As promised...but a couple of days late...the recipe for Cookie Dough Brownies!  (For my Facebook readers!)  Chad had me side-tracked by making me some raised beds for my vegetables and herbs this week - of course I had to help!  :-:-:-)  Caitlyn celebrated her summer birthday at school this week & she got to take a treat in to share.  She said she wanted something different, so I sat her down at my Pinterest boards and let her look around for something.  She found a recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough brownies here.  I decided to use my more cake-like brownie recipe and adapt my cookie dough filling from my cupcakes for the topping.  They were a hit (hard not to please a bunch of kids with sugar treats, right??)!  Find the recipe on the Baking Recipes page, or click here for a printable version.  Enjoy your weekend cooking some yummy treats up in your own kitchen!

Last weekend I got to make a wedding cake - The bride and groom chose to do a small cutting cake (shown above) and sheet cakes (a sample shown to the left) for their guests.  I don't think I stopped smiling last Friday when I was working on them!  :-)

If you're not on Facebook, I asked a question a few days ago:  Rhubarb...Love it or hate it?!?  I don't think there's too many "in between" people on this subject.  If you haven't had a chance to reply on Facebook, give me a shout-out here!  I'm working on some new rhubarb recipes right now.  I'll be sharing soon!

Good morning!  I've had a fun spring so far - I can't seem to mow enough grass to keep up - Good thing I enjoy mowing!!  This week I completed the 2nd Wilton cake classes.  I have learned a lot about making flowers from different kinds of frosting, which will help me to decorate cakes for those who don't like fondant!  This week, I needed a cake but I was short on time.  My kids love chocolate cake, so I turned to a wacky cake - it literally takes less than 10 minutes to get it ready for the oven!  What makes a wacky cake "wacky"???  It's the lack of eggs in the recipe.  Plus it has vinegar (just a touch).  It's a really moist and yummy cake - if you've never made one, I highly recommend it!  I made white chocolate curls for on the top of this cake - I am busy getting for a wedding this week and wanted to finish my cake with something pretty, but not time-consuming!

I'm off to make sheet cakes and a cutting cake for a wedding tomorrow - stay tuned for pictures!  Enjoy your weekend!!!!!

Springtime for me means getting things done when the weather is cooperative - and it's been mostly cooperative, so I've been AWOL from being on my computer very much!  :-)  Today, it snowed.  So I made cookies and have time to post the recipe.  We have a few guys coming to help cut wood, and their only payment required is that they get to eat.  LOL  Cookies and stromboli are on the menu for them!  I posted the recipe for Monster Cookies on the Baking Recipes page (click here for a printable version).  There are SO many versions of this recipe out there - I think there are even some with no flour in them.  The one I posted has more peanut butter (no surprise there, eh?) and a bit more flour and oatmeal to keep them thick.  Feel free to add raisins if you like, too!  The cake above is for a friend's kids - they have a birthday close together, and I made it half Spidey, half princess for them.  I was going to make a web going over the princess, but figured that would cause a war between the kids - thinking the princess was captive!  HAHAHA  It's a homemade marble cake inside.  Enjoy your snowy April weather if you're in Ohio!!!  :-)

I neglected to upload my cousin's 5-year-old birthday cake last weekend - Making it to Facebook was as far as it got!  :-)  This cake was a fun challenge for me - I love a challenge!  I made it from brownies and white cake...because my cousin's family likes brownies, but not chocolate cake!  My cousin said she had to put a laundry basket over the cake to keep 2 little boys out of the frosting before the party.  Too funny!  Have a great day, ya'all!!!

As promised on Facebook, I posted the recipe for the carrot cake today!  I posted the original recipe, which makes a double layer 9" round cake (though I always split my layers to make 4 skinny layers).  To make the cake a 6-layer, do another half batch of the cake and make 3 layers.  To split the layers, I use a Wilton cake leveler.  You can use a long serrated knife to do the job, too.  Just split it as evenly as you can!  Find the recipe on the Baking Recipes page, or click here for a printable version!  Let me know if you bake one up for your families Easter celebration!

Yesterday, I got to make my almost-famous 27 pound lasagna for the Tennant Family (my dad's side).  My grandma Tennant made the most AMAZING carrot cake ever, so I had to make that to share with everyone.  She split her layers so she had a "reason" to use ore cream cheese frosting.  I made a 3-layer cake, so it turned into 6 layers after splitting them.  I had to take a picture of the inside of the cake to share with you.  And yes, because it was an enormous cake, I weighed it.  It was 12.8 pounds!  My friend Jenni asked me if I knew I was allowed to make things "normal" sized.  LOL  My mom was supposed to make a Mississippi mud cake and a cherry cheesecake (we had a lot of people here!).  She made those - along with a lemon pie, a state fair apple pie, and some no-bake cheerio cookies!  Seriously...there was a lot of dessert!  She did end up letting my dad/brother tackle the cheerio cookies the day before....along with us having a few when we stopped by.  Gotta work off the calories I ate yesterday for sure!  Off to spend some time with my kids - Oh, and don't forget to notice the awesome Fiestaware knife that is beside the cake!  Love my knives!!!

Today, my post is simple:  Do you prefer a crumb topping on your pie or a 2-crust pie?  Does it differ for what kind of pie you are making?  I prefer a crumb top on most fruit pies.  I just found out that some people I know don't like a crumb top at all - which surprises me!  So now I am curious to know how you all feel about it...Leave me a comment!  I made 4 apple pies this weekend.  One for my pie-of-the-month customer, one for my favorite cookbook-giver, and 2 for my women's Bible study...for a birthday treat 

How many times have you boiled water or other liquid onto your stove when you're cooking?  It's the most common mistake made in my own kitchen...which is why we have a ceramic topped stove now!  I can't tell you how many times over the years I have had a mess to clean up from not paying close enough attention to how much something is boiling!  I got a tip from Pinterest awhile ago that was life-changing for me!  Place a wooden spoon across a pan of whatever you've got cooking, and it wont...boil...over!  Of course I immediately tested the theory (with plenty of towels nearby to prove it couldn't possibly work).  Guess what?  It DOES work!  It hasn't failed me yet (knock on wood), and I've had some big pots of boiling liquids this winter.  Check out the photo of potatoes I cooked for dinner tonight - with my trusty wooden spoon resting over the top.  Also note the angle of the picture, taken to show you one of my Fiestaware prized possessions - my new knife block purchased not long ago on a spur-of-the-moment car trip with Jenni Walton to WV.  They were having a sale - we practically HAD to go!  LOL  Anyhow - my stove top is thankful for the lack of boiling liquids escaping the pan...try it out in your own kitchen!

It's been a whirlwind - I can only imagine what summer will bring - but I look forward to the craziness of having kids at home!  Actually, the only "kid" keeping me busy this week was Chad.  He got ready for a trip to Germany...and the laundry seemed endless!  I even ironed shirts.  For those who know me, you know that was not fun.  LOL  I worked on chocolates, and had many requests for chocolate covered pretzels, which I made this week.  Oh, and chocolate chip cookie dough filled eggs!  Today I got to switch gears and make rainbow themed cupcakes - pictured here.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend!