Oh What Fun, William is One!

My fabulous friend Carla's little boy, William, just turned one! Well, ok, it was a month ago, but things have been a little hectic in the Eat Your Sweet kitchen and I've been awful at blogging about all the treats I've been whipping up!  What am I? A full time working mom or something?? Hahaha.

Anyhow, I just cannot believe that this sweet little muffin is one year old.  I seriously remember the day he was born like it was yesterday....

The early morning text from Carla that something was happening, the anxious waiting to hear if baby was a boy or a girl, and then the fabulous phone call letting me know that William had arrived.

WOW, how time does fly! (I think my spunky little 3 and a half year old is definite proof of how time zooms past at a break-neck pace!)

Carla and I have been friends for years and she and her family are very important to me.  So when she asked me to make some cookies for William's big day, I was flattered and so happy to add something special to the event.

The color theme for the party was aqua and red.  Carla did such an amazing job decorating and making everything just so for the party...there were aqua streamers accenting every doorway...tissue paper flowers hanging from the ceiling...adorable little labels on the dining room table announcing to all what every delicious morsels she'd whipped up!

Even the cake had aqua and red decor on it.  She is such a planner!  I knew how special this day was for them and wanted my cookies to be just perfect!

For the first cookie, we stuck with the color theme and did a fancy W to go with William's name.

Here's a shot of one up close:

I was SO happy with how these cookies came out...I love doing lettering on sugar cookies!

And here's one of the rows all lined up:

In addition to the color scheme, Carla loved the idea of lions being incorporated into the party theme...think jungle chic! Haha!  So I did some lion cookies as well.

Here's the close up:

Look at that little face!  Seriously, how cute is he?!  Don't you just want to gobble him up!?

And here's the whole pride of lions, roaring and ready for action:

 This is the all the cookies on display, on display, on display...

 (sorry I can't let that joke die!)...for the party:

Leah approved these cookies whole-heartedly, and dove into a lion cookie head first!

Well, I am thrilled to say that Carla was more than pleased with the cookies and everyone else at the party loved them too!

The party was a great success (naturally as Carla is a wonderful hostess!) and a good time was had by all.

I hope you all enjoyed my latest sugar cookie creations - they were super fun to make!

And until next time...don't forget to eat your sweets!

Share the Love!

When you think of February, what's the first thing that comes to mind?  Valentine's Day of course!

While I do believe that we should appreciate our loved ones all year round, I think it's an especially nice day to  "share the love" with all those we care about - both family and friends!

Leah LOVES her little friends at school, so we made some special Valentine sugar cookies for them.  I thought it would be a sweet idea if I piped each child's first initial on them too.

Her class is learning their letters and they were all so excited to identify the letter on their cookies, and to eat them of course!

 

I also made some sweet treats for some of my friends at work:

....and they were definitely enjoyed by all.  There were only crumbs left on the platter at the end 

of the work day!  Empty plate = success!

In addition to Valentine's day, my fabulous sister Christine's birthday is also in February, so naturally that is a cause for celebration too!

We always gather at my mom's house for family birthdays.  It's a time with lot of laughs, all the cousins playing, and when it comes to my family - lots of eating!  I was excited to make some delightful bites for my sister's special day.

Now, whenever I made any desserts for an order (or even when I'm experimenting) I always send pictures of them to my family - they enjoy seeing all my latest creations.

So when they saw my latest sugar cookies I'd made for Valentine's day, naturally they wanted to sample some too!

Here they are...iced...piped...and ready to be gobbled up:

I also made two different types of cake pops.  The white with blue sprinkles was carrot cake. And the purple heart pops had chocolate cake inside.  Both were super scrumptious!

I wanted to try something new to share with my family as well. While flipping through one of my many cooking magazines I came across a recipe for chocolate cherry blondies.  What a happy coincidence - Christine LOVES the chocolate cherry combo!  It was like dessert destiny ;)

So I gave them a whirl and O.M.G....they were AMAZING!  Definitely a treat I'll be making again in the near future!

Thank goodness there were some extras because I got to bring a few home to enjoy...and yes, they're all gone by now!

Well, I hope you all had a super sweet Valentine's day with the ones you love and I hope you enjoyed seeing all my latest treats I whipped up too!

Stay tuned because more creative cookies will be coming your way by the week's end!

Until then, don't forget to eat your sweets everyone :)

It's All About the Ninjas!

So in case you are not (a) a parent of a young child, (b) an elementary school teacher, or (c) up on all the cool kids shows and toys...ninjas of ALL kinds are very in right now!

What is it about ninjas that are so enthralling to young children?

Could it be their stealthy demeanor? The super cool costumes and back stories?  Their delicious candy coating and moist cake-y center? 

Hmmmm.....I think the third choice just might be the winner.


Yes, you guessed it...I've been busy making birthday Ninja pops for several children lately!

Before this year I had never heard of Ninjagos before.  What are Ninjagos you ask?  They are little Lego ninjas....each with their own back story, color, outfit, etc.  This is a picture of just a few of them:

It's a pretty big deal in the world of Kindergarten boys.

So when I was asked to make Ninjago pops, I wanted to make sure that they were accurate and awesome to make this little Lego superfan happy on his special day!

The little friend that I was making these pops for has a few food allergies that I've never had to think about while creating dessert pops before, so I had to get creative with them. 

Since the cake pops I make typically contain dairy, gluten, and soy (by default in some ingredients), I decided to go with rice krispie pops for this order.  I opted to use Earth Balance Soy-Free Buttery Spread in lieu of butter in the rice krispie pops to totally adhere to all the dietary sensitivities I was working around.

Now, I had never experimented with rice krispie pops using anything other than butter, so I was a little nervous about how they would come out!


But thankfully, they shaped into nice little pops quite easily:

The melting chips that I typically use contain dairy and soy, so as an alternative I used Enjoy Life Allergen Free chocolate chips....which taste awesome!

Here are the pops dipped and drying:

Next, I had to figure out what to use for the little yellow Lego faces.  Starburst candies of course!


Here's what all my little Ninjas looked like dipped and with their chocolate faces piped on:

And here's a close up of one little Ninja friend:

I couldn't have been happier with how they turned out and I think that they look just like the Lego Ninjago figures!

The best part of making these pops was how happy the little boy at school (and his mom) were with the final product.  His teacher said he had the biggest smile when the pops were unveiled at his lunchtime birthday celebration! Success!

The next set of ninja pops I made were some crime fighting ninjas from my childhood that have recently made a comeback.  Who am I talking about you wonder?  Who else but everyone's favorite heros in a half-shell! Oh yeah...that's right...Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!  Turtle Power!

What a great show that was!  I can remember coming home from school and racing to the television (snack in hand) to watch Leonardo, Donatello, Rafael, and Michaelangelo fight crime and eat pizza....don't judge me...you all know you watched too! :)

So when I was asked to make some TMNT pops for a birthday party, I was excited for the challenge.

Here are a bunch of shots of the whole Ninja Turtle gang:

Aren't they adorable?! I was so happy with how they came out!  And so were the recipients!


What fun all these ninjas were to make! 


I hope you all enjoyed reading about my latest pops as much as I enjoyed making them! 

Stay tuned to see what delicious delights I come up with next!


And, remember, though the holidays are over and we're all trying to jump start those new years resolutions...don't forget to eat your sweets!


You only live once, you might as well live it sweet!  :)

Tennis Anyone?

A few weeks ago, my oldest niece (and goddaughter) Alex finished her last tennis season of her high school career.  She is a senior this year and soon enough will be off to college.  How can it possibly be that she is old enough to have a license, drive a car, and be graduating high school!?! It seriously seems like just yesterday that she was born!  But before I get too mushy....back to the tennis! 

Tennis has become a major part of Alex's life over the course of her middle and high school career.  She is a fabulous tennis player, and as such, was her team's captain this year. 

With all her hard work and dedication to her team over the years, my sister thought it was only fitting for Alex to have some special sweets at her last tennis dinner.

So when she asked me to make some tennis themed cake pops, of course I was happy to oblige!

I made some pops that looked like tennis balls (with gold shimmer, of course!):

And some with the school colors and letters of Alex's high school (with some silver shimmer for a little extra bling!):

Here is the whole fleet of tennis pops all ready to go to the party:

But just having these super cute pops was not enough.  Oh no!  My very crafty sister found a design for tiny tennis courts to display the cake pops...how great does this look:

What a fantastic touch, right? Everything looked amazing down to the teeny tiny tennis nets partitioning the two sides of the chocolate candy coated courts:

And this is how the whole display looked at the dinner:

I was so happy with the final result of the pops and the courts!  And I am even more thrilled to say that they were a huge hit with all Alex's team mates and their families!  Score for Eat Your Sweets' team! Hooray!

I hope you all liked these latest creations of mine, I definitely had a lot of fun making them!

Until next time, be sure to eat those sweets and enjoy this sweet time of the year with friends and family...the truly sweetest part of the holiday season.

Spiderman, Spiderman...does whatever a spider can!

Last weekend we went to a birthday party for Leah's great little friend, Joshy.

Leah and this sweet little boy went to daycare together since they were infants.  Right from the beginning they loved each other and were fast friends.  Sadly, he and his family moved to another town, and now they aren't at "school" together anymore :(


But, his fabulous mom and I have stayed in touch and we have had a bunch of playdates so the kids (and moms!) can catch up and stay connected :)


When Leah and Joshy get back together for an afternoon it's like long lost friends reunited...it is the cutest thing! They run to each other and hug and have SO much fun playing and laughing together.  It's such a heart warming sight!


So when we got the invite for his birthday party, naturally we said yes and were super excited to go! 


Joshy is a HUGE Spiderman fan and when his mom asked me to make Spiderman themed pops I was more than happy to oblige.

I was granted some creative liberty with these pops and to make it fun, I decided to make half look like Spiderman, and the other half look like Venom. 



These pops were so fun to make and I was thrilled with how they came out.  With each set of eyes I piped on...these little characters really came to life!


Here are some shots of the Spidey pops:

Didn't they come out great?!? Ready for some web-slinging action!


And here is Spidey's evil nemesis:

Now, for all you die hard fans...I know that Venom really has white eyes on his mask, but I thought the red eyes made these little villains look extra menacing.

And here's the whole crew lined up together, ready for the party:

Well, these pops were quite a hit at the party and most importantly the birthday boy and his mom LOVED them!  Success!

As always, thank you to all of you for reading about my latest sweet "adventures in baking" and stay tuned for my next post tomorrow...it's a good one!

Don't forget to eat your sweets friends...especially at this holly jolly time of year!

A Turkey Sat on a Barnyard Fence...

....and he sang a sad, sad song....Thanksgiving Day is coming soon and I won't be here for long! Gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble...I would like to run awaaaaaay...

Gobble, gobble, gobble gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble, I don't like Thanksgiving Day!


Ok, so perhaps I've been listening to Kindergarten Thanksgiving concert songs for too long! (BUT, in my defense...it IS a catchy tune!)

Thanksgiving was a busy time for this baker girl...I had lots of turkey pop orders to fill as well as baking sweets for my own turkey day celebration!

I am super proud of my little flock of turkeys...Here's how they came out:

Aren't they adorable?!? From their little candy beaks to their tasty tail-feathers...these little oven-stuffers came out amazing!

 And from the feedback I got, all the recipients of these delicious chocolate dipped turkeys were VERY happy!

 I also made some peanut-butter dipped turkeys for my family celebration.  My parents don't eat chocolate (GASP!) so, I got creative and came up with a different kind of turkey:

I don't know about you, but I think these little guys are just as endearing as their chocolate buddies :)

Besides dozens of tiny turkeys, I made some other yummy treats as well.

What Thanksgiving dinner is complete with out a delicious pecan pie?!  It is the favorite pie of my dad and I so I HAD to make one:

I tried a new recipe this year and it came out fabulous! (If I don't say so myself!)

And for the paleo king, I made some pumpkin raisins spice paleo bars:

They were also a big success...especially with my sweet Leah :) I think she had 2 after dinner that night!

I hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving with your families and that you enjoyed my latest creations.

Stay tuned for some more fun cake pops soon....And don't forget to keep it sweet during this holiday season!

How can it be? Leah is turning 3!!!

This weekend was Leah's 3rd birthday party.  How fast the past 3 years have gone! I can hardly believe that my little mischief night baby is old enough to ride a tricycle, put on her own shoes, and outsmart her own mother on many occasions!

Here's my little mama all ready for the festivities to begin:

What a big girl she is, right?!? She was so excited to wear her orange tutu!

I wanted to make her birthday party super special...what mom doesn't want their little one to have a great day that they'll never forget?

Of course, in this house birthday planning always begins with what else? Desserts!

I sat down with Leah and asked her what kind of sweets she wanted for her big day.  Her response? "Cake pops mama...ghost pops. And spooky cats!"  And that settled it.  It would be a spooky Halloween themed party.

So I set to work planning, prepping, and baking....Determined to make some spooky treats that would have everyone at the party licking their lips and wanting more.

Here's what I came up with:

Sugar cookie bats, ghosts, and cats:

 These sugar cookies are always a crowd pleasing treat..they are SO moist and fluffy...

you seriously can't just have one!

And these were the main attraction! These spooky cake pops were the talk of the party!

(cue patting myself on the back about these babies!)....

 

I was so happy with how these all came out! Leah was so excited when she first saw them on Saturday..."I want one now mama!"

 The jack-o-lanterns had vanilla cake inside, the black cats had lemon cake, 

and the ghosts were rice krispie treats.

 ...and all of them were a huge hit! Especially with the birthday girl...

my most important critic of all! :)

Here's a shot of the whole dessert display....

Well, almost the whole display...there was one more treat that I whipped up for another special birthday...Steve's!  The hubs' birthday was this past Thursday, so we HAD to celebrate his big day too!  Now, of course he would not indulge in the sugary sweets that I featured above.  NO.  It had to be purely paleo.

So, by his request, I made a paleo carrot cake with paleo frosting. 

It was my first time making both things...and I am super happy to say that the carrot cake was a huge hit as well!  Even Leah had a slice:

 As you can see, she thought it was "finger lickin' good!"

Well, after a very busy day of endless jumping in her special birthday bounce house, playing with family and friends, and eating lots of sweets...my big girl went to bed a happy (and extremely pooped!) little gal.  So, it was mission accomplished! Operation 3rd birthday bash was a success :)

I hope you all enjoyed my latest post and creation and don't forget...eat your sweets!