Pig Newtons

Over the past couple months Mr. Wonderful has been telling me about this wonderful pastry he has been ordering when he meets his buddy for coffee in the middle of the week. The more he told me about it and how much he liked it the more interested I became. Since I had never been to the coffee shop or ever had anything like it before it was difficult to know exactly what all was inside this wrapped up little breakfast bundle so I had to rely heavily on his description as that was pretty much all I had to go on.

To get things started I cooked some link sausage while I waited for a sheet of puff pastry to thaw. 

Once the sausage was cooked I set it aside to cool down a bit while I shredded some cheese and chopped some jalapeños. Then it was time to assemble the little breakfast bundles. I placed two sausages on the puff pastry and topped them with a little cheese and some jalapeños.

Next, I rolled them up, sprinkled some more cheese on the top and baked them at 400° for about 15 minutes.

They were a success. The hubs loved them and said I don't need to change a thing as far as he  is concerned so I asked him what he thought we should call them.

He suggested Pig Newtons so we are going with that. 

Happy Monday!

Blueberry Cream Cheese BABKA

It has been awhile since I have made a Babka but last weekend a blueberry version sounded good so I thought I would try squeezing it in between the cinnamon rolls and strawberry pastry I had on my baking list and the goal was to have it all ready before the sun was up, as we had a schedule to keep. In retrospect, it may have been better to cut back and only bake the original one or two things however my thinking was that it would not take much more time or effort so I might as well go for it.

The baking plan included giving away most the cinnamon rolls to family members that I would see later that morning and the pastry was a request from the hubs for his regularly scheduled Saturday morning coffee klatch at the house with his buddy who usually swings by after soccer. After considering all of that, adding a couple loaves of Babka seemed reasonable so I quietly began preparing the weekend morning treats.

It was a successful morning and all things sweet were ready before we had to leave. The Babka turned out wonderful in spite of the busy morning. It was tender and sweet and might have even worked well as a dessert but definitely was great with coffee. 

Check out my other Babka here.

Happy Thursday!

Happy Spring Doodles

Blessings!

Easter 2021 ~ recap

Easter was so early this year that it is hard to believe it has already come and gone. We had a birthday to celebrate the day before so there was a lot to do over the weekend. My sister hosted Easter this year so I had time to make a couple things to contribute to dinner.

Angel Food Cake was one item I offered to bring which I like to make from scratch whenever possible so scratch it was. I had also decided to make cakelettes instead of one large cake this time and top them with my homemade lemon curd and a dollop of lemon curd mousse.

It did not take much to fill the small well on top of the little cakes which left quite a bit left over.  It is so good I could not let it go to waste so I made mini Easter parfaits by layering it in some small glass yogurt jars. A few sprinkles and a chocolate Easter egg on top made them even more festive. 

Once the dessert was finished I made an asparagus tart which was really quick and easy to put together. 

I spread Dijon mustard over the top of a sheet of puff pastry, arranged the cleaned and trimmed asparagus on top of the mustard and then covered it with shredded Gruyere cheese and baked for about 15 minutes.

There are a few family members that I knew would not care for the tart so for those I made foil packs of seasoned asparagus and butter to put in the oven to bake just before dinner. 

We had a lovely Easter with our family, my sisters table was beautiful and dinner was delicious. 

Happy Friday!

Medical Cupcake Toppers

Sometimes a cupcake is all you need to make a big event or even the most routine things extra special. That was the case around here this week.

I had been wanting to try making some medical type cupcake toppers and Tuesday turned out to be the perfect day for it. There was only enough time to make a couple so I tried a Band-Aid® and a Syringe. They turned out a little larger than I had intended so I may try again and scale them down a bit however I think they are fun.

Of course I needed some cupcakes so that I could try them out to see how they looked.

So, I made a batch of chocolate cupcakes with vanilla buttercream frosting and the hubs and I had a little Celebration for Two.

Now that I have a prototype I will be able to make a set to have ready for whatever medical related celebration comes along. 

Have a happy & healthy day! 

4.3.21 ~ Birthday parTEE

Last Saturday was one of our boys birthday and this year it just happened to be 4.3.21 which is a rather unique date on the calendar so we could not pass up the opportunity to have a little family 33rd birthday parTEE. 

The previous weekend our kids had come over to watch the Elite 8 games which I had decorated for so I changed things up on Saturday with a new theme. Instead of basketball the table decorations were changed to a GOLF theme since he enjoys it so much. I tried to keep it simple and use items I had on hand or created things I wanted such as the DIY golf flag centerpiece. To make that, I put a flower frog in the bottom of the clear glass square container and then secured a wooden skewer in between the prongs. It worked great and was very sturdy. Next I filled the glass container with green shredded filler to resemble grass and then added a golf ball to make it look more like a shot next to the pin. To make the Pin flag I used recycled white paper which I folded in half, cut into a triangle, glued the two sides together around the top of the skewer and then added numbers. Underneath that I layered a wood charger, white placemat and a burlap table-runner on top of a green tablecloth. For confetti I cut white circles which I decided to stamp lightly with black ink using an eraser on the top of a pencil to make them look more like golf balls and then scattered them on the table. We also had party hats which we all wore.

It was a beautiful day so we decided on a menu that included grilling and for dessert I made Oreo Cheesecake which is one of his favorites. 

The chalkboard was also updated in the wee hours that morning which is sometimes the best time to do it. I had a hard time deciding how to tie everything together which inevitably slowed things up a bit. Sporadically throughout the morning and early afternoon I kept at it and eventually finished it up. My chalkboards are usually in a state of "work in progress", as seen below, because I am always fixing or changing things until I'm satisfied. 

 It was a very fun day and we had a great time. 

Happy Wednesday!

Cupcakes for dinner

Any time of day is a good time for cupcakes, including dinner time, at least that’s what I like to think. With that in mind, I decided to surprise Mr. Wonderful yesterday with an extra special batch that I was sure he would like. However, there was a twist. 

They were going to be the main course for dinner!

In light of April Fools Day, it seemed like a good healthy prank of sorts. When it comes to cupcakes though he is not a huge fan, however, I thought I could win him over with these cute Meatloaf Cupcakes.

He happened to be gone in the afternoon which gave me the perfect opportunity to make these savory little treats before he got back and have them ready just in time to serve for dinner.

These meatloaf cupcakes were topped with mash potato frosting, green onion sprinkles and a cherry tomato on top and they did not disappoint. The hubs scarfed down two.

We have always liked meatloaf although it is usually rather plain, at least when it comes to appearance, however, individual cupcake style meatloaf is a lot more fun, especially on April Fools Day.

Happy Friday!