Baking Monday – Splash Party Cupcakes

Today's dessert is a little cheat-y ... boxed cake mix and canned frosting ... but it was a nice break to bake something quick and have fun decorating.



And I had a helper!

We had "splash party" over the weekend - our family won a package of Super Soakers and Cheetos from Houseparty.com, so we decided to do a water-themed dessert ... little teddy bears in swim tubes!

(It was Dora's idea to use gummy worms as pool noodles when we ran out of peach rings.)

And the party itself was a blast - kids wore swim gear and brought water squirters, plus we had a Super Soaker for each family in our party pack. I also stocked up on some extra water guns - which were hard to find, I looked at three other stores before finally finding them at Five Below. I wondered if maybe stores are choosing not to sell them anymore? Anyhow, the weather cooperated and it was a beautiful day. The kids had so much fun and it was just the right amount of activity and chaos. Most of the dads were right in the mix, while most of the moms stayed happily dry on the deck with cold beverages. A much needed day of fun in the sun with good friends.

Baking Monday – Chocolate Banana Muffins

Historically, my favorite thing to make with overripe bananas is muffins - I use the banana bread recipe from the red & white cookbook, substitute half whole wheat flour, add mini chocolate chips, and bake in a muffin pan. They are wonderful, especially shortly after they are done baking. But I make them often enough that they've lost their wow appeal with the kids and I'm always looking for something new to do with expired bananas. 

This recipe (once again, from my favorite baking blog) is my new favorite! I've made them with peanut butter chips as originally suggested, but we like them better with chocolate chips. I made a few substitutes to the original recipe: use 1/2 c whole wheat flour, substituted fat-free Greek yogurt for the sour cream and added 1/2 tsp baking powder to the dry ingredients. Remembering to sprinkle extra chips on the tops of the muffins is key! I stretched it out to make 26 muffins, using a large batter scoop for portioning. 

These are terrific - moist and chocolatey, and I don't feel guilty sending them for school snack because, hey, bananas! 

Taking a Break

I'll be back soon ... promise! Lots of things have gotten in the way last month, some minor, some very major. Most recently, I've been getting wrapped up in end-of-the school year activities and responsibilities on top of my regular work load. Looking forward to a break in routine this summer and hopefully some fun baking and crafts in the near future. In the meantime, enjoy this card that Clark made for his Sunday school teacher - he's crying a sea of tears, because he didn't want class to end. 

Baking Monday – PB Choc Chip Shortbread

Take note, peanut butter lovers - these are seriously good! Shortbread, pb, and chocolate: three of my favorite things all wrapped up together.

The original recipe calls for sea salt, which gave the cookies a slight salty crunch. I found that to be distracting, because I couldn't decide if I liked it or not. (I notice today that in the updated version of the recipe, sea salt is changed to regular salt. If you're into the salty/sweet thing, give the big salt a try.) I did these as slice-and-bake, but looks like you could do them as drop cookies or cutout as well (mini chips would probably work best for that). One recipe makes two dozen small mouth-melting cookies. Enjoy!

70th Birthday Cookies

A friend ordered this assortment for her husband's birthday party. She didn't have any ideas for the theme except - maybe something Irish? I LOVE the way these turned out! I also used Lila Loa's color matching trick on the icing this time around. Genius!

I've long admired Sweet Sugarbelle's creative use of cutters, but can't say I've ever been very good at it. (See: snowman / number eight "duh" moment, for example.) But I was really proud of this one! I made a beer mug by piecing parts of other cutters together: a cupcake, a number "6", and the bottom of a pill bottle (leftover from my sister's graduation from pharmacy school.)

Wah-lah! Beer mug! Cheers!

Baby Shower Goodies

Up today: treats for our good friend's baby shower last week. These baby blue onsie cookies were wrapped up for favors.



Brown sugar cupcakes with vanilla buttercream icing ...

... and a two tiered cake: chocolate with peanut butter filling and vanilla with raspberry.

I was SO nervous transporting this cake! I can't imagine how bakeries do it all the time!

Sweet treats to celebrate a little boy who we are looking forward to meeting! 

Baking Monday - Chocolate Surprise Cookies

This recipe is a re-run, because there was Easter candy to use up yet again. I bought an assortment of chocolates to put out during our party: Dove eggs (yum), Crunch eggs (yum - according to the children), and caramel Hershey's kisses ... a surprising yuck. They just weren't very good. I saved the remainders thinking they could at least be used in a baked good. The kids also collected lots of Reese treats on their egg hunt, so those also got the surprise cookie treatment.

These cookies are pretty yummy, but it was discovered that the candy also has to be good for it to be a winner.



Peanut butter eggs - WIN! Delicious! Disappeared quickly!

Hershey's caramel kisses - yuck! Still no good! Maybe we just got a bummer batch, but - yuck!

I'm sticking with Rolos for next year!