Golf Girl Cupcakes

I have more female friends that golf than male friends. This cupcake idea is for them! Actually, I think it would make a darling place card. I made the cupcakes and frosting from scratch and for the cupcakes, I concocted a brown sugar almond recipe, but wasn't completely thrilled with the outcome. (I'll work on it and post later because the batter was one of those that you eat like soup it was soooo good. The ingredient chemistry was off for the baking process and they were too spongy.) The frosting was amazing, so here's the recipe!

Coconut, Lemon, Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting

1/4 cup cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
3 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Add ingredients into a bowl and beat until blended. Tint green to make the frosting look like grass and ice baked cupcakes.

Photo Credit: John Sparano

Groundhog Day Cupcakes

Macaroons are my favorite cookie and ideal for sculpting a groundhog cupcake topper for one of the oddest holidays, Groundhog Day, on February 2.

Chocolate Macaroon Groundhogs

3 cups flaked sweetened coconut
6 tablespoons flour
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
3 egg whites
Slivered almonds
1/4 cup chocolate chips
1 teaspoon canola oil
12 chocolate M&Ms
Mini marshmallows

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with wax paper and lightly spray with a non-stick cooking spray. Toss coconut with flour, cocoa, and sweetened condensed milk until thoroughly mixed and coconut is completely coated. Beat egg whites on high speed until stiff. Gently fold egg whites into coconut mixture.

Form groundhog heads using 2 heaping tablespoons of dough and place 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheet. (If coconut doesn't keep its shape, put the dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to stiffen it up.) Insert 2 slivered almonds into each head as the groundhog's teeth. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove cookies from oven and cool thoroughly.

Put chocolate chips and oil in small microwave safe bowl and melt chips in microwave for 20 second increments, stirring after each time until smooth.

A toothpick was my most valuable tool during this craftella process! Dip the toothpick in the chocolate and "paint" the nose and eyes area; this chocolate will act as an adherent. Place an M&M on the groundhog's head for its nose. Cut a mini marshmallow in half making 2 small circles for the whites of his eyes. Dip the toothpick in chocolate and dot the center of each marshmallow eye for his pupil. Place the eyes on his head above the nose. Cut another marshmallow in half to make circles and then cut a circle in half for his ears. Dip the ears in chocolate and place them on the groundhog's head.

You can plop this little guy on top of a cupcake like I did or keep them as cookies for a fun Groundhog Day snack!

Makes about 10 groundhog macaroons

Photo Credit: John Sparano

Valentine's Day Bento Box

I love making Bento Boxes for special occasions. This idea came to me the other day as a unique kid's lunch idea for Valentine's Day.

Valentine's Day Bento Box

1. Tint sushi rice (recipe follows) blue with food coloring. Fill Bento Box with rice.

2. Find a simple Cupid drawing online or sketch one and cut it out to use as a pattern. Place the pattern on bologna and cut out his body and face. I cut out the legs separately to give Cupid a bit more pizazz.

3. Cut Cupid's hair out of Cheddar cheese and his wings and diaper out of Provolone cheese.

4. Create Cupid's mouth using a red pepper. Use a straw to punch out tiny cheese circles for his eyes and use black sesame seeds for his pupils or seaweed, which is what I used for his nose.

5. Use a mini heart-shaped cookie cutter to create the hearts on the Gouda cheese and arrange them in the box.

6. Slice a sugar snap pea pod into strips and make the bow and use a red pepper and Cheddar cheese for his arrow.

7. A red pepper strip makes a great banner and Spaghettios are what I used to spell "VALENTINE."

Sushi Rice

2 cups short grain rice
2 cups cold water
1/2 rice wine vinegar

Soak rice in a bowl of cold water. With clean hands, gently stir rice until water becomes cloudy. Strain rice in a sieve and set aside in sieve for 30 minutes to drain excess water.

Place rice in a medium pot and add water. Cover and cook over medium-high heat until rice steams, about 5-8 minutes. Turn heat to high and cook for 2 minutes more. Reduce heat to medium and cook for 5 minutes more, until you hear a crackling sound. Do not lift lid during cooking process. Turn off heat and allow rice to stand covered for 15 minutes.

Remove the lid and fluff the rice with a bamboo paddle or a wide wooden spoon. Cover and let stand another 15 minutes.

Spread rice along the bottom and up the sides of a large non-metallic bowl or platter. Sprinkle vinegar over rice, quickly tossing rice with wooden paddle to incorporate vinegar. Fan rice with a paper fan or piece of cardboard for about 2 minutes. Cover bowl with a clean damp towel until rice cools to room temperature. Prepare sushi as soon as rice cools for maximum results. Do not store rice in the refrigerator as chilled rice loses its stickiness.

Makes about 4 cups

Photo Credit: Jeanne Benedict

Valentine's Day Candy

Here are some pix from the article I just wrote for Celebrations.com about

Homemade Valentine's Day Candy (recipes)

Photo Credit: Jeanne Benedict

Super Bowl Cupcakes

SUPER BOWL CUPCAKES

Instead of the old plastic football pick in a cupcake try these awesome Super Bowl Cupcake desgins for a winning dessert table while watching the Big Game on TV. Instructions on how to make the wraps are in my article Super Bowl Cupcakes on Celebrations.com.

Football Corset Cupcakes

Laces out! Give a cupcake the winning edge by wrapping it in paper that looks and feels like a football and then lacing it up (instructions).

Pizza Delivery Cupcakes

Pizza always tops the list at Super Bowl parties. Serve up a pie that's hot, fresh, and sweet with this Pizza Cupcake that has a Raspberry and Coconut White Chocolate topping. Score big by serving it up in a mini pizza box (instructions).

Ref Cupcakes

For this sporty cupcake design, create a cupcake wrap out of black and white striped paper and top it with a whistle to pay tribute to the guys that keeps thing fair on the field (instructions).

Hamburger Cupcakes

These chocolate cupcakes, dipped in orange chocolate to resemble a bun and garnished with fruit roll-up lettuce and tomatoes, will be a big hit with kids (instructions).

Team Color Cupcakes

Go gorgeous on the gridiron with cupcakes that have been double-dipped in white chocolate, dollopped with icing, and accented in team colors (instructions).

Cheeleader Cupcakes

Root for your team by serving cupcakes bursting with fondant pom-poms wrapped in paper that looks like grass (instructions).

Trophy Cupcakes

Make cupcake decorating an easy victory by simply topping it with a trophy (instructions).

Photo Credits: John Sparano and Jeanne Benedict

My Beautiful Birthday Cupcake!

I made this gorgeous cupcake wrap for my birthday! The fab folks at Cricut Expression gave me a machine and I was inspired to use this crown image from their "Home Decor Solutions" cartridge to decorate the wrap. I had seen the infomercials on TV for the Cricut and watched them all the way through like a craft show. They have all these different cartridges that you can put into the machine for school, holidays, parties, and so much more. All you do is select the image and size, and a small machine blade cuts it out. I write mostly about food and recipes on this blog, but I'm a crafty girl too and I know that the bakers and party peeps out there would appreciate this. Happy Birthday to me!

Soba Noodles with Sesame Seeds and Shiso Leaves

We received a sushi-making basket for Christmas from my brother-in-law that included a package of soba noodles and this awesome seasoning, "Eden Shake," which is described as "sesame and sea vegetable seasoning." Well let me tell you, I am eating that seasoning like it was a bag of nuts! The sesame seeds are so tender, as if toasted for snacking, and the shiso leaves in the blend are exquisite. Soba noodles are basically a buckwheat flour Japanese noodle. Shiso leaves are from the mint family and this seasoning from Eden Foods contains a pickled and powdered preparation that is excellent. I created this recipe the other day, and felt very healthy eating it! If you've read many of my blog entries, you have probably figured out that I'm all about the cream and the butter. But, a healthy dish every now and then is ok.

Soba Noodles with Sesame Seeds and Shiso Leaves

1/4 cup organic sesame oil (unrefined)
1 tablespoon Eden Shake Sesame and Sea Vegetable Seasoning
2 tablespoons Mirin
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 tablespoons soy sauce
1 (8 oz.) package soba noodles

Whisk together all ingredients, except for soba noodles, in a large bowl. Cook noodles according to package directions; drain in a colander. Add hot noodles to mixture and toss to coat. Serve immediately!

Makes about 2 servings

Photo Credit: John Sparano

Homemade Toffee

Could there be anything better than toffee? This morsel of glassy, caramelly, deliciousness has a little story. About 5 years ago, I attended a sport party, probably the Super Bowl, where a woman brought homemade toffee. Since then, each time we go to the home where the party was hosted, I ask about this woman and when she'll be at another party so I can quiz her about toffee. That day finally arrived about a week ago and to my amazement -- the recipe was extremely easy (just a lot of stirring)! So I made a batch. The most important thing to remember about toffee is to cook it long enough to where the butter is almost burnt so you get that great color. I don't use a candy thermometer, just eyeball it, but you do need to watch that pot!

Homemade Toffee

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup chopped almonds

Add butter and sugar into a heavy medium pot. Cook, stirring constanly, over high heat for about 8 to 10 minutes.

The stages to look for: butter will melt and blend with the sugar, butter will foam, mixture will start to get sticky like taffy, mixture will quickly start to turn amber - this is when you take it off the heat! Pour mixture on to an ungreased baking sheet that doesn't have a coating such as Teflon.

At this point, the woman who shared the recipe just puts semi-sweet chocolate chips on the hot toffee, which melts them, and sprinkles the almonds on top. I chose to let the toffee cool and harden, then melted milk chocolate chips and smoothed them on top. Sprinkle almonds over the chocolate and you're good to go!

Makes about half a baking sheet; @ 8X8-inch toffee rectangle

Photo Credit: John Sparano