TWD-Toasted Almond Scones

When we were discussing who would do which recipe this month, both Lizzie and April said this recipe sounded like a Whitney recipe. I completely agree. I love all things almond, especially almond flavored sweets. I also enjoy a good scone so this recipe seemed to have all the makings of a fabulous, keeper recipe.

They came together quickly, weren't too messy, and smelled wonderful baking in the oven. The texture was tender. In the end I was a little disappointed in the lack of the almond extract flavor. The toasted almonds overpowered everything else. I will make them again but will use more almond extract. I enjoyed mine warm with some butter and some homemade peach jam that I canned this past Summer. It was delish! My kids enjoyed them as an after-school snack.

If you want to give the Toasted Almond Scones a try, Mike at Living Out West has the full recipe. Until next week...

Happy Baking!

TWD: Chocolate Oatmeal Drops

These were a surprisingly delicious make. They came together quickly (which I love these days) and they were very enticing. I think the first pan of a new recipe of cookies are always an experiment. After pulling out the first batch from the oven and finding them flat and crispy (still yummy though) I decided to make the cookies smaller than the tablespoon recommended. More like a large teaspoon and I lessened the baking time to 10 min. They were perfect. Still thin (however that is how I think they are supposed to be) but very chewy and rich rich rich. I loved the hint of cinnamon. The kids gobbled up their portions and asked for more. These were a scrumptious treat.



I thought it would be fun to include this picture. Sometimes I think the blogging world looks a little too perfect and unreal. Beautiful and the pictures and creative stories are amazing (not mine really, but others). I think most lives are not really that perfect and here is the proof. Who doesn't need a blue sparkly seahorse gracing their pictures? I do, always! So my lovelies think!


If you want to make these rich little chocolaty cookies you can visit Caroline and Claire of the blog Bake with Us. Happy Baking!

TWD: Lemon Poppy Seed Muffin

I've been gone from Celestial Confections through the holidays and it's nice to be back. I LOVE lemon and these muffins were a perfect treat. I made them a couple of years ago and they were dry, I must have done something wrong. I made them again and I must have done something right! They were moist, yummy, lemony and devoured by all! They came together quickly and the glaze on top was perfect! Sorry for the lack of pictures, but check out A Cup of Sweetness for complete recipe and pictures.

A more interesting post next time...I promise.

TWD- Midnight Crackle Cookies

For the 3rd Anniversary of Tuedsays With Dorie, Laurie (who started this all), picked Midnight Crackle Cookies. These were wonderful little cookies! They came together in a snap and were enjoyed warm, out of the oven with a tall glass of cold milk. A little crispy on the outside and nice and chewy on the inside. I will definitely make these again and want to try the variation with ginger. Thank you Laurie for the great pick and for starting this great group. We started about 9 months into the group and have loved baking along every month and look forward to finishing this great book.
Happy Baking!!

TWD-Rewind My Best Chocolate Chip Cookie

Well, last week was actually my week to post but I didn't. I had great intentions to make the Cardamom Crumb Cake, but with it being the week of Christmas my good intentions never actually got me into the kitchen to bake. This year I didn't spend the month of December baking away like I usually do. Maybe it has something to do with the baby weight that is haunting me! If I know homemade baked goods are near, I have a hard time resisting so instead I don't bake. That said, I will definitely still make the Cardamom Crumb Cake as it sounds wonderful.

For the TWD Rewind week, I took the simple route and decided on a cookie. For Christmas this year I got a Cuisinart Food Processor so I wanted to see how it can handle cookie dough. The thought had never even occurred to make cookie dough in a food processor. When I was reading through the recipe booklet there were multiple cookie recipes so, I decided to give Dorie's My Best Chocolate Chip Cookie a try in the Cuisinart. I have made the cookies before in my KitchenAid and have thought they were a very good chocolate chip cookie.

Mixing the dough in the Cuisinart was definitely different. My guess is it will take some time to figure out the best way to do it. The butter and sugar had a hard time "creaming" and by the time I added the chocolate chips it seemed that the dough was too wet so I added an extra 1/2 cup of flour. Even then it was still warm so I decided to chill the dough before baking them. I think that if I had put them in the oven straight from the Cuisinart, I would have had pancakes instead of cookies on the tray! After 15 minutes in the freezer the dough was the perfect consistency and they baked up into a soft and chewy cookie. I believe my first attempt of cookies in the Cuisinart was a success!

Because of the late hour, I am not even going to attempt my own pictures of the cookies. I know the lighting would be horrible and I would just frustrate myself. So, I'll share the lovely photo from  Kait's Plate, the original host for this recipe.

Photo from Kait's Plate

If you want to give Dorie's chocolate chip cookies a try, the recipe for My Best Chocolate Chip Cookies can be found here.

Until next week/next year...Happy Baking!

TWD: Apple-Coconut Family Cake

This was a fun Dorie make. It was easy enough to put together. I love apples and coconut, I do not usually put them together so it was fun try this duo out. The presentation of the cake is lovely. The texture ended up similar to a cake my mother-in-law makes called Belgium cake which is made with cooked oatmeal. I added pecans which made the cake for me. The nuttiness (is that a word?) matched the apple and coconut perfectly. I am not a fan of jam in/on desserts so I did not use apple jam for the topping. After tasting it I decided it definitely needed a topping. So we pulled out the caramel syrup and that worked wonderfully. Next time I will make a homemade caramel sauce. Overall this cake was quite tasty, the kind of cake where when you walk by you take a bite. My kids or husband were not huge fans, but I snacked on it through the afternoon.



If are interested in making this you can visit Amber of Cobbler du Monde for the recipe.

birthday cakes

We have had a few birthdays within the last month or so. Here are a few pictures of the different cakes made.

Liz made this one. There were lots of boy cousins who had birthdays in September, so here is their collective cake. Nothing special, except a million candles. There was a 12 year old and three 3 year old boys.



Here is my little guys cake from his birthday in October. He turned 2.


His second cake. We were on vacation during his birthday. Family wanted to celebrate so we had a second more simple cake. Turns out candles kind of freak him out.



This cake was a bear to make. While it has MANY embarassing imperfections I am still oddly proud of myself for finishing it. My 7 year old was so excited about it. We had a under the sea birthday party for her so the mermaid went well with the theme.


Just a fun thanksgiving craft that I made with the kids. My 7 year old could make these all day, my 4 year old made two and ate one, my 2 year old just ate the fixings for the turkeys with pure joy and satisfaction. Holidays are so fun with kids.