Shhh, don’t tell my son I “borrowed” his TinkerToys!!! ;o)

Tip #233 Grass Tip

Add some crushed chocolate cookies as “dirt”!

Enjoy!

Coconut Macaroon Cupcakes with Coconut Frosting

• 1 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter or margarine, at room temperature
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar, sifted
• 2 large eggs, separated
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup low-fat (1% milk fat) milk
• 1/2 cup shredded sweetened coconut
• Sifted confectioners sugar (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Lightly coat eighteen 2 1/4 inch muffin cups with the cooking spray or insert cupcake liners. Sift the flour and baking powder onto a sheet of wax paper and set aside. In a large bowl, cream the butter with an electric mixer set on medium speed. Gradually add about 1/2 cup of the granulated sugar in small amounts, beating until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks and almond and vanilla extracts and beat until well combined.

2. In a perfectly clean medium-size bowl and with clean beaters, beat the egg whites with the electric mixer set on high until they form soft peaks. Add the remaining granulated sugar in small amounts and beat until the egg whites are stiff and glossy but not dry. 3 Add the flour mixture and milk to the butter mixture. Fold in the coconut and egg whites and spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling them 2/3 full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Let cool to room temperature.

Coconut Frosting

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/3 cup reduced coconut milk, room temperature
• Seeds scraped from 1 split vanilla bean or 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups sweetened flaked coconut, lightly toasted (for garnish)

Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until smooth. Add sugar, 1/3 cup reduced coconut milk, seeds from vanilla bean, and salt. Beat on medium-low speed until blended, scraping down sides of bowl. Increase to medium high and beat until light and fluffy.
Using pastry bag fitted with large star tip, pipe frosting onto cooled cupcakes. (Alternatively, top each cupcake with 2 tablespoons frosting. Using small offset spatula, swirl frosting over top of cupcakes, leaving 1/2-inch plain border.) Sprinkle with coconut. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Store in airtight containers; chill. Bring to room temperature before serving.

These cookies may look difficult to make but honestly anyone can do these no matter what your skill level and they are sure to impress your honey! This technique can be used to make any shape of cookie… with St. Patrick’s Day and Easter coming up the possibilities are endless!

First bake up a batch of your favorite cut-out cookie recipe. I use this one for a basic sugar/butter cookie. http://www.wilton.com/recipe/Roll-Out-Cookie-Recipe. For these cookies I used a “swimming trunks” cutter that I found at www.karenscookies.net.

• Helpful Hint: If you don’t have one, don’t sweat it! Use a square cutter and with the corner of the square cut out a notch on the bottom of the square to define the legs of the shorts.

Let your cookies cool on a wire rack before decorating.

Next, make a batch of Royal Icing (I used Wilton’s Recipe found on www.wilton.com). The icing will be very thick. Separate the icing into 4 bowls.

Bowl #1: Add a few drops of red dye (I use Americolor)
Bowl #2: Leave white
Bowl #3: Dye the icing red and thin with a few drops of water (consistency of Elmer’s Glue)
Bowl #4: Leave white and thin with a few drops of water (consistency of Elmer’s Glue)
Fill two pastry bags (fitted with a #2 tip) with the thick consistency red and white icings (Bowls 1 & 2).

Outline half of your cookies red and the other half white. Let the icing dry for about an hour.

Next, fill two squeeze bottles with a bit of the red and white thinned icing. I used these handy little squeeze bottles that I picked up at www.karenscookies.net! They come with a plastic #2 tip and coupler, but any of your Wilton tips are interchangeable. Put the filled bottles to the side, we’ll get to them in a minute!

The next step is to flood your cookies with the red and white thin consistency icing. I just spooned it in, but you can fill a pastry bag or squeeze bottle to apply it.

The icing will slowly spread out but you may need to use a spatula to ease it towards the edges. Use a toothpick to pop any air bubbles that may have formed. Before the icing dries use the squeeze bottles filled with the thinned icing to make small polka-dots in the wet icing. This is called a “wet-on-wet technique”. When the icing dries, the finish will be smooth!

Let your cookies dry for several hours. Then with your thick consistency icing, pipe with a #2 tip the waistband and button details.

And there you have it! Valentine Boxer Shorts for your Honey!

Happy Baking!

I’ve been asked many times how I made this cake. The cool “kaleidoscope” effect is pretty trippy, right? Are you having a flashback to the groovy era of the 1960’s?

It’s a pretty simple technique that is sure to impress.

1) Make a white cake batter…box or from scratch…doesn’t matter.

2) Divide the batter evenly into 6 bowls.

3) Color each of the bowls of batter a different color of the rainbow using gel paste….I used Wilton Gel Paste in red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. (You could use just red and green for Christmas or pink and red for Valentine’s Day, or your school colors, or pastel blue for a boy baby shower, etc.)

4) Pour the red batter in center of your pan (don’t spread it with your spatula). Just let it ooze and settle. Pour the orange batter on top of the red batter and again, don’t touch it with your spatula- just let it spread on it’s own. Pour the yellow batter on top of the orange batter and so on….

5) Bake!

For a cool arched rainbow effect, use a round pan and when dividing your batter, use the most batter for the red, a little less for the orange, a little less of the yellow and so on. Pour the colors on top of each other (like above #4) in the pan so that it looks like a bullseye. When you slice the cake after it’s baked, each slice will look like a rainbow!

Enjoy!

With Easter just around the corner, I thought I would share this tutorial for calla lily cupcakes! I have also included my recipe for Coconut Macaroon cupcakes and frosting! Enjoy!!

Step 1: Roll out your white fondant or gumpaste to 1/8” thick. Use a calla lily cutter or a heart shaped cutter to create the calla lily.

Step 2: Form the cut-out heart (point side down) around the plastic calla lily former (you can buy one of these at Michael’s or AC Moore). You can also use an ice cream cone! Let dry for several hours.

Step 3: Let your calla lilies dry for several hours. I let them sit in this very sophisticated decorating tool called an egg carton!

Step 4: Roll some yellow fondant or gumpaste into a small oval approx 1” long.

Step 5: With a food-safe artist’s brush, brush one half of the yellow oval with water. Then roll it in some yellow sanding sugar. The sugar will only stick to the wet side.

Step 6: Place the oval inside the dried calla lily (sugared side out). You may need to brush some extra water to get it to stick inside the flower.

Step 7: Roll out some green fondant or gumpaste and cut out the calyx. You can also use a small star cutter for this step. Brush some water on to get it to stick to the end of the calla lily. At this point you can also brush on some silver or yellow luster dust to the tip of the calla lily for added dimension and interest.

Loren’s Coconut Macaroon Cupcakes with Coconut Frosting

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter or margarine, at room temperature
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar, sifted
• 2 large eggs, separated
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup low-fat (1% milk fat) milk
• 1/2 cup shredded sweetened coconut
• Sifted confectioners sugar (optional)

Directions: 1 Preheat the oven to 350° F. Lightly coat eighteen 2 1/4 inch muffin cups with the cooking spray or insert cupcake liners. Sift the flour and baking powder onto a sheet of wax paper and set aside. In a large bowl, cream the butter with an electric mixer set on medium speed. Gradually add about 1/2 cup of the granulated sugar in small amounts, beating until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks and almond and vanilla extracts and beat until well combined.

2 In a perfectly clean medium-size bowl and with clean beaters, beat the egg whites with the electric mixer set on high until they form soft peaks. Add the remaining granulated sugar in small amounts and beat until the egg whites are stiff and glossy but not dry. 3 Add the flour mixture and milk to the butter mixture. Fold in the coconut and egg whites and spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling them 2/3 full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Let cool to room temperature

Coconut Frosting 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar 1/3 cup reduced coconut milk, room temperature Seeds scraped from 1 split vanilla bean or 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1/8 teaspoon salt 1 1/2 cups sweetened flaked coconut, lightly toasted (for garnish Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until smooth. Add sugar, 1/3 cup reduced coconut milk, seeds from vanilla bean, and salt. Beat on medium-low speed until blended, scraping down sides of bowl. Increase to medium high and beat until light and fluffy. Using pastry bag fitted with large star tip, pipe frosting onto cooled cupcakes. (Alternatively, top each cupcake with 2 tablespoons frosting. Using small offset spatula, swirl frosting over top of cupcakes, leaving 1/2-inch plain border.) Sprinkle with coconut. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Store in airtight containers; chill. Bring to room temperature before serving