Wedding season starts

Wedding season has started! Good luck to all couples who are going to be taking their vows!

I was approached by a wonderful lady who wanted to commission cookies for a friend's wedding shower. The task was big, create a cookie to match the description of the bride and groom. I was thrilled!

I made a little sketch based off of the cookie, and voila! Liz and Jeff cookies! I used Marian's design for the bride, giving it my own little twist.

You can see the hair design, the shoes ♥! Each cookie had the names written with Wilton Fooddoodlers to personalize the design. No one will forget who these cookies should be!

Packaged together, these cookies are in love. Good luck Liz and Jeff!

Syrian Bread - It's a PITA!

Have you ever wondered how they got the pocket in the pita? Well, I've got the answer, and it is quite unlikely! See? Even I can do it!


I stumbled upon this "Syrian Bread" recipe while doing my thing on Allrecipies.com. Turns out, you too can make Pitas, and without much fuss!

Take the yeast, grow it a little: TIME LAPSE!

Add the flour, mix it for a few...

And you will make a giant LUMP. Kind of like this one:

But don't worry, after you let it rise, then divide it into balls, things start to look up!

Roll them out on a floured surface:
Bake them out, and you'll get the pocket! The bread actually steams itself apart, so that when you cut into it, it will be already pocketed!

You can enjoy it with friends (Mmmm. pita chips with salsa)

Or as part of a meal!

Hopefully you'll get the same results! The bread is good for about 2 days (stored in an air-tight container). Make good use of this knowledge. The Pita Secret must be kept!


BTW: That was an amazing pita! (Grilled Chicken Pita w/ salsa!)

My house smells like Cinnamon

My house smells like Cinnamon. It's the best smell in the world! There is truly nothing like it!

I am having the girls over tomorrow for a game of crib, and thought that I should have some sweets in the house. I was originally going to make some tarts, but I figured that Snickerdoodles would be best -- they are my favorite! I used My Snickerdoodle Recipe to whip up a quick batch; the recipe is super simple, and only took me about an hour from start to finish.

The result:

Soft, chewy, melt in your mouth cookies. I just got the little flower dish from a second hand store.. SUPER CUTE!


As I said before, these are my favorite cookies. I could not help but to eat a few and read my book. My students are currently going through the Twilight Phase (all students are), and they want to discuss the book. I have to say, I'm not sure which guy Bella should pick. You could either pick a controlling vampire (he follows Bella around and tells her what to do - Emotional Abuse?) or you can pick the violent werewolf (who is like a ticking time-bomb - Physical Abuse?). Either way, I am not feeling very good about these books, even though I'm enjoying them quite a bit. I'm on Team Independent!

The Twilight Series may not be well written (at least not for adults), but they are enjoyable, especially with cinnamon and sugar on the side.

Blooming again

It was such a wonderful day her in the North-West. We finally got some decent temperatures! In truth, though, we really need rain for the flowers to bloom!

But I digress from what I really want to show you!


When I did the VALA event, Kim, one of the event coordinators, went nuts over the Tulip Cookies I made. She LOVES all things tulips, especially those Blue and Yellow tulips. Her request: A bouquet of Tulip cookies for her daughter (who recently won a Skating competition! YAY! Congratulations)


In the end, I placed one dozen of these cookies into a pot, added bows, and sent them off (they looked a lot nicer than this picture makes them out to be. I shifted them so you could see the green bows). I am in LOVE with Cookies-on-a-Stick. It brings me back to the State Fair days, when you could get Key-Lime-Pie-on-a-Stick ♥.


I took a few pictures of me holding the cookies (which did not have a background because I was afraid that they would be too heavy, and fall off of the stick.) I think they turned out well!

Me being silly. (My Hubbie is holding the camera!)

Next up, Wedding cookies for Liz and Jeff, and some Lady Bugs (which seem to be popular at this time!)

1 Egg Lemon Pound Cake?

I love to visit Allrecipes.com. I think that generally, the rated 5 star recipes are amazing, most of the time. That is why when I came across this recipe for a One Egg Lemon Pound cake (rated 4 stars by nearly 100 people), I decided it was worth a try.

The recipe is simple enough, just add the ingredients and stir kind of deal. The batter itself seemed not so lemony. I love the taste of lemon (Maybe it needed some Lemon Zest). Never change the recipe the first time right? I could not do it. IN WENT THE EXTRA LEMON JUICE.


I realize that I probably should have waited to see how it came out, but I did not get the feeling that this was going to be lemony enough for me.

After mixing all the ingredients, it went into the loaf pan, and then into the oven. The recipe said 30 minutes, my loaf took about an hour. >.<

Once out, the loaf came out nicely. I was happy. Still thought that it needed more lemon though. So, I put on some lemon glaze. That was better. For the glaze, I added some orange extract, some lemon juice, and some icing sugar (plus a little water). Drizzle it on, and...

LOOKS YUMMY!
So what is the final verdict?

Not so much like a pound cake, that is for sure. Pound Cakes should be dense, and moist. This was moist, true, but very crumbly, almost like a loaf. And it was very breakable. It was not crusty, just too thin and airy to be easy to cut. The piece above I would admit that it broke into three pieces for the photo, and I just stuffed them together. Not that this is a bad thing... It is a good cake! Very tasty! Just not a pound cake.

I was super surprised when local newspaper writer Peggy Revell decided I was an interesting enough feature to write about in our Local paper. Sure enough, she came to my house, interviewed me, and made off with some sweets as a thank you. Two weeks later, the following image and article was posted:

Cookie creations a Labour of Love

♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥

She makes wizard hats and Rubik’s cubes edible. Dinosaurs and zombies become a delicious treat.And have you ever wanted to take a bite out of a kangaroo, lion, or monkey? Well, it’s all possible thanks to local resident and cookie connoisseur Meghan Spooner.






Read the full article at the Fort Frances Times website.
And thank you Peggy. It was wonderful that you took interest.

Resulting from the article, I've been very busy. Expect good things over the next couple of days, I've been quite busy! Until then!

Come See what is Blooming

This past week has been rough! After shrugging the flu, I found myself having to play catch- up on marking and such. No Big Deal, right?
Alas, not so. The only good thing is that this week I had the chance to do some baking. FINALLY!

This weekend (Friday actually) is the Spring into Success workshop. Patty at the VALA thought that it would be nice to have some spring-themed cookies. Enter, the TULIP COOKIE!


I loved making these. While I do not have a tulip cookie cutter (on order), I used a round cookie cutter, then painted on a tulip with a white background. In the theme of spring, I picked the colours Purple and Pink♥. I was very excited to do these.

These are sweet cookies. Best eaten with a cup of Starbucks. Luckily, they will also be at the convention!

Now, sit back, and enjoy! Until next time.

Red Velvet Cuppies

A friend of mine recently ordered a set of Red Velvet cupcakes for Easter. So in between making a turkey for the in-laws, I produced these dreamy, creamy, soft and fluffy delights.



I LOVE Red Velvet. Someone once asked what they taste like, I said "Soft Chocolate." The idea is that they are chocolate cupcakes (in essence, since they have cocoa in them), but the intention is to not have A LOT of chocolate. To make the perfect Red Velvet cake/cupcake, you need only a little cocoa, two TBSP or so. The chocolate is more of an afterthought, or a compliment to the taste. RV Cuppies are also fluffier than the average cupcake.
Anyway, I thought I'd share my favorite recipe. It is not hard, and works like a charm. So that you too can open wide the delicious red cuppie which has gripped North America.


Red Velvet Cupcakes and Cream Cheese Icing.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 c buttermilk
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp vinegar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp cocoa (Dutch Process)
1 oz (liquid)/ 1/2 tsp (gel) red food colouring
1 tbsp vanilla (pure)
2 c flour

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cream butter and sugar. Mix dry ingredients (cocoa, salt, flour). Add eggs, baking soda, vinegar.
3. Mix in Vanilla, colour. Mix on low.
4. Alternately add dry ingredients and Buttermilk until JUST MIXED. (Do not over mix).
5. Put into cuppies cups (3/4 filled). Bake for 20-25 minutes). Let cool before icing.
Makes 12-16 cupcakes.

Cream Cheese Icing:

1 pkg cream cheese (softened)
1/4 cup butter (softened)
2 tbsp sour cream
2 tsp vanilla
1-1.5 cups Powdered sugar.

Cream cheese and butter. Add vanilla and sour cream. Mix in Powered sugar. Blend until smooth. Load piping bag, ENJOY!


One not of caution. These are addictive! Enjoy them Marla!

Hoppy Easter

Hoppy Easter everyone!

This week has been buys, as it has been for all cookie makers. I had a couple of cute orders this week: Eggs and Bunnies mostly (cupcakes to come). I just thought I'd share with you some of the things I've made:

BUNNIES AND EGGS!

These were some greedy bunnies. They were trying to make off with the swag. Shame on you!
Easter Pastels make these eggs super cute.

Package them up, and they are ready to go on a family trip. Thank you Alice!


Next up: Personalized Eggs.

Thanks to Kimika for her order. These special eggs were custom for family and friends.

Hopefully she hides them around the house. I love Easter-egg hunts! They are a blast.

Packaged and ready. Enjoy!

Hope you all have a safe and happy Easter, wherever you go!