New Design

I saw a super cute cake from three women and a oven it was a pink circle and a black dress {all in fondant} so I thought that I would do a purple circle and a white onesie. I love it it is on top of a great coconut cake with cream cheese frosting! It's to welcome my new niece who was born last night!



Oh and I did a cheesecake for a client as well...Isn't she pretty?

Flop!

Well I'm doing two cupcake cake events in the next week and a half so I was playing around with some new recipes one was Martha Stewart's Meyer Lemon cupcake recipe. URGH. It started out good. I thought wow these will be a hit seeing that there is cream cheese in the batter!!! NO they are so dense that it crossed the thin line between a muffin and a cupcake. I was disappointed not only because I wasted 7 eggs and tons of other ingredients but itwas such a waste of time!
My frustration poured over into work today and I vented to the Rachael Pastry Chef of the bakery at D and D.Her advice was to use egg whites only. I haven't done that before... me being into cookies more then making cakes I haven't had tons of experience with it.
I have also experienced and heard that the Martha Stewart recipes are 50 % failure rate in the home kitchen so beware!
What i really want to know is why the heck is box cake so light and fluffy! I'm going to find out what the secret is....

For Rachael

This coming Saturday is Rachael's baby shower so I made her a diaper cake with some neutral baby cookies.This is my first diaper cake..Hee Hee

Tea Cookies.... take two

Well this has been bad week for me. I had a lot of personal downs but like in any job the show must go on and these Bridal shower cookies weren't going to decorate themselves. I thought that I had all my stuff organized...But as a told a friend {this week ironically enough} is that Royal Icing is a Royal pain! I have such a love hate relationship with it! This is the icing I use to decorate event cookies.There is no real measurement{just an approx} all depends on if the stars and moon align with Saturn... to not get into trouble fast. I have had plenty f ruin cookies and I wouldn't say my first attempt was a total wash out. But I being my worst critic I was not liking the final product that took two day to complete.So to the trash you go all of you! So It was back to square one...the oven! I have two days till these are due and it just so happened that I had all day{well most} to redo them. With fear in my mind of another waste of resources and time I needed inspiration and a fool proof plan to getter done!
So I searched online for ideas then it came to mind... www.artgirlcookies.com
We sell her cookies @ Dean and Deluca. Though our style is way different and our cookies are way different I love her basic clean design with piping just on the cookie{no base coat which takes overnight to dry properly...never rush these things} So I did a imitation with a shabby twist and I like! I may not do designs like this all the time but on occasion sounds good to me! I hope they will like them and know that they will be very soft and yummy! Once they are bagged ribboned and labeled they will be ready for the shower!

Eggs Please!!!

Well this morning the alarm went off at 6 and it started well with a big cup of coffee and hot chocolate on the stove.
I had plans to met up with some family visiting from California so of course I wanted to bring them some cookies! I knew for sure my Chocoholic cookie would be one to be made. Rich high quality chocolate base with more chocolate and walnuts make this unforgettable! I also wanted my PB&C. I guess I didn't have enough coffee because I for got the eggs! Now I think I've done this before...they still taste great but the texture is chalky!!!! Sorry vegans eggs will be necessary!

{they looked normal before I baked them}

So with that mishap they were not coming along {they will still get eaten though!}
I decided to make Raspberry Envy! Two choices for my uncle and cousins to try.

{I Do love these ones..hope they did too}

Carrot Cake Cupcake

I was trying out these for a wedding I'm doing in May. I really enjoyed using my new Vanilla bean paste($16 @ Dean and Deluca),I have alot of great ideas to try with it in the coming weeks! I also used cardamom ($10 @ Walmart)which is a great spice and has been on my list of things to get. I fell in love with the spice years ago when I had a Cardamom roll from Village bakery in Santa Rosa, California. This sweet spice is an Indian treasure!
Back to the cake... I used crushed pineapple,golden raisins and toasted walnuts. I really like it I think I might use some buttermilk next time though...Well see.

{a great product}

Introduction

This is a weekly blog on what's baking in my Kitchen you can check out my website www.nottooshabbycookies.com to look at a catalog of things I've done and sell. This blog will have some of the same but more importantly what I'm working on and trying out. I love quality products and I love to shop at unique places, picking up new spices and playing with flowers and salts so if you are interested please follow along and see what's baking....