Cinnamon Rolls

Quick!  Make and eat these cinnamon rolls before you officially embark upon all those New Year's resolutions...

I have been meaning to make these Pioneer Woman Cinnamon Rolls forever and finally did - so delicious.  Here are some pics...

Make your dough and let it rise as directed, then refrigerate overnight so you are set to go the next morning.

Drop it onto a well floured work surface.

Roll it out into a long rectangle.  (I only made a half recipe, so I rolled out my entire amount of dough instead of half of it like PW suggests in her recipe.)

Cover with a ton of melted butter, sugar and cinnamon.

Roll toward you and crimp the edges to seal.

Slice, place in buttered disposable pans and let rise again before baking.

Yum!

PW makes a maple frosting but I used vanilla in place of maple flavoring and omitted the coffee.

This half-recipe made 3 nice pans of rolls and an extra pan of 1/2 nice and 1/2 leftover end rolls (still super good, but not as pretty).  They freeze beautifully and you can always add extra frosting (which I did after that last picture!).

Here is the link to Pioneer Woman's recipe.  Enjoy and Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve's Red Velvet and White Chocolate Cheesecake...

...and Christmas Day's Refrigerator Cake!

Chocolate wafer cookies and fresh whipped cream

Merry Christmas!

Happy 10th Birthday, Drew!

A #10 cake and cake pops for the birthday boy!  Hope the party was great, Drew!

Happy birthday, Drew!

Tree Lighting Cookies!

Here is a sample of the Harper Street Treats cookies that will be available for decorating at tonight's annual West University Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony!

Don't miss the festivities starting at 5:30pm tonight, Monday December 2nd, outside the Community Center on Auden Street.  There will be hot drinks and sweets, crafts, Santa, reindeer, singing and, of course, a chance to decorate these gorgeous and delectable cookies!  :)

Let the wonderful Christmas craziness begin!

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

I saw these adorable turkey cookies on bakeat350!  So cute - I had to make them.

First, make some peanut butter cookies and try not to eat them all plain before you even start the turkeys.

Then stick on peanut butter cups with melted chocolate, upside down white chocolate chips and melted chocolate eyeballs.

Color buttercream (or peanut butter buttercream!) frosting red, orange and yellow and add feathers, feet and a beak or smiley face!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Movember!

Mustache birthday cake...

Mini mustache cookies with details stamped on...

And, of course, no party is complete without mustache pops!

Happy birthday, Mike!

Go Texans!

Well, it might not have been a good weekend for the Houston Texans, but it was an awesome weekend for my son, Jackson's, flag football team - also the Texans!

The two teams are very similar, except that Jackson's team is 3-0 and the professional Texans are, well, I'd rather not say...

Breakfast of Champions  :)

Fathers & Flashlights S'more Pops!

Lots and lots of s'more pops!

For the 3rd year in a row, I was so happy to make over 800 s'more pops for the Fathers & Flashlights Campout benefiting the Friends of West University Place Parks Fund!  Dads and kids pitch their tents on the baseball and soccer fields at West U Elementary School, spend the afternoon doing awesome activities and running around like maniacs, and then sleep out under the stars!

The moms all work volunteer shifts and generous sponsors donate money, food and energy to make the weekend a huge success.  My boys came home raving about the experience as usual!

Instead of dealing with a huge campfire and 500 kids (running around like maniacs, as I mentioned earlier), having s'more pops makes perfect sense!  Delicious, easy to eat, and no open flames required.

You probably won't be making them in the same quantities as I did last weekend, but here is the info on how to make your own s'more pops at home.  They are so yummy and easy to make!

First assemble your ingredients.  Assuming you are making fewer than 67 dozen, buy less stuff than this.  :)  

Melt your chocolate chips slowly in a double boiler or microwave.  I stir in some canola oil to the melted chocolate to make it a little thinner and better for pop dipping.

Spread out your graham cracker crumbs in a shallow dish.  I usually use a paper plate because it has the perfect sized lip for pop rolling.

Choose marshmallows that have a nice shape and push a cake pop stick (available at Michael's) into the bottom of each one.

Dip each fully into the melted chocolate and then tap on the side of the bowl to let the excess chocolate drip off.

Then roll the pop in the graham cracker crumbs, being sure to cover the sides, top and bottom.

Set the finished pops in a stand or on a sheet of wax paper.  The chocolate won't fully harden on it's own so if you're going to individually wrap them, let them harden in the fridge for about 10-15 minutes so you don't get chocolate smeared all over the inside of your baggie.

I recommend storing the s'more pops in the fridge and letting them come to room temperature for a few minutes before eating them.  They taste best within a few days.

All packed up and ready for the campout!

Enjoy!!

Walker's Batman Cake

Happy 4th Birthday, Walker!

Texas Sheet Cake!

Here is a quick, delicious cake that you can make tonight.  It is so yummy and super easy.  One of my favorite Cooking Light recipes ever!

Combine your dry ingredients.

Then combine butter, water and cocoa in a saucepan until bubbly.

Pour the chocolate mixture into the flour mixture.

Mix.

Add buttermilk, vanilla and eggs and beat well.

While the cake is baking, toast up some chopped pecans if you are using them (I usually do them on just part of the cake).

Make up your delicious frosting of butter, milk, cocoa, vanilla and powdered sugar.  Spread it over your hot cake and sprinkle with the chopped pecans (I usually mix the pecans into the frosting).

Dig in!

Texas Sheet Cake Recipe (adapted from Cooking Light)

Baking spray
2C. flour
2C. sugar
1t. baking soda
1t. cinnamon
1/4t. salt
3/4C. water
1/2C. butter
1/2C. unsweetened cocoa, divided
1/2C. low fat buttermilk
1T. vanilla, divided
2 large eggs

6T. butter
1/3C. skim milk
3C. powdered sugar
1/4C. chopped pecans, toasted (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Coat a 13x9 inch pan with baking spray.
 
Combine flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl and whisk together.

Combine water, 1/2C. of butter and 1/4C. of cocoa in a small saucepan; bring to a boil, stirring frequently.  Add to flour mixture and beat until well blended.

Add buttermilk, 1t. vanilla and eggs.  Beat well.

Pour into prepared pan and bake at 375 for 22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
 
For the frosting:  combine 6T. of butter, skim milk and 1/4C. of cocoa in a saucepan.  Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat and gradually stir in powdered sugar and 2t. vanilla.  Spread over hot cake and sprinkle with pecans.  Cool completely.

Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

Super cute and easy for little hands to hold! 

My 5 year old took these to camp on his birthday and they were a huge hit!   A perfect summery posting for this dreary, rainy day we are having in Houston!

First, take either regular or mini ice cream cones...

Fill the cones ONLY about 1/2 full - any more and they will overflow and ruin the cones.  I used my handy dandy pancake squeezer-outer.

Voila! 

Top with a dollop of frosting and sprinkles!