st. patrick's day

st. paddy's day desserts...yum

cakeballs w/green-colored yellow cake inside

shamrock-shaped gingerbread and sugar cookies w/green vanilla frosting

 

used decorative bags filled with cakepops, cakeballs, and cookies as gifts

nothin' better than washing down tasty treats with

whiskey gingers, whiskey diets, and whiskey shots

starbucks petites

starbucks introduced three cakepops to their menu in March

I refused to purchase one cakepop at $1.50, but was curious to try them

turns out they gave out free petites the first few days they came out

so I tried all three cakepops and here's what I discovered

birthday cakepop

Vanilla cake and icing, dipped in a pink chocolaty coating with white sprinkles.

first thought was these pops are nearly double the size of my cakepops

the coating is softer, so it doesn't crack or break when you bite it

cake is very dense and the flavor is so so

rocky road cakepop

Chocolate cake and icing dipped in a dark chocolaty coating, with mini marshmallows and roasted almonds.

enjoyed finding marshmallows mixed into the cake

though the pop as a whole was way to rich

I liked the nut sprinkles, but the marshmallow sprinkled on was unnecessary

tiramisu cakepop

Vanilla cake and Starbucks® coffee with vanilla icing, dipped in mocha flavored chocolaty coating, with a chocolate coffee bean.

enjoyed the coffee flavor of this pop, however the soft texture of the coating turned me off

this cake was the most dense of the three

I was excited for the chocolate-covered espresso bean

only to find out that it was just chocolate in the shape of a coffee bean...boo!

 I did love the little box the individual pops came in
with the clever little slot for the stick to rest in

my recommendation:  try making your own at home
you'll have a fun time doing it and they will likely taste better
or just ask me - I always like an excuse to make cakeballs

homemade mcgriddle

I threw together my own version of a mcdonalds mcgriddle

scrambled egg, corn, ham and cheese sandwiched between two pancakes

made the pancakes fairly thick to hold everything together

pancakes were slightly larger in diameter than an english muffin

hearty, a bit sweet, yet savory...a great breakfast

after making these I found out that the mcgriddle comes with maple syrup nuggets

so I'll work on that for next homemade mcgriddle session

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!