You’d never know I gave up sugar for New Year’s…for here, my friends, is a whole heck of a lot of sugar-infused goodness.
I teased this baby on facebook a while back {you know, way back in 2011} and totally forgot to share the recipe as promised. Forgive me.
Sugar coma, what?
Here’s the basic cheesecake recipe I follow – so much easier than I ever imagined making cheesecake to be, although I haven’t quite figured out how not to have massive ravines running through it like deep cracks in a des{s}ert floor…any suggestions?
Then I simply top it with chocolate ganache {I have yet to try adding the rum} – this stuff is easy peasy, and wildly delicious – and then I throw whatever fresh berries I can find in my fridge on top of that.
Voila! Cheesecake from heaven.
The sweetness continues…
These lovely little lasses emerged after I stumbled upon this stunning image {while feeding my new love for decorating cookies, not to mention eating them}, and couldn’t continue to function properly without giving them a whirl.
They made the perfect housewarming gift for my younger sister who loves sugar cookies, the color green, and henna.
They also happened to officially worsen my decorating addiction.
I get to spritz up some cookies with pink and green paisley tomorrow for a friend’s baby shower. If you don’t hear from me in a week, there’s a good chance you’ll find me with pupils dilated, blood sugar soaring, and face set in a vat of royal icing.
Must. decorate. cookies.
On another note, did you know my husband is the coolest, sexiest man currently alive on this planet bakes bread? Yes, indeed. As if he wasn’t dreamy enough. He makes me bread {swoon}.
Last week, while he was whipping out 4 loaves, I swiped one from him and rolled it up with butter, cinnamon, brown sugar and walnuts inside. Oh, goodness gracious me, it was glorious.
We made it even more deadly by serving it as French toast the next morning. Hmm mm mmm mm. {burp}
I blame my hips on my kids. Clearly, it’s all a lie.
Speaking of loin-fruit…we painted Bean’s feet a few days ago. Because we can. Because it was fun. And because they make astonishingly fabulous butterfly wings.
The fact that she almost wet herself screeching with laughter because, apparently, wet paintbrushes on little feet are wickedly ticklish, made it all the more worth it.
What we shall do with this, I haven’t the foggiest. But I slapped paint on my kid’s foot and it made me feel like a cool, non-type-A mom. And it was refreshing. So there.
Sweet feet.
Random note: I fell in love with mustard and grey, thanks to Pinterest – which I love so wildly in so many ways it’s quite scary – that I felt a little blog face-lift was necessary.
Did ya notice?
Nah? That’s okay.
Moving right along…
Quite possibly the sweetest little things we’ve whipped out in the past week are these little puppies…
They take a little time to assemble, but are really very easy to pull off!
Start with whatever cutout sugar cookie recipe you usually use {my new favorite is here} and divide the dough in half. Roll one half in cocoa powder until you get the depth of brown you want (I used about a tablespoon).
Then simply cut heart shapes out of each. You can use a slightly smaller heart-shaped cutter for the chocolate {ears} if you wish, but that’s totally up to you. Cut those chocolate bad boys in half and lay them next to your upside-down vanilla hearts, pressing lightly to ‘connect’ the cookie pieces {they’ll bake together nicely if you have them nestled closely and sealed with a light press of a finger}.
I chose to put our puppies on sticks. Again, that’s totally optional. “Puppy pops” just sounded cuter, and seeing I was making these for Bean’s class – in honor of her “half” birthday {she’s a summer birthday girl} – cute was definitely the intention here.
Bake them for the suggested time, depending on your recipe {mine are 7-8 minutes}, and as soon as they come out, press a few little chocolate chips into the ‘cheeks’. Allow to cool completely.
Adhere your noses {red M&Ms, ‘M’ side down} with a dab of melted chocolate or frosting {I melted some of the little chocolate chips I used on the cheeks and piped it through a snipped ziplock baggie corner}…
Plopping the noses on is a great job for little ones to do. Frequent reminders to ‘not lick the noses first’ may be in order. Then again, maybe we’re just weird.
‘Glue’ the eyes {chocolate M&Ms, ‘M’ side down} on in the same fashion, and then use any remaining melted chocolate to doodle on your pups. We tried patches on the ears, little bows, and now that I think of it, a mustache would have been pretty darn fabulous. Next time.
Badda-bing, badda-boom…puppy pops!
Now that, is sah-weet!
{over and out}
