First Birthday Fun

Good morning!

I have a few free minutes before I have to head off to church, so I thought I'd squeeze a quick blog post in.

These next few weekends (this weekend included) are busy, busy, busy when it comes to baking, so I will have plenty of posts coming up soon.

The baking agenda for this weekend was all about a sweet little baby's first birthday party.  The party theme was owls, and I got to make a smash cake for her. It was so much fun, and it actually ended up being one of my favorite cakes.

I can't wait to see pictures of little Kensley digging her hands into it!

I hope everyone has a happy Sunday full of family, fellowship, and worship of our sweet Jesus!

"This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."

Psalm 118:24 

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

It is SUCH a beautiful day.

I started it with a trip to church to celebrate the Reason for this day. I am so, so, so thankful that my Jesus was (and is) powerful enough to overcome the grave. 1 Corinthians 15:14 says, "And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith." BUT, verse 20 goes on to say, "But Christ HAS INDEED been raised from the dead." We are victors in Christ. Shame, guilt, sin, death, condemnation...they have NO power over us. Why? Because Jesus suffered on the cross on Friday and rose again 3 days later.

"Where, o death, is your victory?
Where, o death, is your sting?"
1 Corinthians 15:55

Praise the Lord!

Where the secular Easter bunny and egg hunts came into the picture, I have no idea. Nevertheless, I couldn't resist the opportunity to make cute, colorful cookies.

I hope everyone enjoys this day with their family to celebrate the resurrection of our Savior!

Nanny's Pound Cake

I love pound cake. I really do. Especially when it has some vanilla ice cream and strawberries on top.

Fortunately for me (and now all of you), my Nanny makes the most delicious pound cake.

I don't know how this recipe varies from pound cake recipes y'all have. It might be exactly the same. It might be completely different. She may have gotten the recipe out of a Southern Living cookbook. It may be a recipe that has been passed down from generation to genereration. I really don't know. All I know is that it tastes good. It's light and fluffy and tasty and fattening and great. So here's the recipe.

Enjoy!

Pound Cake

Pound Cake

Ingredients

2 sticks of margarine

1/2 c shortening

3 c granulated sugar

5 eggs

3 c flour

1 c milk

1/2 tsp vanilla 

1/2 tsp almost extract

Directions

Start creaming margarine and shortening. Add sugar and turn mixer to medium speed. Add eggs one at a time. Turn down mixer slightly. Add flour 1 cup at a time, alternating with milk. Add extracts. Cook in COLD over at 300 degrees for 2 hours. Cover immediately after removing from pan to preserve moisture. 

The BEST Chocolate Chip Cookie

In my last post, I talked about a delicious dinner my family was about to have. I intended on posting shortly after that with a picture of my meal. However, it's 10 days later and I still haven't posted. Where did the time go?

Anyway, here it is! The yummy fish dinner consumed outside on the deck on a lovely spring night.

Onto the dessert for the day. Now, my title is the BEST Chocolate Chip Cookie ever. I find this to be true...with one exception. That exception is the Yellow Cake Mix Cookie. BUT, if we're just talking chocolate chip cookies from scratch (using cake mix doesn't count), this one wins. Why, you ask? Because it has a secret ingredient. Cream cheese.

Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Cookies

Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients 
5-6 oz cream cheese (softened)
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulate sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups plus 3 tbsp all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips

Directions
Preheat the over to 325 degrees.
Cream together the butter, cream cheese, and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla.
Sift together the dry ingredients and add them to the butter mixture. Beat until well combined. Stir in chocolate chips.
Place a scoop of dough on the prepared cookie sheet and flatten slightly with your hand.
Bake 12-14 minutes or until edges are looking slightly brown.
Cool 5 minutes on cookie sheet before moving to wire rack to cool completely.

Happy St. Patty's Day!

What a beautiful St. Patrick's Day today has been!

It was 81 degrees today. In March! That thrills me to no end. I am so so so so happy to have basically skipped winter this year. I have absolutely no desire to see cold temperatures anytime after Christmas. I do like it to be cold around the holidays, but after that, the weather is free to be beautiful anytime it wants.

That being said, we're grilling out tonight in this gorgeous weather. Salmon, potatoes, asparagus, fruit, and hush puppies...mmm...my stomach is already growling.

Anyway, my dad works at Lowes, and to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, they had a cupcake war. It wasn't anything like the TV cupcake wars. I didn't actually have to go somewhere to compete in a given time frame against competitors. Instead, I made my cupcakes at home and took them into Lowes.

I decided to make Green Velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. I'll let ya in on a secret...they're actually just Red Velvet cupcakes, but instead of red food coloring, I put green. Amazing, right?

I also tried to make shamrocks out of fondant to put on top, but that didn't turn out as well as I had pictured it. I didn't actually have a shamrock cutter, so I just cut them with a knife...and they look kinda funny. Oh well, better luck next time.

Here they are!