Thursday, April 21, 2011

Who says Green can't be sweet..?

So today hasn't gone exactly as planned...but has still been very sweet so far. Slept in this morning, got ready for the day, and now I'm listening to some awesome mix of Papa Roach and Nickelback (2 of my favorite bands!) while I sip on my very yummy sweet Green Monster smoothie..

yummm [:

I've become pretty fond of these deliciously healthy energy boosters! It is basically just a spinach smoothie with a whole lot of healthy additives...not to mention sweet additives! 
I prefer mine to consist of..
  • 8 oz Almond Milk ( I like to use Silk Pure Almond)
  • 6 oz yogurt ( any kind, I like to use a fruit flavored one!)
  • 2-3 strawberries
  • 1/4 cup blueberries
  • 1/4 cup whatever type of nut/nut spread you prefer ( i recently found a new love for Nutella!)
  • 1 handful of spinach
  • 1 squeeze of honey [;

Blend all together..! Add some ice for thickening it up a bit if you'd like! 

They are really good with any choice of fruit. I don't always use those ingredients, but is a favorite of mine! Its also really fun to come up with a new smoothie when you can! That's why I enjoy them so much..they're kinda fun to make. [:

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

So far so sweet!

So it's decided. Joe now knows exactly what kind of cake and how the cake is going to be decorated for his birthday. Teehee oh well! He's going to be enjoying all the easter baking fun with me tomorrow. We both were lucky enough to have the day off together! (He works in the bakery at HEB!)

We took a trip to Michael's Craft Store and picked up some of the items I needed to bake with. I seriously can spend hours in that store if he'd let me! I absolutely love to look through all of the cool and fun things they have to decorate with.

For Joe's cake I bought a star shaped pan and the cake is going to be decorated like a weight lifter. I got the idea from Wilton's website!

It's so cute isn't it?!


We also decided the cake was going to be a chocolate coconut cake with a coconut icing. Yumm I can't wait to see how it all turns out! 


So since Easter is so soon, we have been really busy at work with orders and getting all of the Easter items out. As much as I love decorating it has been seriously stressful lately. I have a pretty lazy boss so everything is usually left to my awesome co-worker Christel and myself. If it wasn't for her I don't know what I'd do! She's a wayyyy better and more experienced decorator than myself so I like to get ideas and techniques from her :]

We usually have what we call a tiered cupcake cake in our display case and today Christel made one for Easter..
 love it!



Welp, gotta go celebrate the night! 



Keep life as sweet as can be

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Isn't life sweet?

Welcome to my all sweets blog! I'm so excited to show everyone how much I love to bake and decorate cakes. I am 20 years old and I'm originally from SUGAR Land, Texas. I am currently living in Bryan, Texas with my amazing boyfriend, Joe. We have two beautiful beagles ( Whom we also love to spoil with treats!) Bella and Lola.

I decided the perfect way to start out my blog was to give everyone a sweet peak at what I will be baking for Easter Sunday! 


My family and I love to celebrate Easter with a picnic so I figured what better treat than Pink Lemonade Cookie Pops! 

This will be my first time baking these cookies so I'm SUPER excited to get started. I think I may decorate the cookies just a tad bit different than the picture...but you'll have to wait to see what they look like!

If you'd like to give these a try yourself, here's the recipe:

Cookies
  • 3 cup(s) all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon(s) baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon(s) salt
  • 1 can(s) (12 ounces) frozen pink-lemonade concentrate, thawed, 1 1/2 cups (reserve 1/2 cup for the icing)
  • 8 drop(s) red food coloring
  • 1 cup(s) (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 1/4 cup(s) granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 teaspoon(s) grated lemon zest
  • 48  (4 1/2- to 6-inch) lollipop sticks
Icing
  • 1/2 cup(s) reserved thawed pink-lemonade concentrate
  • 1/2 teaspoon(s) grated lemon zest
  • 2 cup(s) confectioners' sugar
  •  Sifted coarse white decorating sugar

Directions
  1. Cookies: Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Combine 1 cup of the lemonade concentrate with food coloring in a small bowl. Beat butter and granulated sugar in a large mixer bowl on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. On low speed, add flour mixture alternately with the lemonade mixture, in 3 additions, beginning and ending with the flour; mix until just combined. Stir in zest. Cover; refrigerate until firm, 3 hours or overnight. (Dough will be sticky.)
  2. Place oven racks in upper and lower third of oven. Heat oven to 350°F. Line 4 large baking sheets with parchment or nonstick foil. Flour hands, then roll 1 rounded Tbsp of dough at a time into smooth balls. Place 12 balls on each prepared baking sheet, 6 inches apart. Insert a lollipop stick into the top of each cookie, about 3/4 of the way through; flatten slightly. Bake 10 to 12 minutes, or until edges are lightly browned. Cool 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before icing.
  3. Icing: Beat reserved 1/2 cup lemonade concentrate, lemon zest, and confectioners' sugar in a mixer bowl on medium speed until smooth. Spread icing on cookies. When icing is almost set, sprinkle with coarse white decorating sugar.




I also will be baking my wonderful boyfriend a birthday cake to bring to our Easter Celebration! ( He turns 21 on April 28th! excitinggg!!)

I've decided sense I will be making the cookie pops, a cake, AND another secret treat that his cake will be a traditional chocolate cake. However, I will be decorating the cake extra special for my sweetheart! I haven't quite come up with the theme yet but I'm working on it!

These are my ideas so far :

Of course a cake decorated with beer bottles
Weight lifting theme (we've been really trying to get in shape lately!)
Gambling theme



Well, that's all for today! Until next time friends! :]


Keep life as sweet as can be