Making Marshmallow Fondant

Marshmallow Fondant
Making a cake this week for a Colt's fan.....its a sweet 16 birthday.  Anyway had to make some fondant and thought I would share the process in case anyone is interested.

You need 16 oz or so of mini marshmallows.  Place in a microwave safe bowl.

I add about 1 tbsp water and 1 tsp butter flavor and 1 tsp vanilla flavor

Then you melt the marshamallows in the micro...I do this in 30 second intervals, stirring after each interval until they are melted....usually takes 1 1/2 minutes. 

Then grease your work surface with the crisco

And grease your hands.....here is where it gets messy (and I think fun!) Your hands will be softer after this process too!!

Pour the melted marshmallow onto your greased surface, add the powdered sugar to the marshmallow and start to knead it together.....again...this is messy.  Be careful not to burn yourself with the hot marshmallow.  Add a little bit of your water.....you may or may not use all of the water....

Keep kneading until it forms a nice dough consistency.  If sticky, add a little more powdered sugar. 

When you're done cover your fondant in crisco and wrap in saran wrap...

Then place it in a ziploc bag, remove as much air as possible and refrigerate.  You should let it set up over night but can use right away if you don't have any little bits of powdered sugar.

I found the base of my recipe at http://whatscookingamerica.net/PegW/Fondant.htm and just tweaked it a bit by adding the vanilla and butter flavors.  Peg Weaver has a lot of tips and suggestions if you need extra guidance. 



Ingredients

16 ounces white mini-marshmallows

2 to 5 tablespoons water
2 pounds icing sugar
1/2 cup Crisco shortening 

1 tsp vanilla flavor
1 tsp butter flavor

Directions
Place marshmallows in a microwave safe bowl.  Add butter/vanilla flavors if desired and 1 tbsp of water.  Microwave for about 1 1/2 minutes in 30 second intervals, stirring after each interval until marhsmallows are melted.  Spread crisco on work surface and on hands.  Pour melted marshmallow onto work surface and add powdered sugar.  Knead together, adding more crisco to your hands as needed.  Add some water ( 1 tbsp at a time) if needed. Cover fondant in crisco and wrap in saran wrap.  Place in ziploc bag and refrigerate overnight. 

Again....check out the Peg Weavers directions for making this fondant if needed.  She also shows how to cover a cake in fondant. 
I will show pics of my finished product.....but only if it turns out ok :)

Thanks for looking!

Bronwyn

Free Photo Canvas

I saw this deal on another blog.... http://www.skiptomylou.org/ .  It's a deal from The Canvas People....
You can click on the link below and it will take you to the site.  Upload a picture and get a 8x10 canvas for FREE except for s&h.....or get 55 bucks off of an upgraded canvas......

I wasn't sure which picture to do....

Thought about this one of Gabe.....

But then I liked this one of Drew.....

And I thought this one might be cool for the Raven fan's in my family

Or this one.....

Finally I settled on this one....

So here's the link for your free canvas....
http://www.canvaspeople.com/freegift


Enjoy!

Love,
Bronwyn

Shawnee N. Mitchell-Wright

In remembrance of a friend newly lost.





"In the dark immensity of night
 I stood upon a hill and watched the light
 Of a star,
 Soundless and beautiful and far.

A scientist standing there with me
Said, “It is not the star you see,
But a glow
That left the star light years ago.”

People are like stars in a timeless sky;
The light of a good person’s life shines high,
Golden and splendid
Long after his brief earth years are ended."

— Grace V. Watkins

Cookies & Cream Cheesecakes

Found this recipe in the Martha Stewart Cupcake book and thought I would try it....

The directions say to beat the cream cheese until smooth and then add the sugar and vanilla....

I just sort of put it all in the bowl (except for the eggs) and beat until creamy

Then added the eggs and beat some more.

Then add in the cookie crumbles and stir.

Preheat oven to 275 degrees and prepare baking cups by adding 1 whole Oreo to the bottom of each.

Fill the cups with batter (I used a 1/4cup measuring cup to divi out the batter and it worked really well).

Bake for 22 minutes (turning the pans after 11 minutes.......don't know if this is really necessary but I did it just to be safe).  When the time is up, let them cool and then place them in the refrigerator (cupcake tin and all) and let chill for at least 4 hours ......

Remove just before serving.

They look really yummy

And taste pretty good too.....

So here's the recipe......

Ingredients
Package of Oreo cookies
2 pounds of cream cheese (room temp.)
1 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
1 cup sour cream
pinch of salt

Directions
Place whole Oreo cookie in bottom of cupcake liner (makes 30 cupcakes total).  Beat the cream cheese until creamy.  Add sugar and mix and then add vanilla.  "Drizzle"  (gotta love Martha's directions!)  in the slightly beaten eggs.  Beat in the sour cream and salt.    Stir in 12 crushed cookies.  Put batter in cupcake tins and bake at 275 degrees for 22 minutes (turn tins halfway after 11 minutes).  Let cool completely and then refrigerate in tins for at least 4 hours.  Remove from tins just before serving.

Enjoy

Thanks for looking!
Love
Bronwyn

Teacher Gift Idea #2 and a Giveaway

Truffles
Yummy, delicious truffles!

I made these truffles one year for the faculty at school and they were a huge hit.  After I made them, I placed them in a festive Ziploc container and attached a pretty bow and gift tag.  Voila!  Simple, easy gift!

Here's the recipe....sorry no pics, haven't made them recently

Ingredients
1 C evaporated milk
1/2 C sugar
2 pkgs semisweet morsels
1/4 C liquor

Powdered sugar, chocolate or holiday colored sprinkles, chopped nuts, cocoa powder etc., to roll the truffles in.  You could also dip the truffles into melted chocolate...YUM!

Instructions
Combine milk and sugar in sauce pan and bring to a boil  Boil for 3 minutes, stirring constantly.
Add morsels and liquor.  Turn heat to low and mix until melted and smooth.  Place into a bowl, cover and refrigerate for 3-4 hrs.  Roll into 1 inch balls and roll into covering (powdered sugar, etc.)  Place in holiday candy cups and refrigerate until time to give as gifts. 


Now for the giveaway!  The Pioneer Woman has instructions on her website to enter to win a brand new Photosmart eStation e-All-in-One Printers.  Click the link below to find out more!  I love her site by the way!!

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/special-offers/2010/11/28/name-your-favorite-holiday-recipes-and-enter-to-win-a-printer/

Thanks for looking!
Love,
Bronwyn

Teacher Gift Idea #1

It's that time of year again when I have to think about what to give to those who teach my babies.  I am always looking for ideas that are easy and inexpensive but will be appreciated by the well deserving teachers. 
I thought I might share some of my past gifts.  This one gift was one that the teachers and secretaries loved!  It is a recipe that I got from cakecentral.com (of course) and was very easy to make and yummy.

Blueberry Cream Cheese Pound cake
Ingredients

• 1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
  1/4 cup white sugar
  3 eggs
  1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, room temperature
  1/2 cup vegetable oil
  1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  1 1/4 cups blueberries

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees . Grease and flour a 10 inch Bundt pan.
2. In a large bowl, stir together cake mix and sugar. Make a well in the center and pour in eggs, cream cheese, oil and vanilla. Beat on low speed until blended. Scrape bowl, and beat 4 minutes on medium speed. Stir in blueberries. Pour batter into prepared pan.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

I baked my cakes in loaf pans.  One recipe makes 2 regular size loafs or 4 small loafs.  I think I checked it after about 30 minutes and in intervals thereafter to make sure it didn't burn. 

When the loaves were cool, I wrapped them in saran wrap (could probably use red for the holidays).  I then added a piece of school paper that young students use when learning to write their letters.  I wrote "You take the Cake" on the wrapper and then let the kids deliver them to their teachers.  I think I gave mine as end of school year gifts but these can easily be tailored to be Christmas gifts with some pretty wrapping paper and a bow or note.

Thanks for looking!

Love,
Bronwyn

Rocking Reindeer

That is originally what I was going to title this little piece of artwork.

These hand prints were made by painting brown paint onto my sisters kids hands....
The messy hands were then pressed onto a piece of canvas that I had painted green (allowing to dry before adding hand prints)

Her youngest was 2 at the time and little ones hand prints can be hard to keep neat.
I found these wiggly eyes, pop-poms and craft paint at WalMart

I just loved that the wiggly eyes came in varying sizes AND they were self adhesive so no rummaging through drawers to find my craft glue!

Now the pom-poms were not self adhesive....SO....scavenger hunt time.  No glue in my craft drawer so went to Morgans room to investigate and lo and behold I found my hot glue gun! (which by the way had been left plugged in and therefore on)......I just want to pause here and sincerely thank God for watching over us and not letting us have a fire. 

So glue in hand, I glued on the noses and then painted on the mouths and the "Reindeer Rocks".......little tidbit here, my sisters families last name is Rocks....that's why I changed the wording.  Retrospectively I wish I had kept it as Rocking Reindeer.....has a much better ring don't you think.

This is a super easy project and the kids love helping to make the reindeer.  I've done something similar on a canvas bag and gave it to a family for Christmas!

Thanks for looking!

Love,

Bronwyn