Carnation Flower Cake

Like most of you know I haven't taken any formal pastry classes, but I do love to bake. I believe that the key to delivering beautiful cakes is passion for what you do, and lots of practice. When I want to try something new I use the internet, my favorite search method is goggle. This flower I made out a cookie cutter I had in-hand and my idea was to make a carnation. It might not look much like professional flower (well is not, at least not yet), but I really like the way it turned out.

What's a great way to start Spring Time? Making sugar flowers (this one made out of fondant with yellow food coloring). Plus I brushed it with some canary yellow luster dust and spice pumpkin luster dust for the borders, all edible.

One of the things I enjoy the most after baking and discovering my creativity level is meeting new people. A friend of mine that has tasted my cakes introduced me to this nice couple that I got quickly very fond of (plus I need to mention that the lady and I share the same first name), like her even more! Just kidding.... not really, I do like her.

This nice lady is celebrating her birthday today (March, 25) and she wanted a special cake. Simply, chic, pretty to the eye and delicious of taste and I think I nailed it! Take a look and judge for yourself.

The cake is what we call a "Puerto Rican Cake", is a moist cake with a nice rum and almond flavor. It's a sponge cake with simple syrup topped with Vanilla Buttercream. I use Madagascar Vanilla, because I consider it's flavor high quality and my friends and family deserves only the best quality cakes.

A little closer!

February's Review

Now lets see, February is a very special month for me. Not only is the shortest month of the year, but it represents all love and hearts. Most people go all the way out during this month just to let that special someone know how much they are loved. Cute ha!

In this post I want to review this heart warming month with things I have baked and special events.

Here you have a picture of the Maple Scones I made not long ago, delicious! Plus, by going back in time and taking a pick at that post you can also find other shapes I made.















My special Valentines are my husband (Alex) and my daughters (Paloma & Kyra). So my girls and I decided to go ahead and make pretty some vanilla cupcakes I had made days before the 14th.

Here is one with Red Sanding Sugar from CK Products.

This pink cupcake is also Pink Sanding Sugar topped with hard candies in heart shapes. This product is from Wilton.

Having a very talented and creative daughter isn't a surprise to me that she brings lots of arts from school to share with the family. But this very special cookie was decorated by her for none other that me (mommy dearest). She is my For Ever Valentine!

You will never imagine what happened to me!... Ok, ...I'll give it up, no need on delaying the news anyways! I won a Cupcake Apron from Carolyns Kitchen a giveaway sponsored by Cake Journal. Thanks Louise for the great idea of giving away cupcake related things, I sure love it. When I found out I was sooooo happy, let's just say that it was a jumping around the house event! Promise to take a picture with it and post about it soon.

Last but not least, during this very special month of February (Feb. 28) is my dearest first daughter (Paloma's) 8th birthday. I did bake her some cupcakes. I'll post the pictures and details later on.

Mostly what we did for her day was after church (and giving God thanks for all our blessings) we went and had some breakfast, went to Toys R Us so she could choose a present (with a budget set up, to keep it real), then we went to a Mini Golf near our house (it was so much fun, we are so short of being golfers). After that we drove to the movies and saw Princess and the Frog and finally had some dinner at her favorite restaurant.

Wow! I am tired by even writing it, yes... by the end of the day I was exhausted... Ok! by the middle of the day I was tired already. But, it was all so worth it.

The night before her birthday I was a little emotional, because she is my first born and was only 2 years old when I was diagnosed with Cancer and now (today) she is 8 years old. God has given me the best gift ever... to get to meet my daughter and grow up with her. It feels like it's my birthday too!

Note: March 1st was my husbands birthday. Happy Birthday honey!

Maple Scones

It is actually Maple-Oatmeal Scones made from a recipe gotten from Food Network Magazine. The recipe is from Ina Garten, I absolutely love her dishes. Both sweet and savory.

For this particular recipe I did make some changes that worked for my pallet, with what I like and what my family loves as well. The reason being is that I make all of this for my family, hey, I need to take care of my loved ones. Plus someone has to take care of all the tastings that goes around here! Don't judge, I know you have done it too... or maybe still do.

You can enjoy some of the pictures I took and taking advantage of the holiday (Valentine's Day) I gave a special shape to my scones. Hearts and XOX's. Hope you like and enjoy some scones!

Here goes the recipe:

Maple Scones (Maple-Oatmeal Scones)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Ingredients:

• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole-wheat flour
• 1 cup quick-cooking oats, plus additional for sprinkling
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 pound cold unsalted butter, diced
• 1/2 cup cold buttermilk
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
• 4 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon milk or water, for egg wash

For the glaze:

• 1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the flours, oats, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Blend the cold butter in at the lowest speed and mix until the butter is in pea-sized pieces. Combine the buttermilk, maple syrup, and eggs and add quickly to the flour-and-butter mixture. Mix until just blended. The dough may be sticky.

Dump the dough out onto a well-floured surface and be sure it is combined. Flour your rolling pin and roll the dough 3/4 to 1-inch thick. You should see lumps of butter in the dough. Cut into rounds or triangles (or any other shape you like) then place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Brush the tops with egg wash. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the tops are crisp and the insides are done.

To make the glaze, combine the confectioners' sugar, maple syrup, and vanilla. When the scones are done, cool for 5 minutes, and drizzle each scone with 1 tablespoon of glaze. Ina recommends to sprinkle some uncooked oats on the top, for garnish.

Note: When putting on the glaze make sure the scone is not too warm or the glaze will melt.
Another good recommendation I can give you is that whenever you are making a recipe read the reviews (if they are available). It always help to know what others found that works better for you in the chosen recipe. It always helps me!

Cornbread Muffins

My family loves cornbread muffins or cornbread, it goes so well for breakfast, lunch, snack or dinner. It's a versatile bread. It's moist, fluffy, bready, cakie, sweet and buttery all together with a corn texture from it's flour, it's divine.

My dad and sister are masters in baking this yummy fluffy and delicious bread. The thing is that they bake by eyeballing and by memory. No measurements and no recipes, not good for someone like me that cooks it all by measurements. I can eyeballing a savory meal, but no way can I ever do that in pasty.

It has taking me for ever to come down with a recipe on paper that I enjoy, it is still not my father's or my sister's version, but close. I came across a recipe from King Arthur Flour, I made some changes to satisfy more of my taste and here is the recipe I came up with.

Cornbread Muffins

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup sugar (more sugar from original recipe)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon (my addition, it can be nutmeg)
1 1/4 cups milk
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 large egg (added one more egg from original recipe)


Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375°F.
Lightly grease a 9-inch square or round pan or 12 muffin cups.

1) In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
3) In another bowl or large measuring cup, whisk together the milk, melted butter, and egg.
4) Pour the liquid all at once into the flour mixture, stirring quickly and gently until just combined.
5. Spread the batter into the prepared pan, or scoop into the muffin tin.
6. Bake for 20 minutes, until the edges just begin to pull away from the pan and a cake tester or paring knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
7. Remove from the oven and cool on a rack for 5 minutes before cutting.

















Note: You can stir in any desired herbs, cheese, corn kernels, or other flavorings. A tip from King Arthur's bakers is that if you decide to add creamed corn, decrease the milk in the recipe by 1/3 cup. You can also substitute the butter for corn oil.

Make this recipe, leave a comment about it and remember to enjoy!

Butterfly Cake + Cupcakes

A birthday in the family was coming up and that means time for cake. Family members are the best, because they serve as double duty by giving me (or anyone wanting to make cakes) an opportunity to make cakes and/or cupcakes and they also serve as the guinea pigs by testing them and giving feedback. Awesome, right? That's what family is for; helping and helping and helping... well, you get it!

I was told that the colors were to be purple, pink and green and the decor had butterflies included. With this in mind I came up with this simple, but so pretty cake. As clean as I could. Almond Sour Cream cake with Choco-Coco Filling and covered with Vanilla Buttercream. I also made Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting colored in purple.

Everything had butterflies, the cake and each one of the cupcakes. The butterflies were made out of fondant in the colors requested by the birthday girl. Plus I added small silly flowers and smaller butterflies around the bottom of the cake to make it more girly and whimsical. Isn't it pretty?

Bridal Show 2010

Guess who? Yes, me!

I went to my first Bridal Show... ever! My sister-in-law is getting married and she has turned to me to make her wedding cake. One of two things or they have a tight budget or they truly trust me.... or maybe is both of them.

This great Bridal Show was taking place in Wyndham Orlando Resort in Orlando, Fl. It was so much fun, I had never ever been to a bridal show and it was over whelming. Didn't expect to see so many brides, because it was pretty cold outside (below the 40's and that is a cold and not expected weather in Florida). A couple of the grooms were there too.

We managed to get our hands into some magazines like The Knot and Brides Florida, we did see more magazines but couldn't get to them soon enough. It was a little difficult to stand in front of any both in the place, specially the ones with cake displays and cake tastings (plus there were those booths that had cupcakes just to catch the brides attention, smart).

Here are some pictures so you can see some of the talented people that loves what I love... cupcakes, cakes and everything sweet. The truth is that my camera is very old (it's a 3.2 mega pixels) so please bear with me. I want to think that I managed to take some pictures to share with all of you sweet readers and to look at and remember the making of my sister-in-law's wedding.

Enjoy and if you ever get a chance do go to a Bridal Show, they are lots of fun!

Some of the vendors:
Crazy Cupcakes
Sprinkles Custom Cakes
Muse Gelato
Events of Elegance
and many, many more...
Plus I added a picture of an arrangement that caught my eyes attention.

Caramel Brownie Bars

Last month, which in fact was last year too, was the last Ladies Breakfast at my church. I wanted to bring something along for the ladies to win and enjoy. I had to come up with something sweet and nice for the holidays, but I didn't want it to be cupcakes. That was a challenge, because cupcakes is mostly what I do. Well, I guess this new year more sweet treats are coming my way. Let it come to me, cause I am more than ready to take on new challenges. I can do it!

Anyways, let me focus on the subject, going back to the treats for the beautiful ladies at my church and the last breakfast of the year. Everything you read or see on TV is about cookie swaps, but I didn't want to get them cookies (a good reason being is that I still haven't mastered the art of decorated sugar cookies). Being a big fan and lover of chocolate and brownies, and the fact that my husband came home a nice gift, the Perfect Brownie Pan. And that is when it finally clicked, bars was the magic word for me.

After making a search in the internet and reviewing lots of recipes I picked two. One had to had chocolate in it and for the other something fruity was ideal to contrast and complement each other. Get it?

Bars:
Oatmeal Berry Bar
Caramel Brownie Bar (I added walnuts, which is optional)

Found nice tins in a craft store and brought some tins full of delicious sweet bars. Just what the holidays ordered and a special Happy Holidays to all the great ladies (friends) that gets together to share and have fun!

Melt in your mouth "Chocolate Cake"

I consider myself a chocolate lover. When I think of sweet, dessert, melt in my mouth indulgent I think of chocolate. After trying several cake recipes I came across this one from Ina Garten and it's by far my favorite. And of course, I have to share it with all of you sweet readers.

Before you ask yourself why the pictures of my cake don't look like it is a tiered cake; well, it's because there is only four of us in my household and I didn't wanted to bake a big cake just for us and so I baked half this recipe. It might not have been a big of a deal, because we did ate this cake and ended wanting more. Try it and let me know what your thoughts are!

Chocolate Buttercream Cake

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Pan options: Butter 1 (4 by 3-inch) cake pan, 1 (6 by 3-inch) cake pan and 1 (8 by 3-inch) cake pan. Line the bottoms with parchment paper, and butter and flour the pans.
(This pan sizes are an option you can use the ones you have in hand or the ones that best fits the reason why you are baking this cake for)

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups good cocoa powder
1 tablespoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
1 1/3 cups light brown sugar, packed
4 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups buttermilk, at room temperature
1 cup sour cream, at room temperature
1/4 cup brewed coffee
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting, recipe follows

Directions:

Sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars on high speed until light, approximately 5 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well. Combine the buttermilk, sour cream, and coffee. On low speed, add the flour mixture and the buttermilk mixture alternately in thirds, beginning with the buttermilk mixture and ending with the flour mixture. Mix the batter only until blended.

Divide the batter between the 3 pans and smooth the tops with a spatula. Bake on the middle rack of the oven as follows: for the 4-inch pan 45 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean; for the 6-inch pan 70 to 75 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean; and for the 8-inch pan 85 to 90 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool the cakes in the pans for 10 minutes each on a cooling rack, carefully remove from the pans and allow to finish cooling.

Place the 8-inch cake on a serving plate, flat side up. Frost the top of that layer with buttercream. Place the 6-inch cake in the center of the top of the 8-inch cake, flat-side up, and frost the top and sides. Place the 4-inch cake in the center of the top of the 6-inch cake, flat side down. Frost the top and sides of that layer with buttercream. Spread any remaining buttercream over the cake evenly.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting:

1 pound bittersweet chocolate
12 ounces semisweet chocolate
3/4 cup egg whites (4 to 5 extra-large eggs), at room temperature
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 pounds unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 teaspoons instant espresso powder, dissolved in 1 1/2 teaspoons water
3 tablespoons dark rum, optional

Chop the chocolates and place them in a heat-proof bowl set over a pan simmering water. Stir until melted and set aside until cooled to room temperature.
Mix the egg whites, sugar, cream of tartar, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Place the bowl of egg whites over the pan of simmering water and heat the egg whites until they are warm to the touch, about 5 minutes. Return the bowl to the electric mixer and whisk on high speed for 5 minutes, or until the meringue is cool and holds a stiff peak.
Add the butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, while beating on medium speed. Scrape down the bowl, add the melted chocolate, vanilla, espresso, and rum, if using, and mix for 1 minute or until the chocolate is completely blended in. If the buttercream seems very soft, allow it to cool, and beat it again.

Enjoy!

Julie and Julia

Hello everyone, guess who is the proud owner of Julie and Julia's DVD + a bonus gift?....yeap... ME and I also got the book. My sweet husband went to the store on release day December 8th and got me a nice present. I have been talking about it (ok, asking , ok nagging about it) ever since I found out the release date. Yeah, I have been a pain in the behind, very annoying, but I really wanted to own it.

Why? you may ask, well not only it's about Julia Child, and I totally think she was the pioneer women that opened the way for lots of creative people in TV. She did not only followed her passion for food, but she also inspired many and got people that felt incompetent in the kitchen to feel comfortable and to trust themselves. Many can relate to that, I know I can.

My husband watched the movie with me and his expression was, "was someone filming us?", at times it really felt like that. The pep talks both Julia and Julie's husbands gave them, felt like what my husband tells me. Plus the scene when Julie's husband sets up the blog for her was hilarious, my husband designed mine. He is still the one that fixes it when I want something done and I am stuck (lets be honest that happens often). He's always telling me that he is the "Icing on my cupcake", and he truly is. So imagine our reaction when we heard Paul Child refer to himself as "the butter on her bread". It was just spooky. Don't you think so? Crazy, ha!

Family is my priority and if you know me you would also know that. But I also love sweets and not being in the workforce for years now has left me with lots of time in my hands. Something that I felt related to Julia Child, I wanted to do something and wanted to do it right. I do bake with love, with passion for my family and friends. Someday, not far away, I will own my own bakeshop and you will be the first to know about that very expected event. Until that day comes by lets enjoy baking together and have fun along the way.

You did guessed it, I loved the movie and felt related, inspired, pumped up with more energy on keeping up with what I love and live up my dreams to the fullest. If you haven't seen it, please do go and see it asap, it's worth it, trust me! But for now, everyone out there keep on blogging and Bon Appétit!

Going Nuts for Bananas (Banana Bread)

When ever my husband wanted to eat Banana Bread we would go to the store and buy it. For some reason even if there were lots of ripe bananas laying around the house I never had the courage to make a banana bread on my own. Maybe the reason that my husband loves it so much made me skeptical on trying it out.

Until one day when I got into my hands a recipe that seemed easy enough to make, even for me. If you know me, you know that I changed it a bit and added my touch to it. It's a fantasy way of changing things around. I want to share the recipe with you so you can all make this bread at home. Hey, this can very nicely make a great homemade Christmas gift. Homemade gifts are always in style and the presentation can go miles. Give to those you love a Banana Bread freshly baked by you.

Banana Bread

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine (softened)
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 to 4 bananas)
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup chopped nuts, optional

Note: I added to this recipe 1/2 tsp nutmeg (it made all the difference in the world, it tasted insanely delicious).

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F
Grease bottoms of 2 loaf pans. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl mix sugar and butter in large bowl. Stir in eggs until well blended. Add bananas, buttermilk, and vanilla; beat until smooth. Stir in the flour mixture just until moistened. Finally add the nuts. Pour into pan and bake for about an hour or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool for about 10 minutes. Loosen sides of pan, remove and place top sided up on wire rack. Cool completely, about 2 hours before slicing (I added a sugar glaze after completely cool and before slicing).

Wrap tightly and store at room temperature up to 4 days or refrigerate for up to 10 days. If it lasts that long, not in my house!

Holiday Note: Mini Banana Breads make great gifts. With this recipe you can easily make 10 miniature loaf pans (4 1/2 x 2 3/4 x 1 1/4 in.). About 1/2 cup each loaf. Bake 30 to 35 minutes.

Mini Desserts

Last month my friend/sister (meaning that she is not only a friend, but more as a sister to me) had a party at her house to celebrate a couple of events; her birthday, her 25th wedding anniversary and the decoration of the family Christmas Tree. That I may add is about 15 feet tall. Yearly she has a dinner party with the family to help her decorate for Christmas and a great excuse to get together. Plus everyone gets in the holiday mood. Not a bad idea, right?

It was something like a potluck kinda party, everyone was taking something. I, of course, offered to take some dessert. Being a big family and having so much fun around, mini desserts was the best bet. So I got to work and came up with Mini Pumpkin Cupcakes with walnuts and Cream Cheese Frosting and to challenge myself I offered mini pies, because I had laying around a Pumpkin Pie recipe that I was wanting to make for a while now.

Take a look and see for yourself the final result and let me know what you think.

Mini Pumpkin Cupcakes
(make them at home: Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes)

Mini Pumpkin Pies

To make a delicious Pumpkin Pie follow the recipe below courtesy of How To Eat A Cupcake, and if you thought that this recipe couldn't get any better take a look at her blog and browse around you'll love it as much as I do. Blogs are a great way to rich out to others and teach them great and delicious recipes.

Pumpkin Chiffon Pie (from The Culinary Arts Institute Cookbook; 1985)

Ingredients:

Take your pie dough and make circles out of it, bake in a mini cupcake pan

1 envelope unflavored gelatin

1/4 cup cold water

1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup milk

3 egg yolks

1/2 teaspoon each ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 egg whites

1 cup chilled heavy cream, stiffly beaten (Like Cassie did in her recipe, I only used 3/4 cup of cream and added 1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla)

Directions:

Soften gelatin in the cold water and set aside. Combine pumpkin, sugar, milk, egg yolks, spices, and salt in the top of a double boiler. Cook over medium heat 5 minutes. Stir in softened gelatin and cook 5 minutes more. Cool. Beat the egg whites (I added 3 tablespoons of sugar to the egg whites) until soft peaks form. Gently fold egg whites into thoroughly cooled pumpkin filling. Pour mixture into pie shell. Chill until set. Top with whipped cream. Now enjoy, but remember to share!

Want a closer look? Well, here you go!

Decorating Cookies (Cook with your kid)

Being so close to the holidays like Thanks Giving and Christmas it is not a wonder why people are so busy baking cookies, cakes, cupcakes and mini desserts. Be it for house parties or business events there has to always be a dessert involved somewhere. I know that I have mentioned this before, but it is this time of year that I enjoy the most, maybe because there is always something baking and that sweet smell makes in the kitchen makes everyone smile. This might even bring you back to childhood memories. It does to me.

I have seen a lot around about cookie swaps and was so intrigued by the idea that it hit me that I had never made sugar cookies to decorate. And wow have I seen some great web sites out there with beautiful decorated cookies. It's truly a work of art.

After getting my hands into a sugar cookie recipe I needed cookie cutters, well, about that... I went cookie cutter crazy and my dear husband gave me his card, Am I a lucky gal or what?

My daughter and I started the task of decorating with some frosting and candies (they were everywhere), we had a sugar rush and the best time ever. I sometimes wonder why don't we parents do more things with our kids, it connects us so much to them and by the time they are growing up (which we can't stop from happening) this are the moments that they will cherish for the long run.

But let me say that decorating a cookie is harder than it looks. I take my hat off to all of those creative artists out there that make fantastic decorated cookies, oh boy are you all talented or what! That's why there is this saying "practice, practice, practice" and "Practice makes perfection", decorating a cookie with frosting or icing is all about creativity and a steady hand (patience might be a good word too).

Since our cookies where for us and to spend some time together while talking about her day at school, well, let just say that anything and everything could be used to decorate those yummy tasting cookies. And so it did, take a look at some pictures.

As I mentioned my daughter and I where both 1st timers decorating cookies, but we couldn't let you all think that everything was all running smoothly, here look for yourself:

Somehow the cookies managed to fall and all the frosting and decorations had a party on there own. They tasted good anyways, accidents do happen. To all of you out here that buy decorated cookies, take all of this things in consideration:

1. A great recipe is needed to make the cookies stay in the shape you want the to.

2. Decorating them with frosting or icing isn't an easy taste, you need a great creativity and steady hands.

3. The cookies can all fall down and the baker must start all over again.

Please do appreciate the hard work that is put into the labor of desserts making, specially if they taste as great as they look. But above all enjoy your cookies!

Cinnamon Chips

They are here...they are finally here!!!

Found the most desirable Cinnamon Chips, online in Kings Arthur Flour and I just got them yesterday. This are not your regular chips, normally we would buy chocolate chips and often find butterscotch chips in the supermarket and bakery supply stores. But this cinnamon chips really puts its own stamp in desserts like scones, muffins, cookies, cakes and even breads. If you can think about it, you can definitely bake it!

Having the cinnamon coming in the form of chips makes it pop (break up) with the heat of the oven and gives that distinctive taste that is more concentrated than when you add certain amount of cinnamon powder to a recipe. Plus it looks beautiful when you break into it (or bite into the scones, yummy!).

Here are the new pictures of the scones I made just today. This scones are a little different from the ones I made earlier this month. They don't have the sugar glaze, but they are definitely different inside. The cinnamon chips makes all the difference in the world, design wise and taste wise. It looks like dots of cinnamon inside. Make them for yourself and loved ones, enjoy!

For the recipe look at: Cinnamon Scones

Cinnamon Scone

Who doesn't have a favorite coffee shop around the neighborhood that is there ultimately favorite? Well I do and this is the best time of the year to go and visit, because there is just something whimsical about the smell there. It must be the cinnamon with nutmeg and of course the great coffee smell.

My husband and I am addicted to scones, but not just any scone, the cinnamon scone we buy at Panera Bread here in Florida. I had to make them at home, after searching on every book and magazine I could get my hands on I came to the idea of searching online (which by the way I can't believe this wasn't my first choice, it would had cut my time in half). After reading a couple of recipes I came across one found in Group Recipes.

Cinnamon Chip Scones

Preheat oven to 350°F. Set aside a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

1/3 cup brown sugar

4 tbsp white sugar

1 tbsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

3/4 stick butter (cold)

1/3 cup cream (whipping cream)

2 eggs

1/3 cup oatmeal

1/2 cup cinnamon chips

sugar and cinnamon for topping

(large sugar crystals can also be used)

Directions:

1. Mix together the flour, sugars (brown and white), baking powder and salt.

2. Cut up butter into cubes.

3. Mix butter into flour mixture until blended. Should have pea size chunks of butter.

4. Beat the eggs and cream lightly together. Then add to the dry ingredients.

5. Add cinnamon chips and oatmeal to mixture.

6. Put dough into circle, roll out.

7. Cut into triangles, number depends on size of triangles (I made eight).

8. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar mixture.

9. Put on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

10. Finally, cook for 15-20 minutes or until slightly brown.

Note: I couldn't find cinnamon chips anywhere (I didn't even know such thing existed) so I had to improvise, but I am waiting for some that I ordered online at King Arthur Flour. Can't wait to get the to try the recipe the way it is meant to be made.

I also personalized it a bit by adding a glaze. I saw some recipes with this idea and thought it couldn't damage it if I added some to my scones. By the way they are delicious with or without the glaze.

Follow me on Twitter and be the first to see my new scones made with the cinnamon chips.


Now for the picture you have been waiting for:

Spice is in the air!

I truly enjoy holidays, but Christmas is my absolute favorite. It's all about the weather, the atmosphere in the stores and seeing the houses so pretty decorated. This time of year is also special in my heart, because it represents the birth of God and it's like his big birthday party. A special time of year that almost everyone enjoy and celebrates with family get-together and presents exchange and lots of food and desserts.

After window shopping and seeing some Christmas items in the stores I got some holiday jitters. Nothing says Christmas more to me than Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes and that's exactly what I have been up to this past week.

Everyone is getting a cupcake to say til later to Summer and welcome the Fall (even though Fall is not officially here).

Now for the exciting part, the recipe:

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

For the cupcakes:
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. salt
2/3 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1 cup raisins (optional)
1 can (15 oz.) solid-packed pumpkin

1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 cup canola oil
4 eggs

For the frosting:

1 stick of butter (room temperature)

1 stick (80z.) cream cheese (room temperature)

4 cups of powder sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract (great quality)

Directions:
Preheat an oven to 350°F. Line three 12-cup muffin tins with decorative cupcake papers.

To make the cupcakes, in a bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt. Toss the walnuts and raisins with the flour mixture. (This will help prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the muffin tins.)

In a large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, granulated sugar, brown sugar and oil. Add the eggs one at a time, whisking after each addition.

Add the flour mixture in three additions, stirring with a large wooden spoon until just combined. Don't over mix.

Tip: I add a small amount of cream cheese (about 1/2 tsp.) in the center of the cupcakes before baking for extra flavor.

Now, do you want to see what happened to the cupcake above? I had it cut in the middle so you could enjoy the inside. Yeah it tastes as good as it looks... Yummy!!!

Get Well Soon Dear Doggy

This weekend my family and I went to a dear friends house, her dog was ill and they were very sad. You see this dog is very well part of the family, he has been with them for over 14 years or so. His name is Lucky and he sure is "lucky" to be a part of that great family.

I wanted to give them some comfort and what better way than with cake, right? I molded a round cake in form of a doggy plate, covered it in white fondant, then decorated with dog paws made out of blue fondant (because our doggy friend is a boy) and finally got a batch of shortbread cookie dough and made some doggy biscuit (in form of a bone).

I had no bone shape cookie cutter so I molded them by hand, they look great and taste delicious. We don't have pets neither so there where no doggy treats in the house at the time and since it was an emergency I had to improvise, hope you all like the final result. My friends loved it and that made me happy.

Here it is: Doggy Plate with Treats Cake

What did we do with the rest of the cookie dough?

Well, see for yourself....

Cookies with a big size chocolate chips, they are as delicious as they look.

Mix cake and candy and you get?

This post is dedicated to all the chocolate and cake lovers outhere. I absolutely love chocolate and when I saw in Flickr a cake covered with Kit Kat I had to try to make one myself. It's a smaller version than the one I saw, but I bet it's as delicious as this one.

Strawberry cake with Chocolate Buttercream covered with Kit Kats and topped with .... guess what?.... Starbucks. Having a sugar rush... jajaja... I bet you are!

Front Side & Back Side

Coffee Glazed Doughnuts

Ok, I know that I haven't been around for a long time. But in my defence I've been going through Radio Therapy. Yeah! it's a lame excuse, but it's a true one too. Have baked some cookies and some cupcakes just for us in the house though.

But, attention my dear testers (a.k.a -family and friends) I have been researching some recipes to play around with, make some changes and add to my list of must haves. So, be alert to new flavors and a lot of eating. I'll be posting those recipes too.

I caught my eye on a recipe the other day watching Food Network. It's from Giada De Laurentiis, a great chef in my opinion.

Enjoy a:

Coffee Glazed Doughnuts

To make the doughnut dough:

4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 eggs
1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons lemon zest

Directions:

In a medium saucepan, combine the butter, water, sugar, and salt over medium heat. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Boil for 10 seconds. Remove the pan from the heat and add the flour. Using a wooded spoon, quickly stir the mixture until all the flour is fully incorporated and forms a thick dough. Return the pan to the heat and stir continuously for 2 minutes.

Scrape the mixture into a stand mixture fitted with a paddle attachment. With the machine running on medium speed, add the eggs and egg yolk, 1 at a time until fully incorporated. Beat the mixture for 4 to 5 minutes until thick and glossy. Add the lemon zest and beat until smooth.

Refrigerate the dough for 15 minutes.

For the glaze:

1/4 cup whipping cream
1 tablespoon coffee liqueur
2 teaspoons espresso powder
2 cups powdered sugar
Water, as needed

Directions:

In a medium bowl, whisk together the cream, coffee liqueur, and espresso powder until smooth. With a wooden spoon, gradually stir in the powdered sugar until smooth. If the glaze is too thick, stir in the water, 1/4 teaspoon at a time.

Now, it's time to fry them up:

In a large heavy-bottomed saucepan, pour in enough oil to fill the pan about a third of the way. Heat over medium heat.

Drop scoops (about 1 tablespoon) of the dough into the oil. Cook for 3 to 3 1/2 minutes, turning occasionally, until the doughnuts are golden and puffed. Drain on paper towels. Repeat until all of the dough has been used.

When the doughnuts are cool enough to handle, dip the top halves in the glaze.

Serve immediately and enjoy each and everyone of them, I bet you can't just have one.

Note: For another twist to this recipe you can change the glaze with any flavor you like or to keep the citrus flavor going you can try substituting the coffee with some lemon juice. I'm sure you'll come up with a great glaze of your own.

Perfect Apple Pie

As I had mentioned on past posts I had a surgery in schedule, well it happened about a month ago and I am feeling much better now. And to celebrate my recovery we had some friends over for brunch and for dessert I made an apple pie.

The recipe is from a Pillsbury book that my husband got me from Target (yeah... you guessed it from the dollar section of the store), hey you guys Target has great dollar items!

Now I want to share this recipe with all of you and enjoy with great friends like fines.

Perfect Apple Pie

Crust: Ingredients
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, cut into 1 tbsp. pieces., very cold
1/4-1/2 cup cold water

Filling
6 cups thinly sliced, peeled apples (6 medium)
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 tablespoon lemon juice


Directions for the Crust:
1. Put the flour, salt and sugar into a food processor and pulse once or twice.
2. Add the butter and process until the mixture looks grainy.
3. Then slowly, while pulsing, add the water until you can form the dough by pressing it between your fingers.
4. Decant the loose dough onto a piece of plastic wrap.
5. Using the wrap, fold the loose dough towards the middle and press with the back of your hands to form dough.
6. Split into two pieces and wrap each and chill for at least 4 hours before using.
7. Dough can be made ahead for up to one week.

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 425°F. Place 1 pie crust in ungreased 9-inch glass pie plate. Press firmly against side and bottom.
2. In large bowl, gently mix filling ingredients; spoon into crust-lined pie plate. Top with second crust. Wrap excess top crust under bottom crust edge, pressing edges together to seal; flute. Cut slits or shapes in several places in top crust.
3. Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until apples are tender and crust is golden brown. Cover edge of crust with 2- to 3-inch wide strips of foil after first 15 to 20 minutes of baking to prevent excessive browning. Cool on cooling rack at least 2 hours before serving.

Personal Note

Hi! Blogger Friends:
This is a very personal note that I feel like sharing with you all. I have been absent for a while from my blog and from flicker too.
Ever since January I have been dialoging with my doctors at MD Anderson in Orlando, Fl. As some of you may know in 2004 I was diagnosed with cancer, it was all under control, until the begging of this year when another "tumor" appeared. At the moment we discussing the options, and surgery seems like the way to go. Quimo might or might not be involved, we can't say at the moment.
Now, I am letting you all know, because I am asking that for those of you outhere that want to join me and my family in prayer, you are all welcome to do so.
Plus, I am not going to take a break from baking, well not until I just have to be in the hospital or in total rest!
My next yummy dessert will be a Sticky Bun so stay tune and see how it turns out. Keep on sharing your thoughts with me and lets all enjoy great moments baking and sharing with friends!