Strawberry Cupcakes with Kiwi Frosting and Rice Krispies Sushi

So one of my friends, Kat, who I just met a couple week ago. She's apparently part of the Circle K at her school which makes all friends! Anyways, so she's leaving for Alabama for ICON (International Convention) and then she's going back to Ohio. =[. It was great hanging out with her and everything. So Friday night, before she leave, good bye dinner - at Minami Sushi. Seriously, we get sushi from there all the time. Only 8 bucks for sushi. YUMMY

Anyways, being that it is HER going away party, I asked her what type of cupcakes she wanted. She said that she loves strawberries and likes kiwi too, so I decided to look at my list of things that I wanted to make, and there it was - Strawberry Cupcakes and Kiwi Frosting. (8 out of 10!)

These were very simple to make even with strawberry yogurt. I had subbed out the yogurt for half a cup of buttermilk and half a cup of sour cream. I also added a little more than a cup of strawberries. It was really good. The frosting was easy enough to make.

I also created some rice krispies sushi for her. They are so cute and really simple to make. She knows that she doesnt get really nice sushi when she goes back to Ohio, so this is an homage to that.

recipe for the strawberry cupcake with kiwi frosting here . recipe rice krispies sushi here.

Creme Brulee

So I ended up with lots of extra egg yolks from making milan cookies so I needed a recipe to use it. I had found a creme brulee recipe during my searching for recipes with egg yolks. It's super yummy and I think it tastes really good after a light meal and you just want something yummy to eat.

The whole caramelization thing was really hard for me since I have no torch. I've been using broil and it doesnt do the top evenly. Oh well, it was fun and yummy regardless!

Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies [db]

The July Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.

So I decided to tackle the Chocolate Covered Marshmallow cookies first since I decided that they would be fun to do first. I know that I would not be able to make homemade marshmallows this month at all, but I did buy those jumbo marshmallows. The first batch I made some covered in semisweet chocolate, and others in milk chocolate and covered some in different toppings.

The next time I decided to make the Chocolate Covered Marshmallow cookies was for the president's retreat. I was leading a workshop that actually had the title "Chocolate River with Marshmallows." It's a team building workshop but it also works the creativity of the people involved.

from top left (going clockwise): sprinkles, green crystals, caramel, red crystal, and just regular

I decided to tackle the Milan Cookies a week later. These were pretty easy to make and I decided to make the cookies in all different sizes. It's more fun this way.

They were both easy and fun to make. I'm really glad that I was able to make these and have fun feeding my friends while doing so!

Strawberry Grapefruit Preserves...Cupcakes [sms]

This week's SMS was chosen by Margo of Effort to Deliciousness. She chose the Strawberry-Ruby Grapefruit Preserves. I had originally thought about skipping this week's SMS due to the fact that I have no means of putting these preserves in jars or things like that. But, then I thought about baking. I bake for a reason. I do it not only because I enjoy baking, but I like challenging myself. I joined SMS and Daring Bakers for a reason - this was to challenge my own ability to bake and create something.

So onward with the preserves. I was debating whether or not just to make the preserves or in something else. I was looking through my LONG list of items that I wanted to make and came across one that said "Strawberry Jelly Cupcakes". Jelly, preserves...they're similar, so I made the cupcake similar to the one in the Strawberry Jelly Cupcake. (So number 7 out of 10!)

After slaving away for hours, the cupcakes and the preserves actually turned out really nice. I actually only made 1/4 of the preserves and they fit perfectly into my 24 cupcakes. Topped these off with some colored buttercream [that I used for the harry potter cupcakes].

These actually turned out to be very popular. Apparently this is one of my friend's new favorites. What I have realized is that each one of my friends has a favorite. The ones that have my cupcakes the most definitely know which ones they'll want for their birthdays which reminds me that I need to start finding various things for various people's birthday and special events.

The preserves itself was not as tangy as I thought it would have been, but then again, most people don't really like too much grapefruit, but it was good regardless. I enjoyed it and I'm happy that my friends did too!


Make sure to check out what other SMS's have done with their preserves!

recipe for the cupcakes here [its on the lower half of the post]. recipe for the preserves here.

Triple Threat: The Cookie Cake Pie...sorta

I had all the intentions of making the Cookie Cake Pie for the district board meeting this weekend, but what had happened was that:
1) no good pie pans at home [Brea] and I was being lazy and didn't want to go out and get some more
so instead of a pie looking pie, it's going to be in a 8 by 8 pan and a mock-pie. They're more like cookie cake pie bars.

The cake would just not set, but eventually...it did! But it

Happy Early Birthday Alex Chu!

So it's the summer, and not very many midnight birthday surprises. Pretend its 12am on the 27th. YAY! It's my friend Alex's birthday!

I baked him boxed mix. SORRY for not creating something too fab! NO TIME! =[

Anyways, it was just funfetti cake mix with some chocolate frosting. All store bought. BUT the cupcake liners. In his favorite color ORANGE!

Pretty cupcakes for one of my close guy friends!

Thanks!

I have finally received the package that Jaime from My Baking Addiction sent me. It was a wonderful surprise.

I couldnt pick up the package at the exact date that it got here, but I go cajoled my roommate to pick it up for me! Thanks Stacey!

Anyways, I would like to share with you the goodies that she had given to me! It's awesome!

The ice cream scooper, the measuring things, cupcake liners, book!
the wonderful chocolate ice cream toppers!
ORANGE! cupcake liners and ice cream book
awesome ice cream bowl!

THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN!

Mini Apple Pies

So my goal for this summer was to create 10 out of the 100 or so things on my want to make list. This sounds like a daunting task, but I have technically already created 5 things off the list since the beginning of summer. This is the 6th one. Only 4 more to go.

These mini apple pies are actually called by the creater as Apple Tarts. I think that these are more like mini apple pies because they look that way. I decided to make that crisscross shape on the top of the pies because they would look nice.

These were really simple to make and oh so yummy! They really went well with some vanilla ice cream and some caramel.

recipe here.

Poppy Seeds Galore [sms]

So I started to make this week's recipe chosen by Melissa from Lulu the Baker. I thought I would have a great adventure story about finding the poppy seeds, but I found them at a local grocery store before leaving for Berkeley. At home [Brea], my parents have a lemon tree that grows HUGE lemons so I had brought a couple of those because they dont use them and I might as well use them. So I decided to make both variations of the poppy seed cake - in cupcake form. In addition, I didnt get to use a blender/food processor, I have neither here so I just zested the orange and lemon and squeezed as much juice as I could out of them.

So I knew that I had some strawberries that I didn't feel like eating, but wanted to bake with. I found this really nice recipe that uses strawberries and poppy seeds. LOW FAT TOO! Anyways, so I made all three of these. In one night. Ambitious I know. It wasnt that hard actually. I enjoyed it enough.

President's retreat was crazy fun and amazing. I was sweaty from being in the heat in Fresno, but then again, I was able to go into a river and meet some amazing people. It was really fun and I'm really glad that I went. I am all sore all over, but I'm glad that I went. =]

Orange

Lemon

Strawberry!

I had not put on the glaze since I was roadtripping with these poppy seed cupcakes, but I know that I wish that I did!

Recipe here for the whole lemon/orange poppy seed cake!