Keep calm and take pictures...

As some of you may know...or maybe not...I have decided to try a new recipe for icing my sugar cookies.  I've decided to try glaze instead of royal icing.  Let's face it, royal icing doesn't taste all that great, well, at least the recipes that I've tried haven't anyway.  So I measured out all the ingredients and turned on my mixer.  As I turn away for a second...literally...I hear this horrible cracking sound!  I turn around only to see that my Beater Blade has broken in two!!!  This is the second time in less than a year!  The last time this happened they told me if I can prove it's been less than a year they will replace it.  I'm horrible at saving receipts...yeah, I know, that's not good business practice...I didn't have the receipt for the first broken Beater Blade, but I did save the receipt from the first.  So I didn't panic.  I took a picture! Then I e-mailed the good folks at Beater Blade, and sent them the picture.  I mentioned that this had happened before, and that as I was looking over their web site I saw that they make a professional model which is supposed to be stronger than the other model, would it be possible for me to upgrade?...I'd be more than happy to pay the difference just for this never to happen to me again.  The nice lady at Beater Blade (her name is Cheryl) told me since this is the second time this has happened she was just going to upgrade me automatically and she is going to send me the Pro!!!  I love it when companies stand behind their products!

Now lets talk about Beater Blade for a minute.  If you haven't tried one, you have to get one as soon as possible.  I don't know how we ever got along with out this wonderful product for so long.  For those of you who don't know what it is...it's a fabulous beater for your mixer that actually scrapes the bowl as it mixes.  Yeah, I know...it's fabulous!!  No more stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl!!  And that's not even the best part!  The best part is, it gets all the way to the bottom of the bowl...no more dry ingredients at the very bottom!!  Have I mentioned how fabulous it it?!!  Can't wait for my replacement to get here.

Here's what's been baking in my kitchen...

 Nick's 13'th birthday cake

 Cookies for John and Jay's wedding shower.

 Valentine's Day Cookies...

...and more Valentine's Day Cookies.

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

A cake for Princess Mallory

This past week I had the absolute pleasure of making a castle cake for  Princess Mallory for her 4th birthday!  I hope she loved it as much as I loved making it for her.

Earlier this month I had the pleasure of making a 60th wedding anniversary cake for the cutest couple from the UK.  60 years!!  What an accomplishment!  They were here in the states visiting with their son and daughter-in-law, who threw them a  celebration party to commemorate this milestone in their lives.

The bottom tier of the cake was vanilla cake with almond buttercream.  The top of the cake was a carrot cake with almond buttercream.  The carrot cake was the closest I could get to the fruit cake they had on their wedding day.  The cake was decorated with white buttercream roses along with silver foil leaves and silver gumpaste horseshoes,  all of which were on their original cake.   It was so much fun making this cake for this very special couple.  I wish them many more years of happiness together!

Fall is in the air...

Yesterday I noticed that the leaves are starting to turn here in central Ohio.  It makes me a little sad to know that our Summer of celebration has come to an end.  It was a BIG Summer for our family.  In June, our daughter, Sarah, graduated from Ohio University.  In July, we gathered at the beach in Surf City, NC with friends and family to celebrate the marriage of Sarah and Jake.  Oh, what a celebration that was!!  In August, we celebrated our daughter, Allison's, 21st birthday...another epic celebration!  Also in August, we gathered again to celebrate Sarah and Jake's marriage, with friends and family who couldn't make it to the beach, with an open house honoring the happy couple. It was a big summer, indeed.

With the weather changing it's time to start baking up some goodies that make you feel all warm and cozy.  Yesterday I baked some Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies.  Here is the recipe...

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sift together:
2 cups flour
1 sugar
1 tsp. each baking powder
                   baking soda
                   salt
                   cinnamon

Cream together:
1-1/2 cups canned pumpkin
   1/2 cup vegetable shortening
      2 eggs
      1 tsp. vanilla

1- 6oz. bag of chocolate chips (I like using the mini chips)

Add pumpkin mixture to the flour mixture and mix.  Stir in the chocolate chips.

Drop by tablespoonfuls onto a greased baking sheet. (I use one of those scoops that looks like a icecream scoop, makes for neater looking cookies.  I also line my pans with parchment paper. No greasing of pans required that way and no pans to wash.  What could be better than that?)

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

Enjoy!

YUM!!

Happy Labor Day!

Happy Labor Day/three day weekend to everyone.  I hope you all have a safe, fun filled weekend however you choose to spend it.

It 's been a couple weeks since I've had cookies to bake, and I guess I was a little bit out of practice.  The first pan of cookies I baked yesterday were a little over-baked because I forgot to raise the rack in my oven.  Oh, well, little slip ups keep  us on or toes, and as long as we can learn from our mistakes, it's all good.  Besides, as long as our little slip ups aren't totally charred, they're still yummy!!

I'll be decorating the cookies I made yesterday a little later today...after the football game...GO BUCKS!!! Pictures to follow.

Have a fabulous weekend and be safe if you're traveling.

---Kathy