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More Basket Goodies

December 9, 2008 by Sharon Zambito 9 Comments

Here it is 2 AM. I am exhausted, but I am so pumped up on caffeine and have so many things running through my mind I can’t sleep. I am burning the candle at both ends here trying to get everything done that needs to get done before Christmas. I am sure you guys are going though the same thing. Between working on these basket items, shopping for gifts, trying to get the house ready to host Christmas dinner, along with the normal daily chores of laundry, dishes, and homework, I feel like I need a clone! I love the holidays but they are are a lot of work!

I promised some more pics of the things I am making for my candy cane themed gift baskets this year. Here are sugar cookies decorated in fondant. You can see how tall that cookie is next to the ice cream dish. I got the cutter here.

White chocolate covered pretzels and Keebler shortbread cookies. After the white chocolate was dry, the red chocolate was piped on and red sanding sugar sprinkled on.

The artist in me thinks the basket goodies should only be done in red and white in order to really keep with the theme. But I know everyone does not like white chocolate, so I incorporate some milk chocolate items as well. Again, here we have pretzels and shortbread cookies in the back. In the front are dipped Oreos with crushed peppermint.

Marshmallows dipped in white chocolate with peppermint crunch and peppermint powder. Of course you could make your own with peppermint candies but I am way to lazy..um… busy for that!

I am still not done! I have a few more things to make for the baskets, and I am working on a big cake project too for my sister’s office party. But I can’t tell you what it is because she reads my blog. Stay tuned for pics next week.

So tell me what kinds of things you guys are working on for the holidays.

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Also just wanted to drop a reminder that the Design Gallery DVD will be shipping Wednesday! YAY! Finally! And this week I am going to announce another give-a-way, so stay tuned!

Happy Holidays!

Sharon
http://www.sugaredproductions.com/

Oreo Madness

December 4, 2008 by Sharon Zambito 28 Comments

What could be better than Oreos? Maybe Oreos covered in chocolate!

This post is dedicated to my dear friend Suze, and she knows why. What’s that? You want to know why too? No, I really should not say. Oh, you really want to know that badly? Well, OK, you forced it out of me. But please don’t tell her I told you this: she stinks at chocolate dipping Oreos!

The beauti–licious, yet dipping impaired Suze.

Last year I made the snowmen cookies below for the themed gift baskets I make every year. (They were a total copy from the wonderful site, FavorZ.)

Well, Suze tried to make some too, but let’s just say they came out, um, …well, ….not as good as she hoped for. So I started to rib her about it, and that gave birth to a friendly and good natured rivalry between the 2 of us and our confectionery skills. We try to poke fun at each other whenever we can.

So of course, Suzie came first to my mind as I was working on these chocolate dipped Oreos for this year’s baskets. I figured if I snapped some pictures and put together a little tutorial here, it might help her out. (Doubtful, but hey, what are friends for?)

These cookies are dipped in super white candy melts and chocolate transfer sheets in a candy cane design applied to the top. Cut the transfer sheets into little squares that will fit on the top of your cookie. Melt the candy melts till very smooth and creamy. I prefer the Merken’s and Guittard brands, as they perform the best. If the chocolate is low quality, or old, it will not melt nor cover smoothly. Be careful not to overheat or get water in the candy; that will ruin it as well.

Brush the Oreos with a big fluffy food brush before you dip them to avoid excess crumbs from getting in your melted chocolate. I use a large 3 pronged fork to dip the cookies. I dip, then let most of the excess chocolate fall back into the bowl, then place them on parchment or wax paper.

Gently place the transfer sheet squares on top and gently press it into place on top to make sure that chocolate comes into contact with all of the design.

I do about 5-8 on a cookie sheet and then pop those in the freezer for 5 minutes. Chilling them makes the design transfer over fully and cleanly, as well as giving the surface a nice shine. Just pull the transfer sheet square off when you take them out of the freezer. Don’t worry about the little bit of chocolate mess at the base of your cookies. After they have come back to room temp, you can take your handy palette knife and clean up the bottom edges.

By the end of your dipping session, your chocolate is still probably going to be “contaminated” with chocolate cookie crumbs, making it not very useful for any other purpose. So I crumble up all the broken Oreos that I did not dip into the chocolate, spread that on the parchment, chill, and break it up into a cookies and cream bark. YUMMY!

All the items in my basket are going to have a candy cane/peppermint theme. I do a different theme every year.

I will bag each of these individually and tie with a red ribbon before I put them in the baskets. If I place them unwrapped into the baskets; the transfer surface might get scratched and marked up by other items, and we just can’t have that! Not after all this work!

Maybe if Suze reads this she can give it another go. Of course, if she does read this I am in big time trouble. LOL

I hope you all get a chance to try this. Send me pics of your projects if you do! Even better, send all your pics to Suze! Tee hee hee.

Have fun making all of your holiday treats! I will try to post pics of more of the things I am working on if time permits. Such a crazy time of year, isn’t it?

Happy Holidays Ya’ll!

Sharon
http://www.sugaredproductions.com/

Iced Pumpkin Cookies

November 7, 2008 by Sharon Zambito 14 Comments

I saw these cookies on a wonderful blog, The Repressed Pastry Chef, and knew I had to make them soon. So, in my quest to procrastinate from doing my cake prep last night, I figured that was the perfect time to make them. J and I both love pumpkin, and he likes to bake, so we made these together.

I am taking a little break from caking right now to eat my dinner, so I figured I would make a little blog entry on them for you guys. It gave me another chance to practice my photography, but I am not sure if I like these pictures are not. (I am always open to suggestions from you photography buffs, BTW.)

Iced Pumpkin Cookies

Ingredients

1 cup shortening
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons milk
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup packed brown sugar

Method

Preheat oven to 350°F, line cookie sheet with silicone mat
Cream shortening, granulated sugar and pumpkin. Add egg and mix well. Add the baking soda, ground cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and flour and mix well. Using a small-to-medium sized disher (cookie scoop) or generous tablespoon, scoop batter onto cookie sheet. Using a wet finger, smooth points/peaks and gently press down tops. Bake 15-18 minutes then remove from oven and transfer to cooling rack and cool about 10-15 minutes before icing. To Make Icing: Cook butter, milk, and brown sugar until dissolved. Cool and add confectioners’ sugar and vanilla. Place a sheet of waxed paper under the cooling rack, take the cooled cookies and holding one at a time dip upside down into the icing, invert and place on cooling rack. Decorate with sprinkles while icing is still wet.

I made some a little larger than others, and I liked those better, as they were more moist. I liked them even better the next day, as they softened up a little. These are seriously dangerous to have around. They are very soft, cake-like and almost melt in your mouth. Very quick and easy to make too. Hope you try them!

OK, back to work for me! Have a great weekend!

Sharon

www.sugaredproductions.com

Trick or Treat!

October 31, 2008 by Sharon Zambito 18 Comments

Happy Halloween everyone!

Hope you have a wonderful day with your kids and families. Don’t get sick eating too much of their candy like I always do!

My sister Barbara, who has never decorated a cake in her life, came over for me to help her make a cake for her office Halloween goody contest. She has been a huge help to me with SugarEd over the last year, and has come with me to several of my demos and vendor shows, so she has been exposed to a lot this last year. (Some of you have met her! I also have another fabulous sister that you will meet later on.) She baked the cake herself and brought it over. I showed her how to do each technique (basically off the cake) and then she did the rest herself. She was quite a quick learner. She colored and rolled out the fondant, applied it (I helped her smooth one side while she did the other in the interest of drying out time.) She airbrushed it, made her own leaves and stem, piped the grass, and made the words. I helped her just a little bit with the face and spider.

We used 2 bundt cakes and spackled the seam with stiffened buttercream. Cream cheese filling was piped down into the center hole and a circle of cardboard sits on the top to support the stem.