Monday

This Weekends Cake Projects

GO PACKERS!!!!
I had an order for some Green Bay cupcakes for the SuperBowl. I made some in Vanilla and some in Chocolate...They turned out pretty fun. I got a fun message the next day as well (I think it helped that she was in a super good mood as the Packers did win hahah;)
 "Bryn-your cupcakes were the hit of the party! They were incredibly moist, yummy and delish, oh-and the decorations were so creative (of course!) and awesome! If your vanilla cupcake recipe isn't a secret-I want it!!!"
 Then next one was ordered for a 30th birthday party. I took some pictures with the 30 and a few without....I LOVE how this cake turned out and also got an awesome message from customer ( I love when you all love the cakes you get:)
 "Everyone loved the cake!!! Thanks so much for making it. So many people were asking who made it. I told them about your blog. Thanks again!!!!"

Valentines Tutorial


I found this tutorial which lead to this tutorial and I decided to combine both of their adorable ideas to make my own Valentines Day Wreath. All you need is a cheap plastic heart shaped plate ( I bought mine at Kroger for $0.95). 150 cupcake liners, ribbon, and lots of hot glue (it really did take quite a bit). And here is the result:

I liked mine so much I decided to have my daughter help me make 2 more (one for her teacher and one for her teachers aid...we didn't send anything in for Christmas this year because of all of the snow days so we decided to give them cute Valentines gifts instead...we put these in with some cute candles that said love and gave them to them the first week of February so they could get some use out of them) When I went to make theirs I couldn't find enough of the same liners that I had used for mine so I bought darker ones and was a little nervous since I already had the white ribbon, but I love them:


So all you do is dab a little glue into the center of your cupcake liner:

Scrunch it up at the bottom, and collect a big pile. Then put a big dab of glue in the center of your plate and start sticking them on straight up. I held onto them for a little while so they wouldn't fall right over, then added more glue around the circle of the ones I had just done and stuck more on until it was completely covered. I did have a few holes that I filled at the end. Then I attached ribbon to the back (again with hot glue), hung it on my door and tied it directly on there so I could see how long I wanted the ribbon, singed the ends of the ribbon so it wouldn't fray and glued on a cute flower I made out of the rest of my ribbon (the same style I use for my hair bows but be creative...anything would look cute here). Thats all! Super easy and cheap...just time consuming:)


Wednesday

Fall, Apple Recipes, & Cooking with Kids

 This is for all of my friends who picked a million apples at our Labor Day apple picking party.  Here are some recipes that are DELICIOUS. 

Apple Pie Filling for canning:
4 ½ cups sugar
1 cup cornstarch
2 tsp. cinnamon
¼ tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. salt
10 cups water
3 Tbs. lemon juice
10 lbs. apples ( I used 23 apples )

Combine sugar, cornstarch, spices, and salt in large pot. Mix until the cornstarch is completely mixed with the sugar. Add water. Cook and stir until thick and bubbly. Add lemon juice. Cover and set aside while preparing apples. Peel, core, and slice apples. Mix with the syrup. Pack into 7 clean, warm, quart sized jars leaving 1 inch head space.  Put your lids into boiling water and let sit for a minute. Take a paper towel and wash of the tops and sides of your jars, then put lids on your jars. Twist caps on and place in your water bath canner. Once the water is boiling set your timer for 20 min. Leave on your counter ( I put mine upside down) for 24 hours.

Most Amazing Flaky Pie Crust  (Grandma Thompson)

2 cups SIFTED flour
½ tsp salt
¾ cup + 1 overflowing Tbsp. butter flavored Crisco
4 Tbsp. cold water (I put ice and water in a cup before I start so its nice and cold)

Tips from Kyle’s adorable grandma:
  • really sift the flour, and mix with salt
  • she always uses more than ¾ cup Crisco but not quite a cup
  • it has to be butter flavored and it has to be Crisco
  • DO NOT OVER MIX I use my hands and just crumble
  • If you are using this pie crust for a top and bottom, double recipe
  • If you are using for a cream filled pie where you have to bake it first, bake at 400 degrees for 13 minutes. And to prevent big bubbles place another pie plate of the same size ontop of your crust before you put it in the oven. Check in at 11 min. and slowly take off extra pie plate.

Fresh Apple Pie:

5-6 cups sliced apples peeled and cored
Add:
½ cup +1 Tbsp. sugar
½ tsp. nutmeg
1½ tsp. cinnamon
3 Tbsp. flour
Mix and pour into pie plate

Crumbly Topping:

1 ½ sticks real butter (use REALLY cold butter and cut it up)
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
Mix with fingers until crumply and crumble over apples.

Bake pie at 350 for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Caramel Apples (these yummies are an Aunt Teri recipe….soooo good!)


Homemade Caramel:
2 sticks butter
2 cups sugar
½ c. sifted flour
2 c. light corn syrup
2 cans sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp. vanilla
White chocolate (any kind…chocolate chips or chocolate squares but not almond bark)
Cinnamon and sugar

* This makes enough for 8-10 apples but my friend Taryn discovered that the extras stay good in a container in the fridge and are delicious if you heat it up in microwave and dip apples in later.)
Before you start wash all of your apples and set on counter. Put a piece of wax paper in front of them, and get out a hot pad, a big slotted spoon, a ladle, and a fork. Open both cans of condensed milk. Pour one into a small bowl and mix with flour. Also get a cup with cold water and a spoon ready so you can test candy stage. Get a small bowl and make a mixture of cinnamon and sugar to sprinkle over the apples when they are finished.

In heavy saucepan, melt butter. Add corn syrup and sugar. Boil for 2 ½ minutes stirring CONSTANTLY! Take pan off heat and slowly add condensed milk while you are stirring constantly (if you pour it in while it is on the burner or don’t quickly stir it in you can end up with little chunks of burnt milk in your caramel so be careful at this part) Once it is all mixed in, place back on burner and stir constantly until it reaches soft-ball stage. (you can see that it gets a little bit thicker..take your spoon and put a little bt into the cup of cold water. If you can reach in and form a soft little ball with the caramel they you are finished or you can look at your thermometer and wait until it gets between 234 and 240)
Take off burner and add vanilla.
Take your pan right over to the hot pad near the apples. I like to wait about 2-3 minutes so the caramel is a little cooler/thicker but no more than 3 min. Then place an apple onto the slotted spoon, and with the ladle or measuring cup pour the caramel onto the apple. Once it is covered kind of shake it and then scrape the extra drippings from the bottom of the spoon/apple. Use the fork to scoop it off onto the waxed paper to cool. Continue with all of the other apples.

Melt white chocolate in a small bowl in microwave. Dip fork into chocolate and drizzle all over the apple…I like a lot of chocolate J. Immediately sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar mixture so that it sticks to the chocolate. Let cool on counter then you can eat them right away, but they will be a little bit sticky. After they cool I wrap them in plastic wrap and place in refrigerator! SOOOOOO YUMMY!!! Enjoy!

Apple Sauce Mix In!
   I made a few jars of regular apple sauce and then a few jars of cinnamon apple sauce….but instead of just adding cinnamon I did Kyle’s moms yummy trick which the kids had a lot of fun with. While the applesauce was still hot we dumped in some Red Hot candies and stirred them around. The kids loved watching it change from yellow to a pretty red, and I love how it tastesJ



And our last apple project was a fun one! When you have kids helping you pick apples you sometimes end up with a few (or a lot) of apples that are bruised or just not so yummy looking….so we decided to used those for an art project! We got a box, aprons, and some paint, then I sliced two apples in half so the girls each had 2 circles to stamp, Then took one apple and sliced it in half and used a star cookie cutter to press into the apple (see picture) either pull away extra apple while the cutter is still in place, or use a knife to cut it away. I did the same thing with a heart shape. The kids had a blast stamping circles, stars and hearts into paint.  And there you have it