Cheater Cheater Pumpkin Eater

It's been awhile! Tipsy has been a very busy girl these past few months! What's a busy girl to do? I had three parties to bake for last week, so I grabbed some boxed mix for the cupcakes and some pastry pride for the topping....shhhh! Don't worry! I doctored up both mixes with extra vanilla and chopped white chocolate chips for the white cake and chopped semi-sweet chips for the chocolate cake...you gotta be sneaky to make the box mix delish!

I also called for some decorating help! Luckily I had a couple of volunteers in no time!

I baked up the chocolate and vanilla cupcakes, whipped up the pastry pride (adding chocolate to half of it), picked up some vino and called the girls over!

We whipped up some colors per our Cupcake Consultant, Alicia. I did the base frosting and passed em' on over to the lovely ladies to make them.

We had plenty of supervision!

And Pico helped too!

The girls getting their decorating going!

The first masterpiece...

The crazy cupcakes. Each one got a little more funky as we sipped our Sauvignon Blanc..Alicia even invented the Pumpkin Waterfall look and Natalie created the Starry Night cupcake. It was amazing!

Cheers to cheating with some box mix/nobody guessing and cupcake decorating ladies night!

Happy Halloween!

Fun times!

xoxo,

Tipsy

Easter Cake!

Anyone who was at the Fam Easter celebration this year will know that I had a really hard time answering the question, "What kind of cake is that?" The reason Tipsy was stuttering? Not because I had a drink! This cake is so delicious and has so many key ingredients that I couldn't simmer it down to a brief title! Instead I replied, "Apricot Brandy, Almond Orange Cake with Apricot Brandy Jam, Apricot Grand Marnier Cream Frosting and Chocolate Ganache with Grand Marnier."

Is that a sentence? I don't think so! But this cake says enough for itself! I just loved it!

What says Spring more then some fruity boozey cake? To me, nothing! ;)

Ingredients:

3 eggs

1 cup sour cream (I skipped the sour cream and went for the fruit/booze! I substituted 1/4 cup apricot Brandy, 1/4 cup orange juice and 1/2 cup whole milk)

2 teaspoons vanilla

2.5 cup cake flour (sifted)

2/3 cups (unblanched) almonds (toast em' up and toss them in the food processor until finely ground)

.5 cup sugar

1/4 cup OJ

6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate (grate it up in the food processor separately from the almonds)

1.5 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons orange zest

1 cup butter

1/3 cup Grand Marnier ( I probably used about 3/4 cups...)

1/2 cup heavy cream


Chop up the almonds and broil them up in the oven...then toss into the food processor until finely ground.

Mix up the 1/4 cup OJ, vanilla, apricot brandy and eggs

Mix up all the dry ingredients with the orange zest.

Add the butter to the dry ingredients until well creamed-then add egg mixture in thirds and mix well between each addition.

This batter is sooooo yummy! I had to celebrate with a little voddie tonnie with my left over oranges!

Bake in (2) 9 inch round pans at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Once the cakes were done I used a toothpick to make holes all over...then brushed on a generous amount of orange juice and the Grand Marnier...you can't go wrong here!

Once the cakes were cool and the OJ & Grand Marnier was absorbed I filled the cake with Apricot Jam which I had heated up with some apricot brandy for extra flavor.

I whipped up some cream and added about a cup of Apricot Jam and some Grand Marnier for extra flavor. SO DECADENT!

Next, comes what I cannot live without...CHOCOLATE! Scald the cream on the stove and add the grated chocolate. Remove from the heat, stir until smooth and add some Grand Marnier to taste. It really just brings out the richness in the chocolate!

For decoration I wanted to add some Marzipan oranges. Just roll the color onto the Marzipan and then shape.

I added chocolate ganache to about half the cake so that there was something for everyone, scattered some grated almonds and then used the Marzipan pieces to complete the Spring look.

I couldn't wait to taste the final result, but it was worth it. So many fresh flavors happening...a perfect Spring inspired Easter dessert!

Cheers to boozey/fruity/chocolaty baked goods! This is just one of the reasons I love baking so much!

xoxo,

Tipsy

Magic Cookie Bars for a Cause

I love a good bake sale! Who doesn't and what better a cause then fighting cancer?





I was excited to join my team at the Ace Hotel in the Relay for Life this year.



You can still donate-just click here.


I decided on some sweet, simple and irresistible Magic Cookie Bars. I have been making these with my fam since I can remember and they always hit the spot!





You will need:


1.5 cup graham cracker crumbs


.5 cup butter (melted)


1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk


2 cups M & M's


1 1/3 cups flaked coconut


1 cup chopped pecans


...I added about 1 cup mini chocolate chips to make them extra chocolately and too good to pass up for all the relayers!





Smashing up the grahams is the most fun!











Mix the melted butter with the graham crumbs in the ziploc and then place in greased 9 x 13 inch pan. Spread evenly and press down to form the crust.





Then pour the condensed milk over the crust evenly.















Bring on the toppings! Just spread em' all out evenly and press down tightly!










Can I dig in now???? Nope, must bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes first.













The roasty toasty bars! YUMMMMMM!






I sliced and bagged them for sale. The theme of the relay this year was, "More Birthdays" so we sold the sweets as more Love, Smiles & Hope! I know these were a hit because the tray came back to me empty!

Cheers to baking for a good cause and bringing people together for one goal!

xoxo,

Tipsy

Anglaise Macarons Pour Ma Petite Soeur

My sweet lil' sis left for a year of studying abroad in Paris just last week. Of course, we had to send her off full of sweets and memories of a week long celebration...we are just trying to make sure she comes back at the end of the school year! :)

You can follow her adventure on her brand new blog at From P-town to Paris

I wanted to make something French inspired for the party and these colorful macaroons were just what I was looking for. I was a bit intimidated as so many blogs and articles mentioned the difficulties of getting them just right, but I was up for a challenge and my fridge was stocked with cold bevees to get me through!

I started with a chocolate recipe that I found and doubled the recipe.

1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup powdered almonds

2 tablespoons Dutch cocoa

2 large egg whites

5 tablespoons sugar

I lined a couple of cookie sheets with parchment paper and got my pastry bag ready.

I grind the powdered sugar, almond powder, and cocoa in the food processor.

Then, in the kitchenaid I beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks and then added the sugar while it continued mixing.

Folding in the dry ingredients (in 2 batches) and being careful not to over mix.

The combined ingredients:

Then I piped the cookies onto the baking sheet as close to the same size and shape as possible.

I baked them for 16 minutes at 375 degrees. YAY! They actually look like macaroons!

I paired them up to prep for the filling.

The filling is super rich and not too sweet. I think next time I will use semi-sweet chocolate..I just can't get enough SUGAR!!!

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I went with a Raspberry Chocolate Ganache Filling that I found on Epicurious.

3 oz. bittersweet chocolate-chopped

1/3 cup heavy cream

1 tablespoon unsalted butter-softened

1/16 teaspoon raspberry extract

I heated the cream and chocolate in the microwave (instead of on the double broiler-too much work). Then stirred in the raspberry extract and butter.

I cooled it completely and it was still too thin, so I refrigerated it until it was thick enough to spread like butter! I am so turning into Paula!

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The finished Chocolate Macaroons with Raspberry Chocolate Ganache Filling-so yummy!

For my regular macaroons I made the mistake of blanching the almonds myself. It took me a good 45 minutes and lots of vino! I was going crazy peeling the skins off of these little monsters!

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I used this cookie recipe where I also got the raspberry chocolate ganache.

I doubled this recipe:

1 and 1/2 cups powdered sugar

6 oz. blanched almonds

3 large egg whites

3 tablespoons sugar

3/4 teaspoons salt

Food coloring ( I chose four colors to compliment the party in hot pink, lime green, lemon yellow, and bright orange)

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Blanching almonds consists of pouring boiling water over them-let sit for a couple minutes:

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Then rinse with cold water. All the articles I read made it sound like the skins would just fall right off-BUT NO!

You have no idea what this meant to me once these were lookin' like this...2 drinks later!

I lined my baking sheets again and got the piping bag ready!

I pulsed the almonds and 1/2 cup of the powdered sugar until very finely ground (3 minutes).

I transferred it to a big bowl and then sifted in the rest of the powdered sugar and stirred it up.

Next, I beat the egg whites and salt in the kitchenaid until soft peaks form and then slowly added the sugar while beating the eggs until stiff peaks formed.

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Since I had four colors to make, I divided the mixture into four bowls and added the colors. I love this part!

Then, divided the almond mixture into each color....

The finally piped cookies. These were harder to get into the right size and shape then the other batter for sure!

I let them stand for 30 minutes until they were no longer sticky and had a light crust. Then into the oven at 300 for 25 minutes (or before edges begin to brown).

I started up the delicious buttercream filling... this is soooooo buttery and irresistible!

1 cup unsalted butter at room temp

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla (my addition to the recipe)

(I skipped the 1 teaspoon of instant coffee in 1 tablespoon of hot water as I was going for a vanilla flav)

Whip up the butter until fluffy and add the powdered sugar and drizzle in the vanilla.

I had so much fun mixing up the colors of frosting to match the cookies.

The damage! I was tipsy dish washing for hours!





The FINALLY finished cookies. These are so much work, but they are so cute and delicious! I will definitely be making them again.

The dessert buffet with my dad's beautiful fruit tarts.... I think this will make her want to come back at the end of the year! We are already planning her homecoming party sweets!

My beautiful sis!




Je t'aime Natalie!

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à la vôtre!

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xoxo,

Tipsy