Coconut craziness

I love coconut. I found this recipe on Bon Appetit. Vanilla bean coconut cupcakes.

The icing was creamy but I wish it came out a little thicker. Either way it was great and I topped it off with toasted coconut flakes. I ran out of vanilla beans so I used vanilla paste instead and it was an excellent substitute.

Strawberry cupcakes

I recently went to Sprinkles in Beverly Hills and decided to have their strawberry cupcake. It was fantastic-- moist, delicious and you could definitely taste the fresh strawberries.

Since I don't live near that area I decided to make a cupcake like the sprinkles strawberry cupcake at home!! I received many compliments and I was happy with the taste of this creation!!

Balsamic Strawberries

Balsamic vinegar and strawberries?!?!?!

YES!!! one of the best combinations! Get three containers of strawberries (wash and cut them of course) then add 4 TB of balsamic vinegar and 1/3 cup of sugar. Mix it up and refrigerate them for at least one hour, this will allow the strawberries to macerate and all the juices to combine and taste delicious!

YUMMO!

Support this family owned business! Owned by a wonderful family in Santa Cruz; this store guarantees satisfaction on baked good, breads, sauces and so much more!

Don't be shy.... go splurg!! I just did  ;)

http://www.normsmarket.com/store/



Pony Crazy!

So my husband and I have a friend who LOVES My Little Pony. Apparently My Little Pony is a craze amongst older men for some reason..... most likely because their daughters or nieces watch it and it is probably an addicting show. Well, it was his birthday and I decided it would be fun to surprise him with magical My Little Pony cupcakes!!

There are no party stores in our area that sell anything related to this show so I decided to make it all myself. Knowing he likes Rainbow Dash, I developed "double rainbow" cupcakes with a My Little Pony theme. I created my own colorful cupcake toppers and the rest is pretty much explained in my pictures. Enjoy!

Olive Oil

Ferg and I stumbled upon this little treasure earlier today. It's an olive oil lovers dream! They also sell different balsamic vinegars, olives, martini mixes, pastas and jams. 

Support local family owned stores in camarillo!

Check out the site!

http://www.epicureanoliveoils.com/

Neat Chart

If you like making crafts as much as I do, you always get stuck thinking what is the best adhesive for the materials you are using. My husband stumbled upon this and I figured I would put it on here because it's very helpful. Sorry this isn't food related, but I just had to share!

German Chocolatey Goodness

I'd never made whoopie pies before so I was a little intimidated to try it out. My first batch of the cookies came out great. My second batch came out a little flat and I figured it may be because the butter softened too much or the oven was already too hot.

These german chocolate whoopie pies were made with a simple basic soft chocolate cookie, an extremely easy coconut filling and a chocolate ganache. Putting them all together was like a fun little puzzle.

I had also made a mint chocolate whoopie pie which I was slightly dissapointed in. the peppermint filling was seperating and I contribute that to my butter. It seems like it needs the top quality unsalted butter with quality powdered sugar in order to not seperate. I always have the same problem when making buttercream so hopefully I can perfect that this year as well.