May Update

May has been a very busy month! Jon and I both had our birthdays. I had graduation. We had our birth mother's day picnic. I served dinner one night at the Ronald McDonald House with my boss. Work has been busy and Jon and I have started house hunting. I haven't been baking a whole ton but I've been able to get a few things in. I made a cake at the end of April for a lovely lady who I used to work at Old Chicago with. I also made some super cute cupcakes for birthmother's day. I also decided to jump into macaroons over the long weekend, which I'm super happy to say was a success! I made both American and French macaroons and I can't wait to try them again.

First things first.
Dee's Birthday Cake:

Dee's cake was a 4 layer cake that had two layers of chocolate cake and two layers of white cake dyed a burgundy wine color. I piped grapevines all over the cake and I think it turned out really cute. She said she liked it and that there were left overs for days, which doesn't surprise me since this cake has two full cake recipes in it! 

NEXT!

I absolutely love my job at the Ronald McDonald House. My boss and I served dinner with another board member one night in May. It was a great way to really sit down with the families who are at the House and chat with them. One of my recent favorites, Jaxson, was finally going home the next day after an 8 week feeding clinic at Monroe Meyer. I thought that a funfetti cake would be appropriate for the little ones at the House. I had some fun decorating the cake as well. 

I'm all for sprinkles and I probably could have put more in!

We were all happy to see Jaxson be able to go home but we definitely miss him at the House.

Birthmother's Day was next and I have always wanted to make these cupcakes and so I figured it was worth a shot. Next time I make these cupcakes, I'm going to allow myself more time. I didn't start baking the cupcakes until 9 am and I had to be at Nebraska Children's Home at 11:30, needless to say we were late because I was frantically piping petals on the cupcakes! I made them as cookies and cream cupcakes. Each cupcake had chunks of oreos in them and them had an oreo on the top for the center of the flower. 

Birthmother's Day was great. I got to spend some time with the Harters and my Calvin. He and Jon had fun at Gramp's and Grammy's place. 

Run, Calvin, Run!

Last, but not least, MACAROONS! 

I've always wanted to try and make French macaroons because I figured they would be a good challenge and they are a light yummy treat. I found a really easy recipe for American coconut macaroons and threw them together on Friday night. It makes a really small batch but they were really good and Jon enjoyed them.

1 1/3 Cup coconut flakes

1/3 C sugar

2 T all purpose flour

1/8 t Salt

2 egg whites

1/2 t vanilla

In a small bowl, combine the coconut, sugar, flour and salt. Stir in egg whites and vanilla; mix well.

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto greased baking sheet. Bake at 325 for 18-20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

I ended up making ones that were a little bigger than a teaspoon so my recipe only make 7 macaroons but it was worth it. Crispy on the outside and soft and coconutty inside. 

I also made French Macaroons with blackberries.

I used Martha Stewart's recipe for macaroons. I will do another post that goes through the process soon but I didn't take pictures as I went this time. But I think macaroons deserve their own post.

I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday weekend! I hope this summer brings good things and lots of baking!

March Madness Sadness resorts to Cookies and Cream

March Madness is my favorite sports time of the year. I love KU basketball. They are the one sports team I really care about. After last years upset to Northern Iowa, I thought we would come back with a vengeance and take the entire tournament. We had a 1 seed, had a fairly decent bracket and only two losses our entire season. My GM gave me a hard time about my love for my Jayhawks and so I bet him that KU would make it to the championship game. If they made it he had to bring everyone dessert and if they got knocked out before then I would bring in cupcakes. KU made it into the Elite 8 and were playing 11 seed VCU. It was a huge upset. VCU was hitting 3 point shots like crazy and we couldn't manage to get lay ups or free throws in. They didn't play as well as they could and VCU played hard enough to deserve to win that game. It was an embarrassing loss. There is no reason why KU missed so many shots but they got knocked out of the tournament. The only consolation is that there are no 1 seeds left in the tournament so maybe a team like VCU can go and win it all. With KU's loss, I also lost my bet to Dave Doll. I was as sad as this Jayhawk...

Even though he'll eat 1/4 of the cupcakes I bring in every time, I know he's particular to cookies and cream. I've made this particular cupcakes before and I know he loved them so I decided to try them again. These are another recipe by Martha Stewart and is found in her Cupcake book. They are super easy to make, super rich but super yummy! Enjoy!!

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• 42 Oreo, cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies, 30 left whole and 12 coarsely chopped
• 2 pounds cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten
• 1 cup sour cream
• Pinch of salt

1. Preheat oven to 275° F.  Line standard muffin tins with paper liners.  Place 1 whole Oreo cookie in the bottom of each lined muffin cup.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, beat cream cheese on medium-high speed until smooth, scraping down sides of the bowl as needed.  Gradually add the sugar, and beat until combined.  Beat in the vanilla.
3. Drizzle in eggs, a little at a time, beating to combine and scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add in sour cream and salt, beat to combine.  Using a large spatula, fold in the chopped Oreo cookies.
4. Divide batter evenly among the cookie-filled muffin cups, fill each cup almost to the top.  Bake, rotating muffin tins halfway through, until the filling is set, about 22 to 28 minutes.  Transfer the muffins tins to a wire rack to cool completely.  Refrigerate (in the muffin tins) at least 4 hours (or overnight). Remove from tins just before serving.

These cupcakes are super easy to make. I think the hardest part is not eating all the cookies while you are making the cupcakes. First set the oven to 275*. You want to bake these low and slow.

Two pounds of cream cheese is the main component to these lovely cupcakes. Make sure you mix it for a while so that the cream cheese is VERY creamy. It'll make for a lighter smoother texture. 

Mix in a cup of sugar slowly while the mixer is running. 

Next come the eggs. These are the only reason you really need to bake these cupcakes. No one wants to eat raw eggs so it is important to cook them to set up the cupcakes. Mix them slightly in a bowl first so that they will mix in with the cheese and sugar mixture well. 

Then sour cream...

And now for the best part...The OREOS!

You'll want to set aside enough Oreos to use for the base of the cupcakes. Martha says the recipe makes 30 but I got 36...however I used a few extra cookies in my batter and not all of my cupcakes were as full as they could have been. Take at least 12 cookies and cut them up to hand fold into the batter.

This is probably one of the few batters I won't be sneaking bits from. It's MUCH better after it's baked. The base of the cupcakes are a full Oreo each. Set one cookie in each liner. You will want to fill the cupcakes full. They don't have a long way to rise at all so don't be shy. Set them in the oven for 22 minutes. When they are done they'll look a little like this...

Put them in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours. I left mine there overnight. They will settle a little bit so don't be surprised when you open up the fridge the next day. They are scrumptious and look a little like this:

I think cheesecakes are super rich and the cupcake is the perfect size for a dessert like this. I honored my lost bet and brought them into work this morning. They went over really well and Dave Doll at somewhere between three and six cupcakes in a matter of hours. This resulted in a stomach ache on his part and I honestly have a hard time feeling sorry for him! I may have lost the bet but all my co workers and Old Chicago won. Hopefully next year we'll make it to the Final 4 and I will be a happy Jayhawk! Regardless Rock Chalk Jayhawk. Better luck next year!