Dr. Seuss

This past week the kids at school celebrated Dr. Seuss's birthday.  I made a Cat in the Hat cookie cake.  I had no idea how tricky it was to make a cookie cake so I made one earlier in the week as practice.  There's plenty of recipes out there with tips on how they made it.  After trying the first cookie cake I ended up finding what worked for me.
I made it from scratch using the toll house recipe.  Shocking, right?  You could always use the pre-made dough too.  Some people recommended adding a 1/4 cup of corn syrup to it to make it more of a soft bake cookie, but this caused more problems for me when cooking it.  My suggestion is to stick to the toll house recipe and get a cookie sheet that is approximately 12 x 18 and line it with parchment paper.  It's so much easier to remove the cookie if it's on parchment paper.  I did not double the recipe.  One batch is enough and you need to spread it out really thin anyway to allow for it to cook evenly.  That was my mistake with the first cookie.  I put it in a smaller pan and it took forever to cook.  You definitely need to watch the cookie.  I put the oven on 325 degrees and the timer set for 15 minutes then I checked it and added a few more minutes each time till it was just right.  You definitely don't want to under-cook it or over-cook it.
Once it was cool I used buttercream frosting to make the Cat in the Hat.  The kids loved it.  A trick on cutting the cookie is to use a pizza cutter.  It made it so easy to slice up and serve.

Baked Grapefruit

I know you're thinking that this sounds a bit weird, but it is delicious.  I made it the other night for dessert and we all agreed that grapefruit tastes fantastic warmed up.  It would be especially nice on a cold day.  If you're interested in making baked grapefruit you'll need some cinnamon and brown sugar.  First cut the grapefruit in half, then pre-cut the sections of the grapefruit.  Sprinkle the grapefruit with cinnamon and brown sugar and bake for 20 minutes at 375.  It is so yummy, give it a try.

Mini Cupcake Birthday Cake

Here's a recent cupcake cake that I made for the teacher's birthday.  It's for kindergarten so I went with the mini cupcakes since the kids never seem to eat an entire cupcake.  The kids are all about the frosting at least that's all my daughter eats of a cupcake.  I found this cupcake cake on Pinterest and thought it would be cute for the teacher's birthday so I made one like it.

In a Jar

I've been racking my brain for a month on what to make for thank you gifts.  My sister inlaw, Ashley actually gave me the idea.  She gave my mom a ghirardelli cake mix in a jar for Christmas and I thought this would be a great gift especially when you need to come up with 8 identical gifts.  Instead of the cake mix I went with brownies.  I found the jars at the craft store and went with the smooth Ball jars.  Then here are the ingredients you will need.

1-1/2 cups of sugar

1/3 cup of cocoa

1 cup of flour

1/2 tsp of baking powder

1/4 tsp of salt

1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips

1 cup of white chocolate chips

Mix the baking powder and salt in with the flour.  Then you can begin layering the ingredients into the jar. Start with the sugar, then cocoa, flour, chocolate chips. 

I then made a label for the jar with the cooking directions.

Baking Directions:

Heat oven to 350. Grease and flour an 8" square baking pan.

Combine 1/2 cup of softened butter with 2 eggs in a large bowl.

Pour in jar contents and mix. Spread into prepared pan.

Bake for 35 minutes. 

I topped them all off with a bow that I hot glued to the lid.  They were pretty simple to make and a great gift for just about anyone. 

Cranberry Shortbread Bars

All I have to say is delicious.  I made them after Thanksgiving because I had a bag of cranberries leftover.  After I made them, I went back to the store and bought a few more bags to freeze to make more another time.  I found the recipe on Joy of Baking.  She has a wonderful selection of cranberry recipes on her site.  Here's a link to the recipe.  They also freeze really well. 

Whoopie Pies

I was first introduced to this heavenly dessert by my mother in-law.  She is originally from Maine and Whoopie Pies are all the rage up there.  I can't believe I hadn't heard of them sooner.  I see them on every food blog now.  If you haven't tried them, they are absolutely delicious. I just made a batch up this week for a cookie exchange.  Today I'm going to share the recipe with you all.

Whoopie Pies
2 cups of flour
1/2 tsp of salt
1 tsp of vanilla
1 cup of milk
1 cup of sugar
1 & 1/4 tsp of baking powder
6 tbs of shortening
5 tbs of cocoa (heaping)
1 egg
Cream together sugar and shortening.  Add egg, then dry ingredients, milk, vanilla. Mix thoroughly.  Drop by the tablespoon onto a greased cookie sheet.  Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes.


Filling
3/4 cup of milk
1/4 tsp of salt
2 tbs flour
Cook on stove top until thick.  Let cool for 15 minutes.
Cream together- 3/4 cup of shortening and 3/4 cup of sugar.  Poor milk mixture in and beat till light and fluffy. Add 1 tsp of vanilla and mix well. Spread filling between 2 pies. 

Delicious

 I have some delicious cantaloupe bread that I wanted to share with you all.  I know some of you are thinking, what cantaloupe bread?  It really is wonderful and you must give it a try.  This recipe is perfect for cantaloupe that has gone just a tad too ripe. Here is the recipe for Cantaloupe Bread with Praline Glaze if you'd like to give it a try.