Celebrating the Sacred Heart with Cookie Cake

I've become a bit of a heart shaped bakeware junkie with the sole intention of having these different pans for celebrating various feast days.  It's a little sad, isn't it. Even more so when you consider that I'm not particularly fond of baking.  Actually, it's not the baking that I have the problem with so much as the cleaning up the mess that I dislike.  Anyway, this post isn't about that.  It's about how we celebrated the solemnity of the Sacred Heart on Friday.

Friday was a busy day for me.  I took Katie to Mass with me in the morning and then had to run and grab soft pretzels for Ellie's class so they could celebrate her summer birthday with her a month early.  So there was a bit of running around in the pouring rain.  Then I had an appointment with my chiropractor followed by me rushing home to take care of lunch for Katie.  I decided to make a heart shaped chocolate chip cookie cake that would be decorated with buttercream icing to look like the Sacred Heart.  Originally the plan was to have it made before the kids got home but that didn't work out since Ellie had a half day.  Then I got sidetracked with eating copious amounts of raw cookie dough and chocolate chip cookies for lunch.  Eventually I got around to making the buttercream icing.

I'm not sure why, but I have the hardest time making red icing.  It never comes out as dark as I'd like no matter how much red dye I add to the icing.  By the time I got done fighting with my mixer that I now realize has a motor issue, I was too tried, hungry and frustrated to do any kind of decorating that was even remotely impressive.  The kids didn't seem to mind.  They enjoyed eating it.

Mmm...Biscotti

Bryan has a lot of fond memories of different dessert foods that he used to eat when he was a kid.  Some of them I have tried and didn't like at all much to his amazement, but others I really enjoy.  His grandmother's biscotti has got to be my favorite hands down.

Bryan's had a meeting with one of the coaches for Madeline's soccer team a couple nights ago, so I decided that I'd bake up a sheet of biscotti.  I haven't made it in nearly two years and I've been wanting it for a while.  I'm also planning on making it for Ellie's first communion brunch this spring, so I figured I'd give it a test run now to make sure I have it just right.  Bryan likes it when it has a bit of a crinkle sound to it when you bite into it.  They eat it soft instead of toasted, but it's pretty good when you cut it and toss it back in the oven a bit to toast it up, of course leaving it sit out for about a day will also give it that harder texture.  Either way, it's good!

The recipe is pretty simple.   Here's what you need to make it:

1/2 sheet pan

6 eggs at room temperature

1 1/2 cups of sugar
1/2 cup of vegetable oil
1 level tablespoon baking powder
2 cups sifted flour
1/4 cup vanilla
powdered sugar (enough to dust the tops of the biscotti after it's cooled)
Preheat oven to 350
Grease and flour sheet pan

Beat eggs and sugar on high speed.  Add vegetable oil, baking powder and vanilla.  Slowly add flour on low speed.  Bake for 30 minutes.  Let cool for 30 minutes, slice and dust with powdered sugar.

The biscotti should look something like this once it's ready to come out of the oven:

Cupcakes for St. Catherine

Since I was able to remember that today is the fest day of St. Catherine of Siena, we were able to celebrate a name day for both Ellie and Katie, and if we want to nit pick and say me, since my name is derived from Catherine, we could also lump me in there as well, I suppose.

Ellie's middle name is Katherine and she has developed a liking for St. Catherine of Siena over the past few years.  I think she likes her because 1. She has one of her names, just spelled with a C instead of a K. and 2. Her stained glass window is in the bathroom at our church.  The child does not like to go in the bathroom that doesn't have St. Catherine on the window.

While Katie was napping and Ellie and Bryan were at her soccer game, I asked Madeline what she thought we should make to celebrate.  After assessing the amount of work required to make some of the suggestions, we settled on cupcakes.  Madeline wanted to help and I decided to let her take over.  She wound up making everything but the buttercream icing.  She even decorated the cupcakes.

Ellie was excited at the prospect of cupcakes after dinner.  She wanted to help decorate the cupcakes, but Madeline insisted on doing it all on her own, so I printed out the lovely St. Catherine coloring page that Charlotte has up on her blog.  Ellie was very happy to work on that while Madeline took care of the cupcakes.

After dinner we ate Madeline's first ever batch of cupcakes.  We then followed up with a story about St. Catherine from this book.

Cupcakes for Mary

I decided that it would be fun to celebrate the Blessed Mother's birthday with the girls today.  I only got to eat one cupcake at Madeline's birthday party this past Saturday (Would you believe the guests devoured all the cupcakes and cookie cake?) and have been wanting to sink my teeth into one for days.  Waiting until Madeline's actual birthday this Sunday seemed like too long a span of time to wait for cupcakes.  After reading several blog posts about other families celebrating Our Lady's birthday with cakes today I figured this would be the prefect way to satisfy my cupcake craving and honor Mary at the same time.

The girls were delighted that they got to help decorate the cupcakes with blue icing.  I quizzed Madeline about why we were using blue.  She remembered that blue is Our Lady's color.  The girls really enjoyed icing the cupcakes and adding the sprinkles.  Ordinarily I don't let them do that sort of stuff.  I'm sure the Blessed Mother enjoyed watching two of her biggest fans make cupcakes for her this afternoon.

Working hard to get the icing just right.

Sprinkle application is serious business when you are five.

Look at how happy she is to decorate cupcakes for Mary!

Proudly showing off their expertly decorated Mary cupcakes.

Once Madeline and Bryan get back from soccer practice we're going to enjoy some cupcakes.  I'm pretty sure even Bryan is happy that today is our Blessed Mother's birthday.   I'm hoping that poor Ellie who now has a fever of 101.2 will want to have a cupcake. She's currently sleeping on the couch.  

How did Christmas Eve get here?

It's true that I have been finished with my shopping since before Thanksgiving. It's also true that all of the gifts have been wrapped and tagged since the first week in Advent. So it would stand to reason that I'd be totally ready for Christmas at this point, right? Surprisingly, I'm not. Cookie preparations and Christmas crafts have been my stumbling block. Add in some snow and the resulting messy kitchen floor (I lump my entry way into the floor since it's all connected) and you wind up with a frantic Karen.

This morning I woke up at 6AM and simply could not go back to sleep. So I did what any neurotic mom would do on the day before Christmas. I got up, spent about 15 minutes in silence meditating (which was interrupted by husband who also couldn't sleep) and then got to work cleaning and baking. I now have a batch of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies (third batch in under two weeks--this is unheard of for me), a pie in the oven (a frozen one), and a freshly mopped floor. The tasks that remain include cleaning cookie sheets, wiping down the stove top, vacuuming and laundry. I also need to formulate my covert operation of present arranging this evening and I will need to place bows on certain packages.

As of right now I feel a little overwhelmed. I need to iron our clothes for Mass tonight and prepare a baked ziti for dinner. If I didn't think the kids would balk at having pizza again (They're such odd kids, I could live on pizza every day, but they for some reason can not live like that.) I would take the easy way out and order a pizza after Mass.

Here's hoping this day is long enough for me to get everything finished and still have time to relax.

Cupcakes before 8am

I had an essentially sleepless night last night.  Between Bryan's snoring and several thoughts that kept racing through my mind, I didn't get more than 2 hours of sleep combined.  I suspect I will be crashing sometime this afternoon.

Tomorrow is Ellie's fourth birthday and I am once more in frantic party planning mode.  I was essentially totally unprepared for this party up until last Thursday when I started to get my act together.  I'm not sure if I was just forgetful or if I was really just procrastinating and hoping that my baby could stay three just a little while longer.  Age three is my favorite age, so I'm really sad to see it end.  If I could freeze Ellie at this stage of her life indefinitely I would.  I'm still shocked at how quickly four years have passed by.  I will do my best to savor the last day of Ellie at age three today.

Since I couldn't sleep, I got up a little before 6am this morning and started working on party stuff.  I just took the last batch of cupcakes out of the oven.  When I get back from Mass this morning I will begin to decorate the cupcakes.  I'm optimistic that my decorating will turn out well.  Let's hope the finished product meets my lofty expectations.  

Small Successes

Celebrating the little things in life that add up.

It's Thursday?  Really?  Color me confused.  Clearly the first week of Summer vacation has quickly passed by me.  Amazing how things like this work.  Let's move onward towards my small successes, shall we?

1. I managed to put a band aid type of repair on Ellie (really it's Madeline's) Bitty Twin stroller that allows it to be used.  My little friend Ellie decided that it would be a good idea to lay her 37 pound body across the pricey little doll stroller.  She obliterated the plastic hinges.  After a lot of struggling, I was able to force the stroller back together.  Thanks to 3M heavy duty velcro, I managed to reinforce the hinges by wrapping them like a hurt ankle.  Provided that Miss Ellie has learned her lesson that we DO NOT sit on doll strollers the toy should see a lot more play time.  I spent all week telling her not to sit on it.

2. I survived taking both of my girls to BJ's, Target, and Acme.  I haven't taken both girls to the grocery store since last Summer.  It's amazing how much of a challenge taking two kids grocery shopping can be when you are used to going alone or with just one kid.  School, I miss you.  Come back!

3. I baked this week.  Shocking, isn't it?  And I didn't just bake, I made buttercream icing from scratch, too!  I've never made icing before and was surprised that it was so easy to do.  The best part is the icing tasted great. Yay!

Bonus: I've also completed my first reviews for The Catholic Company and Tiber River this week.  I've been busy.

Oh no! I'm thinking about baking...

Oh, the humanity of it all!  I'm seriously considering a baking experiment.  I must be crazy.  It is very possible that I may actually attempt to make Ellie's birthday cake(s).  That is actually a scary undertaking.  After attempting to make Madeline's first birthday cake and failing miserably three times in one day*, I decided that I was not meant to make birthday cakes for my children.  Every time I have attempted to make a birthday cake since that fateful first birthday for either of my girls, it has not ended well.  I make a cake for Bryan's birthday every year and have been doing this since we were dating and haven't had one cake mishap yet.  

I know I've mentioned Cake Wrecks on here at least once or twice.  It's a blog that I love read.  It validates all the worrying I do about my girls birthday cakes after I place the order with the bakery.  Today as I was looking at her latest installment, I saw the cutest cupcakes.  And then I discovered after following the link to the baker, that these are cakes that I am probably very capable of making. I can make cupcakes and  I can bake brownies. In theory, I should be able to make these with relative ease.  I just hope I can turn theory into practice.  The most challenging thing for me will be the sugar cookie fries, but I think I can muddle through those.

Ellie is a cheeseburger junkie.  She has had a love affair with cheeseburgers since she was about a year old.  Something tells me that she will be over the moon if she can have a birthday cake that looks like a cheeseburger.  The look on her face was priceless when I showed her a picture of the cakes.  I got a resounding "YES!" when I asked her if she'd like them for her birthday party.  She has been asking for another Spongebob birthday party (she's been in love with him for three years now) and I think the little burger cakes will go perfectly with the theme, given that our beloved Spongebob is a fry cook.

*Two cakes literally fell apart after I put the icing on them. One got stuck in the pan.  I'll never understand what exactly went wrong.