Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Ebelskivers!

I came across an ebelskiver pan on QVC the other day while I was checking out the kitchen gadget section.  I am a gadget-aholic, so I check out new stuff frequently.  Ebelskivers are Danish puff pancakes that you can fill with all sorts of fillings such as jams, chocolate, peanut butter, etc. I bought one of these pans yesterday while at Target. I threw it into the cart and hoped my husband would like them so he wouldn't ask how much it cost :) 

I was too tired to try it out last night, so I tried it this morning.  I checked blogs to build up my knowledge base on how to cook these things.  You have to flip them over to make them round.  Needless to say that takes a little practice.  I also think I made the batter a little too thin.  The advice said to make a regular pancake batter but make it thinner.




Sorry the pics aren't the greatest.  I made these at 5:30 this morning and that is a shadow of my head on the plate. 


I will try them again later.  I saw some yummy recipes such as cinnamon bun ebelskivers, chocolate with chocolate centers, and even cornbread with cheese in the middle. 

Soccer Cupcake Update

Ok, well just let me say that my "vision" did not turn out the way I wanted it to.  Have you ever had one of those days when everything just goes a little bit wrong, thankfully not horribly wrong?  That's pretty much what happened to me this Monday. 

First, the red gel coloring I had was a bit old and therefore my icing turned out pink. I need to update my cake making toolbox.



Then, I had to make another batch of icing and decided to try green to get a grassy look for my soccer ball.  That's when another problem popped up....not enough powdered sugar.  I made my own in the blender, but it never gets as smooth as the store-bought kind.  The icing turned out tasty but a little gritty.  And NO, I didn't want to go back to the store for try number 3 on the icing. Plus, guess what?  The green gel coloring was old too!  I need to use my Michael's coupons to restock.




Oh, by the way, the cupcakes puffed out of the liners after I was SO careful not to fill them as full as I usually do.  Talk about a muffin top problem....

 


I took them to the party anyway and everyone said they were so cute, but I just didn't like them.  They looked like some leftover St. Patrick's Day disaster with a soccer ball toothpick on top. 

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Soccer

Well, soccer season is coming to an end soon...only two more games left.  I volunteered to bring cupcakes for the celebration after the game next Monday.  After checking the craft stores and not finding any soccer themed cake decorating items in stock, I looked on Amazon (my favorite store) to see if they had anything.  Much to my displeasure all they had were non-Prime eligible items in stock which translates into: these items will never make it to my house by Monday morning.  In the end I decided to print pictures of soccer balls onto paper and use my circle punch to cut out perfect circles. Then I will use my scalloped edge punch to cut out card stock backs.  After gluing them together, I will use toothpicks to stick them into the cupcakes which will be decorated to look like green grass.  Sounds good, right?  Well, we'll see.  I'll post pictures of them Monday or Tuesday for all to see.  Plus, I'll post some pictures of Sunny playing soccer.  I'm hoping to post some of my crafting and sewing experiences on this blog, but life has been hectic around here for the past few weeks.  As a result, I am way behind in my picture-taking!  My spring break is next week so maybe I'll have time to post some cool stuff for you guys.