rice krispie cake

I should have known better then to ask my brother in law what kind of birthday cake he wanted.  I also should have known I was going to get some crazy elaborate request when it took him 10 minutes to answer.  This is what he gave me.

Peanut butter ball cake with strawberries and chocolate.  

It was then up to me to figure out what to do.  Thank you to my mother in law for helping me brainstorm!

 

Peanut Butter Balls

from the big red book

1 cup peanut butter (chunky or smooth it doesn't matter)

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup golden corn syrup

5 cups rice krispies

In a sauce pan, melt the peanut butter, brown sugar and corn syrup.  Add rice krispies and mix quickly.  While they're still relatively hot, cover your hands in butter and roll into balls.  These freeze super well.

In the case of the "cake" I opted to press the mixture into two 8" cake pans.  

Strawberry Rice Krispies

by back to basics

4 tbs butter

1 3 oz package of strawberry jello

1 250 g package marshmallows

5 cups rice krispies

On medium low heat, melt butter then add jello and stir.  Add marshmallows and stir until melted. Add rice krispies and press into two 8" cake pans.

To assemble the "cake" I started with the peanut butter layer, added a layer of chocolate frosting, then the strawberry layer and more forsting and then the other peanut butter layer.  I had an extra layer of strawberry rice krispies that I sent home with the birthday boy, but it could easily have been incorporated into the "cake".  Cover the whole thing in more chocolate frosting, and Shane's insane concoction of peanut butter balls and strawberry and chocolate was finished. 

By far this was the weirdest request for a birthday cake I've ever had.  He seemed to love it though, and that's all that really matters.  Happy Birthday Shane.

oatmeal white chocolate cookies

I'm not the hugest fan of white chocolate, but Josh is.  If fact, he doesn't even like chocolate unless it's white.  It boggles my mind.  

Oatmeal white chocolate cookies are his favourite, and so when he asked me to make them for him today I couldn't say no.  

The recipe I use is basically the same recipe I use for my oatmeal dark chocolate cherry cookies, with a couple differences.  Today, there were more then a couple differences because of ingredient issues.  So the recipe I used today is as follows.

Oatmeal White Chocolate Cookies
from back to basics

155 g all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

 140 g unsalted butter

110 g white sugar

110 g brown sugar

1 large egg

2 tsp vanilla

48 g old fashioned oats
48 g spelt flakes

30 g flax seeds 

300 g white chocolate 

Preheat oven to 325

Wisk flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl.

Cream the butter and sugars together and then add the egg and vanilla.

Add the flour mixture and mix until just blended.

Add oats, spelt flakes, then chocolate.

Bake on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper for 15-18 minutes until edges are golden brown.

 

 The cookies came out thin and crispy, but still chewy enough that they're not hard.  

I still much prefer the combination of dark chocolate and cherries in these cookies but as far as white chocolate oatmeal goes, these really are delicious. Even if I don't particularly enjoy white chocolate. 

love, sweet love

I had the brilliant idea of not only having a dessert table at our wedding, but baking it all myself.  In retrospect, it was indeed brilliant, and I'm so proud of myself for pulling it off.  I must give credit where it's due and thank those who helped make it a possibility though, because while the idea was to do it all by myself, it didn't end up going down that way.

To my amazingly wonderful and talented sister, maid of honour, photographer, wedding planner, designer and recipe contributor Margie, it would not have been possible without you!

To my mom for staying with us for the week leading up to the wedding and baking the chocolate chip meringues, sour cream cookies and the chocolate bundt cakes.

To Stephanie for not only the smartie cookies, but for the problem solving that went along with them.

To Sharlene at Sweet Celebrations for such a beautiful and delicious wedding cake.

Lastly, to the women who inspired me to make a dessert table filled with family recipes to begin with.  If it weren't for those women who baked them first, there wouldn't have been a table filled with as much love and history as there was.

If I had to go back and do it again, I absolutely would. 

 

Nannie's Smartie cookies

Omi`s Mandarine Cake

Margie`s Mocha Chocolate Cake

Mom`s Chocolate Chip Meringues

 

Mom`s Neapolitans

 

Josh`s request: My Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Vanilla Bean Buttercream

Grandma`s Sour Cream Cookies and Dar`s Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins

Though not a part of the actual dessert table, I made 90 jars of peach jam to give to each guests as our bomboniere.

Our wedding was indeed filled with love, sweet love.

chocolate chip cookies

 

When I first came across the recipe for these chocolate chip cookies I just couldn't want to try them.  They're advertised as being the best ever.  That's a lot to live up to if I do say so myself, and while I do agree that they were delicious, they were not the best ever.  For me anyway.

I had issues.  Clearly I had too many on the cookie sheet, and too much in each cookie.  I also felt like the batter was a bit too warm.  No problem, nothing a little less batter and a fridge can't fix.

Second tray in the oven was much much better.  I noticed while the first pan was in the oven that I needed to decrease the amount I was putting on each sheet so I took some off before they went in the oven.

By the third try I felt like I had figured it out, but they just don't look as delicious as what I was expecting.  The picture from the blog I got the recipe from makes the cookies look like the soft and chewy mr. cristies cookies. I was expecting this:

(Photo courtesy of the blog Apple A Day)

And I got this:

Again, it's not that my cookies were bad, they just weren't what I was expecting.  I have too high of expectations sometimes.  None the less, these will all get eaten... That's an expectation I know I can count on.