Caramel Cream Cheese Torte with Chocolate Ganache

How was everybody’s Easter weekend?  Hope it was wonderful.  Ours was great.  Busy.  Crazy busy.  But great.

Starting with Friday, we had a service at our church, and a potluck, followed by a small group gathering for me and the boys that evening while hubby went to a wedding rehearsal.  Saturday was weekly breakfast at my mom’s, the actual wedding (his aunt’s – congrats guys!), and a wonderful walk with a friend.  Sunday – Church and Easter dinner.  Monday – Another Easter dinner and movie night with my guy!  It really was great.  I probably ate myself into a food coma a few times, but it was wonderful.  Lots of family and friends involved.

{My grandmother holding Jude at Easter dinner.  My boys make her face light up – it’s so wonderful.}

We got some wonderful pictures of the boys too.  Cael did his first egg hunt on Sunday, and it was so fun to watch him!

Cael in his digs for the Sunday service.

As I said, lots of food was involved this weekend.  Both being made and consumed.  My job for the Sunday dinner, was dessert and corn.  Corn’s pretty easy, so I’ll spare those details.  But I thought you might want to know about the dessert.  I’ve been on a shortbread kick lately.  And I’m almost always on a chocolate kick.  Throw some caramel and cream cheese in there, and VOILA!  A great (calorie-free… ahem*) dessert!

Caramel Cream Cheese Torte with Chocolate Ganache

Shortbread Base

1 cup butter, softened

2 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

Mix it all together until it’s nice and crumbly and pat into a 9-inch pie plate.  Bake for about 15 minutes at 350F.  The edges should be turning a lovely light brown colour.  Like the perfect marshmallow over a campfire…  (Can you tell I’m really wanting summer to get on with it?)  Let it cool!

Chocolate Ganache

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

2/3 cup cream (either 10% or 18% work)

1 tbsp margarine

Now, you can do this on a double boiler if that’s your cup of tea.  But mine tends to be the microwave.  Mostly because growing up we didn’t have a double boiler…  So!  Heat until the margarine is melted and it’s getting smooth.  Make sure not to burn the chocolate.  Just do it in intervals and stir in,between.  Let this cool.

Caramel Cream Cheese Layer

1 pkg cream cheese

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 cup caramel sauce (like Smuker’s or similar)

Beat the cream cheese until smooth, in the same bowl you made the ganache if you want…  a little extra chocolate never hurt anyone.  Like this:

Add sugar and sauce.  Spread over cooled shortbread layer.  Top with cooled ganache.  Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.  2 hours is better.  I only found this out because I was finishing it only minutes before going to dinner.  Thank goodness people take awhile to eat their main meal, and for room in an already stuffed fridge!

Hope you all enjoy!  It really was divine.  Lots of compliments at our dinner, anyhow.

Here’s a Jude moment to make your day better – doesn’t he have a great smile?  Infectious even!?

Part of the Tuesday Talent Show at Chef in Training, and Work it Wednesday at High Heels and Grills

PanCAKE

So the past weekend was slightly insane (which seems to be the norm around here…).  It seemed like go, go, go.  But I think it was mostly my emotions being taken on a hormonal rollercoaster ride.   (ie.- I found out for sure that I’m having another baby!)  So now you know!  :)

But truly, it was a busy weekend.  My poor mother fed me and mine 3 times in the run of the weekend, and we had 2 BBQs, so I didn’t do a whole lot of cooking.  I was in charge of dessert for both BBQs, and somehow managed to ruin both of them.  I saved them, but man…  It wasn’t a weekend for baking for me (apparently!).  Other than the meals, we went for a date on Friday, then we made a small [1 hour both ways] road trip to Costco on Sunday.  Yesterday was fairly calm.  We took Cael to the duck pond, which was fun (and sunny, which was wonderful).  And I decided to paint out a closet in our house to convert it to a bookcase.

And then there was this week…  It was just a right off.  Between being tired and nauseous (thanks to pregnancy…) and just getting the regular day-to-day stuff accomplished, let’s just say I didn’t feel overly motivated.  Anyhow!  My motivation has returned (at least for the moment) so here goes!

Found this one on Pinterest.  Loved it.  Who wouldn’t love chocolate pancakes piled on top of each other with whipped cream in between?  It’s a MUST love.  And the chocolate pancakes are great by themselves too…  (I may have possibly messed up the first few and eaten them… may have…)

Chocolate Pancake Cake

Recipe found on ZoomYummy.com  (it has been VERY slightly modified by me)

1 1/4 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

4 heaping Tbsp cocoa

1/2 cup white sugar

1/4 tsp salt

4 1/2 Tbsp vegetable oil

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups milk

1 cup whipping cream

4 Tbsp icing sugar

Chocolate sauce

Sliced orange for garnish (optional)

Combine vegetable oil, milk, sugar, salt, and vanilla.  Mix until combined.

Add cocoa, and stir.

Stir in flour and baking powder.  Stir until smooth.

Spray a pan with oil, (or if you don’t use spray oil, just put some oil in…).  Heat it up, and add about 1/2 cup of the batter to the pan.  I found that if you put any less than that, it was a real battle to flip the pancake without a disaster occurring.

Cook until bubbles start to form, then flip.  Once it is done (both sides should be dry, and not look batter-y), continue the same with the rest of the batter.

Let your pancakes cool, completely.

While you’re waiting, beat together whipping cream and icing sugar.  Beat until firm peaks form.

To put the cake together, simply layer pancakes and whipped cream.  If you aren’t serving it right away, keep it in the fridge.  I would wait until right before you serve the cake to drizzle the chocolate syrup and add the garnish.  (That way it looks more fresh, less mess.)

Thanks ZoomYummy for the great recipe!

I would highly advise you make this – it is super yummy.  And not too heavy either.  You could even have it for breakfast!  (Pancakes!!)

Hope you enjoy.  Have a great rest-o-the-weekend!

What’s your favourite thing to do when the weather starts to warm up?

Happy Birthday Daddyo!

I had a great weekend.  I know this post is late in coming, but I have been feeling slightly exhausted…  So that’s my excuse.  There you have it folks, Kayleigh is exhausted.  But getting better.  :)

Back to my weekend.  My parents went away for the night on Friday, so I was going to keep my youngest brother for the night.  I had the [brilliant!] idea of inviting his best friend over, and her little sister ended up joining us too.  So I actually had some female company for once, and we weren’t outnumbered, which was really weird, but great.

This is our story.  Friday night, we had s’mores on my new fire pit thing (that my wonderful parents-in-law bought me for my birthday) – the kids loved it.  And I LOVED watching them have fun.  They snuggled up on the driveway with blankets and roasted marshmallows and stuffed their faces.

Then we came inside and they snuggled in to watch ‘The Quest for Camelot’ (my most favourite movie ever).

Then came bedtime (midnight).  (One of my other brothers decided to crash here that night too (he was in for it… keep reading, haha)).  One slept on a couch, two on the floor, and my brother took the other couch.  I didn’t hear them at all until 7 the next morning (I got to sleep in!!).  However, my brother wasn’t quite so lucky.  Apparently, they had been awake since 5:30.

Anyhow, I got them settled into another movie (Robin Hood) and they enjoyed some ‘baby tea’** while I started cleaning up and getting ready for breakfast.   After the movie, breakfast still wasn’t ready, so they took some chalk to the driveway and coloured it up.

**Baby tea is really milked down, sugared up tea.  About 1 tsp sugar, 1/4 cup tea and fill to the top with milk.  Kids love it, and get to feel ‘grown up’ too.

Breakfast menu – Homemade waffles with strawberries and whipped cream, smoothies and perked coffee (for those old enough to have it).  Breakfast went great.

The youngest girl told me that ‘You make the best waffles ever!’  Then she thought about it for another minute, and decided she’d better not say that, so she changed to, ‘You make the second best waffles ever (after Mommy)’.

I thought it was pretty cute.  After breakfast, we went for a walk, and then made cards for my Dad for his birthday.  Then their mom came and picked them up, and I had to get started on my dad’s birthday supper and cake!  Whew.  What a day.

So – my father had a birthday and I want to share his cake with you!

He requested a Hershey recipe that he loves to make (and eat too, apparently!).

The link to the recipe is here.  I’ll type it out for you too though.  I did make a few changes to the buttercream icing, so I’ll give you my version of that.  :)  Hope you enjoy!  The icing is amazing – just to warn you.

Oh oh oh!  And I used my Kitchen Aid Mixer for the first time ever!  It was really awesome.  I can’t wait to use it again.  I know, I know, you’re probably asking yourselves why I haven’t used it before.  Well, I am slightly old school, and a tad lazy.  Old school:  I tend to use a wooden spoon or a hand mixer for a lot of things (but I just couldn’t for cake, it needed a REAL tool).  And lazy:  I just didn’t want to drag the mixer over to my counter (it won’t reach the plug in my under-sized kitchen) and then have to clean all the parts…  *sigh.  But it was totally worth it.

Hershey’s Deep Dark Chocolate Cake

2 cups sugar

1 3/4 cup flour

3/4 cup cocoa

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 tsp vanilla

1 cup boiling water

I’ll give you my directions, as I make things differently than most recipes tell you to…  I just can’t follow directions!

Preheat oven to 350F.  Cream together sugar and vegetable oil.  Add eggs, vanilla, and salt, and beat well.  Add cocoa and boiling water.  Mix until combined.  Mix in milk.  Add flour, baking powder, and baking soda, and stir until smooth.

Pour into two 9×9 cake pans that have been greased and floured.  Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Let them cool for about 10 minutes, and then take them out of the pans and cool them on wire racks.  Frost with One Bowl Chocolate Buttercream Icing.

One Bowl Chocolate Buttercream Icing

1/2 cup margarine, softened

2 2/3 cups icing sugar

3/4 cup cocoa

1/3 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

Beat butter until smooth.  Add the rest of the ingredients, and beat until smooth.  If it’s too runny, add more icing sugar, and if it’s too thick, add some more milk!  Easy as that.  Now frost that cake.

It’s sooo good.  I hope you really like it.  And I’d use the icing on just about any recipe that you need chocolate icing for – it’s super good.

Happy birthday Daddyo!

What kind of cake is your absolute fave?

Happy Birthday To MEEE!

So, it was my birthday yesterday, and I had a request for a birthday post.  I do realize that it’s not my birthday today, so technically, this is the day-after-my-birthday post.  But I warned her that I would probably be late in doing this…  I enjoyed every second of my birthday doing other things.  :)

{I think Cael had a good day too.}

I’m getting on in my journey towards 30, which is pretty crazy.  I had decided a long time ago, that I really wanted to reach 20, but after that, I would just stay 20 forever.  So let’s just say I’m 20.  And I’ll say that forever.  Sounds pretty good to me.  What do you think?  Will it work?  Will it have staying power?

Aging is not actually something that bothers me.  I love getting older.  And I think I always will.  It means that I’ve made it through another year.  And this past year was pretty exciting.  I had my first baby [EVER!], and we bought our first house.  I’d say that’s a fairly productive year (if you were going to ask me what I thought…).

So to my birthday!  It was awesome!  I always feel let-down by birthday (well, not always, but sometimes).  Because you wait for them all year, and then they’re not entirely awesome, and then it’s a day gone and you have to wait 365 more days until the next one.  But yesterday when I woke up, I decided that I was going to make it a good day.  It’s all about how you think, and how your heart is.  Wake up with a prayer and sunshine outside your window, and I’d say it’s going to be a pretty good day.  I got an awesome hug from my hubby first thing, and then went to my mother’s house for a shower!  For those who don’t know, we don’t have a shower at our new house, so this was a really great thing.

Then, I made the frosting and filling for my birthday cake!  Mom had already made the chocolate cake.  I made myself a hot chocolate, and helped myself to lots of the chocolate cream cheese frosting.  Then I had my dad’s amazing chili for lunch, and Cael, Mom, and I walked back to my house, stopping to visit my grandparents along the way.

Keep reading, the awesome continues.

{Don’t you love the scarf?!  It was a gift from an amazing family.}

After I put Cael down for a nap, I was going to go outside to clean up a garbage mess that some rambunctious raccoons had made through the night.  BUT, on my way down the driveway, an amazing family came barreling up in their minivan. With tidings of the best coffee ever, homemade birthday cards and origami, a present AND cookies.  Like, the best day ever, right?

Over coffee and cookies, we hung out and talked for quite awhile.  Eventually, I lost track of a few of the boys in the family, and they came in my door bearing a bag with all of the garbage!  They picked it up for me!  Yay!  So happy at this point.

Soon came suppertime at my parent’s house, with all my family, and a friend.  Do you know what the best dinner ever is (in my books)?  It consists of BBQ chicken, BBQ potato slices, vegetables, Greek salad, corn bread, and butternut squash.

{Dad makes these – my Grampie’s recipe.  Don’t they look awesome?  And my crazy little bro… haha}

Followed by my favourite cake EVER.  Let me describe this cake to you.  This chocolate cake recipe, made into three layers.  The layers are filled with whipped cream, and then the whole cake is iced with chocolate cream cheese icing.  Pretty close to perfect.  Mind you, the cake never stands up quite straight, but that does nothing to how wonderful it tastes.

Then, there were presents.  Enough said.

Around 9 o’clock, I convinced my hubby to watch a chick flick with me.  Flicked through Netflix, and chose Vanity Fair.  I must say, it was pretty good.  He was bored, but oh well.  My birthday, right?  ;)  (Thanks babe for watching it with me.)

So there you have it.  That is most of my birthday summed up in, well…  I guess it wasn’t really summed up.  Quite detailed actually.  Oh well.

Here’s the recipe for the cake!

Cream Cheese Trifle Cake

One chocolate cake, made into three layers

Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing (recipe follows)

Whipped Cream Filling (recipe follows)

Place first cake layer on a plate, top with whipped cream.  Repeat for next layer.  After you’ve placed your third layer on, coat the entire cake with the chocolate cream cheese icing.  The more you can slap on, the better.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing

1 pkg cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup margarine, softened

2 tsp vanilla extract

3 heaping Tbsp cocoa

3 cups icing sugar

Cream the cream cheese, margarine, and vanilla together.  Add cocoa and sugar, and beat until smooth.  Frost that cake!

Whipped Cream Filling

1 1/2 cups whipping cream

1/2 cup icing sugar

Whip together until firm peaks appear.  Fill that cake!  Do it.

Enjoy.  It’s really the best thing since sliced toast bread.  (That actually went through my brain, I had to write it.  Toast is completely different from bread, right?)

30 Day Challenge

Day 4 – Your views on religion

Religion, as such, is not something I believe in.  Religion is performing acts to achieve a purpose, normally eternal peace, life, etc.  Works does not get you these things.  Obedience does not get you these things.  The sole way to salvation is through Christ Jesus; believing in Him, that He died for you, that you’re a sinner and he can reconcile that.

“I am the way the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me”  John 14:6

He is the only way.  You can never work your way into heaven.  There is no possible way we can be good enough on our own.  Only through Christ’s death and His covering of our sins, can we come to God.

Spring Cupcakes

So, the title of this should really be – How to make a disastrous mess.  Because I did.

Man, did I ever.

And of course, who should come home to catch me red-handed in messiness?  But my hubby.

‘WHAT are you DOING?  Why don’t you put a tray underneath, so that you don’t make such a mess on the counter?’

It’s a good question really.  And the only real, true answer is…  I’m stubborn.  There you have it folks, I confess; stubborn to the bone.

You see, I tried a new icing recipe.  I’m constantly using our ‘Buttercream’ Icing recipe.  I use that about 90% of the time. So I thought I’d mix things up.  I used a royal icing.  And instead of following the recipe (as usual…) I made a few changes.  Which resulted in a runny mess of icing.  If it calls for meringue powder, use it.  Just saying.  Anyhow.  This is what I used for icing.  It worked in a sense, but not at all how I had envisioned them to be.

Royal Icing

4 cups icing sugar

2 egg whites

Water

Food colouring

Blend together the egg whites and icing sugar.  Add enough water to make the icing come together.  It should be slightly runny, but not overly runny (ie – more like molasses than oil).  Divide icing into bowls, and add food colouring, as desired.

For my cupcakes, I used this chocolate cake recipe.  It made about 2 1/2 dozen regular-sized cupcakes.

I dyed the icing four different ‘springy’ colours.  Then I bagged them (be careful if your icing is runny – it’ll run right out of the bags – no squeezing required!).  To achieve the tye-dye look, I put a circle of one colour (a 1-inch circle, filled in) on top of the cupcake.  Then I squeezed 2 or 3 other colours on top, and just let it run down the cupcakes, to create the effect.

If you’re smart, you’ll listen to hubby and put a tray underneath the cupcakes BEFORE you frost them.  But if you don’t, hey, that’s cool too.  

Cael thinks they’re pretty good…

30 Day Challenge 

Day 2 – Where you’d like to be in 10 years.

Okay, so it’s most definitely time for day two of the 30 Day Challenge.  This one will be a tad more difficult than the last one… but here goes!

Realize that these are dreams, and I realized that some of them may be slightly far out…

In 1o years, I’ll be in my thirties…  man, that sounds old.  I will still be happily married, my little boy will be in the double digits, and he’ll probably have 2 or  3 (or 4?) little brothers and sisters.  We’ll be living in our house (made by us), which will have an amazingly big shower, and a kitchen with lots of counter space.  I will bake for my kids, and they’ll learn to bake with Mommy too, and love doing it (and I’ll have learned patience…  hopefully).  I’ll own a business, and bake for pay.  Yes, those are the dreams.

Where will you be in 10 years?

Velvet… {Cake}?

When I think of velvet, I think of really uncomfortable dresses.  I’m not sure why, something from my youth triggers it, but I just can’t remember what exactly.  Anyhow.  When I put that velvet picture in my head and add the words ‘red’ and ‘cake’…..  Well, it just doesn’t seem quite right.  Downright awful actually.  But, I was wrong.  There.  I’ll admit it [for once].  I.  Was.  Wrong.

A friend asked me the other day what was so big about ‘Red Velvet Cake’.  I responded that I wasn’t sure, but I didn’t think it was anything too crazy.  So, I proceeded to look them up (I had before, but hadn’t looked at it too hard…).  Anyway, it wasn’t anything too crazy, so I thought I’d give it a try.  I found a recipe on Bakerella, but I tweaked it a tad, and made it into cupcakes instead of just a regular cake.

Red Velvet Cupcakes  (adapted from Bakerella)

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups sugar

1 Tbsp cocoa, heaping

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

2 eggs

1 cup canola oil

1 cup milk

1 Tbsp vinegar

1 tsp vanilla

2 tsp red food colouring

Preheat oven to 350.  Pour milk and vinegar into a measuring cup, set aside for 10 minutes.  Line cupcake pans with liners.

Whisk eggs lightly.  Add remaining liquids and whisk until blended.  Stir in cocoa and sugar.  Add flour, salt, and baking soda.  Mix until smooth.  Pour into cupcake pans.  Bake for 20 minutes (or until tester inserted in middle comes out clean).

Makes 18 cupcakes.

Anyhow.  It was kind of a busy day making these.  I had two younger brothers to feed, and a baby who just loves attention.  But!  I prevailed, and they turned out pretty good I must say.

After I had delivered my cupcakes to my friend (who had mentioned them to me), I got home to less cupcakes than were there when I left.  Turns out they were too good to just look at.  An additional brother landed home while we were gone and just couldn’t help himself.

{I attempted to fill the cupcakes with the boiled icing… didn’t work too well (it’s just not the right consistency – too fluffy), but it kinda worked…}

A piece of interesting factual information for you about red velvet cakes – they are called red velvet because of their colour.  (Duh, right?)  The cake turns red because of a chemical reaction between the cocoa and the buttermilk (or vinegar).  It also turns red because of added RED food colouring.  Apparently, most cocoa used to be lighter than it is now, and it turned cakes more red, but cocoa is darker now, and while it still turns slightly brown-ish red, colouring is needed for the full effect.  You can still buy the lighter cocoa though.

{Just for extra prettiness, I put an espresso candy on top with a sprinkling of cocoa.}

I also did something different for icing.  Seven minute icing.  It’s a type of boiled icing.  And it’s pretty good.  But I’d never made one like this before.  One reason I really like it, was because you don’t need to use a double boiler (which you normally do).  But, it’s not quite the same.  (Not as good as my mother-in-laws, that’s for sure!)

Seven Minute Icing (adapted from bakedbree)

1 1/2 cups sugar

2/3 cup water

Pinch cream of tartar

4 egg whites

Pinch salt

1 tsp vanilla

In a saucepan, combine sugar, water and cream of tartar.  DO NOT stir.  At all.  Okay?  Bring to a boil, and boil for about 10 minutes.  While you’re waiting for that, put the egg whites and salt in a mixer, and whisk until whites are peaking.  Pour sugar water over egg whites and beat the frosting for 7 minutes (hence the name of the icing…).  Add vanilla extract.  The icing will be really nice and fluffy.  And it will taste sooo good.

I had a LOT of icing left over from the cupcakes…  And my hubby just so happens to LOVE (that’s right folks.. another baked good he’ll actually eat) chocolate cake with boiled icing.  So.  After my cupcakes were made, iced, and delivered.  .  .  .  .  .  (it took awhile)  .  .  .  .  …….  I set out to making a chocolate cake.  (Needless to say, I didn’t get a whole lot else accomplished this day!)  I made this chocolate cake recipe and slopped ALL the rest of the icing on it.  It was pretty delicious.

Notice I [attempted] to pipe the icing onto the cupcakes…  it didn’t work so amazingly well.  Boiled icing isn’t quite the right consistency… but it worked.  Just thought I’d give a warning there.  You WILL make a mess if you attempt to do that.  I would suggest using a flat spatula, and smoothing it on instead (as I did on my cake).

Anyhow.  There was my greatest adventure for the week.  (Notice I said week, not weekend.  I had quite the spree on the weekend, but we’ll talk about that later, when it’s not so fresh on my mind.)

Ever tried a red velvet cake before?  

Cake=Gateau

So, it’s been a bit longer since my last post.  I’d really like to be able to post every day, but I just can never find time.  Ever wish there were a few extra hours in a day?  I’d love 3 or 4 extra hours.  You know what I’d do?  Bake, sew, knit, scrapbook… and READ.  I love to read.  In fact, I just finished (I couldn’t put it down… it only took me a few days) the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.  I read the first one in the series, and it was SO good.  I can’t wait to read the next two.  However, I’m in the middle of 2 or 3 other books, so I’d better wait.  It’s just so hard though!  I. Want. To. Read. The. Next. Book.      SO.      BAD!

Anyways, a few weeks ago, I posted a few cake posts.  Check out my KitKat birthday cake, and my rose birthday cake.  Since then, I’ve made another cake.  This one was a character cake for my hubby’s birthday.  He turned 22!  Old eh?  ;)  Happy Birthday Babe!

It just so happens that he likes to play Super Smash Brothers with my younger brothers.  And I just so happened to have a Mario cake pan.  Therefore…. well, you know what happened…

Tada!  Super Mario!

Now, you can tell who he is here… right?  But when I first started, it was kind of scary.  First of all, how could this possibly be Mario?

But, after much time, effort [and frustration]… hemhem… Mario came to life.  My mother came to me when it was done and said, ‘So, it is Kirby?’  Which it most obviously is not.  But she enjoyed the exasperated look on my face, I’m sure.

After the cake was done, I made icing for it, and dyed it the colours I needed (Warning:red is HARD to achieve).  Then I coated the cake with a layer of white icing.  I then outlined my Mario and started to fill him in.  There are a LOT of little stars of icing on this guy!

I have to tell you though, the hardest part of this whole cake experience was cutting into it.  All the work…  Eaten.   At least it tasted good.  :)

Cael enjoyed it too.  He loves EVERYTHING.

Back to cakes – I have done other cakes as well, and I’ll share those with you some day soon.  There are always so many things that I want to try and share with you, but again – never enough time.  Those who live close to me – need anything baked – call me.  I’d love to help you out (my dream is to bake for a living – wouldn’t that be great?).

By the way, any suggestions, questions, etc – please let me know!  Thanks for reading!  Hope you enjoyed!

Peanut Butter Calvin

So surprisingly, I’m going to post again.  For my THIRD time in 2 weeks!  Wohoo.  I’m on a roll.

Does anybody else have a love for Calvin and Hobbes?  I sure do.  Growing up with all brothers greatly aids my appreciation of them.  For instance, this cartoon fits all of my brothers at about age 8 (which is how old my youngest brother is at the moment).

My youngest little bro was reading to Cael the other day.  It was so sweet, I just had to catch a few shots of them.

It was Cael’s first time to read Calvin.  He really seemed to enjoy it.  Well, he tried to eat the book anyway.

Pretty cute, eh?

So, now that we’ve covered Calvin, let’s get to the peanut butter part of this post.

I have this addiction, my husband shares it.  It’s called…  Peanut butter and chocolate.  It has got to be one of the BEST combinations ever thought up.  Somehow, there are those who don’t enjoy this mix, but I call them crazy and deprived.

My hubby isn’t into many of my baked goods, but these squares I’m about to share with you….  Let’s just say he’s more than into them, he’s all over them!  These things are so simple to make to – no bake.  And delectable.  Company always asks for more and the recipe too.  Simple and delicious.  What more could you ask for in a dessert?  Except for maybe a chocolate-peanut butter combo…  But wait!  It’s got that too!

This recipe is also a family recipe, thanks to my aunt.  :)

Reeses Pieces Squares

Bottom:

1 1/4 cup graham crackers

3/4 cup margarine (softened)

1 tsp vanilla

3  cups icing sugar

1 cup peanut butter (I use smooth, but crunchy could definitely work as well!)

Simply mix it all together and pat into an ungreased 9×9 pan.

Then, you make the top…

1 1/2 cup chocolate chips (we use semi-sweet)

2 tsp water

Reeses pieces candy, crushed

Melt the chocolate chips and water in the microwave.  Stir until smooth.  sprinkle with crushed candy pieces.  And… Tada!

So, craving yet?  I sure am…  My hubby is too apparently.  He’s looking over my shoulder while I’m writing this and asked if there were any left.  :)  There is something to say about baking for your husband and him enjoying it.

Hope you enjoy those squares!  They are pretty darn good if I do say so myself.  PB and chocolate anyone?

Let Them Eat Cake!

Sorry it’s been too long again.  I know I keep saying that and not doing anything about it.  But hey, life is busy, baby boys don’t just stop when I want to bake or do a post.  (However, he is down right now….  And I did find time to bake this…)

How was Valentine’s Day?  We had a fairly normal day.  I got FOOD for Valentine’s.  It was great.  Coffee ice cream, chocolates, organic vanilla yogurt and a smoothie.  Pretty close to heavenly I’d say.  I provided hubby with breakfast in bed – brown sugar french toast and coffee.  We had some friends over deseert that evening and enjoyed a German apple cake/pie thing, cupcakes, and mousse.  Each couple brought a dessert.  I made the mousse.  Did I mention it was in chocolate or peanut butter cups, also made by me?  Soooo good.  My hubby doesn’t eat a whole lot of baked goodness, but that is one dessert he’ll eat.  Sorry to say I didn’t get any photos of those desserts, but I’m sure I’ll get around to doing it another day.

Did I mention that this is our ….  7th Valentine’s day together?  (I think… I’m starting to lose count…)  But only our second married.  It’s been great.

It’s still winter!  But it has been wonderfully warm and sunny out the past 2 days, it almost feels like spring!  And spring IS coming, which is amazing.  I cannot believe how fast this year is going!  Me and the baby went for a walk yesterday with another mom and baby and had a blast.  It was a great almost 2 hour walk.  The awesome thing about walking with someone else is you don’t even notice how long you’ve been walking because you are so preoccupied with what women do best…  Talking!  So encouraging to talk to other ladies, especially when you can relate to them and share a faith with them.

Anyways!  February had two busy weeks in it for me and mine.  And it includes a lot of cake-eating and baking.  My mother’s, aunt’s and husband’s birthdays.  Plus, Valentine’s Day.  AND, we had company over last week one day for lunch, and made a cake-type thing for dessert that day as well.  I am a fan of cakes.  But truly, it’s not the cake that I look forward to eating the most.  It’s most certainly the icing.  I.  LOVE.  Icing.  When I slice my cake, I make sure to scrape that little bit of icing that stays on the platter off of that platter and onto my plate.  My mother on the other hand, will scrape any of what she calls, ‘excess’ (I NEVER have had ANY excess icing!) icing and I normally will inform her that she’s wasting and proceed in transferring it from her plate to my cake.  Did I mention that I love icing??

Mom got a very, very chocolate cake on her birthday.  I was on Pinterest, and discovered some pictures of this cake.  You use a chocolate cake, frost it, and then stick KitKat bars the whole way around.  Mom’s favourite chocolate bar just so happens to be the KitKat bar.  Therefore, I knew I just had to make this cake.

I used our traditional, family chocolate cake recipe and made some chocolate icing to frost the cake.  Then I used 8 KitKat bars for around the sides.  I wasn’t sure what to put on the top, but I found some Rocket candies, and some SweetHearts.  It looked really pretty.  :)

Tanner’s Chocolate Cake 

2 cups brown sugar

1 cup canola oil

5 HEAPING Tbsp cocoa

2 eggs

2/3 cup hot water

1 cup milk

2 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking soda

Pinch salt

Preheat oven to 375.  Blend together the oil and sugar.  Add eggs, salt and vanilla.  Stir in cocoa and hot water.  Mix in 1 cup flour and baking soda.  Stir in 1 cup milk.  Add remaining flour, mix.  Stir in remaining milk.  Batter will be runny and oh, so chocolaty.  Make sure to lick the bowl out when you’re done.  Pour into 2 9′ round pans (that have been greased and floured), or a 13×9 baking dish.  Bake for 45 minutes, or until middle is set.  Cool for 15 minutes on a wire rack.  Take cakes out of pans.  Cool completely before frosting (or you will have a mess!).

Today, I’m starting a cake for a birthday celebration for my mother and aunt tomorrow.

This will be completely different from Mom’s previous cake.  Notice the light colour (not chocolate at all).  It won’t have chocolate frosting either.

This finished cake will be posted this weekend – I’m not quite sure how it will look yet, but keep checking for those pictures!

I will also be posting the cake that I previously mentioned that I made for company earlier this week.  With testimonials! (Company’s idea…)  ;)  It’s really cool.  Here’s a sneak peak:

If you are more a fan of coffee cakes, (ie – no icing, less sweet…) check out this Blueberry Cake recipe.

How was your Valentine’s Day?  How did you celebrate?  Who did you celebrate with?  

A Gripe About Cookies

Cookies are great.  There are all different sorts of cookies, drop, rolled, icebox, boxed, homemade, mixes, plus just about any flavour you can imagine.  There is cookie dough ice cream (chocolate chip AND caramel  peanut butter… oh, the joys of summer!), Christmas cookies, gingerbread houses, there’s even a cookie MONSTER!  Some are simple to make, others take awhile.  But there is one thing (maybe two…) that really bug me about cookies.

First and foremost:  When homemade cookies try to be perfectly circular.  Don’t even.  They’re homemade – that means they should have some character and at least try to look homemade.

Secondly:  2 hours old cookies.  I said I love cookies.  But I’d much rather bake them and eat the dough, than eat the cookies themselves, especially if they’re not right out of the oven.  But that’s just me.  I know lots of people who absolutely adore cookies – any kind, anytime, anywhere.  I made 6 dozen cookies in two days, and they were almost completely gone the third day (of course, that is in a household with 6 males…).

There are a few kinds that I love though.  Just a few.  :)  Oatmeal raisin.  Now, people say these are grandmother cookies (namely my hubby), but they have GOT to be the best cookies out there – especially right out of the oven.  Molasses.  My father and our pastor’s wife both make different kinds of molasses  cookies, one type is really soft and the others really chewy, but they. are. both. SO. good!  Drop shortbread.  These are normally Christmas cookies in my house.  They’re oh-so very buttery and we put gumdrops on top (but I take those off and let my mother eat them (gumdrops are gross) haha).  These are probably the only cookie that I could eat dozens of, whether they’re just out of the oven, or days old.  The last one on my favourites list:  Date.  Oh-so-good.  Oatmeal cookies with cooked dates in the middle.  These things looked and tasted absolutely gross to me until I was about 16, but man!  Now they are soooo good!  And – peanut butter cookies.  Yum.  I’ll cook all of these up sometime soon  (and more) and share with you.  But for now, how about some Double Chocolate Chip cookies?

DOUBLE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

1 cup shortening or softened margarine

1/2 cup each brown and white sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 pkg instant chocolate pudding

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cup chocolate chips (or 1 bag)

Preheat oven to 350.  Cream together the margarine and sugars.  Add eggs and vanilla and mix.  Add pudding, flour, soda, and salt.  Mix until smooth.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Drop onto ungreased baking sheets and bake for 10-12 minutes (i do 11, but that’s just our oven…).   Let cool for a few minutes on sheets, then transfer onto a wire rack.  Enjoy with a glass of milk!

Oh cookies…  I absolutely love making them.  They’re great to give away too.  My favourite baking style for these tasty rounds has got to be drops.  They’re so much quicker than rolling, etc.  You have GOT to try out our chocolate chip cookie recipe, and my oatmeal, butterscotch, skor!  They’re on their way to this blog…  sometime soon!

What’s you favourite cookie?  Have any similar (or dissimilar) gripes?