Baby bump and baby cupcakes

Here are some pictures of the other baby shower I had yesterday. Thanks mom and Kori for throwing me such a beautiful shower, and to all of you who made such amazing food for it! It was so much fun:)

I made mini cupcakes for it as well as cupcake pops. I thought the cupcakes turned out really cute, I had so much fun dolling them up with cute sprinkles and gems:)

Just two weeks to go....although I wouldn't be mad if she came early, I'm ready for her!

This is just one of the darling dresses my mother in law sent me from Italy,
she and my father in law and living there at the moment serving an LDS mission.
I think my little girl is going to be super fashionable with all of the adorable clothes
I got!

Absolutely Delicious Molten Chocolate Cake

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter weekend full of yummy Easter treats:) This year I wasn't feeling too ambitious to make something creative for Easter, so I decided to make one of the simplest desserts but that I knew would be a crowd pleaser. I got this molten chocolate cake recipe from a friend a while ago, I wish I knew the source of the recipe but I don't. I haven't made them for a couple years and decided to make them for Easter. They are so easy and yet so impressive. People will think you spent forever making such a delicious dessert, when it only took you minutes:)

Individual Molten Chocolate Cakes

4 T. butter, at room temperature
1/3 c. sugar
3 eggs
1/3 c. flour
1/4 tsp salt
8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled a little (I used dark chocolate and I thought it was perfect, but if you want a more intense chocolate flavor and less sweet, go with the bittersweet)

Preheat oven to 400.

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time. Slowly add the flour and salt, then add melted chocolate.
Butter muffin tins and dust with granulated sugar. Pour batter into tins (I got 7 little cakes). Bake 8-10 minutes, or until when pans shake they don't jiggle (I baked mine for 8 minutes and it was perfect, you want the edges just cooked but the center still gooey). Dust with powdered sugar and serve with whipped cream or ice cream.

What a wonderful day:) and peanut butter bar recipe

Last Saturday my cousin in law and a few girls from my ward threw me the most amazing baby shower ever. I can not thank them enough for all of their hard work. They made it such a fun and memorable day for me. Thanks to all of you who came and made it such a fun day for me:)

Tanya, my cousin in law went all out with the cutest decorations! And talk about the most amazing spread of food! My mom helped out also with the food, thanks mom!! Here are some pictures from the fun day, but I don't even think the pictures due justice as to how cute it was! Over the next few days I will give you all the recipes of the yummy food that we had there. Today I will give you the recipe for my yummy peanut butter bars that I made for the shower:) I might be one of the only people who would want to make food for her own shower, but it's so fun for me:) I have been making these peanut butter bars for a few years now, I got the recipe from a girl in my old ward, they are absolutely delicious! If you are a fan of peanut butter, you will love these.

Tanya getting the delicious punch ready, isn't she gorgeous!

I also made cupcake pops:) No baby shower is complete
without cupcake pops

Ina's delicious lime curd, this is one of my favorite things.
And for the peanut butter bars, these are always a crowd pleaser

Peanut Butter Bars

Cream together:
3/4 c. butter
3/4 c. brown sugar
3/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. crunchy peanut butter (I always use smooth)
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs

After creaming add:
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp soda
1 1/2 c. flour
1 1/2 c. oatmeal

Stir and put into a 10x15 cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. Sometimes a bubble will rise in the middle-don't worry it will go down

Spread 1 c. whipped peanut butter on top of slightly cooled bar. Cool about ten minutes, then spread on frosting

Frosting:
1/2 stick butter
3-4 c. powdered sugar
1 T. cocoa (I add a bit more, like 3-4 T)
1 tsp vanilla
milk to consistency

Fudge Filled Brownies

These delicious yummy bars are a favorite of the hubs. He always begs me to make them, and when I do he can't stay out of them. Which I like, because he has such great will power that it's actually quite annoying. When I make cookies, I can easily pound 6-7, AFTER I have already had my fair share of cookie dough, my little sweet heart can stop at one cookie and be off. I don't get it, but I guess I should just stop wanting him to stoop to my level so I don't feel so bad:) Even though the name of these bars are "fudge filled brownies", they are more like a fudge filled oatmeal cookie bar. I have been thinking that I want to try making these bars again but somehow incorporating nutella in the filling. I have been on a nutella craze lately, I put it on everything, and sometimes I don't even put it on anything, just a nice big spoon does the trick and I dive right into the jar. It's bad...

On a more personal note, I am 32 weeks pregnant! I can't believe I have 8 more weeks to go, I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I am so excited to have my baby girl I can hardly stand it. I almost feel like it's impossible for me to have my own little one, it's so crazy and such a miracle that I will actually be experiencing it. My husband and I have been taking a hypnobabies class. We love it...yes...we! I thought he would hate it but he thinks it's fun. I think it's fun for him to be part of the process:) These classes have been teaching me such great skills to relax during my pregnancy and to prepare for the natural childbirth I want. When I used to think about birth I would get anxiety, now I am excited! I occasionally get scared thinking about the blessed event because I don't know what to expect, but most my feelings about it now are excitement. Excitement to see my baby! I can hardly wait:)
Fudge Filled brownies
filling:
1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1 c. semisweet chocolate chips (I think using semi sweet is important, using milk chocolate is a little too sweet when combined with the sweetened condensed milk)
1 tsp vanilla

Put the chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk in a bowl and microwave on hte deforst setting 1-5 minutes or until just melted. Stir in vanilla. Set aside.

1 c. soft butter
2 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 c. flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
3 c. quick cooking oatmeal

In a large mixer bowl cream butter and sugar; add eggs and vanilla. In a small bow sift baking soda, salt, and flour together. Add to creamed mixture. Mix in oats. Spread half of the dough into a greased 9x13 pan. Spread with chocolate mixture. Drop remaining dough by spoonfuls. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. Cool for several hours, then cut into bars.

The Ultimate Sugar Cookies

I love Tyler Florence's show "Tyler's Ultimate", and I think if he was doing a show about the ultimate sugar cookies, he would use this recipe. If you are looking for a sugar cookie that bakes up soft without a cakey texture, this is it. The only downside to these cookies is that you wont be able to stop yourself at just one, two, or even three! They are simply irresistible. I also love the almond flavor they have, everything is a little better with some almond extract I always say:) You can pair these cookies with your favorite frosting. I made a simple buttercream with almond extract and vanilla bean paste. Another perk to these cookies is that they really maintain the shape of the cookie cutter you use. Have you ever made sugar cookies with your favorite cookie cutter and found that after they baked the shape of the cookies ended up being nothing like your cutter? Well that wont happen with this recipe...at least it didn't happen when I made them:) Hope you have a chance to try this one out!

See how perfect it kept the heart shape?! I made mine about 1/4 of an
inch thick, maybe they would have spread a little more if I made them thicker, I'll
try it out and let you know how it turns out:)

Special Occasion Sugar Cookies

1 cup sugar
3/4 cup butter or margarine, softenend (I used 1/2 c. butter 1/4 c. butter flavor crisco)
1 egg
3 T. Whipping cream (I used half and half because that's what I had)
1 t. vanilla
1 t. almond ext.
3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
Granulated sugar

Combine sugar, butter, egg, whipping cream, vanilla and almond ext. Beat at
med. speed until light and fluffy. Add flour, baking powder and salt at low
speed until soft dough forms. Cover and chill until firm.

Heat oven to 400 degrees. on floured surface roll dough 1/4 in. thick, cut
desired shapes and place on ungreased cookie sheets. Sprinkle lightly with
granulated sugar (I would only sprinkle with sugar if I wasn't frosting them). Bake 4-6 minutes.

Cute Carousel Cake!

Yesterday was my little nieces first birthday. I can't believe she is already a year old! My sis in law threw the cutest lil birthday party for her, and I made her cake:) I saw a picture of a really cute carousel cake and decided I wanted to duplicate it but make it a little different. I found some of those candy sticks with sugar dinosaurs on them and used those for the carousel poles. For the cake itself, just 2 8" round cakes. To make the carousel top, cut a 9" circle out of paper, made a cut to the center of the circle then overlapped the cut a little and tapped it together. Pretty simple, and it turned out really cute. I might have to make this for my little girl when she is one, I have a while to think about that though, considering she wont even be here for about another 10 weeks:)

So no recipe for this post because I just used a cake mix for the cake. But tomorrow, I will post a recipe for the best sugar cookies ever! So get excited:)

Red Velvet Whoopie Pies

If you haven't made a fun Valentine treat yet, this is a good one to try out. I saw these on Annies Eats a little while ago and knew I had to try them out. I thought they would be fun to make for any occasion, but just perfect for Valentines Day. The texture of these were amazing, just like a whoopie pie should be. To be honest though, I didn't care too much for the red velvet pie by itself, but once I added the cream cheese icing it took it to another level. You can make these into simple round whoopie pies but they sure are cute as hearts. To see some great step by step pictures check out Annies Eats.

Red Velvet Whoopie Pies
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For the cookies:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp. cocoa powder
½ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
8 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
½ cup buttermilk, at room temperature
1 oz. red food coloring

Ingredients:

For the frosting:
8 oz. cream cheese
5 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2½ cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted

*I added a little almond extract to the frosting

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375˚ F.

Using a heart template cut out from card stock, trace evenly spaced hearts onto pieces of parchment paper sized to fit two cookie sheets. Place the parchment on the cookie sheets so that the side you have drawn on is facing down; set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and brown sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the egg until incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Blend in the vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, beat in about a third of the dry ingredients, followed by half of the buttermilk, beating each addition just until incorporated. Repeat so that all the buttermilk has been added and then mix in the final third of dry ingredients. Do not overbeat. Blend in the food coloring.

Transfer the batter to a pastry bag fitted with a large plain round tip. Pipe the batter onto the parchment paper using the heart tracings as a guide. Bake 7-9 minutes or until the tops are set, rotating the baking sheets halfway through. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheets at least 10 minutes, until they can be easily transferred to a cooling rack. Repeat with any remaining batter. Allow cookies to cool completely before proceeding.

To make the cream cheese frosting, in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment beat the cream cheese and butter on medium-high speed until well combined and smooth, about 2-3 minutes. Mix in the vanilla extract. Gradually beat in the confectioners’ sugar until totally incorporated, increase the speed and then beat until smooth.

Transfer the frosting to a clean pastry bag fitted with a plain, round tip. Pair the cookies up by shape and size.

Pipe frosting onto the flat-sided cookie of each pair, leaving the edges clear. Sandwich the cookies together so the flat sides are facing each other and press gently to help the filling reach the edges. To store, refrigerate in an airtight container.

Source: cookies adapted from Dinner and Dessert, originally from Better Homes & Gardens, December 2008; frosting frosting adapted from Confections of a Foodie Bride

Clearing up the Confusion!!

Ok-so pretty much disregard a lot of what I said in my last post. I just went online to food network and read some of the comments again about Kathleen Kings cookies, and Kathleen herself posted a comment saying that 1 1/4 cups of butter is CORRECT! She also uses salted butter as well as adds salt to the recipe. Feels good to get that confusin cleared up:)

Kathleen Kings Double Chocolate Almond Cookies

I was watching Ina's new episode yesterday and she had a friend on showing her how to make chocolate almond cookies. They looked so amazing that I got up and started making them. I looked up the recipe on the food network and was surprised to see that it only called for 1 1/4 c. of butter online, when I was certain that she used 2 1/4 cups on tv. O well-I just proceeded and started making them from what the recipe online said. As the first batch was baking I decided to read some reviews about the recipe. Every review that was posted so far was saying how "the cookies turned out horrible because the butter measurement is off". I decided to rewatch the episode and find out for certain how much butter she used, and sure enough, it was 2 1/4 cups! I was expecting the cookies to turn out horrible, but they didn't! Quite the opposite actually, they were one of the best homemade cookies I have had. They had such a dense yet moist texture. If I didn't know it was missing a cup of butter I wouldn't have thought there was anything wrong with these cookies. I am however going to make these cookies again this week with the proper amount of butter. I think they could be even better, because they did get a little dry the second day, and I think if I used 2 1/4 cups of butter they would be more "gooey". Anyways here's the recipe, after I make them again with the full amount of butter I will do another post and let you know how they turned out:)

Kathleen King's Double Chocolate Almond Cookies

Ingredients

nocoupons

• 2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cups salted butter, softened to room temperature (I just found out for certain 1 1/4 c. is correct, disregard all of talk about 2 1/4 c. :) )
  
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup firmly packed dark or light brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup white chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (I used 1/2 c. semi and 1/2 c. milk)
  
• 1 cup almonds, chopped (I left out because I didn't have any)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. (Recipe on tv also says to preheat oven to 375, I baked mine at 350 and they turned out fine, but I also used a cup less butter)

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream the butter and sugars. Add the egg and vanilla and mix together. Add the flour mixture and continue mixing until just combined.

Add the chocolates and almonds and mix until combined. Using two tablespoons or a small ice cream scoop, drop the dough two inches apart on sheet pans lined with parchment. Bake for 15 minutes. (Mine were perfectly done at 12 minutes, check at 10 minutes)

Cool the cookies on the cookie sheets. The cookies should be very soft when they are removed from the oven. They will firm up as they cool.

Copy Cat Panda Orange Chicken

During my pregnancy there have been a few things that I have been craving, and one of them is Panda Express' Orange Chicken. I love the stuff! I just can't seem to get enough of it, but I have been trying to cut back:) A few months ago I saw a bottle of Panda Express Orange Sauce at the grocery store in the Asian aisle. I have resisted getting it, but last week I just couldn't resist any longer. I was excited to try it out and see if it really resembled Panda's orange sauce. I found this copy cat orange chicken recipe online, tossed it with the orange sauce, and it was delicious! My husband loved it. It was such an easy meal as well. And I figured that it is so much cheaper to make the orange chicken from scratch using the bottled sauce rather than buying it from Panda Express. I will definitely be making this again! :)

"Panda Express" Orange Chicken

2 lbs. chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 egg
Salt
Fresh ground pepper
1 T. oil
1/2 c. cornstarch
1/4 c. flour
Oil for frying
1 bottle panda express orange sauce

Coat chicken in egg, salt and pepper and 1 T. oil; mix well. Stir cornstarch and flour into the chicken. Heat oil in a wok (about an inch deep in a wok) over medium heat, and add chicken in batches, frying until crisp and browned on the outside. Heat up some of the orange sauce and toss with chicken.