Godiva Boutique

Have you been to the Godiva Boutique? Most people probably didn't even know there was such a thing! Well, take a trip to www.Godiva.com to drool over all the unbelievable decadence. My favorite are all the different Godiva Truffles. Just looking at these makes me go crazy!

4th of July Jello Parfait

Found a really great last minute 4th of July dessert for everyone who loves to procrastinate, like me! This recipe is perfect for anyone b/c it's fool proof and pretty much can't be messed up. Plus you can put it together in like 15 mins. The longest part is letting the jello set, but that's ok b/c it doesn't have to be watched. You can put the jello in the fridge a couple of hours ahead of time then pull it out of the fridge when you're ready to assemble!

Just in time for summer this easy treat can be made with whipped cream or ice cream.  The only thing out of the ordinary you may need is a star cookie cutter.  If you have that this dessert is absolutely the easiest thing you ever made.  If you know how to boil water you can make this.

Make Jello Jigglers in Red and Blue by mixing 1 1/4 cup of hot water with a 6 oz box of jello.  You can use 2, 3oz boxes.  Just in case you are really bad at math like me.  Make sure you let them sit in a 9×13 pan for 2-3 hours until set.

Take a cookie cutter and cut out the stars.

Take a knife and run an edge to the first few rows.  We did it after 3.

Take the edge and peel off the jello.

The stars will pop off easily.

Stick them to the sides of whatever dish or cup you will be using.

Fill with Cool Whip, Homemade Whipped Cream or Ice Cream

Decorate with stars, red and blue fruit and enjoy.

source

3D Rainbow Cupcakes

I found this picture on Hawaii Kawaii, and I totally adore these rainbow cupcakes. They are so simple, yet so creative... I can't believe I never thought of this before! Obviously, the instructions are pretty self explanatory, so I won't go into it. These cupcakes are a whole lot more simple to make than the previous rainbow cupcake recipe I posted back in March - click here to see recipe

CHANEL ice cream

 

courtesy of sophie and toffee

DIY: make your own Hello Kitty cookie cutters / stencils

You can search high and you can search low, but sometimes the cookie cutter you want is simply not in existence.

Making your own custom shaped cookie stencil is pretty self-explanatory and I’m sure there are plenty of ways to do it, but here’s a quick step-by-step, peppered with one or two wisdoms I’ve gained from some failed and ugly cookies.

 

For this cookie, I only wanted her head. Sorry Kitty, may your soul rest in peace.

When I don’t conveniently have the physical printed image of a shape I want to make on hand, I just turn off all the lights in the room and trace an image straight off of my laptop screen.  A regular 8.5″ x 11″ paper does just fine, but cardstock is too thick.

It’s also important that you back your stencil with cardstock or some other thick paper so that you can lean your knife against it the edge without it crinkling up and generally #$!@ ing it all up.

Going around the edge of the stencil, I like to STAB, not DRAG the knife.  The dough tends to stick to the tip of the knife and dragging causes little rips in the dough (see below). Stabbing results in a much cleaner cut.

The top kitty was dragged. The bottom kitty was stabbed.  Sorry for the morbid descriptions.

You would think small imperfections like that would disappear in the oven, but it it doesn’t.  You can always try to smooth the edges with your fingers before they go in the oven, but I like to take preventative measures against tedious tasks like that.

 

And there it is!

tutorial courtesy of  bake greek

Mini Rainbow Cupcakes

Since I got so much feedback about the Rainbow Pudding I made earlier this week, I decided to do follow up with this recipe for Rainbow Cupcakes. The cupcakes are pretty much made the exact same way as the pudding...except you layer each one in a baking cup, instead of a glass, then you bake it. I see a lot of recipes for rainbow cupcakes made from scratch, but I don't bother with all that. I use the prepackaged white cake mix from the grocery store. The only variation I make with the packaged mix is that i add 1 rounded tablespoon of mayonnaise in place of each egg (mayonnaise is nothing but eggs and oil). It makes a world of difference and keeps your cake really really moist. I don't know why it makes it so good, but trust me it does! Just divide your batter into 6 different bowls, add the food coloring to each, layer, and bake. 

Yes it's amazingly simple, I know.        

 

photo courtesy of Baking Bites

Pretty Cupcakes

blueberry waffle cupcake - available from Jellytots & Dollymixtures

 birthday cupcake - available from New York Cupcakes

Valentines Day cupcake - available from New York Cupcakes

wrapper available from Bella Cupcake Couture 

 anti Valentines Day - available from Mom and pops

all images provided by Cupcakes Take the Cake