Communion Cookies 2012

My little guy made his First Holy Communion this year on the hottest day.  Kids grow up so fast I can hardly believe it.  He will be headed of to 4th grade next year and my other son will be in 6th.

OK back to the story and the cookies. This Communion went off with out a hitch aside from the weather.  Check out the crazy story that we went through when our first son made his Communion.

I would have liked to make the same cookies I had made for our first son's Communion, however, neither of the boys liked them.  They really didn't like these all that much.  I think that they are so delicious and soft.  The guests all liked them very much.

I  tried to find blue sprinkles and the couple of close places that I checked didn't have them. My neighbor had these candy ball sprinkles so I used them instead.  The cookies looked perfect with just the right color combination that I wanted. A tiny drawback to using this frosting decoration is that I ended up with these candy balls all over the house.

If you want the recipe check below.

 

(so cute)

~Michelle

Looking for the recipe? check here.

Happy Mother's Day Cinnamon Streusel Bundt Cake

Happy Mother's Day

Mother's day is a wonderful day to spend with family. My two little guys are the reason that I am a mother and love every minute, well almost every minute. They may fight with each other and talk back at times but I love the funny observations that they have the kisses that they still share and when they play together and get along my heart just sings.  Thank you to my husband for also making me a mother and for taking such great care of the boys while I'm at work. I am blessed to have such wonderful guys in my life.  And I did go to work on Mother's Day :(

I made a cinnamon streusel bundt cake for dessert on Mother's day.
I found the recipe here.

Ingredients

Streusel Topping
1 cup flour
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar ( I used about 3/4 cup light and 1/4 dark)
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1/2 cup (1stick) cold butter, cut into chunks


Cake
2/3 cup butter, softened
2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup sour cream
4 eggs
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
Vanilla Glaze, (optional)

Directions
Preheat oven to 325F. For the streusel topping, mix the flour, brown sugar and cinnamon in a medium bowl.  cut in cold butter with pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. set aside.

for the cake, beat softened butter, granulated sugar and sour cream in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in vanilla. Gradually beat in flour and baking soda on low speed until well mixed.

Spoon 1/2 of the streusel topping into greased and floured 12-cup bundt pan.  Spoon 1/2 of the batter over the top. Repeat layers.

Bake 1 hour or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. ( I had to bake it about 1 hour 15 minutes)  Cool in pan 10 minutes. Remove from pan. cool completely on wire rack. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar or drizzle with vanilla glaze.

Vanilla glaze
mix 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, 2 tablespoons water and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla in medium bowl until smooth.  If necessary, stir 1 to 3 additional teaspoons water until glaze is of desired consistency.  Drizzle over cooled cake. Let stand until glaze is set.

I did get a surprise gift for Mother's day.  At breakfast they handed me a gift that I thought was for sure slippers, and I would have been very happy with slippers.  It was a new Nikon SLR digital camera. whoo hoo.  Amazing. I cried a little.

Here is a picture that I took with the new camera.  Going to love practicing.
.

~Michelle

New York-Style Crumb Coffee Cake

We are headed to my brother's house for my future sister-in-law's birthday brunch.  And of course I need to bring something sweet to eat.  It was a toss-up between blueberry muffins and coffee cake.  I decided on the coffee cake because my sons like that more.  So I searched the recipe archives/internet  to find just the perfect crumb coffee cake.  It needed to taste like the Entenmann's coffee cake and have lots of crumbs.

I found a wonderful recipe. 

(I am wondering what makes it "New York-Style")

The cake surely comes close to tasting like Entenmann's and is pretty easy to make too.

I was pleasantly surprised that I didn't have to double the crumb topping.  There was plenty and it was the perfect ratio of cake to topping.  Grab a cup of coffee and have some cake. XO

Off to celebrate a wonderful person's birthday. 

recipe found at smellslikehome

New York-Style Crumb Cake
original source: Cooks' Illustrated

Don't be tempted to substitute all-purpose flour for the cake flour, as doing so will make a dry, tough cake.  If you can't find buttermilk, you can substitute an equal amount of plain, low-fat yogurt.  When topping the cake, take care to not push the crumbs into the batter.  This recipe can be easily doubled and baked in a 13 x 9-inch baking dish.  If doubling, increase the baking time to about 45 minutes.  Cooled leftovers can be wrapped in plastic wrap and stored at room temperature for up to 2 days.

Ingredients for the crumb topping
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
8 Tablespoons butter (1 stick), melted and still warm
1 3/4 cups flour

Ingredients for the cake
1 1/4 cups cake flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 Tablespoons butter (3/4 stick), cut into six pieces, softened but still cool
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup buttermilk
Confectioners' sugar for dusting

To make the topping:  Whisk sugars, cinnamon, salt and butter in medium bowl to combine.  Add flour and stir with rubber spatula or wooden spoon until mixture resembles thick, cohesive dough; set aside to cool to room temperature, 10-15 minutes.

To make the cake:  Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees F.  Cut 16-inch length parchment paper or aluminum foil and fold lengthwise to 7-inch width.  Spray 9-inch square baking dish with nonstick cooking spray and fit parchment into dish, pushing it into corners and up sides; allow excess to overhang edges of dish.

In bowl of standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment, mix flour, sugar, baking soda and salt on low speed to combine.  With mixer running at low speed, add butter one piece at a time; continue beating until mixture resembles moist crumbs, with no visible butter chunks remaining, 1 to 2 minutes.  Add egg, yolk, vanilla and buttermilk; beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 1 minute, scraping once if necessary.

Transfer batter to baking pan; using rubber spatula, spread batter into even layer.  Break apart crumb topping into large pea-sized pieces between your thumb, pointer and middle fingers and spread in even layer over batter, beginning with edges and then working toward center.  Bake until crumbs are golden and wooden skewer inserted into center of cake comes out clean, 35-40 minutes. (I had to bake mine for 45 minutes)
Cool on wire rack at least 30 minutes.  Remove cake from pan by lifting parchment overhang.  Dust with confectioners' sugar just before serving.

~Michelle