Featured Fan Favorite: Carrot Cake Lamb.

A while back, I had been doing this Featured Fan Favorite thing – where someone finds a recipe on the blog that strikes their fancy, makes it themselves, and tells me all about it – including a picture of their results, Well, I’m happy to say that the Featured Fan Favorite has returned, and what better way to bring it back than with a reader’s very own Lamb Cake!

Juli Eberts created her Easter Carrot Cake Lamb based on the recipe from the blog!

it’s b-ewe-tiful!

I especially love how she did the face – I may have to try it that way next year! Juli says, “The kids named him Sammy the Lambie and everyone loved the cake!  Thanks for the great recipe!”  (Sammy the Lambie!! I wish I’d thought of that!)

Thank you, Juli, for sharing your fabulous cake and for following Small Indulgences! xoxoI

I bet you’re now asking yourself, “How can I be the next Featured Fan Favorite? Why, it’s simple! Pick a recipe – any recipe from the blog, create it, and tell me all about it in an email to  - smallindulgencesbakery [at] gmail [dot] com. Don’t forget to include a photo! There’s nothing I love more than sharing the work of fans! (except maybe eating the work of fans.)

 

 

Once, Twice, Three times a Lamb-y.

Yep, I did it again. For the third consecutive year, I’ve upheld the tradition of making the Lamb Cake for Easter, using the trusty old cast-iron pan that my aunt gave me.

 

where the magic happens.

I also kept up the tradition of making it a carrot cake, with cream cheese icing. The only thing I did change were the color of his eyes.

my brown-eyed lamb.

I went with the same jelly bean nose as seen on  Lamb #2; but I liked the larger ears Lamb #1 had, so I made sure to make them a little bigger this year. 

the better to hear you with.

I will say this – this year’s lamb appears to be a tad “shaggy-er” than the previous two. Some lambs are just shaggy-er than others, I suppose.

shag-a-delic.

Either way, the lamb once again survived the ride to Easter dinner at my parents house, and this year, his arrival was anticipated, and my mom had set up a special table, specifically for the guest of honor

 

it’s a lamb in a box. on a table.

We didn’t finish the entire lamb, and I  again took the head back home with me – which I will definitely be sharing with others (the lamb has a big head).

Until next year….the Lamb will be baaaaack!

 

Sugar Chicks.

I actually got the inspiration for these cupcakes from a pin I came across on pinterest (the best site for inspiration, EVER).

I was looking for new ideas for Easter cupcakes. I didn’t want to make the same ones I’ve done in the past, especially since I knew for sure I would be making the Lamb Cake again. At the same time, I had an assignment from my photography class involving shutter speed. I had this grand idea that I’d incorporate the assignment into my cupcake baking. How, you may ask?

Like this:

whip in motion – long shutter speed.

And this:

whip in motion – short shutter speed.

We were instructed to take pictures of something moving – falling water, a bird flying, etc. The first thing that came to my mind? My mixer (aka “H.A.L.”) in action of course.  While the cake mixed – it was a Lemon Genoise (Italian Sponge) Cake, so it took a while – I snapped a bunch of photos on different shutter speeds.  It was a true learning experience – especially since I had to lug the mixer around the kitchen until I found the spot with the best natural light. H.A.L. is rather heavy, especially with a bowl full of batter in tow. (FYI – in both of those photos, the whip was moving at the same speed – it’s truly amazing the difference the shutter speed can make!)

After the photoshoot, I baked the cupcakes. They were light and spongy and lovely. They were splovely.

like a sponge.

I whipped up some buttercream, colored it a very light yellow, and gave them each a layer of frosting.

ice, ice, cupcake.

I then dipped them in bright yellow sanding sugar. It created a “Peep effect.”

not a peep!

I gave them all eyes using inverted chocolate chips, and let them sit for a bit.

eyes without a face.

Finally, I piped on some yellow wings, an orange beak, and little orange feet.

I shared the results with friends, and all was right with the world. Happy Easter!

 

Green is the New Biscuit.

For the first time since I started writing the blog, I have more posts than I have time to write them. The backlog of ideas is getting bigger and bigger, and I really can’t complain – it’s great to have a wealth of material to draw from! For instance, I recently got the idea in my head that I wanted to make biscuits. I honestly couldn’t remember if I had ever made biscuits from scratch before – we may have in pastry school, but I was drawing a complete blank. I know I’ve made those ones in the cardboard tube, where you twist it and it pops open, exposing tube-shaped dough to be cut into equal parts and baked. But I’m talking from scratch. I started looking up recipes online. I found three that were very similar, and also rather simple, which I liked – that meant this was a good base for plenty of experimenting! I decided to start with this recipe from allrecipes.com as a guide, but made a few adjustments and additions (which I’ve included at the end of this post for your baking pleasure) to make it more personal.

a dough like no other.

I rolled the dough, and cut it into biscuits with a circle cutter.

a cut above.

I baked them, and shared them with friends.

just grab ‘em in the biscuit.

As you may have noticed, I also added swirls of green to these biscuits. The day I was making them also just so happened to be St. Patrick’s Day, so I decided to add a little Irish flair to the fun. These really are great for any day of the year though, and as a breakfast, lunch or dinner item. The beauty of biscuits is that they are extremely versatile.

As promised, here’s the recipe. It’s so simple and delicious. you’re going to wonder why you haven’t been baking biscuits all along.

 

Green Biscuits.

What you’ll need

2 cups flour (sifted)

4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup shortening

3/4 cup fat-free half and half

a few drops green food coloring

What you’ll do:

Preheat the oven to 400. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Using a pastry blender, cut in the shortening until it reaches a mealy texture.  Stir in the half and half with a fork. As soon all the liquid is mixed in, Add a few drops of green food coloring. Knead the dough about 10 times, until it forms a ball. Do not over-knead – it will become too tough! Roll dough out onto a lightly floured surface, about 1/2″ thick. Using a circle cutter, cut dough into biscuits, and place on a baking sheet with parchment paper. Let rest for about 5 minutes, than bake for about 12 – 15 minutes. They’re best when they are warm, but they can always be reheated later on. Makes about 15 – 20 biscuits, depending on the size of the cutter.

 

The Second Annual Baking of the Irish Soda Bread.

I realized after making Irish Soda Bread for the first time last year for St. Patrick’s Day, that I was going to have to make a tradition out of it. So, last week, I dug right in and attempted to recreate the very same bread I made this time a year ago, using the same recipe as a basic guide. The only difference this year was that I had a sweet new wooden spoon that my mom gave me for Christmas that I hadn’t even used yet, and a shiny new gigantic mixing bowl that I had picked up specifically for mixing doughs.

cool new tools.

I don’t know if they made the bread any better than last year’s – I really can’t recall how last year’s tasted compared to this years! All I can say is that I do remember last year’s turning out pretty good, and this year’s was actually kinda great. So maybe it really is all in the equipment…

One thing I did remember was that I baked last year’s in a cake pan – so I did that same thing again. It keeps it from getting flat.

cake pans are not just for cake anymore.

It definitely did NOT get too flat – it rose quite nicely and retained its round-ish shape, like a good dough should when it’s baked into bread.

.

shapely bread.

I will say this – I think I let it bake just a few minutes too long. It didn’t burn, but if i were to do it again, I’d have taken it out of the oven 5 minutes earlier. It was still really tasty, and looked kinda awesome, close up.

It’s all gone now, so it must have been pretty good.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Until next year….

 

Never Too Late for Love.

Yes, I know Valentine’s Day was 4 days ago….but I was busy playing Cupid and never got the chance to post the pictures of my 2013 Valentine’s Commemorative Treats. Instead, I spent the day giving them out, and helping make others’ Valentine’s Day a little more special. I can totally get into this Cupid thing.

Cupid, draw back your bow…

Anyway,I had been having so much fun dipping cookies in chocolate, that I decided to keep the fun going with some cupcakes. So, the night before Valentine’s Day, I whipped up a batch of pound cake cupcakes, and because it was a special occasion, even added a little something extra to the batter…

liquid love.

I baked these little love gems, and allowed them to cool completely.

and it begins.

Once cooled, I dipped the tops of them in melted chocolate, dipping half of them in red…

red, the color of desire.

…and half of them in pink.

think pink.

I topped each with a conversation heart, and hand delivered them to folks the next day as my personal “Valentines.” I had really wanted to give out Valentines this year anyway, and was going to have cards made up, however converting desserts into Valentines seemed like a much better way to truly spread the love. And who doesn’t love a cupcake?

 

The Day After.

When I was a little kid, I saw this made-for-TV-movie called “The Day After,” and was scarred for life. It was about an atomic bomb going off, and basically everyone was getting zapped instantly into skeletons. It was horrifying. I cried for days and couldn’t sleep for many nights. However, that’s not The Day After I’m referring to here. I’m talking about the day after Christmas.

It’s always such an odd day. Suddenly, everyone shifts into “time to change the sheets and clean the house and lose weight and take charge of my life” mode. And of course, there’s food everywhere you look. Particularly desserts. And nothing pains me more than to see a perfectly good dessert go to waste. It’s a crime, I tell ya. This year, however, I came much closer to my goal of “no dessert left behind,” at least as far as the ones I baked go. I’m down to the last few cookies, there’s only two slices of gingerbread cake left, and a couple of mini cheesecakes. Well played, self.

Anyway, just for the heck of it, here are a few pics of the aforementioned almost-gone Christmas Day desserts. Feast your eyes on these seasonal sweets:

Christmas Cookie Platter.

pretty maids all in a row.

from left to right: chocolate chip, oatmeal cinnamon chip, honey whiskey balls, breakfast cookies, cottage cheese cookies, and good old sugar cookies shaped like Christmas trees.

Mini Cheesecakes.

the “original” small indulgence.

These were a last-minute addition, but well worth it.

Gingerbread Cake with Cinnamon Sugar Glaze.

my masterpiece.

One of my specialties – I look forward to making it every year, and like a fine wine, it just keeps getting better.

Put them all together, and you have a lovely Christmas dessert table, sure to put a smile on the face of even the grumpiest Scrooge.

all together now.

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, and may your lives be filled with sweets, love, and harmony not just on Christmas day, but every day.

 

Christmas Cookie Recipe: Honey Whiskey Balls.

I thought I was finished baking all my Christmas cookies, but I started thinking hmmm….I already have one that’s green, but you know what would really complete this line up? A red cookie! So I started looking up recipes for “red cookies.” I found a bunch for different types of red velvet cookies and some sounded delicious, but I wasn’t quite sold. Then I remembered this book that I picked up last year:

best. cookie book. ever.

This book is great. It’s filled with classic Christmas cookie recipes, both old and new, and from all over the world. If you want to pick up a copy (and you should), check it out on amazon.com.

Anyway, I started flipping through the pages, looking for something red. I did not find something red, per se, but I did however find something that I could make red – Chocolate Bourbon Balls. So I decided to give these a try. Apparently this cookie has its origins in the 1930′s, and there are many variations out there. So, I decided to throw one more into the mix. So I give you my take on this classic: Honey Whiskey Balls.

strong, but sweet.

Before I share the recipe, I feel the need to mention a few things, mainly that these are somewhat STRONG. Not “get drunk off of one cookie” strong, but you can definitely taste the whiskey. So, if whiskey ain’t your thing, you may want to stick with sugar cookies. The original recipe called for bourbon, but I wanted to try Jack Daniel’s Honey Whiskey, and the feedback was all positive. Also, I used Merckens red colored chocolate to make them red. I love Merckens and highly recommend it for all your chocolate-y needs. And finally, the original recipe also called for pecans – I used walnuts. It worked out great. With that being said, heeeeerrrrrreeee’s the recipe!

Chocolate Honey Whiskey Balls.

What you’ll need:

2 1/2 cups Vanilla Wafers

1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar

1 cup ground walnuts

6 oz Merckens red chocolate wafers

1/2 cup Jack Daniel’s Honey Whiskey

3 tablespoons light corn syrup

granulated sugar

What you’ll do:

In a food processor, combine the Vanilla wafers, confectioner’s sugar and walnuts until finely ground and set aside.  Melt the chocolate according to the manufacturer’s directions (in the microwave or over the stove). Once melted completely, stir in the whiskey and corn syrup. Pour chocolate mixture into the dry ingredients, and mix until well combined. Let sit for about 30 minutes. Roll the mixture into walnut-sized balls, and roll each in granulated sugar until completely covered. It’s best to let these sit for a few days before serving, as they can be…somewhat powerful at first.

And thus, my Christmas Cookie lineup was complete.

cookies in a box!

 

Hipster Christmas Cookies (with Moustaches).

To the tune of “Sister Christian”:

Hipster Christmas cookies you’re too cool

Making other cookies look like tools, ironically.

haven’t you ever seen a tree with a moustache before?

 

My friend asked me last week if I could make some Hipster Christmas cookies. There were no real requirements, other than it had to have a moustache. “Yeah, I think I can do, that!” I responded. I thought for a bit, and then suddenly visions of moustached Christmas trees danced in my head. They were dancing to music you probably haven’t heard of, of course.

wash it down with a PBR.

 

I got some Christmas tree-shaped cookie cutters, made some sugar-cookie dough and dyed it green, cut the shapes, and baked. For the ‘stache, I used black fondant. I could not find a moustache cookie cutter in any store and didn’t have time to order anything online, so I had to create my own stencil. It worked great, and now hipsters around the world can celebrate Christmas, ironically.

In other news, I was just looking up the definition of “hipster” and turns out the term was coined in the 1940′s and originally refered to “characters who like hot jazz.” So the hipster is really not so new after all.

 

 

Recipe Tuesday Afternoon: Pumpkin Rosemary Pie.

Serendipity has always been one of my favorite words – even before the movie with John Cusack (which is also one of my favorite movies). I love the idea of a fortunate accident - that every event happens for a reason and contributes to the making of something truly great. In this case, it’s a pumpkin pie – with rosemary.

Two simultaneous events lead to the serendipitous creation of this particular pie :

1. I was given a container of fresh rosemary yesterday morning. It smelled wonderful. I had no idea what to do with it, but i knew I  had to do something – it was much too good to just go untouched and its freshness wouldn’t last forever. I had to strike while the iron was hot.

the scent of the gods.

2. I got sick. Sometimes bad things happen for a good reason. In fact, they usually do. I was going to have my friend over on Monday night and I was originally going to make a pumpkin pie on Sunday night for it. I got sick, and did not make the pie on Sunday night. I told my friend yesterday morning that I should be ok by Tuesday night (tonight) so we could reschedule. Then I was given the rosemary. Then I wound up feeling worse, and stayed home from work today. However, this gave me plenty of time to focus on the pie, and as I began getting the ingredients together, I saw the rosemary on the counter. So I did what any adventurous baker would do – I added it in.

pumpkin, fate, rosemary and time.

The resulting pie was truly meant to be: I’ve never made a better pie in my life, and that’s the truth. And now you can make it too – because good things are always meant to be shared. And life’s too short to let your rosemary go bad – you never know when it might come your way again.

pie love.

Pumpkin Rosemary Pie.

The Crust:

What you’ll need:

10 whole cinnamon graham cracker sheets

¼ cup confectioners’ sugar

6 tablespoons butter (melted)

What you’ll do:

Preheat the oven to 475. Combine the graham crackers, sugar, and melted butter in a food processor. Press into the bottom and up the sides of a 9” pie pan. Bake for 7-8 minutes, until slightly brown and set.

The Filling:

What you’ll need:

1 cup fat-free milk

15 oz pumpkin puree

2 eggs

¾ cup sugar

2 tablespoons corn starch

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon nutmeg

½ teaspoon fresh minced rosemary

What you’ll do:

Preheat the oven to 350. In a large bowl, combine the milk, pumpkin, and eggs.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the sugar, corn starch, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and rosemary until well combined, then fold it into pumpkin mixture. Pour mixture into pre-baked crust, until it almost reaches the top (you will most likely have some extra filling – enough for a personal-sized pie!).  Bake for 50 – 55 minutes, or when a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

The Topping:

What you’ll need:

1 lb heavy cream

2.5 oz confectioners’ sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla

Whip the cream until it forms soft peaks. In a separate bowl, whisk together the sugar and cinnamon. Add the sugar and cinnamon mixture and the vanilla to the cream, and continue whipping until is forms stiff peaks. Keep refrigerated until ready to use.

a little piece of heaven.