Simple Sweet Treats

Sharing a few of my new yummy treats I made this week for various Christmas parties.  I found all but one on Pinterest.

First up Rolo cupcakes. If you love Rolo's then these cupcakes were made for you.   The original recipe was for 12 regular size cupcakes but because they were going to Faruq's work I  made them as mini's.  They were just a perfect "one" bite of chocolaty caramel goodness.  The recipe made almost 40 mini's so we had lots left to enjoy at home.

Find the recipe here at one of my favorite blogs "My Baking Addicition".

Next up Red Velvet Cupcakes with a cream cheese icing.  I tried one of the new Red Velvet cakes mixes that the President's Choice brand at Superstore has brought out.  For a mix it was actually quite good.  But to be completely honest  I'm not a huge fan of Red Velvet because no matter what recipe I have tried you still get the same taste and it's from the amount of red food coloring that needs to be added to the mix to achieve a nice color.

But if you wanted to give it a try from scratch I found this recipe from A Farm Girl Dabbles that looked pretty darn good.

Next up were Caramel Cashew Clusters which were so easy.  You can find the recipe here on My Baking Addiction.

Lastly, I made these super simple and yummy treats.  These little beauties are called "Rolo Turtles".  You can find the recipe here but all you need are pretzels, Rolos and pecans.   I have made these a few times now and honestly prefer to make them just before I want to serve them but I'm sure they would freeze fine as well.

My motto for this year has been "keep it simple".  I love creating and experimenting in the kitchen but as a busy mom with three kids I just don't always have as much time as I would like so I search out simple recipes.  I would love to hear about some of your family favorites !!

I still have more of our Christmas favorites to make but most I will do when we are all off for the holidays and there will be people around to eat it.  I have a notoriously heavy sweet tooth and do not need to be alone with all this goodness.

Happy Baking !!

Happy Birthday Laila !

Our lovely little Laila turned four on Monday so we celebrate her special day on Sunday.  As always the person celebrating the birthday got to pick the meals for the day so for breakfast we dined on sausages, pancakes and fruit.  For lunch Laila asked to go to MacDonald's with her daddy.

We had originally planned a little party for her on Sunday afternoon and the two friends she invited both ended up getting sick (our preschool has had a nasty virus going around) and were not able to come.  Laila was sad of course but we forged forward and celebrated her birthday.

Meatballs and pasta were on the menu for supper then we ate cake !  Sophie has been watching Yo Gabba Gabba so Laila watches by default.  When it came to what she wanted for her cake it was Yo Gabba Gabba's Foofa character.  I created Foofa out of gum paste/fondant and Hayden helped me decorate the actual cake.  I think we did a pretty good job and she was thrilled !

Grammie and Grampie skyped with us to sing Happy Birthday.

Then we opened presents.  She was thrilled to get the Tangled barbie, a few more sets for her dollhouse and her first LEGO set.

All in all it was a really nice day and I think she was really pleased.  On Monday her class threw a little birthday party and again she was so happy to be singled out.

Laila has had an incredible year of growth on a number of fronts.  This time last year she was barely speaking but now she is very fluent and her vocabulary continues to grow every day.  Her preschool has been a perfect fit for her and we are excited for what will happen for her in the new year.

Happy Birthday sweet Laila !  We know you will rock out this coming year with style and grace !!

Love 

Mama 

Wordless Wednesday (December 7th)

~Sophie - December '11 ~

This kid cracks me up daily with her humor.

She has been watching a Pirate show on the Disney channel 

and has been winking and saying "Arrrrrr".