Very Berry Pie

1 cup fresh strawberries, halved
2/3 cup white sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 cups raspberries
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
2-3 tsp fresh lemon juice
cinnamon
1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie (I used a pre-made crust instead!)

** Note: I personally used frozen berries. Just make sure you let them defrost for about half an hour before using them.
(Only takes about 20 minutes prep time and then 60 minutes cooking time)

In a large mixing bowl, stir together sugar,cornstarch and a splash of cinnamon. Add strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and lemon juice; gently toss until berries are coated.

 

 

Line a 9 inch pie plate with half of the pastry. Stir berry mixture, and transfer to the crust lined pie plate. I personally made sure to sprinkle a little bit of the white sugar and cornstarch mixture on the crust before pouring the berries inside to help it from making the crust soggy.

 

 

Top with second crust, and seal and crimp the edge. The recipe didn't call for it, but I brushed on a egg and water mixture (1 egg + 1/4 cup water) over the top crust before placing it in the oven. It worked out perfectly :)

 

 

Place a foil trim over the crust to keep it from burning!

 

Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes when using fresh fruit, 50 minutes for frozen fruit. Remove foil. Bake for an additional 20 to 30 minutes, or until the top is golden. Cool on wire rack.

and ...

Ta Da!

Plus, don't forget to add a scoop of vanilla ice cream for extra happiness !

Sugar Cookie Donuts

This idea came to me one night while perusing the web: I saw a great sugar cookie recipe on marthastewart.com and wanted to do something a little different. The hubby loves anything lemon, and that is pretty much the only type of sweet that he likes. So in hopes that I wouldn't have to eat these all on my own, I wanted to make some type of lemon icing to pour on top of them.

Steps to making these delicious beauties:

Sugar Cookies

3 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 3/4 cups granulated sugar

1/4 cup packed light-brown sugar

1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest, plus 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 cup unsalted butter, (2 sticks), softened

2 large eggs

 When you have your dough, roll it out into long individual pieces, and then connect the two ends making shapes similar to rings (or donuts!)

Set oven to 350 degrees, and cook until lightly browned, about 15 minutes.

While the cookies bake, begin your lemon icing.

Lemon Icing

1/2 cup butter

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 cups confectioners' sugar

(Just mix the ingredients together! It is super easy)

When your cookies are slightly browned, take them out of the oven and let them cool for about 5 minutes. 

While they are still slightly warm, use a spoon and pour a small amount of icing over the cookie, enough to cover the entire top.

(This is a messy process so make sure you do this on top of foil)

When done glazing your cookies, let them cool, and enjoy!!!

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 3/4 cups granulated sugar

1/4 cup packed light-brown sugar

1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest, plus 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 cup unsalted butter, (2 sticks), softened

2 large eggs

Read more at Marthastewart.com: Old-Fashioned Sugar Cookies and more delicious recipes, smart cooking tips, and video demonstrations on marthastewart.com

Frosted Cupcakes

The deliciously DELIGHTFUL red velvet cupcake at Frosted Cupcakes on 2nd Street in Long Beach. In the background is their oreo cookie cupcake. 

Elmo & Friends

This Elmo and Friends birthday setup was for my nephew's 2nd birthday, and it was such a hit! I had a lot of fun coming up with this little design. I knew that we were doing a Sesame Street theme, but I had a hard time coming up with exactly what I wanted to do, and that is when the wonderful use of Google images saved the day.  Whenever you are stuck on what you want to do ... just google it. There are so many creative people out there that upload all of their photos and they are great to use to get your creative juices flowing. 

The prep area...can you notice Rikki Tikki getting in on some of the action?

The fun thing with cupcakes is experimenting with candy to put on top. For Big Bird I used candy corn for his beak; another idea is to use thin pieces of red or black licorice for mouths and hair. For the characters eyes I made two small dollops of white icing and used upside down chocolate chips for the black parts.

For the main part of the display, you can combine cupcakes to make Elmo's face. I used icing that was dipped into red sugar (or orange for the nose and white for the eyes) and decorated as needed. This project took a while, but once the kids saw it and began to chow down it was SO worth it :)

The look on the toy Elmo's face is pretty much what I feel like when I see cupcakes..... Ohhh yes.