As promised..Apple Pie "Cupcakes" and another sweet surprise

As most people probably already know, I like to cook, but I absolutely LOVE baking!   I love trying new recipes as well as some old favorites.  This week, I did one of each!  Apple Pie "Cupcakes" and one of my old favorites, Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip and Caramel Cookie Bars!  If anyone is a fan of Sandra Lee from the Food Network (I LOVE her!) then you will want to know both of these recipes definitely qualify as "semi-homemade."


When we first moved to LA, I started my cake decorating class.  For the first several weeks, we had to bake a cake, or cupcakes, to practice our decorating on.  Well, instead of letting the cupcakes go to waste, or even worse having them sit here for E and I to eat them, I would just send them to work with E on Fridays.  Well, one week we didn't need a baked good for class, and therefore I sent NOTHING on Friday to work...and boy did I hear about that!!  A lot of E's friends were pretty disappointed to not have a sweet treat on Friday ;o) Luckily for them, baking makes me happy!  So I have made it a routine to try to send something for them every week; they are like my guinea pigs to test out a new recipe!  And thats where these Apple Pie "Cupcakes" came in.  Everyone said they were delicious!  Without anymore delay, here is the much anticipated recipe

Apple Pie "Cupcakes"

**This recipe will only make 8 cupcakes. 
Apple Pie Filling
2 Tbsp butter
2 large Granny Smith apples, peeled and chopped
2 Tbsp packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
4 tsp lemon juice

Topping
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup walnuts

Base
1 can refrigerated cinnamon rolls

Instructions
Heat oven to 400.
Spray 8 cupcake cups with cooking spray

In a skillet, melt 2 Tbsp butter over medium heat.  Cook apples in butter for 5 minutes.  Sprinkle with 2 tbsp brown sugar, the cinnamon and the salt.  Continue to cook about another 5 minutes, until the apples are tender.  Remove from heat and stir in the lemon juice.

In a small bowl mix all the topping ingredients until crumbly. 

Separate the cinnamon roll dough into 8 rolls.  Flatten each roll, and place in the cupcake pan as your "crust" for your apple pies. Put some of the apple pie filling into each roll, and sprinkle with the topping.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, until bubbly. Cool completely and garnish with whipped cream and caramel syrup. (In this case, I used store bought whipped frosting) 

I think these would be best served warm out of the oven, but a lot of the guys ate them without warming them up and still loved them.  They are A LOT messier than a cupcake, so they used plates and forks with these babies!

Today we are heading to Baton Rouge to have dinner with some friends.  I decided to bring a dessert (go figure!)  and pulled out one of my old favorite recipes.  These are super yummy and SO easy.

Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip and Caramel Cookie Bars

Ingredients
1 roll refrigerated chocolate chip cookies
1 cup oats
2/3 cup caramel syrup
5 Tbsp flour
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup walnuts
1 cup chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350
Set aside 1/2 cup of the cookie dough
In a small bowl, mix the caramel, flour and vanilla. Set aside

Knead the oats into the remaining cookie dough, and press into a 9 in sq pan.

Bake 10-12 minutes until the dough starts to puff.

Sprinkle the walnuts and chocolate chips over the crust.  Top with the caramel mixture.  Crumble the reserved cookie dough on top. 

Bake for 20-25 minutes.  Cool completely and cut into square cookie bars.

As Sandra would say... "Keep it simple, keep it smart, and always keep it semi-homemade."

Wilton, West Virginia, and staying cool

So I started course 3 of the Wilton classes-the fondant and gumpaste class!  I was terrified of fondant, because it seems so hard to work with!  But, so far so good!  Here is what we have done so far:

a bow

calla lily

We have done 2 classes so far-Wednesday will be class 3.  We did not have class last week, partially because I have been SO busy!

My sister came to visit us a couple of weeks ago.  It was so fun to have her here for a few days!  We did some shopping, and our big purchase was our new "Moments" bracelets-they are kind of like a knock off of the pandora charm bracelets.  So far we each only have one bead/charm.  It is sooo pretty I LOVE it.  So if anyone needs a gift idea for either of us ;o)

Last week, Eric and I spent the week in West Virginia!  I always love going back there.  It is seriously SO peaceful and pretty-it feels like time stops! 

Reese loves WV too!

The worst part about the trip was the 17 hour drive up there and back-it never gets easier!  We always try to drive straight through so that we don't waste too many days on the road.  For some reason, whenever it comes time for our LONG drive I am always so pumped and ready to fly down the highway!  I get really excited for our Pilot Travel Center stops so I can get my french vanilla cappuccinos!! 

We spent a week in WV.  We had a lot of "business" to get done like getting the vehicles registered and inpected and stuff, it made it hard to get around to visit people but it was still so nice to be there and get to see everyone!  We went camping memorial day weekend with my in-laws and some of our friends.  It was so hot, but I got a pretty good tan!  And we got to do a lot of riding which is always so fun, but also scary at times when my hubby is drivin! haha.

Something new we did while we were there was to stop in at the Heston Farms Winery/Pinchgut Hollow Distillery-for some wine and moonshine!  It was a super pretty farm in the mountains.  Wine tasting was only $4 and included the souvenir glass!  WHAT?  I am so used to paying like $12-20 in CA!  And the wine was GOOD!  The shine tastings were...FREE!  I didn't taste any, but Eric did.  They had regular, peach, apple pie, buckwheat, and hot pepper shine.  E tasted a bit of a few of them, and said they were strong! I have yet to try any of it.

Pinchgut Hollow Moonshine

We headed out of Parsons on Saturday morning.  We towed Eric's newest purchase back, so we had to drive a little slower.  The drive home seemed to take FOREVER.  Boy was I excited to finally lay in our bed.  The past couple days I have just been playing catch up with housework.

It is getting very hot here in Louisiana.  and HUMID.  I think our a/c runs pretty much all day.  I try to do indoor activities as much as possible- yesterday was cooking.  One of the things I made was a recipe for a Pineaple Cool Whip pie that my mother in law shared with me.  It is seriously SO good and really refreshing on a hot summer day!  Plus, its super easy and no bake-perfect to take along to a cookout!  I want to share the recipe:

Pineapple Cool Whip Pie

1 can crushed pineapple, drained
1 tub cool whip
1/4 cup sweet condensed milk
1 packet vanilla pudding mix (unprepared)

Mix all ingredients together. Pour into a graham cracker crust (I bought the premade one!) and chill in refrigerator for 2 hours.

Hope yall enjoy!

Wilton Course 2 Complete and UH visit

Well I completed another Wilton course; Course 2 Flowers and Cake Design.  Here is what I learned the last 2 weeks of class

The rosebud

Wilton Rose

Violet

Lilly

Daffodil

and the basket weave

And here is my final cake for course two!  I absolutely LOVE how it came out.  It is a chocolate cake with strawberry filling.  It is covered in buttercream icing, with a basket weave, reverse shell border, and gumpaste pansies!

Next up is Course 3: Fondant and gumpaste.

We've kept ourselves pretty busy these past couple weeks!  This past weekend, we went to Houston to see my sister play in her last home games for softball at the University of Houston.  It was fun to watch her play (kinda sad it will be the last time!!) and it was SO much fun to have our WHOLE family together. I love seeing my husband interact with my family, it makes me even more sure that he is my perfect match.  My favorite part of the trip was Saturday night when all of us were sitting by the pool enjoying cocktails and each other's company.  I can't wait to see everyone again!  Here are a few pictures from the weekend

This coming weekend we are finally going on our airboat ride! Hopefully the weather holds up so we can go.  We will be seeing lots of wildlife and gators!!  I can't wait.  And we are counting down, 15 more days until we go to West Virginia! Can't wait to be on those country roads.

Wilton Course 2 class session 2

In class last week we learned how to make apple blossoms and primroses.  It was our first time making and using royal icing...and that is quite the process as you have to mix it for 7-10 minutes and I have a hand mixer!  My icing needed some work (which is what caused my flowers to flatten as they dried), but it was pretty good!

Playing Catch Up

I fail! I have not been good at updating my blog lately, especially about my Wilton classes! So here goes...

Two weeks ago I had my final class of course one.  It was stressful- we had to bake a cake, tort it, fill it and ice it all before class, and I had issues to the max! I showed up to class that night in baggy jeans and a t-shirt looking like a hot mess...but I was so relieved when the 3 other ladies came in the same frazzled state I was in, and we soon found out that what we thought was a huge disaster really wasn't so bad after all!  On this night, we learned how to smooth our cake, how to pipe lettering and handwriting, how to make a ribbon rose, and how to set up the design of the cake.  I had a little frustration and trouble with how my roses turned out, and I definitely need more practice.  Overall, I was very pleased with how my cake turned out

At the end of class we got our certificate of completion for Wilton's Course 1: Decorating Basics, so exciting!

Last Wednesday was the first class of Course 2: Flowers and Cake Design.  In this class we talked about the color wheel and how to choose color schemes for our cakes and placement and size as well.  We also learned a bit about gum paste and fondant, and how to color and prepare the gumpaste.  We then learned the button flower, and the pansy using gumpaste.

Aside from classes, we have had a pretty eventful couple of week's at the Moody house!  My sister and her boyfriend came in from Houston for Easter weekend.  It was fun to have our first visitors in NO.  We went down to the river walk and Bourbon street with them on Saturday morning, and then that afternoon we went to our first Louisiana Crawfish boil!  It was fun, and interesting!  I of course couldn't eat any crawfish because of my shellfish allergy, but I had fun watching everyone learn how to eat them and enjoy them!  I accidentally made the mistake of taking a piece of corn..when I took my first bit I noticed my throat felt a little scratchy and weird.  I looked over and saw the guys pulling the corn our of the pot they boiled the crawfish in...OOPS! No more for me.  We had a really good time.  Sunday we had Easter dinner.  I was pretty excited because it was the first time I had really cooked a holiday meal by myself for guests.  We had a ham, some zingy green beans, homemade mashed potatoes, and rolls.  Everything turned out great and we were satisfied! 

Here's Reese enjoying his Auntie Jenn 

Jenn and Coby left on Sunday evening, and then on Monday afternoon my mom flew in!  She stayed here a week, and we also briefly went to Bourbon street, out to lunch and dinner a couple times, and to Audubon park. Mostly we just got to hang out at home and play with Noah (my mom LOVED Noah, no surprise, he's a charmer!).

This is the three of us at Acme Oyster House-mom actually tried the oysters!!

 On Friday morning my mom and I loaded up the Jeep and headed for Houston to meet up with my dad and see my sister play some softball.  It was a long weekend but a good time!!  Mom flew out this afternoon, and though I was sad to see her go its good to know we will be seeing my family again in Houston in a few weeks for Jenn's last softball game at UH.

Now Eric and I are back to the routine of normal life.  They've been getting a lot of stuff going on at work, so he's already starting to work extra hours.  Hopefully we can squeeze in a swamp tour soon!  Yall have a good week! xoxo

Storms, Man trip, new friends and cupcakes!

Well, cake class was cancelled this week, boo! We had a BAD storm system pass through, and it was nasty out on Wednesday, so class got pushed back a week.  I was bummed because it felt like forever since the second class, I was looking forward to going to class on Wednesday.  Oh well. 

Eric left on Wednesday on a guys trip to go coyote hunting in Maine.  They flew into Boston, MA and stayed for a night there.  They got to visit the Cheers bar (where everybody knows your name!). On Thursday morning they drove from MA to their destination in Maine.  On the way, they came across this little gem

Moody's Diner in Waldoboro, ME.  He said he got us lots of souvenirs from there, I can't wait to see.  Then then headed up to pick up their friend Jake from the airport, and continued on to the cabin they are staying in for the weekend.  They went out hunting this morning.  I have talked to him a couple of times and he is having a great time. 

I have been holding down the home front here!  It has been crazy with these storms rolling through. Last night I was up ALL night listening to the craziest thunderstorm I have ever heard;  It was literally thundering for 4 hours straight, and there were these SUPER loud booms every so often. Crazy!  Today was the first day we saw the sunshine in 3 days- it was MUCH appreciated.

As many of you know, I have had some trouble adjusting down here.  Louisiana is a huge culture shock for me, I don't know what it is.  Also, I was really bummed because I left all my family and friends in CA, and then left all our family and friends in WV and friends in VA to move down here.  And we came here and there was just no one.  I had been having a hard time getting to know people, and I was having troubles finding people that want to hire someone who is only here a year...I was getting really down.

I started babysitting the sweetest little boy, Noah.  His mom is part of a mommy group on meetup.com, and they plan play dates and such, and she gave me the login in case I ever wanted to take him.  I thought it was a little weird, because I am not a mom, but I was luking for a few weeks checking out the playdates.  I saw one for last friday at the park, and there were only a few people going so I figured I would suck up my nerves and get both Noah and myself out of the house.  I am SO glad I did because I met some amazing girls and their kiddos, Julie, Leigh and Vanessa.

When we were leaving, Vanessa and I exchanged numbers.  Her and her hubby invited Eric and I over for dinner Sunday evening. We went over and grilled out with them and had so much fun! We have already hung out several times since then. Its been amazing to have a friend here, but its so awesome that that friend happens to be someone that is so much like me and who I have clicked with so well.  I am excited that we can be not only someone to hang out with here, but I think we will be lifelong friends no matter where life takes us :o).

Ok and finally, since many of you have been waiting, the Snickerdoodle Cupcake Recipe.  For Wednesday's class I was supposed to bring cupcakes with a filling of my choice.  I wanted to do something unique, and I came across the snickerdoodle cupcakes.  Snickerdoodles are E's favorite, so I knew I had to try it.  I took the easy route and just did vanilla cupcakes with the snicker doodle filling, and they were DELICIOUS just like that, but here is the whole recipe:

Ingredients:

Batter

• 1 1/2 cups butter, room temperature
• 2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 5 eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 3/4 teaspoon no-color almond extract
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup milk

Filling

• 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup milk

Icing

• 3 tablespoons Meringue Powder
• 1/2 cup cold water
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup corn syrup
• 1/2 cup water

Instructions:

Step 1

Cupcake Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. In mixer bowl cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
4. Mix in vanilla and almond flavor.
5. Mix flour with baking powder and salt.
6. Add flour mixture alternately with milk, starting with the flour.
7. Pour into prepared pans.
8. Bake 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
9. Cool 10 minutes in pan on rack; remove and cool completely before decorating.

Step 2

Filling Directions
1. In large bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar, cinnamon and milk.
2. Beat with mixer until well blended.
3. Refrigerate until ready to use.
4. Fill cupcakes. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Step 3

Icing Directions
1. Beat meringue powder and 1/2 cup cold water until stiff, about 4 minutes.
2. In microwave safe bowl stir sugar, corn syrup and 1/2 cup water.
3. In microwave bring syrup mixture to a boil (approx. 5 minutes).
4. Remove, let mixture cool slightly (1-2 minutes).
5. Slowly add syrup to meringue mixture.
6. Beat on HIGH for 4 minutes.

Happy baking yall!

Wilton Course 1-Class 2

After my second class, I am even more sold on this Wilton thing and LOVING it!  The first class was awesome, so much fun and the instructor was so great.  But it was me, another lady, and 4 9 year olds....not exactly what I was hoping for as I was hoping to meet some people!  But it was still fun.  Since Wednesday's are my regular class, I was SO happy to walk into the class to find 6 adult women!  Two girls are about my age, and then there were three other women in there and everyone was SO fun and very into this class like me.  I LOVE it.  It will be awesome to hang out with these ladies for the next several weeks.

We had to bake a cake to bring to class, and bring two batches of icing, one made thin consistency and one medium.  I called my mom (who already took this class) about a million times trying to figure out if my icing was the correct consistency!  I was happy to find out that they were very close to right on, and that all the other girls also had some icing troubles.

I have to rave about the cake I made...at our local grocery store I found a box cake that was butter pecan flavor...we don't have that in CA so I knew I had to try it.  And boy I am glad I did.  While I was baking, it smelled unbelievable in our house- seriously mouth watering! And it tastes even better.

Ok back to the class. Last night we learned how to tort and fill our cake, and then frost our cake. Because we were limited with time, we only did our "crumb" layer and didn't have time to perfect the frosting.  We also learned how to color our icing properly.  And then we did some dimensional decorating on our cake.  Here is the finished product:

Next week we are going to be making lots of flowers, and icing cupcakes!