Crispy Rice Treats

I had a lot of those marshmallows left and my grandma has been bugging me to make rice crispy's treats so in they went into a large sauce pan. I added about a teaspoon of vanilla for extra flavor.

They're meeeelting... bye bye marshmallows!

I looked up the recipe online for this because I've never made them before. Ingredients include: butter, marshmallows and crispy rice. So simple. I didn't even bother measuring anything. I melted the butter with the marshmallows until it was all melted then I added the crispy rice.

I poured a little at a time until I had to my liking. I'm glad I added the vanilla. It gave it more flavor.

In to a greased up pan. Spreaded it with a greased up spatula.

Crispy rice treats! Yummy while warm....

Why did I just blog this? This wasn't an adventure. I guess I'm just going to blog what ever I do in the kitchen...

Checkin' out the competition

I bought this cupcake at a cake decorating supply store. This would be my first time buying cupcakes because I always made them. This right here was the only kind they had but I didn't mind because I love chocolate and I hate sprinkles by the way.

I loved how it was moist but I hated how it was so fudgy, chocolatey which I love but so fudgy. You would definitely need to have a glass of milk standing by because this piece of work stuck all over the inside of my mouth. Frosting was light which was probably the best part about it.

I purchased this "gourmet" cuppie at my nieghborhood Raley's the day after my chocolate fudge cupcake esxperience. I always run there when my pantry is missing few ingredients and I always oogle at their cake section. A few weeks ago I noticed that they sold cupcakes individually but I've never tried them because they didn't look so gourmet-ey to me although the sign said otherwise. I decided to give it a shot.

I thought this certain cupcake was a special one because it had coconut on top while the other cuppies were plain vanilla and chocolate. I thought maybe the cake would be a lemon or something cake. Nope. Just plain ole vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream (which I don't think had any vanilla in it) with coconut shavings sprinkled on top.

Taste test? "D". The cake was light and airy which was the complete opposite of the frosting. I thought the frosting was a whipped cream frosting by the looks of it but it was buttercream. Buttercream that was thick with a whole lot of sugar crystals. So it was like chewing on sand with my cupcake. I believe the coconut was there specifically for presentation because there was nothing coconut about the cake.

No one sells any good cupcakes here! This just made me realize my cupcakes are spectacular compared to the ones I've tasted. Problem is, no one really cares for cupcakes around here. I asked my boyfriend what he thinks about making cupcakes for our son's christening and he thought it was soooo tacky. I asked why because this surprised me and he associated cupcakes with childrens partys, classroom parties where the cupcakes are plain chocolate or vanilla and frosted with neon colored frosting which all tastes the same then topped with colorful sprinkles and a plastic ornament. I obviously haven't showed him what I can do yet... Nor you!

Hahaha... till then... Happy baking!!

Kellsa's Lunar Pies

Right after my failure with the gumpaste I asked my sister if she would like to make dessert for tonight. It would be our own creation, our recipe! I love spending time with my family especially when we're cooking or baking something.

I first ask my lil sis what she would like me to bake. She pulled out this box of chocolate cake mix and I immediately roll my eyes because I loathe cakes in a box. She then points to the side of the box where there is a recipe for ice cream sandwiches and asks if we can make them but then I remind her that we need ice cream for that. She sadly returns the cake mix back into the cupboard. Earlier I was craving for hot chocolate made from scratch and I was thinking of making the marshmallows from scratch also because I just bought a candy thermometer earlier today and I was dying to try it out.

So, here is where my light bulb turned on. How about some marshmallow sandwiches? It was a good compromise don't you think? And yes, we used the cake mix because what else were we going to do with it? Throw it away? Haha. If you knew me you'd know that I hate to waste. Now, my sister starts on the cookies which are made out of the cake mix.

That's her right there. Right after I took this picture I asked her if she would like to add some nuts to it. I had some macadamia nuts in the cupboard so we decided to use that. My sister then had to put those four cookie doughs back into the bowl so she could incorporate the nuts into the mix. Sorry, sister. The cake mix we used was the Pillsbury chocolate cake mix and you should find the recipe on the side of the box.

Cookies are all done but I think they still looked a little plain.

Side note: We are making our version of the famous Moon Pies. Now, Moon Pies are graham cracker cookies dipped in chocolate and sandwiched between two of those cookies are marshmallows. I didn't intend this. We just wanted to eat something sweet tonight that we were both craving.

I then decided to drizzle some white chocolate on top of the cookies. My sister went ahead an did this while I made the marshmallows.

While she's doing that I'm waiting for my sugar syrup to reach 240 degrees farenheit.


Not yet...

MMmm... lookin' good already!

Okay, sugar is done. Now into the mixer...

11 more minutes.


Two more minutes.


Marshmallows!! I made marshmallows! Oh my goodness is it sticky. I quickly put some of this soft marshmallow into a piping bag and then I piped it on to half of the cookies.


We were only able to make 11 of these so I put the rest of the marshmallow batch into a pan so they can harden. Then I'm going to cut them up and store them so I can use the marshmallows in my hot chocolate.

That was fun. I wanted to name this new creation so I decided to name it Kellsa's Lunar Pies. Kell after me and Sa after my lovely sister.

Everyone, if you love marshmallows make your own homemade batch because the effort is well worth it.

Here is where I got the recipe. I'm a big fan of Alton Brown. Alton... I like that name... Alton. Remember, you need a candy thermometer for this recipe and once it's done mixing it's super sticky so use pan spray on your spatula or whatever you're using to get it out. Happy baking!

Marshmallow Recipe

Gumpaste 1

Trying my luck with gumpaste... After that last disaster I concluded that I should practice with this new medium. I decided on trying to make the plumeria.


Here are the petals... so far so good... But you know, they do need some color.


I picked out the only yellow I had which is a golden yellow, but I didn't like what was happening to my plumeria so I eventually got lazy.


My half-assed plumeria... Ta Dah!

Note: Needs more practice.

Julieanna

I had to make a cake for my niece's Christening this past weekend. My sister-in-law didn't choose a kind of cake she wanted so I decided to make my oh-so-delicious Red Velvet cake. I only had one 12 inch round cake pan so I had to make 3 seperate batches. Here was my system...

Combine ingredients as directed

Bake

Cool
Release from pan

Repeat 2x's more

It was a long night...

The frosting I used was my own concoction. It's my very own Mascarpone Cream Cheese frosting.



I decorated the cake the next day with flowers that I had made ahead of time out of fondant. I didn't use gumpaste because, well, I didn't have any and I was already pressed for time. I thought fondant would be okay.

Hmm... a little royal icing in the middle and these should come out nice!

All done. Now I just have to get ready...

Disaster...

The fondant melted. The cake is ruined!

I pulled myself together and I went to church to watch my niece get christened into the church. Of course I can't relax because there is a huge cake at home melting and I have to present this to my family.

After church I rush to Michael's and picked up a roll of ribbon.

I still came out all right. I was a little disappointed because I had something else in mine but... you live and you learn! Don't use fondant flowers on frosting... The flowers on top was all right and they used to hold a shape but because flat and the sides started to ooze but I don't think anyone noticed.

The cake served it's purpose... rest in peace.

Almond macaroons

So, I decide to try my luck with almond macaroons. The recipe I have is a real simple one which consists of almond paste, sugar and egg whites. Mix, mix, mix and this is what I got.


Okay, so it didn't magically end up in the pastry bag but that is the whole batch which I cut down four times because I didn't know how it was going to turn out. Directions then tell me to pipe them onto parchment paper in quarter sized mounds.



Nice. Not really. I'm not very trained with the piping but those are satisfactory to me! All right... into the 350 degree Fahrenheit oven and bake for 10 minutes.


Hollow macaroons... I don't think that's right. Well, that is the first batch. Let's try again.


Hmmm... they're okay... They were a little chewy but I loved the strong almond flavor. It was my first time using almond paste and I'll definitely use it again. These not the macaroons I was hoping for but I do have another recipe for another day.


By the way, my grandma attacked these and she was oh so satisfied.

Here is the recipe I used. The recipe is already cut down and it makes about 40 macaroons.

8 oz Almond paste
8 oz Sugar
3 oz Egg whites

Blend all ingredients together. If the mixture is too stiff for a pastry bag use a little bit of egg whites to soften it.

Try dipping these cookies in melted chocolate or white chocolate. They taste incredible.

My first blog... ever

My goodness... what to say?

So, I just write whatever I want, right?

Okay, here goes...

I've been itching to bake something for about a week now but I can't. I have no eggs. I need eggs. Although I've been contemplating on vegan baking I don't have the necessary ingredients for those either.

You see, I have a son. A really young one and it isn't that easy to just up and go to the store anymore. Even if that store is just less than a mile away, it seems like it isn't. To me, that less than a mile store is across the ocean now. What am I doing? I'm not complaining about my boy! Okay, I'm just lazy.

Yadah, yadah, yadah I want to bake something! Tomorrow I'm going to Costco and buying some eggs in bulk so I don't run out anymore.