Cake Decorating: Spring Icing Flowers

Spring has sprung! To celebrate this time, I decided to do something a little different. I made a short video on two simple spring flowers to decorate cake/cupcakes, or in my case, graham crackers! You may be wondering why graham crackers? Well, in my family, if we have left over frosting, we put it on toast or graham crackers and it is absolutely delicious!

Back to the flowers, I made a simple rose and forget-me-nots. The tips can obviously vary in size, however, I used Magic Tip 31 (the shorter one) for the rose. For the forget-me-nots, I used Magic Tip 15 (the taller one).

The video is below:

Enjoy!

Lemon Cookies

These cookies are a family favorite in my family! My dad has entered these lemon cookies into our county fair 3 years in a row and has won 1st place every time! Our family especially loves this cookie because we use the lemons from our meyer lemon tree which we say makes them taste even better! with all that said lets make some cookies!

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest
• 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds (optional)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl with electric mixer on high speed until fluffy. Beat in remaining ingredients except flour until well blended.

On low speed, beat in flour just until blended. Flour WILL get everywhere as you can see on the mixer.

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls 1 1/2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Optional step is to sprinkle cookies with sugar or almonds.

Bake 10 to 12 minutes until edges are lightly browned. Cool on cookie sheet 1 minute before removing to wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!

Recipe from Allrecipes.com 
Original media

Blog review

I have recently been looking at other baking blogs for inspiration for my blog's layout, style etc. I came across this great blog called Butter Baking. Natasha is a very talented pastry chef with amazing (and delicious) recipes!

Her blog is filled with descriptive posts, amazing pictures, and so much personality! Natasha's love for baking really shows throughout her blog. As a reader, her posts are appealing and interesting (to people who like to bake at least). Her artistic pictures are great for attracting visual people like myself.

Butter Baking's conversion page inspired me to create my own conversion page. My conversion page includes calculators that convert weight, liquid (volume), and temperature. You can simply type in one unit and it converts into desired conversion. Natasha's conversion chart is a list. Don’t get me wrong, it is still very helpful.

The desserts she creates are absolutely beautiful! She really takes into consideration the looks and the garnishes on a dish. As the saying goes "you eat with your eyes",  Natasha's blog really expresses that saying by making each picture of the dessert so appetizing.

Make sure to check out all her great recipes, amazing pictures, and bubbly personality!
Enjoy!

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

As the New Year rolls in, so do the resolutions, many of which include healthy eating. This delicious cookie is gluten free, dairy free, and low calorie. Eating 2 cookies gives you the equivalent amount of protein as 1 egg! If you are someone who doesn't always stick to your planned resolutions (myself included) then these are the cookies for you! These cookies are so good you will want to make them all the time! 

Ingredients

• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup sugar *if using chocolate chips use 1/3 or 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 pinch coarse sea salt
• optional: 1/2 cup chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, etc.

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F and place racks in the upper and lower third of the open

In a medium bowl, mix the peanut butter, sugar, egg, salt, and vanilla until well combined.

Spoon 1 tablespoon of mixture about 1 inch apart onto an ungreased baking sheet.

Flatten mounds with the prongs on a fork into a criss-cross design

Bake for about 10 minutes, or until edges are golden. Halfway through baking, switch position of pans 

Enjoy!

Concise version

Ingredients

• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup sugar *if using chocolate chips use 1/3 or 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 pinch coarse sea salt
• optional: 1/2 cup chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, etc.

Instructions 

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and place racks in the upper and lower third of the open
2. In a medium bowl, mix the peanut butter, sugar, egg, salt, and vanilla until well combined.
3. Spoon 1 tablespoon of mixture about 1 inch apart onto an ungreased baking sheet.
4. Flatten mounds with the prongs on a fork into a criss-cross design
5. Bake for about 10 minutes, or until edges are golden. Halfway through baking, switch position of pans 

Blondies!

This recipe is really easy. The hardest part is probably the stirring. These are very sweet blondies but so yummy! I got about 15 squares but I cut generous portions :) but it all depends on preference. Let's get baking!

Ingredients

• 2 cups packed brown sugar
• 2/3 cup butter
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsps vanilla 
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 six ounce package (1 cup) chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped nuts etc. (optional)
• *1 pinch of salt (optional; cuts down sweetness)

Instructions

1.  Grease a 13x9x2 inch baking pan; set aside (highly suggest doing first) and preheat oven to 350°F.

2.  In a medium sauce pan heat brown sugar and butter *put butter in first, let melt then add the sugar* Stir constantly, until sugar dissolves, cool slightly

3.  Stir in eggs one at a time, and add vanilla (my favorite).

4.  Next, stir in flour, baking powder, baking soda, and *salt (optional).

5.  Mix until combined. Should be the color of caramel.

6.  Spread batter into prepared pan. Pat batter into corners to avoid grease from combining with the batter.

7.  Sprinkle with toppings. 

8.  Put in oven for approximately 25-30 minutes or until fully baked. Best when cooled for 20 minutes. Enjoy! 

Hope you give this recipe a try!

Blog Introduction

Hi, my name is Erika Thompson. I am a high school student, and I love to bake in my free time (when I am not doing homework). I love trying new recipes but my favorite part has to be when it comes right out of the oven! Baking is in my blood. My grandmother baked, my mom bakes and now I do! It is a family tradition! One of my favorite things to make is cakes. I love decorating and trying new decorating techniques.

I have been around baking my whole life. I started just watching my mom. Then I slowly started doing more and more and learning more things until I had finally made a whole cake by myself. The thing I love most about baking (especially cakes) is letting my creativity spill into the yummy desserts. Baking could be considered a form of art!

On my blog, the majority of my posts will be baked goods with the occasional no-bake recipe. I will be posting recipes and pictures (my favorite part of any blog) and with step by step instructions. You will be able to find a conversion chart and categorized recipes. I will rate the recipes 1-5  on how difficult they are. 1 being quite simple, 5 being time consuming and difficult.

So preheat the oven and put on your apron and get ready to bake!

Happy Baking!

P.S.~ Feel free to leave comments in the comment section of each post!