Ooo La La

My obsession with Pinterest continues...

Emmah has been attending Art Camp this week with the art teacher from the school I work at. She ABSOLUTELY LOVED it!! Which was nice to see her really enjoying something. On the last day they decided to do a little breakfast so they asked everyone to bring something to share. Emmah wanted something different as did I so off to Pinterest we go..
That's where we found these:

(photo from tablespoon.com)

Ummm yea we'll go with these!! Emmah isn't a rasberry and blueberry fanatic so since I had strawberries and bananas in the house we went with those. Wanna make your own?? I knew you would so here it is:

Ingredients:
Pillsbury French Bread (any brand would work)
1/2-1 cup fruit- strawberry, banana, blueberries, rasberries
4 whole eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/4 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp cinnamon
powdered sugar/sryup (optional)
wooden skewers

Directions:

1. Start by baking the bread, according to package directions.This can be done the night before or earlier in the day.
2. Cut bread up into 1" pieces
3. Mix together milk, egg, vanilla, and cinnamon. Drop in half of bread and mix to coat.
4. In large saucepan melt butter, then added coated bread pieces. Cook til brown on all sides, 2-3 minutes each side. When browned...move to a cookie sheet to keep warm in the oven. Then repeat with other half of bread.
5. Now place fruit and bread in an alternating pattern on skewer.
6. Place on patter or serving dish. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve with sryup for dipping!
7. ENJOY!!

These are great for a brunch, overnight guests, sleepovers, and for us Easter!!

7

How in the world does my baby suddenly turn 7???
He went from this:

To this:

Time has just flown by...I LOVE the little man he is becoming. I can't wait to what the future holds for this lego loving, sports fanatic!!

We LOVE you Jake Maddux!

Happy 7th Birthday!

Royalty

Have you ever tried Royal Icing?? Its a ROYAL pain!! It's so picky and touchy and you have to do everything JUST right. I tried it for Emmah's birthday with some success...as in it looked okay, but you couldn't touch the frosting, it was weird tasting, and had a fluffy/over mixed look to it.

Well as you saw in my sugar cookie post I have a new best friend...Callye from Sweet Sugarbelle! Not only did she tell me how to make some SUPER delicious sugar cookies, but she also shares how to make Royal Icing!! The best part of her sharing...is her explanation!
The basic royal icing recipe stays the same, but its how you put the parts together that can really make the difference.

Here is her recipe for Royal Icing:
Ingredients:

2lbs confectioner’s sugar

1/3 cup plus 1 Tbsp meringue powder

about 3/4 c. warm water

1-3 Tbsp. oil-free extract or flavoring

Instructions

1. Add the dry ingredients first. Use your mixer’s whisk attachment to incorporate the sugar and meringue powder.
2. Add the extract to the water and slowly add it to the dry ingredients while mixing. At first the icing will be very liquid-like.
3. Continue to mix it at medium-high speed until it is fluffy and stiff peaks form, about 7-10 minutes. Mixing times are approximate, keep your eye it icing and stop mixing as soon as it becomes stiff. Over mixing and oil-containing extracts can keep the icing from setting up, so keep this in mind as you work.

Be sure to head to her site and follow through the post as you make your frosting. I found that her descriptions as to what my icing should be looking like were perfect and easy to relate to.

I first got my ingredients together and started mixing:

Next I continued mixing until I got it got firm (As she says she makes it firm and then works backwards

Then I follow her lead again by measuring out some icing, adding the color, and then separating to make the piping icing and flooding icing. I used icing color, it tends to be more true then food coloring. (Want a certain color?? Callye has a color chart for you to use to get the perfect color!)

I personally used a ziplock for the piping...I know real "high tech" but it's what I had and it worked out great! {She does show you on her blog how to do it with a piping bag.}

{Your piping icing should be the consistency of toothpaste or soft scrub cleaner}

Once I had the color, I got to piping. In a nice smooth motion go around the outside of your shape. You will want to let this harden before moving on to the flooding.

Next you "flood" your cookies. This sounds exactly like what you are doing. With your thinned out frosting you basically "flood" the remaining cooking with the frosting. {The flooding frosting should be the consistency of shower gel.}

Let your cookies sit out...mine took a couple of hours to completely harden. You can then store your cookies for your event. Making these a few days ahead of time is perfectly acceptable. The cookies can easily be frozen and the frosting can be stored in your refrigerator or at room temperature for up to a month.

Family*Fireworks*Fun

As usual we spent the 4th spending time with family and friends celebrating the freedoms our country offers!

To start our day we headed to the Second Annual Patriotic Parade hosted by my friend Katie from A List Makers Life. We gather at a local boardwalk, decorate our bikes with festive holiday decorations, and pass out candy to anyone on the boardwalk and share some festive spirit. {This year we added some water...its been EXTREMELY warm in these parts!}

A good time was had by all!! It definitely was warm, but worth the heat to enjoy some fellowship with friends!

We headed to the pool after our parade to cool down...3 hours later, we were significantly cooled and ready for the rest of our day. We hung out, played and watched a movie.

To end our evening we headed to the fireworks.

 

Hope you and your family had a fantastic 4th!!

Sugar is Sweet

Since Emmah's party I have really wanted to give the whole sugar cookie and royal icing thing another go. In my searches for ideas for Jake's party I came across these really cute lego man cookies (We're doing a lego theme!!)

(photo cortesy of The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle)   How cute are these?? And the best part is...she shows you how to make your own and shares her recipes!! My first goal was to master the cookies themselves. And although I didn't want to make the lego heads first I decided to make something that went with the holiday STARS!!   I followed her recipe and started with the confectioners sugar and butter.

I then mixed the flour, salt, and baking soda in a seperate bowl and slowly added it to the other mixture.

Rolled them out...and cut out my stars.

Here are the finished and tasty product!! They have an almond flavoring to them, which is soft and I just LOVE it!!

Next time you see these cookies...they will hopefully be iced ROYALLY!

I followed the recipe from Sweet SugarBelle.

Ingredients

• 1 c. {two sticks} of REAL unsalted BUTTER, softened
• 1 1/2 c. confectioner’s sugar
• 1 egg
• 2-3 tsp flavoring {pick what you like, I prefer almond}
• 2 1/2-2 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt

1. Cream together softened butter and confectioner’s sugar. Crack the egg into a separate bowl, and add the flavoring. I use emulsions, but extract also works well. Add that to the butter sugar mixture and mix until the egg is thoroughly incorporated. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt, then add little by little to the mixture. I can tell the dough is ready when most of it sticks to the paddle. When I touch it, it has a little give, but does not stick to my fingers. 

 

2. Roll out on parchment to about 1/4 an inch thick, use flour for dusting as necessary. Then, cut and bake at 400 degrees for 7-8 minutes. This version makes 2-2 1/2 dozen, doubled, it makes 4-5 dozen.

 

If you stop by her blog she includes lots of helpful tips and tricks!