Some Christmas baking and decorating.

made this cake for our sweet daughter-in-laws birthday. Quick and easy but pretty and yummy

Had fun baking these the last two weeks. Cupcakes that resemble little buckets of popcorn, engagement cake and wedding dresses for a bridal shower

Our new grandson, Alex, was born two weeks ago. My friend, Beverly, and I had great fun making these the week before he was born to help welcome him to the world.

Rattle Cake Pops

Made these for a recent baby shower. Top cake pop is a bit larger than the bottom and have pink sanding sugar for a fun shimmer. Sticks were found at a kitchen store.

Brookies

Have some friends coming over for pizza and game night and wanted something sweet for dessert. Couldn't decide between brownies and chocolate chip cookies so decided to bake some Brookies!

Brookies

1 stick of butter, room temperature

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups flour plus an additional 1/8 cup to be added later

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1 cup chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugars. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Add 2 cups flour, salt, and soda ingredients.

Remove half of dough to another bowl

To the remaining batter add 1/4 cup cocoa powder and 1/8 cup of additional flour.

Add 1/2 cup chocolate chips to each of the two batter bowls.

Spoon out 24 heaping teaspoon fulls of the "brownie batter" onto a greased or lined cookie sheet.

Roll out 24 heaping teaspoon fulls of the "chocolate chip dough". Place this dough on top of the brownie batter and press down slightly.

Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes. 

Basil Merlot Chicken

I decided to try a new recipe every week. Some will be brand new and some will be a variation of something I've made before. If you know me, you know I rarely follow a recipe to a "tea" but use it as a "guideline". So here is my rendition of Basil Merlot Chicken.

 First brown chicken in a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil. I used boneless skinless breasts because that's what I had on hand but next time I would use breasts and thighs on the bone. Cooking it in the crock pot works better with bones I think.

Next, in the same pan, saute onions, mushrooms and garlic.

 Mix chicken broth, tomato paste, merlot, basil pesto and seasonings together. Place chicken and veggies in Pam sprayed crock pot and pour mixture on top. Cook on high for an hour and then on low for 3-4 hrs.

I served it with whole wheat penne and broccoli and a salad. You could also sprinkle a little Parmesan cheese on top.

Basil Merlot Chicken
4-6 pieces of chicken (preferable with bone)
1 onion, diced
1# cremini mushrooms
1-2 cloves garlic, chopped fine
1 cup chicken broth
1 small can of tomato paste
1/2-3/4 cup Merlot
1-2 tablespoons of basil pesto (I make my own during the summer and freeze them in mini muffin pans to have all year. So I used 1 mini muffin cup of pesto)
Salt, pepper and Italian seasonings to taste.

(follow directions under pictures)