dressing up for halloween.

Sometimes I wish I was crazy about Halloween. I like the idea of getting into costume and/or make-up and being someone, or something, other than myself. However, I'm not creative. And I feel like being Asian and not skinny really limits my pre-made costume options. That and I don't like shelling out $30plus for a costume that I'll only wear once.

Even as a kid, I didn't really dress up. I can only remember three costumes:

1) A couple years in a row I was a cheerleader. And it wasn't a cute costume...it was that nylon/polyester material that was stretchy and kinda shiny...and terrible. 

2) Another year I was a police officer. My sister's bf at the time had a sheriff's badge, and I found an old police shirt at a thrift store. I wore black pants and my imitation Doc Martens. I thought I was badass. Hahaha.

3) One year in high school, I was an angel. I wore a white dress and the typical white, wired angel wings with the silver glitter detail. Nothing exciting or original.  

Last year, I discovered that the high school that I work at is very big into Halloween. I was told I *had* to dress up or I would stick out like a sore thumb. So I stressed. What costume could I get where I could still function (and walk through crowded hallways) and not get fired over for being too revealing? Options were limited. So what did I go as?

A newsie. Hopefully you know what I'm talking about.

This year, I couldn't decide what to do. So I walk with a low head as I make my way through the hallways.

Instead of shopping in search of inspiration for a costume, I searched for decor and other such unnecessary items that would make the hubs question: "What is that for?" or "Why do we need that?" But I can't help it. I love going to the stores when they change over their holiday-related merchandise. A month or so ago, I came across these:

And though it may be predictable to use these special marshmallows to make the beloved crispy rice cereal treats, in the spirit of Halloween, I dressed them up a little.

Pumpkin Spice Rice Crispy Treat Cupcakes

Ingredients:

Dulce de Leche:

1 can sweetened condensed milk

hot water

This takes the longest, so it's best to do this first (even a day or so before).

Pour sweetened condensed milk into a 9 inch pie plate. Place plate onto the center of a baking sheet with edges. Place in preheated oven to 425 degrees. Pour hot water around the outside of the pie plate (into the edged baking sheet). 

Bake for an hour, covered with foil. Dulce de leche should be a thicker consistency and caramel-colored. Transfer to a mixing bowl and whisk until smooth.

Since I pre-made my dulce de leche, I used mine straight from the fridge. This can be stored in a glass jar in the fridge for up to one month.  

Crispy rice treats

1 bag pumpkin spice marshmallows

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter

~5-6 cups of crispy rice cereal

In a large bowl, melt the butter. Add marshmallows and stir. Microwave 45 seconds and stir. Microwave another 45 seconds, then stir until marshmallows are melted together. Add cereal and mix until it's well coated. 

Press cereal mixture into lined cupcake pan and form a mound with the cereal on top. Repeat until all of the cereal mixture is used up. Let cool.

Spoon dulce de leche over molded crispy rice treats. If you spoon over too much, you may have to use a finger to wipe it up. Just sayin'.

Topping:

white chocolate or vanilla almond bark

Halloween/autumn themed sprinkles

Melt chocolate or bark in 30 second increments in the microwave.

Dip crispy rice treats (already topped with dulce de leche) into melted chocolate/bark. Top with sprinkles.

Let chocolate/bark harden. Then, ENJOY!

Note: These are great minus the "costume", but they're not as festive ;) Besides, the dulce de leche and white chocolate are definitely a welcomed bonus.

of course i eat fruit.

I try to eat healthy. Honest. The problem is, I *love* junk. It's so good to me. I'd rather have a waffle with some pumpkin spice kisses melted on the inside, instead of oatmeal...or anything of that nature. I even try to make my own breakfast sandwiches with whole grain, fiber-rich English muffins and turkey sausage, instead of stopping at the golden arches every morning. I've tried leaving out the cheese, but who am I kidding? (Side bar: My mom once told me to stop eating cheese so I wouldn't be so fat. So I cut it out of my diet for a while. And perhaps it was coincidence that I lost a couple pounds. But then I realized I'd rather be fat and cheesy, than skinny with no cheese. It's made a world of difference. And probably a few pounds.)

So to make up for my lack of "right" choices, I try to eat fruit (veggies are a whole 'nother story). I love my honey crisp apples, so during this time of year, I'm good. The hubs eats a banana and apple every day. So I try to eat a banana every day as part of my breakfast. Only...after Monday hits, I'm usually banana-ed out. Therefore, my uneaten bananas get a little brown. And the hubs won't touch a banana with one speckle of brown on it. Seriously.

On a good week, I'll save the ripened bananas, unpeel them, and freeze them, like so many bloggers do. And I love my banana nutella muffins (I throw some flax or chia seed up in there, just to make myself feel better). But honestly, I can banana nutella muffin myself out too. I know what you're thinking...I must be crazy, right? What can I say though? I like variety.

Now, one of my favorite restaurants is The Melting Pot. (There's a connection here, I swear it.) If you've never heard of this restaurant, it's all about fondue. It's especially great when you're catching up with your besties or old friends...some go for a romantical night out -- unfortunately, the hubs hates TMP (blasphemy!).

Anyway. The restaurant offers different flavors of chocolate fondue for dessert. A few years ago, they started offering a bananas foster fondue. Y.U.M. I'd never had bananas foster, but ohmygoodness was that fondue delicious. And immediately I thought, I *totally* want to make this into a cupcake! Fast forward to recent times, and naturally, I am not the first person with this brilliant idea.

So a few weeks ago, when my uneaten bananas made their way into the fridge to prolong their ripeness, I decided I was finally going to do it. I was going to make bananas foster cupcakes.

I always like to start with a search, and then piece together and adapt what I want. What did I search, you ask? Bananas foster cupcake. And then I searched bananas foster fondue. You can't be disappointed. Initially, I wanted to make a little fondue bowl out of the cupcake, but decided against it since the fondue would have no way of staying warm. But tell me how fun it would be to dip your extra cupcake piece into your bananas foster fondue cupcake bowl.

The actual result? Banana cupcake, lightly drenched in a banana rum sauce (the fondue "sludge" minus the white chocolate), topped with white chocolate butter cream, a couple of banana slices, and more sauce. Um, yah. EXACTLY that.

 

Thankfully, I had a couple of small gatherings with friends, and then I brought some in for my co-workers. I'm pretty sure I was everyone's favorite person. And that's always nice. To be the bringer of fruit, cupcake, AND happy feelings? Life is good. And so is this cupcake.

The fresh bananas on top and the banana cake balance out the rich, sweet taste of the white chocolate butter cream. And the banana rum sauce gives the cupcake a little something extra, without making it soggy. It's a perfect way to get a portion of your daily fruit intake! Now if only I had some left over...

  

baking baby.

If you follow me on Facebook, then you may (or may not) know that the hubs and I just moved a couple months ago. As I packed up my old kitchen, I dreamt about the cake plates and platters and such that have been stored in the garage over the years. And then I organized my baking supplies into gigantic storage containers, dreaming of using it all, and having it all easily accessible to me, now that they would have a dedicated place in our finished basement.

For a couple weeks after we had finally moved in, I was still in denial about having to cook again...I was under the impression we could get take out for dinner every night, despite the fact that our entire kitchen was unpacked, organized, and clean (oh yah, and that we now had a mortgage to pay).

Slowly but surely, though, I began getting to know my new oven. I started by acquainting myself with her friend, the stove. Then I worked up the courage to start courting her, with easy things, like frozen french fries (seriously people...the hubs and I have been eating out since May...I've kinda forgotten what real veggies are). 

Rather quickly, things got a little more serious. We spent more and more time together, as I worked my way up to a casserole and meals of the sort. And then...we decided...it was time. Our first time together was magical, and we made beautiful chocolate chip whoopie pies. 
So. Good. 
It almost made me forget about the past four years that I spent with my old oven. And what makes this relationship more exciting is the fact that I get to use all the things I had been longing to break out.

We've been baking together as much as my schedule allows, and I got my first official order based out of our new location. Baking with my new baby for a new baby. 

One little buggy adorned the sweet invitation, so naturally buggy cookies had to be made.

And of course some onesies.

Stripes, houndstooth, and polka dots. Perfect patterns for baby boys.

S'mores cupcakes: graham cracker crust, graham cracker and chocolate chip cake, marshmallow frosting .

Caramel Mocha cupcake: vanilla cake, caramel filling, mocha butter cream, chocolate covered espresso beans garnish.

Cupcake toppers to display a sweet message for the shower guests.

I must say, it was nice getting prepped to bake, since everything was organized much better than I had it in our other place. All of my icing bottles were in one place. My treat bags and boxes were all together. It was lovely. I could definitely get used to this.

 

It's nice to finally feel settled. Perhaps I'll go make s'more whoopie with the hubs my oven. hee hee ;)

s'more cake please.

What's your favorite s'mores-related memory?

Growing up, I made s'mores over a stove flame...no fire pits or camping for me. But this was just as well, as I could make as few or as many as I wanted, with less trouble, yet still got the perfect char on my marshmallow. And honestly, I made some s'mores in the microwave too. I liked watching it expand like a little balloon, and then deflate once the microwave stopped. [Being easily entertained was a necessity growing up in my house.]

Now that I'm grown, I still love me some s'mores. And from time to time, I find myself hanging out with friends, roasting some marshmallows over a real fire pit. But last year, when I was unemployed, I baked. And not always for anyone in particular. There were recipes I wanted to try, and didn't really think about who would consume whatever it was that came out of my oven. One particular recipe that I tried was for s'mores cupcakes. I figured I could find someone who would eat them.

I slightly adapted this recipe and loved it. And I wasn't the only one. The hubs happened to invite some of his co-workers over the next afternoon. At first they thought the cupcakes were decor. They were delightfully surprised when I told them it was their dessert. They proclaimed their super-satisfaction with a "this is soooooo good!" And then my nephew came over for dinner. He loved the cupcakes so much, I sent a few home with him. He was grateful...and I'm pretty sure he didn't share one bite with his sister.

So a couple weeks ago was said nephew's birthday. And he was also about to embark on a new journey, going to school near my parents. Starting a new chapter in his life by moving across the country, with the hopes of nothing but good things. And I wish him nothing but great things.

To celebrate, I baked a cake. Remembering how much he loved the s'mores cupcakes, I made a s'mores cake. And though it's not the prettiest of cakes, that fact is easily overlooked.

S'mores Cake (or cupcakes)

(slightly adapted from What's Cookin', Chicago?)

For graham cracker crust

1/2 c fine graham cracker crumbs (about 3 graham sheets)
graham crackers, crumbled (about 4 graham sheets)
1/2 c brown sugar, loosely packed

6 tbs unsalted butter, melted

Directions: Prepare one 8-inch cake pan: line bottom with parchment paper, grease and flour sides. (I did not line my pan, and therefore ruined it by taking a butter knife to it in order to get the cake out.) Prepare second 8-inch cake pan as usual for cake batter. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix ingredients in a small bowl, until all crumbs are coated in butter. Press into bottom of cake pan lined with parchment. Bake for about 7 minutes. It will look gooey, but will harden upon cooling. Prepare cake batter as crust bakes and cools.

For graham cracker cake

1/2 c all-purpose flour
1 1/2 c fine graham cracker crumbs (about 13 graham sheets)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 c milk
1 c milk chocolate chips

Directions: Sift together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder, and salt. Cream butter and sugar together, until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time. Mix until incorporated. Add vanilla. Alternately add flour mixture and milk, mixing well after each addition. Gently mix in chocolate chips using a spatula or wooden spoon.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour half of the batter on top of the cooled graham cracker crust. Pour the other half in prepared cake pan. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool completely.

For chocolate ganache

8 oz bittersweet chocolate

1/2 c heavy cream

Directions: Place chocolate in medium, heat-proof bowl.  On the stove, heat heavy cream to a slight simmer, about 6 minutes. Stir occasionally. Pour cream over chocolate. Let sit room temperature for 5-10 minutes. Stir until cream and chocolate are well blended. Cool in refrigerator for 30 minutes. Ganache should be smooth and easily spreadable.

I may or may not have doubled the ganache for this cake...a little more chocolate can't hurt, right?

For marshmallow cream cheese frosting

16 oz cream cheese, softened

16 oz marshmallow fluff

3/4 c powdered sugar

Directions: Cream together cream cheese and fluff until well blended. Add powdered sugar. Mix until incorporated.

The original recipe calls for a Swiss meringue marshmallow frosting, which I made the first time I made these as cupcakes. I loved it, but I prefer tasty and simple...and the cream cheese frosting is a little easier for me to make :P 

For garnish
12 graham cracker rectangles
12 chocolate squares

To assemble
Cake layer with graham cracker crust will be your bottom layer. Pour half of your chocolate ganache on top of cake. Fend off your niece who's trying to lick the bowl. Then smooth out the ganache. But no need to be perfect. Pour half of marshmallow frosting on top of ganache. Spread out, but again, no need to be perfect.

Carefully place next cake layer on top of frosting. Repeat ganache and frosting. I let some frosting 'drip' down the sides of the cake. Like I said, it's not "pretty", but it's delicious and messy, just like a s'more in its original form.

I garnished with graham crackers and chocolate squares, placed to mark each piece of cake -- 12 slices here. You can definitely do thinner slices, but I actually used a gigantic Hershey's bar for my chocolate squares, and even cut in half, they were still pretty big, so I just stuck with 12 pieces.

My nephew was super-excited about his cake. The whole family enjoyed it -- though I must suggest to have a pitcher of water nearby, as this cake is pretty decadent!

Such a great way to celebrate life and its adventures!! :)


And if you're still wondering where that quote is from... "You're killing me Smalls!!" hehehe 

I have a soft spot for babies. They're so cute and cuddly and I just wanna squish their little cheeks! [Note: At this juncture in my life, I have no babies of my own.] One of my cousins has six kids. 

That's right, I said six. Three of them are five and under. I'll let that sink in for a minute.

To an outsider, she makes it look rather easy. It's madness, I tell you. Straight up madness. And my family often questions when I have will have my own. Umm....lemme think about that for a second.

Right now, my baby is this new venture in my life. I'm loving it and giving it time to grow. So given the opportunity to do a little work for my cousin, and hopefully gain some new customers out of it -- I had to jump at the chance...despite the fact that I had less than two weeks. [This would be a good time to remind you all that I am still working full time. Those of you who work, bake your business, and have kids...you're crazy :P hehe]

When my cousin told me that the party's theme was Baby Mickey and she wanted 100 cake pops, I immediately thought of Bakerella and her amazing Mickey Mouse cake pops.  But I didn't want to get into all the detail that Bakerella had. Half of the cake pops were balls of various cake flavors, with light blue or light green candy melt coating adorned with the number '1'. The other half were Mickey's silhouette in the same colors, with white sanding sugar covering the top half.

It was definitely a challenge to get all of these pops done so quickly, but oh so worth it. :) See?? *SO CUTE* but this one's a terror ;)

easter. part deaux.

I tend to go overboard when I host. This is most-definitely something I put upon myself. And for the most part, I enjoy it. So on top of hosting my parents, making my sister's cake, and cooking (though a lot of the food was ordered per my mother's wishes, and it was a potluck too), I still wanted to make some Easter-related treats.

While I would naturally gravitate toward cupcakes, we were already going to have the red velvet cheesecake. So I thought about cookies. The bloggers that I follow offered a handful of decorated sugar cookie options, none of which I had the time for. And to ease the guilt from my annual Easter purchase of a bag of mini-Cadbury chocolate eggs and Peeps (and to ensure that I did not consume them all by myself), I figured the best solution was to incorporate them in the cookies somehow.

Sugarbelle must have been reading my mind when she blogged about these. With eggs and Peeps, a nest cookie would be the most logical Easter treat! [And the hubs says I'm not logical. Ha!] And naturally, when I think of making a nest in baking, I think of toasted coconut. But when I think of toasted coconut, I think of samoas.

I used this samoa recipe over at Baking Bites, and made it work for me. 

Samoa Easter Nests

For the cookies:

Follow the recipe. However, when you roll out the dough, use a round cookie cutter (or scalloped if you prefer) -- no need for holes in the center of your cookie. Bake according to recipe.

For the chocolate:
I used 4 oz. dark and 4 oz. semi-sweet. I melted it in a glass bowl over a small pot of boiling water. I added a bit of shortening to thin the chocolate.

After the cookies were baked and cooled, I dipped the bottom of each cookie in the chocolate and placed it (bottoms up) on parchment paper. It's okay if you get some chocolate on the tops of your cookie as they'll be covered anyway. Hindsight tells me that these would be equally delicious if completely coated in chocolate.

For the topping:
I toasted my coconut on the stove. Then I combined the melted caramels, salt, and milk. I mixed the coconut and caramel sauce together, started to form the nest, and got extremely sticky fingers. 

This is when I enlisted a helpful sous chef: my niece. I mean, she was just standing there. If you're gonna be in my tiny space, you need to be there for a reason. ;)

So as I prepped to put the caramel coconut nest atop the cookies, I had my niece use the extra caramel as a glue to adhere the coconut to the shortbread (My first attempt did not include extra caramel, and the caramel coconut wouldn't stay on the cookie). After I created each 'nest', my niece promptly placed the eggs or Peeps in their new home.

The result?
Cookie...good.
Toasted coconut and caramel...yum.
A platform to eat more chocolate eggs and Peeps...perfect!

 

easter and a birthday = family.

My parents were coming in to visit for Easter. My mom doesn't like the snow (though they lived in Chicago for almost 40 years), so instead of visiting for Christmas, she thought it'd be safe to come in April. It snowed days before they arrived. To my mom's delight, it all melted before they came. But much to her chagrin, it just rained and rained and rained on and off the whole time they were here.

So since my parents were coming, I volunteered to host Easter in my little townhouse. 18 people seemed to fit okay. Luckily the children were able to run outside and play at the park for a bit.

It was also my oldest sister's birthday on Easter. And so she didn't feel overshadowed, I knew I was going to make her dessert to celebrate. Except apparently, I had promised to make her my champagne & strawberries cupcakes...yet I had the brilliant idea to make her a red velvet cheesecake cake (which I knew she would love). Oops. Oh well. At least she liked it? :)

I've made red velvet cheesecake cupcakes, and those were a cinch, though tedious (no fancy mini-cheesecake pan for me...at least not yet!). So I'm thinking, a layered cake shouldn't be so hard. I have my handy cake layer cutter. No problem! Or so I thought.

No recipes here. Just tips. Use your favorite red velvet recipe or box mix, and make a crust-less cheesecake.

How to Assemble Your

Red Velvet Cheesecake Cake

Tip #1: Triple check where you cut your layers. When using your cake layer cutter, even your lowest setting may be too high to make your layers even.  Hopefully you all aren't as inattentive as I am, and you look to see where your first cut is, even if it's on the opposite side of your cake. I ended up with three relatively even red velvet layers, but I was going for four. It worked out in the end, cuz if I did more, the cheesecake would've been far more disastrous than it already was. :)

Tip #2: Place pieces of parchment paper on your cake board before placing your first layer of cake. I used four pieces of parchment (one for each 'side' of the circular board). When you frost the sides of your cake, no matter how careful you are, you will get extra frosting on the board. Having the parchment paper ensures that your cake board will be clean when you put a border at the bottom of your cake. Then, after layering and frosting, when you're ready to put on a border at the bottom, gently pull out the parchment and finish decorating your cake. [Note: In the photo above, you can see the square edges on the cake board that were created by the parchment]

Tip #3: Lightly frost each top or bottom of the cake (any side that will be touching the cheesecake) before layering on your cheesecake. These were part of the directions when I made the cupcake version, so I figured it wouldn't hurt. I feel like if the cheesecake was more solid (frozen), then it would have more of a problem adhering to the cake layers. Since mine was a creamy cheesecakey mess, adhering was not an issue, frosting or not. But I wasn't thinking about this issue. I was thinking about my next one.


Tip #4: Slightly freeze your cheesecake before layering and moving it. 30 minutes to an hour should probably do -- just check on it, because you don't want it fully frozen.  

Your cutter or knife will cut through your chilled cheesecake easily. However, when you try to move it onto a layer of cake, it will be a D-I-S-A-S-T-E-R. I'm talking about cheesecake all over your workspace, on your floor, on your apron (or shirt when you forget to put your apron on) and in your hair (even if it's pulled back). No worries, none of that cheesecake was part of the actual cake...but I won't say that none of it made way to my mouth. 

I used a frosting spatula and pancake spatula to move the cheesecake onto the red velvet, and that was still pretty awful. Luckily, even if it cracks, no one will see it as it's buried beneath the red velvet. Just push it together a bit so you don't have gaping holes. :D

Unfortunately, I did not think to freeze my cheesecake. I was more concerned about slicing it in half. Forty minutes later, I had lopsided layers of red velvet and cheesecake. I would have taken pictures, but the hubs would not have been happy if I decorated the camera with cheesecake. Just take my word that it was a hot mess.

Luckily, the cheesecake layers were soft enough that I was able to kind of push down on the cake to even it out. Then I took my angled spatula to clean up whatever came out on the sides. Eventually, I got it leveled out...and somehow, it turned out pretty well!


Tip #5: Freeze your layered cheesecake before frosting it. I mainly did this because I didn't want the entire thing to fall apart after I finally got it all together. So I figured that if I froze it, the cheesecake wouldn't be moving or shifting as I was spreading the frosting around.


Because of my schedule, I froze the cake for about 6 hours, and that was good. An hour or two would probably be long enough. Then the cake is solid and cold enough to keep the frosting from 'melting'. I have this issue with my cream cheese frosting, and I can't get it as stiff as I'd prefer (I've tried a couple things, but nothing that I've been really happy with). 

After the Easter craziness died down, my sister was able to take home more than a fourth of her cake (a little more was taken off of this) and she told me that she happily ate the remainder of it over the following week. 


Yah, we're definitely related. ;)