Cookies N Cream Cupcakes

If anyone is like me and LOVES all things Cookies N Cream, then they will love these cupcakes!!! Back when I was younger, I would go to Dairy Queen everyday during my lunch break to get an oreo cookie blizzard! Thank goodness for great metabolism during those days! At our mall we have a cookies n cream frappe that I fell in love with and those would take up part of my lunch when I worked across the street from the mall. Recently I found cookies n cream frozen yogurt at Publix, which is only 2 g of fat per half cup! So much better than the regular ice cream at 7-8 grams of fat per half cup.

I made these cupcakes for a get together at a friends house one night. All the firefighters including my husband (EMT- Intermediate now) got together and had dinner and some good laughs. It was only fitting for me to bring some sweets. Cookies n cream cupcakes it was. I made two versions. One with the original oreo cookie and one with the golden oreo cookie. Both were amazing!!!!!

Want a similar recipe?! Find it here on Beantown Baker Blog
Changed entire recipe for me, but I cant share all my secrets :-) I did make the ones from Beantown Baker and they were delish as well!

{New} Designs

Last week I posted about a "welcome home baby" design theme (here) that I designed for a friend. My inspiration was from a neutral bedding set by trend lab.

{Image via Amazon for Trend Lab}

So I decided that I would do a whole baby collection for a girl and boy as the first one designed was gender neutral. I love this design. So playful and baby cute! So far I just have the invites designed and wanted to share. There will be more to come of this collection such as thank you cards, party tags, water bottle labels, party labels (for desserts at dessert tables) and possibly banners.

here is the one for a boy:

The one for a girl:

And of course the first one I designed, the neutral:

I am also working on many other designs and cant wait to share them with you guys. If I could just get my booty in duty. I have a tendency to start another creation before done with one. As the ideas come, I have to start on them while in creative mode :-)

The designs above are available in the shop!!

My Birthdate

Oh my gosh! I have been so busy with starting a new job and focusing on so much at once, I did not plan anything extravagant for my birthday this year! And I do have to work today. So I made some cupcakes to take to work and celebrate with the ladies. I REALLY hope the kids are well behaved today! As much as I love throwing parties - even if it is for myself- I so was not in party planning mode for myself this time. I may still throw something a little later. Not quite sure yet. But today I turn 26!! Four years I will be 30. WHAT!! Time flies. I thank God for letting me see another birthday and pray for many many more!

{Favorite} Cake Friday

For today's Favorite Cake Friday, I am featuring a cake done by the Cake Girls. They are two sisters that ran the well known cake shop in Chicago. I always watched them on Amazing Wedding Cakes on the WEtv network. Just this year they endured a terrible tragedy with their cake shop. A fire destroyed everything they worked hard for. Reading an update for this month on their website, they have not been making any cakes and are not taking orders, but have been fighting with insurance to get things sorted out. It was so saddening to hear about what happened at first, well still is. I can't imagine going through any of that.

Here is a cake I picked for this week that I LOVE!!

{photo via the cake girls}

I just Love the orange and brown together and the details with butterflies. Very fall like, which I have been missing that season lately. Ready for all the pretty fall colors and leaves changing and the lovely holidays! Though I will miss summer, I will not miss the heat.

Have a great weekend!

Mexican Layered Dip {Recipe}

I know this post has nothing to do with baking or party designs, but I cook a lot as well. We cook dinner every single night. When I stayed home, I was making 3 meals a day. I love the family time we spend together when eating dinner and I always make sure my family has a good home cooked meal. Not only am I  hospitable to my family, but anyone that walks through our door. It really is just a part of who I am. 

Since I started working at a preschool, the ladies there are like "you must cook dinner every night", when they see that I bring leftovers for lunch. "Yes we cook every night for the most part, its cheaper than eating out for every meal of the day!", I tell them. Its shocking to me that when some don't cook. My mom always made dinner every night and that is the way it will be for our family. And thank God for blessing me in that area as well.

So from time to time, I may put some regular non- baking recipes on here :-)

My husband loves to cook too! Mexican (like) dishes seem to be our favorite. Normally when I make this dip and it is usually gone within the same day or the following morning ( we are crazy and would eat it for breakfast). Since I have been working on some plans for my daughter's Dora Fiesta party, this would go great on the menu. It is THE simplest thing to make also. All you have to "cook" is the chicken! It is also changeable. You can add any ingredient you want into the dish or take away what ever you want. Like sour cream, olives, diced tomatoes, re-fried beans instead of black beans, what ever! You can't go wrong. If you like it, add it.

Chicken cooking

Simmering with the taco seasoning.

all put together

Serve with tortilla chips

Recipe:

Layered Mexican Dip With Chicken
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Layered Mexican Dip With Chicken

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts  -  cube cut
1 8oz package of cream cheese
1/2 to 1 jar of mild salsa - mild
1 packet of taco seasoning
1/2 cup of cheddar cheese
1 can of black beans
2 tbsp olive oil - for cooking chicken
Tomatoes diced for finishing touch
Lettuce - optional
Olives - optional

Place oil in a hot skillet on medium heat. Add chicken and cook til done and there is no more pink. Drain (if needed) and set aside.

Add 3/4 cups of water to skillet and taco seasoning stirring til blended. Add chicken back to pan and coat all the pieces with the seasoning. Simmer for a few minutes and take off heat.

Spread cream cheese onto the bottom of a pie plate or square casserole dish.

Layer black beans, salsa, chicken, cheese, (in that order). Top with lettuce, olives, and diced tomatoes if you want to use those options. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving


Serve with tortilla chips for dipping.


An original by Crystal (me)

Cake and Designs From Weekend

This weekend was a busy one! Not to mention working full time during the whole week as a preschool teacher. Seriously I had no idea how I was going to function on Saturday. I had a cake order and some announcement keepsake cards to make for the weekend. My mind was tired, body aching..... My original plan was to stay up all night Friday after I got home from work. I'm thinking no biggie, I stay up all time time when I am not doing anything important. 

Friday came and I CRASHED!!! Didn't even know I fell asleep on the chaise. I recall being in the kitchen cleaning and telling my husband to leave the channel to Blue Crush (loved that movie). Then he calls back "if you are gonna stay in there cleaning, I am going to turn the channel". So I stop and tell myself, okay just watch it for a bit and get back to the kitchen. HA! That is when I crashed - watched like 5 minutes I think. So I went to bed. Had to come up with a new plan! So that was to set my alarm for 4:30 am to take out the butter, eggs, and milk/buttermilk so they can come to room temp. Then set alarm again for like 5:15 for me to wake up and start on everything.

Ran into a few other issues, but I got things done! Here is the invitation I designed for a high school friend.

Here is the keepsake card:

And here is the cake:

Baby Shower Cake

(sorry for the picture quality)

I attended a baby shower this past weekend for a dear friend and decided to make a cake for a gift. She is having her first baby and a girl at that! I LOVED seeing all the pink and the tiny baby clothes along with her new Chicco pink and tan carseat/stroller combo. This color option so was NOT available when I had my daughter! Everything just gets cuter and cuter as years go by and more stuff is invented for babies. Makes me think about having another.....only for 1 second, then I SNAP back to reality. Ummm, NO can't handle another pregnancy or baby right now! LOL. Seriously make it stop, if I go to a store that has baby stuff, I will truly start mesmerizing. 

I tried my best to stay the entire time at the baby shower, but my mini me decided she wasn't going to listen to mommy and get into stuff. She saw some decor that looked like toys to her, a "ball" and goes to throwing them. *GASPS* and praying in my head that they were not breakable! Finally I decided to leave early. I was sad to leave but I could not have her trying to break things. Before we got out of the neighborhood, baby girl was OUT - knocked out sleeping. And she could not have done that 2 minutes prior???!!

I did her cake to match the invitation from the shower, and I could not find it anywhere after the shower to take a picture of it!!! It was a vanilla cake, tinted pink on the inside, with buttercream frosting and fondant accents. And I could have thrown my camera when I was trying to take a picture! It had a mind of its own and wanted to do what "it" wanted to do........Hello dear camera, I am the one to operated you!!!

And here is that LOVELY Chicco pink and tan stroller that I am in aww over:

Fondant Rose Cupcake

This past week has been an EXTREMELY busy one along with this weekend. I am getting back into the swing of things with working full time and trying to keep up with everything. I find myself thinking, "how in the world am I going to keep up?". Exhaustion is kicking in and have not had time to do much. Please bare with me as I am trying to get back into a routine and get things in order. I am sorry for the lack of blog post, but they will pick back up this week!

I did want to share this fondant rose cupcake I did a bit ago. It was my first time attempting the fondant rose. I think it could still use some work. But not too bad, looks pretty cute. You may notice a lot of my cupcakes are CHOCOLATE, it is so my favorite cupcake flavor!

Fun at the beach

Constance & I decided to take a break from everything one day and head to the beach. No working, no computer, no cakes or cupcakes/treats, just fun, fun, fun. This girl is a water chic, she would probably sleep in it if she could! It was definitely nice to get out and enjoy the water. Here are some pictures of the fun in the sun day.

We definitely need to take more beach days!

DC Cupcakes & Hunter boots!

Has anyone been watching DC Cupcakes on TLC. The name of their cupcake shoppe is actually called Georgetown Cupcake. The show premiered about 3 weeks ago and its been pretty fun to watch. Its a little different, but I watch because I know these sisters have something great going for themselves and I could always learn something.Their cupcakes really do look good and will have to make a stop to their shop if I am in the DC area one day. OR have them shipped to my house. They are known for LONG lines with an hour wait time. WOW!! The things people will do for a cupcake!

BUT, have you seen their PINK Hunter Boots??!! Rain boots at that?? The sisters have worn them on the show during their winter snowy weather and I about fell out when I saw them! Those boots are smokin' HOT and I am in LOVE! I noticed these boots a long time ago, but they were in a not so cool color so I didn't look any further into them. Pink is my favorite color and EVERYthing looks good in pink!! 

And lately around the Charleston area it has been storming and raining just about every afternoon. These boots sure will come in handy. That will be my excuse for paying the $125.00 for them or because the Brittish wear them (I have a slight obsession with the Brittish lol), when my husband says "you're gonna pay what for what??" They are so darn cute! When I was researching them, even Princess Di had a pair!! I like that they look more like a riding boot than the traditional lower end rain boot that we see a lot of. And I just had to see what other colors there were........

Black of course

High Gloss Pinkish/Purple

Or I could just take one of each!!! Well that might just be a little bit tacky!

Find them at Hunter Boots