First birthdays are the best – over the top fun! I made 100 cupcakes for the Sweets Table and what a sweet table it was – look at that candy!

Red Velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting dipped in lavender and soft green sanding sugars – to match the birthday colors of course – and some in lovely folded parchment cups with just a few lavender sugar pearls on top. Divine.

Can you believe it was storming torrential rain as I drove up with these? Poor little cupcakes. They survived though!

Happiness to the birthday girl!

Seriously. Japanese bento accoutrements are the best things in the universe. So cute. So little. So useless.

I know what you’re thinking, “Why would anyone do this?” Believe me, I realize I need to get a life. But I try not to buy processed food for the kids and I talked myself into thinking I could make tater tots at home. It was pretty quick AND easy.

ingredients:
4 large russet potatoes
1/2 cup milk
2 Tablespoons butter
1/4 cup sour cream
kosher salt
pepper

1-1/2 cups flour
kosher salt
pepper
paprika
3 eggs
2 Tablespoons milk
1-1/2 cups panko

oil

Set a pot of water to start boiling. Peel and wash the potatoes. Cut them into cubes and put them in the heating pot of water. Once it starts to boil, let them cook for 12-15 minutes until soft.

Drain the potatoes and transfer to the bowl of an electric mixer. Now you can mash these by hand or for a more ‘tater-tot-y’ mealy texture, use a ricer. But a mixer does well for me.

Add the milk, butter and sour cream to the potatoes. Mix until just combined. Don’t go overboard or you will just get a gummy mess.

Set a skillet filled about 3/4 of the way with oil, on medium high. Now I could have busted out my deep fryer for this (I will next time) but I wanted to see how a shallow fry would work for these. It was just fine.

Now set up your frying line. In one dish put the flour, salt, pepper and paprika. Stir to combine. The second dish whisk the eggs with the milk. The third dish set up the panko.

Using a small scoop make a small sized ball of potato and form it into a tater tot (i.e. marshmallow-ish but smaller) shape. Dredge it in the flour first, making sure you tap off all the excess. This is the KEY to making any kind of fry coating stick. (That’s what O.G. told me was her secret anyway).

Then dip it into the egg mixture, again not too heavy on the egg. Then finally the panko.

Set the little Tots into their oil bath. Once it starts browning, turn it to brown the other side. Don’t fool with these suckers, the more you flip them and turn them THEY WILL RETALIATE. By popping at you (god I hate hot oil) and even busting open to the pure mashed potato center. Phooey. You do not want that. Do your best to keep them in tip top Tot form.

Once browned let them drain and cool on a wire rack.

That’s it! You’re ready to serve! Bring on the tots!

Say you like ham (SAY IT.) but you don’t want to commit to a giant Easter sized portion. You can buy one big ol’ slice of ham called a ‘ham steak’ and call it a day! And frankly, you can feed your whole family on that one slice.

ingredients:
1 ham steak
3-4 Tablespoons orange juice
2 Tablespoons brown sugar

Heat a skillet over medium high heat. Put the ham steak in, and pour in the orange juice.

Sprinkle ONE of the Tablespoons of brown sugar over the ham. Once the juice starts to bubble and the ham starts to heat, flip the steak over and sprinkle with the rest of the brown sugar. Cook through until the sugar caramelizes a bit. Cut into pieces and serve.

If Thomas Keller aka Best Chef in America, aka James Beard award winner, aka Michelin star go-getta, aka king of the French Laundry, knew how I bastardized his tri tip recipe, he might kill me. Or take away my autographed cookbook, but they’ve have to pry it out of my cold dead hands!! Just look at that penmanship!

In Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc at Home it says right in the book, ‘don’t cook tri tip for too long ‘ so of course…I put it in a crock pot for 8+ hours. HEY. Don’t judge. I’m trying to make life easier! It came out good, I promise.

ingredients:
2-1/2 lb tri tip roast
2 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 teaspoons paprika
1-1/2 teaspoons black pepper
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
small pinch of cayenne
1 lemon, sliced thin
water or beef broth

I know what he’s saying. Cook it too long and it can become flavorless. But in a crock pot, slathered with spices, it works, honest. Trim the fat off the tri tip. If it doesn’t fit in the pot, cut into two or three pieces.

Mince the garlic, sprinkle with the salt and scrap at it with your knife to get a paste. Rub this into the tri tip.

In a small bowl mix together the paprika, black pepper, rosemary and cayenne. Rub that into the already garlic seasoned meat.

Slice your lemon thin and add the slices to the top of the meat. (Yes, that is a lemon, a giant one. Don’t ask.)

Down the side of the pot (not over the meat) add just enough water so that the meat sits in about 1″ of it.

Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.

You can serve this with potatoes, rice, or I like to make little sandwiches for the kids out of it. It’s flavorful and soft – perfect tri tip. For the rest of his recipes I won’t betray the word of Thomas Keller, I swear. Well, not this week anyway.

I saw this recipe in the Martha Stewart Cupcake book and thought I’d change it up a bit. The real kicker here is I added cinnamon chips which made everything just sing. Talk about flava!! I also added a Wookiee, but if you don’t have one you can just make do.

ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
3 large eggs
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/3 cup whole milk
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup cinnamon chips

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Prep a cupcake pan with liners.

In a medium bowl whisk the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer beat the butter, sugar, and brown sugar. Once combined, add the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla.

Alternate the flour mixture with the milk until combined. This will look like cookie batter!

Cinnamon Chips are hard to find, but so worth the hunt. They are made by Hershey’s and as far as I can tell in the Los Angeles area they are only sold at Alberton’s. So weird! If you can find them – get them, you won’t be disappointed. They add a whole new dimension to baking. Plus wookiees love them. Just look at him, he can’t wait.

Now fold in the chocolate chips and cinnamon chips.

Fill your liners about 3/4 of the way full.

Bake for 18-20 minutes until toothpick test says they’re done! Let cool on a wire rack.

These are pretty addicting, I’m not just saying that. I’ve had people eat one and then immediately ask for more. Not one more, like TWELVE MORE. This is why Chewbacca is keeping this one all for himself…

Yesterday I attended the L.A. Cupcake Challenge – I’ve passed on it before, thinking that the price tag was a little steep, but after today I think it was totally worth it. It was so much fun and soooo much sugar!

There were 20 bakeries, all of whom had 2 cupcake flavors a piece…do the math that’s around 40 cupcakes to taste. Good lord. I went with the Food Librarian and we were good to go starting out, collecting each one, talking to the bakeries, finding out about them…

It seems we were totally unprepared as everyone (who was smart) brought their own tupperware or boxes! Wow. Even if you were taking them home it sure made it easier to carry your cupcakes around. No, the two of us just toted our wobbly little dessert plates and hoped for the best.

I was a fan of the simple Chocolate Vanilla Swirl from Sweet E’s, and the fancy Little Miss Shortcake from Cupcakes Couture. I also loved the inventiveness and display of the ‘Naughty’ cupcakes from Two Parts Sugar.

I also loved the BEAUTIFUL (and delicious) Salted Caramel from Tavern, though anything with a macaron on top has the edge for me. I will be visiting them soon.

Kristin from Meringue Bakeshop was there with her cute display. She had a cool raffle that included some of my “Bacon Love” stationery and why…? Because her cupcakes had bacon in them! And I have to say her ‘Pigs on Tap’ – Chocolate Stout Cupcake with bacon and whiskey bourbon buttercream was one of my favorites. It used bacon in the right way, and together with the frosting just made the perfect flavorful bite.

I talked to a few of the bakers and they said they had to make over 1400 cupcakes (!!) just to feed the massive crowd. Amazing! To be crowned King (or Queen) of the Cupcakes, I suppose it’s all worth it!

By the time we made it to our third trip around the room, sugar fatigue was setting in. I found it difficult to think and felt suddenly depressed. So we sat. And didn’t move. Instead we made a list of what we’d bring with us next year to be more prepared.

Some of the best parts of the day was getting to see friends – I got to chat a bit with Shari from Bonnin Designs and Clara from I Heart Cuppycakes. I also stopped to talk to Tara from When Tara Met Blog and Nichelle (who I last saw at the Martha Stewart cupcake show in New York!) from Cupcakes Take the Cake – both judges for the contest – talk about hard work!

It was a nice break from, well, cramming my face with sugar. There were some amazing bakeries there and we powered through and tasted about 30 cupcakes. It was not easy – but it was so much fun and I’d recommend that everyone go next year just to experience the craziness.

In the strangest coincidence ever – this is what we saw as we walked to the parking garage:

Right now I just need something salty. And a nap. zzz.

Does this really need a how-to? No, it’s pretty self explanatory but it was a lot of fun to do with the kids. I had the boys write down all the foods they could think of according to color, then I had them help me lay them out in a cupcake pan.

This is something I like to pull out when the kids have friends over for playdates. They seem to think it’s a lot of fun, and it’s great to hear them think of other things that we could have put in there, as well as seeing the kids try new things. Note: No one ate the spinach, but hey it was worth a shot.

The Kid is off of school for a whole week. A WEEK?? I never got a week off when I was a kid!! Must. Find. Things. To. Do.

I thought an easy and fun thing to do together would be to make a pie. A S’mores pie. Is your mouth watering? The Kid loves all things marshmallow so why not kick up a bit?

Sure it’s a reach, but the components are there: graham crackers, marshmallows and chocolate. I threw this together on the fly this morning and it came out just as I had hoped. Believe it or not, the bittersweet chocolate cuts the sweet – but boy is it rich…n the best possible way.

ingredients:
Graham Cracker Pie crust (see recipe here)
20 large marshmallows
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate
Pinch of salt
1 Teaspoon of vanilla
1/4 cup mini marshmallows

1 cup heavy cream
1/4 powdered sugar

Prep your graham cracker crust and set aside. Get a small sous chef to count out 20 marshmallows. Tell him it’s a FUN game. That’s how you get things done.

In a double boiler (witness my janky do it yourself version) heat the marshmallows till they get a little melty. Add the chocolate, then the cream. until it’s all combined. Keep stirring, it may take a while.

Note: Scharffenberger is king of chocolate. You won’t find a richer, smoother chocolate to work with. This 6 ounce bar melts down to a little bit of heaven and really makes all the difference in flavor.

Once everything is melted, add the salt and the vanilla. Let cool for a few minutes.

In the bottom of the pie crust sprinkle around the marshmallows. (Note: the Kid helped and I just let him do what he wanted, so we just mixed them in instead.) On top of the marshmallows and pie crust, pour the chocolate mixture, then put in the fridge to set.

When you are ready to serve, whip the heavy cream with the powdered sugar and serve with the pie. So good it will make you cry.

This is basically the same thing as the Nilla Wafer pie crust, but you get the idea.

ingredients:
approx. 25 graham crackers (you’re trying to get about 1-1/2 cups or so)
1/4 cup butter, melted
1-1/2 Tablespoons sugar

In a sealed plastic freezer bag, bash, beat, pulverize the graham crackers.

Get a small child to do the dirty work and combine the crumbs with the melted butter and the sugar – then press into your pie pan.

Bake at 350 for 6-8 minutes, let cool before you use it.