Amidst the checkout chaos of paying for groceries with my 4 and almost 2-year olds, I started envisioning a naturally-dyed green jelly roll cake in the shape of a shamrock. And voilà! Here we are a few days before St. Patrick’s Day and my brainstorm image has come to life. You can enjoy your jelly roll in individual slices or arrange three slices per plate to make a festive St. Paddy’s shamrock.
Itsy Bitsy Foodies turned 3 and I chose to celebrate with {Happy Birthday} Cake Batter Ice Cream. The best part about homemade cake batter ice cream is that you can control the sweetness and intensity of cake flavor by adding your favorite cake batter/cake mix to taste.
As popular as red velvet cake (and red velvet everything) has become, I don’t remember ever having red velvet cake as a kid. I do, however, have a vivid childhood memory of gasping with girlish delight as they cut into the armadillo cake in the movie Steel Magnolias. I guess ever since then I’ve had red velvet cake on my mental baking list.
This combo of natural food dyes isn’t just about avoiding artificial dyes and coming up with beautiful {natural} colors. It’s also because I simply love the combination of almond and berries.
Simply layer white (plain or vanilla) yogurt, red berries & fruit, a spoonful of raspberry freezer jam if you want to sweeten your plain Greek yogurt just a bit, and heart-shaped oatmeal pancakes to make a heart healthy breakfast, snack or dessert. And it doubles as an activity: my boys love every opportunity to create with cookie cutters!
Well, I finally did it. I broke down and made macarons. They have only been on my “to-do” list for more than ten years, ever since I visited Ladurée {Maison de Macarons in Paris}. These natural macarons with pink raspberry buttercream filling taste deliciously like raspberries and are the perfect bite-sized melt-in-your-mouth raspberry almond treat for Valentine’s Day or any other day.
Inspired by the peanut butter chocolate kiss cookies that, to me, have always seemed so fitting for Valentine’s Day, these little Hershey’s kiss gems even fit the color scheme for the big day of hearts. And the melt-in-your-mouth vanilla sugar cookie makes a neutral base that can work with any color or flavor of Hershey’s kiss, for any time of year.
You might recall that not too long ago I posted about the Pepperidge Farm “Puffection” Holiday Entertaining Challenge. Now for the second part of the challenge: my own “Puffection” creation using Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry. Golden, caramelized sugar coats these puff pastry palmiers. Enjoy them plain, with cinnamon and sugar, or dipped in chocolate for a special holiday treat.
When Pepperidge Farm contacted me about the “Puffection” Holiday Entertaining challenge I was intrigued and gladly accepted. The first part of the challenge involved cooking an existing Pepperidge Farm recipe. I chose these individual Chocolate Fondue Cups because they are festive and perfect for holiday (or anytime) entertaining.
Fortune cookies have been on my list for a while now so when DailyBuzz Moms announced the Thanksgiving Kids Table 9×9 I thought that it was the perfect opportunity to make “I am Thankful for…” Fortune cookies.
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
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