bake to baking

I was about to say earlier this month, but it was actually last month - where does time go? I made a new york key cheesecake with key lime sour cream topping for my sisters birthday. I love any excuse to use my shinny red springform pan! I know the whipped cream little dots look a bit silly, I was in a hurry. But it was very yummy if I do say so myself.
And speaking of cheesecake, here is a recipe I would love to try. Strawberry cheesecake.

For Canadian Thanksgiving I made 2 pumpkin cheesecakes. One for each family dinner. I have to thank my aunt Shannon for this recipe. In our family it is known as pumpkin dessert - but for those who have no idea what pumpkin desert is, pumpkin cheesecake is the best way to describe it. Brad hates pumpkin anything so I made him his favorite, banana cream pie. I don't absolutely love pumpkin, but fall isn't fall without pumpkin dessert.
The other day I mixed up a big batch of sugar cookies and today I cut them out and baked them. Sugar cookies are my all time favorite. They are waiting in the freezer until Halloween gets closer and they can get decorated. So no pictures yet, but I will share the recipe. Got this one from Lindsay and it has become my number one sugar cookies recipe. It is very yummy. And it makes a pretty small batch - but you can easily double it too. Just make sure you don't cook them too long. Nothing is worse than a burnt sugar cookie!

Bake @350 F for 6-8 minutes. I do 6 min in my oven.
2/3 cup shortening
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
4 tsp milk
1 3/4 cups flour

Cream shortening and sugar. Add egg, beat until light and fluffy. Add vanilla. Mix dry ingredients and add along with milk.
Chill one hour. Roll and cut. Bake. Enjoy.

I just add everything but flour in my kitchen aid and mix it. Then when Roman hears it and comes running to help there is only the flour left to add. He still gets to help, but less mess for me. And the cookies turn out just fine.

Way back in the spring a friend of mine was watching Martha Stewart and was introduced to this little gem of a blog. Bakerella. Gem. Does anyone remember watching Jem and her Hologram band? Okay, back to the topic at hand... Bakerella and her super cool cupcake pops.
So Jen and I made some. With vanilla cake and icing. Turned out not too bad. But I would seriously love to learn how Bakerella gets hers to look so good and so smooth. Then I tried to make some myself with the only cake mix I had on hand. Cherry chip. Disgusting. So I gave up and just coveted that Bakerella coud make hers taste so good. But then October came around. And I thought little orange pumpkin pops would be so cute. Then I saw Bakerella's Halloween pops. And I was exctied. Then I remebered my huge failure. And I said no way. But then my sis in law Rhonda and her sis in law Lindsay made some. Chocolate with cream cheese icing. And apparently they were pretty dang good. So perphaps I can be tempted to try again. We will see. In the meantime check Bakerella out, make your own cupcake pops and tell me what you think, and what worked and what didn't! She has some dang good cupcake recipes on her blog too.

I'll leave you with one last cake.
Here is the diaper cake I made for my cousin's wife's shower and their cute little girl Brihanna. I think that is how they spell it. She was born the same day as Finn. Who by the way is 6 weeks tomorrow!
He was weighed and measured today. 23 1/2 inches long and 11 lbs 10 oz. So basically he grew 2 1/2 inches and gained 4 lbs. Which doesn't seem like a lot to me. But I have retired all his 0-3 month pjs. We think he is longer than Roman was at the same age. Yippie for me and my gigantic children. If I walk with a hunch back when I am old it will be from lugging my children around. But they are so cute so Iguess it will be worth it!