I learned a really great tip this week. I learned how to get my buttercream frosting smooth - so smooth that it gives fondant a run for its money.  Almost.

What is the trick you say?

Viva.

Yes, you heard me right. Viva – as in the paper towel. It has to be a smooth, pattern-free paper towel like Viva.


Here’s the plan:

1. Give your cake a crumb coat, then a final coat. Smooth the icing as best you can with a knife or spatula.

2. Now leave it alone for 15 minutes. This will give your frosting time to crust. You want crust. You should be able to touch the icing without any coming off on your finger.

3. Take a clean Viva paper towel and place it over the top of your cake.  Now either use a fondant smoother, or the palm of your hand to GENTLY glide over the paper towel – smoothing the surface of the cake. This is the same concept as placing a towel over a delicate garment to iron it. You are basically ironing the wrinkles out of your frosting

Move the paper towel to the sides of the cake, and use the same method to glide over the paper towel and smooth the icing out. You may need to slightly angle your fondant smoother at times, to properly get all the creases out.  Remember to be gentle, you don’t want to move the icing around, just barely smooth the surface.  Work on one small area at a time, smoothing until your surface is perfect – or almost perfect.  I used the method on this birthday cake that I made for a friend this week. I didn’t worry about getting the icing on my cake super perfect, but it’s almost there.

I really like this technique, and I love how I can achieve a smooth, fondant-like surface, while keeping the taste of buttercream.  The best of both worlds!

Here is a great video tutorial to show you the method.

I’ve been trying to incorporate more vegetables in my diet lately, so when I saw some fresh green bundles of asparagus at the store, I decided that asparagus soup sounded really good.  I’m one of those people who (with good intentions) buys multiple bags of veggies - making other shoppers think, “Wow, they must really like vegetables” – then lets the veggies rot in the fridge for weeks.

Oh,  I may eat a carrot or two here, a little bit of spinach in a salad there, but once I get the little vitamin packed guys home, I am at a loss of what to do with it all.

There’s only so many salads a girl can eat, or carrot sticks. That’s where soups and roasted veggies come into play.  I love asparagus soup, and I thought that roasting it first would really add to the flavor.  I was right.  This soup was sooo good, I’ll be enjoying the leftovers while they last.

Roasted Asparagus Soup
Yield: 4 servings       Printable Recipe

2 lbs asparagus
1 large yellow onion, peeled and halved (with ends cut off)
4 cloves garlic, not peeled and left whole
7-8 small red potatoes (optional)
2 Tbsp. olive oil
4-5 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup half and half  
1 Tbsp. dry vermouth (or dry white wine)
squeeze of fresh lemon juice (optional)
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 F degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil.

2. Cut the ends off the asparagus, then arrange the asparagus, potatoes, onion halves and garlic cloves on the baking sheet. Brush with olive oil, then sprinkle with a little salt and pepper.  Bake the vegetables for about 45 minutes. Turn the onions if they start getting too dark on the bottom. Check on the garlic as well, once the cloves are golden and soft, remove them from the oven.

3. When the asparagus is done, peel the garlic and chop the asparagus and potatoes into smaller pieces. Reserve some of the asparagus heads for garnish. Place the asparagus, potatoes, onions, and garlic into a medium-sized saucepan, add 4-5 cups of chicken broth, depending on how thick you want the soup.

4. Now puree the soup. I used my immersion blender, but you can use a regular blender or food processor. If using a regular blender, work in batches, taking a few cups of soup at a time and blend until smooth.

5. Once the soup is pureed, return the saucepan to the stove and bring soup to a boil over medium-high heat. Lower heat to medium, and stir in half and half (if using) and vermouth.  Season with additional salt and pepper, and a dash of lemon juice if wanted. Garnish with asparagus heads.

Note: If you're wanting a healthier option, this soups tastes great without the cream/half and half too!

Crockpot Conversion: This can easily be made in your crock-pot. After roasting the vegetables, place them and your liquid in the crock-pot. Use an immersion blender to puree until smooth. Cook on low until ready to eat .Enjoy!

I've had a crazy house lately, which has left little time for baking and posting.  My parents visited one last time before they fly back to Wales.  My son - on a sneaky four year old stealth mission – decided to infiltrate my bathroom, confiscate a jar of red nail polish, and paint his building blocks. As you can imagine, the less than perfect motor skills of a preschooler resulted in red nail polish – ALL OVER his bedroom carpet.

My attempts to scrub the bejeezus out of his carpet, hoping to remove the evil stain, proved fruitless. So, the ruined carpet led us on a trip to Home Depot, to pick out some (cheap) laminate for his bedroom. No more carpet = no more stains.

That is what we will be doing this weekend, and with little time for a weekend post, I whipped up these tasty cookies to fill in the gap.  Peanut butter is a favorite around our house, as is oatmeal, so when you put them together, you've got a batch of cookies that lasts about…4 minutes.  Yum!

Peanut Butter Oaties 

• 1 cup  (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup quick oats

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl cream together the sugar, eggs, butter and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add the peanut butter and mix until combined.

2. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and oats. Add the dry ingredients to the sugar mixture, and mix until combined.

3. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto a greased or lined baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 9-13 minutes, until the cookies are lightly browned. If you want a softer cookie, bake for the lesser amount of time, for a crispier cookie bake for the full 13 minutes. Note: If you want your cookies to be flatter, and not puffy, use the palm of your hand to gently press the cookies a little flatter.

Eat a couple of these with a cold glass of milk, and you’ve got a great afternoon snack. My son loves to munch on these, grabbing handfuls when I’m not looking:)  Enjoy!

I feel like I haven’t posted in waaay too long (jury duty and a photography workshop have kept me busy), but as promised here is a new recipe that brightened my (very rainy) day today.  I think it has rained about every day this entire last month, and while it doesn’t bother me – to the mind and wiggly body of a 4 year old, it is pure torture.

And when he gets bored, I get hopelessly sucked into the imaginative world of a little boy- a boy with no siblings and no neighborhood kids to play with. This means endless hours of getting in touch with my manly side.

The side that only deals in superheroes, race cars, dirt and worms.

The side that gets a laugh out of certain bodily functions and chasing the dog and cat around until they are running for any kind of cover.

After putting one too many “bad guys” in jail, and cleaning up the bathroom which looked like a fire hydrant had exploded in it, I was ready for a break.  A suggestion to make cookies was met with a hearty, “awesome!”, and that’s where these cookies come in.  I decided to throw some chopped up dried berries and orange zest in shortbread, and then drizzle an orange glaze over them.

A couple of these and a cold glass of milk later, I feel much better.

Triple Berry Orange Shortbread
(prep: 15 mins; bake: 20 mins; yield: 15 cookies)

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/8 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 tsp finely grated orange zest
• 1/2 cup chopped dried berries (I used a mix of cherries, blueberries, cranberries)

Preheat oven to 325F. In a small bowl combine the sugar and orange zest, rubbing the zest into the sugar with your fingers. In a medium bowl, combine the flour and sugar mixture. Cut in the butter with a fork until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs and starts to cling. Stir in the chopped berries. Using your hands, shape the mixture into a ball, kneading until smooth. Don’t worry if it looks like a crumbly mess at first, the longer you work it, it will form into a smooth ball.

   

On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough until 1/2 inch thick. Use a 1 1/2 inch round cookie cutter to cut the dough into circles. Reroll scraps as necessary. Place the cookies 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the bottoms just begin to brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.  Combine 1/2 cup powdered sugar with 1 tbsp orange juice, drizzle glaze over cookies. Eat and enjoy!

The weather here today has been more like summer than the middle of spring, with 80 degree temperatures that make you thirsty for a cold glass of lemonade – or a frosty cup of this yummy treat.

These little frozen cups are sweet and tangy, with a tropical twist that will make you want to put your feet up and swing in a hammock all day long. They are super easy to make too – just throw everything in an electric ice cream maker, or stash it in a container in the freezer for a couple of hours.

Keep this recipe handy for this summer, you’ll be glad you did.

Frozen Pineapple Banana Cups
(adapted from Taste of Home)
(prep: 10 minutes; freezing time: 30 minutes; yield: 9-12 servings)

• 3 cups water
• 2 2/3 cups mashed ripe bananas (5 to 6 medium)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 can (20-oz) crushed pineapple, undrained
• 1 can (6-oz) frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed

Ice Cream Maker: Combine all of the ingredients in the container of your ice cream maker. Turn the machine on and let mix for 20-30 minutes.  Serve and enjoy! (Note: depending on the size of your container, you may need to make this in two batches.

Freezer method: In a 2 qt. freezer container, combine all of the ingredients. Mix well. Cover and freeze for 5 hours or overnight. Remove from the freezer 15 minutes before serving.

(Note: You can get away with using less sugar in this recipe, since the fruit contains enough sugar. I’ve made it with just 1/2 cup sugar before and it has been fine – just a little more tart.

I picked up a new cookbook last week – not that I really needed one. Our local Borders store is closing, and everything has been marked down 70-90%.

I kind of felt like a vulture, rummaging through the shelves looking for a deal, while in the back of my mind I wondered about the jobs of the people who worked there.

I did find something to take home though – The Oprah Magazine Cookbook.  The bright shiny cover and beautifully photographed dishes drew me in, and as I fanned through the pages I knew I had to buy it.

Today I decided to make the Pumpkin Applesauce Muffins, and was happily dumping flour and spices into my butter mixture, when I realized that I had just thrown in the entire can of pumpkin puree – rather than the 1 cup it called for.

I had visions of dense, gooey muffins…not a desirable trait in a muffin. So I panicked and wondered if I should try to double the recipe to salvage it, then realized that this would call for another 4 eggs, 2 cups of sugar and whole stick of butter. At this point, I decided to bite the bullet and just go with it.

I mean, brownies were invented from a botched recipe right?

Well, my decision paid off, since these muffins turned out to be perfectly moist. No soggy dough bricks here. 

So that is how Oprah’s Pumpkin Applesauce muffins turned into my Double Pumpkin Applesauce Muffins. I will write the recipe as written in the cookbook, but if you’re feeling a little adventurous, don’t worry if you decide to use the entire can of pumpkin – in fact, I recommend it.


(recipe from The Oprah Magazine Cookbook)

(prep: 15 min; bake: 20 min; yield 21 full muffins)

1 1/2 tbsp butter, melted
3 1/3 cups all-purpose
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 tsp salt
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup canned mashed pumpkin (or the whole can like I did!)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup apple juice, cider, or orange juice (I used orange juice)
1 1/2 cups raisins (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Grease 12 half-cup muffin cups with melted butter. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and salt; set aside.

2. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar until cream, 2-3 minutes. Beat in the eggs, applesauce, pumpkin, and vanilla until blended. Add the dry ingredient alternately with the juice, beginning and ending with the dry mixture. Mix until smooth, but don’t over mix. Gently fold in the raisins.

3. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling each cup all the way. The fuller you make your cup, the higher domed your muffin will be. Bake on center oven rack for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow muffins to cool in the pan for several minutes. Turn muffins out onto a cooling rack. Sprinkled with powdered sugar if desired and serve warm or at room temperature. Repeat steps 1 through 3 with any remaining batter. If you don’t have enough batter to fill all 12 cups the second time around, just put a little water in any empty cups. Enjoy!

Are you feeling neglected? I think my kitchenaid mixer is.  My blogging neglect had a good reason though…I promise. I kinda-sorta got the itch to redecorate my kitchen at the last minute.  My house has very little light (a constant headache in my photo taking world); add to the mix the dark colors that my walls were painted, and you get the idea – dark and gloomy. I wanted bright and cheery. I wanted wake-you-up-make-you-feel-good-put-a-sparkle-in–your-smile colors.

So I embarked on a journey.  A journey filled with numerous trips to the paint store, a selection of what I thought was the perfect color, and a realization that is was NOT the perfect color.

This led to another trip to the paint store, another paint color selection, and repainting the walls – again. Did I mention my husband had the patience of a saint?

My kitchen walls are finally done, and I love the final color. Now we’re tackling the living room today.  Don’t worry – I picked up THREE paint sample jars to make sure we (when I say we, I really mean my husband) get the color right the first time.

To reward my husband for his patience and hard work, I made these Cinnamon Bubble Buns for him this morning. A miniature version of monkey bread, made in muffin tins.  They are delicious and just the right size.

Cinnamon Bubble Buns
(Prep: 1 hour 45 min; Bake: 20 min; Yield: 12 buns)

For the dough:

• 1 package active dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
• 1/4 cup warm water
• 3 tbsl unsalted butter, melted
• 2/3 cup sour cream
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda

For the cinnamon-sugar coating:

• 2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

For the vanilla glaze:

• 1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
• 1 tbsp milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

1. In a large mixing bowl, sprinkled the yeast over the water and let it stand until bubbly, 5 to 10 minutes. Stir in the butter, sour cream, sugar, egg, and vanilla.

2. Beat in 2 cups of the flour, the salt, and the baking soda until combined.

3. Add the remaining 1/2 cup flour and continue mixing until a smooth, soft dough forms.

4. Turn the dough out onto a lightly flour surface (keep your mixing bowl handy) and knead it until smooth, about 3 minutes.  As you knead, add more flour if the dough is sticky, no more than 2 tbsp though. Place the dough back in the mixing bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

5. Lightly grease a 12-cup muffin pan, then flour the cups and tap out the excess.

6. In a small bowl, blend the sugar and cinnamon for the coating. Place the melted butter in a small dish and set aside.

7. Gently punch down the dough to deflate it. Form it into a long cylinder and divide it into 12 equal portions. Using kitchen scissors or a sharp knife, divide each of the 12 portions into 6 equal pieces, then roll each piece into a ball.

 

8. To make a bun, dip six of the balls in melted butter (be generous with the butter), then roll them in the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Arrange five of the balls in the bottom of a muffin cup. With your fingertip, make a small well and press the sixth ball in the center. Repeat with the remaining dough balls. Loosely cover the buns with plastic wrap and let them rise in a warm place until they’re puffy and double in size, about 40 minutes. Preheat oven to 350F.

9. Bake the buns on the center rack until golden, about 20-22 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack placed over a sheet of waxed paper or aluminum foil to cool for about 5 minutes. Now tilt the pan and gently tap it on the counter to release the buns. If needed, you can use a knife to release them from the pan. Place the buns on the wire rack.

 

10. In a small bowl, combine the ingredients for the glaze and stir until smooth. If the glaze is too thick, you can thin it out by adding 1 tsp water at a time. Brush each bun with the glaze. Serve immediately or at room temperature.


Eat and enjoy!  I’m off now to start painting the living room, oh yeah, and I’m going to buy my first sewing machine and attempt to tackle some kitchen window treatments…eeek