Monday, May 23, 2011

Easy Homemade Ice Cream without a Machine!

Now that summer is almost here, but living in the Seattle area you wouldn't know it by the recent fall-like weather we have been having. I am very hopeful that we WILL have a summer with sun and a little heat. If we make it there or not, you can enjoy this very simple recipe for ice cream that I  make on a regular basis now. It is really good and the best idea for ice cream I found from one of my favorite blogs from Kevin&Amanda's amazing blog!!

I have made this a few times, tweaking the flavors and coming up with combinations that are too good for words!! If you check out the blog link above they have some amazing flavors like "cinnamon bun" and "crispy cream doughnut" YES!!! I know, YUMMY!!!!!! Try out some of your favorites, maybe take a day when the kids are home and have them come up with a few combinations of their own. Key lime pie, vanilla birthday cake...so many!!





For this batch I decided to raid my pantry and come up with a "trail mix" inspired flavor, I also added some vanilla bean extract too. I chopped it all up and added to the ice cream mix.

*Salted peanuts
*sweetened coconut
*raisins
All measurements were just a small handful. You want enough to equal about 1 1/2 cups total.

Freeze as directed on the original directions.

I will do some flavors next time with fresh fruit, although it will not make it very health but it will sure taste good!! Blueberries w Graham crackers to simulate Blueberry pie, or blackberries with a drop biscuit pieces for a cobble flavor. The possibilities are just limited to your imagination.

Enjoy
The Pastry Diva

Monday, May 16, 2011

One Cupcake Four Ways!!

Today I made a very good basic vanilla bean cupcake and vanilla bean frosting for a cupcake tasting I am having today. I wanted to make something she could taste and decided to choose four different way to decorate them with what I had in my pantry.


It was very simple but I think they turned out so pretty!!


Enjoy!
The Pastry Diva

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Flower Pot Cake

This flower pot cake is one of my favorites and when I started seeing other bakers make them I wanted to try something a little different for Mothers day 2011. Most give cards some flowers maybe balloons. Well, I wanting to be a little different and being a baker I knew this would be a wonderful idea for a gift for my Mom.

It was so fun to make and pretty. I made cookie pops and covered them in chocolate and decorated them with butter cream or little fondant decoration.


any sugar cookie recipe will work just make sure you roll them out thick 3/4 in and pierce them with a bamboo skewer I soaked in water first so it won't burn while it cooks. Bake them till they are barely browned.Let them cool on the pan for 5-6 min then transfer carefully to a cooling rack.

I baked the 3 8in cakes the night before so they could cool. I also used a basic butter cream for the filling and the cake.

The cake after I assembled it, crumb coated it and inserted some skewers for support.

Here are some of the other goodies I included in my "flower"display. Chocolate covered marshmallows with candy sprinkles and some pink coconut!


I wanted to let you know I learned a few things making this cake. I did use a box mix for this cake. I had it around to make some cake balls but decided to use it along with the my recipe for butter cake I used for one of the three layers. I noticed that the boxed cake was not dense enough to hold up to a cake that is going to support the skewers that was holding the cookies and the marshmallows. I noticed this when I woke up and while dragging myself in the kitchen to get my morning coffee I  noticed that the cookies had caused the back to fall off the cake onto the table. Oh dear!! I was able to save it by using some extra butter cream I had left over and good thing it fell off it one piece. So using butter cream and repositioning the cookies it turned out pretty good! After I fixed it I put it back in the refrigerator so it could set up a bit.



Success!!!!!! What do you think? Learning from my mistakes I will be using my knowledge I learned to make an even better one next time. I will be making the cookies again soon. They were a hit and so good.

Here is a picture of my Mom with her Mothers Day "pot of flowers" cake.


Enjoy!
The Pastry Diva

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Happy Mothers Day!!

Happy Mothers day to all the Moms, Grandma's out there. Enjoy your breakfast in bed, if you are so lucky, or that special goodies baked and cooked my eager children everywhere. I baked something special for my Mom but I can't post the pictures till I give it to her as a surprise. Yes, it is a cake and something I hadn't really tried before and I have to say it turned out a little better then I thought. I am so excited for her to see it!!! I promise you, I will post the whole story tomorrow.

Here is something that I found this morning while I was looking through some of my favorite blogs out there.


This absolutely gorgeous cake is from: Miso Bakes

Enjoy your Mothers day to all the Mom's out there!

Break your diet today and enjoy some of your favorites.

Enjoy
The Pastry Dive

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Cinco de Mayo!!!

I have never really been excited to celebrate"cinco de Mayo.Now that I am an adult and I love to cook I may be celebrating just so I can cook something amazing for me and my friends.

Yesterday I made my way to the store without a shopping list, which is what I usually do unless I really need something specific, I usually just "wing it" I had in mind that I wanted to do something for the "holiday"? I found the usual fixings salsa and guacamole.Here are a couple of recipes I found and I want to share with you.


Homemade Restaurant Salsa from The Brown Eyed Baker


Breakfast Burritos from Momtastic

My recent trip to the store I picked up some new spices, they were the good ones and 50% off so I thought I would give it a try.


Now normally I would not buy anything spicy or anything with a "kick" My body just can handle the heat. There are many recipes that incorporate chocolate and heat. Honestly, I have never made anything with any kind of spicy/sweet combo. I will try it and let you know how it turned out. IN the meantime, here is a recipe you can try for yourself.

Cocoa Chili Truffles from the McCormick Gourmet Spice website

Or something a little different.


Brown Rice Horchata Skinny Taste.com

Enjoy!!
The Pastry Diva

Monday, May 23, 2011

Easy Homemade Ice Cream without a Machine!

Now that summer is almost here, but living in the Seattle area you wouldn't know it by the recent fall-like weather we have been having. I am very hopeful that we WILL have a summer with sun and a little heat. If we make it there or not, you can enjoy this very simple recipe for ice cream that I  make on a regular basis now. It is really good and the best idea for ice cream I found from one of my favorite blogs from Kevin&Amanda's amazing blog!!

I have made this a few times, tweaking the flavors and coming up with combinations that are too good for words!! If you check out the blog link above they have some amazing flavors like "cinnamon bun" and "crispy cream doughnut" YES!!! I know, YUMMY!!!!!! Try out some of your favorites, maybe take a day when the kids are home and have them come up with a few combinations of their own. Key lime pie, vanilla birthday cake...so many!!





For this batch I decided to raid my pantry and come up with a "trail mix" inspired flavor, I also added some vanilla bean extract too. I chopped it all up and added to the ice cream mix.

*Salted peanuts
*sweetened coconut
*raisins
All measurements were just a small handful. You want enough to equal about 1 1/2 cups total.

Freeze as directed on the original directions.

I will do some flavors next time with fresh fruit, although it will not make it very health but it will sure taste good!! Blueberries w Graham crackers to simulate Blueberry pie, or blackberries with a drop biscuit pieces for a cobble flavor. The possibilities are just limited to your imagination.

Enjoy
The Pastry Diva

Monday, May 16, 2011

One Cupcake Four Ways!!

Today I made a very good basic vanilla bean cupcake and vanilla bean frosting for a cupcake tasting I am having today. I wanted to make something she could taste and decided to choose four different way to decorate them with what I had in my pantry.


It was very simple but I think they turned out so pretty!!


Enjoy!
The Pastry Diva

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Flower Pot Cake

This flower pot cake is one of my favorites and when I started seeing other bakers make them I wanted to try something a little different for Mothers day 2011. Most give cards some flowers maybe balloons. Well, I wanting to be a little different and being a baker I knew this would be a wonderful idea for a gift for my Mom.

It was so fun to make and pretty. I made cookie pops and covered them in chocolate and decorated them with butter cream or little fondant decoration.


any sugar cookie recipe will work just make sure you roll them out thick 3/4 in and pierce them with a bamboo skewer I soaked in water first so it won't burn while it cooks. Bake them till they are barely browned.Let them cool on the pan for 5-6 min then transfer carefully to a cooling rack.

I baked the 3 8in cakes the night before so they could cool. I also used a basic butter cream for the filling and the cake.

The cake after I assembled it, crumb coated it and inserted some skewers for support.

Here are some of the other goodies I included in my "flower"display. Chocolate covered marshmallows with candy sprinkles and some pink coconut!


I wanted to let you know I learned a few things making this cake. I did use a box mix for this cake. I had it around to make some cake balls but decided to use it along with the my recipe for butter cake I used for one of the three layers. I noticed that the boxed cake was not dense enough to hold up to a cake that is going to support the skewers that was holding the cookies and the marshmallows. I noticed this when I woke up and while dragging myself in the kitchen to get my morning coffee I  noticed that the cookies had caused the back to fall off the cake onto the table. Oh dear!! I was able to save it by using some extra butter cream I had left over and good thing it fell off it one piece. So using butter cream and repositioning the cookies it turned out pretty good! After I fixed it I put it back in the refrigerator so it could set up a bit.



Success!!!!!! What do you think? Learning from my mistakes I will be using my knowledge I learned to make an even better one next time. I will be making the cookies again soon. They were a hit and so good.

Here is a picture of my Mom with her Mothers Day "pot of flowers" cake.


Enjoy!
The Pastry Diva

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Happy Mothers Day!!

Happy Mothers day to all the Moms, Grandma's out there. Enjoy your breakfast in bed, if you are so lucky, or that special goodies baked and cooked my eager children everywhere. I baked something special for my Mom but I can't post the pictures till I give it to her as a surprise. Yes, it is a cake and something I hadn't really tried before and I have to say it turned out a little better then I thought. I am so excited for her to see it!!! I promise you, I will post the whole story tomorrow.

Here is something that I found this morning while I was looking through some of my favorite blogs out there.


This absolutely gorgeous cake is from: Miso Bakes

Enjoy your Mothers day to all the Mom's out there!

Break your diet today and enjoy some of your favorites.

Enjoy
The Pastry Dive

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Cinco de Mayo!!!

I have never really been excited to celebrate"cinco de Mayo.Now that I am an adult and I love to cook I may be celebrating just so I can cook something amazing for me and my friends.

Yesterday I made my way to the store without a shopping list, which is what I usually do unless I really need something specific, I usually just "wing it" I had in mind that I wanted to do something for the "holiday"? I found the usual fixings salsa and guacamole.Here are a couple of recipes I found and I want to share with you.


Homemade Restaurant Salsa from The Brown Eyed Baker


Breakfast Burritos from Momtastic

My recent trip to the store I picked up some new spices, they were the good ones and 50% off so I thought I would give it a try.


Now normally I would not buy anything spicy or anything with a "kick" My body just can handle the heat. There are many recipes that incorporate chocolate and heat. Honestly, I have never made anything with any kind of spicy/sweet combo. I will try it and let you know how it turned out. IN the meantime, here is a recipe you can try for yourself.

Cocoa Chili Truffles from the McCormick Gourmet Spice website

Or something a little different.


Brown Rice Horchata Skinny Taste.com

Enjoy!!
The Pastry Diva

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...