Back and ready for action!

Hey y'all!  Did you miss me?  Well I am back and ready for serious baking action!  I took a hiatus, got things in order, and am now ready to hit the ground running!  Here are some thing that I have worked on lately...

As you can tell I am just a tad bit rusty.  I decided to test the waters with my munkies Valentines Parties.  I can see where I need work but I am a lot better off than I was when I started from scratch... Right?

Now I did these for Munky #1's karate baked goods fundraiser.  I totally chickened out and did not stick around to see if anyone even bid on them.  I know, I know, suck it up Amy.  Suck. It. Up.

I practiced a little on leopard print here.  These are done as "dry on dry" and I think that next time I will try "wet on wet".  These cookies were just practice and the Fam got to gobble them up.

As you can tell I am back.  I am a little shaky but determined to kick some serious funky booTAY!

Frosting for the Cause

Head on over there and see what I did and why I did it!  Click on the logo on the right hand side of the page.  You won't be sorry you did!

Happy New Year!

As 2010 winds down many people are dutifully making their resolutions lists.  I don't do resolutions.  I am the type of personality who consistently reflects on how such and such could have been done better or how I could react differently.  2011 is already showing a lot of changes for me.  Some good, some not so good, and some of the "have to wait and see".  Those are the ones I really don't like.  So I have decided to control the ones that I can and try not to control the ones that I can't.

In 2011 my main goal is to do a little soul searching and find what it is that REALLY makes me happy.  The world has worn down my weary soul and I plan to claim it as my own once again.  Then of course I have the "lose those last 30lbs" dedication that has become a life long goal I believe.  At this point I am sure that I came out of the womb proclaiming that "I WILL LOSE THE LAST 30LBS!"  but to untrained ears it just sounded like a lot of crying.

I have a confession to make... For a while I stopped baking all together.  Someone told me my work sucked and it knocked me down hard.  Others started making cookies and I thought, "Well if I suck they can have it all."  I just recently started baking again and today I finished my first batch of decorated cookies in 4 months.  The ideas just stopped coming and the desire was gone.  I stopped doing a lot of things.

Baking is my refuge from the uncontrollable things going on in my life right now.    I may not be able to control what's going on in my world but I can damn sure control what goes on in my kitchen.  Will this lead to something grande and wonderful?  Only time will tell until then I offer this...

So this is Christmas...

The presents have been opened, the leftovers are being eaten.  Thank goodness for leftovers because I am exhausted!  This year we stayed home and celebrated Christmas, just the 4 of us.  On Christmas Day we stayed in our pjs most of the day and ate dinner around 7.  It may have been the longest day ever, mainly because the kids woke up at 4:30 am!

Since we weren't going to be with other family I decided to try some candy recipes.  Years ago my Grangie gave me her recipes for candy and honestly I have not had the guts to try it.  She is a hard act to follow.  I did make candy this year, I just didn't make her candy.  Chicken?  Yes.  Maybe next year.  Maybe.

My main "TA-DA!" was Oreo Truffles.  It was relatively easy to do and it all started with a package of semi sweet baking chocolate, oreos and cream cheese.

Roll the oreo and cream cheese into 1 inch balls (or 2 inch :o)) and place them on parchment paper. Refrigerate for about an hour. 

Take the balls and dip them into melted semi sweet chocolate.  I couldn't get the balls to stay on the skewers to dip so I used a 2 spoon method.  I placed one ball in one spoon, scooped up the chocolate in the other and worked the ball back and forth between the spoons.  Amateur but hey it worked! Place the balls back into the fridge and chill for another hour.

I am in the middle of moving and started packing up about a month ago, leaving only the things I use everyday out.  So naturally, the slow cooker has been packed away.  I needed to melt the chocolate and didn't want to take the chance of burning it on the stove top.  I was faced with 2 choices: Dig through mountains of boxes or buy another one.  So off I went to the store.  On the way there I knew that I didn't want to buy another big slow cooker.  I picked this little darling up for $10 and I must say it was a truly genius moment!  It worked perfectly for melting the chocolate and I know it will work great for cake balls!  PLUS, $10?!  That's fabulous!

The Bearded Lady and Whoop Yer Mouth Choc

Whoopie pies have infiltrated Funky Munky!

 DEELISH little treat has been dubbed "The Bearded Lady".  It is a vanilla cake with a hazlenut and peanut butter filling.  It reminded me of a trip to the circus.  I couldn't think of a catchy name for it so I recruited the help of my sister.  Thus we have dun dun daaa "THE BEARDED LADY"!!!!!

These lil darlings are chocolate chip cake with a chocolate buttercream frosting.  My son came up to me with chocolate all over his mouth and said, "Mom those are good but in order for it to whoop my mouth I believe I need another."  and my nephew used to call chocolate, choc... So.... these have been dubbed "Whoop Yer Mouth Choc"

S'more for me!

Inspired by trip down memory lane thanks to "old skool" Pepsi (see prior post), this little darling is perfect for that sugar fanatic.  What's better than sitting around a campfire, hopefully with water near by, toasting marshmallows and smushing them between graham crackers and chocolate?!  

I am a "feelings" kind of person so now the task was laid before me to transform that feeling into a cupcake.  There are 100 to 1 s'more cupcake recipes out there and after searching for one I liked I soon found myself swimming in graham cracker, ganache, and marshmallow creme goodness.  Have you ever actually looked for a s'more recipe?  If you decide to take on this task I suggest you block out at least 2 hours. Seriously.

Back to the cupcake... I wanted a true graham cracker taste in the cupcake and decided to do a flourless cake, using the graham cracker as the "flour".  In theory this was an excellent idea but in reality I was disappointed.  The cupcake had an "eggy" taste to it and the consistency was "ew" at best.  For the chocolate I made a chocolate ganache and the frosting was marshmallow and cream cheese.  My taste testers (AKA the fam) gobbled them up as soon as I gave them the go ahead but this one isn't a winner for me.  Back to the drawing board I suppose...

It may have not tasted like I had hoped but it was a very photogenic little fella.  

Oh the memories...

As I was walking down the aisle of the supermarket, lost in the sea of labels swearing that their product has the lowest calories, carbs, cholesterol, blah blah blah.  Torn between a bag of apples and that box of pop tarts claiming that it's made of whole grains, I caught a glimpse of red, white, and blue.  Since this is not July my interest was peaked and I slowly meandered in that general direction, careful not to show to much excitement.  Lord have mercy what did I see but a glorious "old school" can of Pepsi looking back at me!

Immediately I am taken back to me sitting in the floor of my room, my 8 track blaring Bad Company, walls covered with poster of hair bands, mementos of crazy times stuck in precarious places, a cherry mash and a nice cool Pepsi.  It was during these times that I was sure of what I was, where I was going, and how I was going to get there.

As the feeling of nostalgia wears away and I find myself standing  in the aisle with teary eyes I thought to myself, "To hell with eating healthy I am going to bake cupcakes that take me back to that."  So in true rebellious fashion I grab that 12 pack and dare someone to say a word about it.

On the way home I decided to make a chocolate cupcake with Pepsi incorporated into the batter and for that cherry mash deliciousness I stuck a maraschino cherry in the center.  Once the cupcakes cooled I mixed up a Pepsi and powdered sugar glaze and poured it on top.  For more cherry flavor I made a cherry cream cheese frosting and topped it with a cherry.