Easter Goodies

As I've said before, I should not be allowed online. I can get into too much trouble.


My latest craft craziness? Cake Pops and Cake Bites.

We host an Easter Egg hunt the Saturday before Easter, and I thought the Bunny Pops and Chick Cake Bites would be a fun dessert for the kids (and the adults, too). Because, you know, there's never enough sugar at an Easter Egg hunt...

It's a fairly time-intensive process, but can be done over a few days. I made the cakes one day, shaped them the next day, then dipped and decorated over the next couple days. The Bunny Pops took the longest time, because of the ears, eyes, nose and mouth. The Wilton edible pen I bought didn't work very well on the candy coating, so I ended up drawing with black gel frosting and a toothpick. Next time, I'll try to find the Americolor edible ink pen at the cake decorating store. For the Chicks, I used the colored chips for both the eyes and beak, giving some of them brown eyes and some blue.

Everyone loved looking at, and eating, the bunnies and chicks. It was definitely worth all the effort to see the kids' faces when we brought them out.

Key Lime Mousse Pie and Homemade Samoas

Ohhhh, yaaaaaa'lllll. I was at the gym and one of the TVs was set to Food Network, which is either brilliant or completely insane. I usually just watch with my eyes glazed over, but this time Paula Deen made me want to run home and make this right away.

It's a Key Lime Mousse Pie, and, being Paula Deen, is crazy rich. I tried to make it less fattening with low-fat cream cheese and low-fat whipped topping. I also cheated by using bottled key lime juice, but, really, we don't get them a lot here in Colorado. Judging by the moans of delight from my friends, no one minded a bit.

I'd originally planned to bring Homemade Samoa bars, at least until Paula derailed me. I think I like the Samoas just a bit more than Thin Mints, although it's a close race. So, I was thrilled when I found a recipe to make them at home. I was ecstatic when I found the bars variation.

Because I'm lazy, I melted the chocolate on the shortbread base, which was a suggestion from one of the comments on another site. I just put some chips on the cookie base, right out of the oven and used the residual heat to melt them. Worked awesome.

Next time, I'll only make two changes: use a larger pan so the shortbread is a bit thinner and make my own caramel so I can have a higher caramel-to-cocnut ratio for the topping.

Oh yes, there will be another time. For both these recipes.

HotPatterns Weekender Sunshine Top and Dress

I just got back from a family trip to Cabo, Mexico. It was wonderful, although it did have some stressful moments, as you do with small kids. In preparation, I made a couple of HotPatterns Weekender Sunshine Tops, and also made a dress version.

It's very easy and fun to make. And by easy, I mean I could probably cut out, interface and sew one of them during a decent naptime. How awesome is that? It did take me a couple tries to get it right.

The first time, I used an interlock knit, which was definitely not flowy enough to really work. Then, I had to figure out which neckline size to use so my other "girls" wouldn't be on display. I ended up using the size 10 neckline (and top of sleeve), a size 16 around the bust and for the back, and tapered the waist to a 14 just on the front, to take away some of the excess volume.

I'd watched the YouTube videos and saw that Trudi had made a dress as one of the variations and, knowing I'd want a comfortable, pretty dress for Mexico, decided to try it. I found a really cool black and white sequin trim at JoAnn's and went with a black poly knit for the fabric. It turned out really well.

I put in an elastic waistband to give me a bit of definition. I tried just using a zig-zag stitch to attach the elastic directly to the fabric, but it was a massive fail. So, I did a bit of a cheat and used a 1/2" bias trim as a casing for a 1/4" elastic. I cheated again, sewing the top of the casing, fitting the elastic closely to the top stitching, stitching the bottom of the casing, leaving a couple inches open, tightened and secured the elastic, then closing the casing all the way.

It's a really cute, comfortable, casually elegant dress. With some cute gladiator flat sandals (from Target), it was the perfect outfit for the trip.

The Dress that Wouldn't Dye

I have this pretty cute faux-wrap dress from Target that I've had for ages, but hadn't worn in a while because it was black and I had some other black dresses that I was wearing more often. It had been hanging in my closet, talking my winter sweaters on the shelf above, when I decided to try my hand at fabric dyeing.

I'd read an article in Lucky magazine*, about the "$2 Trick that will change your wardrobe".. It looked pretty easy, there's a JoAnns nearby, I had a dress I'd like to update. How hard could it be?

The answer? Much, much harder than I thought. My main issue is that the dress is 100% polyester, which is notoriously (thanks, Google!) hard to dye. The first time, I used RIT dye, which didn't work (no fault to the product). I did a bit of research and found out I needed a dye specially for polyester, which I found at JoAnns. I also found color remover, and decided to use that first, since the dress is black.

Well, long story short, the color remover didn't really work, so they dye wasn't able to show up on the black fabric. The tag, which was cream, is now a beautiful shade of purple. However, wearing the dress inside out was not what I had in mind. I don't know what I'll do next. I figure, for the materials cost, time and effort, I could sew something similar, rather than try to change the color of this dress. For now, the dress will go back in the closet, all ready to chat up that chunky, gray cardigan.



*Two things: I don't really like the direction the new editor is going, but I'm hesitant to cancel my subscription, because I like some of the skincare/makeup stuff and having a vague idea of what's fashionable and I don't think I'm ready for More yet.

Second, have you seen the Lucky Kids special ediiton? I am soooo not the target demographic because I don't know where to buy quail's eggs for my girls' bento box lunches (for that matter, they don't have bento boxes) and they're definitely not getting anything from Burberry or Michale Kors until they can pay for the drycleaning themselves.

Cheesecake Bars and Chocolate Angel Food Cake

Cheesecake is another one of those easy-but-takes-a-while things,but it's so totally worth it. I made King Arthur Flour's Vanilla Cheesecake Bars for a Mom's Night Out and got rave reviews. My friend V wants a standing order for each month.

I highly recommend using the lemon peel and juice in the recipe. It doesn't add a real strong lemony flavor, but it gives a nice complexity to the vanilla and creamyness that I really like. The next time I make these, I might try another marble variation, using that Justin's Chocolate Hazelnut Butter and chocolate wafers for the crust.

I had a bunch of egg whites left over, so I decided to try my hand at a Chocolate Angel Food Cake. The recipe from Pie in the Sky has consistently worked for me, so I started with that. I was a little worried about replacing some of the flour with cocoa powder, since flour is really necessary to create the proper structure at high altitudes so the cake doesn't fall. I decided to go for it, and replaced 1/3 cup of floiur with cocoa powder and made sure to underbeat the egg whites, per the instructions, so they'd have plenty of room to expand while cooking.

It worked! The chocolate flavor isn't overhwelming, but nice and light, like you'd want in an Angel Food Cake. I kept the almond extract, since I love that combination, and next time I might try the orange zest and flavor substitution.

Chocolate Caramel Pie

I'm always on the lookout for easy, delicious, chocolate-based recipes. I should clarify that, to me, there are two tyoes of easy: quick and easy and time-consuming and easy. Brownies are quick and easy. Truffles are time-consuming and easy. This insanely good Chocolate Caramel Pie is easy and time-consuming. And you should make it right away.

It's not too sweet, even with the layer of caramel. The pudding is nice and rich and the whipped cream top has just a touch of brown sugar and cocoa, but is a camy counterpoint to the rest of the components. It's also pretty on the plate, with the different distinct layers of tastyness.

It's great with coffee and also with a glass of red wine and some hysterical conversation with your friends.

Creamy Chocolate Cake

Or, what I do for PMS...

I love me some chocolate, and the cravings can be downright overwhelming sometimes. This cake, while not instant gratification, will do the trick. I found it in Dorie Greenspan's Paris Sweets, which is a collection of pastry recipes from some of the best shops in Paris. So, if you can't afford the plane fare, pop in Amelie and bake something from the book.

This is Grandmother's Creamy Chocolate Cake from Robert Linxe.. It's dead easy, with ingredients you probably have in your kitchen. Butter, sugar, chocolate, eggs, and flour. Seriously, that's it.

It's not bake and eat, you have to wait for it to cool, then chill in the fridge, but it's totally worth it. I like to keep it in the fridge and eat it cold, so it's more fudgy, but it does lose a bit of the crunchy top that way. However, it is easier to hide from your chocolate-loving children when it's hidden on one of the upper shelves in the fridge. Because you won't want to share. Trust me on this one.