Valentine's Stickers

Twig & Thistle made these adorable downloadable fruit stickers for Valentine's Day. How cute would it be to surprise your significant other and add these to the fruit in their lunch on the fourteenth?

{Via A Cup of Jo}

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Valentine's Day Gift Ideas

Here are some pink and red Valentine inspired gifts for your sweetheart! Although you can never go wrong with a hand written card, a bouquet of flowers or a box of chocolate truffles, it's always fun to give some festive goodies to your kitchen goddess.

How are you celebrating Valentine's Day?

1. Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker
2. Homemade Chocolate Covered Strawberries
3. Dulton Double Kitchen Timer
4. Cuisinart Corkscrew
5. John Lewis Sagaform Heart Bowl with Ladle
6. Jesse Steele Pink Paris Apron
7. Pandorabell Strawberry Handmade Lollipop
8. Lovely Little Parties Red Polka Dot Cupcake Wrappers
9. Kikki Mini Pegs: Sweet Hearts

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{Mom's} Amazing Cranberry Pie

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year! I hope you had a joyous time with your family and friends!

Have I told you about my mom?

My mom is Martha². Honest. Hand to heaven. Martha has a team and my mom’s creative genius is all her own. Not only does she bake incredible desserts (desserts that put mine to complete and utter shame) but she cooks the most creative, flavorful and delicious meals. She’s the full package deal and the first place I visit after I walk into her home is the fridge. Oh sweet, wonderful, delicious leftovers. Just to get my hands on anything that she has created. Unfortunately, especially for my darling husband, I didn’t inherit the cooking gene. There are still a few people praying (and take out is a Godsend).

You know what else is awesome about my mom?

Care packages.

They are probably more for her “Oh my, why don’t you feed him something else other than cookies” son-in-law but I happily accept whenever the care packages are offered (and may pack them and pretend to take credit for his lunches).

This Cranberry Pie was something of that form. She was sick and still managed to bring a few desserts to a family dinner. She packed the leftovers up and they got sent home with me. Once home, I snapped a few pictures before eating the en-ti-re c-are pack-age. Oops. It was divine.

I attempted to recreate this dessert using this recipe (which was good) but no where near as great as hers.

I have to start thinking of something good to bribe her with to get the recipe and it’s going to have to be something better than homemade dinner and dessert.

Here’s to amazing moms and a new year! Happy 2011!

PS - I  hope your New Year's resolutions work out better than mine did last year! :-)

Updated with Mom's recipe. Thanks, Mom!

Ingredients

3 cups fresh/frozen cranberries
3/4 cup pecans (toasted and chopped)
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar divided
1 cup all purpose flour
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tbsp orange flavoured liqueur
2 tsp grated orange zest
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 ­ 3/4 c melted butter

Directions

Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease and lightly flour a 10 inch pie plate.

Place cranberries in pie plate and sprinkle with pecans and 1/2 cup of the sugar.

In a bowl, whisk together the remaining sugar, flour, eggs, butter ,liqueur, orange zest and baking powder until smooth. Pour over cranberries.

Bake for about 45 minutes or until top is golden and a tester inserted in the centre comes out clean. Let cool slightly on a rack. Serve warm or at room temperature. Serves 8.

Soft Gingersnap Cookies with White Chocolate Chunks

You have to add these cookies to your Christmas baking list!

These are phenomenal.

These soft ginger cookie are coated in sugar, strong in spice and studded with white chocolate chunks.

It's all kind of wonderful.

Make these. You'll be thanking me!


Soft Gingersnap Cookies with White Chocolate Chunks
Adapted from: Two Peas and their Pod

Ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup molasses
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 large eggs
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups white chocolate chunks

1 cup granulated sugar-for coating cookie dough balls

Directions

Preheat oven to Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment papers or with a silicone baking mat. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar until smooth and creamy.

Beat in the molasses, canola oil, vanilla, baking soda, salt, and spices. Mix until well combined.

Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until smooth. Slowly add in the flour. Next, stir in the white chocolate chunks.

Scoop the dough into balls and roll in granulated sugar. Place on lined baking sheets, about two inches apart. Bake for 8-10 minutes, the cookies will still be soft. Remove from oven and let cookies cool on the baking sheet for five minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.

It's Christmas Month!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

It's December 1st! Time to eat the first chocolate out of your advent calendar!

I love (x infinity) the Christmas season!

Truth be told, my tree was up the first week of November (don't judge!) but I held off on the Christmas baking. Until now.

I made these adorable snowmen cupcakes last year. They were a huge hit and will definitely be made again this year

I'm going to continue sipping on my gingerbread latte while I brainstorm some festive treats and count down the 24 sleeps left until Christmas morning!

Ho ho ho!

For the recipe and instructions for the Snowman Cupcakes, please click here!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I'm Irish, well part of me is and it's enough for me to celebrate and bake with green!

I used a French Vanilla cake mix for the cupcakes and added green food coloring (you could also use green decorating paste which would give you a more vibrant green) for some festive flair.

I used this recipe for the cream cheese icing (so good!),

1/4 cup cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 tsp vanilla
1-1/2 cups icing sugar
8 drops of green food coloring

In bowl, beat cream cheese with butter; beat in vanilla. Beat in sugar in 2 additions until smooth.

I topped these wee cupcakes with some green sprinkles and a little art!

Sláinte ("Cheers!" in Irish Gaelic)! I thought I'd spare you and not write this entire post Gaelic... You're welcome ;-)

Snowman Cupcakes

"Frosty the snowman..."

These cupcakes were so much fun to make and a huge hit this holiday season.

I used a mix for the cupcakes (::gasp::) as these marshmallow snowmen were a little bit time consuming :-)

I adapted this recipe from Martha Stewart but there are lots of fun Christmas snowman cupcake ideas.

Click here or here for some other fun alternatives.

I hope you're having a wonderful and joyous Christmas day celebrating with the ones you love!

Merry Christmas!


Snowman Cupcake How-To

(Please note there is so much room to be creative with these mini Frosty's!)

This snowman wears a fine winter hat: a chocolate-covered mint beret. His plump figure is two marshmallows -- cut a slice off the top one and squish to make it smaller. Dabs of icing hold parts together. His eyes are chocolate sprinkles (poke holes first with a wet toothpick), and his nose is cut from an orange gummy fish.

For the cupcake

You can be ambitious and bake your cupcakes from scratch or take the easy road and use the box mix (which tasted delicious) like I did. Follow directions as listed.

Once the cupcakes have cooled generously cover with icing and securely place your snowman on top! Enjoy!