Here Comes Peter Cottontail...

I am currently sitting in my parent's kitchen, watching the brosef and Poppa B. cook breakfast. And I just got 10 hours of sweet, sweet sleep. Life is good. I'm savoring each hour of this entire weekend, because this next week of school is going to be blah. Yes, "blah." Sadness...

But in the meantime, I will enjoy swapping Easter candy with the siblings (22 and I still get an Easter basket, SCORE!), playing with the niece, chillin' with the 'rents, celebrating Easter weekend, and making these cookies.

They're fun and colorful, no?

These are Peter Cottontail worthy. You should make them.

I used Grandma Dot's sugar cookie recipe (cause it's the best!) and a simple royal icing to decorate. Happy Easter! :)

Hooray...the April Edition

More things to "Hooray!" for...

Hooray for glorious weather and days at the park.

Hooray for sisters that are beasts on the court. Don't mess.

Hooray for wishes.

Hooray for rockin' sweet shades at night.

Hooray for self-portraits and timers on cameras.

Hooray for coonskin hats.

Hooray for a good book and niece to curl up with.

Hooray for cereal. And fruit. Together. Yum.

Hooray for writing papers...

Psych. It's really quite unpleasant.

Hooray for royalty.

Hooray for Matt and Dave.

And a best friend to enjoy them with.

Hooray for strawberries.

And turning those strawberries into a scrumptious cake!

This is one of my all-time favorite cakes I make. Just in time for Easter lunch, dinner, dessert, whatever. It's the perfect spring dessert, just the right amount of sweetness and strawberries and it's gorgeous to look at. And the frosting...oh, man. I could eat it by the spoonful. But that's just not proper. Eh, forget that, where's my spoon?! Bake it, eat it, share it, enjoy it! :)



Southern Style Strawberry Cake
adapted from Joy the Baker and Sweets

1 (18.5 ounce) box white cake mix (without pudding)

1 (3 ounce) package strawberry jello

1 Tablespoon self rising flour

4 teaspoons granulated sugar

3/4 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

1/2 cup water

1/3 cup fresh strawberries, finely diced.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. To make the cake, combine to cake mix, Jello, flour and sugar in a large bowl. Mix well. Add the oil. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition Add the water and strawberries and mix well. Divide the batter evenly into three 8-inch round baking pans that have been oiled and floured. Bake for 25-35 minutes, or until a tooth pick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean and the layers pull away from the sides of the pan.

Transfer the layers from the oven to wire racks. Let them cool, still in their pans, for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, run a knife around the inside edge of each pan, then unmold each layer onto the racks to cool completely.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 (8 ounce) block cream cheese, softened

2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, softened

2 (1 pound) boxes powdered sugar

pinch of salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup sweetened shredded coconut (optional)

pink food coloring

4 sliced strawberries

To make the frosting, in a bowl combine the cream cheese and butter. Beat until soft and pliable and no lumps remain. Add one box of the powdered sugar, salt and vanilla extract. Beat until incorporated. Add the second box of sugar and mix until incorporated. If you would like a smoother consistency, and a slash of milk. If you would like a thicker consistency, and a bit more powdered sugar until the desired consistency is achieved.

Once the cake is frosted, you can decorate with the shredded coconut and sliced strawberries, or just one or the other! To die coconut place the coconut in a small bowl and sprinkle with two or three drops of pink die and mix with hands. Let dry then decorate!

Can Ya Dig It?

A few things, I'm totally digging right now...

This dinnerware.

Birds. Adorable. Enough said.

This ridiculously, cute dress.

Throw this baby on with some heels and I'm ready to whip up a batch of cupcakes. Or brownies. Heck, both, cause I'm gonna look dang cute doing so.

This, awesome record player.

So tempted, so, so tempted.

This cake stand.

It just looks like it belongs in my kitchen, you know?



These cookies.
Peanut butter and butterscotch are my new favorite combo. So good they are giving ol' peanut butter and chocolate a run for their money.
You NEED to make these cookies. Sooo good.

Peanut Butter Butterscotch Chip Chippers
adapted from Picky Palate

1 stick softened butter

1/2 Cup brown sugar

1/2 Cup granulated sugar

1 1/4 Cups smooth peanut butter

1 Cup melted butterscotch chips

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/4 Cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1 Cup butterscotch chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Melt butterscotch chips over a double boiler until melted. Add melted butterscotch chips and peanut butter to beaten butter and sugars. Beat in egg and vanilla. Place flour, baking soda and salt in bowl; mix to combine. Add to wet ingredients until just combined then pour in butterscotch chips. Using a cookie scoop, scoop dough, roll in sugar then place onto baking sheet. Press tops with tines of a fork if desired. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until cookies are cooked through. Remove and let cool for 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

April's Fool

It's April, folks. This excites and terrifies me at the same time. I get all excited thinking about summer, but then this feeling of dread creeps up when I start to think about all the stuff I need to get done in this month. And I start to hyperventilate, freak out and reach for the brown, paper bag. "And breath, 1,2,3..."

I can honestly say that April will own me, if not kill me. Ugh. Please, please, please, keep me (& my sanity) in your thoughts and prayers, as I tackle this monster of a month. Things will most likely be quiet around here for the next couple of weeks, but I'll try to post as much as I possibly can!

Here's a treat I made for a friend this past weekend. Let's talk Girl Scout cookies. My favorite is the peanut butter patty or "Tag-a-long" which I will forever call it. But the favorite of almost every person I know is the Thin Mint.


Mint and chocolate really ain't my thing. I really don't dig Peppermint Patties, those mints from the Olive Garden and I just don't get the hoopla over mint chocolate chip ice cream. Call me crazy, but whatev. However, when I saw a recipe for Thin Mint truffles, I knew I must experiment. Exactly like the Oreo truffles, but the Oreos are replaced with Thin Mints. And I knew I would have no trouble getting my friend to let me "borrow" a box of her coveted Thin Mints.

I totally used way too much cream cheese. Thankfully some elves came to my rescue.

Thin Mint Truffles
adapted by Confessions of a Cookbook Queen

1 pkg. Thin Mints (if you slacked off this year and did not support your local girl scouts, the Keebler Grasshopper cookies will do just fine, but shame on you! ;) )
1/2 block of cream cheese, softened (about 4 oz.)
White chocolate, milk chocolate or dark chocolate almond bark

Crush Thin Mints till very fine. You can do this by using a ziploc bag and rolling pin or food processor. (Or do what I did and put the cookies between two sheets of wax paper and just start rolling!) Once crushed, pour into large bowl and add cream cheese. Using your hands, incorporate the cream cheese into the cookie crumbs until the cream cheese is no longer visible.
Roll into balls, place on wax covered cookie sheets and chill for at least 30 minutes.
Melt chocolate as directed on package and then dip balls into chocolate, tap off extra and set aside on wax paper covered cookie sheet to dry. (You can decorate them with sprinkles before this step or extra chocolate after they have dried.)