Happy Birthday Julia!

  

Adorable Julia Child Quote via Unraveled Design on Etsy- so true, too!

Today is Julia Child's 100th Birthday. She was such an amazing woman and really changed the whole food world. She's such an inspiration and if you don't know much about her, you should read her lovely book "My Life in France" (the book the "Julia" half of the movie "Julie and Julie" was based on- I don't recommend the other book though! Meryl was amazing though and I loved the movie!)

 

Let me know if you read the book and what you think. I'll warn you now it will make you want to eat... and go to France now! And I hope you will go try a new recipe in Julia's honor today. She was told over and over that was too tall, too old, too American, too much to follow her dream but she did- and what an impact she made!

Pineapple Yogurt

The first time I went to France, I spent a summer semester studying, exploring, playing, and eating my way through Paris. It was an awesome time and introduced me to a lot of still-favorite foods- pain au chocolat, baguettes, chevre (goat cheese), and pineapple yogurt. When I went back to France for a few days, I immediately sought out the pineapple yogurt. I've really never been a yogurt person but there was something special about my 'ananas' yogurt, so fresh and creamy and just amazing. I've attempted to recreate the taste by mixing crushed pineapple and juice into Greek yogurt (the Fage at Costco is reasonably priced and yummy) but when I tried this Chobani Pineapple last month I knew I'd met my match. This yogurt... it's just ridiculously delicious. It comes in a host of other flavors that look great but I've only got eyes for this one. It's like I'm eating ice cream for breakfast, filling up with healthy protein and calcium and starting my day off just right. Have you tried this? Do you love it? Have another amazing flavor to recommend?

PS You can read more about Chobani on their site and even get coupons too. And no this isn't a sponsored or sneaky post, I just really... really love this yogurt. Call me crazy.

Custom Cupcake Toppers & Pink-ifying Cupcakes

In keeping with my super stringent once a month summer posting schedule, today I'm sharing some cupcakes I made recently for my friend's birthday. My friend was having a super pink birthday party so I took out all of my pink supplies and overloaded them. I used my regular favorite cupcake recipe to make some chocolate cupcakes and my favorite light cream cheese frosting with a little pink food coloring.

I wanted something special and pink to top the cupcakes but didn't have anything bold so I used some marshmallow fondant I'd made before to make some heart toppers. It's simple to make (melting marshmallows, powdered sugar, and water then kneading it together) and will stay fresh for weeks and weeks well wrapped (I'll admit I made this batch in February!) Kneading in a color is a lot like making playdoh and really fun. I don't have any special fondant tools but used a regular little rolling pin and small cookie cutter to cut out the hearts. I let them dry over night and stuck them on top of the frosting the next day. I even made some extras and saved them in the freezer for Baby Strawberry's upcoming birthday. You can see some more about the marshmallow fondant at this post about my son's Pirate Birthday Cupcakes.

Here are a few supplies I used to pink-ify the cupcakes:

I used my Americolor Gel dye to get the vivid pink color. I think they do the best job of providing simple, vivid colors and they have a squeeze top bottle for ease of use. There a few dollars each at the Cake decorating store (or at Amazon of course) and last forever. I've used them to dye frosting, cake batter, homemade playdoh, and more with great results.

To add her initial, I used an edible food marker- Wilton sells some at Michael's, JoAnn, or Hobby Lobby but I hear the Americolor ones are better (thought my Wilton ones have lasted a long time so I guess that says something good about them after all! I have only ever tried the black though.)

Last I gave the cupcakes a hearty sprinkling with my edible glitter (It's called Pixie or Disco Dust and while it looks exactly like delicate craft glitter it claims to be safe to eat!) It's gorgeous and really makes a regular dessert something special. I buy mine locally from ABC Cake decorating (or on their site) but Amazon has something comparable as well.

A basic piping bag and tip doesn't have to cost a lot (this set is less than $8 with free shipping). While I've frosted cupcakes before with one of those small bags and tips a lot of people use, a little bigger one can make for some fast frosting and a high impact cupcakes. This set looks like a good place to start with my favorite brand- fill the bag up and practice piping some icing spirals on a plate or sheet of parchment, you can add it right back to the bag and keep on trying until you get the shape you like best. It's actually really fast and fun to frost a whole bunch of cupcakes and take it from the worst cake decorator in the world- if I can do it, you can.


Do you have a favorite way to decorate cupcakes or a favorite recipe? Birthday season is about to start around here and I think there is a lot of frosting in my future!!

{My favorite Cupcake and Frosting Recipe Here}

{Printable Marshmallow Fondant Recipe Here}

New Barefoot Contessa Book!

I'm signed up for the Barefoot Contessa's newsletter and hopped over to her site today. I was happy to see that she has a new book coming out! You can see some details on her site. I love and regularly use Ina's books and can't wait to get this one. See it on Amazon here. You can see more of Ina's recipes I've made here- they're all tried and true favorites. Who is your favorite celebrity chef?

Snickerdoodles

Two things have been brought to my attention lately:

1. My blog needs more love and attention

2. There is no Snickerdoodle recipe to be found here

Well, it's easy enough to fix the Snickerdoodle issue. As for carving out more time for my blog, we'll see. I have a cute little man (just graduated from preschool, yes I cried) and a darling Baby Strawberry (who is now closer to 3 than 2 my husband pointed out) and while I always make time to bake with them, I don't always make time to photograph/upload/blog about our adventures. I'm sorry.

Back to business- these cookies are amazing. This is another fabulous Barb recipe. My original copy calls for cream of tartar or to substitute with powder and soda- I much prefer them this way. I'm also a crazy snob about only using butter in cookies BUT I like to make these with a little Crisco (half and half? 1/4? Whatever you like.) They hold up a little better in the oven.

The end product is a chewy, delicious cookie just like every kid wants to pull from the cookie jar. Add a little sprinkles to the cinnamon sugar to make them feel fancy or enjoy them as is. They're a tried and true favorite around here.

PS One time, I wanted to dye these pink for Valentine's day but didn't want to make them pink covered in brown cinnamon- so I added a little cinnamon extract to the batter after the eggs then just rolled them out in sugar. Same taste but a different look- I love a versatile recipe!

Snickerdoodles
from Barb Sperry 

 
1 Cup Butter, Barely Softened (you can use up to half original Crisco for firmer shape)
1 ½ Cups Sugar
2 Eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 ¾ Cups Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1 teaspooon Baking Soda
¼ teaspoon Salt
¾ Cup Cinnamon Sugar, for rolling

Preheat the oven to 350.

Cream sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and beat for one minute. Add the dry ingredients and carefully mix until just combined. Scoop into ball and roll in cinnamon sugar.

Bake on Silpat lined sheet for 7-9 minutes (alternately- grease and line a standard cookie sheet). Cool and enjoy. These cookies freeze well before or after being cooked (if you decide to freeze the dough, hold off on the cinnamon sugar until you are ready to bake them).