Gone Phishin'

This weekend is Phish weekend in our neck of the woods. My husband preps for the shows by listening to Phish 24/7 (which is pretty much the normal anyway...) and spending a ridiculous amount of time at the beverage center picking out what beers he wants to bring with him. I, on the other hand, prepare as I prepare for most life events...by baking! In years past I have made sugar cookies or cakes iced with the Phish logo. Last year, I made cookie bars topped with milk chocolate that I piped into the Phish logo. This year I decided to get really creative...

My idea was to create a dessert for each night that was a take on a Phish song. I challenged my husband to come up with the song choices for me. He came up with Bathtub Gin (which will be the inspiration for Sunday night's dessert) and Reba (tomorrow). Tonight was my idea.

As our 4 year old is coming with us tonight, I decided to make a very kid friendly treat - cake pops! Although as adorable as a traditional pop, these are a whole new level of cake pop.The inside is a maple cake crushed together with maple buttercream frosting and chopped up bacon. They are coated with a darker chocolate and topped with caramelized bacon sprinkles. 

What song could these possible be a take on you ask?! Why, Meatstick of course! Because it's meat, it's on a stick, and how could these crazy pops not "shock your brain"?!

Brave Party: Eats and Treats

This post is dedicated to all of the yummy food we served at bug's Brave party. I originally was planning to cook traditional Scottish foods, but decided that was too involved to undertake with an infant at home and tried to go with simple, rustic foods with a bit of Brave inspired flare. I also tried to serve all the food on silver platters and wooden cutting boards to stick with the rustic/royal theme. As I mentioned before, I don't have pictures of many things because of the circumstances at the party and I'll just fill in the details.

Appetizer Table

• Bread Dip (the green bowl sadly ended up on the table when I wasn't looking and crashed my careful plan for silver and wooden platters for all the food)
• "Bulls eye" fruit platter made from Alpine melon, blackberries, and strawberries
• Fresh grapes and cheese cubes (Sharp Cheddar, Monterrey Jack, and Tomato Basil Cheddar)
• Assorted crackers and fresh breads
• Wedge cheeses (Gouda, Swiss, Garlic and Herb goat cheese, Plain goat cheese) and kielbasa with assorted spreads (pepper jelly, spicy mustard, and corn relish)

I'm not sure how it happened, but I have no pictures at all of the main course. My menu included:

• Baked ham
• Chicken legs (marinade was based loosely on this recipe)
• Mashed sweet potatoes
• Buttered corn
• Baby carrots
• Fresh rolls
• Fresh salad with strawberries and apples
• Fruit skewers fashioned to look like arrows (melon cubes and strawberry arrowhead)

Again, we never got a photo of my dessert table which I obsessed over:-( In addition to the photos below, we also served raspberry thumbprint "spell cakes" and the "scottish sweet buns" (based on this recipe).

Brother bear cookies

Months ago I pinned a cute idea to make bear cookies, but then I stumbled upon the Wilton stackable teddy bear cookie cutters at Joann's and picked them up. I haven't done royal icing cookies in a long time, so I used the tutorial here to brush up on my skills. FYI - these cookies took FOREVER to make, it was a three night process!

Cotton Candy Wisps

I wanted to rent or buy a cotton candy machine to make wisps, but decided that would cost too much money so I just went to Hoffman's (a local extremely overpriced mini amusement park) and purchased two bags of the stuff.

Birthday Cake!

I was inspired by this cake I pinned at the beginning of my planning process. I purchased the figurines from the Disney Store online. I really wanted the sleek look of fondant, but hate how it doesn't taste good. Awhile ago I had pinned this recipe for a homemade marshmallow fondant and decided to try it out - it worked perfectly!

Friday Five: St. Patrick's Day Yummies!

Just in time for this St. Patty's Day this weekend I'm sharing some of the yummy things I've whipped up in the past week or so to celebrate at home, school, and work.

 

Start St. Patrick's Day off right with a well rounded breakfast. I used my favorite basic pancake recipe with whole wheat white flour and tinted with Wilton icing colors to get vibrant hues.

For the kiddos: "Rainbow" pancakes, banana "clouds", and a scrambled egg "pot of gold"

For the grown-ups: Rainbow silver dollars

If you're looking for a treat that is colorful and only requires a few ingredients (but a bit of time to assemble), try out these rainbow rice krispie treats. I was inspired by this blogger, but I think that her recipe made them too crisp and if I made them again I would add more marshmallows and perhaps a dash of heavy cream during the cooking phase to make them chewier.

The colors didn't come out nearly as vibrant in this photo as they were in person

The in production shot before I portioned them...

These St. Patty's cake pops are stunners, but require MANY hours of dedication to create. I got the idea for a rainbow cake pop from this blogger's beautiful picture tutorial, but wasn't confident I could handle the wrapping of layers of cake without just squishing it all up into a mess. Instead, I opted to roll each color out between sheets of wax paper and then layered them in rainbow order. After a 6 hour rest in the fridge, I cut the big block of cake into small rectangles. I realled wanted to make sure they stayed together when dipping in the chocolate, so I rested them in the freezer for another 30-60 minutes before inserting the sticks and dipping them.

Funky lighting because I snapped this as they were chillin' in the fridge while I dipped another batch 

Outside: Green chocolate and some festive sprinkles

Inside: Surprise! Rainbow cake!
The poor lighting in my kitchen at 11pm when I finished these does not do them justice:-(

This "adults only" Guiness/Jameson/Bailey's cupcake will leave you with a buzz as well as a sugar rush. I shared these a few years ago (see my old post here) and have been making them yearly ever since.

 

Once again, not a great photo because I finished them at night and then I snapped this in our lunchroom just now

For those of you who are trying to behave and follow a diet (like me!) here's a healthy St. Patty's Day treat - Green Fruit Salad!

Diced kiwi, honeydew melon, and green grapes

 

Recipe: Dessert Pizza

I haven't been on my blog in awhile (I'll talk about what's been up in a later post), but as there was interest in this recipe when I posted a picture on facebook I figured I'd throw up the details for anyone who wants to try it out.

The crust can be any of the following baked as a circle on a pizza pan or as a rectangle on a cookie sheet: brownie mix, crescent rolls, or sugar cookie.

Bake and cool the crust of your choice. While it's cooling, mix together 8oz light cream cheese at room temperature, 1tsp vanilla extract, and 1/4-1/2 cup of confectioner's sugar (add more or less depending on how sweet you want the spread to be).

Top with any sliced fruits of your choice. Some suggestions are:

1. "Crowd pleaser" as above - strawberries, bananas, kiwis, raspberries

2. "Ice cream sundae" - Strawberries, bananas, crushed pineapple, walnuts, and melted chocolate swirl

3. "Celebrate the 4th" - bake as a rectangle and use blueberries, bananas, and strawberries to replicate the stripes and stars of the American flag

Also try blackberries, mandarin oranges, peach slices, and/or halved grapes for a different twist!