Homemade Peeps and More!

After almost all the jellies failed I figured I needed something else to fill the baskets besides peeps and hard candy, so I started thinking about all the leftover Wilton's Candy Melts I had left over. It got me thinking about peppermint patties which are so easy and fast to make. I had never had peppermint patties with white chocolate but I figured why not try it!

Like I said, I had left over candy melts, so not much for dipping, so I decided to dip the eggs with two colors (yellow and blue) and accent them with a third color (purple) to cover the seam. They were fun to make, although Wiltons Candy Melts can be hard to work with. I so much prefer my Chocoley's Dipping and Enrobing Formula, although I don't miss having to color the white chocolate myself! They taste pretty good too. It's a nice change from the traditional recipe.

Yesterday, I finally put the eyes and flower centers on my second batch of peeps. Its amazing how much a little dab of black royal icing makes! It makes up for my first attempt!


How pretty would these peeps be as a centerpeice on your table? Its too bad that I already had plans to package them in small cellophane bags and in the Easter baskets for my neices. So I spent hours today printing stickers, cutting card stock, stapling, etc... In all, I made 13 packages, varying the stickers and card stock to match the peeps.

It took about 4 hours! So much more time than I had expected! Especially since I started the stickers weeks ago. But the end product was worth it. I can't wait to pass them out to my neighbors tomorrow!

I mean, who wouldn't want a package of these?


They look so sweet and springy! Is that a word? I will have to try that in Words With Friends to see ;-)

And again going witht he flow sometimes works out. Having the macaroon shaped marshmallows allows the more traditional peeps to shine while almost putting them in a scene. Like maybe they are little pillows for the chicks and bunnies...

I think this one is my favorite! The polka dots are just so cute and the complimentary colors are so striking. This is the only slicker I cut out like this because I just didn't have the time to do all that intricate cutting today, but you can see how nice the effect is.

Okay, so now its time to start prepping for Easter dinner. Have a great holiday weekend everyone!!!

Sweet Charity

GO WITH THE FLOW!!!!!

This was one of those weeks where nothing has gone as planned. Now I should say that this is a pretty normal thing around here because my plans are usually not humanly possible. I mean, in two weeks I had planned on make 4 types of hard candy, 3 kinds of candy jellies and homemade peeps. All this while making Easter dinner, working, doing chores etc. plus dealing with the car accident I had a week and half ago (I am fine by the way).

So anyway I planned on making all this candy and it starts to rain...no, pour...not for a day or two, but like on and off for two weeks now... just pouring nonstop. The Potomac and the Shenandoah are flooding and needless to say my leaky house is wet inside and out (unfortunately this is also a normal occurance).

So what's the problem with the rain? Candies HATE humidity. So lets just say that I've been failing at my plans, but I am not letting it get me down.

I started my massive list with homemade peeps. I decided to make the cute like bunny marshmallows on Martha's website. I am not the best piper, but I thought that with as many times as I've made marshmallows this would be a snap. Nope, nada, no how... Much harder than they make it sound. It was such an epic fail that I didn't even photograph my attempts at the bunnies. So I regrouped quickly (marshmallows set up quickly) and decided to pipe some lovely macaroon shapes. This worked out quite nicely and I am pretty happy that I at least saved the batch.

Not to be detered, I also made another batch of regular marshmallows that I cut out with cookie cutters. This batch will hopefully get done tomorrow when I put eyes on the chicks and bunnies! Stay tuned....

So, I moved on to my jellies... I wanted to make lemon, kiwi and blackberry. We started with lemon and yet another FAIL!!!! They seemed to set up beautifully but when sugared they wept! I mean rivers of tears...so we moved on to kiwi jellies...which voila..


...look perfecto! They set up perfectly and luckily no crying here. The taste is okay. My complaint is that they are not really "American sweet". They sorta remind me of the sweets I had in Spain that are interesting but not really what I would crave. But they are so pretty! Hopefully the kids will like them better than me.

So, determined to have some lemon flavored candies I try to make a lemon gumdrop recipe. It seems to go well but a few days later and its still gummy...but its been raining and raining and raining...

Until today...its dry (but still humid as all that wetness steams off of the earth) BUT.... I end up having this bad asthma attack, go to the doctor, spend the day feeling like muck...until tonight, the breathing treatment and the steriods start to kick in and I am up for another whole-hearted try.

After my first, second and third attempts at pulling sugar I am not up for burning myself again after spending the day nursing my lungs back to health. So I make pineapple hard candy but decide to skip the pulling.

Lets backtrack a little. I found these awesome plastic Easter candy molds at an antique market a while back. Normally these molds are for chocolate, but I got them cheap so I thought that I would take the risk of them melting. I got lucky this time and they did not melt.


They came out great. Only trouble is that I cannot work fast enough and the candy started to darken in the pan before I could get them done. No worries, they just look more amber than chick colored.


I wrapped some of them, but again the humidity was affecting the chicks so I sugared some of them too. They also look amazing so I don't know which I like better.

So, overall, I guess its not too bad, but I guess you just have to go with the flow. I have dreamt up some cute chocolate egg ideas to replace the failed jellies, so hopefully I will manage to get back on schedule before its time to actually start cooking Easter dinner.

On the list are:

1. Coloring eggs

2. Black Currant Hard Candy

3. Easter Egg Chocolates

4. Finishing the peeps

Think I can get it all done, wrapped, packaged, photographed etc in time? I don't know, but its nice to give all the children in my life homemade sweets!

Happy Candy Making!

Sweet Charity ;-)

Easter Candy

So I found this cute little ceramic Easter basket at Kohls and it inspired me to make some wonderful treats to fill it. Best part is, I had Kohls cash and it was on sale so I paid like $4 for this cutie. I was thinking about making more chocolates for the upcoming holiday, but I changed my mind. I like color schemes because it makes the gifts I make look so much more put together. So I decided that making pretty pastel candies would be just the thing. So...

I started with Green Apple Hard Candies. I tried to make swirled lollipops last weekend, but alas, pulling sugar is much harder than I had ever imagined. So needless to say, since you are not seeing pictures of the outcome...I failed miserably. But if at first you don't succeed...

The second try at hard candy went much better, other than my burned thumbs. So to make this wonderful candy opaque and get those lovely striations, you "pull" the candy before it hardens and AFTER it has cooled enough to work...

There must be some magic trick to this, or maybe its just takes a lot of experience, but this is definately not easy to do. I even studied my new cookbook Chocolates and Confections: Formula, Theory, and Technique for the Artisan Confectioner to try to learn how to do this properly. This book reads much more like a textbook than a cookbook even though it has recipes because it explains the science behind the process of making confections. In some ways that was very helpful, but it still didn't help me much with the "pulling" part.

Once you pull the candy and it is opaque and aerated, you stretch the candy into a long rope and cut it into peices with scissors. This was also problematic because it was cooling too fast and after the first 10 peices or so, they were breaking off instead of forming a cute little pillow shape.

I separated the batch into two since I was working alone on these. The second batch I left in the pan to stay warm since I didn't have a warming lamp. This batch was easier to work, but the color darkened to a sickly yellowish green.

Green Apple Candy

2 cups granulated sugar

1/2 cups water

3/4 cups corn syrup

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 teaspoon green apple extract

1/4 teaspoon citric acid

green food coloring

Cook the sugar and water over high heat until the sugar dissolves and the water starts to boil. Then add the corn syrup and cream of tartar and cook to 313 F degrees without stirring. Take the mixture off the heat and add the citric acid, extract and food coloring. Stir to combine. Pour into molds or onto a lightly oiled surface to set up.

So long story short, the candies are made and I am only burned a little. I individually wrapped the peices in cellophane because the outsides are still slightly sticky. They look so pretty in a glass bowl and they taste pretty good too.

I should point out that you do not need to pull the candy to make hard candy. They sell molds for this purpose, or you can just break apart the slab of candy after it cools. You can even make lollipops without too much trouble. It's just that I am the kind of person that doesn't do anything the easy way, even if ithe task requires bodily harm.

So, after this lovely batch was made and the hubby got home we made another batch that was watermelon flavored. I thought, it has to get easier the more you do it, right?

WRONG!!!

Now I have small burns on all my fingers...so my conculsions are thus...

1) use gloves ( I have seen a variety of types recommended online from plastic to leather)

2) I think my kitchen has to be warmer because my marble countertops were too cold. The batch that cooled more slowly in the pan worked much better, making me think that the 60 degree spring weather inside my house is not conducive to candy making. (this is also true of chocolates)

3) Just buy Jolly Ranchers!!!

Just kidding...I really like to make things myself. There is nothing like giving someone something you've made yourself.

I had planned on making two more flavors....Pineapple and Black Currant. I'll let you know if I am brave enough to try it again!

Happy Spring

Sweet Charity ;-)

Good things come in small sizes!

Recently I made these mini-tarts for a workshop I attended. I love the idea of mini treats! I grew up with my mom baking pies, so naturally I was drawn to the All-American idea! However, as an adult I quickly became interested in tarts, which although similar to pies, are a bit more fancy and the flavors usually a little more complex. Mini-tarts are not much harder to make than regular tarts but you need some equipment and supplies. You will need some mini tart tins, aluminum foil, and rice or beans.

The process is very similar to a tart, in that you make the crust and blind bake them before adding the filling. Roll the dough into a large round and cut into smaller peices to fit the tins. Press the dough into the tins, rolling the dough over the edges. Then, take a rolling pin and roll it over the tin to cut off the excess dough. Cover the dough with aluminum foil and fill it with rice or beans. Blind bake according to the recipe directions. The recipes I used were Espresso Ganache Tartlets, Pear Almond Tarts, and Lemon Curd Tarts. I did not use the blueberries on the lemon curd tarts, but I have in the past and this recipe is perfection, especially on a summer day. To top off the tarts I piped on some whipped cream and voila!!! Easy-peasy mini treats that are great for a party.

The best part is that you can make these a few days in advance of your shindig and keep them in the fridge. I have made mini tarts for Thanksgiving but Easter is a perfect opportunity for mini goodness, that way all of your guests can sample all the flavors without guilt!!!! Enjoy!!! Sweet Charity

April Fool's Day & Giveaway

Whats better than a little April Fool's Day prank? These are cookies, even the plate!!!

This was a really fun project and you can go as simple or as complicated as you want to go. These bacon and fried egg cookies could be served on a regular plate too...or you can just make the eggs.

So, here's how to make the eggs. Make your favorite sugar cookies. Roll out the dough and cut out various blob shapes. Then roll quarter size balls out of some of the dough and flatten it with your palm slightly. Bake the cookies and let cool. Make your royal icing and separate some out to be made into yellow. Place your "egg yolk" cookies on a cooling rack and spoon yellow royal icing over top. Once the excess icing has dripped off (and before they start to dry) transfer the "egg yolks" carefully to a peice of wax paper. Let yolks dry to touch.

Next, put the "egg whites" onto a clean cooling rack and spoon white icing over top. Follow the same process as before, let excess drip off and then transfer to a clean peice of wax paper. Drop an "egg yolk" onto the "egg white" and let dry to touch. Super easy and a perfect gag for your friends and family!

Want to make the bacon? Take some sugar cookie dough and divide it into three parts. Color part a light reddish brown color and one a darker reddish brown color. Leave the third part "white". Roll a quarter sized peice of each color into a long strip. Take the three strips and roll the together horizontally. Be careful to not roll them too much, just enough to combine the doughs. Gently roll out the dough with a rolling pin into a bacon strip size. Transfer the strips to a cookie sheet and wrinkle dough to make look like fried bacon. Bake and VOILA! Tricky bacon cookie pranks! If you want to go the extra mile and make the plate, its not hard to bake but the icing part is much harder. You will need a plate that is oven safe. I used one of Williams-Sonoma's Everyday dinnerware. Roll out a large piece of sugar cookie dough and place on your oven-safe plate. Press the dough into the plate to form the shape of the plate. Then bake the dough on the plate. Once the cookie is completely cooled, gently remove from the plate. I dipped the plate into a large bowl of royal icing, doing both sides at once, but it may be easier to do one side at a time. After the royal icing dried, I dry brushed more food coloring on the "plate" to make it look like a handcrafted piece of pottery. Now its GIVEAWAY time!!!!!

Remember those awesome St. Patricks Cupcakes with the Cupcake Creations liners? Well, the company has given me seven packages (I have two of #5) of liners to giveway to my readers! If you want to win a package of these fabulous cupcake liners...

1) "Follow" my blog (on the right side of the page)

2) "Subscribe" to my blog (at the bottom of the page)

3) Finally, leave a comment to this post saying that you've "Subscribed" and "Followed" my blog and tell me which Cupcake Creations liners you would like to receive along with your email address.

I will choose 7 winners at random using random.org on Sunday April 3, 2011. I will try my best to send winners thier desired cupcake liners, but prizes will be dependent upon the requests and the order of prize drawing. Entries that do not "Follow", "Subscribe" and leave an email address will be disqualified.

Good Luck and Happy April Fool's Day!

Sweet Charity

Shamrock Delights

I love to bargain shop for interesting baking supplies. I always find cute and useful items that are reasonably priced and get my creative juices flowing. On Friday, I found Paula Deen cupcake pans at Ollies, that will replace my old rusty set. Then at TJ Maxx I found some really great cupcake liners that are extra thick made by Cupcake Creations.
St Patrick's Day is coming and I wanted to make something cute with my my bargain finds that would also use some Irish products. I thought I would make a Guinness cake with Baileys buttercream, but when I went to the store I found some other brands of Stout and Irish Cream made in Ireland that I thought I would give a try.

Kevin and I did a blind taste test to try out the Irish Cream, comparing Baileys to Carolans. Surprisingly, we both thought that the Carolans was better. It had better flavor, although a little thinner in texture/ At half the price , Carolans can't be beat. For the stout we used O'haras. No taste test here because I don't drink beer. (That's right, no green beer for me. Instead I'll take green Irish Cream spiked frosting!!!!)

The Chocolate Stout Cake recipe I used is from Epicurious and was easy to make. My mom and I usually use the recipe on the back of the Hersheys box, but this was even better. So moist and rich and most likely fool proof since I normally can't make a cake to save my life! I made the batter with Penzey's Dutch processed cocoa. Once upon I time I would use the Hershey's Dutch Processed Cocoa, but lately its been hard to find in stores. You can order Penzey's online, but if you live in the DC metro area, there is a store in Falls Church, VA.

While the cake was baking, I made shamrocks to make this project fancy and festive. This is a very easy project, if you just have a few items. I started out by printing out a sheet of shamrock pictures, which I taped under wax paper on a cookie sheet.

To make the shamrocks, you'll need a good semisweet chocolate, green candy melts and a couple of plastic bottles. I love the small decorator bottles because you can choose the size tip you want.

Break up the chocolate if you are not using candy melts and place in microwave safe bowls. Microwave on the defrost setting of your microwave at one minute intervals, stirring frequently. After the chocolate is melted fill the plastic bottles.

Pipe the dark chocolate outline leaving the center of the leaves open. Only do 2 to 3 shamrocks at a time to prevent them from setting up too quickly.

Fill the inside of the leaves with the green chocolate. The leaves are almost heart shaped, so when piping keep it simple and easy by dragging the bottle in a V shape. If you have a holiday in the chocolate, use a toothpick to spread the chocolate. Do not tap the pan, as the chocolate will spread and ruin the crisp shape.

To combine the colors, drag a toothpick through the dark chocolate into the green, starting at the indent of the leaves. Start with the left leaf, pulling into the center. Move onto the right leaf, cleaning the toothpick with a paper towel after each swipe. Finish with the top leaf dragging into the middle of the stem. Let the shamrocks set up at room temperature or transfer to the refrigerator for a few minutes.

Here are the cakes before decorating. I actually made the layers with pans that are a couple inches smaller than the typical 8/9 inch size. This made it so I could make a nice sized cake and cupcakes with the same batch of batter. The new cupcake liner I got were so wonderful because the liner did not get oily when baking.

The buttercream was made with the Carolans Irish Cream. So easy....3 sticks of salted butter, one 32 oz bag of confectioners sugar and Irish Cream to taste. I wanted a very soft consistency, so I used a lot! I started out with a couple tablespoons, but in the end I might have used more than a quarter of a cup! I colored the icing green and swirled it onto the cupcakes, sprinkled the frosting with chocolate jimmies and topped off each confection with a shamrock.

Here's the finished cake. I need to practice my piping skills, but overall I am very happy to have out-witted my cake curse. I also made Guinness ice cream which I will sample with the sous chef (I mean husband) when we cut into this luscious cake tomorrow night. I think I might just skip dinner tomorrow!

Happy Baking!

Sweet Charity

Mardi Gras Cupcakes Gone Wild!!!!

Warning!!!! Naughty cupcakes below!

For all of you that are reading my blog and assuming that baking is always easy for me, let this last minute entry prove you wrong. I decided weeks ago to make Mardi Gras Cupcakes... I started planning, buying molds, supplies etc. Then, my well meaning husband told me about this local cake contest...

Let me back track a little. I have this curse. Seriously, a witch cast a spell on me forever dooming every cake I bake... I even have trouble with the boxed ones. I can make almost anything else, pies, cookies, cupcakes, candy. I can even cook, but cakes are my nemesis.

So my husband calls me on Wednesday from work and tells me about this cake contest that has just been announced that is taking place on Saturday. So I am like, "honey, I can't make cakes, plus I have these Mardi Gras girls to make". He then basically eggs me on and tells me it would be good for the blog...

I am not one to back down to a challenge, so I turn all cake boss and plan this cake with three scenes, done in fondant (which I have never used on a cake).

Long story short, by mid Friday I had 6 collapsing layers of lemon chiffon cake with a sloppy wrinkled fondant covering... So, with my tail between my legs, I gave up.

By this time the kitchen is a disaster, but I still have to make Mardi Gras cupcakes... I planned to make the tops out of cakeballs and dip them in candy coating. The cakeballs came out great with the mold but when I dipped them, they fell apart. The few that stayed intact cracked.

So again I gave up...

Luckily, I am not a complete quitter. The cupcakes below were my last ditch effort to create naughty cupcakes gone wild. I abandoned the cakeballs and used fondant, which although less appetizing looks cute.

I have been to New Orleans and partaken in the jazz, hurricane drinks and beignets but I've never been to Mardi Gras. I have to say that with the tales I have heard from friends I think I would rather celebrate Fat Tuesday from afar...except...

...for the boobs! Breasts are a wonderful thing to be admired and adorned... So these luscious cupcakes are dedicated to everyone who loves boobs or who has celebrated Mardi Gras...especially that wonderful blond fellow on the West Coast, you know who you are...

So whether or not you plan to take part in all the raucous festivities, raise a glass today to all those women who are baring boobs for beads!

Happy Baking!
Sweet Charity