Easter Chicks

Easter is so fun, and this year was extra great because my niece turned 8!  They grow so fast.  Sooo.....being the nice, kind, generous Auntie that I am, I figured she needed something special.  REALLY special!

My mom (another of my faithful fans) is always giving me ideas.  She saw this cupcake baking and decorating book while shopping and thought I would "love it"!  AND I DO!  There are so many FUN ideas to try. (The pages are tagged with those little post-it page markers.... stay tuned...)

When I saw some of the fun ideas in there I just had to try some.  I love to try new things and it's always great to have an event to try them out for!  Luckily for Elizabeth, her birthday was on Easter weekend so she got some extra special treats.  I called my sister-in-law and said..."you have to let me do cupcakes for Elizabeth's Birthday, I have a couple great ideas I would like to try..."  No hesitation on her part... right away she said YES!  (One less thing she had to worry about).  Here are the pictures.... so cute and yummy too!

 Here is Elizabeth, she was so excited!

 Elizabeth with her two brothers, James and Wiley, "patiently waiting"!

 

 Why do the girls always go for the pink icing?

Wiley digging in!  He reached in there right after Elizabeth and got the one on top! I wish I could have gotten the grin on his face as he was reaching for it.  Instead you get the "bite"!

Black and White

What's black on the outside, white in the middle and chewy all over?

My Chocolate Vanilla Stuffed cookies of course!  A true classic never gets old, run down, boring or passed up.  This is also true about a classic chocolate and vanilla cookie, wouldn't you say?  It's a classic; that is why you will always see various types of chocolate and vanilla ice creams at the ice cream shops.  People like the familiar. It's like a warm blanket on a cold day.

So here is an old classic cookie that is a favorite of many and OH SO CHEWY  like its brothers and sisters.

Be My Valentine?

This year for Valentine's Day I decided to experiment a little.  What could suit this day better than a 'RED VELVET CUPCAKE'!  


Great idea? You bet it was!  The best part about it is that it's EGG FREE!  This cupcake is paired with a vanilla bean butter cream frosting. For now anyway... the experimenting continues as I have been told a cream cheese frosting would be divine!

Lovely Lemon

One of my most popular cookies is Stuffed Lemon.  In fact I have been told the best way to eat these is frozen (Yes Wendy, I'm talking about you).  I set out to make this GREAT COOKIE even BETTER.  How did I do this?  That part is simple - take the advise from my fans.  And who are they?? No one else but my family and friends, of course!  One of my brothers said to me... "Leia this is a GREAT COOKIE!  ...But you know what would make this better?" (I waited) "MORE FILLING!" 

Soooo... I added more filling and now it looks like a double stuffed Oreo!  Thanks Guys!

Brotherly Love

So I have a brother... well, four to be exact.. but my youngest brother, Marc, I think just might be my BIGGEST FAN - next to my ONLY sister of course!  Whenever I'm having a down day he can always cheer me up with a boost to my ego.  (Cory says this isn't good for me... wonder why...)

Here are some of his favorite Quotes:

"I love this icing, they all taste like ice cream!  AWESOME"

"...it doesn't matter what she brings for dessert... it's always good!"

"So Leia... you want to make me that Turtle Cake again for my birthday?"

"Get out of the way I'm first in line!"

"hmmm let me carry that for you... (now, if I could only get this to my room without anybody seeing!)"

Gotta love him.  Thanks, Marc!