Cinco De Mayo

For Cinco De Mayo I celebrated my friend's daughter's 2nd birthday 

and it was quite the FIESTA!

Alaina (mother of the birthday girl) asked me to make cupcakes 

for the occasion and I gladly obliged.

I decided on Mexican Chocolate Surprise cupcakes.

I baked basic chocolate cupcakes and made Mexican chocolate frosting. 

What's the surprise you ask? A mini Reese's in the cupcake!

 

 A friend of mine gave me some vanilla from Mexico.... AMAZING!!!

I made the toppers from tissue pom stickes by Martha Stewart 

(they carry her crafts at Joann's now... AHHH!!!).

And then.... because I'm crazy.... I purchased this can at the Dollar Tree 

because I'm in LOVE with the colors AND

I wanted to take pictures of the cupcakes on the can and 

I LOVE them!!! 

Photos by Elisha Guido. 

Linked here-

Easter Cake

I've been loving all things coconut lately, 

so when my friend Charis asked me to make a 

dessert for Easter I knew a coconut treat was in order. 

I decided on Martha's 

Coconut Layer Cake

AND I made it into a Rainbow Cake!

Aqua

Pink

Green 

Yellow

With homemade lemon curd &

seven-minute frosting.

One last picture I've titled, 

Cake at Sunset.

I LOVE when desserts taste good and 

look ADORABLE. 

Hope everyone had a GLORIOUS Easter!

I know I did!!!

Photos by Elisha Guido

Father Knows Best

I make a GREAT pumpkin pie. 

It's true. I'm just being honest. 

Since I was a kid I've been making the same 

pumpkin pie and it's amazing. 

My secret recipe? 

None.

I simply follow the recipe on the back of 

the Libby's can of pumpkin.

 A few weeks back my dad and I were talking about 

my yummy pumpkin pie and he said

something along the lines of, 

Carrie, of course it's good, they only put good recipes 

on the back of food packages.

Then it hit me.... he's right! 

Some of the best recipes are simply from the back 

of a food package and 

that is what brings us to my new favorite cookies....

Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies with Pecans

The recipe?

Is on the back of the Hershey's bag!

So YUMMY!

 

Does anyone else find this true? 

Or false?

Do you have a favorite recipe from the back of 

a food package? Do share! 

This blog is NOT sponsored by Hershey's... they don't even know I exist.

Dessert Table

I threw a little dessert table together 

at a friends house a few weeks back. 

I decided to go with a  black & white color pallet

with pops of granny smith green 

(not sure if that's the technical color, but I like calling it that ;)

I made chocolate bowls inspired by One Charming Party

and filled them with fruit salad. 

Simple chocolate cupcakes with almond frosting.

Sara and Elisha made delicious apple pies.

My favorite part was the backdrop. 

I tied pages of scrapbook paper together with yarn 

to make a sort of paper quilt. 

We also had green apples in cups with chocolate, carmel and peanut butter. 

Pretty and delicious, 

win - win!

REPOST: Valentine's Day 2010

This is my Valentines Day post from LAST YEAR. 

Still deciding what to do this year. Hmmmmm....

This Valentine's Day I decided a few things-

1. I was not going to babysit like I've done so many years before

2. I was content with sitting home and relaxing

3. I wanted to bake goodies and

4. I wanted to people who were babysitting to feel loved and appreciated.

On February 14th 2010, I accomplished all of the above.

Fresh Life Radio was putting on a Valentine's Soiree, so I decided I would surprise the volunteers with a yummy dessert buffet. It was super fun to bake and create this fun dessert table! I stuck with simple desserts, so i could make more and not stress :) here's how it turned out...

Before

(this is one of my classrooms at church, the orange room. Complete with play kitchen, green canopy, toys and a heater cover)...

After...

A white table cloth and 1 yard of fun Valentine's fabric was the base.

I have this great old window without the glass that I put fabric behind and then just hung the Valentine's day sign over it. It really looked cute!

I used waffle bowls that are usually used for ice cream to hold the puppy chow/muddy buddies/ whatever you want to call it.

I dipped the rim of the bowls in pink melting chocolate and then added some sprinkles. I think this was my favorite little touch.

Mini dark chocolate cupcakes with triple chocolate chip frosting.

Too cute!

With the left over cupcake batter I made heart shaped cakes, heated up some frosting and just poured it on top.

Side view.

Brownie bites form the day before.

Candy.

Basic rice crispy treats with Valentine sprinkles.

Goody bags to take the left overs home.

And of course I had to take a picture with the table :)

Hope your Valentine's day was as SWEET as mine!

Christmas Treats

The holidays are full of yummy treats and 

I always love an excuse to bake. 

Here are the treats I made this Christmas and Christmas Eve. 

Sweet Sugared Cranberries are my new FAVE. 

I saw a post about them over at The City Cradle.

Chocolate and Carmel Dipped Marshmallows 

by One Charming Party (AMAZING blog)

Peppermint Oreo Cupcakes from The Cupcake Doctor. 

Candy Cane Hearts from Glorious Treats

Leftover mallows dipped in chocolate and then dipped in sprinkles and candy canes.  

Peppermint White Chocolate Popcorn... Oh. My. Yummy. Goodness. 

Well, now my mouth is watering. 

I hope you all had a very 

Merry Christmas!!!