The Second Big Baking Extravganza

Today was the start of the second holiday extravaganza. Since the oatmeal chocolate chip cookies were such a success I decided to try y hand with the Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix. I made a double batch because the oatmeal chocolate chip ones basically went overnight (thanks to friends - not me.)

This is the mix

These are the eggs.

You can see the two eggs peeking out from behind. Two sticks of butter were also needed. Again I used the best - Kerry Gold and microwaved them for only five seconds this time as opposed to ten. The reason, so they wouldn't get all melty and runny when I would take them out of the microwave.Bad idea. It took Herculean strength to mix the two sticks with the two eggs and two packages of mix. I seriously thought of putting the whole thing into the microwave to melt the butter but that would also cook the eggs. I just had to add extra muscle.

Truth be told it was the hardest dough to work with, by far. I had leftover Christmas sprinkles so they also went into tthe batter for some color and fun

Since I like the bigger cookies, I used tablespoon sized balls.

I also had help, from my girl, Sunny..

Here is the finished product. 100, yes 100 Christmas funfetti sugar cookies. that took just two cookies trays(used repeatedly and three hours.

Would I do this again? Only with help from friends and family.

Tomorrow it's tackling  marble cake with choclate buttercream icing . Stay tuned.

Bakezilla Day One

Today was Day One of my holiday baking extravaganza. I forgot that cupcake making is a lot like childbirth. You tend to forget the agony and pain until you start the process again.It was definitely worth it, despite the battle with the icing.I enjoyed making the Christmas funfetti cupcakes. As you can see from the pictures, they're even pretty sans the topping. I may just try naked cupcakes for Valentine's Day.

Here's the batter with the sprinkles. Most recipes call for 1/2 cup .I used a little more for a really dotted effect.The cake batter was Duncan Hines's lemon cake mix.The lemon gives it some bite and kick

It kinds of looks like a beaten egg with red and green pepper bits.

These are the sprinkles  used, bought from my Stop & Shop's bakery department.

This is the festive cupcake paper, also bought from Stop & Shop. They're pretty and fun, and the reason I went with green icing. - to provide a nice contrast.

These are my beauties baked. You can see how pretty and colorful they look without the icing.I may try the "naked" look for Valentine's Day (the cupcakes - not  ME  of course)

These are the ingredients for my favorite cream cheese icing. I went upscake  and used Kerry Gold Butter instead of the usual spread. I also added a splash of  whole milk to make the icing creamier

Four cups of confectioner's sugar was used. This was right after I creamed the cream cheese and  butter together. I microwaved the butter beforehand for thirty seconds to soften it.It really helps.

Two teaspoons of vanilla gives it flavor. I prefer Neisen Massey. They're is the best and purest form of the essence.

I used a lot of green food coloring from McCormick, It looks like a kale leaf snuck in there.Luckily  it spread and became a festive leafy green

These are the finished gems. I added a puff of more icing after I spread on an initial layer with my icing spreader (a must have for any home baker)>The puffs were added with my 

Wilton decorator gadget.I am a proud cupcake mama but my babies are gorgeous.!

These are a  lot of work but there is a certain amount of fun there.Tomorrow I tackle cookies!!!

My Big Christmas Baking Extravaganza

 I am in full baking mode this year. Blame it on The Great British Baking Show and The Great American Baking Show for making me want to have a three day event where I will be creating the trifecta of holiday baking  -cupcakes, brownies and cookies. It'll be the most baking I've done in years, but I'm looking forward to it.

The cupcakes will be the star of the show. I plan on using Duncan Hines lemon cake mix and turning it into Christmas Funfetti cupcakes. This is where you add half a cup of sprinkles to the batter. This creates a fun and pretty polka dot look. Many home bakers are getting on the trend and making these for birthday parties and showers. The tubular jimmy kind has to be used. The tinier rounded sprinkles just don't cut it. I bought mine at Stop & Shop. They always have large tubs of them, left over from their own baking. The  icing will be my favorite cream cheese one dyed a festive green and decorated with  what else  - more red, green and white sprinkles.If this works out I may try pink and red Funfetti cupcakes for Valentine's Day. The icing will be elevated - I'm using  the good  Irish Kerry Gold butter to kick it up a notch. I am thinking of using it in a champagne buttercream icing  for a friend's birthday.

As for the cookies and brownies.the cookies are from the Betty Crocker packaged mixes. Fingers crossed that it works out well, because I have yet to use that brand thus far. It is an oatmeal one that I am going to amp up with mini chocolate chips. It should be very buttery tasting, Again I will be  using the Kerry Gold butter which will work well with the oatmeal. If these are successful I will move onto the brand's sugar cookie mix. The brownies are my go to, Duncan Hines dark chocolate brownie mix. I love this mix. Use two eggs when making it and the brownies come out perfectly cake like. with  a tender moist crumb. Home bakers can add  crushed peppermint candy or walnuts for a fun spin. The company does have a decadent brownie line (which my store unfortunately does not carry) .The various  mixes have walnuts, caramel and even large milk chocolate chunks along with peanut butter pieces added to them. If you want to jazz up the regular ones, think of serving them with eggnog or peppermint ice cream and Stop & Shop's Limited edition peppermint whipped cream.

My oven will be working overtime this week. I can;t wait to bake and share these experiences with you. It'll be fun   and actually better than any baking competition, British or otherwise.

Funfetti Confetti Cake

Cake is festive. That's a universal truth. It usually symbolizes a party , especially if it's a colorful one, dusted with a rainbow of sprinkles. Now those sprinkles are inside the sweet treat, giving a more festive look.

Julia Moskin wrote about a new party classic - confetti cake in yesterday's New York Times Food section. Whatever you call them, whether they're candy confetti, sprinkles ,jimmies, or hundreds of thousands, they are big right now.Pro bakers and even mixologists are using them on  everything from cocktails to croissants.They're even used to decorate phone cases,scented candles and even press on nails ! Now they're exploding all over cakes, turning bland white cake into a Jackson Pollack canvases. Why now?Most bakers were kids in 1989s when a new product burst upon supermarket shelves.Pillsbury came out with Funfetti Cake,a vanilla cake mix that came with multicolored sprinkles.The twist was that they were going to be baked into the cake. They'd melt into streaks and dots of vibrant color which made them into an instant hit. Funfetti cake was then a definite must for every home party.Copycats soon abounded.A year later, Betty Crocker came out with Dunkaroos, a snack pack of cookies with sprinkle laced icing. Even Dannon Yogurt jumped in on the craze.In 1992 they came out Dannon Sprinklins, with candy confetti packed separately in the lid.

Now there are grown up versions of the cake all through Manhattan.Pastry chef , Christina Tosi, of Milk Bar in New York was one of the first to produce colorful cakes. Her passion for sprinkles started when she was young and it was with , of course, Funfetti. She cleverly turned the cake batter into cookie dough. Her current take is still the number one requested dessert, and at the NoLiTa outpost of MilkBar, there's even a wall of sprinkles. She's also put them in homemade tahini ice cream sandwiches and mandelbrot, the twice baked almond cookie.Chef Yeh loves them so much that she even had guests throw them at her wedding.Fancier bakers around the city have even put them in croissants and macarons along with giant Funfetti wedding cakes Some are even making their own hundreds of thousands. Sohla el- Wayly of the Hail Mary Diner in hipster Greenpoint makes her own. These are vanilla and rose flavored, made with egg whites,confectioner's sugar and food coloring. She pipes them in long, skinny lines on parchment paper, allowing them to air dry. They're then  "plastered" on the diner's tall vanilla cake giving it a wild , eccentric quality, like something from the Mad Hatter's tea party. The best bet is to go to your grocery store's bake shop where you can buy medium sized cups of multicolored sprinkles. some even have holiday colors, like black
and orange for Halloween and red and green for Christmas.

Sprinkles amp up a cake's fun factor. Go crazy with them and create an explosion of color with every slice.It's a fun way of celebrating cake.