Hearts In Bloom Brownie Bites!

Hearts In Bloom Brownie Bites!

How fun are these? :o)

Valentine's Day is a little over two weeks away..

and i'm loving all the sweet little heart treats everywhere.

So..here's my contribution. 

I couldn't wait to make these today...

Here's what you need to get started

if you'd like to make them too!

Fondant & Mini-heart cookie cutter.

I used Wilton rose icing color.

Just mix a nice little glob into the fondant with a toothpick and knead it until it's a nice smooth color.

 YUM-O! I love Trader Joe's Ready-to-bake brownies.

I've made tons of brownies over the years..homemade and mixes, this is my current favorite. They are dense, cakey, fudgy..mmmmm :o)

I stirred 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels 

right into the bag. Super simple!

I baked these mini-cupcakes for 18 minutes@ 350.

 My 4 inch lollipop sticks seemed a bit too tall

for these mini-cupcakes. I trimmed 3/4 inch off each one.

  I should have measured the thickness of the fondant..i didn't..so here's a photo..

  Gently insert stick into the fondant lollipop.

Do not insert the end that you cut..it's not smooth enough

and will make the fondant a bit lop-sided. 

Let these set up for about an hour.

 Pretty...

.....little heart lollies :o)

 I used a bag of Wilton's green candy melts.

This candy cup mold wasn't quite right....

...so I used regular cupcake liners.

 These worked just fine.

Chill the finished cups for about 10 minutes.

Gently peel off the paper liner.

 Now we can paint our fondant.

Again, I used the rose color.

I dabbed a bit on a plate and mixed in a couple of drops

of water as I needed.

I just used a Wilton paint brush.

 Just imagine you see a picture of the sprinkles....

sprinkling onto the freshly painted lollies...

because i forgot to get any shots of those!

 I used a can of Pillsbury chocolate frosting.

Just a swirl and a few mini heart sprinkles.

 I dabbed a bit of frosting on the bottom 

of the cupcake so it will adhere

to the "grass' cup.

 Now just place into the "grass cup".

 Tie a pretty little ribbon onto your lollipop stick.

Press into the cupcake and you are done!

 LOVE

 these colors!!.

 Sweet :o)

 These little nonpareils are so cute! 

 Just a couple more shots..

 Red sugar sprinkles..

 Sweet and Happy Baking

From

Sugartown Sweets!

Thank you so much for stopping

by my blog today!

I love your comments.. let me know what you think about this post :o)

Strawberry & Chocolate Overload Cake!

 A Super Short Post!

I saw these beautiful cakes on

Viva La Cupcake!

My grandson wanted his favorite cake for his birthday..Strawberry. So I decided to "overload" it with a bit of chocolate :o)

This Strawberry Cake has been around for years.

It's been a favorite in our family at

 least since I was 5 years old!

So..so easy. All the ingredients are dumped into the mixer bowl and 2 1/2 minutes later, it's ready for the oven.

  Hershey bars, Kit Kats & Whoppers ..YUM!

I used 9 1/4 Hershey Bars. Just use a sharp, heavy knife to cut through the scored side of the last bar. There will be one skinny opening left in which to place it.

  I baked three 6 inch layers. 

My homemade strawberry icing is very moist..

so I used a store bought container of strawberry

icing to frost the sides of the cake.

This was to ensure that the chocolate bars stayed

securely "glued" to the cake.

I used my homemade icing to frost between the layers as well as on the top layer.

I then tied a ribbon around the bars.

Next I poured on the Whoppers and placed the

mini Kit Kats atop the cake.

  Strawberry Cake

1~ box Duncan Hines white cake mix

1~3 oz box strawberry jello

*1~16 oz container frozen sweetened strawberries

4 eggs

3/4 cup water

3/4 cup canola oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

* Use only 1/2 of the strawberries in the cake.

You will use the other 1/2 in the icing.

I use most of the juice in the cake as too much juice will make the icing runny.

.........................................

Place all ingredients in mixer bowl.

Mix on low speed 30 seconds till combined.

Then mix 2 minutes on medium speed.

Spray three 6 inch round baking pans with Pam.

Pour 2 cups batter into each prepared pan.

Bake @ 350 for 30 minutes.

Strawberry Icing

1 stick butter (softened)

Remaining 1/2 of strawberries

1 box 10x sugar

 1 teaspoon vanilla

...............................................

Place all ingredients in mixer bowl. 

Mix on med/hi till light and fluffy.

This is one YUMMY cake!

Sweet 

&

Happy Baking

from

Sugartown Sweets!

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog today!

I love all your comments :o)

Colorful Heart Cookies!

 Colorful Heart Cookies!

I had so much fun making these!

I began thinking of Valentine cookies a month ago..ever since I made the green Christmas trees. I wanted to tint half of the dough red and the other half pink. In the photos, you can barely tell the difference..and I used a lot of food color.

Here we go. Like I said, a lot of color!

 This is the pretty Rose color.

 I used these Wilton cookie cutters. 

 These too..

 I only roll out enough dough to cut out one or two cookies at a time. The chilled dough is easier for me to handle.

 I also use my dough scraper thingy to gently lift the cut-out. 

 I place them on parchment paper lined cookie sheets.

 Baked up and ready.

 I will show you step-by-step how I designed a few cookies. Use full strength Royal Icing to pipe the outlines. For the "flood"

(or "fill-in") icing..just add small amounts of water and stir gently till you achieve a glue-like consistency.

 This crinkle design was kinder to my blood pressure :o)

It was just easier to do the squiggly lines than the regular curved heart lines. Am I making any sense?..

Now just let these dry for an hour or so before going back to fill in.

 We switched from red to purple ;)

Use your flood icing to fill in the outer section of the cookie.

Use a toothpick to pull the icing into the corners.

 Still using the flood icing, drop dots into the wet icing.

 I LOVE these colors!

Without lifting up your toothpick, pull it through each dot all the way around the cookie.

 With a different color, add the next section and then more dots..

 After pulling your toothpick through those dots, add one more color section to the center of the cookie. A couple more dots, pull through and voila'..done!

Here's a pictorial of the next cookies.. 

 I like these square ones..

 Wheeee..fun..

 I really love the somewhat "unstructuredness"

of this design!

 This tiny little cookie is so cute :o)

 flood..

 dot..

 pull..

 After flooding the cookie, wait for the air bubbles to rise to the surface. Use your toothpick to pop them.

 Lots and lots of dots...

 LOVE!

 Here's where I really had some fun!

With no piped borders..the flood icing runs off the edges.

 Pull the toothpick from the center out.

 I added more dots just 'cause I could!

 Again, I pulled the toothpick from the center out.

 This was one of my favorites..until I swiped my hand across it and ruined it!

Be careful out there ;o)

 Ahhhh...finished cookies..all ready for their nap...

 These colors (rose and red) were beautiful together!

 

Cookie Dough Recipe

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup confectioners sugar

2 sticks salted butter (softened)

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

gel food colors ( I used Wilton red, rose and violet)

~~~~~

Combine flour and baking powder in a separate bowl.

Cream butter and sugars in mixer.

Add egg and extracts mixing well.

I used my mixer to color my dough as well..only mixing till combined on low. Scrape down sides of bowl and another quick mix.
Gradually add flour mixture till combined, then chill dough. 
Bake @ 350 ~ 10-12 minutes 
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Royal Icing

4 cups confectioners sugar

4 tablespoons meringue powder

6 tablespoons warm water

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

And after trying Bake at 350's idea to use light corn syrup..i added 1 teaspoon!

~~~~~

Mix all ingredients on low 7-10 minutes.

Happy Baking and Creating

from

Sugartown Sweets!

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR STOPPING BY MY BLOG TODAY!

I would love any and all comments letting me know what you think of this post :o)