Elf on the Shelf

I realize this has absolutely nothing to do with baking.. but I've had a bunch of people interested in what I've been doing with our boys elves that I figured it wouldn't hurt to share. Don't worry.. I'll leave you with a pic of my most recent cookies before the end of this post. I can't go the ENTIRE time without talking about cookies :)

Ok back to the elves. The boys ended up getting an elf for Christmas two years ago. I thought it was the creepiest thing in the world and they had no idea what it actually meant so he stayed in the box that year. Last year we took him out, they named him Peanie Cup and he sat on the shelf.

In the same spot.

The entire time.

Now if any of you know anything about Elf on the Shelf this is a HUGE no-no. The elf is supposed to be their own personal scout elf who flies back to the north pole every night (EVERY NIGHT!!) and tells Santa if you were good or bad. It is the best and worst idea ever. It keeps the kids somewhat in line and gives me an awesome one liner that gets them to straighten up very quickly.. BUT it also makes you work every night trying to find a new interesting place to put the damn things. I figured if I was going to do this I was doing it right.

I ran out to Target and grabbed another Elf so both boys had their own scout elf. It just seemed rude to have one for both. I know.. it makes no sense. Whatever, it's how I work.

The second was named popcorn and so began the pure shenanigans of Peanie Cup and Popcorn. I didn't realize the first day what I was getting into.. 

 See. Simple.

Then I started seeing other peoples posts with their elves doing crazy things and the ideas just started popping into my head. I had one idea I knew they would absolutely love so I had to do it.

 We get the boys the Hess toy every year so I figured what a better way to surprise them with the Hess helicopter AND tackle one night of elf mayhem.

Little did I know I would be contemplating what to do with these damn elves ALL day. I think about what I could do for about half the day. I have so many thoughts on what I want to do I end up staying up until 2am thinking of ideas, gathering everything I need and actually executing what I'm thinking in my head. It's ridiculous and you probably think I'm crazy but getting up with them in the morning and seeing them run out immediately looking for where they could be and getting SO excited when they finally do find them.. it makes it totally worth it.

The 3rd day was easy... I had seen so many people have their elf toilet paper the christmas tree and made it look adorable. I had to try :) Nothing major. The only thing I did was made sure there was some popcorn by Popcorn so the boys could understand who was who.. actually that was totally for me.

Somehow my children at 4 can tell the identical elves apart no matter what I do to them. They tell ME which elf is which and correct me when I'm wrong. It's ridiculous.

Anyway..

4th day.. I realized after setting up the whole banister sliding scene my kids would NEVER find them. We have stairs that come from the front door straight up into the apartment. They aren't allowed over there unless we are leaving or the gate is up and they hear daddy coming home.. they like to run and say hi.

So I realized I'm an idiot.. 30 minutes of trying to get everything exactly how I wanted and they would never find it since we had no plans of going out that day. This is where the little foot prints and pb cup wrappers came in. Who knew this would be the part that my one son loved the most. He still talks about the foot prints and it's almost two weeks later. (wow.. have I REALLY been doing this for two weeks??)

Mustaches make everything better.

6th day.. another typical elf situation. They drew on the boys pictures.

I'm sticking with my previous comment. Mustaches make everything better.

I LOVED day 7. I'm a Jet fan. My husband is a Bengals fan and it seems like my one son is a Packers fan. I set the elves up every night.. Jets win :)

I knew I wanted to do something with football and the boys love the little fiki football field I got them. When I had the one propped up on the goal post I just looked at the other and realized these elves were PERFECT for the "Tebow Time" pose. With a ridiculous amount of tape and extreme patience I LOVED the end result.

Day 8 Popcorn made the boys pb & chocolate chip cookies for being so good the day before while Peanie Cup tested all the chips. I did NOT go crazy with the flour and mess like most people do. I want this to be fun. Not an actual chore for me.

Spending an hour cleaning up a mess of flour and sugar everywhere is not fun OR amusing. For anyone.

Toilet bowl fishing for day 9. They were so excited that one of the elves actually caught a goldfish. 

Just make sure you either have two toilets or you are completely certain that you don't have to go after you set this up. No bueno.

I decided to do two ideas at once for day 10. If I was going to do the whole candy thing I wanted to make sure they both got to do something. If you decide to do the m&m saying most people stick with mini's or they just write be good. I had to be an overachiever. Sprinkles are SO much easier, less messy and more festive than flour or sugar. 

Believe me.. save the time and annoyance of trying to clean that up.

I'm also going to add a little warning here.. if you are going to do this make sure you watch or clean up the area quickly or your children WILL steal more candy then you actually want them to take. 7 am and m&m's do NOT mix.

Movie night.. it's pretty much self explanatory. I have to add I do not like that they are in the yankee chair 

(I'm a met fan.. yeah I know. Mets & Jets. No hope for me. I know and fully embrace it). 

Oh and I also want to add that the little bowl they are using as a popcorn dish, that's actually an olive bowl. I love it. My friend brought it back from California for us. Pretty sure you don't care about that part but it's too late now.

Day 12.. donuts from the north pole. They even brought back little elf donuts for themselves. 

Cheerios, frosting and sprinkles.. thank you pinterest.

Ok.. Day 13.

You can laugh at me, tell me I have too much time on my hands (which I really don't) or call me pathetic. I don't care. This is my FAVORITE elf situation so far and my boys completely agreed. 

They were a little confused at first but after a double take they realized it was them in disguise and they thought it was the coolest thing in the world. I cut up wrapping paper and drew everything to make these little outfits. Thankfully the boys actually took a nap that day so I was able to make everything at that point. 

I kind of wanted to leave them in the same spot until the next day but didn't feel like dealing with the aftermath of the boys thinking they didn't report back to Santa that night.

I could just picture the meltdown that would have happened if they didn't think their good behavior was reported back to the jolly fat man up at the north pole. 

I was NOT prepared to deal with that whole thing. Off again to think of a new spot...

Day 14. This is where I am to date. I still have to make up tonights scene but I still don't know which idea I want to do. The sad thing is I will probably set up a few different situations before deciding on the final one. That happens about every third or fourth night. I'm taking this WAY too serious. 

This was just tricky because I had to wait to steal the boys lightning mcqueen slippers after they went to bed. That gave me time to make the little roadway form felt and I threw in the little Rudolph characters to add a little Christmas touch.. Done!

I honestly still have no idea what I'm going to do tonight but hopefully it's nothing super time consuming. I still need to pick up the million cars all over the floor. I mistakenly let the boys go to bed without telling them to clean up first. 

Awesome.

I'll have to remember to post at some point in the coming weeks all the other things I end up doing. For now I will leave you with a pic of some Christmas cookies I made recently and if you have any cute things you've done with your elf post it below.. I'd love to hear your ideas!!

Thanks for reading!!

~E

Peppermint Patty Cupcakes

I know.. they sound AH-mazing! 

They were :)

I had a request to make a cupcake with some kind of peppermint patty taste to it.. maybe a chocolate cupcake and mint frosting. As I was reading the text I thought back to a few months ago when I was searching through Pinterest for countless hours (doesn't everyone spend countless hours pinning things they SWEAR they will try only to forget they pinned it and repin it three weeks later??). I saw someone had posted a peppermint patty cupcake.

PERFECT!!

The only thing was I couldn't remember where it was and if I repined it. The only thing I remembered was that they put a patty inside the cupcake. Apparently that was all I needed to remember to decide that I needed to make them. Luckily (for me) he was on board with the suggestion. 

I decided to take a few pictures while I was making them so if YOU wanted to try them out you could. I used a slight variation of my normal chocolate cupcake (I wanted it to be a little less rich than I usually make them) but you can use a basic box mix. Here's what you'll need..

Your favorite chocolate cake recipe OR 1 box Chocolate Cake mix (plus ingredients needed on box)

 mini peppermint patties (about 15-18 & more for garnish)

 mint frosting **

That's all! See.. easy!

**For the mint frosting... I made a simple buttercream and added about 1/4 tsp peppermint extract but I've been seeing the Duncan Hines Frosting Creations  popping up all over the place (they have a chocolate peppermint flavor that might work here). I've been curious to see how they actually come out but haven't had the courage to actually buy it and try. I'm fond of scratch frosting.. but if any of you try it let me know. Can't hurt to have something on hand when the boys want to "help" in the kitchen :)

Back to the cupcakes!! Start out by making your batter.

I'll wait....

Done?

Good. Next step.. put about 1 - 1 1/2 tbs of batter into a lined baking cup. Place a peppermint patty on top and lightly press down. Then top with another 1 - 1 1/2 tbs of batter Here is where the fun pictures come in.

I was going to fill each one gradually and take fantastic pictures the entire way.. but I was impatient. Sorry.

I think this picture sums it up pretty well though. Batter, patty, batter... repeat.

Once you have them all filled bake in a 350 degree oven for 15-18 minutes or until the tops of the cupcake spring back lightly when touched. By the way, I'm a toothpick girl. I've never really liked the whole touch method for checking if they are done, but with some cupcakes (especially ones with something baked inside, like these) its usually the best bet.

BUT

I still used a toothpick.

see the little toothpick hole in the second cupcake.. CAUGHT!

Anyway.. Once they are done set them on a cooling rack and make your frosting. If you bought the frosting then this is the perfect time to check off some of those things on your "to-do" list.. or if you're like me it's the perfect time to grab your phone and check EVERY social media app you have.... Sad.

Once they are cooled this is where you can have fun with it. You can frost them however you'd like. 

I used an open star tip.

I cut the extra patties into quarters and used them as garnish. The original post used cutters to make little peppermint patty shapes. It was adorable. If any of you have seen the original post or know who wrote it let me know. I'd love to be able to credit them. I didn't want to add a whole peppermint patty and end up taking away from the actual cupcake.

Once I was finished decorating and packing up the cupcakes I had a few left over. I LOVE peppermint patties so I HAD to try one... for research obviously.

 They were delicious. I could have just eaten it without the frosting and been happy. But the frosting added that little extra bit of mint that complimented the cupcake perfectly.

Chocolatey minty wonderfulness all in one little cupcake. Make them.

Soon.

Let me know if you make them. I'd love to hear what you thought!

Thanks for reading!!

~E

Happy Thanksgiving!!

First let me start off by saying I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!! Even though I was cooking and baking for most of the day.. I did manage to get in some Christmas shopping online. Gotta love Amazon lightning deals and Ebates :). 

It is probably the only reason I'm still awake right now... and before I start in on cupcakes and cookies, I know you'd love to see a picture of the turkey I made today. 

Wouldn't you?

Ok, so maybe that's NOT what you were desperately waiting to see BUT.. I was pretty darn proud of that bird! So if you're actually sitting there reading this (I'm pretty sure most of the "views" I have are from my best friend, mom and myself :)) amuse me and take a look.

mmmm.. turkey

See! So pretty :). Ok.. I've officially spent too much time talking about turkey.

Let's move on.

Cookies!! I get so excited when someone asks me to make them cookies. I made a few thanksgiving cookies but I'm SO excited to start Christmas cookies. I have to admit... I've already started making some. A few days ago. Don't judge.

I didn't get around to decorating them yet because of other orders.. but I have so many ideas already. If I didn't have so much to do around the house tomorrow I'd probably start decorating in the morning.

Is there anything YOU'D like to see as a Christmas cookie?? I am ALWAYS looking for new ideas and I'd love to hear what you think.

I'm getting off topic here.. back to thanksgiving cookies... I made mini turkeys for my boys. I wanted to make sure they have something for dessert since they don't like pie, plus I fell in LOVE with these little guys when LilaLoa made them. So I decided I NEEDED to make them. They were super easy and fun to make. Seriously, try it.

mini turkey cookies

I love them. They're tiny enough where I don't have to worry about the boys bouncing off the walls all night and easy enough to make a bunch at one time. Thanks Georgeanne!!

I also made large turkey cookies (I also followed  her tutorial and made a few changes.. told you she's awesome) and added some leaves and pumpkins to the bunch. They came out adorable as well but I can't seem to find the pic right now. Sorry :(

Besides all the thanksgiving cookies I started making March Of Dimes cookies. I'm selling them and giving ALL the money to the charity. I was lucky enough to get permission to use their logo and I received a press/cutter from Plastics in Print (amazing cookie cutter company). I have some pics and all the info on my facebook page and website. Even if you don't go through me, please consider donating to the charity.

I could go on forever right now. I have so many things I want to share.. but I'll save them for tomorrow. I'll let you know about the thanksgiving cupcakes and cake, the craft fair I will be at next weekend (Dec 2nd) AND I'll even share a quick walk-through of the newest cupcake I made... Peppermint Patty cupcakes. Chocolate cupcakes with Peppermint Patties inside. Yup, you heard that right..

Those wonderful patties of chocolatey, minty goodness.. INSIDE!!

So make sure you don't miss that, or any of my new posts and subscribe on the right side.. you can follow by email and anxiously wait for that new email telling you I've added a post that will no doubt blow you away! Or at least give you a something to do to fill the procrastination filled gap between playing angry birds and doing something productive. Believe me.. I know that feeling!

Seriously though.. thanks for reading :)

~E

Happy Halloween!!

Let me just start by saying I hope everyone that was affected by Sandy has a fast recovery. We lost power for almost two days but luckily that was all we experienced. Plus, our boys were able to have a somewhat normal Halloween. This was their first time trick or treating.

Ok.. so they didn't actually go house to house and ask strangers for candy. We went to familiar houses and people THEN asked for candy... but it was the first time they realized that just by saying three little words they got a ton of free candy. Ah to be that little again...

Our boys went as Men In Black. Although most people thought they were the blues brothers. Either way they looked adorable :) I wish I could have gotten a better pic but they were antsy and already half full of sugar by the time the cameras came out.

Now that I got to show off my boys Halloween costumes.. onto baking. When our power was out I had never wanted to bake more. I was even debating making some no bake cookies but realized I was missing one ingredient.. and I WASN'T going to try and find an open supermarket right after a hurricane. So, I was left to sit and think about ALL the possible things I could make once we had power.

Torture.

The power came back on super late at night and the giant urge to bake disappeared. Not because I could actually do it now, but because the lights have now shown me the MESS that was left behind by my two 4 year olds and husband. Apparently when the lights are out they forget where everything goes and think "right here" is an appropriate spot for almost anything.

We have had power for almost 24 hours now and the only thing that was accomplished was some light cleaning and dragging the boys all over the place to trick or treat. Well worth it. But now that giant urge to bake is back again.

This is when living in an apartment complex is REALLY annoying. I know the second I turn on my mixer my "lovely" downstairs neighbor will knock on my door. So I now have to wait until tomorrow morning to start baking.

Torture.

I WILL be making some cookies tomorrow.. and hopefully a cake. I hope to post alllll about it tomorrow as well :) Just to get things started I'm going to share my favorite basic sugar cookie recipe from The Sweet Adventures of Sugar Belle. I do tweak mine a little bit but the basic recipe is fantastic as is!! So while you wait for my next post take a look at her page.. I promise you won't be disappointed!!

Thanks again for reading!!

~E

Mmmm... Cookies

We recently moved into a new apartment (I SHOULD be unpacking right now, but if I look at another thing that doesn't have a place to go I might go crazy). Before moving in I was able to make a few sets of cookies for some friends. I am absolutely in love with these cookies!! 

Let me start by explaining how I actually got into decorating cookies.

I used to only decorate cakes/cupcakes and really liked it. I had someone ask me a few months back if I did cookies. I wanted to immediately say no since I had only really decorated for fun a few times and only for myself. I never dreamed of showing anyone what I had made. I didn't think I would have the patience or the ability to decorate a cookie AND have it recognizable to everyone else :).  Regardless, I decided to try it out. 

They were having a pizza themed birthday party and wanted cookies to go along. I was sent a picture of what they wanted it to be and just went for it. 

I sent out the pic of the sample and they loved it. 

I felt even more confident when I made the actual cookies that would be going out to them and I loved the outcome.

 I was HOOKED! I get so excited when someone wants me to make them cookies. The process of making the actual cookie isn't the most glamorous part.. but knowing that I'll be able to start decorating is super exciting. It's unbelievable how relaxing it is to have a pipping bag in your hand and filling in the empty space on those cookies. Converting a blank cookie into and edible piece of art is amazing and I love every second of it.

Now onto the most recent cookies I've made...

I had two sets to make and I immediately had an idea for the one. They were going to new parents/grandparent so I couldn't resist making the baby's name and a few onesies. I haven't had a chance to meet the adorable little Harper in person but I am so glad I was able to make and send these over. I can't wait to make her some when she's able to eat solid foods!!

 Now for the next set of cookies.. I started thinking about the basic Halloween ideas. You know the usual. Ghosts, black cats, pumpkins.... that's it!! PUMPKIN!! 

 I LOVE the peanuts (especially the holiday movies).. and it wouldn't be Halloween without "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown". I knew the person receiving these loved snoopy so I couldn't resist. I've never been so excited to decorate a cookie before.

I can't wait to start making Thanksgiving and Christmas cookies.. any ideas or things you'd like to see???

 

I hope you love these cookies as much as I do and make sure to check out my Facebook page or website (from the tabs at the top of the page) and see all the other cookies and cakes I've made over the past year! Thanks for reading!!

~E

Who am I?... and some other awesome ladies

Let me start by telling you a little more about me. Of course I love to bake.. but, there IS an actual story as to why and how I decided to take this on in such a huge way. 

PLUS.. I'm going to let you know about the amazing bloggers I talked about yesterday.. I couldn't wait to tell you guys (I know 24 hours is SUCH a long time.. I'm impatient :))

Besides always having a personalized cake for every birthday (and loving it) I usually only baked for my friends and family. When I was pregnant with my boys I wanted to make sure they would always have a personalized, homemade cake for their birthday. We got a surprise at 24 weeks and our boys were born 16 weeks early. 

While they were in the hospital I used baking as a way to relax. A year later their first birthday came and I went crazy with the sesame street theme. That was it.. I had a little taste of the things I could possibly do and I wanted to push myself to learn and do even more.. this is where the fun began. I looked into bloggers, you tube tutorials and any book I could get my hands onto. Once their second birthday rolled around I tested out my new hobby with a Yo Gabba Gabba cake... it was a huge success. After all the "you should DO this" comments I received, I decided why not!

Now that you know a little more about me lets move onto the fun part!! I wake up every morning and check my email to see if any of these ladies have posted something new. They give so many great tips, advice and tutorials it's amazing. 

There are so many people out there that are very protective of their recipes and techniques. This is why I love these ladies so much. They aren't afraid to share what they know. So taking a cue from them.. I am going to share their pages with you. Check out their amazing recipes, tutorials and posts.. if you're like me by the time you are done you'll be checking your email just waiting for their next post :)

Let's begin:

www.bestfriendsforfrosting.com

www.sweetopia.net

www.lilaloa.com

www.bakeat350.blogspot.com

www.sweetsugarbelle.com

www.karenscookies.net (you can shop too!!)

 www.iambaker.net

www.flourboxbakery.com (Anne is AH-mazing!)

Ok so those are some of the greats in my opinion. I know there are more and if you know someone that I haven't listed and you think deserves to be mentioned PLEASE.. share!! There is nothing I like more than to find someone new to be amazed by :).

So be sure to check them out and show them some love. They completely deserve it. Hopefully you'll get inspired as much as I do when I look at their work.

~E

It's official... I'm blogging!!

After about a year of trying to post on Facebook and hoping people will actually see my posts.. I've decided (with the help of a very good friend) to start my very own dessert blog. I'm fully prepared to never get sleep again. Let me start off by saying that I love, love, LOVE making desserts and treats (so keep those orders coming ;) ) but, being able to make AND share the whole process excites me even more. So.. 

Welcome to my blog!! 

(my logo in cookie form)

I have been following some of the most amazing bloggers for a while now and cannot tell you how much I've learned from them (don't worry I'll tell you ALL about them!). From inspiration to confidence in what I'm doing (even though they have no idea who I am) I can't show enough gratitude.. so hopefully by sharing their crazy talent with you it will inspire you like it has me. Let's get started!! :)

Have you ever been so tired that you can barely keep your eyes open yet your head is spinning with ideas and thoughts about a new cookie/cake design or recipe??

Yeah.. me too!!

Ok, so maybe your thoughts don't go DIRECTLY to cookies and cakes (although they should). You've gotta admit it though, they're delicious! 

I lay there and think about what I can possibly make with my new cookie cutter, or the cake I can make for a friends birthday coming up. It's crazy how many times my thoughts revert back to cookies and cakes. It may be a problem.. along with my cookie cutter addiction. But that is a COMPLETELY different story.

I would love to sit here and ramble off every little thing I've been saving up to say in my own blog.. but I know if I keep going I won't have anything else to post in the future and you'll get sick of me after one post. So join me in my decorating adventures and don't be afraid to get your hands dirty and join in the fun!! I can't wait to start sharing pics and posting all my crazy thoughts. THANK YOU for stopping by and don't be afraid to share or post comments/questions. I'd love to hear what you think or want to see!

Erica