When in doubt, smile.

Defrosted frozen cupcakes taste just like fresh baked cupcakes!!! You heard me right, bake up a batch tonight!! The top was perfect, not sticky at all, just like the one I ate on Monday night (fresh baked).

Updating [this post] I did not flash freeze them, all I did was let them cool completely, then wrapped them in 2 layers of plastic wrap, then put a bunch of them in a gallon freezer bag. So simple, and soooooo worth it!

There’s been a box of cake mix on my counter that has been taunting me since Ella’s birthday party. I hardly ever bake for myself, since I usually end up eating the whole thing myself. So yesterday while I was having serious cupcake cravings I realized that some of the make-ahead cookbooks I have say you can freeze muffins and other baked goods. So I did a little search on the internet and low and behold, there are people out there who have frozen cupcakes, and said they were fantastic. This afternoon I whipped up the batch of dark chocolate Betty Crocker mix, and now my little goodies are cooling off.

Some tips I read about freezing cupcakes:

• allow to cool completely (duh)
• do not frost them
• keep the paper wrap on
• double wrap them in plastic wrap
• unwrap before defrosting (apparently this helps minimize the sticky gooey tops)

So .. that’s how I’m going to do it. I’m going to see if my tops are sticky before wrapping them. If they are, then I will be flash freezing them first, then wrapping them up. I’ll let you know in the future how they do with defrosting. I read you could stick them on your counter for 5 - 6 hours to warm up, or stick them in your fridge to get the job done. I’m sure I’ll experiment both ways

A few weeks ago while surfing Pioneer Woman Cooks and Smitten Kitchen Nik and I decided there were so many beautiful recipes that we should get together and try them out. Last night was our first of hopefully many more get together dinner nights. Everything that was made was FANTASTIC!! Try them yourselves! As an awesome bonus, since Nikki’s mom was in town and could watch Halle, we went out to catch a late night show of Iron Man.  

On the menu, Alex’s Chicken and Mushroom Marsala

Nikki’s salad (spring mix, strawberries, parmesean cheese, pecans and a honey mustard balsamic dressing)

Justin’s wild rice (which I forgot to get a picture of). 

And Icebox Cake. 

My family has been making a variation of this cake forever, its in the shape of a log, but this was so much more fun! And so easy too! All the details are on the Smitten Kitchen site, but here’s a shot of the chocolate wafter box so you can find them. Publix stocks them with the ice cream cones. 

Nikki’s only request from me while she was stuck in the hospital trying to hold in her baby this week were some soft chocolate chip cookies she could enjoy while she’s on bed rest. I actually only have crispy chocolate chip cookie recipes (’cause that’s how I like ‘em), so I searched allrecipes.com for a soft cookie recipe and found this highly rated one. I went through page after page of the comments, reading up on all the suggestions .. so at the bottom of this post you’ll find my modified version. I did the research so you don’t have to
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This weekend Liz and Ella were in town for Annabelle & Halle’s birthday party. Friday night Halle and Nikki came over for dinner and some quality hangout time. The girls also tried on their aprons I made them. Ella got a kitchen for Christmas, and both Halle & Annabelle got kitchens for their birthdays, so they all needed aprons A picture of Halle’s is coming soon.

I’m considering making a few more and putting them up on my new Etsy account (thanks for the encouragement Keri) I’ll be sure to post here when and if I make any to sell

Friday night / Saturday morning we made these. They were soooo good! We ended up making the dough and rolling the rolls Friday night, then refrigerating them overnight. Saturday we took them out and let them warm up and rise for an hour before baking them. The only changes we made to the recipe was to double the vanilla in the frosting, and baked at 350 for almost 45 minutes (might have been a little too long).

Saturday was party day. We were up bright and early enjoying our cinnabuns Ella had a blast on the playground, going down the slides. What’s really cool is that apparently when you reserve the pavillion at this park, they include free skate rental, and they have an outdoor skating rink! It was pretty neat to get a bunch of the adults in old school skates. I actually did it, and after about 8 times around, I realized how old and out of shape I was, my back was killing me from trying to keep my balance The party was a big success and you can check out some pictures here.

This morning we got Ella into the studio for a few shots before Liz and Ella headed home. I just had to share one of my favorites.

This is seriously easy .. and so good. The hardest part about it is having the patience to do it correctly. My last batch took a half hour of stirring over a hot stove, which gets annoying. Tip #1 have help standing by, you’ll only need them for 2 minutes tops, but when it comes to pouring and spreading the brittle the more help the better. Tip #2, measure out all your ingredients before you start. Once things get going you wont have enough time to measure out your baking soda or peanuts. Tip #3, use a candy thermometer, dont even attempt this without one unless you’re a pro candy maker. It’ll make this so much easier! Oh! and don’t be afraid to try this .. its really easy if you’re prepared, and its sooo cool to see all the different stages of boiling the sugar!

• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 cup peanuts (I use spanish peanuts and omit the salt. If you use salty or roasted nuts, forget the salt)
• 2 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking soda

1. Place a large cookie sheet into your oven and preheat to 200 degrees.
2. In a heavy 2 quart saucepan over medium heat bring sugars, corn syrup, salt and water to a boil. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Set candy thermometer in place and continue cooking, stirring frequently. Use a wooden spoon, don’t even try to use plastic, and if you use silicon (which I use) be careful that the end doesn’t get loose and come off in your brittle (happened to my first batch last year)
3. Once temperature reaches 250 degrees add peanuts.
4. Once temperature reaches 300 degrees remove from heat and add in the butter, vanilla and baking soda. Combine well, but dont over mix.
5. Here’s where an extra person comes in handy. Take out the cookie sheet from the oven, spray with Pam and pour candy all over the pan (one person pours the very hot candy, the other handles the cookie sheet). Then shake the pan to spread the brittle out evenly.
6. For cleanup, place all utensils and pots in hot soapy water and let them sit for a little while. Eventually the sugar will break down and cleanup will be much easier.
7. Once the brittle has cooled feel free to crack it anyway you like!

I’ve doubled the recipe before, it filled my cookie sheet and made much thicker brittle, I prefer it thinner, so I don’t think I’ll be doing that again.

Today I decided to whip up a batch of snickerdoodles to kick off my holiday baking. I’m going to try to post all my recipes I make this winter, just because in the past I’ve lost my fudge recipe So I want to remember all my yummy treats. You can look forward to cookies, peanut brittle and hopefully fudge from me this year

Snickerdoodles

These are the cookies that won me Sean’s heart. Light and puffy with a little crispy edge .. they’re just awesome. They’re also super simple to make and kids can join in too.

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon of cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt (leave out if you use salted butter)
• 4 tablespoons white sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Cream together butter, shortening, the 1 1/2 cups sugar, the eggs and the vanilla. Then blend in the flour, the tablespoon of cinnamon, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. If you can do it by hand .. you’ll be rewarded with a prettier cookie.
3. Mix together the 4 tablespoons of sugar and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon in a resealable baggie.
4. Shape dough by rounded spoonfuls into balls. I use a large cookie scoop for this, you get perfect balls every time. Coat each ball with the cinnamon sugar by placing it in the bag and shaking it up (perfect for kids). Place the balls 2 inches apart on a parchment lined cookie sheet (prevents burning and makes cleanup super easy)
5. Bake for 8 minutes (should be a little undercooked, avoid over cooking at all costs!) Let the cookies sit on the sheet for 2 to 3 minutes out of the oven, then transfer to a cooling rack.
6. Enjoy with a glass of cold milk!

- notes for the future - I’m not a fan of the slight bitter taste the cream of tartar gives the cookie, but it makes the texture amazing. I read that you could substitute 4 teaspoons baking powder to remove the tartar and the soda. Also adding a tablespoon of cinnamon to the batter might give a stronger cinnamon taste, covering up the tartar, or even extra vanilla -

[UPDATED] - Made another batch adding in the tablespoon of cinnamon and an extra teaspoon of vanilla and they were awesome, so I added them to the recipe above!