Happy Birthday Mom!

I'll keep this short and sweet, because while all you normal people are getting up to greet the morning, I just got off work and am totally ready to hit the sack. Every year, I ask my family members what treats they want for their birthday. Usually it's the run of the mill cupcakes, cake, or cookies. But this year when I asked my mom, she requested a Boston Cream Pie, something totally new. She's been wanting one FOREVER, so without further ado, I present to you: Mom's Birthday Boston Cream Pie!!!

Boston Cream Pie

3 large eggs, separated
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 C. granulated sugar
Pinch of salt
3/4 C. cake flour

Filling
1/2 C. granulated sugar
1/4 C. all-purpose flour
1 1/2 C. milk
6 large egg yolks
2 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

Glaze 
1/2 C. granulated sugar
3 Tbl light corn syrup
2 Tbl water
4 oz semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

Beat together egg yolks and vanilla at medium speed until blended. Beat in half of sugar until very thick and pale. Using clean, dry beaters, beat together egg whites and salt at medium speed until very soft peaks form. Gradually beat in remaining sugar until stiff, but not dry, peaks form. Fold yolk mixture into egg whites. Sift flour over mixture; fold in gently. Pour batter into greased 9-inch cake pan. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes. 

While cake cools, prepare filling. In a saucepan, mix together sugar and flour. Gradually whisk in milk, then egg yolks, vanilla, and salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat; boil for 1 minute, whisking constantly. Strain through a fine sieve into a bowl. Press plastic wrap on surface and chill for 30 minutes. Using a serrated knife, cut cake in half. Spread evenly with filling. Top with remaining cake layer. 

To prepare glaze, in a saucepan, bring sugar, corn syrup, and water to a boil over low heat, stirring constantly, until sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat. Add chocolate; let stand for 1 minute. Whisk until smooth. Gradually pour glaze over cake, allowing it to drip down sides and let stand until the glaze sets. 

I found this simple recipe in our Great American Home Baking cookbook. As you might be able to tell from the picture, my chocolate "glaze" wasn't quite "glaze"-y. It still tasted good though. All that matters right? I can't wait to dig into this tonight, because today  is my mom's birthday! Woo! Let us eat pie!...er....cake!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!

Brush Embroidery Butterflies

*Sigh*...Ok...I'm back. I've been having SERIOUS issues adjusting from vacation mode to reality mode. I know, it's been a month, but I have had SERIOUS vacation brain, where I don't want to do ANYTHING. But I'm back. And it's about time, because I've got a pile of goodies that I have to share with you guys. 

So I've been DYING to use this brush embroidery technique that I've been seeing everywhere. I mean, talk about fancy, those brush embroidery flowers are just straight up elegant. So I wanted to test the technique on some butterflies. I mean, I've only seen it on flowers, but why not? It's just brushing the icing with a paint brush. Sounds easy enough. And one of our awesome daycare moms, Krista, had a birthday coming up. Two birds, one stone. 

This was the end result. They didn't turn out bad, but they didn't turn out how I expected them to. And I'm not sure what I was doing wrong...Hmm... I'll have to give this technique another try sometime to get it down. Along with these cookies, Krista got this awesome card my mom made to match it. Check it out- see the resemblance? Coordinated card-goodie gifts are the coolest!

Stay tuned- I have lots more to share with you! In the less-than-a-month near future. =)

These are a Few of my Favorite Things- Disneyland!

Hey Guys!

For my first installment of TFFT, I feel it's appropriate to talk about my favorite place, and the Happiest Place on Earth: Disneyland!! And why is it appropriate, you ask? Because as you're reading this post, I just so happen to be on my way down to Disneyland! Huzzah!

My taller-than-me baby sister and I our last trip.

Growing up, I was one of those Disney kids: always watching a Disney movie, always a Disney princess for Halloween, Disney EVERYTHING. I was like this until... well, come to think of it, I guess I never really grew out of being a Disney kid. :) So considering we were one of "those" Disney families, we've been to Disneyland er, a few times. It helps that it's only a short 8 hour drive. Happiest place on earth is TOTALLY worth it.

My dad and I tried on aviator caps in DCA. Adventure is out there!

We've also been to Disney WORLD in Orlando. That was way back when, when I was like...12. I think another trip there is in order. And Harry Potter Land. OBV.

So, I'll spare you guys a gruelingly long post and keep it short instead. Because believe me, if I don't keep it short, we'll be here for days.  So, how about it? Any other die-hard Disneyland fans out there? Bakers with a secondary Disney obsession? Or perhaps the other way around?

Valentine's Day Treats!

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!!! I'll keep this post short and sweet, because I know you all are spending time with your sweeties right now. I made a couple treats for this Hallmark holiday (If you couldn't tell...I honestly think Valentine's Day is stupid). The first treats were for everyone, and...they weren't exactly what I had planned. Actually, my final product wasn't even Plan B, it was more like Plan C or D. Looks like Plan A is going to have to wait til next year. BUT. I did like how they turned out. I made mini cookies, iced them white, then used my favorite food color spray technique. All I gotta say is...thank god my mom is a scrapbooker and has random heart punches lying around. 

As my mom so kindly pointed out (AFTER I had finished spraying all of my cookies, mind you)...the ones that have the two hearts on them as opposed to three....look like...bras. Oops. What started out as innocent lacy heart cookies turned out to be Rated R  boobie cookies. Look at the red one in the back. I apologize if they offend...Bwahaha!

Next up are my Golden Oreo truffles I made for the daycare kids. Every year my mom throws them a little Valentine's party, where they get special treats and they give each other little Valentine's cards that they picked out themselves. The whole thing is actually really cute. Anyway, these were super simple. Take a box of Golden Oreos, mix with 3/4 brick of cream cheese, add some red food coloring, dip in chocolate and BOOM! Easy Valentine's treats.

That's all for now- told you I'd keep it short and sweet!!

Everybody have a fantastic Valentine's Day/Singles Awareness Day!! ;)

Lemon-palooza Trilogy Episode III

The time has come, my friends. The end is upon us. For my lemony desserts, that is. This is the final installment of lemon-palooza. I'm not gonna lie, I more or less heaved a sigh of relief when I finished off the lemons with this recipe. I loved every one of these recipes I tried, but man...I could really use some chocolate. Although this last recipe hit the spot because it had another one of my favorite foods: cream cheese. Mmm...I love just about anything with cream cheese. And with that, I bring you: Lemon cream cheese pie!!

I found the recipe here at a site called Midwest Living, and it was the perfect one to finish off the last of my lemons. I tried making my pie shells with butter instead of the shortening that the recipe calls for, but I'm not sure it turned out right. It's been so long since I've made a pie shell from scratch, so as we were eating it, we all asked, "Is this right? Is it SUPPOSED to be sort of...chewy?" Yeah, I think I did something wrong. It was hard to cut into, but then took on a different consistency when we were eating it. Next time I'll try a different pie shell recipe from the one given with the pie recipe.

The recipe makes TWO pies, so you can make one for yourself and share one! I made one for us, and brought the other to Jill, so she could try something made from her lemons (The other lemon goodies didn't last long enough to make it to her house. Heh heh) .

Or, you know....you can just eat both pies. I wouldn't judge you. :)

These are a Few of my Favorite Things- An Intro

AKA: The blog post I've been meaning to do for a few months. What a loser.

I've gotta say, I love my blog. I love sharing the goodies I make both literally and virtually. I love that people actually get to see my stuff from all over. And I love you, the readers. But I have to admit, sometimes I do kick myself over the fact that I made a blog for such a limited topic. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE baking. As I write this, I'm itching to bake something, as it's been about a week. However, sometimes I wish I made a more generalized blog. Unless I'm mistaken, those of you who follow me are here for the treats. It's not like I can just hop on my blog and talk about the Disneyland trip I'm counting down to (13 Days!!), share my dismay about how much Glee is starting to suck, or share my 10-year work in progress craft project (There's a good explanation for this, I swear). This is Lovin' from the Oven. It seems inappropriate to talk about Dance Moms.

So, after a long time coming and a long internal battle on the subject, I decided to make this new feature. These are a Few of my Favorite Things. You know, just so you guys can get to know me better, and I can get to know you guys better. Just every once in a while, nothing excessive.

What do you guys think? I'll be launching my first edition of TFFT soon- leave me some feedback on what you think!

New additions to my addiction

So, I've mentioned that my baking stuff is taking over my house. Total exaggeration, but seriously? I have TONS of it. And every year it gets a little bit worse. It's freaking Christmas's fault, man. Every year, when I get asked that dreaded question ("What do you want for Christmas??") I totally freeze up. I usually just shrug and giggle and turn to the person next to me and start talking about something else. Don't put me on the spot like this! I can't handle the pressure! *Ahem* Even though I HAVE had all year to think about it... I just don't want for anything. My old standby has turned into baking stuff these past few years. Uh, HELLO! Cupcake wrappers are the PERFECT stocking stuffer!! That being said, I wanted to share with you guys some of the awesome baking stuff I got Christmas of 2012. AKA, more crap that's taking up space in my room/closet/baking cupboard. Jeez.

1. You don't even know how hard it was for me to wait for this book! This is the lovely Bridget of Bake at 350's book, and it's certainly a must-have for any cookie decorator out there! This book came out in October of last year, and it was so annoying forcing myself to wait until Christmas. Bridget was my inspiration to start decorating cookies (and still is my inspiration), so one way or another I was GETTING. THIS. BOOK. 

2. Mickey Mouse cookie cutters! We're huge Disney fans at our house, so these are a perfect addition to my cutter addition! I may have to make these for our trip in a couple weeks!

3. This rainbow whisk is the coolest whisk. EVER. I mean, it's just rainbow silicon, but I love rainbow colors! Actually, any bright colors in general...I'm easily amused. Broc got me this whisk for Christmas as a bit of an inside joke. We like to watch Feast of Fiction on YouTube. Anyone seen it? If you're a fiction fan (I think it appeals to my nerdy side, honestly), then you'll love this YouTube channel. I mean, they make mushroom stew from Minecraft. So. Much. Awesome. Anyway, they usually use this rainbow whisk, and I've always loved that. Now I've got my own!

4. These nesting dolls are absolutely freaking adorable!! What you see here aren't just your run of the mill nesting dolls...although I wouldn't complain if they were. I heart nesting dolls. These are in fact measuring cups!! Gaaahhh, so cute! My friend Shannon got them for me (along with numbers 1 and 2), and I LOVE using them!! 

Look at all this! So much cuteness for one kitchen. I'm on cuteness overload here. :D