Cowboy Hat Cakes

Cowboy Birthday Cakes

I was asked to make the birthday cakes for a cowboy-themed birthday party.  I made a yellow cake with vanilla frosting, and a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.  The hatband and sheriffs star accents are made of fondant, the brim of the hats are card stock paper in white and brown, and the flowers on the vanilla cake are hard candies made by Wilton.  

Boysenberry Pie

My dad loves boysenberry pie, and for his 64th birthday I made him one.  I cheated on fresh berries and used canned boysenberries from Oregon Speciality Fruit.  Oh boy was it good!  I used the pie crust recipe that I usually use for my apple pies.  With a scoop of vanilla ice cream and maybe a dollop of whipped cream, this is sure to be a repeated recipe!

Boysenberry Pie Recipe

-Ingredients-

2 cans Oregon Boysenberries (drained, reserve syrup from one can)

1/2 Cup Sugar

3 T Cornstarch

2 T Lemon Juice (optional)

1 T Unsalted Butter or Margarine (optional)

Pastry for a double crust, 9-inch pie

-Instructions-

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Drain the berries and reserve the syrup from one can.

2. In a saucepan stir the Boysenberry syrup into the combined mixture of the cornstarch and half of the sugar.

3. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened.

4. Remove from heat and gently stir in the remaining sugar, boysenberries and lemon juice.  Let stand while preparing pastry.

5. Line a 9-inch pie pan with pastry and fill with fruit filling.  Dot with butter or margarine.  Adjust top crust on pie, cutting slits for steam to escape, and seal.

6. Bake for 30 minutes or until filling is bubbly and crust is golden brown. 

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I made these for a birthday party to give out as favors.  I love to see a pile of cookies.  Yum.  

WWE Wrestling Ring Cake

I made a WWE wrestling ring cake for our nephew's 8th birthday.  It was simple, fun to make, and our nephew and his friends loved it.  So did some of the chocolate loving adults... including me!  

Halloween Apron

Tomorrow is the 1st of October... time to get my skull apron out and get ready to do some fall baking.  I can't wait.  My mother-in-law bought this for me.  I love it!  

Snickerdoodle Cookies

I've always thought Snickerdoodles were too simple to mess up.  Well, it's possible.  I've tried many recipes and really never liked the results... until I tried this recipe.  I had to throw away my cookie baking sheets due to rust, so my only baking pan alternative were my mini muffin pans.  I followed the recipe exactly and placed the balls of dough right in the muffin pans.  They came out so good!  Soft, thick and chewy!  If you get the chance, check out Sally's other recipes.  Great site.  

Recipe taken from: 
sallysbakingaddiction.com

Ingredients

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 1 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Topping

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line two large cookies sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats, or use non-stick baking spray on miniature muffin pans.  Set aside.
2. In a small bowl, toss 1/4 cup granulated sugar with 1 teaspoon cinnamon.  Set aside.
3. In a large bowl using a hand-held mixer, cream the softened butter for about 1 minute on medium speed, then add the granulated sugar on medium speed until fluffy and light in color.  Mix in egg and vanilla extract.  Scrape down the sides as needed.  Set aside.
4. In a medium size bowl, whisk together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.  With the mixer running on low speed, slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in 3 different parts.  The dough is quite thick and you may have to stir the rest by hand. 
5. Take 1 1/2-2 Tablespoons of dough and roll into a ball.  Roll the dough balls into the reserved cinnamon-sugar topping.  I used 1 Tablespoon of dough, rolled into the cinnamon-sugar topping and placed into the miniature muffin pans.  Bake cookies for 11-12 minutes.  The cookies will be very puffy and soft.  When they are still very warm, lightly press down on them with the back of a spoon or fork to help flatten them out.  I didn't have to do this part for the miniature muffin cookies.  Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet or muffin pan for 10 minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.  This recipe made 55 miniature "muffin" cookies. 

40th Wedding Anniversary

My Parents celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary this past weekend.  I baked a simple vanilla cake with vanilla butter cream frosting.  I used the confectioners frosting recipe.  The recipe made enough frosting to frost two 8 inch cake layers, and two 4 inch cake layers.  The cake was moist and delicious.  The frosting was a little sweet on its own, but it was a good balance with the cake.  I'll definitely use the vanilla cake recipe again. 

Recipe found here.