Thoughts of a 4-year-old girl.

Some time ago my newly 4-year-old daughter was having some deep thoughts while riding in the car on the way to her cousins house.  The following conversation took place:

Abby:  "Mom?"
Me: "Yes?"
Abby: "I've learned something.  'Almost' means 'no.'"
Me: "Well, what do you mean exactly?"
Abby: "Like when I race with Lily and I say, "Did I win?" and you say, "Almost."

I guess she has a point there....

Later, on the way HOME from that same visit to her cousins she piped up from the back seat, "Mom, I learned something ELSE today!  Boys are ALMOST like people!"

In summary, Boys = Almost People, Almost = No

I guess this was an educational day for her.  :)

Fondant uses and ideas

Marshmallow Fondant

A much easier and cheaper alternative to the "real" stuff, this is what I make and use on my cakes.

Marshmallow Fondant:

1 bag of marshmallows

1/2 tsp Vanilla (clear if you want it to be really white)

Vegetable shortening

1 tsp water

2-4 cups of sifted powdered sugar

Grease the inside of a microwave safe bowl (and your spatula or spoon) with vegetable shortening.  Dump in your marshmallows, vanilla and water.  Microwave in 30 second bursts until the marshmallows are fully melted (depending on your microwave this should take 2-3 minutes).  Stir in your powdered sugar until it gets to firm to stir, and then knead it until smooth.  At this point you can divide it and add coloring.  Remember, food coloring can "ripen" or "mature" as it sits, meaning that it often will get darker.  When using colors, less is more in most cases.  Make sure your fondant stays sealed so that it doesn't lose moisture.  It can be stored for a few days at room temperature, weeks in a fridge or months in a freezer.  Allow it to come to room temperature before working with it.  You'll want your surfaces greased or dusted with powdered sugar or corn starch when using fondant, and keep it covered with plastic or a plate to prevent it from drying out and cracking as you're working with it.  

Coconut Macaroons

When I was hunting for a good coconut macaroons recipe I came across a video-tutorial on the Joy of Baking website (link at the bottom of the page) that looked pretty unique.  Pre-heating the eggs, and using cake flour rather than all-purpose, make these cookies AMAZING.  Crispy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside.  After only 2 tries I had mastered the recipe (it is not as difficult as it sounds) and I decided to enter them in our county fair.  Out of hundreds of cookie entries they won best in show!!!  So I'm passing this great recipe along for anyone who loves a good coconut macaroon.

Coconut Macaroons:

4 large egg whites
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup cake flour, sifted
3 cups sweetened coconut flakes/shredded coconut

Boil 2" of water in a saucepan.  Place the egg whites is a glass bowl over the boiling water.  Whisk and heat the eggs until white, foamy and warm.  Add the remaining ingredients except for the coconut, and combine thoroughly.  Fold in the coconut until all is moist.  Cover and chill for 2 hours.  Preheat oven to 325 and line a sheet with parchment paper.  Drop dough by rounded tablespoons (you could use an ice cream scoop to achieve a really nice round ball) on the paper, and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until lightly golden brown.  Cool for a few minutes on the pan and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

For a great tutorial you can visit the Joy of Baking website and click on "cookie recipes" at the top.  This makes about 18 cookies.  You could drizzle these with melted chocolate, but I felt that they were perfect just the way they were.  ENJOY!

Mandazi

I learned about Mandazi (a.k.a. Maandazi, or Mahamri when made with coconut milk) about 6 years ago, from a cookbook for a popular Bed and Breakfast in Cape May, NJ.  That recipe used bananas, and when I tried it I didn't get a very good result (I'm 100% sure that was my fault, rather than the fault of a bad recipe).   Today my oldest daughter had to choose a country to report on for school.  Thanks to the presence of African wildlife, she picked Kenya.  One of the things that we needed to research was the nation's cuisine, among which, was Mandazi, and my daughter thought they looked fantastic.  I searched online for a quick recipe, and once again I found myself whipping up a batch of these fritter-style doughnuts-like fried breads popular in much of Africa. This time the result was pretty fantastic, and I decided that the recipes are both worth sharing.
(I believe this is pronounced "maenDAzee", but if anyone knows more about this please feel free to educate me.  The cookbook calls it Mandizi, but that's the only time I've found it by that name.)

Mandazi:
2 cups of flour (I used unbleached all-purpose)
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder (some recipes call for yeast)
1 tsp butter (yes, that is teaspoon, not tablespoon)
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup water
4 tsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. allspice (Other recipes called for cinnamon, cardamom, or nutmeg.  I used cinnamon)

Mix together the flour, spice(s) and baking powder.  Cut in the butter.  Add the sugar and mix in.  In a separate bowl beat the egg, add the water and milk to it, and add them to the dry ingredients.  Knead into a soft but workable dough.  Cut into desired shapes and fry in hot oil until lightly golden.

"Mandizi"
Angel  of the Sea Bed and Breakfast Cookbook

1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
1 cup self-rising flour
3 Tbsp sugar
3/4 cup mashed ripe bananas

Beat egg and milk together.  Add the flour and sugar.  Blend in the mashed bananas.  Drop by rounded tablespoons into hot oil.  Turn with slotted spoon when brown.  Drain on paper towel and dust with powdered sugar.  Make sure the oil is not too hot, as the centers won't cook until the outside is too brown.

Butter-cream at it's best

These are a few cakes and cupcakes I've done recently with crusting butter-cream.  I'm still mastering this stuff, but it's wonderful when I can get it to work!  (the picture quality here is terrible, as these were taken with my phone, sorry)

Blue's Clues birthday cupcakes, complete with the "missing sprinkles" cupcake

Blue's Clues birthday pawprint cake

These were some wedding cupcakes that I did a while back.  Very basic white butter-cream with sugar pearls.

Angry Birds birthday cupcakes.

I do wish I had a better photo of this safari cake that I did for my daughter's 7th birthday.  

A little less candy, a little more fun...

What I stuffed into the Easter eggs the last few years WASN'T made with corn syrup and red #40

I like to make most of my girls' treats from scratch, partly because of Lily's peanut allergy and partly because I feel like it's a tad healthier and yummier.  We really don't have a use for 6 1-gallon zip-lock bags filled with tootsie rolls and dum-dums.  But it's SOOOO much fun to find a basket full of eggs.  So what do you put in them?  Well there are socks and hair bows and crackers... but I decided to prolong the fun by making it a treasure hunt to find their baskets.  I made this giant map, with the location of the 4 baskets.  Then I chopped it into 80 pieces and hid it in the eggs, 20 per kid.

They carried their baskets out on the hunt, then dumped them on the living room floor and began assembling the map (with much help from my husband) while I filled and hid the baskets, which contained their home-made goodies.  :)