Thursday, September 24, 2009
One of my best friends is getting married this weekend in Denver Colorado. She asked me to create 140 bride and groom favors for her big day (eek). In the end I am really happy with the way these turned out, clean and simple. Now I just hope she likes them as much as I do.
Congrats Tracy + Joaquin!
Stay tuned, the groom cookies will be here shortly!
Sugar Cookie decorated in Rolled Fondant and Royal Icing
Sugar Cookie decorated in Rolled Fondant and Royal IcingTuesday, September 22, 2009
My birthday was this past weekend and I am so excited that I got to spend it on a Cupcake Crawl with the culinary club, What's Cooking Chicago! We hit 10 bakeries! What a sugar high. It was a great time trying all the different cupcakes Chicago bakeries have to offer.
Below are the bakeries we stopped by and what HusbandPlzak and I sampled. Thanks again Joelen!
First stop was Sweet Honey Bee Bakery. We tried the red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting. This was HusbandPlzak's favorite. It was amazing!
Angel Food was our second stop and are currently celebrating their 5th anniversary. We tried the Boston Cream cupcake. We weren't huge fans of this but the rest of the group LOVED this bakery so I will have to give their other offerings a try.
I am a chocolate and peanut butter lover and this cupcake did not disappoint. I just loved the atmosphere at Sensational Bites. They had a ton of adorable decorated sugar cookies as well as fabulous mini cakes.
Southport Grocery had an offering of simply chocolate or vanilla cupcakes. Can't argue with the basics but the frosting was a little sweet for me.
Walking into Dinkel's was like taking a step back in time, I loved it! We tasted a vanilla cupcake with strawberry filling and butter cream frosting. The cake was amazing but I would have loved a little more filling because it was so yummy.
Bleeding Heart was one of the coolest bakeries I have ever been too, if not the coolest. I LOVE the idea of an organic bakery and their flavor options were super creative. We tried the Ginger Roger which had poached pears, candied ginger, and chocolate frosting. Very unique and very yummy.
And here at Pheobe's you can find the BEST of the best (well in my opinion). This was at the end of the day so I was almost sugared out but the Salted Caramel cupcake was TO.DIE.FOR.
At Molly's we tried to switch it up from all the chocolate and try the Key Lime Cupcake. I really enjoyed this filling and would definitely go back to this adorable bakery.
Our last stop of the day was to the Meatloaf Bakery where the cupcakes were all made out of meatloaf! Such a simple yet creative idea. We tried the Mac n' Barb (turkey meatloaf topped with mac and cheese with bbq dipping sauce) and the No Buns About It (bacon, ground beef, onions, and cheddar cheese topped with cheesy potatoes)
Monday, September 14, 2009
This past Sunday we had some friends over to watch the Bears vs Packers game. We had a great spread, despite the Bears loss.Menu:
Beer
Chips and Salsa
Ham, lettuce, red onion, tomato and cheese sub
Turkey, lettuce, red onion, tomato and cheese sub
Hot wings with blue cheese sauce, celery, and carrots
Phillo triangles: Mexican, eggplant, and Mediterranean (brought by a friend)
Peach, raspberry and honey nut Cheerio bake (brought by a friend)
Hot Wings and Drumettes
20 wings and drumettes
1/4 c. butter
1 tsp Cayenne pepper
4 tsp hot sauce
1 tsp salt
Preheat broiler.
In a saucepan melt the butter, cayenne pepper, hot sauce, and salt.
On a foil lined baking sheet place the wings and drumettes. Baste with butter mixture and put under broiler for 8 minutes. Turn over and baste the other side and cook for an additional 4 minutes. Serve with blue cheese dip, celery and carrots.
Blue Cheese Dip
1/2 c. blue cheese
1/4 c. sour cream
1 c. mayonnaise
1 tsp worshtishire sauce
Combine all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until combined.
Friday, September 4, 2009
My boss is leaving this week and so I decided to bake him a treat to wish him luck. HusbandPlzak brought be home some beautiful zucchini from a farmer's market by his current site (he knows the way to my heart) and I thought this would be a wonderful use for them. This is a great fall treat and I just love the addition of the cream cheese frosting. (I halved the recipe because with only two of us in the office there is no need for 24 cupcakes. )
Spiced Zucchini Cupcakes
Source: Martha Stewart Cupcakes
3 c. AP flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 c. vegetable oil
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 tbsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp grated lemon zest
2 c. packed brown sugar
3 c. packed grated zucchini
3 oz toasted, chopped walnuts (optional)
Preheat oven to 350F. Line muffin tins with paper liners or with nonstick spray. Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. In another bowl, whisk together oil, eggs, vanilla, and zest until well blended; whisk in brown sugar until smooth. Stir in zucchini, and then add flour mixture and stir until just combined. If desired, stir in walnuts.
Divide batter evenly among cups in muffin tin until they are three quarters full. Bake for approximately 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centers comes out clean. Transfer cupcakes to a wire rack to cool.
Cream Cheese Frosting
1 c. unsalted butter, room temperature
12 oz cream cheese, room temperature
4 c. confectioner's sugar, sifted
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
With an electric mixer, beat butter and cream cheese until fluffy, approximately 2-3 minutes. Reduce speed to low and add sugar, 1/2 c. at a time, and then vanilla. Mix until smooth and combined, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add more sugar if needed to make frosting stiffer.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
*picture from highlandparktickets.com
A few girl friends and I went to see Carrie Underwood at Ravinia Festival the other night and I just wanted to share the great food we snacked on. (I don't have pics because it was dark outside) All of the food was wonderful. We enjoyed the music, food, and some red and white wine!
*picture from ravinia.org
Flank Steak Pinwheels <-- one of my favorite picnic recipes!
Cantaloupe wrapped Prosciutto
Brie and French Baguette
Chips and Salsa
Cheese, Salami, Pepperoni, and Crackers
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
