Mini Pecan Pies

 

Ingredients: 

1 pie crust

1/3 cup corn syrup

1 egg

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 Tbsp melted butter

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup pecans, chopped

Whipped cream, optional

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a mini muffin pan with cooking spray. Roll out the pie crust. Use a 2 1/2" round cookie cutter to cut 24 circles. Prick the bottoms of the pie crust with a fork. 

Mix the corn syrup, egg, brown sugar, vanilla, butter, and salt. 

Add the chopped pecans. 

Put about 1 Tbsp of mixture in each pie crust. 

Bake for 20-25 minutes. 

Wicked Dinner Party

 

We decided to have a Wicked theme dinner party last weekend. I made Elphaba's green enchiladas, Glinda's garlic cheese bread, pink and green cupcakes, pink and green Jello, pink lemonade and a mixture of green sherbet and Sprite for the green punch. We added some dry ice to the drinks for a little more fun. 

Dinosaur Birthday Cake with Volcano

 

For the volcano, I made Cocoa Krispie treats and shaped them around a narrow mouth cup. I tried two different size volcanoes. On the actual cake, I went with the larger volcano. There is a slightly larger cup that the treats are molded to in the larger volcano. Then I put a narrow tall shot glass plastic cup inside of the larger cup. This made for filling with dry ice and water a lot easier because I could do that outside of the volcano and then place the shot glass cup in its spot without dripping water on the volcano. And I could add more dry ice and warm water when I wanted to make the eruption again. 

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins (Starbucks Copycat)

 

Ingredients: 

3 cups flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/2 tsp salt

3 cups canned pumpkin (large can)

2 eggs

1/2 cup melted butter

 2 tsp vanilla

Cream cheese filling: 

8 oz cream cheese

1/4 cup sugar

2 tsp flour

2 tsp milk

1 tsp vanilla

Line your muffin tins with paper (24 muffins). Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 

In a large bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, and salt together. 

In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, pumpkin, melted butter, and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. 

Mix until just combined. Scoop into the prepared muffin tins until each cup is about 3/4 of the way full. 

Prepare the cream cheese mixture. Use a hand mixture to combine until it is smooth. Put the mixture in a pastry bag or a Ziploc baggie. Cut off the tip of the bag. Put the pastry bag in the center of each muffin and fill with about 1 Tbsp of the cream cheese mixture. Pull the bag upward as you are filling. 

Bake at 350 for about 15-20 minutes. Insert a toothpick in the center of the muffin. If it comes out clean when inserted in the filling part, they are done. These are really good warm. Store leftovers in the refrigerator. 

Apple Cider Slushy

 

Ingredients: 

5-6 cups frozen apple cider

2 cups ice cubes

1 cup apple cider

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Start by lining a large measuring cup with a gallon Ziploc bag. I filled the bag as full as I could get it and still seal it (about 5-6 cups of cider). I pushed out any air left in the bag and put the bag flat in the freezer for about 5-6 hours. 

I filled my blender to the 6 cup line with the frozen cider chunks. Then I added the ice cubes, liquid apple cider, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Blend the mixture and serve. 

I made a smaller batch with 2 cups of frozen cider, 1/2 cup of ice cubes, 1 Tbsp of brown sugar, a couple of sprinkles of cinnamon, and about 1/2 cup of cold cider. 

Khan Academy Mastery Cakes

I told my juniors that I would make them any flavor of cake they wanted if they completed the Digital SAT Khan Academy ELA Mastery Course. These were a huge hit! After this round of cakes, eight more kids completed the mastery before the test! The mini cookie cake was pretty popular. 

Pre-Easter Dinner Party

 

To make the weekend more exciting, I like to do theme dinners. This was a Peter Rabbit theme dinner the weekend before Easter. 

St. Patrick's Day Party

 

After St. Patrick's Day, spring break came closely behind. I decided to put a little gift/candy/favorite thing in a bag for each kid for each day of the week leading up to Spring Break. It was a fun way to wake up each day and give them just the motivation to get through that long week. 

Pi Day

 

My sister's birthday is on Pi Day (March 14th) so I made her a cake with a lot of circles. We also made playdough and pretended it was pie dough, rolled it out, and decorated our pretend pies. We made paper plate pie crafts as well. 

Mario Day Party

 March 10th is Mario Day. This is one of my favorite days of the year! I made a special cake this year. 

Valentine's Day Dinner

Valentine's Day dessert and punch. I made these chocolate lava cakes https://workingmomwonders.blogspot.com/2023/03/chocolate-lava-cakes.html

But I didn't have bittersweet chocolate so I used all semi-sweet chocolate and it worked great. 

 

Oakland University Graduation Cake

 

Detroit Sports Cake and Cake Pops

 

He wanted sugar cookie bars as his cake, so that was a little harder to decorate. I printed these logos and put wax paper underneath of them to press on the cake. 

Cow Sugar Cookies

 

I was having a meeting on National Sugar Cookie Day and National Cow Day, so I made these to take to the meeting. 

I used my regular sugar cookie dough that doesn't require chilling: https://workingmomwonders.blogspot.com/2023/03/no-chill-sugar-cookies.html

For the frosting I mixed 3 egg whites, 2 cups powdered sugar, 1/2 tsp cream of tarter, and 1 tsp vanilla. Mix this together well with a stand mixer. If it is still runny, add another 1/2 up powdered sugar. Mix until soft peaks form. 

For the cows, I took out about 1/2 cup and made black frosting, 1/4 cup for pink, and another 1/4 for white. 

With the rest of the frosting, I added 1 Tbsp water to thin it a little. That is what I piped around the outside of the cookie. After that dried a little bit, I filled in the rest of the cookie with the thinned frosting. I let that dry completely. I put the thicker frosting in a piping bag and drew on the face. 

EA College Football 25 Cake

 

The boys were pretty excited about this game coming out so I made a cake to celebrate. 

Christmas in July Party

 

Our homemade Little Debbie cakes. https://workingmomwonders.blogspot.com/2022/07/little-debbie-christmas-tree-copycat.html

We went to the Christmas Story House Museum for our adventure this year. We also stopped at the MudHens game in Toledo on the way home while they were having Christmas in July celebrations. 

The white elephant gifts that came with our tickets.