Now Serving PBJ

Now serving “Build your own PBJ” board at Brewster Cafe.

dust bunny . pbj time . holdables . sandwich
dust bunny . pbj time . prep board
hive // spilled milk

Interactive Baking

I received a subscriber notecard from Astralia about interactive baking. Of course I had to see this for myself. The slurl brought me to an event that was new to me, Crystal Heart. I’m no sure how long it has been around. Lately, I have not been going to a lot of events. This place had many of my favorite designers. Anyways, back to the interactive baking. I made my purchase and teleported home with my goodies.

Back home I unpacked the everything and started placing it all out in the kitchen. This set contains a toaster oven, mixing tools, cookie sheet with cookie cutter, the all important recipe book, and the finished dessert tray full of decorated cookies. This cute set is for role playing baking. Those with toddlers would have a great time baking cookies with them. To work this set you place your items where you want them. Then touch the recipe book for step 1: cookie cutting. Step 2 is fresh baked cookies that have steam coming up from them. Step 3 has them placed on the dessert tray. Each step disappears and appears as you go through them.

This is the first time I have seen this from Astralia, but apparently there are a few other recipes at the store. I went there soon after I was done baking and found a bbq set and one more that has breakfast/lemon cake/and steak all in one recipe set. I am probably going to go back and get the set with the cake. This is pretty ingenious of Astralia. The set was fun to set out and the items look great. I would love to see the recipe book turn pages as you move to the next step. One could hold it or set it on a cookbook stand.

Happy Baking!

Mason Jar Desserts – The Perfectly Easy Dish

Most people are entertaining in some way during the summer months. Friends come over for pool parties, birthday parties, Independence Day, Labor Day, and just to enjoy your company. Activities tend to be outside in the warmer weather. The food tends to be quick to prepare and easy to eat. Enter mason jar desserts.

On the world wide web you will find dozens of recipes for mason jar desserts. Tinyme has links to a few good looking ones. Here is a rainbow one like my ChicChica dessert on Just Easy Recipes. I can’t wait to actually try one of these recipes.

Betty Crocker has a similar recipe for a rainbow cake. After you have prepared your cakes you can then cut the circle layers out. Just use a round cutter slightly smaller than the mason jar. Perhaps a cookie cutter or a cup will work.

Rainbow Layer Cake by Betty Crocker

Ingredients

Cake

2 boxes Betty Crocker Super Moist vanilla cake mix
2 cups water
1 cup vegetable oil
6 eggs
2 packages Betty Crocker classic gel food colors

Buttercream Frosting

1 cup shortening

1 cup butter, softened

1 bag (2lb) powdered sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

3 to 4 tablespoons milk

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 3 (8-inch) round cake pans with cooking spray.

2. In large bowl, beat cake mix, water, oil and eggs with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, then on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Divide batter evenly among 6 small bowls, about 1 1/3 cups each.

3. Using food colors, tint batter in 1 bowl blue, 1 bowl red, 1 bowl green, 1 bowl yellow, 1 bowl orange (using red and yellow) and 1 bowl purple (using blue and red).

4. Refrigerate 3 colors of batter until ready to bake. Pour remaining 3 colors of batter into cake pans.

5. Bake 18 to 20 minutes or until cake springs back when touched lightly in center and begins to pull away from side of pan. Cool 10 minutes. Remove from pans to cooling racks; cool completely.

6. Wash cake pans. Bake and cool remaining 3 cake layers as directed.

7. In large bowl, beat shortening and butter with electric mixer on medium speed until light yellow. On low speed, gradually beat in powdered sugar. Beat in vanilla. Add milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until frosting is smooth. Beat on high speed until light and fluffy.

8. Trim rounded tops off cakes to level, if needed. On serving plate, place purple cake layer. Spread with frosting to within 1/4 inch of edge. Repeat with blue, green, yellow, orange and red cake layers. Spread light coat of frosting on top and side of cake to seal in crumbs, then frost with remaining frosting.

Expert Tips
-Cake batter is stable enough to wait in the fridge till the first three layers are baked. Be sure to rinse the pans in cool water and dry them well before scraping the rest of the batters into the pans. If you only have two 8-inch pans, it’s okay to bake the layers in three batches.

-Use a kitchen scale to weigh out the batter for each layer, so they bake up evenly.

-Make this a party cake and switch up the colored layers as requested by the birthday girl or boy.

-For guaranteed easy unmolding, line each pan with baking parchment. Set one of the pans on the paper and trace a circle around the base with the tip of a sharp paring knife to create a round that fits inside the pan; repeat to make enough for all the layers.

-Using half shortening and half butter for the buttercream frosting ensures that it will stay firm enough at room temperature. Make it ahead and chill it for a while to firm it up before assembling the layers.

-For a deeper red color, add a teaspoon or two of unsweetened baking cocoa to the red batter

-If you only have two 8-inch cake pans, bake the cakes in three batches instead.

Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Can’t you just smell the warm chocolate chip cookies coming right out of the oven? Cookies are always a special treat. It does not matter if it is wintertime or summertime.  They are great with a cup of hot cocoa or to take for a snack on a picnic.

To make chocolate chip cookies Ultimate you will want to make an ice cream sandwich with them. Just add a scoop of ice cream in between two cookies. I think most any flavor ice cream would do just fine. Below is a recipe for a batch of Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies that comes from Gold Medal Flour’s website. I added that including nuts in your recipe is optional.  Dust Bunny’s Homemade Summer Treats

Gold Medal Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe

INGREDIENTS

• 3/4cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1cup butter or margarine, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1egg
• 2 1/4 cups Gold Medal™ all-purpose flour
• 1teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup coarsely chopped nuts (optional)
• 1 package (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips (2 cups)

DIRECTIONS

• Heat oven to 375ºF.

• Mix sugars, butter, vanilla and egg in large bowl. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt (dough will be stiff). Stir in nuts and chocolate chips.

• Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet.

• Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light brown (centers will be soft). Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet. Cool on wire rack.

Macaron: What’s in it anyways?

Macaroon, macaron, and macarena. What’s the difference? What’s in a macaron? How many macaroons can I shove in my mouth while doing the macarena anyways? Let’s ask La Patisserie owner and confections collector, Caroline Apollo.

First of all, the macaron and macaroon look nothing a like. A macaron looks more like an elegant cookie sandwich and a macaroon appears more like a cookie drop. The macaron is very colorful and can be found at weddings, showers, and tea parties. It is made with ingredients such as almond flour and can be filled with ganache. You’ll find macarons in a large variety of flavors. The macaroon on the other hand is made of coconut and contains no flour. The macaroon is often dipped in chocolate. You could prepare this treat in a few minutes, while the macaron will take hours.

I don’t believe that either of these two confections have anything to do with the song Macarena by Los del Rio. But you might find yourself dancing the steps and singing the song while enjoying either one!

As a patisserie business owner I chose to wear this outfit from Neve by ColdLogic. Each piece is color change by hud. The top has a choice of 6 colors, the skirt has 4, and there are 6 belt choices. In addition you can turn shine on or off. Each piece can also be turned off (transparent). To add even more versatility, the outfit is made for the standard avatar, Slink Physique and Hourglass, Belleza Freya and Isis, and Maitreya Lara. I was able to pick up this cute hairstyle from Oleander for FLF. The Jem Heels from Ingenue comes in 12 colors and fit Maitreya, Belleza, and Slink feet.

Location: Lo Lo

An Lar Poses – The Honour Series @ Shiny Shabby
(the pose in the lower picture is actually the pose that I pulled from the an lar poses box hold. I thought it was perfect!)
!Oleander ~ Poppy. w/ hairband
neve outfit – intern pins
Ingenue :: Jem Heels (Maitreya) :: Blush @ Collabor88
+Half-Deer+ Macaron Dream Buffet Macaron Necklace @ The Epiphany
Genesis_Head_Nelly_Emotions_2.0 @ Kustom 9
LIVIA::Ziggy Nails::Jan2016 Group Gift
ANE – 602 Classic Watch – Pearl
IKON – Triumph Eyes Armor
Maitreya – mesh body lara