Little Bakeshop of Horrors

This year, everyone in our family put something into the guilford fair. I was going to do pictures, but I found out too late that they had to be ready and mounted on cardboard that very day. So, I decided, lets do some baking. I could do normal, regular baking, but, being a creative person, I wanted to do something more fun. The little bakeshop of horrors seemed just the thing. You get a cake, and decorate it in a creepy halloween themed style. I decided to take the play on words literally, and made the person-eating plant from Little Shop of Horrors. After much planning, I set to work. In all, the cake took three days to finish decorating (granted I had homework and clubs and was busy these three days) First, I made leaves out of dark green fondant and smaller red leaves out of fondant. Then, we took an 8 inch circular cake and iced it with chocolate icing. Then, we cut the top bit of a plastic cup to make it shorter and inserted it into the cake so that one inch was sticking up out of the cake. Into this, we put the non muffin part of one cup cake so that it almost filled the cup leaving around a centimeter of free space. I draped around one third of the leaves (the large ones) over this so it was mostly hidden. Then, I iced the two muffin halves with green frosting and put one on the cup with the flat side up. I then stuck this half doll thingy inside so that her head and arms stuck out, and covered it with the other half. Now time to get fancy with the fondant! I rolled out the light green fondant into different sized tubes that got thinner near the ends and placed them thick side under the leaves at the top and the rest of it going down the cake. I added the dark green leaves to these. To add a little extra, I piped red vines along the cake and placed the red leaves in clusters of three along it to resemble poison ivy. After adding fondant teeth, a thick green neck, and red blood to the cake, it was done. And because of all that hard work, i won BEST IN SHOW, and FIRST PLACE as well :)))

The BEST ginger cookie recipe

This recipe is tried and true, fail proof, and absolutely delicious. Every time I make them, I marvel at their amazing taste and perfect chewy texture. Hear that? EVERY TIME!!!

The Best Ginger Cookie Recipe:

cookies: 36

Materials:

• oven
• several cookie sheets (if cooking more than one batch at a time)
• electric mizture
• spoon
• sift
• refridgerator
• shallow dish
• cooling rack
• large bowl

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 2 sticks butter (1 cup) room temperature
• 1 egg
• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

-----------------------------

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar for rolling

How to Make:

1. preheat oven to 325 F
2. cream 1/2 cup granulated sugar, bron sugar, and butter with electric mixer until light and fluffy
3. add egg and continue beating until blended
4. stir in molasses and dry ingredients (sift dry ingredients if wnated)
5. refridgerate for 30 minutes
6. place the rolling sugar in a shallow dish
7. roll small balls of dough in the sugar (golf ball sized or smaller) (unless you want huge cookies :P)
8. place balls 2 inches or so apart on the baking sheets and press down slightly
9. bake unil golden at the edges but soft in the middle (12-15 minutes, depending on size of cookies)
10. let stand until not floppy (a minute or so) then transfer to a cooling rack (or your mouth. they're amazing fresh out of the oven)
11. enjoy!

How did they come out?

Amazing as usual. This is a tried and true recipe, and has never, and i mean NEVER failed me before. I love it, and will make it again and again and again :)

this recipe is brought to you by The Great American Baking Book by Patricia Lousada

Ooey Gooey Chocolate Chocolate Chip Fudge Brownies

Mom comes home and says "Cecilia, do you want to make something gooey and chocolatey?" How could I say no? And so, I thought, brownies would be the perfect thing.

Ooey Gooey Chocolate Chocolate Chip Fudge Brownies:

servings: 12

Materials:

• Oven


• Stove


• 3 qt saucepan


• spoon


• 9x13 baking pan


• beater


• wire rack (for cooling)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter


• 2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips


• 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar


• 4 eggs


• 1 cup all purpose flour


• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract


• 1/2 teaspoon salt


• 1 heaping cup semisweet chocolate chips

How to make:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F


2. Grease the baking pan


3. in the saucepan over very low heat, melt the butter and 2/3 cup chocolate chips, stirring constantly


4. take off heat once smooth, and beat in eggs one at a time


5. stir in vanilla, then flour, and salt


6. mix in the rest of the chocolate chips


7. spread batter evenly in the pan


8. bake in oven for 35 minutes until toothpick inserted comes out with few moist crumbs


9. cool pan on wire rack


10. enjoy

How they turned out:

DELICIOUS! We had them while they were still warm, and they were excellent that way. They were the perfect consistency (read the title) the next day too. My only complaints were that they were a little too sweet (originally it had unsweetened chocolate for the first bit) and a bit too buttery. But I will definately, DEFINATELY make these again!

Shortbread cookies

Two days ago, I had the impulse to make some easy, quick, yummy cookies. Shortbread cookies are just the type!

Shortbread Cookies

servings: 8 (but I made 32 small cookies)

Materials:

• oven


• electric mixter


• sift


• spoon


• knife


• fork


• 8 inch cake pan (I used springform)

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup unsalted butter at room temperature


• 1/2 cup sugar


• 1 3/4 cup all purpose flour


• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder


• 1/8 teaspoon salt

How to make it:

1. preheat oven to 325 F


2. grease the pan


3. with electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.


4. add flour, baking powder, and salt (through sift if ya want to) and mix well (will look like sand when done, but if you pinch it together, it holds form)


5. press dough into the pan, smoothing the surfacxe with the back of a spoon


6. prick with fork


7. bake until golden (mine took 45 minutes)


8. cut wedges while still hot


9. when col enough to handle, take it out


10. store in an airtight container (if you have any left to store :P)

How they turned out:

The standard shortbread cookie. A good, subtle flavor. Sweeter than others I've made in the past, but still good. Definately a make again; they were just so easy and quick to make.