Friday's Scoop 12/28/12

As fast as the holidays came upon us, they are just as quickly gone! There is hope though, we still have New Years to celebrate! So, pick out your final sparkly outfit of the season and finish your holiday baking! Before you know it, it will be 2013 and then onto Valentine's Day! I went to craft store the other day and I was shocked that they already had Valentine's Day stuff, but then I turned the corner and was horrified to see St. Patrick's Day stuff already! That wasn't the end, I found myself walking down another aisle and BOOM there was Easter stuff! If they are that far ahead into the holidays why not just leave out the Christmas stuff for next year! Stores are pushing the holidays way too much, before Thanksgiving and even around Halloween I was already seeing Christmas things! One holiday at a time people! Enough of my rant on big box stores pushing holidays, time for a more celebratory topic, it's finally Friday and that means time for Friday's Scoop!

1. I had a wonderful Christmas, and I hope you did as well! Mine was filled with way too much eating and just enough present opening! I must have been really good this year because Santa was very generous! What did Santa bring for you?

2. I love the snow! I am a December baby so I think my profound love of snow must run in my blood! They say I was born during a blizzard! I was so excited the other night when snow began to fall, but it was only a dusting and it is already gone! I would be happy with just one really big snowstorm! I just want some snow this season, seeing as we had NONE last winter! Have you gotten any snow? As I do the snow dance and beg for snow I thought I would share this hilarious snow cartoon that I found on Pinterest with you!

3. Recently I have been thinking about switching things up here on the blog! Nothing major....unless you consider changing one's name! Okay, so it might be kind of major, but MollyCakes just is not doing it for me any more. I want something more simple and sophisticated. I have some ideas in mind, not sure if I have found the one yet, but I will keep you informed! Do you have any ideas for a new name?

4. Here's my usual weekly round-up of some of my favorite pins!

• Lemon Curd by Tracey's Culinary Adventures I might have a slight fascination with lemon curd and lemons in general. This recipe sounds super easy and there is no separating of eggs, woohoo! I feel as though I waste so many egg whites already. 
• Meyer Lemon Sorbet by This Homemade Life Continuing my love of lemons, here is a refreshing lemon sorbet recipe that doesn't use an ice cream maker, meaning I can make it! I promise the next pin will not involve lemons! 
• Skinny Chocolate Chip Buttermilk Scones by Skinny Taste  Scones are one of my favorite pastries, but they are often very unhealthy. As these have skinny in the name I may just have to make them as a "health food" and eat them everyday. Sound good to you? 
• Amish Cinnamon Bread by Redfly Creations I think I have pinned this recipe multiple times, and it might just be time to whip out this recipe for a weekend breakfast! 
• Brown Sugar Blondies by Baked Perfection Now these say they are for Valentine's Day, but that is probably because of the color of the M&Ms, so I will just switch out the M&Ms and then they can be for anytime of the year! (This selection brought to you by Molly the hypocrite...I know I bashed rushing the holidays before, but these look really good and they are only Valentine-ish because of the M&Ms, so there!) 

5. It is finally Friday! I am very happy that it is the weekend, but unfortunately I have to work both days this weekend! I may be a little removed from the blog this weekend, but I am working on a delicious post for you that should be posting any day! Have a great weekend!

From Pinterest 

MollyCakes Christmas

"Oh, Christmas tree, oh, Christmas tree"

Merry Christmas! So, did Santa bring everything on your list? He was pretty respectful of my list, and by that I mean he was very kind to me! Was the food fabulous or was something left a little too long in the oven? Our dinner was simple compared to years past, but very delicious all the same! Were your gifts a hit or are you a terrible gifter? Up until this year, I was probably tied with my mom for worst gifter in my family. My mom means well when buying gifts, but she is buys into all sorts of knick-knacks and quirky things. This year I think my gifts went over really well with everybody! I hope you had a happy, safe and delightful holiday! Here are some shots (with my new camera!) from my family's Christmas celebration!
Enjoy,
M

Cozy new beds for the dogs!
(How about that bokeh background? Huh?! Pretty neat, huh!)

Guess what?! I made that tree skirt, thanks to Pinterest!
 It is not finished yet, but I plan to finish it before next Christmas
 (The first ring of ruffles took me over an hour, so it is going to be a while!
Should have started it before December 23rd)!  

P.R.E.S.E.N.T.S!

Sausage, egg and cheese breakfast casserole. Yes, those are my footy PJs!  

Super duper old fashioned crumb cake with raspberry preserves!
(Why of course I will be sharing this recipe soon!)

Some weird, but awesomely tasty dish from my grandmother! It is called pineapple casserole! Sounds really gross, I am pretty sure I refused to try it up until last year! Now I am hooked and probably at 3/4 of this pan! 

Nom nom nom!

All is bright! 

Merry Christmas!

By now you should have been able to dig yourself out from under all the wrapping paper scraps! I hope Santa was good to you! I wanted to wish you all Merry Christmas! More posts coming soon!
Xoxo,
M

Friday's Scoop 12/21/12

1. It is Friday, December 21, and today the world is supposed to end, so far we are okay, right? I mean at least for now...we will find out in about two hours and 39 minutes! Did you do anything to prepare for the end of the world? I did zip, zero, nada!


2. Yesterday was my birthday and my parents surprised me by giving me a new camera as my birthday present! That is right it was a BIRTHDAY present, not a birthday/Christmas present, purely birthday! Win! I will be sharing pictures soon! Maybe near the bottom of this post?! Oh, there is one at the top!

3. Christmas is right around the corner! I think I am done with shopping, but I am sure that once I begin to wrap I will saying "Oh, fudge" like Ralphie in A Christmas Story (BEST. CHRISTMAS. MOVIE. EVER. except for maybe Elf!). I feel like I must have forgotten someone's present. Hmm...who could I have forgotten?

4. Today at the grocery store I picked up a copy of America's Test Kitchen Christmas Cookies, I can't wait to get in the kitchen tomorrow! So many recipes I want to try! Should I begin with Fudge Drops, or Hazelnut Lemon Curd cookies, or maybe Toasted Coconut Butter cookies! Any recommendations or which one would you like to see on the blog?

5. Here are some of my favorite pins from the week, I have been pinning like crazy, as I fall asleep, as I wake up, when I am waiting somewhere and even as I wind down for a nap! It's getting a little intrusive! This week I will share some recipe pins and some DIYs to mix it up, most having to do with the holidays!

• Bakery Style Frosted Brownies These may not scream Christmas, but I am sure if you dress them up with some Christmas sprinkles they will begin to! 
• DIY Stocking Tutorial I love the fabric that they used! First I will need to learn to sew, so I guess I will stick with my generic store bought one. Do you make your own stockings or do you have a generic one like me? 
• Holiday Cake Crumb Cookies I find these intriguing, how does one combine cake, crumb and cookie? I will have to find out by making them! 
• Gingerbread Waffles Sounds like the perfect way to start your day on Christmas! I will be opening my presents way before breakfast, I can't help myself. On Christmas I act like a total kiddo with the Christmas pajamas, waking up bright and early, even rushing downstairs and demanding that I open the first gift! Okay, so maybe I don't quite demand it with my angry voice, but I do like to start opening my presents ASAP. 
• Sugar Doodle Vanilla Cookies Part sugar cookie? Part snickerdoodle? Add vanilla! Yes please! 
• DIY Tabletop Christmas Tree If Christmas were'nt only four days away, I would put on my MollyCakesMakes game face on and get to DIYing, but that probably won't happen because I have so much baking and wrapping to catch up on! AHHH, if you here screaming from under a large mountain of wrapping paper it's probably me with a severe paper cut from curling ribbons! 

6. Here is my favorite Instagram photo that I took this week!

Anyone else feel the same way? Well I am off to make cupcakes...

7. And finally, here are some of my pictures with my new camera!

Mozi got a boo boo on her nosie. :( 

Well, I hope to post before the Holiday, but as I mentioned before I have loads of Christmas stuff to get working on! Merry Christmas if I don't post before then, but I will try my very best to!

Enjoy!
M

Dear Santa

On my side of the blog the Christmas spirit has really begun to pick up! I finally got over not listening to Christmas music and am currently rocking out to Celine Dion as I write this! While I spread Christmas magic around my house, I have not really sprinkled any on the blog (see what I did there)! So, I thought I would share my Christmas list and a few shots of my Christmas decorations with you! Hopefully I can do a more comprehensive holiday decorating post, if I get some of the things on my list because they will definitely help improve from these pictures!

Mantel decorations by yours truly!
Tree is not finished, we still need to add tons of TINSEL!
Tinsel makes me a tad excited!

• Canon 60D This camera is amazing and I was sold when I found out that its the camera that Marion uses on her blog, Marionberry Style. Have you seen the detail she is able to capture in her pictures? 
• Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 lens Michelle at BrownEyedBaker says this is a great lens for food shots! 
•  Kelly Moore Camera bag, these are functional and fashionable! A great accessory for my camera! 
• 18K Gold Whisk Necklace, it will keep my love of baking always near and dear to my heart! 
• Pure Vanilla Cookbook, if you have read my blog for sometime, you probably realize I tend to always double the vanilla in a recipe. Vanilla is one of my favorite baking ingredients, so why wouldn't I love an entire cookbook dedicated to just vanilla?
• Food scale, do you have an recommendations?
• World Peace 

Peppermint Bark is currently a work in progress, I made the first batch way too thick!
Once I get it right I will post! 

What's on your Christmas list? Anything I should add to mine? 

Enjoy! Merry Christmas! Oh and Happy Birthday to Me! 

M

My sister gave me this t-shirt for Christmas last year! I really really LOVE Christmas! 

Ginger Molasses Cookies

The other day I went to this mini market for breakfast, I got a ham, egg and cheese, and a giant gingersnap! I know it was breakfast, but its the holiday season so I was going to get me a gingersnap! This was a true gingersnap, it snapped and crunched with every bite! I love the flavor of gingersnaps, but when they are really snappy, I feel as though I need to grab the nearest glass of water and chug it down. I am a fan of the chewier and moister variety of ginger cookies, so when I saw Table for Two's FaceBook Cookie Swap posting, I got really excited and squealed (okay maybe not squealed, but you get what I mean)! As Julie did, I slightly under baked my cookies so they were extra chewy, just how I like them.

(Phone Picture)

Now as usual, I wish I had more pictures to share, but they were gobbled up before I could take more. Take that however you like, but I think you should take as a testament to how amazingly tangy, zippy and delicious these cookies are! And you should make them for Christmas immediately seeing as we only have six more days until Christmas! Six more days until Christmas, hmmm that means only one day until my birthday, YIPPEE! Sorry for my self-absorbed tangent, but with my birthday so close to Christmas, I totally get jipped and need to treat myself otherwise! :)

Enjoy!
M

Ginger Molasses Cookies 
Ingredients:
2 1/4 cup all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup light brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 F, line baking sheets with parchment.
2. Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon and cloves. Set this mixture aside.
3. Cream together the butter and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and molasses until well combined.
4. Slowly add in the flour mixture to the creamed butter, mixing until just combined.
5. Scoop dough onto prepared baking sheets using a large cookie scoop. Press the dough down using saran wrap and the palm of your hand.
6. Bake for 12 minutes (bake longer for a crisper cookie), let cool on pan for a couple minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe Adapted from Table for Two

A Day of Silence in Honor of the Innocent Lives Lost

Copied from Michelle at Brown Eyed Baker

Friday's Scoop 12/7/12

Well that was fast, it feels like I just sat down to write the first ever Friday's Scoop, but here I am scrambling to think of things to write about this time around! First, we can start off with how this week flew by! Did it for anyone else? It went by way too fast because I was barely able to bake anything! Even though I did little baking, I did make some of the most wonderful, delicious, scrumptious, sort of gluten free, sort of vegan cookies! I decided to break out my Babycakes Covers the Classics Cookbook because I have been having some GI issues, so I began to think about what could be aggravating my gut? My mind goes maybe gluten? maybe dairy?
As of now I still do not know what the issues are, but hopefully they will be resolved soon! As I flipped through the pages of Babycakes I had a tough time deciding which recipe to try, should I try the nilla wafers, or the chocolate chip cookies? or maybe the Thin Mints?
I decided on the Thin Mints. I altered the recipe the slightest bit and they were AH-MAZING! They taste like your lithe next-door neighbor delivered them with her wagon in tow and with her green vest on! Mind you they may not look all pretty and uniform, but they sure satisfy your longing for a thin mint! Here's a picture preview!

 Soon I will be sharing this recipe! I have not been able to take pictures because it has been getting dark so early! It is only five o'clock as I write this and it is pitch black outside! I don't like this, can't wait for the days to start getting longer! As I sit eclipsed by darkness (so poetic of me, not) I pin a ton, way more than I should on Pinterest! Just like last week here are some of my favorite pins from the week!

Whole Wheat Coffee Cake Muffins from How Sweet Eats Kind of healthy and looking mighty delicious, count me in!

Brown Sugared Carrots from Cooking Channel Cooked carrots can be a great addition to a holiday meal, but beware not to overcook! No one wants mushy carrots! I can't wait to taste this inventive combination of brown sugar and carrots!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles from Bakerella I am not much of a truffles person, but this picture just looks so enticing! Maybe these will be the truffles that convert me!

What did you pin this week? I hope something tasty!

And some Instagrams!

Another one of my recipes was featured on FoodBuzz! So excited!

My new boots arrived! Do you like? So far I am really liking them, did not need to break them in!

Here's like 1/16 of my nail polish collection, to me nail polish is kind of a big deal. Okay maybe a HUGE deal, seriously sometimes I change it the next day, or even just two days later! Do you like nail polish as much as I do? 

By the way...I joined Twitter! You can follow me here!
Thanks for reading, I will try to get some new recipes up soon!
M

P.S. Please bear with me as I fiddle around with the blog layout, I am trying to figure out which I like best! Do you have any suggestions?

Chocolate Sprinkle Thumbprint Cookies

If you have read some of my posts, you may have gathered that I am a huge fan of Brown Eyed Baker! Michelle's recipes are excellent, and her pictures always make me drool! I also feel like she may be my long lost twin, I am able to relate to so many of her stories and her likes and dislikes! I always want to comment "OMG, me too!", but I try to restrain myself. I would love to meet her one day, she was one of the first baking blogs I discovered. Whenever I am looking for a specific recipe, no matter savory, or sweet I usually first look at Michelle's recipes.  If you haven't already, I would highly recommend that you start following her blog! Anyways on with my blog posting!

Since the summer, I have had my eye on Michelle's chocolate sprinkle thumbprint cookies. Many times I was all set to make this recipe, but at the last minute I would lose interest for some reason (odd, I know)! A few weeks ago I once again was prepared to make this recipe and I am happy to report that I completed the recipe!

SPRINKLES!

Michelle developed this recipe because she became addicted to similar cookies from her local grocery store! Unfortunately, I have never tasted the originals that inspired Michelle, but I was inspired enough by her pictures!

These were the only two left when it came to taking photos. 

As Michelle describes these cookies do not have your typical chewy cookie texture, rather they are slightly crumbly similar to the texture of shortbread. Seeing as I love shortbread I really enjoyed the texture and taste of these cookies, just add sprinkles and I am so in!  Oh maybe add some chocolatley frosting that doesn't hurt either!

Where do you find baking inspiration? The grocery store? Other blogs?
Enjoy!
M

Chocolate Sprinkle Thumbprint Cookies
Ingredients:
Cookies:
2 1/2 Cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 Cup unsalted butter, softened
1 Cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
tons of chocolate sprinkles
Chocolate Frosting:
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 Cups powdered sugar
1/3 Cup unsweetened cocoa powder
4 tablespoons whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350 F and line baking sheets with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and salt; set aside for later. In another bowl pour in the chocolate sprinkles, setting aside for later.
Cream together the butter, sugar and vanilla for 3 minutes using an electric mixer. Reduce the speed and mix in the flour and salt mixture. Gradually increase the speed, beating for one minute more.
Scoop out the dough using a small cookie scoop, form dough into a ball, then roll dough in the sprinkles. Place sprinkled dough onto baking sheets. Leave adequate space between cookies, then make a slight imprint on the tops of the dough. Bake for 10 minutes, then make the indentation deeper (use a spoon or you will burn your finger like me). Bake for another 8 minutes, the cookies will not brown. Cool for a minute or 2 on the baking sheets, then cool completely on wire racks.
For the icing, beat the butter with an electric mixer for 2 to 3 minutes. Reduce the speed, and add in the cocoa and powdered sugar. Increase the speed and mix until smooth. Mix in the milk and vanilla extract. To achieve your desired consistency add more powdered sugar or milk.
After the cookies have cooled completely, pipe frosting into the indentations.
Store at room temperature.

Recipe adapted from Brown Eyed Baker