Happy Halloween!

She was a Ladybug of course! Hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween :)

My Caramel Cutie and Cowgirls

At work we had a Halloween Potluck lunch and dresses up as cowgirls on Friday. It was lots of fun and good food. Buggy decided she wanted to make everyone caramel apples and a pumpkin cake (shaped...not flavored...don't worry there's a post to come). I work with an all female staff so a lifeline of sweets is a necessity...and caffeine depending on who you ask ;)

I had not make caramel apples since I was a kid myself and was excited to make them with my Bugs. She is getting very good at picking things up so she had fun trying to grab all the apples. I just followed the recipe on the back of the caramel squares bag. I wasn't brave enough to try making my own caramel....maybe next year?!

I am not sure what I was thinking though when I bought 3...yes 3... bags of caramel squares. Well, I know for sure what I was NOT thinking.....that I was going to have to unwrap all 3 bags! Next time I will be finding another caramel option that doesn't include hundreds of tiny cellophane wraps. Buggy wasn't so excited about having to unwrap all the caramels either, as you can see from the picture below. I thought her tiny hands would be useful and speedy things up, but nooooo not so much....

She ditched me to go watch Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin Patch....thanks for nothing Bugs!

Don't you know though that she suddenly showed back up to take pictures of all the unwrapped caramels and wanted to take credit for all the hard work ;)

After I dipped the apples I rolled them in Halloween sprinkles in different ways. It was a little tricky to get the sprinkles all over since the caramel on the sides would be slightly set by the time I finished letting the excess dip off. I packaged them in clear bags and tied them with green ribbon. I thought they looked cute and quite Halloween-y.

And just what you were waiting for, a picture of all my favorite cowgirls. Yes that is my boss that is wearing the wacky hat/pigtails thing....gotta love it. Now there are a few of most favorite cowgirls that are missing from this pic and shall remain nameless....but you know who you are ;)

Hello Andes, Nice to Meet You!

I heart Andes mints....it always makes me happy to see one delivered with my bill at a restaurant, so it was no surprised that I scooped up a bag of the Andes Baking Chips the first time I stumbled on them at the grocery store the other week. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with them, but I knew it would be good.

I figured a good place to start was the yummy cookie recipe listed on the bag. The recipe was very straight forward with typical cookie base ingredients and mixing. It tasted more like a sugar cookie dough than a chocolate chip dough. Warning! Warning!!The dough does require chilling, So don't go thinking that you are going to whip these up real fast before bed.....just saying. I actually let my chill overnight, because of this fact and it did seem to effect the finished product. The recipe only called for an hour.

They were soft, sweet, chocolatety and a hint of cool from the mint. The chips were small enough they melted into the cookie so there was a consistent flavor of chocolate mint through out the entire cookie verses big chunks of dough or chocolate like traditional chocolate chip cookie. I will be making more of these....and probably trying to come up with other ideas for the Andes chips. Maybe mix in brownies?? These cookies would definitely make a good addition to your holiday cookie box as a little twist on a more traditional cookie....and just something about chocolate mint flavor makes me think Christmas.

Ok I know I'm probably slow on the uptake and these have been out for sale for months or years....so just know they are the regular andes mints chopped up. A little part of me was hoping for a cute kiss shaped chip, but no luck. Thought about it, but didn't check to see if it would be cheaper to by a box of mints and chop them myself or just buy the bag of chips....who knows, but effort to unwrap an entire box and then chop them just might be worth the extra quarter or so it might cost. On the other hand...I didn't take this into consideration when I bought 3 bags of individually wrapped caramels to make caramels the other day.....don't worry there is a post to come about that adventure.

Hey, but then again that might be something my sous chef, Bugs, can do...she's been working hard on her fine motor skills lately ;)

Andes Creme de Menthe Chunk Cookies

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened


• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar (I used light, because it was what I had on hand)


• 1/2 cup white granulated sugar


• 1 tsp baking soda


• 1tsp baking powder


• 2 tsp vanilla extract
  
• 2 eggs


• 1 package (10oz) Andes Creme de Menthe baking chips


• 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
  

Blend butter, sugars, baking soda, baking powder, vanilla and eggs until mixed. Stir in Andes baking chips and then flour.

Chill approximately 1 hour in the refrigerator. Measure out approximately 1oz of dough. Form ball and slightly flatten. Raise oven rack one level above middle and bake on non-stick baking pans.

Bake at 350F for 8-10minutes. Cool on pans for 2 minutes before removing.

Makes about 4 dozen cookies. (I must have made bigger cookies because I didn't get anywhere close to 4 dozen).

It's a Spoooooky House!

This was my first "gingerbread" house kit. I had wanted to make one for years, but always talked myself out of it for whatever reason. This was mostly definitely on my list on things I wanted to do with Buggy. Although I know when she can really help decorate that will be when it gets really fun! I can wait to see what her design ideas are....I love the way kid's minds think.

This was a Wilton kit that included everything you need to decorate the house for approximately $10. I thought it gave the fun of decorating without the headache that goes along with making this from scratch. They even included the cute sugar ghost on the front door. I was very thankful when I opened the box and realized that the house structure was already put together...I wasn't looking forward to that part....and all that was left to do was the decorating :) The only things I added that were not included in the kit were the candy corn and pumpkins and the green sprinkles I used for the grass. The kit showed dyed coconut, which I think would have looked better but I didn't have any so I made the sprinkles work.

There were 3-4 pictures of the house decorated in different styles, and instructions on the order to decorate in to help get the creative juices flowing. The candy corn fence came to me after I had finished the house and it just needed a little something as the finishing touch. The container of pumpkins and candy corn sitting on the counter called my name.....I mean, have you ever seen a spooky house without a fence and a pumpkin patch?!

There was plenty of icing for decorating, and as you can see piping is not my Strong point and it totally played to my advantage that it was a haunted house seeing I made the icing too thin and everything looks saggy, haha

All in all this was fun and I am looking forward to trying one again for Christmas. Maybe Isabel will be ready to help design by then!

Oh and yes, please read her bib...it is sooo true. "I'm so cute, its scary!"

The Cake Slice Bakers and Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Pound Cake!

Bald, but still delicious!

You are getting sleepy.....haha

Looks good already!

"Mom, What am I supposed to do with these?"

Baby Yamaka?!

Yummy Mickey Mouse Sprinkles!

Happy First Birthday Jonathan!!!


I learned of The Cake Slice Bakers through Monica at Lick The Bowl Good. If you haven't read her blog, please do it is an awesome blog. She has really served as my inspiration to get back in the kitchen and use my love for baking to help heal my soul and connect with my sweet girl Isa....aka Buggy Girl, hence the blog name ;)


Ok, so I do admit I blog stalk Monica and her blog....and I think I have a culinary crush. I hope my cakes and blogs will look like hers one day.

Don't be surprised if you see us try a lot of recipes she blogs about....she can make things look sooooo yummy with her pictures....a skill I am still working on.

On to The Cake Slice Bakers. I have waited the better part of a year for this group to open their membership. This is a group of fellow bakers that all cook from the same book for 1 year. Each month the group votes on a cake to be make and then keeps it secret until we all post our blogs on the 20th of each month. We are currently baking from Cake Keeper Cakes.

Kicking things off in true Fall fashion the first cake was pumpkin chocolate chip pound cake, and man it was yummy. We decided to take these to one of Isabel's many boyfriends' 1st birthday party....what can I say she has a thing for the older boys. To make them a little more "birthday" we opted to make them in Mickey Mouse cupcake liners and to top them with cream cheese icing and sprinkles of course!

This recipe will most definitely make it on our "go to" list. It would make a great breakfast/brunch cake, and was super easy to put together. I am not a huge lover of pumpkin flavored things, but this was just enough pumpkin flavor without it dominating the cake.....and everything is better with chocolate chips and nuts right?!

I'm looking forward to many more months cooking with The Cake Slice Bakers! Enjoy :)

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Pound Cake- Cake Keeper Cakes

Printer Friendly Version

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• pinch nutmeg
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (I used pecans)

Heat oven to 350F. Grease the inside 9x5 loaf pan eith non-stick cooking spray and dust with flour (We made cupcakes of course!)

Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, cloves and nutmeg in a medium mixing bowl.

Combine butter and sugar in large mixing bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until fluufy, for 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl 1-2 times as needed.

Turn mixer on low add one egg at a time, scraping down sides of the bowl after each addition. Stir in pumpkin puree and vanilla. Stir in milk.

Turn the mixer on low speed and add flour mixture 1/2 cups at a time, scraping down sides of bowl after each addition. Stir in chocolate chips and walnuts.

Scrap batter into loaf pan, smoothing top with a rubber spatula (or fill cupcake liners 2/3 full).

Bake cake until top is firm to touch and inserted toothpick comes out clean. 55minutes-1 hour (cupcakes took approximately 22 minutes). Let cake cool in pan for 5 minutes, then turn in out onto wire rack to cool.

Store uneaten cake covered at room temperature for 3 days or in the refrigerator covered with plastic wrap for 1 week.

Welcome!

Welcome to the Buggy Bakery. I remember baking and cooking with my Mom from an early age, and I am sure theat is where my love for it started. I looked forward to doing the same with my little girl someday, and now it is finally here. So I decided there was no better way to capture this time with her than to blog about it.

My beautiful Isabel was born May 28, 2010 and she is the light of my life :) And although she is still working on rolling over and sitting up, she can already work a mean whisk!