A Yummy Treat for a Rainy Day Playdate!

This morning one of Leah's friends came over for a playdate.  What a fun activity for a rainy day!

Leah was SO excited to see this friend because he doesn't go to her school anymore.  The two of them quickly reconnected and were back to their old silly ways :)

After puzzles, play-doh, and two "little monkeys" jumping on Leah's bed :)  it was definitely time for a good snack!

The two friends got "bibbed-up" and sank their teeth into the banana chocolate chip bundt cake that Leah and I made yesterday.  She was very proud that she helped me bake this treat and couldn't wait for her friend to try it!

Here's how it turned out:

Leah and her play mate absolutely devoured their slices of bundt cake!  They seriously all but licked their plates!   And once they were finished, then it was "off to the races" again...these two were unstoppable! 

After re-fueling, the energetic two-some played tea party, dress-up, and had lots more fun.

Needless to say it was QUITE a busy morning....which segued into a busy afternoon as well with my active sweetie :).

So, after a fun, full day...it's time for one of my favorite times of the day: the moment when I get to sit back and relax for a minute or two and enjoy a cup of coffee and a few bites the treat that I've made...

...ok, so maybe it's more than just a few bites...but hey, this bundt cake turned out WAY too good to just have one piece!

I hope you all had a great rainy Sunday like I did and that you're all taking the time to eat a sweet or two as well!

Pops to Remember the Past and Celebrate Heritage

My latest baking endeavor was making rice krispie pops for the St. Gregory Armenian School.

My brother-in-law Shant (my sister's husband) is Armenian and my niece and nephew attend Armenian school on Saturdays to learn the culture and language.

My brother-in-law is the history teacher and gave all the students a talk and shared a presentation with them about the Armenian genocide.  This tragedy is remembered on April 24th, but was being discussed today.

My sister's family provided a lunch for all the children as part of this day of remembrance. They asked me to help out by providing rice krispie pops for dessert.  And naturally I was happy to do so.  I piped little Armenian flags on the pops and they really came out great!  

Here's a close up of the flag pops:

I had some pops displayed in flower pots:

And others out on the two-tiered pop display:

This is how the whole set up looked:

I was really pleased with how my sweets turned out and with how the display looked. 

The feedback from my oldest niece who helped out with the lunch was that everyone loved them and that all the kids went crazy for them when they walked in the room where the lunch was set up.  That was exactly the kind of reaction I was hoping for!  Mission definitely accomplished!

So, with another successful sweet under my belt, I am happily off to bed to rest up for my next endeavor.  What will it be?  You'll just have to wait for the next post to find out!

Until next time, make sure you all take the time to enjoy your sweets!

Hippity Hop Hop Happy Easter Day!

We had a very busy Easter weekend in our house, Steve's family came to stay and visit for the weekend and my parents came for Easter dinner as well.  Needless to say, there was a whole lotta bakin' goin' on in this house in the days leading up to this holiday!

When I was thinking about what sweet treats I wanted to make, I immediately wanted to try out a new cake pop.  I was going back and forth between chicks or bunnies...and decided on making the bunnies.

Here is a close up of one of my bunny cake pops...not too shabby for my first try at these babies!

At the suggestion of my dear hubby, I also decided to make some easter egg pops.  Here is a close up of one of them. I was super happy with how these pops turned out!

Here are all my Easter cake pops out on display.  The general consensus from everyone was that they were delicious...and they really were!  I LOVE cake, and cake pops are always the perfect little sweet bite   :)

Leah was SO excited to sink her teeth into one of the easter egg pops..."Mommy, I want an egg...Mommy I WANT AN EGG!"  Just look at that grin of anticipation!

Her feedback about the pops?   "Mommy, I love this!"  And naturally she devoured the whole thing! This chick eats with reckless abandon and I love it so much!  She truly takes after her mama in that regard  :)

I also made peanut butter pecan pie bars.  Pecan pie is my dad's favorite kind of pie, and my brother in law loves it as well...so making these was a no brainer.  At any holiday I feel like when you're experimenting with other new recipes, you always need a tried and true crowd pleaser too!   And, as usual, they came out wonderfully!  To quote my sweet dad, "These are seriously restaurant quality!"  (Cue chest swelling up with pride!)

Of course I made something for the paleo king as well.  I looked up some new recipes and found one that looked yummy...apricot-chocolate-pecan bars.

(Oh yeah, I'm all about the pecans lately!)  As I began prepping the ingredients for this treat I thought to myself, these will never be sweet enough for my standards!  And NO, I did not add sugar to help them out.  The paleo police would have come and hauled me away!  Some natural maple syrup and honey did the trick quite nicely.  They were so moist and really yummy.  Even some non-paleo family members enjoyed them.  I was so happy I was able to make something delicious for Steve!  I think I might finally be getting the hang of this paleo baking!

Finally, this is how all my sweets looked displayed out on the dessert table:

Well friends, after a weekend chock full of family, food, and an extremely excited/energetic toddler...this girl is seriously beat.  Time to put my feet up and enjoy a nice glass of wine and what else....another bunny pop!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend and that you enjoyed this latest post!

Stay tuned for my next post later on in the week and eat those sweets people!

Some Sweets for a Good Cause

Last week the Putnam Northern Westchester Women's Resource Center and The Elizabeth G. Butler Angel Foundation held a wonderful event at the Mahopac Library.  It was a ceremony celebrating local middle school students who had designed posters depicting anti-bullying messages.  As soon as I was approached about donating sweets for this event, I immediately agreed.  Bullying is such a relevant topic in today's world and has escalated to such scary magnitudes for today's youth...so much more so than when I was in school.  I thought this was just such a great cause to donate some sweets to. 

I made rice krispie pops for the event because they are always a fan favorite.  This time I decided to try a few new things to spice up my pops:


                                             Cute little flower sprinkles.  How very spring-y!

                                        A lovely lavender shade for my swirls and drizzles:

                                        Hand piped violets (I was very proud of these!):

                                             Here is the whole fleet of sweets:

                   And here they are on my new pop display my crafty hubby made for me :)

I was very happy with how my pops turned out and was even more happy when I heard what a success they were...there's even a picture of them on the resource center's website! 

I heard that event itself was also a big success, which is wonderful as well.  The messages that the posters communicated were very moving and I was honored to be a small part of this important cause.

So my friends,  as always - thank you, thank you for taking the time to read my blog...

and don't forget to eat your sweets!