Recipe: Limoncello Bread Pudding

A few days ago I decided I wanted to make a limoncello bread pudding. I'd been thinking about lemon-y dessert things I could do but didn't want a cake or a pie and that seemed a good idea as any. I love bread pudding and I love playing around with different flavors to do with them. I wanted to wait for a night I was actually going to cook dinner as well so I could have a nice dessert following something that wasn't Chipotle or Snappy Salads.

 So yesterday, after I got all of the food prepping for take to work lunches done for the week, I decided it was going to be a "spend a lot of time in the kitchen" kind of day. I checked over a recipe for spicy Sicilian chicken stew that had been passed along to me from a friend's mother and luckily, I had everything I needed to make it on hand. Which gave me the perfect excuse to make a (hopefully) kick ass dessert to follow up a delicious meal.

I haven't made a citrus flavored bread pudding but I LOVE lemon things. And lime things. Tart and sweet are my friends. The boyfriend also loves lemon and/or lime desserts so I figured this would be the perfect new thing to try out.

It did not suck. 

I posted a picture on my instagram account because what else are food pictures good for other than to take up space on the internet? Anyway, a few people asked if I'd share the recipe. I had already planned to put it up somewhere and this is a better place for a food post than The Book of Faces.

Limoncello Bread Pudding

Ingredients

Bread Pudding:

6 cups cubed challah bread (or whatever you prefer)
3 large eggs
2 cups half-and-half
1/2 cup limoncello
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
3 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp freshly grated lemon zest

Unsalted butter or cooking spray, for buttering the casserole dish

Topping:

1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp limoncello
1 tsp freshly grated lemon zest

Whipped cream:

1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tbsp granulated sugar

Directions:

Bread pudding: 

In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, half-and-half, limoncello, lemon juice, sugar, vanilla, salt and lemon zest.

Butter a 2-quart casserole dish and add the bread cubes to the dish. Pour the wet ingredients over the bread and let sit, refrigerated for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Cover the casserole dish with foil and bake for 25 minutes. After 25 minutes, uncover the dish and continue to bake 20 minutes or until the bread has puffed up and is nicely golden on top. Allow to set for a few minutes after removing from oven.

Sauce to top bread pudding: In a small sauce pan over low heat, whisk together powdered sugar, fresh lemon juice, limoncello and lemon zest until powdered sugar is dissolved and smooth. 

Whipped cream: Place a metal mixing bowl and metal whisk into the freezer for 10 to 15 minutes. Place the sugar into the chilled mixing bowl and add the whipping cream. Whisk just until the cream reaches stiff peaks. 


Once the bread pudding is ready to serve, cut out a piece and top with the glaze and whipped cream to your liking.

I like to put about a tablespoon of sauce on mine while the boyfriend ended up putting several tablespoons on top of his and about twice the amount of whipped cream as well. Either way it was delicious and I'm not sad that there was plenty left over.

Enjoy!

PS and totally unrelated: I'll have the final post and pictures up from the 2016 Toys for Tots fundraiser up here soon! If we're buds on The Book of Faces, the pictures are already up there for your viewing enjoyment. 

The Great Online Cookie Exchange Extravaganza!

I love baking. It's one of my very favorite things to do in my free time and something I at times to find therapeutic. Even though I work in a bakery, I still enjoy baking goodies for friends and family members, especially during the holidays. Doing the annual Great Online Cookie Exchange Extravaganza brought to you by JZ of the badass blog, A Reluctant Bitch, is also a fun thing I love taking part of during the holidays. What's not to love about sharing recipes and discovering some new ones? As always, I'm going to post a few. :)

Snickerdoodle Cookies
Ingredients

• 1/2 cup salted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
• 1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 medium eggs
• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

In a large bowl, combine the butter, shortening, 1 1/2 cups sugar and the eggs and mix thoroughly with an electric mixer on medium speed until creamy and well combined. Sift together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt, and stir into the shortening mixture.

In a small bowl, stir together the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar with the cinnamon.

Shape the dough into 1 1/2-inch balls (1 tablespoon per ball), and roll each ball in the cinnamon-sugar. Arrange the dough balls 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake two sheets at a time until the edges of the cookies are set but the centers are still soft, 8 to 10 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through. Transfer the cookies to wire racks for cooling.

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Chocolate Peppermint Pinwheel Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 batch Sugar Cookies, recipe follows
• 3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
• 1/2 cup crushed candy canes or peppermint candies

Sugar Cookie:

3 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 tablespoon milk

Powdered sugar, for rolling out dough

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. Place butter and sugar in large bowl of electric stand mixer and beat until light in color. Add egg and milk and beat to combine. Put mixer on low speed, gradually add flour, and beat until mixture pulls away from the side of the bowl. Divide the dough in half, wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Directions

Add chocolate and vanilla to 1 half and incorporate with hands. Add egg yolk, peppermint extract, and crushed candy to other half of dough and incorporate with hands. Cover both with plastic and chill for approximately 5 minutes. Roll out doughs separately to approximately 1/4-inch thickness. Place peppermint dough on top of chocolate and press together around the edges. Using waxed paper or flexible cutting board underneath, roll dough into log. Wrap in waxed paper and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Remove dough from the refrigerator and cut into 1/2-inch slices. Place cookies 1-inch apart on greased baking sheet, parchment, or silicone baking mat and bake for 12 to 13 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through cooking time. Remove from oven and let sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes, then move to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

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Peanut Butter Cookies 
Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar, 1/4 cup additional to roll cookies
• 1 stick butter, at room temperature
• 1 egg
• 1 cup smooth peanut butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 cups flour

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. 

 In a large bowl, cream together sugar and butter. Beat in egg to mixture. Mix in peanut butter and vanilla until smooth and creamy. 

Sift the salt,baking soda and flour and mix into the creamy mixture until well combined.

Roll dough into 1 inch balls and then roll in sugar. Place on baking sheet and flatten with fork. Bake for about 12 minutes.

Note: Throwing in some chocolate chips to the peanut butter cookie dough is never a bad idea. ;)

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Mmm, cookies! Those are three of my favorite cookies to make and hand off to others during the holidays. And to eat myself. :D

To see JZ's post and all of the other exchange extravaganza participants, check out JZ's blog post here. 

And lastly, there are now 8 DAYS LEFT TO DONATE to the Toys for Tots Fundraiser! Also, the Fundraiser Promo contest for a super easy chance to win a $25 Gift Card to Target ends on December 14th as well so there's still time to get it on that. A donation isn't necessary to enter the contest but definitely appreciated! And again, big thanks to everyone that has already helped out via donations or other ways, I appreciate y'all so much. :)

HAPPY THURSDAY!!

Recipe: Oreo Rice Krispie Treats

I'm definitely making these the next chance I get so someone invite me to something that requires me to bring food. Or I suppose I could just make them for the hell of it and hand them off to friends and/or relatives so that those who live me don't have to be in charge of eating all of them. ;)

Oreo Rice Krispie Treats

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup salted butter
• 1 (10.5) oz bag mini marshmallows (note: if you have an extra bag, you can add an additional cup of marshmallows, if desired. I recommend it.)
• 6 cups Rice Krispies cereal
• 10 oreos, chopped into bits (about the size of pebbles, there will be powder too), about 1 cup
• 1 1/3 cups white chocolate chips
• 6 oreos, chopped into bits (about the size of pebbles), about 1/2 cup

Butter or spray a 13 x 9 pan, set aside. Melt butter in a large non-stick saucepan over medium low heat, swirling butter up along edges of the pan (this helps the marshmallows stick much less). Stir in marshmallows and stir constantly until melted. Remove from heat and gently stir in Rice Krispies cereal, stir until evenly coated. Fold in 10 chopped Oreos. Pour mixture into buttered dish. Using a buttered spatula or greased hands gently press mixture evenly into dish, set aside. In a microwave safe bowl, melt white chocolate chips on 50% power in 30 second intervals, stirring after each interval until melted and smooth. Spread melted chocolate evenly over Rice Krispie treats and immediately (before chocolate hardens) sprinkle with 6 chopped Oreos. Gently press the Oreo pieces down with your hands. Cover and refrigerate about 10 minutes, or alternately let rest on counter until chocolate hardens.

Yield: 18 servings | Recipe from Cooking Classy

Happy Wednesday!

Spring, birthday, apple juice, Safe House, books, etc...

• I'm excited for warmer weather. Ready to put the hoodies away and bust out my flip-flops. Also, I'm ready for some swimming and wakeboarding this summer. Not to mention baseball and hopefully at least one trip to a beach somewhere. Maybe for my birthday since it's on a weekend this year! :D
  

• I, for some reason, randomly crave root beer from time to time. It has to be from a bottle and I only really like Maine Foot or IBC. Most grocery stores don't sell Maine Root so I only pick it up when I'm at Whole Foods or Central Market and in the mood for it. I was at Whole Foods last night and saw the root beer. I was more interested in getting some apple juice. I got some organic apple juice and some organic honeycrisp apple juice. If you've never had a honeycrisp apple, you're totally missing out, they're delicious. I have to buy organic apple juice because any kind (and trust me, I've tried tons of brands) made from a concentrate makes me have a weird reaction if I drink more than two ounces at a time.

• I hate cotton candy. I don't like the taste, it's too sweet and even the smell makes me gag a little.

• A nice, long shower is one of the best ways to kill a little bit of stress. It doesn't melt it all away but it does nicely at removing a layer or two. Or maybe it's all the singing I tend to do in the shower that de-stresses me. Or a combination of the shower and the rocking out. Whatever, it's awesome and I smell great afterward.
  

• The boyfriend and I went and saw Safe House on Sunday evening after my brother's hockey game, lunch with the family and several hours in IKEA. Safe House wasn't bad. The plot's pretty weak but there's a ton of action in it to make up for that. All the explosions and fighting scenes were pretty awesome and kept me entertained through the whole movie.
  

• I tried warm milk the other night for the first time. Guess what? It was not my favorite thing or anywhere close to it. I also didn't feel any more relaxed or ready to go to sleep. I'll be sticking to some warm tea when I get the urge for a warm beverage at night.
  

• I honestly don't care what most people think of me. I care more about how I feel about myself at the end of the day than what other people think of me. I wish more people felt that way. It drives me crazy watching people drive themselves crazy trying to please other people, fit in, worrying about how other people will see them, changing their views, being afraid to speak their mind, etc etc etc. If more people worried about being happy and confident in themselves instead, they would be a lot better off. In my opinion anyway.

• I love books more than I love most other things. I could (and do) spend hours happily reading some days. One problem I have? If I get really into a book, I speed through it and then get sad because I'm done with the book in a day or two. Some books are just so great you can't put them down!
  

• I made these a few days ago. It's the first time in a long time that I've made cupcake for myself and the boyfriend and not for someone else because I was being paid to do so. I ate one and now I'm pretty much done with them, lol. So now I'm making Shane take half of them to work with him tomorrow. Which is also kind of useful for me since a good handful of my customers are his co-workers, haha. :D

And I will end this post on this note.....

Happy Tuesday!

Recipe: Cookies and cream cupcakes in a cone...

Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes!

I posted pictures of these to Tumblr and I had a lot of people wanting to know how to make them once I explained what they were. So, I decided I'd do a blog post about it.

I made these the other day. A friend of mine was having her birthday celebration dinner with her family and instead of buying a birthday cake, I was requested to make them a cake. When I inquired about what my friend would prefer, she went through tons of options and went back and forth on what she wanted. She has a big sweet tooth and was also being considerate towards what her family would like as well. So after almost an hour of her indecision, I suggested making a couple different varieties of cupcakes instead of just having a single cake. She contemplated that and then perked up quickly. She had remembered me mentioning making cupcakes in ice cream cones and asked me if I could do that. Sure I can but that still didn't help me out on the flavor of cake to use.

So after more thought and indecision, she finally decided, after checking with family members, that cookies and cream cupcakes would be the way to go. I was secretly happy she settled on one cake flavor, too.

While doing multiple flavors wouldn't have been difficult as long as she kept them simple, it's less work this way and I didn't have much free time to work into doing her birthday cupcakes for her.

These are really fun to make! You can do so many different things with them, too.

For hers, I did a vanilla cupcake with plenty of crushed Oreo cookies folded in.

I wanted the icing to taste as close to the cream centers of an Oreo cookie as possible. I did a rather successful job of that, too! According to her and her family anyway. Also I had a few extras that I sent home with my mom last night for my younger sister. She was rather pleased as well.

Then I topped half of them with more crushed Oreo cookies and left the other half topping free, as requested by the birthday girl.

To make these, all you need is some ice cream cones, cupcake batter and frosting. I make all my cupcakes and frosting from scratch but I'm quite positive boxed mix and canned frosting will do just fine if you don't have the time or inclination to make them from scratch.

Once you have your cupcake batter done, spoon it into the ice cream cones until they're 2/3 full. Sit the cones into a muffin/cupcake pan and then bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Of course time varies based on your oven. Just keep an eye on them and make sure not to over cook them. Cool completely then frost and decorate however you want to.

Happy Wednesday!

Dallas Stars, family stuff & on I ramble...

My dad moved back from California. He got back to Texas yesterday, UHAUL hauling all his belongings (and some of mine, my mom's and my siblings belongings from YEARS AGO) and his truck. Now I can see him more than just a few days out of the year. He moved to California 8 years ago and I've had a couple of brief stints with living out there but never for very long. My other younger brother is now the only person in my family still living out there.

The Stars won in regulation against the Canucks. They won all three games on their Canadian road trip and they've had a hell of a run the last couple of weeks. They're first place in the Pacific Division and 3rd place in the Western Conference currently. I hope they keep this going. It's been far too long since I was last able to go to a Stars playoff game. ;)

I need to find someone new to go to Stars games with me. I usually just go with the boyfriend but there are times he has work and can't go. Then there are times like tomorrow where his work gets a suite for the game and he gets to go with them. And I can't go since I don't work for the awesome company that he works for and it's one of their "bonding/togetherness" things they're trying to work on doing more of to help the teamwork aspect come together more. The other 3 people who were my game buddies have all moved in various directions that are too far to take in Stars games anymore in the last few months. Although, I could just go to a game by myself once in a while. I might try that Thursday and see how that goes. I do plenty of other stuff by myself and don't give it a second thought, so why not this? We'll see.

I got my menu finished for that whole business thing I've got going on for me lately. Which is also why if you follow my Twitter or Tumblr, you may have noticed an increased amount of food pictures. And I don't even post pictures of everything I make! I'm not eating all of that or just making it for fun. It's a little side project now but it's growing into something more slowly and I'm getting excited about it the more work I get to do with it. I love baking and love being creative with things I make. And to be able to make some extra cash doing something I really enjoy is awesome. Of course, it will be more awesome once that goes from an extra cash thing to a full on income thing. Which is what I'm working toward. It's a lot of work but I'm quite determined. :)

This passed weekend, my youngest brother had hockey games on Saturday, Sunday and Monday night. His team won all three. Saturday they won 7-2, Sunday they shut out one of the best teams in their league 5-0 and Monday night they beat the best team in their league 4-2. They've been playing so well lately and it's great to see how much their confidence grows after each game. It's also cool seeing them all so happy after so many good games lately considering the horrible start they had to their season. I'm also proud of my brother for being so dedicated to his sport. I have so much fun watching him play and I enjoy seeing him do something that makes him happy. Also, I just really love hockey. Though watching him play does make me miss playing myself, haha.

In further boring news, I found a way that successfully gets rid of my hiccups. I always have to just let them run their course most of the time because nothing usually works for me. Which is annoying because for some reason, hiccups are really painful for me. I found that holding my nose and slowly drinking about 5 or 6 ounces of water without stopping or pausing does the trick. So you know, if you've never tried that and nothing else works, give it a shot. I don't understand why having involuntary esophageal contraction of the diaphragm is even a necessary thing people have to deal with. And yes, I did want to write about hiccups in part just so I could use the word "esophageal" because I like that word and rarely get to use it. So, there. I also wanted to share my hiccup trick in attempt to possibly be helpful, though. ;)

Boobs are awesome.

Some people's inability to be punctual to anything, ever, drives me fucking crazy. I HATE being late and always feel like an asshole when I do show up late to something without an actual good reason for it. I rarely show up anywhere late but that's beside the point. How hard is it to be a few minutes early or right on time? It's not. I get when it's something you can't control like a flat tire, having to stay late at work, really bad traffic, blah blah blah. But people who are just late all the time? KNOCK IT THE FUCK OFF. It's rude. And annoying.

Sometimes I like to throw random sentences in to see if people are paying attention. However, those statements are usually true. As true as someone's opinion can be, anyway. ;)

I've rambled on enough now. I feel like I cleared some real estate up which I'm sure won't last long before more thoughts and random junk move in to take up residence. I think way too much sometimes. Though writing does always help when I'm feeling anxious and can't sleep because my mind seems too full. If that makes sense. Anyway.... :)

Happy Wednesday!

What I Want To Be When I Grow Up...

I had a ton of cupcakes to bake yesterday. I forgot to get pictures of two others I baked which were chocolate espresso with salted caramel frosting and Nutella cupcakes with strawberry frosting. Looking at the overheard shot of the 5 different ones I did remember to snag photos of: Vanilla cupcake with buttercream frosting, cinnamon spice cupcake with buttercream frosting topped with crushed up Cinnamon Toast Crunch, caramel cupcake with marshmallow frosting topped with caramel, Thin Mint cupcake and then vanilla cupcake with cookies and cream frosting.

A lot of people that follow me on Twitter tend to ask why I bake so often since I post pictures of stuff I've made there quite often. When I remember to anyway. The answer to that isn't that I have a massive sweet tooth because in all honesty, I don't. As much as I love to bake, I don't really enjoy sweets as much. I'd much rather make delicious things and watch other people enjoy them.

So, what's with all the cupcakes? I decided I'd make an attempt to start my own business. I enjoy baking so much. Cupcakes, muffins, breads and such. So, late last year I decided I'd make an attempt to do something I enjoy and make some money off of it. It took a while to figure out how to go about it but I made up a few batches of things for some friends to take to their jobs under the pretense that they could share with their co-workers, hopefully they would dig it and want to order some stuff. And it worked. December was the best month for it because of the holidays. I can't even remember how much stuff I made for people for work parties, holiday parties with friends and family and blah blah blah. Some days I'd have so much to do and it's just me in my kitchen with one oven and no help from anyone so it was challenging. It was fun as hell. I've managed to keep slowly but steadily growing a client list thanks to the help of a couple willing friends taking things to work, my boyfriend's co-workers, friends' family members and friends of other people I know. Granted if I had more friends who could take treats into their jobs that would help but a lot places don't allow that. I've got other methods but I'm sure none of y'all care about reading how I'm working on growing my client base.

My goal is to move my little operation out of my kitchen and into a bigger kitchen. One with a bigger oven, haha. Actually, one with a couple ovens. And with some counter space. A few tables and chairs. Steady enough stream of customers coming in and placing orders. You get the picture. Eventually I'm hoping to turn my project that makes me extra money into something a bit more than that. I've thought about it for a couple years now but just never did anything about it. I'm not in a place to do anything on a large scale right now but maybe soon I can get that worked out. And if not, that's fine. I've got no issues slowly and steadily working towards what I want. I've always been a determined, ambitious person and I very rarely fail to met a goal I set for myself. I just have to work on being more patient in the process of trying to get where I want to go. :)

Anyway, I'll stop rambling about this now. :D Thanks for reading!

Happy Wednesday!

The Great Online Cookie Exchange Extravaganza....

The Great Online Cookie Exchange Extravaganza, hosted by JZ, is today!

I have three different recipes I'm sharing today because I couldn't decide which one of the three I narrowed it down to I should go with. So, I'm posting Mint Chocolate Chip cookies, Frosted Gingerbread cookies and Peanut Butter M&M cookies. :) Enjoy!

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 sticks of butter
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1.5 tsp. peppermint extract
• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup mint baking chips (If you can't find any, Andes mints chopped up work too)
• Green food color gel or food color liquid
  

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream butter and sugars on high speed. Beat in egg. Stir in vanilla and peppermint extracts.

Mix together dry ingredients and add to butter mixture slowly. Stir until just combined.

Add in food coloring gel/liquid until you get the desired shade of green you want. I like using the gel because you get a more vibrant color and it doesn't effect the taste or texture but food coloring liquid works fine, too. Stir until well combined.

Fold in chocolate chips and mint chips.

Drop by rounded teaspoons onto a cookie sheet. (I actually use a small ice cream scoop.) Bake 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove immediately and cool on wire rack.

You can also make these easier by using a package of Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix instead of dealing with the flour, baking powder, etc. Just make the mix according to direction, add the mint extract, baking chips and boom. A little bit of a quicker and easier version.

Gingerbread Cookies

Ingredients:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup vegetable shortening, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2/3 cup unsulfured molasses
• 1 large egg

Icing:

• 1 pound confectioners' sugar
• 3 large egg whites
• 1 drop lemon juice or vinegar

Directions

For the dough, add the dry ingredients (except sugar) to a mixing bowl and stir well to combine. Beat the butter and sugar, adding one egg at a time. Continue beating until the mixture is smooth. Beat in half the flour mixture, then stop and scrape the bowl and beater(s). Beat in the molasses, scrape again, and beat in the remaining flour mixture, just until combined.

Divide the dough into several pieces and press each piece into a rectangle about 1/4 inch thick between 2 sheets of plastic wrap. Chill the dough for at least one hour or until firm.

Set the racks in the middle upper thirds of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.

Roll the dough, one piece at a time, on a floured surface, just to make the dough flat and even, but not much thinner. Cut with floured cutters and arrange on the pans an inch or two apart. Repeat with the remaining dough. Reroll the scraps immediately; or press together, chill and reroll later. Bake the cookies for about 10 minutes, until firm when pressed with a fingertip.

Cool the cookies on the pans.

Meanwhile for the icing, combine confectioners' sugar and egg whites in a mixing bowl and beat until combined. Add the lemon juice or vinegar and continue beating until fluffy. Use a paper cone or the snipped end of a plastic bag to pipe icing on the cookies.

Peanut Butter M&M Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cup flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup shortening (or butter for a flatter cookie)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 Tablespoons milk
• 1/2 large bag of M&M’s or 3/4 bag of mini M&M's
  

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350˚F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Whisk together the flour, salt and baking soda in a medium bowl; set aside.

Ceam together the shortening (or butter), sugars and peanut butter. Stir in the egg, vanilla and milk. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Using a wooden spoon, carefully stir in the M&M’s.

Drop by tablespoons onto baking sheet and lightly press down with a fork to barely flatten cookies. Bake for 10 minutes.

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Make sure you go see the rest of the Cookie Extravaganza participants!

Aisha
Alice
Ally
Another Suburban Mom
Ashly Star
Beau
Beth
Conina
Elysia
greengirl
Hedone
Jack & Jill
His wyld rose
Infidelity Chronicles
Jz
Kirsti
Krissy
lil
Linda Long
Little Monkey
Lola!
Mijena
mouse
Naughty Kitty
nilla
ponderouspet
ronnie
Rose
Ryan
Sara
selkie (her recipe here, her blog here)
Sephani Page
Serenity
shadesofblue
striving for peace
sin
Tempting Sweets
The Missus
undercovermetamorphosis
Viemoira


Only 9 days left to make a paypal donation to my Toys for Tots fundraiser. I'm sure y'all are sick of seeing me talk about it but oh well. :) December 16th is the last day I'm taking donations via paypal unless you email with a reason why you need an extra day or two which has happened several times before. It only takes a few dollars to help out a really great cause and I do all the toy shopping so you can donate toys without having to go shop for anything yourself. So come on, $5 or $10 isn't that much and it's for a great cause. Please help out if you can. Thanks to everyone who has donated and all who have helped spread the word thus far. It's greatly appreciated. :D

Happy Wednesday!

Banana Nut & Honey Muffins.

Banana Nut & Honey Muffins

Recipe makes 12 muffins.

What you need:

• 1½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1½ teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ⅔ cup packed light brown sugar
  
• 1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 large eggs
• ⅓ cup plus 1 tbsp honey
  
• ¾ cup chopped walnuts
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1½ cup mashed bananas (about 3 bananas)
  
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• ⅓ cup whole or low fat milk

What you do:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.

2. In a medium bowl, combine the flour with the baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Use a whisk to combine, blend well.

3. In a large bowl, beat the butter with the sugar and 1/3 cup of honey, about 2-3 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl with rubber spatula if necessary. At medium speed, add the eggs one at a time and beat well after each egg. Beat in the banana and vanilla until blended. At low speed, beat in half the dry ingredients, add the milk, add other half of dry ingredients.

4. Fold in 1/2 cup of walnuts into the muffin batter. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin liners. I use an ice cream scooper because that makes it super easy for me. Sprinkle each muffin with remaining walnuts and a light drizzle of honey. Bake the muffins until the tops are golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes. Let the muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove from the tin and cool on a rack.

Enjoy!
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Have you checked out the Toys for Tots fundraiser yet? If not, please do! It's a great cause hosted by the US Marines and I'm taking donations to go buy toys for the third year in a row. Click the link for information and to see pictures from all the toys we've purchased the previous two years. Every little bit helps so if you can spare even $5, that would be more helpful than you realize. :)

Happy Friday!

Random assortment of pictures....

I love socks. I don't have many pairs of shoes but I have an entire drawer that's just full of socks. I also LOVE penguins. One thing that always bums me out about Winter apparel is the lack of penguins. Or I look in the wrong places. Either way, there needs to be more stuff with penguins on it. Anyway, I was at the store picking up a couple things I needed and walked by a display with tons of Winter themed socks. I was pleasantly surprised when SIX different pairs featured a penguin theme and even happier when one of them was a pair of toe socks. I wasn't thrilled with the amount of pink on the toe socks since I'm not a fan at all of the color pink but I really liked these and got them anyway. Aren't they cute?




I had some baking to do yesterday. Tahitian vanilla bean cupcakes. White icing is vanilla buttercream. Orange is orange flavored buttercream. All made from scratch. Baking is so fun. Want one? Lol.




I saw this next picture on an interior design blog I frequently look at. I've decided a small room or a little nook somewhere is a must in my future dream house. This looks so perfect to me. I'd love to be able to have a wonderful little spot like this to go spend hours reading books and relaxing.




I got this picture during the Texas State Fair. They did a really cool light show which was awesome for me. Fireworks, fountains and laser lights all cued up with some music pretty decent music. I totally enjoyed it and got a couple cool pictures of some of the action, including this one.




I collect rubber ducks. My newest acquisition to my collection is a rockin' little Halloween duck. Of course it's a pirate. :D




I'm done with the pictures now but before I end the post I want to say thank you to those who have already donated to my Toys for Tots Fundraiser. Also, thank you to those who have tweeted about it, posted on their blog about it, put it on Facebook, made posts on Tumblr and otherwise pimped the cause out. So to speak. I appreciate it so much! And if you post about it, make sure you let me know so I can come say thank you. :) Remember, even if you can only donate $5 it will go a long way to helping out. Every little bit helps! :)

Happy Tuesday!

I love Orange Chicken....

For dinner last night, I made orange chicken for myself and a friend. I LOVE orange chicken. It's probably my favorite Chinese dish but I rarely order it because I don't often like it when I get it from restaurants. So when I have that issue with a food I really enjoy, I learn to make it at home. The recipe for the orange sauce is pretty easy so I thought I'd share it on here today. Food posts are fun, right? Right? Okay. ;)



Most chicken in orange chicken dishes is breaded. I don't do breaded chicken in mine most of the time because I prefer to use grilled or broiled chicken* instead. The exception being when the boyfriend is home and eating it, then it's fried. You can do it which ever way you want. Since the fried way is more popular, I'll go ahead and post that up.

Ingredients:

• Chicken:

• 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts (cut into 1-1/2” cubes)
• 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
• 1 eggs (beaten)
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon pepper
• ¼ cayenne pepper
• Oil (for frying)

Directions:

• Combine flour, pepper, salt and cayenne pepper together.
  
• Dip chicken in egg mixture and shake in flour mixture to coat.
  
• Deep fry chicken in small batches in a wok or frying pan.
• Set chicken on paper towels.
  

Sauce Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups water
• 2 tablespoons orange juice
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/3 cup rice vinegar
• 2 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon grated orange zest
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon minced fresh ginger root
• 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 3 tablespoons water

A few notes: If you don't have rice vinegar not a big deal. I've used apple cider vinegar and white vinegar before in a pinch. It doesn't make that much of a difference so you'll be okay to use either of those.

I use 1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes because I like my food really hot. You can use more or less than 1/4 tsp based on how spicy you like your food.

2 teaspoons of orange extract works if you don't want to use the grated orange zest. (But why wouldn't you want to do that? Zest > Orange flavoring ;D)


Directions:

• Pour 1 1/2 cups water, orange juice, lemon juice, rice vinegar and soy sauce into a saucepan and blend the liquids together well over medium-high heat.
  
• Stir in the orange zest, brown sugar, ginger, garlic, and red pepper flakes. Mix well and bring to a boil.
  
• In a small bowl, combine 3 tablespoons of cornstarch with 3 tablespoons of water and mix thoroughly. Bring the sauce down to low heat and slowly stir mixture into sauce until it thickens. Remove from heat.

In your wok or skillet, pour the desired amount of sauce over cooked chicken pieces until fully coated.

I serve mine with plain white rice or occasionally (like last night) some jasmine rice. I also sprinkle a little more crushed red peppers on top as a garnish and ya know, because I love hot food, lol.

*Note: If you're going to broil the chicken instead of frying, soak the chicken pieced in a marinade for at least a couple hours before cooking them, it helps keep the chicken from being dry. 1/2 cup orange juice, 1/2 cup lemon juice, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/4 teaspoon minced garlic. Mix it all together, stir in the chicken pieces and let marinate in the refrigerator for about 2 hours in a covered container or ziplock bag.

I also made these snazzy little treats.....



That is indeed a cupcake with a chocolate filled center. It's like a Death By Chocolate cupcake. Which is what my friends call these, actually. I made a big batch of those for a friend for a celebratory get together he was having (yes, on a Tuesday. His brother, roommates and some friends were celebrating some amazing news & it was their only night they all had free to hang out together) and ended up with a half dozen left over. Which I offered to them since they all paid me to bake these and paid for the ingredients but they didn't want to extras for fear of not being able to stop eating them, lol. I might also end up posting the recipe for this with a few pictures of the process sometime this week if I find I have nothing else I want to blog about, lol.

Happy Wednesday!

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

It's no secret to anyone who knows me that I enjoy cooking and baking. It should also be no secret that I like to think of baking as not only therapeutic but also as a form of art and expression. I like coming up with ways to use bright colors, funky designs, etc.

Sunday night, I made the boyfriend chocolate chip cookies. I decided I wanted some mint chocolate chip cookies for myself and figured I could make a big batch and then give out half a dozen each to a few friends who have a mint chip weakness.

I posted a picture of the cookie dough for the mint chocolate chip cookies on Tumblr and Twitter. I had a lot of people from both want to know where I got the cookie dough because it looked awesome and they wanted to make it.

Then I had to go telling them that I didn't buy the cookie dough anywhere because honestly, I really hate store bought cookie dough. It just doesn't taste as good as cookies homemade cookies from scratch full of love, rainbows and other happy smiley stuff. Once I assured the people asking how easy it was to make, the recipe was requested. I figured I might as well post it on here so more people can snatch it if they want.

Here's how the cookie dough looked:



So, recipe time, yes?

CHOCOLATE CHIP MINT COOKIES

1 1/2 sticks of butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1.5 tsp. peppermint extract
2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup mint baking chips (If you can't find any, Andes mints chopped up work too)
Green food color gel or food color liquid

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream butter and sugars on high speed. Beat in egg. Stir in vanilla and peppermint extracts.

Mix together dry ingredients and add to butter mixture slowly. Stir until just combined.

Add in food coloring gel/liquid until you get the desired shade of green you want. I like using the gel because you get a more vibrant color and it doesn't effect the taste or texture but food coloring liquid works fine, too. Stir until well combined.

Fold in chocolate chips and mint chips.

Drop by rounded teaspoons onto a cookie sheet. (I actually use a small ice cream scoop.) Bake 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove immediately and cool on wire rack.


You can also make these easier by using a package of Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix instead of dealing with the flour, baking powder, etc. Just make the mix according to direction, add the mint extract, baking chips and boom. A little bit of a quicker and easier version.

Enjoy!

Happy Tuesday!

Get in me...

Sundays are my only day off most weeks. So, I usually try to get some errands done, some cleaning and then have some fun. Yesterday, I just decided to hang out at home. The Boyfriend got home from work at around 3 PM (his schedule during the weekends is 4 AM - 1 PM but he usually stays late and picks up over time) and I asked if he wanted to go do anything. He said not really, which I figured considering I believe he put in a 60 hour work week. I told him I actually didn't want to go do anything either and he smiled and looked relieved. After I got done watching some playoff hockey between the Red Wings and the Sharks with the boyfriend, I decided I'd go bake something I'd been planning to bake for a couple weeks now.



Guess what I baked?

Nope, not my rainbow cake.

But close.

Rainbow cupcakes. ;)



I used a pastry bag to do the frosting. I'd never used one before and that was not only my first attempt at using the bag but also my first attempt at multi-colored frosting. So, I only did half a dozen of the cupcakes with multi-colored frosting in case I some how messed it up. They didn't come out exactly as I wanted them to but I do like how they look. Next time, they'll look better for sure.

I just did plain vanilla frosting and multi-colored sprinkles on the rest of the cupcakes.

All of the cupcakes are rainbow cupcakes, though.

This is what they look like.....



If you want to see a couple more pictures of these babies, go check out my Tumblr page.

These are seriously fun to make. A little time consuming but not too bad. Definitely fun to do and they come out looking so freaking cool it's hard to care about how long it takes to do. Now if I could just get people willing to pay me for baking stuff for them. ;)

Happy Monday!

Rainbow cake...

Yesterday I had the day off from work. I was super productive by doing laundry, doing a little grocery shopping, buying some things from Target that were needed, cleaning the bathroom including scrubbing down the shower, sink and toilet, did some other errands, colored my hair and then baked a cake.

The cake I baked is a "rainbow cake" and I've been wanting to make one for a few months now but have just lacked the free time to do so.




Making it was so fun. It's also inexpensive to do and super easy.

I'm not usually one for posting recipes on here but I already had a few people off Tumblr request it last night as I was posting pictures on there as I went. So, here we go.


What you need:

Cake:

2 boxes white cake mix
Eggs
2 12 oz of can of Sprite
gel food colouring

Icing:

16 oz whipped topping
2 oz instant pudding mix

OR

You can just used frosting from the can if you don't want to make your own.



You'll be using the soda in place of the water and oil in the cake mix. Mix the cake mix, eggs and soda in a mixing bowl.

You'll need 6 bowls to do the rainbowing. You equally divide the cake batter into the 6 bowls. Then you add the food coloring gel. I used gel because you get a more vibrate color out of the gels. You can use as much or as little as you want, just add the gel until you get the desired shade you're looking for in each color. I also used 6 separate spoons because it's easier than rinsing one off each time you move to the next color.





After you get all the colors mixed, it's time to layer them into the cake pans. Pick whatever color you want to use first and drop it as close to the middle of the cake panas you can. Drop the next two colors, then work on the other pan with the last three colors. So if you’re doing rainbow order, the first pan should have red, then orange, then yellow, and now the purple, blue and green go into the second pan.



For this recipe, I wanted to make 2 separate cakes instead of one big double layer cake. So, I dropped smaller amounts of cake batter into each pan using all 6 colors in each pan instead of doing 3 and 3 for the double layered cake.



The Frosting:

Mix the pudding mix into the whip cream using a spatula until it's combined nicely. Then just spread over the cake. It's a little difficult to work with so be careful.

I decorated it with some colored sugar on top that was left over from Christmas baking.



And there you have it. A rainbow cake. It was super easy to make and I had fun doing it. Next time I'll have to try my hand at doing some rainbow cupcakes. Now if I could just get people to pay me to bake stuff for them, I'd be doing this for more than just fun, lol.

Happy Tuesday!!

Cigarettes, Inception, Cashiers, etc.

The Boyfriend is finally quitting smoking! I quit over a year ago. He's been "cutting back" and "going to quit" for some time now. He did slowly but surely cut back until he was only smoking a couple times a day. It wasn't a resolution to finally quit, either. Yesterday was his smoke cigarette free day. He seems ready and determined to quit this time. So, I hope he sticks with it. I'll enjoy getting to kiss someone without the cigarette/ashtray flavor to go along with it. :D

I watched Inception last night after work. It was the first time I had seen it. I missed it in theaters. The Boyfriend rented it from Red Box. I'm not sure how I feel about it. I need to watch it again when I'm not dead tired from spending 10 hours at work on just a few hours of sleep I think. I understood it and visually, it was wonderful. I just felt indifferently about it because I was so tired while I was watching it. So, I'll watch it again and report back. It might rock my socks off or it might be yet another movie that people rave about that I just don't enjoy. We'll see. :D

I hate when you're shopping and the cashier checking you out feels a need to comment on your purchases. I had to stop by a store last night after work to get some items. The girl looked over my purchases, raised her eyebrows and said, "Looks like you've got a fun night planned for yourself" with a snide look on her face. What did I have? New insoles for my work shoes so hopefully my feet will hurt less, two new pillows (one for the guy and one for me :D), aspirin, mouthwash, oatmeal, Special K Oats & Honey cereal, granola, Gatorade, condoms and scotch tape. Really, all of that says "fun night" to you? I suppose she meant the condoms and maybe the scotch tape if she's any kind of kinky but seriously? I hate when a cashier or other store employee makes a comment like that when I'm buying stuff. When I'm at work, I don't say "Ha, looks like you plan on having horrible breath wanting extra garlic and onions in your calzone" or "Eww, you really want that drink? Gross!" None of my business and not my place to give them a hard time about anything. Sometimes, the comments don't bother me. I suppose it's what you say along with how it's said, too. Sometimes, something perfectly harmless said in a certain tone with a certain look on some one's face can go from nothing at all to something rude and/or insulting. Not that she said anything particularly horrid, it's just the way she said it and the way she was acting. My response to her was asking, "What do you mean?" to which she replied by snickering and rolling her eyes. I don't remember what I said after that but I'm sure it was sarcastic. I was more working on controlling the urge to smack her upside the head.

If you follow my Tumblr blog, you might have noticed the mass amount of food pictures I reblogged last night. Sorry about that. I was looking for something specific to post and the ran across picture after picture of sinfully delicious looking goodness. If you don't follow it, go look but don't blame me if you end up hungry for something sweet. Really, those ice cream sandwiches looked fucking awesome. I like pictures of pretty food I think because it's like art with food in a way. It's like when I bake, I don't usually even eat most of the stuff I make. I find cooking and baking to be awesome stress relief. Albeit, working 6 nights a week, I rarely get to cook anymore but I digress. My favorite part of baking is honestly the decorating part. I've been into art since I was a little kid. I love drawing and painting and decorating pretty desserts is just another way for me to be creative and create something lovely. I just need more people around to eat the pretty stuff I make since I don't favor sweets much and The Boyfriend can only eat so much, lol. I think it would be pretty awesome to own a little cafe type thing that sold coffees, teas, juices and tons of really pretty sweets.

The Stars play the Blackhawks tonight. I'll be at work but hopefully I'll be able to have the game on. If not, I can follow along with the help of my awesome hockey buddies on Twitter. :D Speaking of, this article is awesome. Go read it. That's just one of the reasons why the Stars are awesome.

Happy Wednesday!

I sucker punched my best friend....

TODAY IS THE LAST DAY TO DONATE TO THE TOYS FOR TOTS FUNDRAISER!!!!!

If you are one of the few that have donated this year, thank you! I appreciate it and I'm going to have fun spending the money on toys when I go shopping on my day off Sunday. :)

Today is my dad's birthday. He doesn't read my blog, thankfully. I'm pretty sure he's one of the few people left in my family that hasn't seen it. Hopefully anyway, haha. I digress. We haven't always got along. He wasn't always around when I was growing up. I didn't always understand why and I didn't always understand him. I still don't always understand him but I know he's caring, hard working, loving and a damn good man. I see a lot of traits in myself that I know I get from him and they're things I admire about him for the most part. :) I'm lucky to have him. Happy Birthday dad!

The Stars play tonight. Against the Sharks. They played the Sharks Monday in San Jose. They won the game in a shootout. You see that game? Jamie Benn's shootout goal was fucking awesome. I suppose if you're not into hockey you wouldn't appreciate it but dude, it was beautiful. Hopefully they can win tonight in regulation. I like when they win in OT/SO because fuck yeah winning but I much prefer a win in regulation so they're not still giving up a point to the other side.

Some people have asked what I want for Christmas. Merely for curiosity purposes so I'll post a little bit of what I want.

Tickets to the Stars/Canucks game on New Years Eve. I actually have NYE off (I usually work) and I've never been to a game where we played the Canucks before. I so badly want to see them since we don't play Vancouver often and they're one of the few times I've yet to see.

Gift cards. I know a lot of people say they're impersonal but the Boyfriend and I will be getting our own place at the beginning of the year again. Only thing is we have very little to take with us so I wanted gift cards to various places to help buy items we need. Then I was informed it was rude to ask for stuff like that since I should be asking for things I want not things we need.

New shoes and clothes. I have a pair of shoes, a pair of flats, a pair of heels and a pair of flip flops. My shoes take a beating since I have one pair and wear them constantly, lol. And clothes is something I just don't spend money on so I need some stuff that isn't worn or torn.

The other stuff on my list are books, CDs, DVDs and minor kitchen stuff.

What's on your wish list this year? :) I always enjoy seeing what other people ask for. I don't think it gives insight into that person always but sometimes it does. It also sometimes unveils interests I might not have otherwise known a person had. So comment and tell me what you want, please? ;)

I'm going to try my hand at making gingerbread cupcakes on Sunday after I do the toy shopping. Or before I do the toy shopping. Either way, I'm trying out the recipe I found. I've never made gingerbread cupcakes before and also never even eaten a gingerbread cupcake before. I LOVE gingerbread cookies, though. So when I saw an easy recipe for gingerbread cupcakes and saw that we already have the stuff to make them? Totally couldn't pass up trying to make them. Here's hoping they turn out well, lol.

Sexy yet supportive bras for chicks with really big boobs are hard to find. Bra shopping always irritates the fuck out of me. I've said before that I just need to make my own line of bras for busty chicks but I've never really been serious about it. I think I need to give it a real shot, though. It's not a bad idea and there's a definite need for it out there. I just have to figure out how to go about doing this.

The title of today's post doesn't have anything to do with anything in the post, so to speak. It's a line out of this song... "Time To Take My Drunk Ass Home" by Luke Bryan. Give it a listen. Though, it's a country song so if you hate country you probably won't dig it. The song amuses me and I like Luke Bryan. Yes, I like country music and no, not everyone in Texas does so shhh.

That's enough rambling. Remember, today is the LAST DAY to donate to the Toys for Tots fundraiser. Even if it's only $2 or $5, you'll be making a difference. :)

Happy Thursday!