Molly Marie Plays Catch-up...again...

It's another catch-up day! (I think the theme of this blog could very well be, "better late than never!" Blog title change? haha maybe...) I think so far, I have promised you cake, sugar cookies, and frosting. (If there is another unfulfilled promise floating around on one of my posts, you'll have to let  me know!) So, let's not waste any time here! 

Cake!

I wasn't lying when I told you I used a cake mix. Just a plain, store-bought vanilla cake mix. I find they make delicious cakes and they don't cost a lot AND I save time (which I can use for making better designs). A small exception with this cake is the strong splash of cinnamon I added. And when I say strong...I mean too strong. I think a teaspoon would have been wonderful. My heaping two...not so much. Haha. When I use spices on the fly...I tend to over do it. Don't make my mistakes. If you want to experiment with strong flavors, just be warned haha.

Wow. I sound like this cake turned out disastrously. It didn't!! But it would have been more pleasant if the cinnamon had been more subtle :)

          

                

                            you can see here the mass of cinnamon lol

         
         
         
         I think it turned out GREAT!! Only...like I said...it was a mite bit too cinnamony for my tastes. Next time I'll measure before thinking I can just wing it with spices lol.

         

 As you can see, I have two layers. One the cinnamony cinnamon  flavor, and one I kept just vanilla

It'd look mighty pretty in one of these :)

"Simplicity Cake Plate with Dome"

SUGAR COOKIES!

Let me just quickly say this: I LOVE sugar cookies!!! And you will too with the cookie/frosting combo I'm going to give you!! Sugar cookies are THE BEST for a recipe that always tastes delicious, but you can easily tweak to fit the occassion! If you take a look at an earlier Christmas post (here) you can see that by just using different cookie cuttuer shapes and food coloring, you can acheieve fantastic results!!

But enough of me going on about how great they are. Nothing I can say will convince you as much as tasting these cookies will! You'll have to make 'em to believe me!!:D

SugarCookieDough:

3/4      cup   shortening

1         cup   sugar

2                 eggs

1         tsp    vanilla extract

2 1/2   cups  flour

1         tsp    baking powder

1         tsp    salt

Mix shortening, sugar, eggs, and flavoring thoroughly. In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt together. Blend the dry mixture into the wet. Chill at least 1 hour.

Heat over to 400 deg. Roll dough out (1/8" thick) on a lightly floured board. Cut with cookie cutters (3"). Place on an ungreased baking sheet. BAKE: 6-8 min. (I always go for the lower time) You don't want these cookies golden. They should be a bit puffy when they come out of the oven. If you over bake, they'll be hard. (But don't stress if they do get over done...the frosting fixes EVERYTHING! I'm not even kidding. at all.)

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting:

2   cups             shortening
1   tsp               salt
2   tsp               vanilla extract
1   cup              water         
3   pkgs (16oz)  powdered sugar
Combine shortening, salt, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Beat at med speed of an electric mixer until blended. Alternately add small amounts of water and powdered sugar, beating constantly at low speed, until all blended. Beat 8 minutes at medium speed. (I chill the frosting to let it set more, but it isn't necessary).
This can be stored at room temp for several days or in the refridgerator for 2 weeks! NOTE: Prepare icing twice if you want to double. (If you double it will be enough to frost a 3-tiered cake! A LOT of frosting!)

These are so kid friendly it is ridiculous! I mean, as a kid, nothing is more fun than drawing with frosting. It's a bit messy, but in the messes of life we find ourselves. The same is true of sugar cookie messes!

I hope this post has filled you with a desire to make messes in the baking of life!
Sincerly,

One who has found herself within the mess of a kitchen

~MollyMarie

Easter Weekend

Oh Easter weekend :)
It's one of those times when a smile follows a little sigh of satisfaction. Not only is it a time to reflect on the Atonement of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (which really should be a thing we do EVERY day...but not the point) but it's a time to bake! (which also should be a thing I do every day...haha)

Right up there with Christmas, Easter is a holiday that involves a lot of sugar. And butter. And sugar. And umm a lot of eggs haha. I mentioned sugar right??

I know it's a week after the fact, but I wanted to share with you some pictures of the stuff I made!

The Recipes, like seemingly always, will have to wait until next post. I am going to friend's wedding today, so I'm a wee bit crunched on time. I'll have to be posting the recipe next time. But, to keep you interested...here are the yummies I made!

Exhibit A: SUGAR COOKIES

Seriously the best and most adaptable cookie for any holiday! It's all in the frosting baby!

Honestly. People are ALWAYS impressed by these cookies. They can be as time consuming or as easy as you choose. The more intricate the design on top, the more time. BUT these taste amazing. So regardless of whether you replicate Picasso and Rembrant with your frosting, or just slather on anice spoonful, they'll be a hit!



And I can GUARANTEE, you'll have people praising the ground upon which you walk...especially if you accidentally drop some crumbs.

Exhibit B: PEEP WARS

I have been wanting to try this for years. I don't know why I never did. Sometimes, I'm not a very logical person.

 But whatever. 

I did it this year. 

 Haha, it didn't exactly go as smoothly as I had hoped it might,

 BUT. I had a lot of fun. And so did my little brother. (I can't say the same for our Peep warriors unfortunately...)

Aaaaand the end result was delicious!!

 I guess that's all that really matters, right!?

Exhibit C: CAKE

I LOVE decorating cakes. I LOVE eating delicious cakes. And so occassions that allow me to do both...oh beautiful times!

 She turned out purdy, didn't she! And really, all this consisted of...

-a box cake mix (Vanilla!! my absolute favorite!)

-buttercream frosting (I posted the recipe yesterday which you can find **)

-food coloring (for the diff colors of frosting)

I know, I use cake mix. Sue me. I never said I was Betty Crocker. Or Mary Poppins. Besides, cake mixes taste amazing AND are less time consuming. I'd say it's a win-win.

AND

Exhibit D: (D for DELICIOUS) PEANUTBUTTER COOKIES.

Honestly, is any holiday weekend complete without these?? Not in my home. Not in my stomach.

 they just look gorgeous. With their peanutbuttery color and their peanutbuttery taste. And their peanutbuttery smell. Oh the peanutbuttery heaven!! It's quite easy to obtain this peanutbuttery bliss...and I've already posted this recipe!

(click here to begin your quest of peanutbuttery heaven attainment)

I wish you and your loved ones a very delicious and delectable day.

Keep dreaming, keep baking (really it's all the same)

~MollyMarie

April Fools Day!

I have never been one to really get into April Fools Day. I mean, there are only so many times one can say "April Fools!" before your pranks/jokes/whatevers don't work anymore...and I've never been a very clever pranker.

That is, until I discovered the world of April Fools food pranks. Genius. GENIUS!

I really got into the holiday this year!

[*now, you are never supposed to start presentations or conversations or blog posts with disclaimers or apologies because then the audience is already judging you negatively...whether they mean to or not. But I MUST start this off with a lament. I'm still taking pics with my camera phone. And let me tell you. It's hard! Not only am I an amateur to begin with, having the right equipment DOES make a world of difference. That being said, please continue reading and now judging the pictures lol]

Starting with breakfast burritos.
What's so April Foolsie about plain breakfast burritos? you ask with your eyebrows furrowed. Well nothing if they really were plain. Unfurrow them eyebrows my friends! because my burritos weren't plain... they contained green eggs. Haha. Ok. Not so original. But it was fun to see my family's reactions to something they just weren't expecting!

For the next part of our April Fools fun...
I put together a little variation of this wacky meal idea.

Instead of having an entire meal, Jon and I decided to do sandwiches. So we both started with two slices of bread. In a cup we put slips of paper with different sandwich fillings. (peanut butter, jam, mayo, mustard, pickles, bananas, honey, pepper, etc.) Each of us drew 3 slips and had to put those fillings together on our sandwiches.
Lucky Jon ended up with something edible. Me on the other hand...
... not so fortunate lol

Jon's: Peanut butter, honey, and turkey lunch meat on toasted white bread
Mine:...shredded chicken, honey, and pickles on soft white bread
Uhg. It was disgusting lol. But fun! :)

Next: Cake in an Egg.

For this lovely little trick, I baked cake INSIDE an egg shell and placed the shell back into a carton. So when my dear daddy went to make us some dessert for after watching General Conference  (which was FABULOUS by the way!), hahaha he ended up cracking a cake shell!

These weren't even that difficult to make! All you need:

about 12 eggs

a cake mix

muffin baking tin

aluminum foil

you can find the directions here!

AND

For the FINALE: meatloaf cupcakes!

Using Pioneer Woman's Recipe for meatloaf with some little tweaks, which you can locate here, these turned out DELICIOUS!! (The tweaks: instead of wrapping the entire loaf in bacon, we put the meat mixture in large cupcake tins and put slices of bacon on top).

After cooking the meatloaf, we used Pioneer Woman's mashed potato recipe (located here) for our "frosting". Oh so goooood!!!

And of course. A cameo appearance by my delicious rolls!

The end result...

A wonderful April Fools Day Dinner :)

I suppose the moral of my story is this...there is no such thing as too much butter. Or don't cast judgement on a holiday that you just don't understand. I think each lesson has its own merits.

The Sky is FALLING!!!

April Fools!

~MollyMarie