7 Layer Cookie Bars

Hello again! I hope y'all enjoyed last week's decorating session, but this week we are going to be making a classic... 7 Layer Cookie Bars! I've been making this one with my mom since I was little and it is yummy! In the spirit of Mother's Day, I chose this dessert for our Recipe of the Week. This recipe can be found on the back of the Eaglebrand Sweetened Condensed Milk, but we'll go ahead and go over it all here--pictures included, as always :) Plus, there is a lot of variability in here so that you can choose how you want to make it...

You are going to need:

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1 1/2 cups smashed graham crackers
1 can sweetened condensed milk
6 oz chocolate chips (milk or dark)
6 oz butterscotch chips (can also use white chocolate, your choice)
1 1/3 cup shredded coconut
3/4 cup chopped nuts (optional... I don't use them in this recipe)

First, preheat the oven to 350*F.

If you haven't smashed the graham crackers the easiest way is to double ziplock bag it, and then whack it--great way to take out any frustrations or get the kids involved! Even Jace tried his hand at smashing it... Then dump the crumbs into the bottom of a 11x7 inch baking pan, preferably one with a lid, just in case you don't devour them on the first day. Melt the butter in the microwave and then pour it onto the crumbs. Stir the crumbs and butter really well until most of the crumbs are moist. Then spread it back out into an even layer across the bottom of the pan. These are your first two layers...

Whew, that was the hardest part! :)

Now, just pour the milk onto the crumb layer. You can use the back of a spoon to spread it, but I find it easiest just to pick up the pan and tilt it from side to side to spread it out nicely. Add the chocolate chips, butterscotch chips and then coconut. You can mix these together or do them in layers, your choice. If you are using chopped nuts add them here as well. That was the other five layers...

Bake in the oven until the coconut is lightly toasted. My cookie bar was finished in 20 minutes...

Using a knife or spatula, loosen the sides of the cookie bar from the pan while it's still warm. Let cool and enjoy (or scrape it out in pieces while its warm)!

Next week's Recipe of the Week will be more challenging. We will be trying White Chocolate Pearls with an amaretto ganache center... mmmmMMMMmmmm... Here's a teaser pic :)

Cupcake TV Dinner

This Recipe of the Week is one of the most fun that I've done yet and it really revolves around decorating versus baking... So if you are into all those decorating shows, here is one that should be fun to try!!! We are going to be making a Cupcake "TV Dinner." No, it's not any healthier than a real tv dinner but it still tastes really yummy and is packed-full of calories that you really don't need (but eat anyway). Our tv dinner will consist of one chicken leg, mashed potatoes with butter and brown gravy, peas and carrots, and chocolate pudding with jimmies. Additionally, you will be using a modified cake box recipe, so if nothing else, you can use the cupcakes for something else...

Y'all will need the following items:

1 box cake mix (Yellow or White)
1 cup buttermilk OR 1 cup 2% or whole milk and 1 tbsp lemon juice
vegetable oil (as marked on box)
4 large eggs (instead of eggs on box)
aluminum muffin cups
aluminum muffin trays
white chocolate (Wilton's Candy Melts)
wax paper
plain or glazed doughnut holes (number depends on how many "chicken legs" you make)
1 cup cornflake crumbs
caramel sauce
orange and yellow starbursts
green round candy (m&m's or runts)
chocolate or rainbow jimmies
chocolate frosting
white frosting
green food coloring

To make the cupcakes, you're going to follow the instructions on your box except you will use the buttermilk instead of water and the 4 eggs instead of whatever is on the box. Then you will pour the cupcake mix into the freestanding aluminum cupcake tins. I prefer to use a ziplock baggie with a cut corner to put the mix into the tin simple because it's easier to control and less messy than pouring it. You want the tins to be about 2/3 of the way full, but don't over do it because these puff up quite nicely. Mine baked for about 18 minutes and were done.

While those are baking we are going to set everything up for decorating. You will need to cut up the orange starbursts into four pieces, sort the green candies out of the rest of the colors, color 1/4 of the white frosting green, crush the frosted flakes, and make the white chocolate bones. NOTE: I used the green pretzel m&m's but they were kind of big, so unless you really like them (like me!) use regular sized ones or runts...

To make the bones, first, either print the template provided below, or draw out a similar shape on wax paper. Then melt the chocolate according to your package's instructions. Move to a ziplock bag if you didn't melt it in the bag. Cut a small piece of the corner off and pipe the outline of the bone on the wax paper and then fill it in. The wax paper should be on a sheet pan, so that after you are done piping all the bones, you can lightly tap the pan against the counter to smooth out the chocolate. Refrigerate until we use them.

Once your cupcakes are cooled, decide how many of each serving you want to make. I put one of each in every tray; however, you can have two chicken legs per tray or maybe not... It's really up to you and how big your trays are.

To make the chicken legs, you will frost your cupcake with the vanilla frosting. You really want to use a fair amount to mound it up on top. Then lightly press a doughnut hole onto the frosting mound, slightly off center on the cupcake. Get some more frosting and spread it from the cupcake up onto the doughnut hole until it's completely covered. It's okay if the frosting isn't completely smooth because now we are going to coat the frosting in those cornflake crumbs. Roll your cupcakes really well in the crumbs.

Using a really sharp knife, gently cut a slice into the top part of the doughnut hole. You want the slice to be angled slightly so the white chocolate bone slides in at about 45*. The last picture shows the worst "chicken leg"... You really want the bone to be more on top of the doughnut hole and more cornflake crumbs. Be careful when cutting the doughnut hole because they will smoosh into the cupcake, roll if you push down to the side and be an all around a pain in the butt...

Repeat this process for all your cupcake chicken legs.

The mashed potatoes are pretty simple. Spread the vanilla frosting onto the top of your cupcake, mounding it the same way as we did on the chicken leg, although not quit as high. Then using a spoon, scoop out the top to make a well in the the center of the frosting.  Place the yellow starburst "butter" into the well at an angle. Place the cupcake into the tin prior to drizzling caramel in the well!! The sauce I used was naturally runny, but if you use the thicker brands, just heat it up for 2-4 seconds at a time in the microwave prior to adding it to the cupcake.

The peas and carrots are also really easy. Spread the green frosting onto your cupcake, and try to make it smooth---no need to mound the frosting. Then gently press the orange starburst "carrot" pieces and m&m peas onto the top of your cupcake. Place it in your tin with the other cupcakes.

For the pudding, you can either frost the cupcake with a knife, or put the chocolate frosting into a ziplock bag and pipe it into a spiral. I used a knife, but next time I would probably use a baggie. Then sprinkle it with your jimmies and add it to your tray.

And voila! You have a yummy Cupcake TV Dinner!

AMAZING Buttermilk Pie (piecrust too!)

This week we made Buttermilk Pie (a true Southern dessert) for our Recipe of the Week!!!

Here's a little fact: Buttermilk pie is a traditional custard-like pie of the southern US, and is especially well known in Texas. It is similar to, and sometimes confused with, chess pie, but it does not include cornmeal.

Anywho... Y'all are getting a two-for-one recipe because the pie crust is also homemade and soooooooo good; I promise! Let's get started!

Baker's Secret Pie Crust (courtesy of Carolealana) and Buttermilk Pie filling

Ingredients for the crust:

4 tbsp unsalted butter
5 tbsp shortening (preferably butter flavored)

3/4 cup cake flour*

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp white sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp baking powder

1 egg yolk
2 tsp distilled white vinegar
3 cubes of ice
1/2 cup cold water

*I don't have cake flour and it's slightly superfluous, so if you want to use all-purpose flour instead this is the conversion I found:

1 cup cake flour = 1 cup all-purpose flour minus 1 tbsp


Ingredients for the filling:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 tbsp flour
3 eggs
1 pinch salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup buttermilk

We'll make the pie crust first and then when it's moved to the freezer near the end, we'll start in on the filling... This whole process takes approximately 2-3 hours, 40 minutes of that the pie crust is "relaxing" in the fridge and about an hour of baking time, so there is some down time in it...

Ok, first we are going to take the butter and shortening and cut it into pieces on a plate. This will make it easier later on. The shortening doesn't really have to be that small because it will stay fairly soft, but the butter should be sliced into about 1/2 tbsp size portions.

Take the plate and stick it in the freezer for about 20 minutes. While that sets in the freezer, put the flour(s), sugar, salt and baking powder (not soda!!!) into the food processor. Pulse it for a few seconds until mixed.

Then, add half of the cold butter and half of the cold shortening to the dry ingredients in the food processor and pulse on/off for one minute. You'll need to scrape down the sides 2-3 times. Add the remainder of the butter and shortening and cut in very briefly with the food processor. There need to be pea-sized chunks so try not to over process it.

In a small bowl, add the egg yolk, vinegar, ice cubes and water together. Chill for five minutes. Meanwhile, move the mixture from the food processor to a mixing bowl. After the egg wash has chilled, sprinkle about 4-5 tbsp of it onto the butter/flour mixture. Do this a couple tablespoons at a time to prevent the dough from becoming overly wet. Also, mix the dough gently, so as not to over-mix. I used a plastic knife and just kept cutting through the dough until it was "mixed." Move the dough to a plastic bag and let it set in the refrigerator for five minutes. You can freeze it at this stage, but I can't tell you if the dough will be the same since I haven't done this...

Pull it out of the refrigerator and place it between two large pieces of plastic wrap. This will make for easier cleanup and transfer of the dough to the pie pan. Roll out the dough to a good sized circle 10-11 inches in diameter. Then peel of the top piece of plastic wrap, set the pie pan face down on the dough, and flip everything. You should be able to gently remove the other piece of plastic wrap from the "new" topside of the dough.

Let the piecrust sit in the refrigerator for 40 minutes to relax the gluten and reduce shrinkage. Then, move it to the freezer for the an additional 20 minutes. This is when we make the filling...


Pre-heat the oven to 400*F. Then cream the sugar and butter together until light. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Add a decent pinch of salt, the buttermilk and the 3 tablespoons of flour...(I accidently added to much flour the first time I made this pie and ended up with paste; I had to restart the filling all over) ... Beat the batter until as smooth as possible. Pour the filling into your cold piecrust and place it in the oven... I used a 9" cake pan since I didn't have a pie pan and it came out the same...

After 10 minutes, reduce heat to 350*F and bake for an additional 50 minutes. The top will start to turn a golden brown around the 40 minute mark. You don't want it to overly brown on top, so once it gets to a good color, place a piece of tin foil over the top of your pie and continue to bake it. It's done when you can insert a knife into the pie and it comes out clean or you can give it a little giggle. It won't have the rolling batter effect if it's done; instead, it will remain pretty solid in a custard-y like way...

Let it cool and then you can enjoy it! I eat it once it's cooled all the way, but some people like it warmed---just personal preference I guess :) Have fun baking!!!




UPDATE: Well, the house thing kinda fell out of the sky and crashed at our feet... Long story short, our mortgage lender sent us a pre-approval that apparently he couldn't back up even though he reassured us for over a month that we were pre-approved and our chances were very high of having the loan go through. Then, five minutes before we sign the contract for the new house, our lender calls us up and tells us everything is a no-go. Not only could he not approve us for the amount that we had been pre- approved for, he could only approve us for a load that was $30K less than that amount!!! He said there had been a mistake in the numbers and he miscalculated, but "we should be happy that we found out prior to signing the contract." I was so angry! Since we own everything, we don't have credit AND you can pay all of your bills on time, and they will never send anything to the credit bureaus; miss one and they are all over reporting you---which is completely unfair...so we've never been late either... I understand that it might be difficult for us to get the mortgage we need, but don't tell me that you can do it, and then tell us something drastically different last minute. The house we are living in currently was supposed to be sold 5 days after the day we were supposed to sign the contract on our new house, and they were supposed to sell there house the week after they purchase our home... So this one mistake has caused problems for FOUR FAMILIES and lost us two contracts... Now we are just waiting for some time to elapse since our credit history is just too recent for us to have any scores.... which will most likely be in July. We are praying against all odds that the home is still there, waiting for us!

The silver lining is: Jace will be starting his credit history as early as possible. We will all go to the bank and get a loan with him and then pay it back, until he can get a credit card---which he will learn to monitor... until hopefully, he has better credit then we do! So I might as well mention it here: Yes, Mom, you can say "I told you soooo!"

On to a brighter note, Jace has learned to sign "more" and he does it all. the. time. He loves using it and being able to tell use he wants more of this or that. Besides more, he understands the signs for milk, stars (the baby cereal snacks), eat, pacifier (modified since it's so similiar to eat) and sleep. We are starting to work on bath, diaper, colors and different foods, but we'll see what he picks up next. It's nice that he can tell us what he wants instead of just crying...


Can't wait for the next Recipe of the Week!

Award Winning Recipes

I did say I would post these, so here goes... there is a F&F (friends and family) update at the end! ENJOY!


Blue Ribbon Chocolate Chip Cookies - 1st Place
Ingredients
· 2 cups all-purpose flour
· 1/2 tsp baking soda
· 1/2 tsp salt
· 3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
· 1 cup packed brown sugar
· 1/2 cup white sugar
· 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
· 1/2 tbsp almond extract
· 1 egg
· 1 egg yolk
· 1-2 cups milk and dark chocolate chips (2 cups for extreme chocolate lovers)

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
2. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended.
4. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy.
5. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended.
6. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand.
7. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.
8. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted.
9. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Rosemary Bread - 2nd Place
Ingredients
· 1 cup water
· 1 & 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
· 1 & 1/2 tsp white sugar
· 1 & 1/2 tsp salt
· 3 tbsp olive oil
· 2 & 1/2 cups bread flour
· 1/4 tsp Italian seasoning
· 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
· 1 tbsp dried rosemary

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Add yeast and warm water to bowl. Proof for 10 minutes.
3. Add salt, sugar, olive oil and flour (by the cup). Knead well.
4. Add the herbs and pepper. Knead more.
5. Let rise in a well oiled bowl for one hour in a warm place.
6. Punch down; let rise another hour.
7. Split into two round loaves. Place on oiled baking sheet. Let rise 30 minutes.
8. Bake until browned, approximately 15-20 minutes.
9. Remove from oven and brush with olive oil. Sprinkle lightly with salt.

Black Pearls - 1st Place Ingredients
· 1 lb dark chocolate, melted and tempered for lining molds
· 1/2 cup heavy cream
· 2 tbsp light corn syrup
· 1/4 cup sugar
· 1/2 tsp lemon juice
· 8 oz dark or milk chocolate, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
· 1 oz cognac
· Edible gold dust (optional)

Directions
1. Line gold dusted chocolate molds with tempered dark chocolate.
2. Combine the cream and corn syrup. Heat to just below a boil. Remove from heat and set aside to keep hot.
3. Preheat a 2 qt saucepan until hot. Put the sugar and lemon juice into the hot saucepan. Stir constantly over medium heat until the sugar completely melts and a medium-dark caramel color is obtained.
4. Pour the hot cream into the caramel over low heat while stirring constantly. When thoroughly blended, remove from heat.
5. Add the chopped chocolate to the cream mixture off the heat. Stir until all of the chocolate melts and the mixture is smooth. If some of the chocolate does not melt, heat the mixture over a hot water bath, not direct heat.
6. Add the cognac and stir until incorporated.
7. Allow the ganache to cool to 75°F. Transfer to piping bag and fill the molds to within 1/8 inch of the top. Tap the molds to flatten the filling.
8. Refrigerate the molds for 20 minutes to allow the ganache to firm.
9. Seal the molds with tempered dark chocolate.
10. Allow the molds to set at room temperature for 20 minutes. Refrigerate for 20 more minutes.
11. Remove the chocolates from the molds.

Coconut Rum Butter Cakes - 2nd Place
Cake Ingredients
· Melted butter and flour for pans
· 1/3 cup buttermilk
· 1 tbsp coconut rum
· 1 cup all-purpose flour
· 1/2 baking powder
· 1/4 tsp baking soda
· 1/4 tsp salt
· 5 tbsp butter
· 1/2 cup sugar
· 2 large eggs, room temperature
· Powdered sugar (garnish)
Coconut Rum Sauce Ingredients
· 1/2 cup sugar
· 1/2 cup water
· 1 tbsp butter
· 4 tbsp coconut rum

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Brush bottoms of 12 miniature Bundt pans with melted butter and dust with flour.
2. Combine buttermilk and coconut rum; set aside.
3. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
4. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until well blended.
5. Beat in the eggs until light and fluffy.
6. Stir in the buttermilk/rum mixture, then the flour mixture until batter is smooth.
7. Divide batter into Bundt pans and back for 20-30 minutes and the cakes are firm when touched. Prepare the coconut rum sauce while the cakes are baking:
    a. Combine the sugar, water and butter over medium-high heat. Bring to boil and then remove from heat.
    b. Stir in the rum.
8. While the cakes are still hot, pierce several times with a skewer and then drench them in half of the hot coconut rum sauce.
9. Remove cakes from pans after they cool.
10. Spoon remaining sauce onto the cakes and garnish with powdered sugar.

Chocolate Turnovers - 1st Place
Ingredients
· 2 cups dark or milk chocolate chips
· 1 tsp ground cinnamon
· 1 package (17.3 oz.) frozen puff pastry, thawed (2 sheets)
· 1 egg, beaten with 2 tsp water
· 1 & 1/2 tsp shortening (do not use butter, margarine, spread or oil)

Directions 1. Heat oven to 400°F. Combine 1-1/2 cups chocolate chips and cinnamon in small bowl; set aside.
2. Unfold one pastry sheet; roll on lightly floured surface to form 12-inch square. Cut into nine 4-inch squares.
3. Place 1 heaping tbsp chip mixture onto center of each square.
4. Lightly brush egg mixture onto edges of each square. Fold diagonally in half; seal edges. Transfer to ungreased baking sheet. Repeat procedure with remaining puff pastry sheet and remaining chip mixture. Lightly brush tops of turnovers with egg mixture.
5. Bake 15 minutes or until light golden brown. Remove from baking sheet to wire rack.
6. Place remaining 1/2 cup chips and shortening in small microwave-safe bowl. Microwave at MEDIUM (50%) 30 seconds; stir. If necessary, microwave at MEDIUM an additional 10 seconds at a time, stirring after each heating, just until chips are melted when stirred. Drizzle melted chocolate over each turnover. 18 servings.

UPDATE: Still waiting on the house that we are looking at and since it is a short sale, we will keep waiting until the mortgage company decides to move faster---which won't happen. So, in the mean time, we are going to be looking at another house that just popped up on the market... Maybe this was why we were supposed to be waiting, who knows?! Anyways, buying a house is one of the most complicated things ever and in my personal opinion, it is this way so that realtors have a job and so that someone (the buyer or seller) gets screwed over in the deal, which is essentially your realtors responsibility. Am I a little jaded about house buying by now? You bet... however, it's a necessary evil.

Onto other things, Jace is understanding sign language but not signing yet. He knows: milk, stars (baby puffs), more, finished and eat. I keep waiting for the day he will sign back to me, but nothing yet. Jace is now walking around objects but not on his own; he would rather drop to the floor to crawl then walk---and he is a little speed demon. It's hard to believe his 1st birthday is right around the corner! We are going to be having two parties, one for sure up on Cape Cod on June 22. This will be the Friday after his baptism on the 16th.

Speaking of birthdays, mine is this Sunday, the 22nd of April! Chad and Jace took me to The Melting Pot, a fondu restaurant in Houston where we met up with Jaron. Jace was a trooper and made it through the evening even though we were out way past his bedtime. As an additional surprise, Chad gave me a brand new TV for the living room! Oh it's amazing...

Chad has completed most of his testing for the upcoming academy in October, but the physical agility test was rained out. We are hoping that he is selected for it! 

That's pretty much it for this go round, so stay tuned for next time! :)

Rock Candy

Hey everyone! I know, I'm slacking already... We have been really busy lately! So in the next post I'm going to make up for it by posting the recipes that won awards in the cooking competition I entered :)

First, let's walk through the Recipe of the Week... Rock Candy!

This recipe is really simple, but it takes 10-14 days for the candy to form. So if you plan on making this for an event, plan accordingly...

First thing you need are mason jars. I used the same size mason jars as we used for the cake last time, but if you want to make more per jar than I would go for the gallon sized glass jars (shown in picture above). I'm going to give you the whole recipe, but I halved it and still have plenty of sugar syrup left over for my next batch.

Things you need:

- 9 lbs (18 cups) sugar
- 1 1/2 qt water
- bamboo skewers
- 1 egg white, lightly beaten
- 2 tbsp sugar
- food coloring (opt)
- mason jars w/ hole in lid

The bamboo skewers need to be longer than the jar you are using so that the lid will hold them in place. To get the lid to hold them in place, you will need to poke holes through the thin metal piece of the lid. I used a screw driver and a hammer to lightly tap a hole in the top. (sorry about the sideways picture)

Once you have the holes punched set the mason jars aside. Preheat the oven to 200*F. Then you are going to take the sugar and water and put them into a clean sauce pan. When it reaches a boil, cover it and boil it for 5 min. Remove the pan from the heat and using a wet brush, brush any sugar crystals off the pan sides. Recover and let sit undisturbed for ONE HOUR. If you are going to add color, now is the time to do so.

I made blue and green. I poured half of the still hot sugar syrup into a bowl and added blue. The other half I left in the pan and dyed it green. Make sure to keep it covered after coloring.

While that is sitting, you are going to take your egg white and brush it onto the part of the skewers that will be sticking into the mason jar. Then roll the egg part of the skewer in that 2 tbsp of sugar that we set aside. The sugar should coat the skewer and stick nicely. Set it on a piece of parchment paper on a sheet pan and slide them into the oven to bake for 30 minutes to adhere the sugar.

Once the syrup has cooled for an hour, pour it into your mason jar(s). Then take the back end of your skewers and push them up through the lid so that they are secured. Place the skewer/lid onto the mason jar and screw on tightly. Then set them aside for at least 10 days.

Just for reference, I was able to fill up 2 1/2 mason jars with half the recipe. When you pull them out, let them dry overnight on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. You can reboil the syrup and use it again. To reuse it, bring the syrup to a boil and then boil it for 10 minutes. From there, repeat all of the above steps from covering and cooling it.

Rainbow Cake in a Jar

This week I made Rainbow Cake in a Jar for the Recipe of the Week. Overall, the results were okay at best: it tasted fine, but didn't really come out how the pictures showed it. So let's go through it...

You will need:

-box of white cake mix and all ingredients listed on the back

-food color of your choice

-mason jars

-frosting

-sprinkles if desired

First, preheat the oven to 350*F with the large pan filled 1/4" with water in the oven! The water needs to be up to oven temperature before placing the mason jars of cake batter in or it will keep the bottom most layer from cooking, which happened to mine. Make the cake mix as described on the back, and then split it into equal amounts. Since I used five different colors, I had about 3/4 of a cup for each color. Then go ahead and add your food coloring---I used both gel and liquid coloring and they both see to work well. You want the color to be really vibrant so that when you bake it, the color comes out nice.

Then, you need to spoon approximately three heaping spoonfuls of each color into mason jars that have been cleaned and lightly sprayed. I have found that using to much spray keeps the cake from sticking to the jar, which is good and bad: good because it is easy to get the cake out, bad because when you cook the cake, it pulls away from the sides to much...

The layered cake should be put in with more of each layer to one side, so that you have alternating "triangle" layers; otherwise, the cake batter just sinks into the previous layer as you pour it in. You might also want to try adding some flour or cornstarch to make the layers thicker so that they layer better. My layers sank into the center as I poured and I had to use my spoon to spread them around.

Place the mason jars into the preheated oven and pan! My water was not preheated so my purple layer did not cook... Cook until the cake is completely baked through. It might puff out the top, but that's okay, we'll scoop that out later.

When they are finished, pull them out of the water and let them cool completely before scooping off the top and adding the yummy frosting.

 Since mine did not cook all the way through, I popped it in the microwave for about a minute. As you can see below, it exploded out of the jar... Use a skewer to poke holes into the cake as you microwave so that the hot air can vent out, unless of course you want to see the cake explode... :)

 This is what the inside of the cake looked like--pretty nifty...

So, the finished project came out tasty, but only decent looking... It shrank away from the sides and needed to be microwaved to finish up the bottom. Next time, I would make sure the water in the pan is heated, thicken up the mix, and use baby food jars for smaller portions (using only one scoop of each color per jar)...

The cake can be stored with/out frosting for 3 days non-refrigerated and 5 days refrigerated, giving you enough time to send it in the mail or make it in advance for a party.

Next week we will be trying out Rock Candy!!!! 

UPDATE: We found a house that we like, but can't move forward until we have been approved for the loan, which is proving challenging with little to no credit... Word of advice: MAKE YOUR KIDS BUILD CREDIT AS EARLY AS HIGH SCHOOL!!!!! Yeah, our parents said it, but having a credit card was not something we wanted and now we're feeling the affects... okay, okay, I can hear it now "I told you so..." Anyways, Jace is crawling around like crazy and of course is into everything except for his toys---typical. He's working on standing and will probably be walking before Chad and I ever were. We have an appointment with the allergist this week, although each day closer I doubt more and more that it is necessary for us to go; however, we will, if only just to talk to them and waste some time... He will gain weight at his own speed and so long as he is happy, healthy and advancing according to his age, I don't see any reason to be worried. We'll see how it goes... until next time!

First Post

Woohoo! I have started my first ever blog--a completely new experience. I am going to try to post once every week with a Recipe of the Week and anything new going on for personal friends and family who follow my blog. :))))

My recipes will most often be chocolates, candies or other sweet treats, but sometimes I will throw in something "healthier" or maybe even some baby food recipes. The very first Recipe of the Week will be Rainbow Cake in a Jar!!!! Check back on Friday for when I post instructions and pictures...

UPDATE: We are currently trying to sell our house, so I've been running around like a crazy person trying to get all of our knick-knacks packed up to help our house look bigger and less cluttered---you never realize how much junk you have until this is done! Then, Chad and I will be going to a house showing on Friday, and I hope that Jace will be uber cooperative with us while we drag him around looking for houses... Hopefully, we will find something good and owner's who are willing to work with us. Wish us luck!

<3 Kristen