Recently I was watching the food network and the Neley's did a special on Salt Lake treats! It was very exciting seeing my state being represented. One of the things featured was Spotted Dog Ice Cream. Living half an hour from the city I was very disappointed I wasn't going to be tasting it anytime soon. However, as I was shopping at my local Harmons yesterday I saw some in the ice cream section! It was expensive, $4.99, so I was reluctant to buy it. But of course I did. I got the lemon cream pie ice cream and boy was it worth the $4.99! I would have paid ten bucks for one bite of it! It was amazing! Also featured on the food network was a bakery called Les Madelines. They have these amazing French pastries which I also tried but unfortunatly dont have a picture of. If you are ever in Salt Lake take advantage and try these yummy sweets!

Better late than never, right?

Last July I went on an amazing Alaskan cruise and have been meaning to post about it since I got back but somehow it got left out with all the baking I have been doing. So, even though I am a little embarrassed because this post is so late, I am still posting about it because as amazing as the cruise and the scenery was, the food was better! I had the best fish and crab I have ever had in my life. The fish and chips were to die for and the salmon-well- lets just say you haven't had salmon until you have had fresh Alaskan salmon. Today we are still enjoying Alaskan salmon because while in Alaska we went on a private boat to go fishing and I caught my first fish! A coho (I think thats how you spell it) salmon, and my husband and sister in law caught King salmon.

Here is the beautiful fish I caught:
And Micah's...
And the best fish and chips I have ever had in my life!

One of the very exciting moments on the trip was when we were in Skagwee and we were told about this little famous cupcake shop. So we went on the search and found it! It was the cutest little shop with the yummiest cupcakes! Look how cute....

Inside the darling store with my yummy cupcakes!

It was an amazing trip, probobly my favorite one to date. The scenery was beautiful and the food spectacular. We were able to do alot of fun and scary things. My least favorites were the many little plane rides we went on which I was convinced the whole time we were going to crash into a mountain. One of the most amazing things was the whale watching and going out in a boat very close to grizzly and black bears. We saw a momma bear with her three cubs. It was so cute but also very scary because we were so close to them. Here is a video clip of a little bit of what we saw...they were very cute, but also scary when you looked into their crazy eyes!

Candy corn kisses?

Yep, thats right! My main fall candy obsession has now been made into a Hershey's kiss. They don't taste exactly like candy corn but close enough and they are good! Thanks to cast sugar I got the idea to make these darling cookies with the kisses. However, I had to go to two different grocery stores before finding them. Harmons didn't have them but Albertsons did. I was so sad that my favorite grocery store let me down! I am still on the search for the pumkin spice kisses, neither grocery stores had those. So if anyone know where I can find them please let me know!

These cookies were so much fun to make and to give to people because the candy corn kisses shocked everyone! The recipe came from the back of the bag and its pretty good so give it a shot!

Hershey's Candy Corn Cookies
Ingredients:

3/4 c. creamy peanut butter
1/2 c. shortening
1/3 c. granulated sugar
1/3 c. light brown sugar, packed
1 egg
2 Tbsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/3 c. quick-cooking oats, divided
1 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
66 Hershey candy corn kisses (pretty much the whole bag)

Heat oven to 350°F Beat peanut butter and shortening in large bowl until well blended. Add granulated sugar and brown sugar; beat until fluffy. Add egg, milk and vanilla; beat well. Stir together 1/2 cup oats, flour, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into peanut butter mixture.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in remaining oats; place on ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten cookies with tines of fork to form a crisscross pattern.

Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely.

Remove wrappers from candies. Place 18 candies in heavy-duty resealable plastic food storage bag. Microwave at MEDIUM (50%) 30 seconds; knead bag and candies. If necessary, microwave at MEDIUM an additional 15 seconds at a time, kneading after each heating, until candies are melted and color is uniform. Cool slightly. Cut off corner of bag about 1/8 inch from point. Lightly drizzle cookies. Before drizzle sets, place candy piece in center of each cookie.

Parisian Macarons take 2

Last week I made the Parisian macarons again, this time I did alot of research and found out the technique to perfecting these cookies. I am not going to lie, I kind of have a macaron obsession right now. I am so intrigued by their cuteness! And they don't taste half bad either. These macarons I made had a white chocolate ganache filling. The taste was so unbelievable that I had probobly 7 in one day. They were so good! They also make the cutes gifts. I encourage anyone intimidated by making these little cookies to go ahead and make them anyway because I think you will find they aren't that hard! Especially if you use the wonderful advice given in the desserts magazine. I found out my second time around making them that the first batch I underfolded which made them too puffy. This time, I felt like I overfolded them but they turned out just perfect. The recipe for these macarons also came from the desserts magzine.

I have found it really helps to sit them out for at least an hour
after piping to allow a shell to form on the outside. Some recipes
call for this and some don't, but this batch ended up looking alot better
I think because I allowed them to sit out for an hour. It prevents
cracking in the oven.

I am so glad I dyed this batch pink, it gave them such a fun touch.

Dont they make the cutest gifts!