A few of his favorite things

I was delighted to be able to make a few things for a very special guy on his birthday. What makes him so special is that he makes someone I love very happy. Butter, sugar, and flour just doesn't seem to quite cut it.

Among the items on the birthday boy's list of favorite things is Guinness Draught. Instead of tackling one of the many chocolate stout cupcake recipes out there I simply replaced the water in a devil's food chocolate cake mix recipe with Guinness. I figured the Guinness company would not be too upset that I pirated one of their images for these cupcakes since I did use their product in the recipe. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the party where these were served but I hear they went over pretty well.
As for the cookies, he is a guy so no matter what they may say, these cookie designs are on most men's list of favorite things.

Sugar Cookies

A very Happy Birthday to my boss who is also a shoe lover like myself. I made the presentation extra special by packaging them in a parchment lined shoe box.

I used Paula Deen's recipe for these cookies as well as the sugar cookies I made for Christmas.

Ingredients
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract ( I used 1/2 tsp)
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions
In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until fluffy. Beat in eggs, vanilla and almond extract until combined.
In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Gradually add to sugar mixture, beating until smooth. Wrap dough in heavy-duty plastic wrap, and refrigerate 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut with assorted snowflake cookie cutters and place 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Chill dough 15 minutes. Bake for 10 minutes ( I baked mine 8 minutes), or until edges are very lightly browned. Let cool for 2 minutes on baking sheet. Remove from pans and cool completely on wire racks.

Flowers or a Card?

When you cannot choose between flowers or a card here is an option.

Another Chocolate Covered Birthday

My dad is not a huge cake lover so I was hesitant to make a typical birthday cake for his big day. After a huge birthday meal I decided a light snack was all we would need. I remembered my husband's birthday and came up with the idea of inserting candles into marshmallows and covering them in chocolate. He got his candles and blew them out too.

Get Your Motor Running

Happy Birthday Pam!

I made Apple Streusel Muffins for a co-workers birthday. She loves Harleys so I went with a "chrome" theme. I found the recipe for the muffins here. I decided to omit the walnuts in the streusel topping because you never know everyones taste and I didn't want to be "that guy" who's treats go untouched. Not a worry there. I snagged my container when I saw there was only one left. I wanted one for myself.

The muffins were very good. Very moist and tender just as described in the recipe. To go along with the muffins I made cinnamon butter by combining a stick of butter, 1/2 cup of powdered sugar and a tablespoon of cinnamon. It was wonderful! People were eating it without the muffin, I also made vanilla cream cheese by combining softened cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla. It was gone before the muffins were. Sorry, didn't measure out this one but it was getting late and all of my measuring utensils were dirty.

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Happy 97th Birthday Grandma

For the past 17 years or so we have been trying to get together to celebrate my grandmother's birthday. Every year it seems to get a little bigger. This year the family took my grandmother to church and after had a light lunch at my parent's home. I was in charge of the dessert buffet. The menu included brownie bites, raspberry cheesecake bites, and my mom's lemon cake bars. Happy 97th Grandma! I better start planning for next year.

Blow out your Bananas

My husband and I celebrated his birthday in a rather unusual way - with chocolate covered bananas. Easter was two days after his birthday and I was going to make a carrot cake and his parents were coming the following weekend and I was making his requested strawberry cake so I knew we would be caked out. Daniel loves chocolate covered bananas and the added crushed Butterfinger didn't hurt either.