national sweet potato day

Feb. 22 is national cook a sweet potato day

so do it...they are delicious!

valentine's day

chocolate chip cookies are Peter's favorite

so I made him a giant chocolate chip cookie for valentine's day

made an array of sweets including heart-shaped gingerbread cookies from Betty Crocker

with almond flavored frosting

along with some of my favorite sugar cookies from joy of baking

red velvet cakeballs covered in dark cocoa and white melts

pink strawberry flavored marshmallows dipped in chocolate and sprinkles

 

 

used some of the leftover melts for dipped pretzel sticks

put together some boxes as valentine's gifts

also made up some mason jars full of treats

cupcakes in a jar

 

after the success of the jar cookies as gifts over the holiday

I wanted to try packaging other desserts in mason jars

and so I give you lemon poppy seed cupcakes with vanilla frosting - in a jar

baked the cupcakes in silicone liners for easy removal

had to cut off some outer edge of the cupcakes to make them fit into these smaller jars

piped out a thick layer of frosting, then added the second cupcake

piped out some more frosting on the top and added sprinkles

tied a plastic spoon to the jar with ribbon for immediate cupcake consumption
gave some of these as a get well gift
I like the idea that the jar can be used for other things
after the contents have been eaten

pecan tassies

Tim made a wonderful pecan pie for Christmas

so in return I made him some mini pecan pies for his birthday

the recipe came from the gourmet cookie book

used pre-made pie dough and divided it into 24 equal parts

pressed each one to cover the inside of the silicone mini liners

used my TBSP cookie scoop fill each with the pecan pie filling

removed each pecan tassie from the liner after they cooled
brown sugary - walnut - flaky pie crust goodness in a bite-sized morsel

they fit nicely into the treat boxes I had
happy birthday Tim!

chocolate-covered cherry stuffed cakeballs

Doug suggested that I put a Queen Anne chocolate-covered cherry into a cakeball

and that's just what I did for his birthday

it took more effort to cover the cherry with cake and the cake with chocolate

they didn't turn out very attractive, but I'm told they tasted good

vegetables

 

after roasting some beets I discovered that you can also cook with the stems and leaves

I steamed the beet stems to soften them up

threw the steamed stems onto some brown rice w/other veggies and a salad

I have heard the stems are supposed to be a bit sweeter than the beet

but I couldn't get past the fibrous texture of the stems to notice

next time I'll need to cook them longer to soften them up some more

in the spirit of trying new things, I made some baked radish chips

steamed the slices for 5min in the microwave, then stirred in some spices

baked on 350 degrees, 10min on each side

these didn't turn out as chip-like as I was hoping, but they made for a light, flavorful snack

bacon maple doughnuts

 

Erin gave me a mini doughnut pan for Christmas

and having just made some chocolate-covered bacon

I figured this was a perfect time to test out the new pan with some bacon maple doughnuts

made a spiced maple batter for the doughnuts

you can pretty much use any type of cake or muffin batter with this pan

because these are baked, they come out with a cake/muffin consistency

for most folks these probably wouldn't satisfy a doughnut craving

but they are still a fun and tasty treat

whisked together a simple maple glaze

dipped the top half of the doughnuts in the glaze

then garnished with pieces of chocolate-covered bacon

did a few with chocolate sprinkles instead of the bacon

these guys don't even compare to a voodoo bacon maple bar

or any other deep fried doughnut w/bacon on it, but they did satisfy my sweet tooth

I would say this doughnut is more similar to a dense cupcake than a doughnut