It is February...

and everybody is already talking about Valentine's Day. ❤

 I was grocery shopping the other day and saw this:

 

 Pink frosting with fun Valentine's themed sprinkles :P Super cute!

There was a box of chocolate cake mix at home (which explains why I was looking for frosting). I like to try and bake from scratch most of the time but sometimes when I like to just use box mixes because they are super easy and fast to make! :) Am I cheating? O_o

 This is how my cupcake turned out:

 Maybe I should have been a little more generous with the sprinkles :P

OM NOM NOM NOM

These were so easy and fun to make! :3

I hope that everybody who is in love is especially excited this month. ❤

And for all those who are irritated whenever people post lovey-dovey stuff, go find love! :P haha!

How to Make Dinner Rolls (with Pictures)

I got a request for a step by step tutorial on how to make dinner rolls when I had posted pictures of my "piggyrolls", so here it is! :3 Hope you guys like it! :P

Like I mentioned in my previous post, this is the yeast roll recipe that I use. It is my family's favorite (from Val)!


What you will need:

• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1-1/2 cups boiling water
• 2 tablespoons active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water (110° to 115°)
• 3 eggs
• 6-3/4 to 7-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup butter, melted

How to make yeast rolls/dinner rolls:
1.) Combine shortening, sugar, and salt in a large bowl
2.) Stir in boiling water (1-1/2 cups)

3.) Crisco butter-flavored shortening, sugar, and salt SOUP! :P

Make sure to cool this mixture ("soup") down to 110°F to 115°F

4.) Take 2 tablespoons of yeast,
5.) and 1/2 cup of warm water (110°F - 115°F)

6.) Dissolve yeast into warm water.
7.) Take yeast mixture,
8.) 3 eggs,
9.) and 3 cups of flour

10.) and add it to the Shortening mixture (#3)
11). Beat (mix) until smooth.

12.) Stir in enough remaining flour,
13.) to form a soft dough.

 14.) Turn onto floured surface and kneed until smooth and elastic for about 6-8 minutes.
15.) Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top.

16.) Cover and let dry in warm place (I wet the towel with hot water),
17.) Dough should double in size in 45 minutes.

18.) *O*
19.) Punch dough down, turn onto lightly floured surface.

20.) Roll dough to 1/2" (inch) thickness.
21.) Cut (I'm using a pizza cutter :P) into equal sizes. For plain dinner rolls, you can fold circles in half and press edges to seal.

22.) Coat baking sheets/tray with cooking spray.
23.) Place your dough (bears) 2 inches apart.

24.) Cover and let rise until doubled (30 minutes).
25.) Bake at 400°F for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

26.) Brush with butter (I just rubbed a butter stick on them :P)
27.) Delicious!

"YOU'RE SO CUTE, I COULD EAT YOU UP!"

These freeze very well after baking so I usually like to make a big batch and fill the freezer up with a whole bunch of these cute dinner rolls. Just pull them out of the freezer to thaw whenever you are ready to eat some!!! :3

Since Halloween is coming up, maybe you can try making them into spookier shapes. :P

I Found These Little Gems At Costco!

Yummy goodness in a box! :P

Flavors: Mocha, Raspberry, Pistachio, Chocolate O_o *droolz

Mmmmmm.... So nommy :3

I have to try and make these myself! :p
I hear its pretty tough to make.

Do you like French Macaron Cookies? :)

Do you have experience baking them? Could you share some tips, please? :p
I would be forever grateful!

Recipe: How to Make Panna Cotta (with pictures)

I enjoy baking and making desserts when I have some free time and one of my favorite sites I like to visit for recipes is JoyofBaking.com.  I like the site because it has many recipes along with clear pictures of the dessert and videos of how to make them. I find that I learn how to do something better by watching somebody else do it compared to just reading the instructions.
Today I wanted to try making Panna Cotta because it looked so easy to make! The link to the recipe is: here.
People who enjoy eating custard-like pudding will definitely like this treat!

The INGREDIENTS for this recipe is very simple:

1. 1 package of unflavored powdered gelatin (7 grams)
2. 1/4 cup cold milk
3. 2 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream (I used half-and-half instead for mine)
4. 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar ( I used powdered sugar)
5. 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (or pure vanilla paste)

 INSTRUCTIONS:

I used Knox Original Gelatine (unflavored).

 Inside the box, there are 4 packages. You only need 1.

 I measure out my cold milk (1/4 cups):

and sprinkled the powdered gelatin into the cold milk:

The powdered gelatin almost looks like sugar granules:

While waiting for the powdered gelatin to soften in the cold milk, we can start by heating up the sugar and heavy cream (or half-and-half in my case):

1/2 cup powdered sugar

2 1/4 cup half-and-half and powdered sugar poured into a pan

 Cream looks like its heated enough:

 Going back to our powdered gelatin absorbing the cold milk...
This is how it looks like after the powdered gelatin has softened (it feels kind of spongy if you touch it :P):

The softened powdered gelatin looks ready to be stirred into the hot cream (or half-and-half); By the way, I've taken the cream off the heat:

Stir until the gelatin granules are all dissolved. The heat helps activate the gelatin.

Time for some vanilla flavoring!
I used 1/2 a teaspoon of pure vanilla extract:

And you're done!
All you need to do is gather some dessert cups or glasses that you want to pour your cream into.
I have mine all ready and lined up on the counter :3

This recipe filled about 6 of these small little glass cups:

 Put your dessert in the fridge until firm for about 2-4 hours:

 Once it was ready, I decided to garnish it with some fruit (kiwi and cherry) but you can top it with anything you like (chocolate sauce, fruit sauce, other fresh fruit, berries).

Nommy! A delicious cool creamy treat.

Piggyroll (Dinner Roll Recipe)

I decided to make some dinner rolls tonight because I haven't made them in a while. :p

What do you mean that doesn't look like a dinner roll? :P
HAHAHHAHAHAHHAAH!

Okay okay. I made one that's supposed to look like a piggy. :p

Say hello to Mr. Piggy Roll!

I did make regular-looking ones though (just in case you were wondering).

Here... Proof!

 Mr. Piggy Roll is just an experiment. I just wanted to know how much of the detail will be left after baking him.
I remember seeing a bear-shaped bread at Boudin and it looked soooo adorable! :P

So I stuffed Mr. Piggy Roll on to the baking sheet...

He was feeling a bit shy and distant from the other rolls.

Mr. Piggy was baked for 12 minutes...

All nice and buttered up!

HAHAHHAHAHA! I was so surprised to see that most of the details were still there. :P

I think I might shape ALL of my dinner rolls this way from now on! :P

I used this dinner roll recipe just in case you wanted to make your own. Try it! Its one of the best recipes I've tried.
So deliciously fluffy and flavorful.

 (Sorry about the picture quality... I used my phone since it was the closest thing to me while I was baking :P)

Making Pizza from Scratch!

My sister came to visit for Christmas again! :) I love her company; she always makes me laugh so hard. O_o If she stayed any longer, I think I might have gotten abs, haha!
We made pizza from scratch because I wanted to use the pizza stone I got for Christmas. :P

I usually like my pizza all boring and plain (pepperoni and cheese only) but my sister loves lots of vegetables and mushrooms on her pizza. :)
There's also a few teriyaki chicken bits on the pizza... yum!

gooey cheese

YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH THAT???

Just kidding... My sister is super nice! :3

My sister absolutely loves her headband mom crocheted for her. :)
I also dyed my sister's hair red. :P What do you think?

Can't wait until the next time you come and visit again, Wazie! :P

I know I've been doing a lot of food posts lately but that's what we do a lot during the holidays right? :P