Campfire Chic Bites

I created these for a Girl Scout bridging I have coming up this year. It didn't go quite as planned... How do you make these?

Easy!

Step 1: Screw up this recipe:

http://www.marthastewart.com/332838/chocolate-graham-cracker-cupcakes-with-t

Step 2:

Try to make cupcake balls and fail.

Step 3:

Put disaster on aluminum foil and add the word "chic" to the title to make it look like you meant to do that.

Playing along with Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom .

Valentines Cookies

My youngest worked hard putting her Valentines together for her classroom to celebrate the day. She is such a chip off the old block:-)

Playing along with Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom .

The Yummiest Place on Earth

This may look like a very unassuming place but...

...it created these wonders of Epcot:

The Napoleon was the best thing on the planet!! It has the dreamiest French pastry cream nestled in between the crispest and flakiest puffed pastry you have every had. It was kind of messy and hard to eat but it was worth it. It was literally heaven on a fork!

And of course, no trip to France is complete without a French Chocolate Mousse:-)

So, I indulged...twice. And now, I  have to tackle the 3 pounds I gained but every step on the tredmill was worth it! That IS how you do it:-)

Playing along with Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom .

Sugar Cookie Pumpkins

I relapsed this weekend but before I got sick again, I made these cute Sugar Cookie Pumpkins for my youngest's classroom party:

And, in order to keep on track with my new lease on life, I am making sure that there is always one dessert in the house. That way, we aren't jonesing for sweets. We have our reward for doing good at the end of the day:-) I made a few extra of these and without the embellishments, it is actually not that bad for you: One cookie is 133 calories and 6 grams of fat. Everything in moderation.

As for my health, I am still being tackled by my hormones. They are making me very sick and I have to be on them for another month until they can implement a permanent solution to my problem. So, send me all your positive energy. I am going to need all the help that I can get!


Playing along with Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom .

Daisy Cupcakes

I made 100 of these last week: 29 went to the Milwaukee Children's Choir for their Roots and Wings festival. We could attend so, I thought the least I could do was bake. The rest went to a service area Girl Scout Learn It Earn It event. Our troop just completed our Daisy Flower Garden journey so, I thought it would be appropriate to "plant" them in ground up Oreo cookies in a small planter a la last year's Iron Cupcake: Milwaukee Cheese challenge:-) I hope that all were very well received:-) Playing along with Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom .

Pro/Am Cupcake Clash!

Oh my gosh you guys!! This challenge was Iron Cupcake: Milwaukee on crack!!! 2000 people came through the doors this Sunday to sample the best that Milwaukee has to offer in "Perfect Pair" cupcakes. I mean, look at this crowd!!!



Of course, I was there with my submission: Titanic Cupcakes:

When I first heard the theme of Perfect Pairs, this idea of doing the love story from the movie hit me like a ton of bricks. I wasn't going to do the challenge. After all, it was 500 cupcakes. That's a lot of work. But, when I woke up in the middle of the night thinking about telling the story in cupcakes on a 6-foot boat display, I knew I had to do it. So Sunday was my exorcism of this idea.

The story of Jack and Rose was the center of my theme. Jack was represented in Cracker Jack Cupcakes:

These were peanut butter cheesecake on a popcorn crust with caramel topping and garnished with a single piece of popcorn.

And Rose was Heart of the Ocean Cupcakes:

They were blue velvet cupcakes with sea foam frosting.

I didn't win but, I did get to meet Duff Goldman from Ace of Cakes:

A HUGE thank-you going out to Sandy Ploy who put this enormous event! This is definitely one to remember:-)

It is definitely a happy Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom !

Birthday Bowling Cake

This weekend, I tackled a birthday cake for my youngest. Her party was at a bowling alley so of course, I had to attempt a bowling ball and pin cakes.


These were my first carved cakes so, they are very rough. If I was doing these for a paying customer, I would have redone them. But, the kids didn't mind the horrible work:-)

It is definitely a happy Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom !

Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

There is nothing wrong with that title:-)

It is definitely a happy Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom !

Ladies' Night Cookies

Welcome new readers from Ladies' Night. I hope you enjoy looking around and if you see anything you like, email me at sewing@wi.rr.com for a custom order:-)

For my regular readers, I was asked to make these cookies for a Ladies' Night event last night. I just made sugar cookies, dipped them in chocolate and topped them with a chocolate transfer. Chocolate transfers are designs that are made in coco powder and put on acetate sheets. When you put them on melted chocolate and peel away the sheet, it transfers the design...hence the name:-) Anyway, here is what I came up with:

White Chocolate Floral

White Chocolate Purple Shells

White Chocolate Rose

Chocolate Lace

Chocolate Damask

White Chocolate Blue Lace

Happy Wordless Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Mom and Wordful Wednesday on parenting By dummies!

These Are NOT Mine!

I tackled a vacation at the Kalahari Resort on Thanksgiving. It houses the biggest indoor waterpark in the country. It was a blast but it was also delicious. They have this wonderful little Sweet Hut and look at what I bought there:

How cute are those?? Happy Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom !

Tackling Baking

It's time for Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom . This weekend, like most of us, I tackled Halloween. And now, moving forward, I have all kinds of baking to tackle for the holidays coming up. Here we go kids...it is going to be a bumpy ride until New Year's:-)

Tackling Bone Soup

It's time for Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom . Last week, I volunteered to bring treats to the costume party at school. Of course:-) This is what I came up with:

I was inspired by Cookies and Cups' skeleton cupcakes. Mine didn't come out nearly as good as hers but I was happy with my presentation:-)

Tackling Apples

It's time for Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom . My MiL brought me a bushel of apples from the apple orchard. So, I spent the weekend tackling this...

...into this...

...which in turn became this:

An Apple Pie Sundae!! Vanilla ice cream with apple pie filling syrup topped with whipped cream and garnished with peanuts and Poor Man Cookie:-)

Tackling Back to School Cookies

It's time for Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom . This week, I tackled making some cookies for our wonderful teachers. Every year, the PTO throws the teachers a back-to-school luncheon. Here is my contribution to the event:

How fun is this box of crayons full of sugar cookies? Unfortunately, I had to drop and go so, I don't know how they were received. I hope they all liked it as much as I did making it. Thanks Hubby for making the box:-) You rock!

Tackling Candy Cupcakes Rerun

It's time for Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom and I am tackling Hoosier Homemade's Cupcake Challenge:-) This week, the challenge is Candy Cupcakes. It just so happens that back in May, I had an Iron Cupcake: Milwaukee Candy Challenge. Here was my entry:

They were Funfetti cupcakes with peppermint frosting and sugar cookie playing pieces. I did six of the characters in full size cupcakes:

Plumpy

Mr. Mint

Grandma Nut

Princess Lolly

Queen Frosting

King Candy

Tackling Cake Mix Cupcakes

It's time for Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom and I am tackling Hoosier Homemade's Cupcake Challenge:-) This week, the challenge is Cake Mix Cupcakes. My dirty little secret is that A LOT of my cupcakes are from a box. I am very semi-homemade that way. Here are just a few that I used for ICM competitions:

1. Calatrava Cupcakes: White cupcakes embellished with a chocolate sculpture to look like Milwaukee's Calatrava.


2. Santa's Bag: a cherry red velvet cupcake with white peppermint "fringe", a cherry licorice tie and white chocolate gifts.

3. Mocha Ganache Cupcakes: chocolate cupcakes with a mocha ganache glaze. I made the mocha ganache by steeping the coffee right in heavy cream. Then, I took the hot cream to make the ganache. Oh my...they had a really, really strong coffee flavor!! But, that was the jist:-)

4. Taste the Passion Cupcakes: white cupcakes drenched in passion fruit syrup filled with passion fruit curd topped with dark chocolate ganach. The passion fruit really pairs nicely with good quality dark chocolate.


5. Wine on the Vine Cupcake Pops: I took a page from Bakerella and made my submission into cupcake pops. These are Pinot Noir chocolate cupcakes mixed with Pinot Noir buttercream dipped in white chocolate. I built the pops around a styrofoam form to make them into a bunch of grapes.

So, I guess my point is that you can take a "plain old box" of cupcake mix and turn it into something really, really specical:-)

Tackling Summer Past Time Cupackes

It's time for Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom and I am tackling Hoosier Homemade's Cupcake Challenge:-) This week, the challenge is Summertime Past Time. I immediately thought of some darling cupcakes I made a couple years ago. Here is the rerun:-)

In the neighborhood I grew up in, the weekend after the 4th of July is always South Shore Frolic time. Everyone gathers at the lakefront for food, music and fun and a great parade. It was always one of my favorite parts of growing up on the southside of Milwaukee. Since my brother owns the house we grew up in, I am still able to partake in the festivities.

Of course, I usually offer to bring the desserts. Thanks so much Bakerella for the idea for these guys. They were a HUGE hit and perfect for a summertime lakefront party!

Tackling Summertime Flavor Cupcakes

It's time for Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom and I am tackling Hoosier Homemade's Cupcake Challenge:-) This week, the challenge is Summertime Flavor (make a cupcake that says summer to you). I immediately thought of the Lemon Cupcakes that I made last year for an Iron Cupcake: Milwaukee Challenge:-)

These are yellow cupcakes with lemon curd filling and lemon poured fondant in the shape of lemons inside jello to look like lemonade.

Wait...what? A cupcake in jello?

That's right! A cupcake in jello to look like a lemon in a glass of lemonade. I think it was pretty cool! Who puts cupcakes in jello? Uh...me:-)

Tackling Extreme Cupcakes

It's time for Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom and Cupcake Tuesday with Hoosier Homemade:-) Last week, I competed in the Iron Cupcake: Milwaukee Extreme Cupcake Challenge. Here was my entry:

They were:

If you can read the signs from my stellar photography, they read:

Rock You Like a Hurricane Cupcakes
Lime Cupcakes with
Passion-fruit Curd Filling
Topped with Rum Brown Sugar Meringue Frosting

Just like the hurricane cocktails they serve in New Orleans. I especially liked the frosting. The brown sugar really brought out the rum flavor; more than regular sugar:-)

The display included a boarded up window with a spinning turn-table (which was the eye of the storm), a fan under some fabric to look like waves and those battery votive candles under cotton to look like lighting. I didn't win but I sure loved creating this extreme weather and flavored cupcakes:-)

Next month...tailgating cupcakes...hmmmm....what to do....what to do?

Tackling an Anti-Birthday Cake

It's time for Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom . This weekend, I held a dinner party for a bunch of my friends who also turned 40 this year. To that regard, I thought it would be funny to make an Anti-Birthday cake:-) This is what I came up with:

I thought it was really appropriate for the ocassion:-)