the glittered nest

Sweet Nest

Ok...so the glittered nest seems to be turning into the Sweet Nest..so here is a little treat to go along with it!

Yes...the whole thing is edible and delicious!  Three little brownie cake bites dipped in blue candy coating sitting atop a semisweet coconut nest!  If you are serving these at a party, just refrigerate until ready to present because it starts to sweat about 15 minutes after it hits room temp!  This would work really well as a spectacular dessert to a baby shower!  Can you imagine these goodies sitting on a dessert table under cloche jars ?  Your guests won't believe you made them.  Very simple really....

Melt your chocolate in a double boiler and add coconut.  Drop the chocolate on parchment paper in mounds and make a well in the center to hold the eggs.  Toast some coconut on a baking sheet for 5 minutes under a broiler and fill in the hole when the nests are dry.  Add your little egg cakes and wrap in cellophane for a pretty presentation! 

Next time I might paint some edible gold dust around the nest to give it more definition.  My kids thought these were the greatest desserts ever!  They couldn't believe they could eat the whole nest. 

These little goodies would be great presents to give a family who just had a baby.   Children really appreciate being included when a sibling arrives and this dessert will make them smile.  Enjoy my little sweet nest.

Vanilla Rose and Chocolate Almond Cake Bites

 

My favorite are the vanilla rose.  SurLaTable sells unique extracts you wouldn't find in the grocery store.  I added the rose extract to the buttercream and the cake.  It has the most delicious vanilla flavor with a hint of rose. Look at my previous post for the recipe for cake bites.

For the chocolate bites, I added almond extract to both the buttercream icing and the cake before rolling them into balls.  The coating is a bittersweet ganache (just simply melt the chocolate in a double boiler) with vanilla candy coating as decoration. 

 Here they are awaiting their cute little liners and toppings.  The mini cupcake liners can be purchased from Bakeitpretty.com.

Just to change it up a little I made a brownie pop.  Just make your brownies, crumble them into a bowl.  When cool add about two tablespoons of fudge icing.  Don't add too much since the brownies are already pretty moist.  Roll into balls, freeze and dip into your candy coating.

I left these on their sticks for a different look:

 

All of these goodies were packaged up for Abby's teacher's birthday today.

 I like to keep my packaging materials close by so I'm not running up and down to my craft room.  All the essentials: sissors,ribbon,baker's twine( I like Martha Stewart's), glue, take out boxes( I use these all of the time for quick little gifts for friends), cupcake liners, tags, scrapbook paper, vellum bags and tulle! 

Have a sweet weekend!

Bake Sale and Lemonade Stand

We had a blast setting up for this sale today.  The girls really loved making all of the pretty packages for the treats.

 On the menu:

Ice Cream cupcake cones

Cake Balls

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Lemonade

Let me share our recipes and tricks that our neighbors loved:

All you need to make the cake balls are a box of cake mix, some frosting and candy coating:

this recipe is from Bakerella

1 box cake mix (cook as directed on box for 13 X 9 cake)
1 can frosting (16 oz.)
Wax paper
 candy melts (1 lb. pkg.)
Lollipop sticks

  After cake is cooked and cooled completely, crumble into large bowl.

Mix thoroughly with 1 can frosting. (I use the back of a large spoon, but it may be easier to use your fingers to mix together. But, be warned, it will get messy. Also, you may not need the entire can of frosting, so start out by using almost the entire can and add more if you need to.)

Roll mixture into quarter size balls(mine are a tad bit bigger) and place on wax paper covered cookie sheet. (Should make 45-50)

Melt chocolate in the microwave per directions on package. (30 sec intervals, stirring in between.)

Dip the tip of your lollipop stick in a little of the melted candy coating and insert into the cake balls. (Insert a little less than halfway.)

Place them in the freezer for a little while to firm up.

 Once firm, carefully insert the cake ball into the candy coating by holding the lollipop stick and rotating until covered. Once covered remove and softly tap and rotate until the excess chocolate falls off. Don't tap too hard or the cake ball will fall off, too.

I like to use my colander to stick the lollipop sticks into. You can get several in at a time. For cake balls, all you have to do is rotate the ball off of the stick gently.

The girls helped me roll our scrapbook paper and tape into little cones to hold our little confections.

We were able to fit two little cake balls into the cones...perfect for a small treat.

 Make sure to add your toppings right away after you dip them because the candy hardens quickly.

Next our cupcake cones...very easy.  Just bake your cupcakes and set on top of the cone.  I like to add m n m's inside of the cone for stability (and a little extra treat)!  Add a little bit of icing to the base of the cupcake so it sticks to the cone and doesn't fall over.

Ice and add your sprinkles. You can add a cherry sour ball on top or a red m n m.

I added brown kraft paper around the base of the cones to set them in the pan because they are top heavy.  I was working quickly since I was asked to bake the morning of the sale.  I'm sure there is a better way to hold your cupcake cones.  This worked for us.

Last but not least...chocolate chip cookies.  We took scrapbook paper and folded in half and stapled the edges for a little cookie package.  I inserted some wax paper around the cookie so the grease wouldn't bleed through the paper. 

 

That's it!  I think I had as much fun baking with the girls as they did selling their goodies!  Have a great week. 

Back to School Teacher Lucheon Desserts

If you want to give your teachers a real sweet treat to say thank you for all you do:

Try these recipes.  I posted my chocolate mousse cups in an earlier post but put a little spin on them for this occasion.  Also, I have been trying out French Macaroon recipes and found a winner:

How about a white chocolate mousse cup with the interior chocolate and filled with rich mousse topped with whipped cream and a little pirroutte cookie?

I found the white chocolate was so much easier to work with than the dark chocolate.  It has a thicker consistency and requires less painting!

 Here is the first layer.  Remember just melt the chocolate and paint the inside of a cupcake liner.  Freeze for 15 minutes. Melt the dark chocolate and paint the inside of the white chocolate. That's it!

Add your mousse and toppings etc.

I purchased bakery boxes from Walmart (1.00 each) and added a colorful tag on the top!

Here is a photo of the french macaroons.  I will post the recipe in the next post...a little lengthy for this one.

Strawberry buttercream filled macaroons and lemon buttercream!  I think the packaging of a dessert/present is just as important as the taste of the gift.  This pretty pink box is from Bake it Pretty.

The Best Lasagne ever!

This lasagne is so absolutely creamy and full of flavor. The recipe is from the Better Homes and Garden's publication called ultimate Italian.  THis is not a quick lasagne to make but a great one if you have company coming.

Meaty Lasagne Bolognese

Prep 45 minutes  Bake 50 minutes

1 lb lean ground beef

8 ounces italian sausage

4 ounces pancetta or bacon, cut into 1/4 inch pieces

1 large onion, chopped

2 medium carrots, chopped

2 stalks of celery, chopped

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 cup whole milk or half-and-half

1/2 cup dry white wine (I didn't have any so I just doubled the chicken stock)

1/2 cup chicken broth

1 cup canned crushed tomatoes

2 TL. tomato paste

1 TL. snipped fresh sage

1 TL. snipped fresh flat leaf parsley

1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper

2 cups shredded mozarella cheese (8 ounces)

1 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese(4 ounces)

12 no boil lasagne noodles

1 10 ounce container refrigerated Alfredo pasta sauce

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. For meat sauce : In a large pot, cook ground beef, sausage, pancetta, onion, carrots, celery, and garlic over medium-high heat until meat is brown and vegetables are tender.  Drain off fat.

2. Stir in milk. Simmer, uncovered, until milk is nearly evaporated.  Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, sage, parsley, black pepper, salt, and crushed red pepper. In a medium bowl, combine mozzarella and Parmesan Cheeses.

3. To assemble, spread one-third of the meat sauce over the bottom of an ungreased 3 quart rectangular baking dish.  Sprinkle with one-fourth of the cheese mixture.  Top with four noodles.  Repeat layering meat sauce, cheese mixture, and noodles two more times.  Spread the Alfredo sauce evenly over the noodles.

4. Cover dish with foil. Bake for 40 minutes.  Sprinkle with the remaining cheese mixture. Bake for 40 minutes.  Sprinkle with the remaining cheese mixture.  Bake, uncovered, about 10 minutes before serving.  Makes 9 or 10 servings.

My kids and husband thought this was the best tasting lasagne they had ever tasted...and they are incredibly picky eaters.  I heated it up the next day and thought it was even better then!  Bon Appetit!

AtTable Culinary Workshop

For the past month I have been addicted to watching the food network and cooking up a storm in my kitchen.  If you haven't noticed I haven't blogged much about crafts...just recipes.  I decided to get up the courage and take a culinary workshop.  I researched all of the workshops in town: Whole Foods, Central Market etc.  I came across a company owned by Laura Arnold called AtTable.  Her mission is to teach in a comfortable and hands on environment.  She gives workshops in her professional kitchen in her home.  I knew this was the way I wanted to take my cooking to the next level.  I highly recommend her workshops.  Go to AtTable to read about her company and her upcoming lessons.  Laura has recently brought on Anna Denton, an incredible chef from Saint Stephens Private School here in Austin to help give her workshops.  I am taking a series of six intermediate workshops over the next 6 months and I can't wait for my next lesson.

 Here is the set up.  We sat around her enormous bar and she chatted with us before our lesson.  She is a wonderful person who is very down to earth and fun to talk to!

Here we are working on our first sauces.  The first workshop Class covers how to make:

Bechamel, Veloute, Espangnole(Brown Sauce), Hollandaise and Mayonanaise and Tomato sauce

We learned how to make a Veloute sauce and take it one step further to make a Classic Sauce Supreme. 

We made the sauces and tasted as we made each one. 

Here is Laura and her mother Leta Huff(who owned the cookware store Bon Appetit) making mayonnaise.  Believe me there is a special process for making this delicious spread but sure worth the time!

The table was set beautifully and the food was amazing!  We ate pork tenderloin with Sauce Robert and Summer Squash , Herb and Rice Gratin.  We also sampled the mayonnaise with meat and carrots.

 Thank you ladies for a wonderful afternoon and great class!  I ran home and cooked up some pasta with one of the sauces for my in-laws and they loved it!

 I made linguini with the sauce supreme and added mushrooms, peas and rotisserie chicken cut up(to save time on cooking chicken).  The salad is arugula, spinach with heirloom tomatoes, hearts of palm in  a vinaigrette sauce. The sauce supreme is a wonderfully creamy white sauce that you just can't get enough of!

The recipe is as follows:

First you make a Veloute sauce :

2 Tablespoons of butter

3 Tablespoons of flour

2 cups boiling chicken stock(you can use chicken or fish stock or clam-juice fish stock)

salt and freshly ground pepper

In the saucepan, melt the butter over low heat.  Blend in the flour, and cook slowly, stirring, until the butter and flour froth together for two minutes without coloring.(This is now a white roux).

Remove the roux from heat.  As soon as roux has stopped bubbling, pour in all the hot liquid all at once.  Immediately beat vigorously with a wire whip to blend liquid and roux, gathering in all the bits of roux from inside the edges of the pan.

Set saucepan over moderately high heat and stir with the wire whip until the sauce comes to a boil.  Boil for 1 minute, stirring.

Now to take it from a Veloute to a Classic Sauce Supreme:

1 1/2 cups of veloute sauce

1/2 cup whipping cream

Salt and pepper

Lemon juice

(optional: 1 to 2 tablespoons softened butter)

Turn the sauce down to low to a simmer and beat in the cream by spoonfuls, simmering until the sauce is the consistency you wish it to be.

Season with salt and pepper and drops of lemon juice.

Off heat, just before serving, beat in optional butter by half tablespoons.

This was a great day and I feel I am a better cook for it! 

Chocolate Mousse Cups

These Mousse cups are so easy even your kids can help you make them!  The recipe is from Giada De Laurentiis.

Here are my kiddos doing all of the leg work making the chocolate cups:

  

You simply melt the chocolate over a double boiler and paint the inside of the cupcake liners.  Freeze them and peel the paper away.  I added a really rich chocolate mousse in mine:

Isn't this the sweetest way to serve a little cup of mousse!

 We really added some sugar to this dish...white chocolate chips and freshly made whipping cream! The best part of this dessert was that my kids helped me make them!

 Bonn Appetit! 

Children's Art Day

Last week I took the kids to the Austin Symphony's Children's Art Day festival.  If you live here, you must take your kids next year.  They had musician's play for the kids and face painting, art tables and ice cream.  The best part is it is all free! 

 You gotta love kids eating icecream! 

You can go to austin symphony to find out their next event.