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I just wanted to take a quick moment to wish everyone out there a Happy Memorial Day a little early and to send my thanks to all the soldiers (past, present and future) that do what they do so we can be free. Memorial Day is their holiday, never forget that. Now, gonna leave you with this. Just a quick shot of 2 sets of cookies completed for Baking For Our Soldiers . Military Branches TomKat Memorial Day Cookies

Okay, the holiday season is in the distant future but summer is here and you have a bit more free time on your hands. You know when the holidays come about you are going to be running around like a chicken with your head cut off trying to get everything together. Now, add to that, you bake a lot during the holidays and much of your family is on the other side of the country or even world. How can you send goods to them without fear of it going bad? Simple - Can it. Or in this case, jar it. That's right, I am talking about canning/jarring your cupcakes. Why? Oh simple. 1) You can bake them right in the jars. 2) They can be sealed, just like jams and jellies. 3) Up to a 6 month shelf life, so you can do it way in advanced! 4) Can be packaged and shipped with ease. 5) They are just too damned cute!!! So how does one do this? It is actually much simpler than you would expect! Let's get to it!!!! Things you will need.... Cake Mix "Canning" Jars, lids and seals Large Glass ...

Just a simple Red Velvet Birthday Cake for the hubby. Finally were able to cut into it.

Well, even after the cake for Graduation, I still had more to do. That actually all started a couple of days ago. You see, today is my hubbies birthday! (You know, Chef Jason, the guy that writes Cynical Cuisine ) So I had to make sure he was covered as well. There was a slight problem though.... I asked him for a month what he wanted for his birthday food wise and I kept getting - I don't care, don't do anything much, what ever works, I'm not picky. Yeah....You see, that does go over well in this home...I need direction! Without it and this is what you get.... Breakfast: Bacon Cups with Over Medium Eggs on Toast Irish Shortbread Coffee Lunch/Dinner: Stroganoff Fresh baked at home Sourdough Bread Dessert: Irish Shortbread Scottish Shortbread 2 Dozen Pecan Pie Bars 2 Dozen Candied Bacon Chocolate Chip and Walnut Cookie Cake Slices Couple Dozen assorted sized Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting 3 Layer, 6 inch round Red Velvet Cake with Tangy Cream Cheese Frosting....

Just finished up a cake for a young woman graduating this year out in Seattle. Very much into all things music and playing the lead for Hairspray opening this weekend, he dad wanted her to have a cake that fit. Well, here it is. Theater Stage with all things Hairspray on it, topped off with a Grad Cap. Cake is lemon cream with almond buttercream and topped with vanilla fondant. Everything is edible and it is 95% cake. (even the cap) "Poster and Score" are edible sugar sheets printed with the poster for the schools play and the score of - Momma I'm a Big Girl Now. Congrats Hannah!

Whether you are from the South or not, you have most likely heard of Red Velvet Cake. It is all over the place in recent years. Everyone has their own version of how it should be done and sadly...So many of them are wrong. This isn't just my opinion, this is the opinion of Southern Women and what can I say. They're right. No one knows, as stereotypical as it may sound, what a RVC (Red Velvet Cake) should be better than an old Southern Woman fanning herself on her front porch in the middle of a hellish summer heat. If you want to know if any dish you made that has "Southern" influence is right just go down 3rd Avenue around the Lime Sink in Albany Ga, pick any of the homes on the street lined with old trees with hanging moss and let them taste your dish. They'll let you know. If you hear "Bless your heart", you got it wrong. Now, I was not born in the South, very much the opposite. I was born in Steel Town USA - Gary, Indiana. (And if you start singing I ...

Well, as many know I am slowly trying to move my sweet recipes from Surreal Fare over here. Only time I do that though is when I make one of the recipes. (And with everything going on trying to post new stuff, the old stuff can sometimes be left behind.) Well not to worry! Here we go! a quickie for today! 1 Pound Butter (Or margarine) – Softened 1 1/2 Cups Of Sugar 3 Large Eggs 2 Cups Of All Purpose Flour 1/3 Cup of 2% Milk 1 1/2 Teaspoons of Vanilla Extract 1/2 Teaspoon of Almond Extract Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease 2 8 inch rounds ( or whatever you want to use.) Cream butter and sugar. Add in the remaining ingredients.  Pour in pans. (Don't worry, it is a thick batter.) Bake 25-35 minutes. (Until toothpick comes out clean.) Remove from oven, let cool five minutes. Flip out onto rack and let cool fully. Top and decorate as you wish.  Serve and enjoy! And that is all there is too it! My family adores this as Strawberry Shortcake, so just grab some frozen strawberries an...

Got a call from a dear friend last night and before I knew it, I have went ahead and said - Sure, I can get you a cake by tomorrow morning. LOL Yeah, me and my inability to not only not tell anyone no but offer! LOL Oh well! Started around 6 last night getting setting out butter to come to room temp so I could not only bake cakes from scratch but as I am looking through all my supplies I see I am about of various flours and other things I usually have on hand. So I spend a good amount of time making just the basic ingredients, LOL. (I only keep loling because I am actually in a sleep deprived giggle fit right about now.) Thankfully the heavens smiled on me and the stars aligned. About 10 this morning, or somewhere in there I was able to finish up and then bake a crap ton of other stuff. Granted this isn't my best work but very happy with the results and even happier to know if I get an order at "closing" time I can have a cake ready and waiting by "opening" the ...

Let me begin by saying - May The Forth Be With You.  Now that that is over! Happy Cinco De Mayo! (Tomorrow that is, lol.) Now, what is this in the video above? Simple! A Maraca Cookie! Not the cleanest work but it was late and I wanted to get done fast since I had completed a lot of other cookies. Rather simple to make actually. You just need 3 cookie cut out in the same shape, one of those hollowed out and one of those on a cookie stick. Bake, cool, cement together with royal icing as you stack them and fill with mini M&M's! Pretty cool! Picture Guide For Maraca Cookies Well, that was just the quick complete. I did that while I was waiting on some other cookies to dry. Now, these I wouldn't exactly call Cinco De Mayo cookies but more of a South Western Style. What is awesome about these is that they are a flavor variation on another cookie. Lila Loa makes probably the best vanilla sugar cookie on the planet, I just adore her cookie. Not only does it taste great but it hol...

Foodgasm!!! Just a quick update while I am waiting for dishes to finish being done so I can get back to work in the kitchen on the Cinco De Mayo stuff. While in the middle of waiting for royal icing to set and another batch of cookie dough to chill I decided to make something else. Southern style pecan bars. These are just perfect for those summer days in the South or anywhere else for that matter. So here ya go! Quick and dirty. Crust: 1/3 Cup Granulated Sugar 1/2 Teaspoon Table Salt 2 1/4 Cup Unbleached All Purpose 11 Tablespoon Salt Butter, Chilled and cubed Filling: 3 Large Eggs 1 Cup Light Corn Syrup 1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar 1/2 Cup Packed Light Brown Sugar 3 Tablespoon Salted Butter, Melted 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract Pinch of Nutmeg 1/2 Cup Crushed Pecans 1 1/2 Cup Chopped Pecans Directions: 1. Preheat the oven to 350 F 2. Take a 9x13 cake pan and spray down with Pam Baking Spray. 3. In a large bowl dump in everything for the crust and with a frost cut it until it becomes like co...

Surreal Delights & Milk Okay, about a week ago I checked out a book from the library for my husband - The Bacon Cookbook - and o.m.g....The recipes in this thing are just amazing. I mean, come on, an entire book about bacon, even cookies! Cookie! You have my attention. So, I start thinking and researching various things online about cookie dessert with bacon, cookies with bacon and even how to candy bacon. Add to this the hubby grilling all the time and my family being bacon fanatics and here we are... Candied Bacon A cool Tuesday in May up in Washington State. The night before the hubby grills up his infamous Bacon Meatloaf and I finish developing a new take on my bread recipe - Bacon Garlic Cheddar. I need to get to decorating cookies but I have something else on my mind and like any artist, until that is taken care of I cannot do anything else. And here we are..Surreal Delights....As I am calling them. A Candied Bacon Walnut Chocolate Chip Cookie. Let's get to it! Ingredient...