Red Velvet Birthday

I've been loving the idea of red velvet lately. So, for my nephew's birthday party, I decided that red velvet (in place of vanilla or chocolate) would be a nice little treat. You can't really get red velvet in Thunder Bay either: Operation, make them fall in love!


The cupcakes, like the ice-cream cones, had to travel with me, and I just decorated them when I got in, but they were moist and good! OH MY! I decorated them with little candy hearts and they were so cute. Place them on a tower.. YAY!~ I didn't do a wonderful spread like those moms you see here on the blogs, but I did think it looked swank!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

NOM-NOM-NOM
Aiden, the Birthday Boy

Abby had about 4 cupcakes that day.... she, as I said before, LOVES cupcakes!

Ice Cream Cakepops!

Most of you have heard of Bakerella and her glorious cakepops. For those of you who have not... GO CHECK HER OUT!

Cakepops are glorious little cake truffles (cake and icing made into melt-in-our mouth truffles) that can be shaped into figures and shapes. Bakerella has made some amazing designs (buy her book... FOR ME!) in the past, but more recently, she made an ice-cream cone cakepop that I just had to try out!

My little creation looked something like this:

THEY LOOKED AWESOME! Even the adults liked them! My niece, Abby, who LOVES cupcakes beyond anything else, went for these before the actual cupcakes I made when I told her there were cakes too (sort of)!

Knowing this, I will definately make them again! I'll post up a how-to for cake pops someday. Fun to make, beautiful to look at not so good to travel 400 km with (made them in Fort, brought them to Thunder Bay... a little hard to do!).

Silly smiles all around!

LEGOS ... Let's keep building it up!

Gotta love Legos, people, who are more creative than I, can make some amazing things with them! I have never been able to get beyond a square brick house, but I've seen some people do some amazing things, like giant cars (without instructions). This is all about coming back from Lego Land in the Mall of America. Anyone ever been there? They have AMAZING statues! and everything is made of Lego! I have such fond memories of visiting there!

These Lego cookies I made for a friend's child's birthday party. She gave them away as party favors in the loot bags... I LOVE LOOT BAGS! SWAG BAGS... BAGS OF AWESOME STUFF! Well, this time, my cookies were the loot!

Can I make a building out of them?

I would love to have a copy cake to make the rivets more rounded. Still, yummy, and fun! Have a happy birthday!

The next post is going to be some Cake Pops.. I'm super excited about them, and I know that you will like them too! I'm working on them now. DIES! Yes, I make posts while I have things going on. My kitchen is always busy!

Dallas Cowboys Cake

Well, this is an older picture of a cake I made a while back. It was a 6-inch round carrot cake with a little Dallas Cowboys fist thumper on top.


I liked the cake, it tasted amazing! I got to sample some extra mini-cakes we made.. cream-cheese icing is sooo good! I could just lick it off the spoon as I stir! Bad Meghan... BAD!

The figurine on top was modeled after the birthday girl's father, Larry. They got a kick out ogf that.

So, why not a newer cake?
This weekend, hubby, myself and our friend Michelle went to Minneapolis MN and to Valley Fair park. SUPER FUN! I don't like to to ride rides, so I spent my time at the water park ♥

SPLOOSH!

Hubby liked that, we had a blast! He rode the big rides with Michelle, and I took pictures. It was hot, and there was a big storm in the evening, which made it a great trip. Now, I've got to design some cupcakes for my nephew's birthday :) It's his 1st! Can't wait to get started.

Chocolate Caramel Shortbread Bars

WARNING: THIS DESSERT IS EXTREMELY ADDICTIVE! BAKE AND STORE WITH EXTREME CAUTION AND CONTROL!

I recently found this great blog: My Baking Addiction and became obsessed with the recipe for their Chocolate Caramel Shortbread Bars. They looked soooo good that I just had to do a piggy-back recipe and try them out myself. Let me tell you, they work in stages, so they take a while, but they are sooooo worth it!

The finished product... their picture looks a little nicer :)

So, how do you do it?

Pulse together (in a food processor) 1 1/2 cup flour, 1/4 cup sugar, and 12 tbsp unsalted butter. It should come out crumbly, like my picture.

Next, press it into a 9" square pan (well greased) and poke with a fork. Bake for 30-40 minutes at 30 degrees or until golden brown on the edges. (Below) Let Cool.


Next, for the caramel filling:

Mix 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk and 4 tablespoons light corn syrup, stir until incorporated.

Take caramel mix and put into the microwave. In sets of 30 seconds (stirring between each set) cook for 6 minutes... that's right, stand by the microwave and watch it. Be careful though, this will bubble over if you are not careful. Use a deep dish to prevent spills.

BUBBLY!

After 6 min, it should look like this, a golden colour and it should be thicker.

Place over already cooled shortbread... cool that in the fridge for a few, then go to the chocolate phase.

In the microwave again, melt 12 ounces semisweet chocolate and one tbsp unsalted butter. Stir then spread over cooled shortbread/caramel mix.

Pretty! ♥

Sprinkle 1 teaspoon vanilla fleur de sel (sea salt) if you wish (DO IT!) and chill.
The picture given by My Baking Addiction:

I love their presentation. For the full recipe, click here!

Hot Summers, Cool Bevvies -- Rhubarb Slush Recipe

IT HAS BEEN HOT! I mean, 35 degrees Celsius (95 for those in the U.S.). I think I've been swimming 5/7 days this week. It is a good thing I'm careful about swimmer's ear! What can I do to beat the heat? Well, a cool bevvie certainly helps! This Rhubarb slush is sure to be a hit to cool you off! Shout out to a lovely lady by the name of Olga who introduced me to the recipe! Thank you!

(Already half drank at that point... long photo shoot).

You too can make these slushies. How? Recipe time! (see the bottom for the recipe)

Take 8 cups rhubarb (chopped), 8 cups water and 1/2 cup lemon juice. Boil this down until the rhubarb is soft.

Strain out all the pulp, leaving the liquid (about 4 cups left)

Add in and stir 2 cups of sugar (3 if you like it sweet) and 1 large package of strawberry, raspberry or lime jello. I used lime and raspberry. ♥

Put into an ice-cream pail and freeze. When done, put 2 scoops (with an ice-cream scoop) of the rhubarb slush into a glass, add club soda or ginger ail. Works good with 7-up too, but it will be sweet. For the adult version, add some vodka! SOOO GOOD!

Rhubarb Slush

8 cups rhubarb
8 cups water
1/2 c lemon juice

boil down rhubarb, water and lemon. Once rhubarb is soft strain out the liquid (throw out/compost the rhubarb).

1 large jell-o pack (jiggily kind) Rasberry, strawberry, lime.
2-3 cups sugar.

To the liquid mix, add sugar and jell-o, stir until completely dissolved.
Allow mix to cool slightly, then place in an ice-cream pail. Freeze overnight.

Place 2 scoops of rhubarb slush in a glass, fill remainder with club soda or ginger ail (add vodka :)

ENJOY!

Honestly, given the cool summer we had here last year, I am super excited to finally be able to enjoy the heat and sun! It gets quite cold in the winter. Summer balances me out.

I guess I'm still pretty crazy though :)

Please be sun-safe, wear sunscreen!

Maple Tart: The search!

Hubbie had an aunt who, when he was young, would bake the most amazing maple tarts. His desire to reclaim the taste has never waned, he often asks me to try to reproduce the taste. And I have tried, but that magic, and his memory, seemed to have gone.

Recently, I gave it another shot.

Enter the Maple Pecan Tart.

This tart is slightly creamy on the inside, but contrasted by the crunch of pecans.
They were delicious, but not exactly what he remembers. I will have to try again! Still, these ranked 7.5/10 in his books.

Wanna try them out?

Maple Pecan Tarts:

(My Pie Crust RECIPE- click)
- 1 tbsp flour
-1 1/4 c pecans (chopped)
- 3/4 c sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1/3 c corn syrup
- 1/3 c maple syrup
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp vanilla
- 1 tbsp Rum/Bourbon
- 2 tbsp heavy cream

Steps:

1.Preheat oven to 350°F. Sprinkle flour over one side of pastry. Press pastry crust, flour side down, onto bottom and up side pan. Sprinkle pecans into the tart shells. (Bake 5 min)

2. Combine granulated sugar and eggs, in medium bowl; whisk until well blended. Stir in corn syrup, maple syrup, butter, rum/bourbon [Malibu is awesome in this because of the coconut taste :)], cream and vanilla; mix well. Carefully (it is hot!) pour mixture over pecans, coating them well. (Pecans will float to surface but do not fret, this is a good thing!)

3. Place on baking sheet, then bake for another 30 minutes or until golden brown and center is set. Cool completely on a wire rack.

ENJOY!