friday alliteration

the mr. brought home a mystery package yesterday.

curious?

when i looked inside, it made me say, mmmmmmmmmmmm.

and yum...

and hooray!

because you can only get this scrumptious treat once a year

and only if you beat everyone else to the punch.

people trespass to find them.

get in rock 'em sock 'em robot fights

to win out.

what could cause such a reaction?

morel mushrooms...that's what.

i've had them before, but never prepared them. my wheels were turning and my creative juices were flowing with ideas: mushroom panini, mushroom soup, mushroom bechemel sauce...

but we were pressed for time, so we resorted towards simple and easy. lana's spring sing was last night and in a rush to get to school and in a rush to use up the morels whilst they were fresh, we chopped them up. sauteed them in butter. threw in some crackers. scrambled some eggs. and tossed in a little seasoning.

ta da! scrambled eggs a la super dee duper!

(sorry there's no pic of the scrambled eggs. i mentioned that we were

in a hurry last night, right?).

it wasn't fancy, but it sure was yummy.

and if it seems a travesty to waste such specialness on something as common and simple as scrambled eggs, all is not lost. my husband's coworker (who so graciously shared his mushroom treasure with us) is morel hunting this weekend, so i may have a second chance at culinary redemption. you can imagine the serious butt-kissing going on...

mr., mystery, mmmmmm, morel mushrooms.

it's a wrap.

and it's friday friends! amen.

have a fabulous weekend.

dawnie

part deux- hello cupcake

phew! for a moment i thought i had lost my cupcake-making mojo. good thing it came back, because today i made some petite-sized mother's day cuppies that go perfectly with the cake platter i made yesterday. sweet success...

can you tell they are a bouquet of carnations and begonias? hmmmmm...me either.

but i think they look pretty nonetheless.

and here's another cake platter that i made with another porcelain bowl. another lucky find at goodwill. i like how the lavender cuppies look all grouped together.















i thought about giving them away...









...but then the kids and i ate them. we couldn't resist.





luckily they can be made in a snap.
here's my favorite recipe for chocolate cake below.
it has never let me down...

lennie's deep dark chocolate cake
from recipezaar.com

2 c. white sugar
1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
2 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
2 eggs
1 c. buttermilk
1/2 c. canola oil (or melted butter)
2 t. vanilla extract
1 c. brewed coffee

preheat oven to 350 degrees. line mini-muffin or muffin tin with liners. in a medium bowl, stir together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. add the eggs, milk, butter, and vanilla. mix for 3 minutes with an electric mixer. stir the coffee in by hand. the batter will look a tad soupy, but do not fear, they will puff up and round out evenly when they bake. next, pour evenly into the liners about halfway. bake for 15-20 minutes for minis or 20-25 minutes for regular cupcakes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to cool completely.

buttercream frosting

2 sticks of butter, softened

4 c. confectioner's sugar, sifted

2 t. vanilla

pinch of salt

1/4 c. milk

cream butter until light and fluffy. beat in sugar, vanilla and salt. add milk 1 tablespoon at a time until the frosting has a smooth consistency.

then click on this link...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9qtZwHHmx4

and it will take you to a video tutorial on you tube that shows how to frost the cupcakes into begonias and carnations. do not fear: a lovely lady named allison will walk you step by step through the process.

i won't show you the cupcakes from yesterday because, frankly, they had the face that only a mother could love... they tasted good anyway:)

so if your mom loves:

chocolate + flowers + cupcakes +handmade

this is a winner.

(and the cake stand is a bonus).

happy, sweet mother's day to all the moms out there!

dawnie

victory weekend

winter paid us a surprise visit again yesterday with a slushy mix. it rained, it froze, and it snowed in repeating, random order all afternoon and into this morning. just when the trees decided to bud, the grass turned green, the robins returned and the flowers began sprouting, winter reminded us that it's really not over until it's over. it was definitely a good day to stay indoors (of course we didn't... but more about our weekend to follow later this week).

don't feel too sorry for me though. today the sun is out and the snow is melting rapidly. spring is victorious, at least for right now...

another victory of sorts occured for me in the baking department over the weekend...i made ebelskivers for the very first time and achieved success! ebelskivers, for those who don't know, are danish pastries, sort of like little rounded pancakes that you can leave plain or stuffed with a little bit of jam, fruit, custard, pudding, or whatever your little heart desires. this morning we decided to make them with a little bit of smuckers berry jam tucked inside and a heavy-handed sprinkling of powdered sugar to mirror the great snowy outdoors.

you can find ebelskiver pans at williams-sonoma or a cheaper "pancake puff" version at stores like target or walmart. i found my cast-iron pan last friday at the local goodwill for a mere $10, another reason to feel victorious. i wasn't too sure about the quality of the product because it is an "as seen on tv" product, but i thought it was worth a shot for as much as it cost. i figured that back in the day, danish people didn't have fancy ebelskiver pans sold at fancy cooking stores like williams-sonoma, but rather good old sturdy cast iron pans. i double oiled the pan and double crossed my fingers that it would work...

i was not disappointed!!! they are a little tricky to turn over, but once you get the hang of manuevering the two skewers it is kind of fun. what also helped is brushing the wells with some butter and having some extra helping hands. as i poured the batter in the pan, "jelly man" (my better half) dropped dollops of jam in the center and i followed with a little extra batter. miss lana lou, my "sweet" assistant, sifted powdered sugar over the tops of the ebelskiver. we all couldn't stop saying ebelskiver (pronounced like "able-skeever") as we made them. we also couldn't stop eating them off the plates, still warm and yummy.

we used this recipe from the williams-sonoma site (keep in mind we swapped the blueberries for premade jam, poured in a shot of vanilla extract, and used half wheat flour and half white flour):

Ebelskiver Recipe

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 Tbs. granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
3 eggs, separated
1 3/4 cups buttermilk
4 Tbs. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 pint fresh blueberries
Confectioners' sugar for dusting
Maple syrup for serving
Directions:
In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, granulated sugar and salt. In a small bowl, lightly whisk together the egg yolks and buttermilk. Whisk the yolk mixture into the flour mixture until well combined; the batter will be lumpy. In another bowl, using an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on high speed until stiff but not dry peaks form, 2 to 3 minutes. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the whites into the batter in two additions. Put 1/2 tsp. butter in each well of a filled-pancake pan. Place over medium heat and heat until the butter begins to bubble. Pour 1 Tbs. batter into each well and cook until the bottoms are golden brown and crispy, 3 to 5 minutes. Put 5 or 6 blueberries in the center of each pancake and top with 1 Tbs. batter. Using 2 wooden skewers, flip the pancakes over and cook until golden and crispy, about 3 minutes more. Transfer to a plate. Repeat with the remaining batter and blueberries. Dust the pancakes with confectioners' sugar and serve warm with maple syrup. Makes about 40.
Williams-Sonoma Kitchen.

enjoy~ hope your weekend was just as sweet!

dawnie