My Little Crafty Corner

Posts Tagged ‘Baking’

So I made this dessert tonight. It wasn’t bad, but not something I probably will make again, we shall see if my hubby likes it once he gets home.

I have a cake in the oven for tomorrow’s birthday of my oldest. I am going to need some sort of diet supplements for sure. All these sweets in the house! Not to mention its that time of the month, and my main craving right now is salty things. As soon as it cools, I will wrap it, so it doesn’t dry out until I can decorate it tomorrow.

Thankfully the next birthday isn’t until April!

I am still kicking around in the back of my head about a home business I could do to bring in some extra home income. Photography seems like a fun thing to do, but more and more people are getting into taking photos, so I think it will be over saturated. Knitting might be the way to go, but being injured right now isn’t helping.

If I had the money I would love to open up a little bakery/cafe. Baking has been a passion of mine for such a long time! I loved working in the bakery years ago. All those yummy smells! Being able to create some fun desserts and different kinds of breads was so much fun!

One day my dream will come true!

Our cat is a strange one. She likes water. If someone is in the bathroom taking a shower, she will sit outside the door and whine, until one of us lets her in. She will sit on the edge of the tub, and wait for whoever to get out, so she can get in and play around. She is like this at the kitchen faucet as well. She likes to drink out of the tap, and play in the stream of water.

I have been thinking about getting her one of those for pets. Like this one:

If we do get her one, then we will have to figure out where to put her food tray, as it will need to be plugged in, and the area where her dish is now, has no outlet near by. Some will say I am crazy, but I love my baby girl, and will spoil her all I want! But she will have to wait a little longer as we are still waiting on our taxes.

John is looking at tools to purchase once the taxes arrive, be I want to find a good sale on a Kitchenaid Mixer or pots and pans. The set I have now, is close to ten years old, and is starting to show its age. The rest of the refund will be going into savings, and hopefully it will stay there this time!

I baked for most of the morning/day today. Made 4 1/2 dozen oatmeal raisin cookies, some for my neighbor, some for church, and a few for us. The next batch was cut out cookies. This didn’t make as much as I thought it would, so I will be making one more batch of another kind of cookie tomorrow, as I need 5 dozen to send to church on Sunday.

I love how this photo came out!

Now of course none of these cookies are on my diet, and I can honestly say I have yet to have one cookie!

Ole Man Winter dumped on us again. We got about a foot of snowed over night. Our neighbor snow blew the front walk for us, so that made the boys’ day. Trent did the rest.

So I am doing some baking to thank our neighbor. His favorite cookies are oatmeal raisin, so that’s on the agenda for tomorrow (don’t have any raisins in the house, and don’t plan on going out in this weather!) For today, I have made a loaf of banana bread. I am going to try my hand at some pineapple cookies. I found a can of pineapples in the cupboard, and hunted down my recipe for them. I do want to try my Grandma Ensiline’s date cookies. I have tried in the past, and didn’t like how things were turning out, so I tossed the dough. Hopefully this time around it will work.

My final thing to make today will be omelets for our dinner. Mmmmm

I have been in a baking kind of mood lately. Banana muffins, and chocolate chip muffins were made last week. Today I had a craving for brownies, but no mix in the house, or money to go out an buy some, so I searched on the internet to find a homemade recipe for some. I found this one, over on Mandy off the Radio blog’s. They smell really good, just waiting for them to cool to try them.

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour an 8 inch square pan.
In a large saucepan, melt 1/2 cup butter. Remove from heat, and stir in sugar, eggs, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat in 1/3 cup cocoa, 1/2 cup flour, salt, and baking powder. Spread batter into prepared pan.
Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Do not overcook.

I think the next time I make them, I am going to double the recipe.

I made cheddar bacon potato soup on Saturday, but am now thinking I need to get a new crock pot as mine is cooking way to hot right now, and things are burning in it. I am trying to use my crock pot more, so I am checking out more recipes to try.

I have been checking out the different sales for camping supplies. I am over winter, and ready for the nice weather to arrive so we can go camping! I was hoping to have some money saved up to buy a used pop up camper, but it doesn’t look like its going to happen this year. The tents will have to do again for this year. I think I will go out and buy an electric blanket, to snuggle up with in my sleeping bag for the cooler nights.

Gooey Caramel Chocolate Bars

Crust
1 box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® chocolate fudge cake mix
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
3 eggs
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Filling
1 bag (14 oz) caramels, unwrapped
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated)

Topping
1/2 cup reserved cake mix
1/2 cup quick-cooking oats
3 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened

1. Heat oven to 350°F (or 325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Reserve 1/2 cup cake mix for topping. In large bowl, beat remaining cake mix, 1/2 cup butter and the eggs with electric mixer on medium speed until dough forms. Stir in chocolate chips. Spread in ungreased 13×9-inch pan. Bake 14 to 18 minutes or until set.

2. Meanwhile, in 2-quart saucepan, heat caramels, 1/4 cup butter and the milk over medium heat about 8 minutes, stirring frequently, until caramels are melted and mixture is smooth.

3. Spread caramel filling evenly over partially baked crust. In small bowl, mix reserved 1/2 cup cake mix, the oats and 3 tablespoons butter with fork until crumbly. Sprinkle over caramel filling.

4. Bake 18 to 22 minutes longer or until top is set. Cool completely, about 2 hours. Run knife around sides of pan to loosen bars. For bars, cut into 8 rows by 6 rows.

High Altitude (3500-6500 ft): In step 1, bake 16 to 20 minutes.

I can’t even bake like I want to with this bum arm! I tried to make my pizza crust tonight, and the kneading of the dough was not fun! I wanted to make some cinnamon rolls this weekend, but after tonight that will be out of the question. About the only thing I am good for right now is calling around to auto insurance quotes, as we will have another driver in the family.

I am trying to put this off a little while longer, as I don’t think he’s ready to take on the responsibility of driving just yet. Of course he says he is, but me, not so much. He has some growing up to do first. We will talk again this summer.