New Favorite Sugar Cookie Recipe!

I am using a new sugar cookie recipe thanks to Cookie Crazie. She was gracious enough to share her recipe with all of us newbie cookie makers, and it is so much tastier AND the edges of the cookie are more firm/sharp looking than my old recipe. FYI- I typically double this recipe.

My Sugar Cookie recipe adapted from here: Cookie Crazie's blog (My sugar cookie decorating hero!)

Ingredients:
1 C butter, softened
1 1/2 C sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla (or any other extract/emulsion flavor)
1/2 C sour cream
4 1/2 C flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Instructions: Preheat oven to 325 degrees F
1) Cream butter, sugar, egg, vanilla, & sour cream.
2) Blend in dry ingredients.
3) Roll dough to desired thickness (I prefer to use a Dobord on the middle setting, cover with parchment paper, then roll out dough directly on the parchment paper that gets transferred to the baking sheet).
4) Cut into shapes.
5) Transfer parchment paper to cookie sheet OR place cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet.
6) Bake for 18-20 minutes.
7) Transfer to a wire rack then cool the cookies.
8) Decorate with icing, sprinkles, or just enjoy them plain.

To make a chocolate sugar cookie:
Substitute 1/2 C cocoa for 1/2 C flour

Wanna-Be Almond Roca

My dad and my uncle love Almond Roca- so I'm attempting to make my own this year instead of buying the tub-o-Roca from Costco!

Here it is- modified from a recipe I found on allrecipes.com

Ingredients:
2 C Chopped Almonds
4 Tbsp Butter, melted
2 C Butter (don't use margarine)
2 C Granulated Sugar
6 Tbsp Hot/Boiling Water
1/4 C Corn Syrup
2 Bags Milk Chocolate Chips

Steps:
1) In a 9x13 pyrex dish, pour the 4 Tbsp melted butter and the chopped almonds. Broil the almonds for about 3 minutes, mix, then broil for an additional 3 minutes. The almonds will look dark, but will not be burned. 
2) Set aside 1/2 of the almonds for the topping, and spread the other half evenly along the bottom of the pyrex dish, sprinkle 1 bag of chocolate chips over the almonds, then set the dish to the side (spread the chocolate evenly over the almonds after 2-3 minutes of melting).
3) On low, melt the 2 C butter and granulated sugar, and allow to cook for 5 minutes.
4) At the end of 5 minutes, add in the water and corn syrup. 
5) Increase heat to medium or just above medium, then boil this mixture until it reaches 300 F (about 15 minutes) on a candy thermometer.
6) Immediately pour the boiled mixture over the previously toasted almonds.
7) Sprinkle the second bag of chocolate chips on top of the toffee mixture and allow to set for about 2 minutes.
8) After chocolate has melted, evenly spread it over the toffee mixture with a silicone spatula, then sprinkle the remaining almonds on top of the melted chocolate.
9) After allowing the mixture to cool for about 10 minutes, score the mixture in the size pieces you desire so it will be easy to break when the mixture has completely cooled/ set.  Allow to set overnight.

Yields approximately 40 pieces.

Baby Grand Piano Cake

My cousin Chuck graduated from high school last week! He is going to school to be a pastor!  He has an AMAZING gift to play and compose the piano, so for his graduation I wanted to do something special. I made him his very own baby grand. Now, it didn't last the night, but it was pretty yummy :)

The cake was a Chocolate WASC with Vanilla Buttercream frosting and Bavarian Cream Filling. The cake is covered with Black Fondant and is on a cake stand that my husband made after I carved the cake.   Here are the pictures showing how I made the cake:

The pictures below are of the following points in the process.
1) Newly carved cake- no icing.
2) Bavarian Cream filling.
3) Crumb coating on the cake.
4) Fondant covered cake.
5) Almost done! Accent pieces placed on cake, ready for transport.
6) The final cake- ready to be cut into.