Cookies for Breakfast

This week the temperature FINALLY dropped in the hot hot desert and I was oh-so ready for some Fall inspired treats! I LOVE pumpkin everything! I had already made my bossy cakes in anticipation of the crispy air and when it finally did arrived I wanted to try something new....how can you make pumpkin even yummier?-add chocolate!
~
~
I found this recipe for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies and I am so glad that I did!
~
1 cup butter
3/4 cups brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon ( I added a bit more-love love love cinnamon!)
1 c. pumpkin puree
1.5 c. chocolate chips (of course, I added more)
1 c. cooking oats
~
Cream butter & sugars
Add Egg & Vanilla
~
Combine flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon
~
Stir dry ingredients into butter/sugar mixture alternately withe the pumpkin puree. Then add chocolate chips
~
Bake at 350 degrees for 11-12 minutes.
~
Can't wait to make some brandied cider to go with these sweet little babies!
~
~




These are so yummy and I must confess that I have been eating them for breakfast! I think the oats and pumpkin make them an acceptable breakfast food, what do you think?!



Cheers to being an adult and being able to eat cookies for breakfast...Next time I will call them pumpkin scones...the hubs won't know any better and then there will be more for me anyways. ;)
~
xoxo,
Tipsy

Red Velvet & Pink Champagne

One of the hub's best friends got married on Sunday. He was nice enough to volunteer a wedding cake (made by me, of course) as their wedding gift from us......ok, so I did tell him I would do it before he volunteered, but I have to give him a hard time after the fact.
~
I have never made a two tiered, stacked cake, covered in fondant with all kinds of details before. I was up for the challenge, but a little nervous.
~
The bottom tier is Red Velvet and the top tier is Pink Champagne. You would never know that there are such colorful cakes underneath all that butter cream and fondant, but it was a fun surprise for all the guests!
~
I started with the bottom tier, covered in butter cream and then added supports for the top tier. Watching the top tier sink right into the middle of the bottom tier would be my worst nightmare for this little sweet thang!
~
~

~

Fully supported-that top tier isn't going anywhere!

~

Then I covered both tiers with rolled fondant and started adding the accents.


~
~



~

Testing the supports. Yessss!!! So glad I did because it was only about 95 degrees on the wedding day!
~


~

The day before the wedding I cut some pieces for the bow accents on top of the cake so that they could dry over night.

~


I also made some ribbon roses for the topper just like I did here.


I made a sheet cake to make sure everyone could get a nice big piece of cake. I tested out my swirly skills here before trying it out on the wedding cake that everyone would see. By the time the guests would see this cake, it would be sliced and plated.


~
~



The final wedding cake! Thank you to the hubs for "supervising" the operation...no really, he did keep me sane on the three day operation....and he poured me a couple glasses of vino too!
~
~




~

Cutting the cake...

~


Congratulations Sarah & Darren! Have fun in Maui!
~
~
~


Cheers to toning your arms by rolling out fondant and to the hubs "supervising" and being my sommelier!
~
~
xoxo,
Tipsy

Pie with the Queen

My love for baking and sweet treats has definitely been passed down through my family. As you can see from my photo, Little Tipsy had no shortage of sugar growing up!

I was so excited that my Granny spent a weekend with me and the hubs. The only thing on the agenda was to make pie. Granny makes the best pie...and food in general! I thought if I could at least get her fabulous pie down that it would be an accomplishment in itself.

I do have to say a few words about Granny before we get to the baking. To sum her up...she has a bumper sticker that says, "I am the Queen" as she is the queen of her Red Hat Society group. And I quote, "It isn't easy being the queen." She also has a license plate frame that says, "Numero Uno Raiders Fan." Don't get between the woman and her football!

Needless to say, she is full of sass and this picture says it all!



So, my favorite thing about Granny coming over to make pie is that she packed a little cooler full of lard. "Well, I didn't expect that you keep lard around." Leave it to an Irwin to make a fruit pie that a vegetarian can't eat!

For One Pie---In a large bowl-
Filling:
Combine fruit ( we did a peach/plum combo and then a blackberry with berries from my dad's garden)
Tapioca-the box indicates how much to use depending on what fruit you use
Juice of half a lemon
1 cup sugar

Stir it up and let it sit while you make that flaky crust!

Crust: (double the recipe if you are making a pie with a top crust)
1 cup flour per crust
1/2 teaspoon of salt
Stir together and then add lard.

5 Globs of COLD lard-yes, globs. It is a little more then a tablespoon. Granny doesn't measure and a glob is aapparently just the right ammount!

Use a Pastry Cutter to mash the ingredients together. Mash until the mixture consists of small flaky pieces.

Then take one egg and whisk with a fork to combine the yolk & white. Make sure the egg is COLD and then also add about a tablespoon of COLD water. With a spoon, make a small dip in the flour to add a couple tablespoons of the liquid at a time and fold the mixture together in that area. Rotate the bowl to slowly integrate the liquid throughout the flour mixture evenly.

Do this until the dough starts to stick together. Turn the mixture out onto a floured surface where you can roll the dough out. Roll away with a floured rolling pin and then line your pie dish...or cupcake pan for your pie!

Then add the fillings. Make sure to make some slits on the top crust for steam.




Tillman got into the flour when we weren't looking. Love that guilty little face!



Our mini pies filled with the Plum/Peach combo. We sprinkled cinnamon and sugar on top for some extra sweetness!





Warm pie with ice cream! You can't beat that!

Cheers to family traditions and yummy lard crust....did I just say that?

xoxo,

Tipsy