Graduation Celebration Cake :)

What begins with college and ends with graduate??

MEEEEEEE!!!!

That's right my lovely readers. I have graduated from college! Crazy crazy crazy. I actually graduated two weeks ago and things since then have been mighty hectic. Which is why I haven't posted in a while. I'm still thinking about my Avenger's dessert (the avenger promise). It's HARD! I'm just not on that level if creative genius quite yet...

BUT I did make an awesome cake (yes I made my own graduation cake lol)...and by awesome, I mean totally fantastic...if i do say so myself.

CHOCOLATE CAKE, VANILLA BUTTERCREAM FROSTING, RED M&Ms

           

the frosting recipe: HERE

The cake was made from:

two 18.5 oz devil's food cake mix pckgs

4 eggs

3 cups water 

1 cup oil

red M&Ms

I used two 9x13 cake pans and stacked the cakes on top of eachother to give it about 4" heighth. I used the frosting as a layer filling instead of making an entirely separate concoction. (Less work AND it tasted PERFECT! I win.)








The pictures aren't too spectacular, but in real life, this cake looked and tasted GREAT!!

Life is just the best!
Keep baking, keep creating, and keep reading! :)

~MollyMarie

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

If you missed me, clap your hands! (can I get a *clap clap!)

NEVER promise anything when it comes to blogs!!! That's my lesson for today. I promised you all a post about the Gingerbread War and I have put off writing because I've been waiting for pictures! So as a result, I didn't post AT ALL in January. I'm a terrible blogger. I should have at least posted about the delicious stuff I was making as I waited for pics. . . And guess what?? I still haven't gotten around to getting the pictures. So. Not only did I not post in January, I still haven't come through on a promise I made to you guys. So basically. . . I FAIL.

This is an apology post. No food. Which might be counter-productive lol. Apologizing always goes over easier with something tasty to accompany it. But, though I AM NOT making any promises. . . I will post a Valentine's food idea/treat soon!!

Thanks for those who are mad at me for not posting haha. It means you guys actually read my blog enough to want the next post!

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and New Year! (Even is it was Molly-less lol)
~Molly Marie

Christmas Timeeeee

Holy toledo and two gingersnaps!! Seriously December has been soooo crazy!!

The Gingerbread House War was last Friday. . . and boy was it STRESSFUL to put together!! But the results were FANTASTIC! Everyone seemed to have a ton of fun and we had a lot of people participate. I'll be putting up a post dedicated solely to the War so I won't say too much more about it, except that it went SO MUCH BETTER than I thought it was going to turn out!! :D

But other than that, I started doing "24 days of Fun" with Jon. Each day of December I'll make a little card-type-thing and have planned some fun craft or project to do together. 

I found out my phone does this neat little collage shot. . . so i had to use it! lol. But so far there have been 14 Days of Fun and Jon is in the Christmas Spirit!

I on the other hand am still trying to get myself to feel the holiday cheer. I just finished my last final of the Fall 2011 semester!!!! So I'm headed in the right direction. I mean, honestly. This semester, 15 units of 500-level history courses was TOUGH!! The sheer number of books the professors required me to read. . . .INSANELY RIDICULOUS!!

After looking back at finals week: a 9pg paper, a  12 pg paper, 2 in class essay finals [cumulative], and a presentation. . . i realize I'm lucky to be alive!! haha

But now that school is over until January 18th, I can focus on CHRISTMAS!!! Gingerbread house here I comeeeee!! (haha told you I was addicted!!) I'm so excited for all the baking I get to do!

-gingersnaps
-peanut butter blossums
-russian snowballs
-gingerbread men
-sugar cookies
-snicker-doodles
-chocolate chip cookies
-almond rocha
-peanut brittle
-magic cookie squares
-rice crispies
-cinnamon crackles
      and all the other regulars!!

Oooooh I think I'm getting the Christmas Spirit just thinking of all the baking!! :D

Cinnamon Tortoise Shell Muffins (DELICIOUS!)

  just the beginning of my Christmas baking adventures

Sugar cookie decorating station

Me at the Tree Farm!

This'll be the BEST Christmas ever!! I'm sure of it!

Keep loving, keep living, keep baking!
~MollyMarie

THANKSGIVING!!! the day of reckoning...

Thanksgiving FINALLY came!!

Last night was spent in the kitchen...and I mean ALL last night...AND ALL yesterday morning...or as I so intelligently called it a few days ago "last morning." (Yeah. I got teased for that one! But the more I think about it...the less wrong it sounds lol. I may just go with it haha.)

As you may have guessed. . . . I didn't go to Magic Mountain. My responsible side won out. But I'm glad I chose to stay home. Not only did I finish the rolls, which turned out splendidly, I went to class, which was super good because even though the teacher said that not coming wouldn't penalize people. . . we ended up learning A LOT! I'm pretty sure that if I had missed, I would have come to class Monday and been completely and utterly lost. BUT I went and so I'll be great and good on Monday :) Also. I ended up making cookies!! Peanut butter for my Mom and sugar cookies for Thanksgiving night.

 ADORABLE right?!? haha follow the link to see where I originally got the idea! Only thing I changed is due to laziness! Instead of using icing for the beak and feet and M&Ms for the eyes. . .I just stuck a candy corn on for the beak and used some leftover candy from my gingerbread kit for the eyes. It doesn't look quite as good as the original, but I'm still pretty happy with them!
http://theherberfamily.blogspot.com/2009/10/thanksgiving-treats.html

 

Yeah check out my other post
 for the recipe and better pics!
nutty for my peanut butter

BUT I KNOW THAT YOU ARE WONDERING ABOUT. . . . . .  THE ROLLS!!!!

Well. Here they are :) My babies. . . . 

 There are sooooo many. I think I've made my quota of rolls for the next decade!! lol. But I did enjoy perfecting my own roll recipe!








Only a few of the batches...

They LOOK SO GOOOOOOOD!!!! And they taste even BETTER!!! Huurrraaaahhh for perserverance and hardwork! Go Me...and of course all those who helped me succeed!

We'll see how it goes!!
MollyMarie

PS: I wrote this BEFORE our Thanksgiving Feast...But IT WENT SPECTACULAR!! My next post will include comment on people's reactions and on just Thanksgiving stuff :D

....... No. Way :O

I couldn't believe it. And you won't either. Which is why I'm posting pics.

Ready?

Jordan made cookies.

I KNOW! It's unbelievable. He made some chocolate chip cookies and I have to admit. . . the kid is a natural. They were perfect. Am I jealous? Eh. Only when my mom said "these are the best chocolate chip cookies ever!!" implying that the countless times that I made them didn't measure up. So maybe just a tad jealous lol. But not nearly enough to kick him out of the kitchen haha. Benefits of someone else making the sweets far outweighs the negatives!

 Jordan is in a cooking class this semster, and he is really getting into it! They don't actually start cooking/baking until next week...but after his teacher's chocolate chip cookies demonstration. . . the first thing he wanted to do upon reaching home was to bake. Wow. That teacher is good.

The picture quality is no bueno...but these cookies really were delicious! 

  Such a stud! I mean seriously. Bieber hair AND cookies?? Pretty irresistable ;)

                  He is going to make some girl very happy!

~MollyMarie

Oh my GOODNESS!!

HEY!!! GUESS WHAT???????

I re-tried Danny's Dinner Rolls!. . . . . . . . . . . .AND. . . . . . . . . . . .the recipe WORKED! Haha. Apparently, someone wrote the recipe down wrong. Too much salt. So now, my lovely blog readers, I can make Danny's Dinner Rolls. I am not going to sugar coat the raisin too much, so I have to say, I actually like my new roll recipe better. . . but these are still so very very delicious.

Eh. The phone camera doesn't capture the full essence of the magnificence of these beautiful rolls. . . . . . .I think I'm going to invest in an actual camera! The food must look as good as it tastes!

So. Even though Danny's Dinner Rolls won a whopping three times. . . . I emerged VICTORIOUS!!! :D

Keep living, keep loving, keep baking!

~MollyMarie

Cookie Monster's Got Nothing On Us!

I know. Shocking...it's not a bread recipe....please pick up your jaw ;) They're chocolate chip cookieeeeees!!!!!!

How is it possible to have a baking blog and NOT include these lovelies?? It's not. So I'm including them! They are just as tasty as can be and they are sooo easy to make! We make them in quadruple batches. Yup. We go big.

Don't they look mighty fine??. . .despite the less-than-spectacular photography. . . .

They are just the greatest...and they go super quick at my house!

               CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

                    2/3    cup    shortening

                    1/2    cup    sugar

                    1/2    cup    brown sugar

                      1               egg

                      1     tsp.    vanilla

                   1 1/2  cups   all-purpose flour

                    1/2    tsp     baking soda

                    1/2    tsp     salt

                    1/2    cup    chopped nuts (opt.)

~Mix shortening, sugars, egg and vanilla thoroughly.

~Measure flour by dipping method or by sifting.

~Stir dry ingredients together; blend in to wet mixture. Mix in nuts (completely optional. In fact I recommend leaving them out!!! But to each his own haha ) and chocolate chips (now these guys are a MUST! I mean, they ARE chocolate chip cookies after all...but uh, maybe I do leave them out occasionally...or substitute butterscotch chips, or peanut butter chips...or candy)

~Place in rounded tablespoons on an un-greased cookie sheet, pressing down slightly.

~Bake @ 375 deg. for 8-10 minutes or until "delicately browned" (that phrase just sounds soooo delicious, doesn't it??)

YUMMY!! You will NOT REGRET MAKING THESE!!!

~Molly Marie

Batter Bread Up!

FINE! Sue me, sue me! What can ya do me? I love...BREAD! (haha I hope you all caught the Guys and Dolls reference. Frank Sinatra holds my heart and I don't think many will ever be able to even hold a candle to him in my mind...so you see why I'm still single and will most likely continue to be so for a while lol) Pretty much all of my baking time has gone into attempting different bread recipes.

This particular recipe is a batter bread recipe which I got out of the Taste of Home Book of Baking called, Sally Lunn's Batter Bread. The link'll take you to the Taste of Home website so if you search under the recipe name, it will take you to it. I DEFINITELY say go make this bread!! Goodness. Gracious. Amazing!

Isn't it just soooo pretty!!! 

And my family LOVED it! This one's a keeper for my recipe book.

SALLY LUNN'S BATTER BREAD

Ingredients

• 1 package (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water (110° to 115°)
• 1 cup warm milk (110° to 115°)
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoon salt
• 3 eggs
• 5-1/2 to 6 cups all-purpose flour
• 
  HONEY BUTTER:
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup honey

Directions

• In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the milk, butter, sugar, salt, eggs and 3 cups flour; beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.
• Do not knead. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
• Stir the dough down. Spoon into a greased and floured 10-in. tube pan. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.
• Bake at 400° for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pan to a wire rack to cool.
• Combine the honey butter ingredients until smooth. Serve with bread. Yield: 12-16 servings.

I didn't actually make the honey butter. Totally forgot and the bread was gone too fast for me to do anything about it once I did remember haha. BUT I'm sure it's delicious. I'll be sure to make it next time!

   it cut so nicely!

     and the inside was                 perrrrfect!

Advice from Molly Marie: GO MAKE THIS BREAD FOR YOURSELF!!!! You will not regret it!!

~Molly Marie

What else to do with my *FANTASTIC* roll recipe??

Make Cinnamon Rolls!!!!

Gosh and golly, I hate to brag. . . but they were INCREDIBLE! Jon helped with a lot of it. He made the filling and rolled them up. Ah. Sooo good! I'm totally making them again!!

The recipe works beautifully for cinnamon rolls and the glaze can be changed up to add variety. Maybe using the lime glaze from the banana bread a couple posts back? Or you could try adding spices, using lemon, or creating something unique!

Make food your own. It's one of the best parts of life!!!

~Molly Marie

More Roll Attempts!!

Eh...they're getting there!!

This time, using the same recipe, I tried to make them smaller. Smaller rolls = more rolls per batch = less baking at crunch time (day before Thanksgiving). I think I let them rise too much the second time and they fell back into themsleves because the texture of the bottoms was a tad off...........but the taste was de-doubldee-licious!

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of the AFTER the dough was baked haha. Once they were baked, they expanded A LOT! I wish I had gotten a picture!! But they went lickety split, so all I have is the pre-completed product.

A couple more goes at these rolls and I will be confidently bringing them to be judged by my extended family! I wonder what THEY will think of the roll replacement.......but I still have much more perfecting to do before I'm ready to put my work on that chopping block lol.

~Molly Marie

Touch of Lime

My adventures with BANANA COCONUT LIME BREAD from Our Best Bites ( oh how wonderful the discovery of this lovely website / blog was! ) and my personal alterations.

Now I'm not a huge banana bread fan.......but I do love to bake. And trying new things is always of big interest to me. I love to experiment! In fact my little brother was recently quoted as saying "Molly should just stop trying to find the perfect recipes for our cookies ( he was referring to snickerdoodles at the time ) we already have the perfect recipes". Which just goes to show you how subjective "perfection" really is. I LOVE our recipes, yet I keep searching to see if what is already great can be better! . . .  But I digress.

Banana Coconut Lime Bread caught my interest just by the sheer interest each flavor gave me. So I tried it...and here are the results...

Coconut Banana Bread with Lime Glaze
adapted from Our Best Bites who adapted from Cooking Light

2 C flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 C sugar
1/4 C (4 Tbs) real butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 1/2 C mashed ripe bananas (about 4 large bananas)
1/4 C sour cream
2 Tbs milk plus 1 Tbs lime juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 C coconut

Topping: additional coconut
Glaze: 1/2 C powdered sugar whisked with 1 1/2 Tbs fresh lime juice

"Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt together and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar until blended. Add eggs and beat to combine. Add banana, sour cream or yogurt, apple juice (or milk), and vanilla. Beat until blended.
Add flour mixture and beat at a low speed until just combined. Stir in 1/2 C coconut.

Pour batter into a 9×5″ loaf pan that has been sprayed with non-stick spray. Sprinkle additional 2 Tbs coconut on top.

Bake in the oven for about 1 hour or until a knife or skewer inserted in center comes out clean.Note: Check bread after about 40 minutes. If the top has browned and the coconut pieces are looking toasty, cover top of bread lightly with a piece of foil. Continue baking until done.

When done, remove pan from oven. Let cool on a cooling rack for about 10 minutes and then carefully remove from pan. Whisk powdered sugar and lime juice together for the glaze and then drizzle over top. Cool for another 15 minutes before slicing."

Overall, a decent recipe...not my family's favorite creation that I have tried. BUT the smell while it was baking was ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS!!! So I would recommend trying the recipe even if all you do it for is the aroma!! It could just be that my family isn't made up of very big banana bread fans...who knows. You could be an instant celebrity with your family and friends serving this to them! ;)

~Molly Marie

The Pathetic Attempts #3 ...and a new approach

Fail. Fail. fail fail FAIL.

Only word to describe my experience. 

See? They rose this time, at least. And the taste was good...they just...weren't Uncle Danny's. Or maybe my brain and tastebuds have glorified the memory of those rolls. Either way, these rolls just did NOT cut it. It could be due to the fact that the rolls are cursed...and only Danny can recreate them. More likely is that the recipe was produced by request and came from roll-making that was primarily by "feel". So since my Uncle is in Australia, I haven't been given the Roll Initiation. There hasn't been a "showing me how" rather a "look at the recipe and flail miserably in the land of fail" kind of attempts.

SO.

I have decided to perfect my own roll recipe. And I am well on my way....

Exhibit A:

DELICIOUS!!!!! And I don't even care if I sound conceited.

They aren't perfect yet...but they are pretty darn close. And they'll only get better. Thanksgiving is looking promising!

These babies were huge. And a big success with my family.

Next step is to try them out on other people until they become PERFECT!! Time to think of a name for these delightful delectables...suggestions??

~MollyMarie

The Pathetic Attempts #2

I tried again!! So pros: I didn't use rancid oil (everyone is safe) and I didn't kill the yeast. They actually rose!! woohoo...but the cons: they aren't the beautiful rolls I want. They taste a little yeasty still and they didn't rise as much as they should have. I MUST be doing something wrong. I WILL FIGURE IT OUT!!!!!!!

I mean, they're good. Don't get me wrong. They are edible and not bad. But when I'm involved, "fine" is just not going to cut it!! By Thanksgiving they WILL be perfect or I'm not bring them haha. I have areputation to uphold.

Here's a picture:

(Sorry the picture quality is so bad. I don't have a camera right now...so a phone shot is all I could get!)

I'm not giving up!! Soon, you'll have a professional looking photo of delicious, perfect, fluffy, and anything but pathetic dinner rolls. Just you wait!

~Molly Marie

The Pathetic Copy of Danny's Dinner Rolls: Attempt One

My uncle recently moved to Australia. Now, this is a sore subject on a couple accounts. Firstly, WHAT?? That is like the coolest thing I can't be a part of!! I WISH I could live in Australia. I mean, making friends with koalas, kangaroos, and all manner of marsupials, who wouldn't want that?? My little cousins, Hannah, Ben, and Lizzy (all under 12 years old!) get to live in another country!! haha...but really not so much a haha but a sighing no fair. Secondly, I have no money and therefore can't visit. Thirdly, my Aunt Rachel is like the sweetest most creative person ever...and secretly I was planning on asking her to help with my wedding cake. It would have been the envy of everyone! But alas...her being in Australia for at least the next 5 years makes that a wee bit impossible. I just hope she'll be able to make it over to the US to see me get hitched! (...but...I'm not even dating anyone right now...so who knows, maybe the wedding cake will never be a problem!)

And finally, the most pressing matter of my uncle's moving is Thanksgiving. On this holiday, my Dad's family all gets together for a lovely and delicious feast. Present at this feast, in all their golden and delectable glory, are my Uncle Danny's dinner rolls. THEY ARE FANTASTIC! And this year, the possibility of getting them is slim (here is an appropriate place to shed a few tears and feel sorry for me). SO...

I decided I would attempt to recreate them and make sure a little piece of Danny, Rachel, Hannah, Ben, and Lizzy graces our Thanksgiving feast. I can guarantee, if my first attempts are any indication (like, I killed the yeast and accidentally used rancid oil. yup great start. so great that i'm not even going to post pics), that these dinner rolls will be a meager replacement...so I'm just going to call them "the Pathetic Copy of Danny's Dinner Rolls". haha. I'm not posting the recipe...it's his recipe after all...but maybe someday when i ask permission, he'll let me give it to you guys :)

Nutty for my Peanut Butter

My family is completely, 100% entirely, and unashamedly addicted to peanut butter. There I've said it. And it feels good to admit! Phew. I mean seriously. We devour at least 3 large tubs of the creamy goodness every week. It's peanut butter though, right?!?! It's HEALTHY!!! So I feel no tinge of guilt for the recipe I'm about to share. Just remember, peanut butter is healthy. Just repeat it to yourself like I do and I can guarantee that you will eventually feel better. That feeling may or may not be directly linked to the DELICIOUS and FANTASTIC praises your taste-buds will be singing to the peanut butter fairy after the first bite of one of these cookies!

We make these cookies ALL THE TIME! 

Our house smells wonderful. <--one of the most appealing reasons for taking up baking!

Peanut Butter Cookies

½             cup        shortening

½             cup        peanut butter

½             cup        sugar

½             cup        brown sugar, packed

1                                egg

1 ½         cup         all-purpose flour

½             tsp         baking powder

¾             tsp         baking soda

¼             tsp         salt

(OPT: throwing in a good 1/2 cup of chocolate chips never hurt anybody!!)

Mix shortening, sugars, peanut butter and egg. Blend thoroughly. In a separate bowl, mix together dry ingredients (flour, b.powder, b.soda, salt). Stir Flower mixture and shortening mixture together.

Preheat oven to 375deg. Roll dough into 1 ¼” balls set 3” apart. Flatten criss-cross style with fork (dipped in flour). Sprinkle with granulated sugar.

Bake: 10-12 minutes.

It should clue you in to how utterly addicted we are when I tell you that we ALWAYS triple this recipe!

~ Molly Marie

PS: I've been trying to get more professional looking photos. It's difficult. I don't have a great camera and it's hard to snap a picture before munches and crunches leave none of the subject left...what? I don't know what you're talking about! ...I never contribute to the cookie theft...

Well, hello there!

I'm on a mission. Yes, a serious mission. What is this mission, you ask? To live long and prosper...while doing what I love!  (yeah, yeah...a bit of Trekkie-ness in my blog) What do I love? I, my friendly neighborhood readers (Spiderman?? yup! yup!), LOVE to bake and occasionally dabble in the cooking arts. So, in order to complete my mission of what we can sum up as having a joyous life, I am going to search and seek out the best recipes I can, and then I'm going to bake and cook and blog until I am 197 and can justly say, "I have lived a long and prosperous life of enjoyment". Hopefully, you (and maybe your children and your children's children) will find joy with me!! :)

~MollyMarie