Happy Valentine's Day

Hi there!

I made these cupcakes for Valentine's Day.  Nothing too crazy... good old vanilla cupcakes with vanilla buttercream!  I find that sometimes I get into making different desserts that I forget the classics.  So when I was in the mood for a vanilla and vanilla cupcake, I decided I would make them with hearts that I piped with leftover royal icing a couple weeks ago.  

It is really simple to do.  Whenever I am decorating cookies, I most likely have leftover icing.  Instead of throwing it out, sometimes I pipe different shapes onto a silpat mat and let them dry for 48 hours.  Then, once they are completely dry, I put them in a small airtight container and keep them for months.  Then, I can use them on upcoming cookies, cupcakes, and cakes.  

Some things that I have made with extra icing are hearts (red and pink), roses, and circles (the middle of flowers or eyes) just to name a few. 

Last year I made heart shaped Turtle Brownies and Red Velvet cake!  Yum!!!  

What desserts or treats are you making or having for Valentine's Day?!  

Since I won't be with my hubby this year for Valentine's Day, I plan on watching some kind of Romantic movie with some chocolates!  :-)  

I hope you all have a very sweet day!

Valentine Heart Macarons

I have been wanting to make French Macarons for awhile now and with Valentine's Day just a few weeks away, I thought I would make them pink and hearts!  I filled mine with creamy chocolate ganache!  Yum!  

I know macarons can be a bit intimidating but these are very easy!  I did have a few that were not so pretty, but I just used them for the bottom cookie.  No one will ever know.  Except now you all know.  

Oh well!  Food is not going to be perfect!  Unless it comes from a machine, chances are that they will not all be identical!  Now on to the recipe!

French Macarons:

Makes 24 

Ingredients

• 2 oz. Powdered Almonds (you can find these in most grocery stores or here online) 
• 4 oz. Powdered Sugar
• 2 oz. Egg whites
• 2 tbsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp vanilla
• pink food coloring

Ganache

• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 5 oz. milk or dark chocolate, chopped
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine powdered almonds and powdered sugar in bowl and set aside.
3. Whip egg whites to soft peaks.  Add sugar, salt and vanilla to glossy, stiff peaks.
4. Right before you are done beating the egg whites, add the food coloring to achieve your desired color.
5. Fold in dry ingredients a third at a time.  Do not overmix!
6. Gently put mixture into piping bag.
7. Pipe approximately 2 inch hearts onto silpat lined baking sheet.  They can be pretty close together, as they will not spread very much but make sure they are not touching.  I did 4 rows of 6.  I got 2 sheet pans out of this recipe.
8. Lightly dust with powdered sugar and allow to stand for 10 minutes.
9. Bake for approximately 12 minutes until they are dry and no longer look wet.  
10. Let cool completely on pan.
11. To make the Ganache: heat cream in a small pot just until it starts to steam.
12. Pour over chopped chocolate in a small bowl.  
13. Let stand for 5 minutes to let the hot cream slowly melt the chocolate.
14. Stir the mixture together and until thick and smooth.  If there are any little pieces of chocolate that have not melted, you can microwave it for 15 seconds until everything is melted.
15. Cover with plastic wrap and place in fridge for 20 minutes to cool.
16. While you are waiting, take macarons off the baking sheet and match all the cookies up with another cookie.  That way you will make a little sandwich with the ganache.  Dust off any excess powdered sugar.
17. Once ganache is cooled, put into piping bag.
18. Pipe a quarter sized amount of ganache onto the inside of one cookie, and place the other cookie on top to make a sandwich.  *The ganache should not be running out the sides.  If it is, you either put too much or it has not cooled enough.  
19. Enjoy!

macarons before they go into the oven

matching the macarons up with a "partner"

chopped chocolate in a bowl ready for the hot cream

pouring the hot cream over the chocolate

all ready to start piping

amount of ganache for the middle of the macaron

lots of little macarons

Mmm!  Can't wait to try one :-)

Extra special heart shaped pink Macarons for Valentine's Day!

What is YOUR favorite filling for a macaron?!  

Hope you all enjoy this recipe!

Mini Hearts

Valentine's Day is just over a month away!  It seems crazy to me to be thinking about Valentine's Day already because I feel like Christmas just ended!  Oh and also I just had a birthday.  January is a big birthday month in my family.  January and May.  

Having a birthday in January is sometimes a bummer.  I mean, it's just about 2 weeks after Christmas first of all.  Everyone spends a lot of time getting ready for Christmas, that I feel like sometimes my birthday doesn't get the attention it would get, say if my birthday was in May.  Another thing that is no fun is that is most likely is snowy and very cold.  Living in Pittsburgh my whole life, and and since I will soon be living in Canada, I don't think I have any way of escaping the cold.  Even though I don't always love the snow, I would not want to live where it is warm all year round.  

I have friends who live in the south, and always like to mention how warm it is there.  Who would want to miss the changing of the seasons?  I know I wouldn't.  Each season lasts just long enough to get excited and be ready for the new season.  I love fall, and you do not have fall in the south like we do here!  

Anyways, so now I have made some mini hearts for Valentine's Day.  

I made these with the leftover icing I had from my birthday cookies.  I love this color combination!  It's fun and youthful and not the traditional Valentine's red and pink.  Though I am sure you will see some cookies like that in the month to come!   

I really had no idea what I would do on these cookies, so I just did whatever idea popped into my head!  And I have to say that I am happy with how they turned out!  

These would be super cute packaged in a glass jar tied with a ribbon, like the Christmas cookies I made.  

Enjoy!

Weddings, Weddings and more Weddings!

Fall is always a busy time for weddings!  I just went to a wedding last weekend, I have another one this weekend and then I get married in October.  So, I of course had to make some wedding cookies!

Last weekend, my fiance's friend Mike got married so he gave these cookies to them at the rehearsal dinner.  

All wrapped up and ready to go!

School is out!

I am happy to say that I have been done with my schooling for a few years now, but I always loved the beginning of summer (especially because I didn't have to go to school for a few months!).  I went to school in Pennsylvania, and would normally be done around the first week of June.  However, here in Canada, school just got out last week!  June 29!  It's crazy to me!

Here are some cookies that I made for a lady who is giving these teacher cookies to her daughter's teachers, and the hearts on a stick to the kids in the class.  

I made apples, chalk boards, crayons and pencils.  

Everything is iced.  Now it must dry before I put the finishing touches on!

BLUE CRAYONS!

All done!!  These have to be some of my favorite cookies that I have made!  

Chalk board cookies.

Big red apple!

Here are the hearts to be given to the girl's classmates.  

All wrapped up and tied with a purple ribbon!

I love these cookie pops!  They make eating a cookie so much fun!  I had to make a couple extra so Jeff and I could enjoy one.  :-)