Graduation Caps

For my brother's graduation, I made graduation caps on a stick. I got the idea from Bakerella's blog. They're super easy. I cut 3" by 1/8" strips of Fruit by the Foot for the tassles.

Mom's Birthday Cake

My mom's birthday was this past weekend. This cake is a variation of the stars and stripes.

Apple Pie and Brown Sugar Cupcakes

I did a lot of baking this weekend. It was the first time I attempted to make pie crust from scratch, and was pleased to find that it wasn't as difficult as I thought. I paired a pie crust recipe with the filling from an apple pie recipe on Allrecipes.com.

My second project was Brown Sugar Pound Cupcakes from MarthaStewart.com. They were easy to make and got rave reviews at work. These cupcakes smelled amazing too - like warm brown sugar.

Martha Stewart's Tiramisu Cupcakes

Martha Stewart is promoting a new book about cupcakes. I caught the recipe for her Tiramisu Cupcakes on her show the other day and decided to give them a try. I had a difficult time finding a vanilla bean at the grocery, so I used a teaspoon of vanilla instead. When piercing the top of the cooled cupcakes with a fork, be sure to press the fork down as far as possible. The coffee syrup will not reach all the way through the cupcake. They turned out well!

Baby Food Dog Treats

I wanted a recipe for dog treats that had beef flavor without using boullion. I had seen a recipe for cupcakes that used fruit-flavored baby food. I figured that I could incorporate a meat-flavored baby food into a dog treat. It worked out very well and the dogs love them.

Ingredients:

6 oz. jar baby food - beef flavored
2 eggs
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup rolled oats
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon Lawry's seasoning salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, mix together the baby food, eggs and olive oil. Combine the whole wheat flour, baking powder and seasoning salt; add to the wet ingredients until well blended. Pour in the oats and mix by hand. Spoon by the rounded tablespoon onto a baking sheet.

Bake for 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool completely before serving. Makes 24 treats.

Cinnamon Roll Cookies

This past Christmas, I signed up to receive a cookie-of-the-day email from Martha Stewart's website. So far I have tried three of the recipes and they have all been great. Yesterday I was craving a cinnamon roll and just happened to find this cinnamon roll-inspired cookie recipe that I had saved in my inbox. They weren't too difficult to make. The dough is buttery and the filling is made with brown sugar, nuts and cinnamon.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

I got this recipe from the Food Network website. It's a Paula Deen recipe. It makes a very red and fairly moist cupcake with awesome cream cheese frosting. I toasted some chopped pecans and sprinkled them on top. Just put them on a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for six minutes.

For the big heart garnish, I melted some candy coating in the microwave and spooned it into a Wilton plastic squeeze bottle. I drew some hearts on a piece of paper and placed a sheet of waxed paper over top. I then traced the outline of the hearts with the melted candy coating and filled then filled them in. They only took 10-15 minutes to harden and were easy to lift off the waxed paper.

I also added some Valentine's Day sprinkles on top of the cupcakes. Target always seems to have holiday-themed sprinkles for every holiday. They can be found in their dollar section at the front of the store.