Heather Baird's Blog, page 61

Mango Raspberry Lassi Ice Pops

Just when I think summer is winding down we'll have consecutive 90 degree days with 100% humidity. This month's dualities are making crazy! I've been dreaming of fall baking (especially spiced apple fritters) but ice pops are still totally necessary!
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Sour Cream Pumpkin Muffins with Coffee Glaze

Hello, pumpkin! Are you still reading? Yes? I was afraid the sight of a pumpkin treat so early in the year might've made you close your browser. I hope not because these are totally delicious and my current favorite breakfast.

I keep canned pumpkin in my pantry all year long because the puggy-pies love it. I mix a little in with their puppy food for a healthful treat and sometimes I have 3/4 can leftover with nowhere to go except the refrigerator shelf.
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Monster Cookie Double Doozies

It's mid-August, and at this time each year I get confused as a baker. It's still summer but fall baking is foremost on my mind. I find that if I light my citrus kitchen candle and do an upward salute, then my heart will point me to the right recipe.

Monster cookies! Gosh, how many times have I made these? Many. They are bake sale favorites and since school is already in (seriously, already?), then this seems like an opportune time to post my favorite monster cookie recipe.
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Butterfly Gallery Cake

August is shaping up to be filled with inspiration and pink frosting here at Sprinkle Bakes. I've been digging through some old cake decorating magazines and jotting down all the things that catch my eye. My notebook is already getting quite full!

I was most inspired by an image of a cake covered with butterflies. A few years ago there was a big trend in wedding cake decorating where wafer paper butterflies were arranged to ascend cake tiers in rainbow colors. I still think the effect is pretty (but perhaps dated) so I decided to seek out edible paper butterflies in all sizes and colors for a different kind of butterfly cake.
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Neapolitan Marble Cupcakes

You probably know by now that I'm a fan of Neapolitan. There's a Neapolitan layer cake in my first cookbook and there's even another Neapolitan cupcake on this blog! I genuinely love the chocolate-vanilla-strawberry flavor combination. It's not just for ice cream, I tell ya!

I'd never made marble cupcakes before, so I researched a few recipes before I settled on, well, none of them. I ended up using my favorite yellow cake recipe and adding melted chocolate to part of the batter. This made life much easier than whipping up two separate vanilla and chocolate cake batters - and I'm all for zero stress in the kitchen!
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Salty Peanut Bars

Hello to you on this last day of July! Can you believe it? Tomorrow we welcome a whole new month. August is the month that I do lots of planning for baking season. It's the precursor to the last quarter of the year, so I'll be having major cookbook/notebook sprawl across my office floor. But who am I kidding? That's pretty much the state of my office year round.

Let's talk about these Salty Peanut Bars. Now. You know I'm a salty-sweet girl, so these didn't last long at all at my house. They are something akin to a Payday candy bar, but with a fudge textured center and brown sugar crust.
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Tropical Ambrosia Salad

I recently finished up a photo shoot for a client that left me with an abundance of tropical fruit. Admittedly, that's a good problem to have but it's also a time-sensitive one. Whenever I buy fresh fruit I have to know ahead of time exactly what I'll be using it for, otherwise it just sits in the refrigerator, uneaten, until its dying (moldy) day.
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Lemon Tie Dye Doughnuts

I think we could all use a colorful pick-me-up today. I'm taking a short break from watching the news and instead focusing on some of the little things that bring genuine happiness to my soul. And, yes - doughnuts are one of those things!

'Tie dye' is a bit of a misnomer here. More accurately, these doughnuts are dip-dyed in colorful glaze to achieve a swirly tie dye effect.
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DIY Rosé Wine Gummy Bears

I've been having too much fun in the kitchen lately. I wasn't even planning a blog post for today, but these pink gummy bears turned out so squee-worthy cute, that I just had to post them as soon as possible. I recently saw some rosé wine gummy bears online for sale, but apparently there's a very long waitlist to even purchase them! I decided to see if I could whip up a homemade version.
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My Favorite Coffee Cake

A good coffee cake recipe is worth its weight in gold, if you ask me, and everybody needs a trusty one. It should be tasty beyond words; something you can whip up for company or take to a potluck or even to an after-funeral reception. As strange as that sounds, it's what we do here in the south. We show our love and support by overflowing your kitchen with food.

This recipe meets all my criteria for great coffee cake. It's scratch-made with streusel topping, nutty and fragrant with cinnamon. It's not overly sweet, and it has a ribbon of sweet cream cheese running through its center.
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