

Here it is. The long awaited "catch-up" post!! Get yourselves ready for two scrumptious recipes!! The lemon-coconut frosting....aaaaaaannnnddddd....SNICKERDOODLES!!! I am so happy for two reasons. First: Sharing these recipes is like sending little bits of joy into a world. Second: I made and ate said recipes :)

This frosting recipe really was a bit of an experiment. I started brainstorming by a typical icing base-powdered sugar and butter. Add honey and milk and a squirt of lemon and you are well on your way. The frosting this way was delicious...but needed something. Coconut, shredded sweetened coconut.

1/2 cup   butter
1    TBS  honey
3    TBS  milk
*combine these ingredients in a suacepan over medium heat. When simmering remove.
2+  cups  powdered sugar
*When contents of saucepan are simmering, remove from heat and sift in powdered sugar.
*Add squirt of lemon to taste
*Add coconut (as much or as little as desired. We put in about a cup)
I found that adding the lemon required adding more powdered sugar to thicken the frosting.



This tasted fantastic over a strawberry cake :)

...
!!!!!!!!
The best cookies deserve the best names. And how can anyone say that "snickerdoodle" is not the funnest and coolest name for a dessert??

Fer realsies though. I LOVE snickerdoodles! If made right, they top chocolate chip AND peanut butter cookies.

Not even joshing you on this one.

I mean, one of my favoritethings to do is make snickerdoodles and sit by a fire. In fact. I think I'll be taking the snickerdoodles I just made and going to sit by the fire with some hot chocolate as soon as I'm done posting! ...well maybe it's a bit warm for that here in sunny San Diego on a March afternoon...but still, don't think I'll be sharing these!!

Snickerdoodles
1       cup           shortening
2                           eggs
1 1/2   cups         granulated sugar
2 3/4    cups        all-purpose flour
1         tsp           baking soda
1/2     tsp           salt
2         tsp           cream of tartar
*cream shortening, sugar, and eggs together
* in a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt and cream of tartar.
*mix wet and dry mixtures together.
BAKE @ 350°F for 8 min. 

~The baking part is always the tricksssiest part of this cookie. Don't leave them in too long or they'll be too hard and stiff. You might have to experiment a bit to find the perfect timing for your tastebuds :)

Happy snickering to you!
~Molly Marie

Stromboli Yum-oli!

I know. I promised you the Snickerdoodle recipe. I lied. Shame on me.

But to be fair...I didn't intend to lie! Honest! I fully intended to make and share said recipe!! Buuuuuut...a couple things got in the way...

Firstly: a cake.

If you're thinking, Death by Frosting...you'd be correct 

My mom and I just HAD to have cake. I'm sure you understand. Strawberry cake (just a mix) with lemon coconut frosting! (I'll be posting the recipe later in April...AND I fully intend to KEEP the promise!!)

Secondly: jelly beans.

It's almost Easter. Starburst jelly beans have appeared on the scene again. And although I'm addicted to sugar like no other...even a sugar-addict can lapse into a sugar coma...we aren't immune. (I wish we were though!) So Snickerdoodles just didn't make it this week....HOWEVER.

Stromboli did.

It's my first time making this...so it doesn't look like it should. I rolled it the wrong way lol. BUT the taste was mighty fine. Mighty fine indeed!!!

And these were so simple! All you need:
*your favorite pizza crust recipe (or just a store-bought frozen pizza dough)
*"toppings" of choice
*olive oil

Really it's that simple.

For this recipe, you'll preheat the oven at the temperature indicated on your bread recipe.

1.Make the dough.
2. Let it rise until doubled.
3. Punch it down. Roll it out (15X12).
4. Brush 1 1/2 tsp olive oil over crust
5. Customized topping placement
           Now, I made a pizza-like stromboli. So I sprinkled 2 TBS parmesan cheese before I added onions, salami, and cheese.
6. Starting from the long end, roll up like a cinnamon roll. Pinch the seams shut and then pinch the ends and tuck under.
7. Place seam side down on a baking sheet lightly sprayed with non-stick spray. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.
8. GENTLY cut 3 slits along the top of the stromboli and bake for 15-20 minutes in the pre-heated oven.

Simple and delicious. And...it doesn't have to be perfect to taste extraordinary!!
Happy eating :)
~MollyMarie

Happy St. Patty's Day Snickerdoodle Style!

I just had to make a quick post in honor of the greenest holiday of the year!

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!! :D

I just love St. Patrick's Day! Every year the Leprechaun visits and leaves us gold wrapped candy. Yummy yum yum!

This year, Jon and I made a little treat to thank him...Snickerdoodles!! But not just any snickerdoodles!!!

GREEN snickerdoodles!

 

They are quite simple to achieve and don't take any special ingredients. Just a good snickerdoodle recipe (which I'll be posting next week, so stay tuned!) and some green food coloring :)

These are kid friendly too! Rolling the dough in the cinnamon sugar mixture is one of the best parts and is super easy for a child to help :)







These snickerdoodles are easy, fun, and a GREAT way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day!

Patrick O'Leprechaun's Snickerdoodles

   We didn't catch Patrick this time...maybe next year lol

Keep searching and someday you'll find your gold at the end of the rainbow :)

~MollyMarie

Mt. Chocolate Monster

I just avoided cake disaster. And by avoid, I mean Matrix like action maneuvers Oh man. It was bad. I have never really messed up a cake before but I guess when I do things...I go all the way. All or nothing. And this time, it was an all out FAIL!

This cake was for my brother's birthday party. We had invited extended family, so my reputation was on the line. I don't know if anyone realizes how much effort went into getting that DISASTER to look not so DISASTROUS.

Meet...

Mt. Chocolate Monster!!

Chocolate fudge cake, a creamy Peanut Butter-esque filling, about every frosting you can create as an attempt to fix this sucker and Reese's Cups (chopped and whole).

THE STORY:

First: For the first time EVER...the middle of my cake sunk. 

I thought it had finished baking. I had inserted my toothpick and IT CAME OUT CLEAN!! Silly me. My toothpick wasn't long enough to find the patch in the middle bottom that was still a pool of batter. Ugh. So, it sunk. AND I didn't want to put it back in because I was scared of burning it. This is why I HATE baking with chocolate stuff. I can never tell if it's burned or not :/ So i had a sunken-top cake. Fantastic.

But I wasn't too worried. I would just put a little extra frosting to fill in the top and make it appear even. Oh gee. How I wish it had been that simple.

For this cake, since my brother adores Peanut Butter so much, I wanted to incorporate it into the cake. A Peanut Butter filling! Genius. *sigh* Using my fishing line...I made a nice, straight cut (the best cut I've ever done) separating top from bottom. But upon lifting the top off, I discovered not only the pool of batter mentioned above...but that the middle of the tope had not accompanied the sides in removing itself nicely from the bottom. Oh, well. No biggie. And even when the top managed to break itself into four awkward pieces, I wasn't sweating it. 

I continued to fill my cake splendidly and placed the four pieces back on top. Yes, there was still a gap from the removed middle...but I thought "I'll just fill it with more frosting" If you haven't caught on, I view frosting as a cure all for cake mistakes. *stupid* 

EQUALS HERO!!

FROSTING

Now I bet all of you cake experts are asking yourselves when I flip the cake to hold the broken pieces in place. 

I don't.

Not for a while anyways. BUT I continue to frost a thin PB crumb coat...and here's where it get messy. The pieces kept sliding, the cake was ripping and the more frosting I added to attempt to "glue" it together just made it worse and worse. I had frosting pushing the pieces further out, I had frosting in my hair and I had frosting in my mouth a good portion of the time. DISASTER. (there are no pictures of this. I was a bit preoccupied. When saving/destroying a cake, one doesn't usually reach for a camera...or at least I don't haha)

Now, by this time it is 2:00am and I'm staring at the most horrendous chocolate mess. The top is in all reality a warzone of frosting. I have no more chocolate cake mix, no energy to make batter from scratch. I'm tired, frustrated, and sick from all the frosting I've consumed. And so...I go to my mother.

My dear, wise, loving, all-knowing and beautiful mother tells me to flip the cake. Flip it. And that, my lovely readers, is what mothers do best. Give what should be obvious advice to dim-witted blonde children.

I flipped my cake, frosted the top, decorated with Reese's Cups and compared to what it could have been...ended up not so terrible.









So now, I have a cake sitting in a pool of warring frosting stabilizing on four awkward sliding pieces of top layer, and covered with a "ganache" frosting which I experimentally created.

Yup. Many would still consider this ^ the epitomy of a "cake disaster". In fact, this would probably be the picture in the dictionary next to the term...but I consider it slightly less. More like a cake flop. Eh. you'll have to decide an accurate title.

Mt. Chocolate Monster...Death by Chocolate!

My Family's Reaction: I offered this cake unapologetically. I wanted themto think I made it like this on purpose! It's SUPPOSED to be lopsided with bumpy layering and uneven frosting!! It's a volcanoe of chocolate!!! Lol.

Top view :)

AAAAANDDD!! It was a SUCCESS!! They didn't even suspect that the cake wasn't supposed to look or taste like that. I got sooooo many compliments on it! I told you. FROSTING IS THE ANSWER TO EVERYTHING!!!!!!

Reese's crown this epic disaster! 

Mt. Chocolate-Monster-PeanutButterLava-Volcano was a BEAST to create. Happy Birthday Brother!! Enjoy the last cake I EVER attempt to make at 2am in the morning!!

Ah, but what is life? Is it not a testing ground? A time to learn and grow? In the kitchen of life, it's necessary to mess up a few cakes to gain experience for our masterpieces :)
~MollyMarie