Spring Baking Fever is Upon Me!

I am ready for SPRING!
The south western slopes of central Missouri have sprouted daffodils. Last week some of daffodils even had yellow buds showing. Unfortunately, the two winter storms we have had also coated them with ice and snow. BUT I am still in the early stages of spring baking fever, all it took was that glimpse of yellow buds. St. Patrick's Day is right around the corner and this year Easter is March 31st. I've been thinking about decorating cookies for the two holidays.

 Shamrocks are easy to make with a small heart cookie cutter. Take three small hearts and arrange them as shown below or you can slightly overlap the hearts. Cut a stem from the dough and add it to the hearts. Instant shamrocks! One year I made three 9" heart cakes and arranged them in this way. The stem was a Twinkie that was frosted in green icing with a star tip like the cakes.

Easter will be celebrated with a lamb cake and Easter Egg sugar cookies. Flow icing is a technique that I have been practicing with since last November. I tried it on some Christmas tree cookies with butter cream frosting and it worked pretty well. Last month I found a tutorial, on YouTube, for outlining and filling in cookies with royal icing.  I experimented with making and using royal icing on the Valentine cookies and was really pleased with the end result. My brain is already dancing around ideas for the Easter Egg cookies!



 

Sallee's Six-Creative Baby Shower Themes

I was looking through Pinterest this morning and followed a pin to its original source. Wow, If you are looking for a baby shower theme, then follow the Candy Crate link. (smile) I also have added  some other resources where you you can buy cute and creative items for a theme or get ideas for a theme. Sallee

• Candy Crate: Baby Book Worm Shower   This party features a  Candy Buffet with a BookWorm Cup Cakes Game Station.

          http://candycrate.blogspot.com/2013/02/another-baby-shower-theme.html?spref=bl

• Party Themes of All Kinds

          http://catchmyparty.com

• 80+ Baby Shower Themed Parties Purchase a party theme or browse for ideas. Some of my best ideas come from a catalog, or  looking at pictures. 

          http://www.partypail.com/baby-shower-themes.html

• Pinterest Boards

          http://pinterest.com/bjefflamb/baby-shower-ideas
          http://pinterest.com/cherylcor/baby-baby-shower-ideas-gifts

• 10 Beautiful Baby Shower Ideas

          http://thekennedyadventures.com/2011/08/10-beautiful-baby-shower-ideas/

• The Baby Zone courtesy of Disney The Best Baby Shower Games This site is a wonderful resource for the mom to be AND party planners.

           http://www.babyzone.com/showers-and-parties/baby-showers/baby-shower-games-guide_71074

Valentine Cookie Project

 Sugar cookie hearts waiting to go in the oven. I like to roll out my sugar cookie dough on waxed paper that has been lightly sprinkled with powdered sugar.

Baked hearts fresh out of the oven and cooling while I made icing

Freshly frosted cookies drying on a cooling rack. I used royal icing to trim the cookies. I didn't make a full batch of royal icing. I just halved all of the ingredients and the icing turned out just fine. If you would like to check out the recipe(s) that I used on this project, just click on the two links in this paragraph.

 

 

The completed project ready for gift giving.

Missing Bag Clip Solution

Bag clips are hard to find  in the Bonham kitchen. Usually one or two have broken, all the clips are being used, or I just can't find one. This happened to me today and by chance I saw a plastic hair barrette on top of the microwave. My brain kicked into high gear and I realized that I might be able to use the hair barrette as a bag clip. Carefully I clamped the barrette around the tightly rolled top of the powdered sugar bag and let go. It worked! I have always heard that "Necessity is the mother of invention." and now I know it to be true. For less than a dollar I can buy a whole bag of  barrettes and save my bag clips for the larger jobs.

Fast and Fabulous Pantry Style French Toast

We are French toast fanatics!
Not filled French toast, not gourmet French toast, not berry smothered French toast, we just want some old fashioned, made with love French toast. This morning Bill wanted French toast and I whipped up my favorite egg and milk mixture. As I was replacing  the vanilla bottle on the spice shelf, the small container of ground allspice caught my eye. Hmmmmm maybe an eighth of a teaspoon would compliment the taste of the egg?


Now I don't like putting cinnamon in my egg mixture because cinnamon clumps up and wants to float on the surface. The first slice of sandwich bread has lots of cinnamon, but as you continue dipping bread slices the cinnamon presence becomes smaller and smaller. However, I know that allspice will incorporate into the mix and a small amount would add that little extra flavor without really making its presence known. Allspice has a combination flavor that tastes like cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves, hence the name allspice. Now where was I? Oh yeah, French toast.


My French toast starts with just a basic egg and milk mixture that has sugar and vanilla added to it. So I went ahead and added the allspice before dipping the day-old, white sandwich bread slices into the eggy mix. Each slice was allowed to sit and soak up some eggy goodness for 10-15 seconds before I flipped it over and  let the other side soak up some of the mixture too. Then it was time to place the slices onto a griddle that had one tablespoon of butter, not margarine, melted on it. Patiently I cooked the four slices to golden brown perfection over a low flame. Then it was time to taste test my new recipe.


Breakfast was served and  my first bite was so incredibly good that I was actually surprised that I had made it. Bill thought it was the best French toast he had ever eaten. Oh yeah I made the hubby happy! Slowly savoring a bite I could taste just a hint of allspice, but it had added a richness to the toast that really surprised me. Try my recipe and see if you can make your husband think you're a kitchen wizard.

Ingredients

4-5 large eggs                      1 teaspoon sugar                            1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup regular milk            1/8 teaspoon ground allspice         5-6 slices day old white bread 
                                1 Tablespoon butter, not margarine, butter

Servings: 2-3

Directions

• Turn your oven to warm and place two, oven safe dinner plates in it to heat.
• Pour syrup of your choice into a one cup glass measuring cup with a pouring spout. Put aside for later.
• Put a griddle on your stove burner over low heat or flame, put one tablespoon of butter on the griddle and let it melt. If your butter starts to turn brown, your heat is too high.
• place eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla, and ground all spice in a wide, shallow bowl. Beat with a fork or whisk until mixture is thick and yellow.
• Place a bread slice into the egg mixture for 10-15 seconds, flip over and repeat with that side. Continue until you have four slices of French toast on the griddle. Cook until both sides are golden brown. Remove your slices and place on the two warm plates in the oven. Cook the remaining slices of bread after dipping them in the egg mixture bath.  
• Once all your French toast is done and warming in the oven, place the glass measuring cup in the microwave and heat for fifteen seconds. If the glass cup doesn't feel warm, cook for another ten seconds.
• Using oven mitts or hot pads, remove you two warm plates from the oven and you are ready to eat. 

 Happy cooking!