Pumpkin-Chocolate Bread Pudding Bites

Pumpkin-Chocolate Bread Pudding Bites recipe from "Sweet Designs" by Amy Atlas

This past weekend we had a family get together at my brother's house. Since they were providing dinner, I offered to make dessert. My brother and sister-in-law had gotten me a few cookbooks for my birthday, one of them being Sweet Designs by Amy Atlas. Lately I have been wanting to use the books more, so this was a perfect opportunity. I picked the Pumpkin-Chocolate Bread Pudding Bites. And boy, were they yumm-ee! Almost as yummy as their new puppy! They got a blue Great Dane puppy and she is the most beautiful thing ever and not to mention how soft she is! Sigh, I'm in love. I like to pick her up and hold her as much as I can now because soon I won't be able to. Her mother is 130lbs so we're expecting her to be just as big. Soon she will be knocking us over, but I will still let her lay in my lap.

xo Erin

Casey's Birthday: Cake & Handmade Presents

August 16th was my honey's birthday! Being the baker that I am, I had to make him a cake from scratch. I chose this "Chocolate Peanut Butter Lay Cake" from Annie's Eats. Chocolate and peanut butter was a flavor combination I've never had in a cake and I knew Casey would love it. Who wouldn't love a cake garnished with mini peanut butter cups? 

This was my first time doing icing decorations on a cake and I have to say I'm quite happy with how they came out. The bottom was semi-difficult because of how soft butter cream is, but it came out pretty darn good! Letting go of being a perfectionist was definitely in my favor because it helped me enjoy doing something for my boyfriend and be pleased with how the cake came out. A birthday cake wasn't the only thing I made for my boyfriend. While I bought a few gifts for him, I also made some. First I made a painting with a line from a song he once said "reminded him of us". I was also very happy with how this came out. After I removed the stencil I noticed the edges weren't perfect but that actually made the painting look better! Then I made him some coupons which were inspired by Melissa's DIY on her blog Bubby and Bean.

  He had a very good birthday and that's all I could ask for.
 

Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread

After I saw this recipe from The Brown Eyed Baker I went to one of the local farmer's markets to pick up some zucchini (only $1 each!). This was my second time ever going to a farmer's market and the first time going to one near my house. The first time I went to one was in Michigan while visiting family. Funny story, I bought some cheese bread but forgot to zip my suitcase and the dog got to it and ate a good chunk of it. Darn dog, I was so excited for that bread but now its deliciousness will remain a mystery!

On to this delicious loaf of chocolate which is quite delicious and chocolaty. Also moist, I mean just look how moist this baby is. 

That, is what I am talking about. Yum. Also baking Pam is a life saver, the best. No stickage here!
 

Chocolate Rugelach

Whenever I see rugelach in the store I go yummmm. I do that quite a lot though, there are lots of yummy things in this world I tell ya. When I saw a recipe on Pinterest for Chocolate Rugelach I had to make some pronto. The recipe I used was from Just A Taste. They turned out splendidly! I took some over to Casey's and we snuggled up on the pull out couch to watch movies with pizza and rugelach. It was a good day.

Adventures in Doughnut Making

Making doughnuts sounded like it could be fun (and yummy of course) so last week I grabbed a copy of Doughnuts: Simple and Delicious Recipes to Make at Home by Lara Ferroni. This book has so many simple and fun doughnut recipes. I took the plunge and made basic rise doughnuts with chocolate glaze and boy did they turn out yummy (even though I accidentally used the wrong flour in the first step, oops!). I would say my first attempt at doughnuts was a success! Is it weird that I loved the smell of the dough and the yeast? Every time I got a whiff of it off the dough hook while I was cleaning up I went mmmm, totally normal I say.

Maybe next time I will get a bit more adventurous. There is a apple cider doughnut recipe that I am going to HAVE to try, yum yum!

 

Making Tradtitions: 4th of July Pie

Happy 4th of July! I have been wanting to start some traditions because I'm old school like that and the 4th provided an opportunity. Last year I made "Star-Spangled Apple Pie" from Annie's Eats and starting a tradition, I made the pie again today, hooray! Here are a few snap shots of it including a star close up :D.  Unfortunately due to the recent storm and still on going power outages they cancelled my town's fireworks show in order to "keep the restoration effort at full force". Oh well, they may take away my fireworks but they can't take away my pie.

Have a good day!