dispatches from the world's smallest, sweetest kitchen

Monday, February 13, 2012

You Aorta Know....

I love themes. And colour-blocking. And over-the-top projects. And my friends. And baking.  Valentine's Day is the perfect way to celebrate all of these. Last year, I was inspired by personal hero Leslie Knope's Galentine's Day to host a Palentine's Day sugar-palooza:


Candy Buffet!


Sugar Cookies!


 Lemon-Raspberry Linzer Cookies!
 Red Velvet Cupcakes!
 Chocolate Raspberry Whoopie Pies!
 Cookie Dough Truffles!

I had such a good time last year that I decided to do it again this year, but I decided to scale back.

First up, dinner - Red pepper & goat cheese quiche, buttermilk biscuits, spinach salad, raspberry lemonade, and raspberry jello:


 (To scale back, I only made a half batch of the biscuits.....)


Onto sugarfest:




 Chocolate lollipops:

 I don't know if I can ever make a spread without cookie dough truffles.....


Sugar cookies, red velvet cookies with white chocolate chips, and shortbread:
 Lemon cupcakes with raspberry buttercream:

Mini candy buffet:







Thursday, February 2, 2012

she lives! she bakes!

So, there was the wedding baking extravaganza post.  And then there was some other baking.  But, after that scale of baking, everything else seemed only a half-step up from pop tarts.

But I have a few big projects in the works, so for now, here's what I've been up to for the last few months:

My friend Meaghan loves apples.  For her birthday, I made these brown sugar cookies:
 




In November, I made chocolate mustache lollipops:

For a wedding shower a friend was throwing I made some cupcakes, sugar cookies, and the infamous cookie dough truffles:

As Christmas gifts, I boxed up red and white goodies - cookie dough truffles, linzer cookies, spritz cookies, and candy cane kiss cookies:






A few other random treats - lemon squares, vegan chocolate cake, lemon cupcakes, and pumpkin bundt acorns:





And last, my aunt and I got a hang of royal icing just in time for Christmas: