Cookies, Cupcakes, and Cardio

Fortunate Friday

September 2, 2011 by Jenn

Awhh shucks. It’s the end of summer . . . technically, there are three more weeks, but for all kids and teachers, it’s BACK TO SCHOOL TIME!

On that note, I should start with the most important piece of fortune . . . I am fortunate for my teaching career! It is the best job (next to caking of course) that anyone can have, and I love my little kindergarteners. I’m looking forward to a new batch of kids coming in with excitement (from the kids) and trepidation and tears (from parents).

What I'm most fortunate for.

On a lighter note, this week Paul decided to fix up his Mom’s car that has been sitting in her driveway since a group of teenagers (hellions) filled the gas tank with sugar. Clearly they had no idea how expensive sugar is! So, I got to be the wrenching wench, and had to help him lower the gas tank so he could clean the sugar out, but while we were under the car, and Paul was pulling the jack out from supporting the tank (don’t I sound like I know what I’m talking about?) he realized that there was too much gas still in the tank and it would be too heavy for the two of us to lower on our own. What to do? Syphon! Disgusting.

I didn’t think that he was actually going to do it, but, up went the hose to his mouth, then came the sucking . . . and then the disgusting mouthful of gas-spit that came bursting out of his mouth when the gas finally came down the hose.

Moral of the story: I am fortunate that I have a gas sucking boyfriend which means I will never have to do that in my life. Ever. I swear. It was THAT disgusting!

Vanilla cake, filled with Bavarian Creme, topped with Chocolate Ganache

I am fortunate for this cake. SO delicious. Not that I ate it, as I sold it at the Market, but I just knew. I knew it was good. So good, that I HAD to sell it, or I would have eaten the whole thing.

Filed Under: Fortunate Fridays

S’mores Brownies

August 30, 2011 by Jenn

As I’ve said before, S’mores are one of my favourite treats that come around summer time. They seem like the epitome of relaxation, and carefree times. For me, this summer was NOT relaxing or carefree, but I still managed to fit in some time in front of the campfire (in the backyard, but hey, whatever works, right?)

Having two (or….three) in front of the campfire one night, just didnt seem to be enough time for my relationship with S’mores. Therefore, in order to keep the love burning I found this recipe to make. It was originally posted on How Sweet It Is, and I had resisted the first time it appeared in my mailbox. . . but that devil on my should kept telling me to make it!

So I gave in to temptation.

And I made them. And they were worth it. Every single crumb.

You can follow Jessica’s directions on her beautiful site 🙂 I followed her tips and recipe.

First up, graham cracker crust . . . melted butter, sugar and graham cracker crumbs.

Then for the brownie layer!

This recipe is one from my collection, so I will add it for you below.

When the brownie mix is finished, it’s time to pour it onto the graham cracker crust!

Bake, bake, bake, and voila! You have a yummy brownie layer.

Now for the fun part! I used JUMBO marshmallows for this recipe. The orgingal on calls for the large ones, but I have been dying to use these marshmallows in something!

They “poofed” up like buns in the oven. And got HUGE!

YUM! The whole kitchen smelled like toasted marshmallows . . . it was one smell from baking that I was glad to have as a perfume 🙂

Aren’t my two helpers the cutest! Big sister was my photographer for this post, and little sister was my gopher and cupcake pan mover. Thanks girls!

Graham Cracker crumb crust, brownie middle and toasted marshmallow topping. What more could you ask for?

Brownie Recipe

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter
1 cup cocoa
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Directions:

Stir together flour, baking powder, and salt in small bowl.
Melt butter in a large saucepan. Remove from heat. Stir in cocoa.
Blend in sugar, eggs, and vanilla.
Blend in dry ingredients.
Pour batter into greased baking pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes or until done. Cool.

Filed Under: Other Baked Goodies Tagged With: brownies, graham cracker crust, jumbo marshmallow, s'mores brownies, smores

Fortunate Friday

August 27, 2011 by Jenn

Are there any Big Brother fans out there? I admit it. I watch it. I LOVE it! Love to hate it, too. ***Spoiler alert*** I can’t believe that they (Kalia) voted to keep Rachel, and voted out Jeff!! WTF? If you don’t watch it, you don’t get it. I totally understand that though. My eyes tend to gloss over when people start talking about The Bachelor, or The Bachelorette. I can’t bring myself to watch these people “searching” for undying love . . . yet, I love to watch the ongoings of a bunch of weirdos locked in a house together! From this bit of useless information, I have to say, I am fortunate, that a) I’m not locked in a house with Rachel, and b) I’m not searching for love on a TV show.

I am fortunate that I got posts out this week! You may think that that is not a big deal, BUT it was really weighing over me that I hadn’t had enough time to post in the last couple of weeks, and finally, I found the time (made the time). I think that I finally may be getting the hand of this “owning your own business” thing. I am VERY fortunate for that!

I am fortunate for this recipe for Garden Zucchini Pizza Casserole I found on Brown Eyed Baker. It made for a delicious dinner tonight. Yummy AND healthy (I’m blocking out the cheese in my mind)! Who could ask for anything more? Well, Paul would say “Meat!”. The original recipe calls for meat, but I didn’t have any in my freezer, so I opted for the vegetarian version. Still good.

I am fortunate for this week’s TWO markets! It is so fabulous to get out into the public and to be a part of such a great community. Thank you to everyone that is close enough to come down to the market, support us (JJ’s Custom Cakery) and a special thank you goes out to the people who let me know they’re reading my blog! Whoop! Thank you, thank you.

Have a great weekend everyone . . . this little piggy is heading to the market . . . and to a dog’s birthday party on Sunday! What are YOU doing?

Filed Under: Fortunate Fridays

Edible Images For Cakes Review

August 25, 2011 by Jenn

This video is for anyone who is interested in purchasing an edible ink printer! In it, I review the icing sheets, the printer and the ink that we use on a regular basis to create some amazing cakes. Watch and enjoy 🙂

Here are some of the recent edible images that we have done with the printer.

Working with an edible printer is a little bit more difficult than working with a regular ink printer. The type of liquid that runs through the print head, makes the print head prone to clogging. My advice to you is to make sure that you run the ink through the printer at least once a week, and this will help with clogging.

If you are so unlucky and have the print head clog on you, there are a couple of things that you can do to get that (*#(@ head cleaned out. One is to take all of the ink catridges out (carefully) of the print head and let the print head soak on a wet piece of paper towel. If this doesn’t work, then what we do is use a steamer (like one that you use for steam cleaning) to blow out the clogged heads. If you don’t have a steamer, you can try it the old fashioned way, and use the steam from a kettle. This tends to loosen up the liquid that is clogged, just enough for you to get it out.

One more detail that you need to be aware of when working with edible images and edible sheets . . . which we didn’t know until summer hit . . . is that they are VERY prone to bubbling/wrinkling in humidity! If your fridge is high in humidity, your cake will not come back out as smooth as it was when you put it in. I discovered, after many failed attempts, that using parchment paper, and the warmth of your hand helps smooth out an image that has wrinkled. I lay the parchment paper down on the image, and rub with the flat palm of my hand until it is smooth.

Overall, despite the clogging, the edible ink printer that we have is a great tool. Like many tools, it takes maintenance, and work to keep it running as it should. The paper and ink has been relatively easy to find, and we purchased ours from Icing Images. We have had a positive experience with this company . . . someone even emailed me back when I had a question!

Filed Under: Cakes, Videos Tagged With: edible image cake, edible images, edible ink, edible printing, iphone cake, Justin Bieber cake, product review, RCMP Cake

My Life.

August 24, 2011 by Jenn

“Marge, it’s 3 AM. Shouldn’t you be baking?” Homer Simpson

Need I say more about the current state around the house? Bahahahaha!

LOVE IT!

Filed Under: Randomness

Bear Lake Hike

August 24, 2011 by Jenn

There are bears at Bear Lake. In fact, it’s Grizzly bear territory. What the heck was I doing heading in to a place like that?

Basically, I had to conquer it. In July 2010, Paul and I hiked into this spot in the pouring rain, through mud up to our ankles, slipping and sliding and reached the top to see. . . . nothing! It was too stormy to see anything! There was still snow at the top, the rain was blowing sideways from the strong winds, and the clouds had settled so low that we couldn’t see but 10 feet in front of us. I remember huddling at the top, standing to eat our sandwiches, and then quickly headed back down the mountain . . . slipping and sliding the whole way down.

Today, a whole new story:

The lake! So exciting to finally see it!

And this view . . . WOW!

The wind at the top is pretty strong . . . check out the trees!

Here is Paul, posing with his friend, who is “this high”. Truthfully, I have no idea what he is doing.

Even though we got a late start to the hike, we still had enough daylight left to be able to go around the lake to check things out. There is an extensive trail system running around the area, and hiking over the ridge you can see in the background, leads to a couple of other lakes and day hikes in the area. But remember, it’s bear territory, so be careful!

View from the other side of Bear Lake

And we saw these beautiful mountain flowers along the way and I decided to play with my aperture settings.

This is a great day hike to a beautiful spot to fish, and wander around. I highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for a challenge for a short hike. A new trail has been carved out recently, probably following a game trail and it is fairly steep, but well marked and easy to climb. The previous trail is said to be 2.5km long, and I would say the new trail is fairly similar.

Filed Under: Cardio, Hiking Tagged With: Bear Lake, Cranbrook, hiking

Blueberry Lemon Puff Pastry Bars

August 22, 2011 by Jenn

I found these scrumptious looking bars on the blog Sugar Plum and knew that they would be absolutely delicious and what I thought would be an easy way to ease into puff pastry!

Fresh blueberries make these pastries . . . and making them into a blueberry puree is very therapeutic. SMASH! SMASH! SMASH! Popping each blueberry is lovely . . . I think I’ve been standing in front of the oven too long and I have gone BERRY nuts!

I found the hardest part of this recipe to be laying out the puff pastry and fighting with it to stay in a rectangle shape! But, once you get it layed out, on the parchment paper, brush with melted butter, and spoon some blueberry puree on top the top of the bottom piece.

Next up is the messy part! You have to somehow get the top of the pastry bar in place, without the puree leaking out, and then pinch the edges together! Jeepers it was tough. I was also convinced that I didnt have enough blueberry inside, so while I was laying, squeezing, pinching, I was also pouring another spoonful of puree inside! Clearly, it made a mess.

The mess is slightly disguised once the bars are baked and in their puff pastry glory! But what helps the most to disguise is the lemon cheesecake spread that goes on top! Yum! I had leftover fresh blueberries, so onto the top they went! Despite the mess, they came out really well. They got the seal of approval from my critics and I knew I was onto something tasty.

Blueberry Lemon Puff Pastry Bars

(from Sugar Plum Blueberry Lemon Cheesecake Breakfast Pastries)

1 pint fresh blueberries

4 teaspoons cornstarch

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 sheets puff pastry, thawed

1 egg whisked with 2 teaspoons water

4 ounces (half a block) cream cheese, softened

1 1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar

1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest + 1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon clear vanilla extract

Heat oven to 450 degrees F. Coat 2 large cookie sheets with cooking spray.

In a medium saucepan, over medium heat, stir together blueberries, cornstarch and granulated sugar until well combined; bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Continue to cook, stirring constantly, until blueberries are cooked down and thickened. Process blueberries in a food processor until smooth.

Unfold one pastry sheet on a lightly floured surface. Roll the pastry sheet into a 14 x 12-inch rectangle. Cut into 16 squares. Place squares onto cookie sheets; brush with the egg. Place 2 teaspoons of blueberry mixture into the center of each dough square.

Unfold additional pastry sheet on floured surface. Roll the pastry sheet into a 14 x 12-inch rectangle. Cut into 16 squares. Place the squares on top of blueberry-topped squares. Crimp and seal edges with a fork. Brush tops of pastry squares with remaining egg. Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer pastries to wire racks to cool.

To make the glaze, in a medium bowl, whisk together cream cheese, confectioners’ sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla until well combined. Spoon glaze over the tops of pastries.

Makes 16 pastries

Filed Under: Other Baked Goodies, Tutorials Tagged With: blueberries, Blueberry Pastry, lemon blueberry puff pastry, puff pastry

Super Late Saturday…Also Know as Fortunate Friday!

August 22, 2011 by Jenn

I haven’t been able to post all week (or even have any scheduled posts run) but I was determined to get something out before the week is over! So I know it’s not friday, it’s Saturday night in B.C. well, it’s so late, it’s basically Sunday morning, but just ignore this fact.

I had a lot of goings on this week! We kicked out a mere 400 cupcakes this week. I know, pathetic right? Bahahaha! CRAZY!! We are so busy and so lucky and so fortunate! Thank you to every single person who orders a cupcake, a cake, a cookie, a crumb from us . . . we appreciate every single person that does.

I am also very fortunate this week for all of the helpers that we had in order to get the 400 cupcakes baked, iced, decorated and out the door! Oh yes, and there was also a wedding cake in there somewhere!

This week was also a special week because a very special cousin of mine (the youngest cousin I have) is having her Sweet Sixteenth birthday. Months ago, I promised her that I would take her to her favourite singer, Taylor Swift’s, concert in Edmonton. But, now that the bakery is in full swing, I had no idea how I was going to deal with the eight hour drive, there and back, just for the one night. My uncle, knowing this, totally bailed me out and flew me to Calgary. I still had to drive to Edmonton and back, but I had Leah with me for company. I was super appreciative of this! Leah and I busted out T Swift songs the whole way there and back. Lots of fun . . . especially when you’re 16! Or 32.

INSERT SLEEP HERE

So now it is Sunday….this post keeps taking longer and longer! But I’m determined to get it done!

Today Paul and I went out and went on a hike…that I will post about later…and despite our late start, it was great to get out! I’m going to be sore tomorrow, but it lets me know that I worked hard physically! There’s nothing like those endorphins.

Tonight, I am working on posts for the week . . . I have about 100 pictures to go through and edit for posts . . . until then . . . happy baking!

Filed Under: Fortunate Fridays

Fortunate Friday

S’mores Brownies

Fortunate Friday

Edible Images For Cakes Review

My Life.

Bear Lake Hike

Blueberry Lemon Puff Pastry Bars

Super Late Saturday…Also Know as Fortunate Friday!

Happiness is Homemade

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