Baby Shower Favors - Baby Bird Theme

My sister is having her first child due early this fall and it's a girl! I am a pround Auntie and  this will be my seventh niece - that is alot of pink! The nursery decor is pink and green and the crib bedding is from Pottery Barn Kids that has baby birds on it. So when my other sister and best friend decided to throw Baby Girl a shower, I knew I wanted to tie in the "Baby Bird" theme into the favors that I was going to make and came up with this delicious and adorable favor idea. Oh, and even better - it was SUPER easy!! CAUTION - prepare yourself for cuteness overload.
I made cake balls covered in chocolate into the shapes of eggs, and made chocolate/shredded wheat nests for the cake balls to rest in.

 I used strawberry cake mix and vanilla icing for the cake ball "eggs" and then used pink and white speckled chocolate melting chips from Michael's. I followed the directions on the back of the Duncan Hines cake mix box to bake the cake. Once baked, I let the cake cool for several hours uncovered. Once completely cool, I crumbled the cake into a mixing bowl as seen in the picture above, and added a half a container of white icing a mixed together. Once mixed all together, I formed egg shapes and dipped the cake "eggs" into the melted pink and white speckled chocolate. A tip I found helpful in the chocolate dipping process, was to freeze the cake "eggs" for about 15-20 minutes before dipping in the melted chocolate. This helped a lot to coat the cake "eggs" well with the melted chocolate, especially since it was 100 degrees the day I was making these.

To make the chocolate  nests, I melted a bag of chocolate chips in the microwave and mixed in a half of a box of shredded wheat that I crushed in a ziploc bag. I then filled greased muffin tins with the melted chocolate and shredded wheat mixture and used the back of a spoon to create the shape of the nest i was going for. I then refrigerated the nests over night to set up.

ta-da! chocolate  nests and cake ball eggs

I found white boxes with a lid on them at Michael's that were perfect for the nest and eggs to fit in. I printed labels on my computer with everyone's name on them, attached a thank you note and wrapped with a pink ribbon and used the favor box as a place card for the tables at the baby shower.

Valentine's Day Dessert - Chocolate & Strawberries

Happy Valentine's Day! I don't know what goes together better for this special occasion than chocolate and strawberries. I made this simple and delicious dessert for my husband for our Valentine's Dinner celebration and he LOVED it. I found the heart shaped chocolate shells (white chocolate and dark chocolate) at World Market. They came packaged with dark AND white chocolate shavings too! Here is the recipe for this yummy dessert. I made up the chocolate filling recipe, and don't have an official name for it, so I am going to call the filling "Chocolate Goodness" :)

Recipe:
Heart Shaped Chocolate Shells Filled with Strawberries and Chocolate Goodness

Ingredients:
4 heart shaped chocolate shells (I found them at World Market)
1/2 cup sliced fresh strawberries (washed and rinsed)
1 teaspoon sugar (sprinkle on the strawberries once sliced)
1/4 can sweetened condensed milk
1 package of Ghiradelli milk chocolate chips
1/2 container of cool whip

For the "Chocolate Goodness"
Melt the package of chocolate chips in sauce pan with the sweetened condensed milk. In a large mixing bowl, fold this into the cool whip.
Put a layer of sliced strawberries on the bottom of each heart shaped chocolate shell. Spoon mixture of "Chocolate Goodness" on top of the layer of strawberries. Top with the rest of the sliced strawberries and then sprinkle the chocolate shavings on top. I only used the white chocolate ones because that is my husband's favorite.
Refrigerate for about 30 minutes prior to serving.

 Heart Shaped Chocolate Shells from World Market

 "Chocolate Goodness" Mixture

 YUM!!

 They look professionally made - but they are so simple to make!

 Serve with your favorite bubbly drink and enjoy!

 Make these anytime - not just Valentine's Day!

P.S. My camera is back from the repair shop! YAY! No more cell phone pictures :)

Iced Pumpkin Spice Cookies

Fall is here! My favorite season - cool weather with no humidity where I live, leaves changing colors, college football - GO HOKIES, jeans, hoodies and cute tall boots :) Nothing smells more like fall to me than the way my kitchen smelled when I baked these Iced Pumpkin Spice Cookies from a recipe I found online.  If pumpkin pie isn't your thing - like me, something about the consistency - you will like these cookies. They are very easy to make and might convert non-pumpkin lovers into fans! The cookies have a soft, moist, cake-like consistency, and the icing on top makes them even more delicious!

Recipe:

Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 12-15 min

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (I put extra in mine, for more flavor, and also added about 1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice for more flavor)
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter,softened
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Icing:
2 cups confectioners' sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, and salt. set aside
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the 1/2 cup butter and white and brown sugar. Add pumpkin, egg, and 1 tablespoon vanilla to butter mixture and beat until creamy. Mix in the dry ingredients. Drop on a greased cookie sheet by tablespoonfuls, flatten slightly.
3. Bake for 12-15 minutes. (I baked mine for 12 minutes). Cool cookies, then drizzle the icing with a fork.
4. To make the icing: combine confectioners' sugar, milk, 1 teaspoon melted butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add milk as needed to achieve drizzling consistency.

Below is a picture - some cookies are iced, some are not. If you aren't a big fan of icing, you can simply leave that part of the recipe out. Sorry about the quality of the photo - it is from my camera on my phone - my nice digital camera broke - well, I dropped it - and broke it on vacation in California so until I get it fixed, camera phone it is :) I hope you and your family enjoy the Iced Pumpkin Spice Cookies!