Raspberry Oatmeal Bars

These are really yummy. You could probably make them with whatever jam you have on hand....cherry, blackberry or even apricot sound really good.

Adapted from Allrecipes.com

Raspberry Oatmeal Bars

• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 cups flour (I used 1 cup white wheat and 1 cup all purpose flour)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups quick cooking oats
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups seedless raspberry jam, warmed slightly to aid in spreading
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line an 9X13 inch pan with aluminum foil and spray with Pam.
2. Combine brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and oats in a mixing bowl. Mix in the softened butter to form a crumbly mixture. Add egg and vanilla mixing until combined (I use my Kitchen-Aid mixer). Mixture should be crumbly but hold together when squeezed. Press 4 cups of the mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Spread the jam to within 1/4 inch of the edge. Sprinkle the remaining crumb mixture over the top, and lightly press it into the jam.
3. Bake for 30-35 minutes in preheated oven, or until lightly browned. Allow to cool before cutting into bars.

Enjoy!!

Cars Cakes

These are a couple of cakes I have made this past week...

This first cake was made for my son on his 4th Bday. Happy Birthday Ian!!

This second Cars cake was made for a friend of the family who is also turning 4 this month. Happy Birthday Rylan!!

Peanut Butter M&M Blondies

I whipped these up for the kids today...well, and for me too.

This recipe is adapted from Tasty Kitchen.

Melt butter and add to brown sugar. Cream until well combined.

Add peanut butter and eggs and mix well.

The egg on the left is from one of my chickens and the egg on the right is store bought eggs. When the chickens have been out roaming in my yard the yolks are even darker. They taste so much better than store bought eggs.

You're probably wondering why I have store bought eggs if I have my own chickens. Well, my chickens are 3 years old and have been a little slow in the egg making business lately. We just got 11 new chicks this year and they will start producing in about a month, so this is just temporary. I hate having to buy eggs from the store.

Add vanilla...Did I ever mention I make my own vanilla. If you look closely you will see tiny vanilla veans in the vanilla in the lid. I love those. I will post on how I made vanilla soon.

Add salt, baking powder, baking soda and flour and mix until just combined. The recipe says to sift together these ingredients and you can do that. I don't sift stuff unless I'm making a cake. I'm just lazy like that.

Dump mixture into a greased pan and even out by pressing into the corners with spatula. Sprinkle on the M&M's and gently press into mixture. You can use whatever kind of M&M's you have on hand. These are dark chocolate as my milk chocolate M&M's are currently being used as a potty training bribe.

Bake at 350 degrees until lightly golden. Don't overbake. I think mine took about 22 minutes. Enjoy!!

Peanut Butter M&M Blondies

• ½ cup Unsalted Butter
• 2 cups Light Brown Sugar
• ½ cup Creamy Peanut Butter
• 2-½ cups All-purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
• ¼ teaspoons Baking Soda
• ½ teaspoons Salt
• 2 whole Large Eggs
• 1 ½ teaspoons Vanilla Extract
• 1 cup Peanut Butter M&M or regular M&M’s

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9 x 13 inch pan and set aside.
Melt butter in a sauce pan or microwave. Cream melted butter and brown sugar in a mixing bowl until well combined. Add peanut butter, eggs and vanilla and mix until combined. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add to wet ingredients and mix until just combined.

Dump mixture into greased 9 x 13 inch pan. Spread out mixture with the back of a spatula or your hands. Evening distribute M&M’s on top and press down lightly.

Bake for 18-22 minutes until lightly golden on top. Don’t overbake. Cool completely before cutting into squares.

Book Release Cake

This was a big cake, much too big for us to eat it all. We still have half of the cake left. I haven't had the heart to cut into the book cover side yet. The kids are waiting very patiently...sorta.

This is a cake I made for my husband's book release. It is a french vanilla cake with raspberry buttercream and raspberry preserves for the filling and iced with buttercream frosting. The book cover is an edible image.

Children of Sol, the Light of Another Sun

My husband's book was released this month. You can check out his website here

Sorry I haven't posted in almost a month. I have some pictures I need to download off of my camera, but here are a few things I have worked on this past month.

This is a cake I made for one of my husband's co-workers. German Chocolate...yumm.

Cupcakes that I made for my class reunion a few weeks ago. Orange and Chocolate cupcakes frosted with buttercream icing. Those are (red)white chocolate disks I made to top them with. Giving away my age by posting what year I graduated...:)

Check back soon and I will have some more photos uploaded. I will also be working on a cake for my youngest sons birthday next weekend.

Happy 4th of July

My daughter and I made this cake yesterday for the 4th of July. It's covered in buttercream frosting and the decorations are made out of fondant. The letters are preprinted sugar sheets. It's the first time I've used them and they are super simple.

It's a 3 layer white cake and we colored 2 of the layers red and blue.

In between each layer we sandwiched strawberry buttercream. Yumm!

Inside of cake. I love how the colors are still so vibrant. I'll have to make this one again.


Have a safe and happy 4th of July!

Birthday Cakes!!

Lots of celebating going on. My daughter just celebrated her 12th birthday. Somehow she talked me in to making 2 birthday cakes and 27 cookie candies for her. She stretched her birthday out over a whole week, celebrating it 3 times.

This first cake was made for her actual birthday day. There were just a few of us, my family and the kids. It's a chocolate cake with white buttercream frosting and fondant accents...yumm!!

This second cake was for friday night when her friends all came over. The bottom layer is a lemon cake, the second and top layers are both orange cake. It's covered in a buttercream frosting and fondant with gummy accents on top.

I don't believe I got any photos of the cookie candies. I will have to check my cell phone, I may of snuck a photo. They were made by using a candy mold that you fill with chocolate and press a chocolate sandwich cookie in to the back. Very cute and they were a big it at school.

I have a few more birthdays coming up in the next couple of months, so I'm excited to try my hand at some different cake designs. Stay tuned.

The Children of Sol

So my husband has a book coming out in August called The Children of Sol.  Check out his website here.

Chocolate No-Bake Cookies

I really love chocolate...alot.  More than I should.  So on a whim tonight I whipped up these cookies.  My mom used to make them when I was a kid, but hers had coconut in them I think.  She used to leave about a cup or so in the pan after she scooped them out and eat it.  That way, it didn't really count as eating 5 cookies, it was just licking the pan.  I'm on to you mom...:)

Here's what you'll need:

1/2 cup unsalted butter
2 cups granulted sugar
1 Tbsp Karo syrup
1/2 cup milk
1/8 tsp salt (pinch)
3 Tbsp unsweeted cocoa powder
1 cup peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla
3 1/4 cups quick cooking oats

I bought some really interesting cocoa powder recently and I've been itching to use it.  This seemed like a really good use.  Anyway, on with the recipe.

Combine butter, sugar, Karo syrup, milk, cocoa powder and salt in a heavy sauce pan and bring to boil.

Bring to complete boil and set the timer for 1 minute.  

After boiling for 1 minute remove from heat and add vanilla, peanut butter and oatmeal. 

I make my own vanilla with vodka and vanilla beans...yumm!

Stir ingredients until combined and thickened.

Scoop onto parchment paper or aluminum foil and allow to cool.  Enjoy!!

Recent cakes I've made

Here are some recent sweets I've made.  I'm an amateur and pretty new to cake decorating, so they look "homemade", but that's ok with me. 

This first one is a dark chocolate cake with whipped ganache filling and covered in buttercream and dark chocolate ganach.  Yummm! 

White almond sourcream cupcakes with buttercream frosting and decorated with royal icing apple blossoms.  These were made for my daughters after-school Girls Group.  It was their last meeting of this school year as they break during the summer months.

Check back later for more sweet pics.