Wearing O’ Green Cake

Remember last year’s festive green Jello?  Well, just in time for St. Patrick’s Day this year I bring you another easy, quick cake mix creation.  In fact, I’ve even created a ‘cake mix inspired’ category, so you can find all of them easily.

This cake is delicious!  I loved the lime flavor and color contrasted with the white cake.  And, of course, I love how it can be made during a little mister’s naptimes if needed.  It’s that quick!

A reminder that if you want to make your cake mix creation extra delicious, replace the water with milk and add at least a teaspoon of vanilla extract.

I’m so LUCKY to have great readers.  THANK YOU!

Wearing O’ Green Cake Recipe
adapted from Taste of Home
printer friendly recipe

1 package (18-1/4 ounces) white cake mix
2 packages (3 ounces each) lime gelatin
1 cup boiling water
1/2 cup cold water

TOPPING:
1 cup cold milk
1 small box (3.4 ounces) instant vanilla pudding mix

1 carton (8 ounces) frozen whipped topping, thawed
Green sprinkles

Prepare and bake cake according to package directions, using a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish. Cool on a wire rack for 1 hour.

In a small bowl, dissolve gelatin in boiling water; stir in cold water and set aside.

With a large fork or wooden skewer, poke holes about 2 in. apart into cooled cake. Slowly pour gelatin over cake. Cover and refrigerate.

In a large bowl, whisk milk and pudding mix for 2 minutes. Let stand for 2 minutes or until soft-set. Fold in whipped topping. Spread over cake. Decorate with sprinkles.

Cover and refrigerate until serving.

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Easter Basket Cupcakes

Every year I get excited to make Easter Basket Cupcakes ALMOST like we did as a kid. Back then there weren’t giant muffin tins and the only egg shaped candies besides a Cadbury Creme Egg were jelly beans. Times sure have changed. The Easter candy section at Target alone is out of control with WAY too many choices, which made it hard to decide just how to top this year’s cupcakes. In the end, I settled for a variety.

Easter Basket Cupcakes

Start with a white cake mix and follow the recipe…well mostly. Here are a few cake mix secrets:
1. Replace the water in the recipe for milk, especially whole milk.
2. Add in at least 1 teaspoon of GOOD quality vanilla. And an extra splash (or teaspoon) will only make it better!

Bake the cupcakes according to the directions on the package. If you’re using a large cupcake tin like I did, the baking time is about 20 minutes. I do large cupcakes for my ‘grown up’ friends and the regular sized ones for their kids and other littler folks.
After the cupcakes have cooled completely, make your frosting. (It’s not THAT much work and WAY better than Betty Crocker!)

Here’s the recipe:
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup shortening
2 1/2 – 3 cups powdered sugar
2-3 tablespoons milk (again, whole milk is best!)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 – 3/4 teaspoon almond extract
green food coloring

Combine butter and shortening until smooth and creamy. Add vanilla and almond extract. Add powdered sugar in 1 cup increments until combined. Then add milk and food coloring, mix until smooth and spreading consistency. I like to beat frosting for at least 5 minutes so it’s light and fluffy.Frost the cupcakes with a generous layer. It’s one of the best parts of the treat, after all!

As a kid my mom always put the sweetened coconut in a jar for me to shake. I loved that job! After you put the coconut in a container of your choosing, add a few drops of green food coloring, place the lid on tightly and give it a good shake.
Sorry no exact measurements here about how much coconut or food coloring. But if you don’t make enough or your ‘grass’ just isn’t green enough add a little more! And, if you’re grass is way too green, just add some more coconut and shake, shake, shake.
Now it’s time to add the eggs. Jelly beans seemed to stick a little better when I was a kid. Maybe it’s because they weren’t as heavy as the chocolate ones. Anyway, I like to put just a little frosting on the bottom side of each egg to ‘glue’ the eggs in place. After that, add a white pipe cleaner and you’re done! I’ve also seen these made with the thin ropes of red vines for the handle, but I’m sticking with Hall Family tradition, AND I think I prefer the white handle.
So, if you’ve got kids who need something to do this week, or need a cute little place card for your Easter dinner, this might just be for you. Give it a try and maybe you’ll have a new Easter tradition too!

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5 Layers of Jello – Irish Style

I’m exactly zero percent Irish. I do, however, have a mom who loves everything holiday related, so in true Hallmark style, we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. Since busy adult lives will keep the family from assembling on the 17th, we feasted yesterday. Nate and I were sporting horrible clashing colors of green shirts. It was fabulous and so was the corned beef and cabbage.

Don’t turn your nose up just at the mention of corned beef and cabbage.

Think about it…

Really, it’s just pot roast. Meat, potatoes, carrots, onion and cabbage all tossed together. I do love a good pot roast, so no complaints here when it’s prepared in a way that would make St. Patrick himself proud. My momma is a good cook.

This, however, is not intended to be a post about corned beef or my momma’s good cooking. Back to J-e-l-l-o…

I’ve been anxious to try out a number of The Food Librarian’s creations, especially in the Jello category, and my mom was more than happy to indulge my experimenting.

In the end, it’s really just all-American classic Jello, but it’s artsy Jello…if that’s possible. If you’ve got a shamrock cookie cutter, you could also cut these into shapes. Mine happens to be on loan to another very talented baking friend.

I love finding and making creations that I’ll be able to use and make with our kiddos one day. Thanks to a wide variety of colors and flavors, I see a number of Jello inspired concoctions for all kinds of holidays; maybe even something in honor of my alma mater for March Madness. Oh the possibilities!

You’ve got two days. Get yourself some Jello, throw an apron on your kids and don’t leave it to the last minute. Jello is easy to make, but it takes a little time and patience to be ready to serve!

7-Layer Finger Jello
(although The Food Librarian and I only made it in 5 layers. Do what you want! If you do the 5 layers, you’ll need one less box of Jello and you’ll have left over sweetened condensed milk mixture.)

printer friendly recipe

4 packages of 3 oz. Jello (pick your colors flavors!)
4 packages Knox unflavored gelatin
1 can sweetened condensed milk

Mix 1 package of flavored Jello with 1/2 package (about one teaspoon) of unflavored gelatin. Add 1 cup boiling water. Stir to dissolve. Cool to room temp and pour into a 9 x 13 (The Food Librarian’s recommendation) or 7 x 11 (what I used) glass dish. Use whatever you want. Obviously, the bigger the dish, the thinner your layers will be.

Refrigerate for 20 minutes…and definitely set the dish on a level surface.

Mix 1 can sweetened condensed milk with 1 cup boiling water. In a small bowl, sprinkle 2 packages of unflavored gelatin over 1/2 cup cold water. Let stand a few minutes and then add 1/2 cup of boiling water to dissolve gelatin. Add to milk mixture and stir to combine. Cool to room temp and pour 1 cup of milk mixture over first layer of jello. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Repeat for next three flavors. Let Jello set. Cut and serve!

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Eggs, with love

I have a husband who loves eggs. So…here’s a little preview of tomorrow morning’s breakfast:

Eggs in a hole — Valentine’s style.

There’s really no recipe needed, but if you want a few helpful hints, Martha’s got some here.

I’m curious, are you serving anything special tomorrow for Valentine’s Day?

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Rice Krispies Hearts

Confession time: I’ve got a major weakness for snap, krackle and pop.

What is it about puffed rice, marshmallows and a little butter? SOMEbody tell me why I can’t resist cereal treats! (A shout out there to Ace of Cakes and Cake Boss. They’re so generically appropriate when they talk about RICE KRISPIES treats. )

One quick and easy way to make this all-American treat festive for February is to get out your heart cookie cutter and give it some shape!

Here’s the basics from Kellogg’s…with one addition.

Rice Krispies Treats
NOTE: I increased Kellogg’s original recipe by one half, so that the hearts would be a little thicker.

4 1/2 tablespoons butter

1 large package (16 oz.) miniature marshmallows, or about 60 large marshmallows.

9 cups Rice Krispies

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate for dipping – I chopped up half of a semi-sweet Trader Joe’s Pound Plus bar. If you like milk chocolate better, go for it. Chocolate chips will work fine too.

Measure out 9 cups of Rice Krispies in a large bowl sprayed with cooking spray. (This makes clean up SO much easier!)

In large saucepan melt butter over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted.

Remove from heat, stir in vanilla and pour over Rice Krispies. Stir until well coated. You’ll be so happy if you also spray your scraper or large stirring spoon before you mix the melted marshmallows and cereal.

Press mixture into 13 x 9 pan coated with cooking spray. After pressing the treats into the pan, they went into the refrigerator to speed up the hardening process a little. Thirty minutes later (don’t let them get too hard!) turn the whole pan of treats out on to a cutting board and put your heart-shaped cutter to work.

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave, stirring after thirty second intervals of warming until completely melted. Dip the treats one at a time into the chocolate and allow the excess to drip off before inverting and placing on a pan or cooling rack.

Add sprinkles, a drizzle of white chocolate or leave as is.

Deliver and share with someone you l-o-v-e!

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Heart Sugar Cookies

I’m casting pride aside with this post.

I hate am not a big fan of these pictures.

Sometimes my camera skills fail me.

I’m sure it had nothing to do with the fact that I realized five minutes before leaving for work that I had forgotten to actually photograph these sweeties.

Poor morning light + no tripod + being in a big fat hurry = a product in picture form, at least, that I’m not so proud of.

Good news, though. The real things were festively cute. I used my FAVORITE sugar cookie recipe (see below), my FAVORITE royal icing and before I knew it, the kitchen had been heart attacked.

* After outlining the cookies I flooded them with thinned royal icing. Immediately after that I added the contrasting color decoration. For the dots I used a #3 tip and just piped it on. Since the flooded icing is still runny, the contrasted icing just magically soaks into it’s spot.

* For for the zig-zag decoration I flooded the cookie and then used that #3 tip to make horizontal lines going across the cookie. Once the cookie was striped, I ran a toothpick up and down from one side of the cookie to another. Voila! It looks terribly complicated and its probably one of the easiest decorating techniques out there. Seriously, easy.

Even if you pass on the royal icing (come on, give it a try!) these cookies will be a sweet, LOVEly addition to your Valentine’s Day! Stay tuned, I’ve got one more idea coming…

Sugar Cookies

1 cup butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 ½ teaspoons almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
2 ½ cups sifted flour

Directions:
Cream butter. Add powdered sugar. Blend in egg, almond extract, vanilla, salt and flour. Chill dough until firm.

Roll to ¼ inch thickness on well-floured surface. Cut with cookie cutters. Place on greased cookie sheets.

Bake at 375 for 8-10 min. Cookies should not brown. Frost and decorate when cool.

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Peanut Butter and a little Dove love

My mom has been making the ‘traditional’ version of this cookie for years. In fact, I knew them as ‘Amy and Dustin Cookies’ WAAAAAY before I ever heard them called Peanut Butter Blossoms. They don’t look very floral to me, but whatever…

My mom acquired this recipe of peanut butter sugary goodness from her friend years and years ago when our family lived in the little town of Tremonton. This sweet lady was also the mom to some of our favorite playmates, Amy and Dustin. I’m not sure how the name in our family evolved, but even after moving to California and now a LOT of years later, they’re still ‘Amy and Dustin Cookies’ to us.

After spending way too much time in the candy isle at Target the other day I got the idea to make up some Amy and Dustins in Valentine style. There’s a lot of heart shaped candy out there, but Hershey’s and Dove were my top two picks. In the end, I went with Dove, well, because Dove chocolate is pretty much irresistible. Dove = rich, smooth chocolatey goodness. And, Hershey’s wouldn’t have helped me make a signature cookie like Dove did:

Love that ‘D’!

I used both the milk and dark Doves. But, if you don’t have any chocolate laying around just get out your fork. These are great peanut butter cookies all on their own.

So, you’ve got a week to get yourself some chocolate and bake up these simple and LOVE filled treats. Come on share: who’s going to get a delivery from you? I won’t tell!

Amy & Dustin Cookies (also known as Peanut Butter Blossoms)

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon milk
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup peanut butter (I love you Jif!)
3 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
chocolate kisses or heart shaped chocolate candy, like Dove
additional sugar for rolling

Preheat oven to 350. Cream together the butter and sugars. Add the eggs one at a time. Mix in the milk, vanilla and peanut butter. Sift the flour, baking soda and salt. Add to remaining ingredients.

Form dough into quarter sized balls and roll in sugar. Place on baking sheet. Press with a fork if you’re just going for peanut butter cookies. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Remove from the oven and immediately push one chocolate heart into the middle of each cookie. Allow cookies to cool for about 5 minutes on the baking sheet and then transfer to a cooling rack.

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Santa Cookies

I’ve been busy. These little guys took some time — and I didn’t make just a hand full of them. I made more like 50. But it was really fun. Some women quilt or knit or scrapbook. I just make five batches of the world’s best sugar cookies, mix up a ridiculous amount of royal icing and start piping. Time consuming, YES, but I enjoyed it for sure. And, I loved that I was creating something to share. The fun didn’t stop when the baking and frosting were through. Delivering these little Santa’s was a treat too!

About halfway through the piping process I realized I should have taken pictures of the different stages. I’m learning. But, it really was pretty simple.

1. Pipe the outline of the face on all of the cookies. Flood the face with flesh colored icing (pink and yellow are a perfect combination for this).

2. Outline the red part of the hat. Flood the hat area with red and add red sparkling sugar.

3. Outline the white parts of the hat. Flood the rest of the hat with white and add sprinkles.

4. Outline and flood Santa’s beard. Add white sprinkles to give him some good scruff.

I used mini m&m’s for Santa’s nose and sugar pearls for the eyes.

Oh, and that brings me to another thing: Have you heard of Fancy Flours? They are such a great resource. They have every kind of sprinkle, cookie cutter, or cupcake topper imaginable. Pick a theme and they’ve got something for you.

I’m pretty sure you won’t be making a bunch of Santas like I did. (But if you do I want to hear about it!) Christmas is only 3 days away after all, but if you’ve got sugar cookies planned, give these a try. You will be so glad you did. It’s not very often that a cookie recipe calls for powdered sugar, but it sure works for this one!

Sugar Cookies

1 cup butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 ½ teaspoons almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
2 ½ cups sifted flour

Directions:
Cream butter. Add powdered sugar. Blend in egg, almond extract, vanilla, salt and flour. Chill dough until firm.*

Roll to ¼ inch thickness on well-floured surface. Cut with cookie cutters. Place on greased cookie sheets.

Bake at 375 for 8-10 min. Cookies should not brown. Frost and decorate when cool.

If you want a royal icing recipe, here it is:

Royal Icing

Ingredients:
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 tbsp. meringue powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
5 tbsp. water

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until the sheen has disappeared and the icing has a matte appearance (about 7-10 minutes). Transfer the contents of the mixing bowl to an air-tight container.

This will be the stiffest consistency of the icing, and at this point it is still too stiff to use for decorating. Add water a very small amount at a time and stir by hand until fully incorporated. Continue until the icing has reached a consistency appropriate for piping. If you are having any difficulty piping, it is still too thick. Add a little more liquid and try again.

Using a pastry bag, pipe around the edges of each cookie. Let stand so the icing will set. Make sure to keep the leftover icing covered at all times when not in use so that it does not begin to harden.

Once all the cookies have been edged, transfer some of the remaining icing to a separate air-tight container. Thin out by incorporating a small amount of water at a time, until the icing drips off the spoon easily when lifted and then smooths in with that still in the bowl. If you go too far and the icing is too thin, add more sifted powdered sugar to thicken it again. Once the icing has reached the desired consistency, transfer it to a squeeze bottle (or a plastic bag with a hole in one corner), and flood the area surrounded by the piping on each cookie. If it does not completely spread to the edges, use a toothpick to help it along. Allow to set.

Use the remaining thicker icing for piping decoration as desired. Gel icing color is best as it does not add a significant amount of liquid. Liquid food coloring can be used as well – add powdered sugar as needed to compensate for any thinning that occurs.

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