Sugar Socks

Brunch Time! Best meal of the day!

2012-02-20T09:44:00.004-08:00

Sweet? Or Savory?

My sister and I try to spend as much time with each other as we can. This past Sunday she decided to come over and let me make her BRUNCH! Crepes are the perfect brunch food and they are delicious, but I can never decide weather I want a sweet crepe or a savory crepe. So I made both!!! The sweet is made with home made amaretto whipped cream, pourable nutella and raspberries! Who wouldn't want to start a lazy sunday with that! The savory is sharp white cheddar cheese and fresh spinach.

Crepes

1 cup all purpose flour

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup water

1/4 teaspoons salt

2 tabel spoons butter (melted)

Mix all the ingredients together, no specific order or anything. When the mixture is no longer chunky, have a pan lightly greased and ready with the heat on low/medium. Cook them just like your cooking pancakes. They cook faster though so keep and eye on them. If your making savory, after the first flip put cheese and spinach on half. Shred the cheese so that it melts quickly.

Amaretto Whipped Cream

1 cup heavy whipping cream

2 tabel spoons sugar

1-2 tabel spoons amaretto (depending on how strong you want it)

In your mixer whip the cream until fluffy then add everything else, If the whipped cream starts to get runny from the amaretto just add more sugar or cream, play it by ear. Thats it!

Pourable Nutella

1/3 cup nutella

2-3 tabel spoons heavy cream(maybe more)

Microwave the nutella so it is mushy and easy to mix with the cream. Keep adding cream until you feel like you can pour it! Easy!

This brunch is so easy, and super cute! After you have everything prepared, add whatever you want and make it pretty :) Have it with a cup of tea or a coffee. Enjoy Sunday's with friends and family Brunch Time

Valentines Preparation

2012-02-13T07:44:00.000-08:00

These adorable delightful cakes are perfect for you sweetie! Get it? Sweetie!

Strawberry cakes topped with a light milk chocolate swiss meringue buttercream frosting!

Cakes

2/3 cup fresh chopped strawberries

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup whole milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup unsalted butter(room temp)

1 cup sugar

1 egg

2 egg whites

Add flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. in a separate bowl mix milk, vanilla, and strawberries. In your mixer with the paddle attachment cream the butter on high speed. gradually add the sugar until combined and fluffy. reduce mixer speed and add the egg and egg whites until blended. add the flour mixture slowly alternating with the milk mixture. perf! Put in cupcake tins and bake for 10-14 minutes for little cakes at 350

Frosting

4 large egg whites

1 1/4 cups sugar

1 cup butter (room temp)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup melted and cooled semi sweet chocolate

3 tabel spoons un-sweet cocoa powder

Place egg whites and sugar in the top of a double boiler. Whisk constantly and cook just until the sugar is melted. Pour in to a mixer with the whisk attachment and beat on high speed until peaks form. Then, switch to the paddle attachment and add the butter 2 tablespoons at a time on medium speed. While adding the butter, increase the speed every time. continue beating until the frosting appears thick. Reduce speed and add vanilla, chocolate, and cocoa. Continue to beat for 2 minutes to eliminate air bubbles.

A perfect fluffing frosting!

I then decorated mine with sweet little pink sprinkles. Have fun, Happy Valentines Day, and I hope your Valentine enjoys his(or her) cupcakes!

tomorrow is the day!

2012-02-13T07:26:00.000-08:00

Guess what tomorrow is! Not only is it my 20th birthday but it is Valentines Day! Time is running out to make baked goods for a loved one. Here is a chocolate cake with a champagne strawberry frosting. Romantic...

Also I made chocolate sea salt caramels for a sweet topper.

Cakes

Same as below

Frosting

1/2 cup butter

5 cups powder sugar

1/4 cup champagne

1/4 cup finely chopped strawberries

1 teaspoon strawberry extract

Cream the butter until fluffy, add the sugar one cup at a time and alternate with the champagne and strawberries. Once it is all blended, add extract. Add champagne if it needs more but you also may need to add more sugar.

YUM

Chocolates

caramel sauce (below)

milk chocolate kisses

sea salt!!!

in a double boiler melt the chocolate. Have the caramel already prepared and add as much sea salt as you would like(mine were not salty enough). In a heart mold put just enough chocolate in to cover the sides and still have enough room for caramel and more chocolate. stick them in the freezer for a couple minutes. when they are solid take them out and add the caramel, freeze again. Take them back out and put the last touch of chocolate to cover the caramel. Again, put them in the freezer. All done!

Decorate and serve.

A perfect treat...

Mallows for a Valentine

2012-02-02T06:13:00.000-08:00

I made home made marshmallows!

They are SO GOOD!

I couldn't believe I accomplished such a hard task...

It's not as hard as you would think!

What you will need

1 cup powder sugar

2 tabel spoons, 2 and 1/2 tea spoons unflavored gelatin

1 cup water. Divided half and half

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1/4 tea spoon salt

2 large egg whites

1 tabel spoon vanilla

Put 1/2 cup of water in a mixer with the gelatin. Don't mix until it has set and looks "tough". In a sauce pan put another 1/2 cup of water, sugar(not powder sugar) and corn syrup and heat on low until it hits 220 degrees on a CANDY THERMOMETER. once the sugar devolves and the mixture hits the right temperature and beat on high. in a separate bowel beat the egg whites and the vanilla until fluffy and add it to the other mixture that is being beat on high. I added food coloring after it was all fluffy.

In a 13x9x2 inch pan, grease it and sift powder sugar in it. Put the soft marshmallow in the pan and spread it out Sift more powder sugar on top.

Let it sit for 3 hours-a day.

You can cut them up with a greased pizza cutter. I used heart cookie cutters.

I also melted chocolate and dipped half of the heart in it.

The PERFECT Valentines Day treat! Light, fluffy, sweet, and made out of love!

ENJOY!

Mixing Away

2012-02-01T07:29:00.000-08:00

My birthday gift!!!!!!!

Best gift I have ever gotten.

Seriously.

I was so excited when it came last night that I immediately ripped the box open and washed everything so I could use it right then and there. I was so eager that I didn't even use a recipe for whipped cream. I just poured a carton of heavy cream in and started the mixer! I also put powder sugar and vanilla in it. It tuned out yummy but I was just so amazed that I didn't have to hold a mixer I forgot that i didn't have anything to put the whipped cream on! So, I put it in the freezer.

Frozen whipped cream is delicious!

After I got over the initial shock that I am now LEGIT. I decided to bake something

NOM NOM NOM...

Pink white cakes with strawberry

meringue frosting

strawberry candy

I'm so happy that I have a mixer I feel like I could make anything!

CAKES

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter

2 eggs

2 teaspoons strawberry extract

1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 cup milk

cream together the sugar and butter. Add eggs one at a time, add the strawberry. Let that all mix together. Add the flour and powder little at a time after that is all mixed add the milk. Also, I added food coloring. Bake for 20 mins. on 350.

I know that you are thinking... I didn't use fresh berries and I took the easy way out. I know.. I don't care!!! They were yummy cakes and pink. Which is what I was going for.

MERINGUE

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

2 egg whites

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

put the sugar and water in a sauce pan and let the sugar melt. While this is going on have the egg whites in YOUR MIXER :) beating until fluffy. Once the sugar is boiling and the sugar is dissolved, pour slowly in the eggs while they are still beating. add flavoring and coloring keep beating until stiff and glossy. Spread or decorate as soon as possible

CANDY

same recipe below but add some strawberry extract and food coloring.

This recipe is completely un-natural. The color's are crazy and the recipes were very simple. But it's ok! I wasn't going for extreme today. I was going for fun! I was tired and I was looking for an excuse to use my new mixer! Hope you enjoy! Go and make cute cakes now!

Salt, Chocolate, and Caramel Caramel Caramel!

2012-01-28T15:10:00.000-08:00

Today!

I baked.

I ate.

Trying to perfect my chocolate sea salt caramel recipe, I must say I got pretty close! It took a lot of work, burns on my hands, and a few hours today BUT they are mighty tasty!

CAKES

same recipe for chocolate cake

Makes wholes in the middle

CARAMEL FILLING

(you can't see it, but it makes the whole cake)

1/2 cup sugar

3 table spoons butter cubed

1/4 cup plus 1 table spoon heavy cream

Put the sugar in a pot and let it dissolve and boil on high. Once the sugar turns a amber color, add the butter and let it melt. Next, put the cream in and take it off of the heat. stir and let sit until cooled. Spoon out caramel to the center of the cakes.

CARAMEL FROSTING

1/4 cup of sugar

2 tabel spoons water

1/4 cup heavy cream

1 tea spoon vanilla

1 stick salted butter

one stick unsalted butter

SALT! as much as you want :)

1 1/2 cups powder sugar

put the sugar and water into a pot and let it once again turn the amber color while stirring often. once it becomes the right color, take off the heat and add the cream and vanilla. (if you taste it, be aware that it doesn't taste very good). Let it sit for 20 minutes. Whip the butter and salt until creamy, add sugar and once that is all blended add the caramel. Mix until super fluffy! At this point it will taste good. promise.

SUGAR GARNISH

1 1/4 cups sugar

1/4 tea spoon salt

3/4 cup water

sugar (to sprinkle and make pretty)

put sugar, salt, and water in a pot and turn the stove on. DUH. Let the sugar dissolve then, bring it to a boil. Once again, let it turn in to that amber color. Before you take it off the heat, fill up your sink with ice water. When you take off the pot from the heat, dunk the bottom in to the ice water so it doesn't cook any more. You will have to work fast because the caramel will harden FAST. Have a piece of parchment paper covered in oil spray ready. After your pot is dunked, use a spoon and make dots, or swirls, or whatever you want on the greased up paper. It cools quickly so put the sugar on immediately after it is poured.

Ice the cakes and put the pretty little candy on top!

I can not wait for my mixer to get here...

They are really good! A perfect mixture of salty and sweet. Make mini's and people will love you...

Beer and Cake?

2012-01-25T17:12:00.000-08:00

Oh yes! I did it!

I made a delicious moist stout cupcake. I haven't posted or baked in about a week and I have just been so sad. BUT, I have been food blogging like crazy and watching old episodes of Cupcake Wars and got some good ideas. I wanted something sweet that my dad would like so, he pulled out an oatmeal stout out of the fridge and told me to make something with it!

Cakes

1/4 cocoa powder

2 cups sugar

2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

pinch of salt (I always use a bit more)

1 bottle of beer (your choice, I used oatmeal but Guinness is recommended)

1 stick butter melted

1 table spoon vanilla extract

3 large eggs

Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl. In another bowl mix the beer, melted butter, vanilla, and add one egg at a time. After it is all mixed together, add the dry ingredients to the wet ones little at a time.

put them in cake papers, and pop them in the oven!

I used mini cake things so it didn't take as long to bake

Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. If you use mini's bake for 12 minutes and keep checking until they are baked all the way.

Frosting

Same chocolate as used below

These little cakes are simple, fun, and any guy would LOVE them. They turned out so moist and tasty and the oatmeal stout put a good coffee/chocolate flavor. Hope you enjoy!

Judy Judy

2012-01-18T08:34:00.000-08:00

I would like to make a Judy Garland inspired cupcake. I'm thinking Chocolate and cherries...

Meat Snacks

2012-01-17T10:13:00.000-08:00

My dad's awesome recipe!!!

He makes these really delicious "meat snacks" with venison that he and his friend Bob kill. Yes, my dad hunt's and NO i'm not a vegetarian in any way shape or form! These snacks are perfect for an appetizer or just a fun finger food.

Meat Snacks

1lb venison

1 lb Neeses pork sausage

1 lb Velveeta melty cheese

a pack of cocktail rye squares

Brown the venison and pork in a pan until cooked fully. After it is cooked, drain all of the fat from the pan. Then cut the velveeta cheese into squares and add it to the meat. Let the cheese melt. Spoon the meat mixture on to the rye squares and let cool. After that is done, stick them in the oven and let then cook on 350 for 12-15 minutes.

Thanks to my wonderful father, you all have this tasty recipe for a snack, appetizer, even a meal! Enjoy!

The Chocolate Tucker

2012-01-15T19:52:00.000-08:00

This is my sister's wonderful pup Tucker Jo! She is in Africa right now on an awesome mission trip with my grandparents and my family is taking care of this little ball of joy! I just thought I would share this piece of heaven with you

Best things ever!!!!

These crazy things are chocolate sea salt caramel cupcakes. They were sooooooooo yummy! I used a lot of recipes from earlier post's to make them

Cakes

Same as the chocolate cakes below (I'm kind of obsessed, they are some good dang cakes)

Caramel

same recipe as the caramel pecan recipe

minus pecans

Chocolate frosting

1 cup unsalted butter

3 1/2 cups powder sugar

1/2 cup unsweet cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon salt (I obviously used more

2 teaspoons vanilla

4 tablespoons heavy cream

I was in a hurry and threw all of the ingredients in a bowel and mixed until it was creamy! I know :/ I didn't follow a recipe, but the frosting was really yummy! I also just put extra salt in everything and put sea salt on top. They turned out great! If your the kind of person who likes salt with there sweets (like me) you will LOVE these cakes!

exciting new things!

2012-01-15T19:42:00.000-08:00

Today has been aaawweessooommmeee! My mom and I spent the whole day together and did fun things! First, we went to Chili's (don't judge... my mom, my sister and I have a tradition. We go to Chili's and get quesadilla explosion salads.) then we went to Target just to get some teeth whiting strips. You can't walk in to a Target and only get one thing, am I right? We were looking in the section at the front of the store where everything is $1-3, and went CRAZY! We got stupid little heart shaped measuring cups, a cute cupcake oven mitt, some baking spoons with cupcakes on them, a heart shaped mold tray, and many more exciting things! Then, we went to Michael's since it was right next door and got a ton of cute baking cups. We also got a fancy cupcake stand which was the high light of my day! I had to come home and try out all of my new things, of course!

I made these bad boys!

I made fondant, like real fondant for the first time! And, it tastes like something you would actually want to eat. These are chocolate cupcakes with a chocolate coffee ganache and marshmallow fondant.

Cakes

Same chocolate cake recipe as below

Ganache

1/2 cup heavy cream

8 oz bitter sweet chocolate chips

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon instant coffee grounds (I used way more than this)

In a double boiler dump everything in, let the chocolate melt stirring occasionally. That's it!

Fondant

12 oz marshmallow fluff

6-8 cups powder sugar

1-2 teaspoons of any kind of extract

food coloring (if desired)

Mix the fluff and extract together. Dump a bunch of powder sugar in the mixture and mix, and mix, and mix... Keep adding sugar until the mixture is like a bread dough, mold it with your hands and if it is still sticky, put more sugar in it. Add food coloring whenever you want.

It's all pretty plain and simple. I'm not creative enough to make every one of the cakes different like my mother. She insisted that they all be different... of course. She helped and it was so much fun! But... next time I will just do a simple pretty flower on all of them.

Caramel Red Lips

2012-01-13T17:04:00.000-08:00

Yum! This was the first time a made caramel and it was so much easier than I though it would be (maybe because I found the easiest recipe I could). They are simple Chocolate Cupcakes with a caramel sauce and pecans! So perfect for fall/winter.

Cakes

1 1/3 cups all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of salt

3/4 un-sweet cocoa powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

3 tabel spoons butter

1 1/2 cups white sugar

2 eggs

3/4 vanilla extract

1 cup milk

mix the dry ingredients minus the sugar together. Then, cream the room temperature butter and sugar together, once its fluffy add in one egg at a time. After that mix in the vanilla. Once that is all mixed together, alternate mixing in the dry mixture and the milk until it is all mixed together! bake on 350 for 15-20 minutes.

I have used this recipe a couple times and I really like it! I even put more salt in the recipe this time to make it a salty chocolate caramel pecan type of thing, yum right?

Caramel

Make sure you have all of the ingredients next to you ready to go in the pot!

1 cup sugar

6 tabel spoons butter

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

some water

pecans!

Put the sugar and a little bit of water in a deep POT! make sure it's not a sauce pan because it will over flow. Be very careful with this because hot sugar is much much hotter than hot water. let the sugar boil and whisk it so the sugar will cook evenly. Let the sugar cook until it is an amber brown color then add in the butter. Mix until it melts.(I didn't have the butter out of the rapper ready to go in the pot and accidentally threw it in with the wrapper on! Thankfully, my boyfriend handed me tongs and knew exactly what to do :) what would I ever do with out him.) after the butter is melted, take it off the heat. Count exactly 3 seconds and pour the milk in. It will steam up so be careful because it hurts. Mix it all together, pour as many pecans in as you feel.

Cut a whole on the top of all of the cakes so that the caramel doesn't spill all over them and enjoy!

This recipe was surprisingly quick! I made them for my great grandfather for desert this week and I was on a time crunch. It took max, an hour. I tried to time myself like on cupcake wars, then decided I shouldn't because it is messy and I needed to clean up after myself. They are tasty and not too sweet. Perfect for dinners, I might make them for Thanksgiving this year!

It finally felt like winter today and I though I would share my red lips and cozy scarf with you!

Love you all! Enjoy your cakes!

Cheater Cheater Corn Bread Eater

2012-01-13T09:56:00.000-08:00

Cheater Cheater Corn Bread Eater

These right here are Jalapeno corn bread muffins topped with cheddar cheese a bacon!

O.K. I'll admit I cheated on this recipe. I used boxed corn bread mix and velveeta melty cheese (don't judge). They turned out pretty good but they could have used more jalapeno.

How It's Made

3 boxes of mix

3 eggs

1 cup of milk

1 jalapeno (may need more, mine weren't spicy)

1 lb velveeta melty cheese

bacon

Pretty simple, cook the bacon first to get it out of the way, make sure the jalapeno is diced so you don't have big chunks in your mixture. Mix the corn bred mix, eggs, milk, and jalapeno together and pour half way in your muffin cups. Cook for 15 to 20 minutes at 400. Melt the cheese in the microwave (Or a double boiler... I didn't feel like being fancy) and once the muffins are done, dip them in the cheese and top it with bacon. It makes a top of them and it's really cheap to make. They are also cute! The perfect thing or a party or a supper with a lot of people. I also came up with this so, jazz it up some. Don't be afraid to use a lot more cheese, bacon, and jalapeno. Mine were a little bland, so I suggest having fun with it!

Freaking Cute, Freaking Yum

2012-01-11T17:00:00.000-08:00

Freaking Yum!

Today I have been doing so so so much research in my spare time trying to find a good easy way to make a pourable fondant. I looked everywhere and I found a couple that didn't seem too difficult. Since it was my first time using pourable fondant I wanted to make a simple cake. I made a simple white cake with chocolate bourbon fondant and simple vanilla frosting for piping. It looks like I took forever and it really wasn't as hard as one would think.

The Cake

1 cup of sugar

1/2 a cup of butter

2 eggs

2 teaspoons of vanilla

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 cup of milk

I have used this recipe for a while now and they turn out fluffy, tasty, and not too sweet. I wish I could remember where I got this recipe but sadly I don't...

First, cream together the butter and sugar. Add in the vanilla then the eggs one at a time. mix the flour and baking powder and pour it in the butter mixture little by little. after it is a dough pour in the milk and mix until well mixed! Oven should be at 350 and it will take about 20 minutes.

The Poured Fondant

6 cups powder sugar

1/2 cup of water

2 tablespoons corn syrup

1 teaspoon bourbon extract (you can use real bourbon if you would like)

3 oz dark chocolate

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. In a sauce pan mix the sugar, water, corn syrup, and extract or liquor until mixed well and melted. add the chocolate when it is melted and dip the cakes into the mixture after they have cooled. Do NOT pour it on the cakes! It makes a HUGE mess.

After all of that I just mixed some butter, a powder sugar until it reaches a nice consistency and add some flavor and color if you please. I don't have piping tools right now so I made a makeshift one with wax paper. I put some crushed chocolate, sugar, and coffee beans on top and found these sweet little dark chocolate "pringles" at Trader Joe's.

These cakes are super yummy and not too much to take on. Also, you may have all of these ingredients in your cabinet (I know I did!) I hope you have fun making these cakes! It makes a mess but it sure does make a pretty/ yummy cake.

post Christmas treat

2012-01-11T09:06:00.000-08:00

I was in Mexico for Christmas and the whole week before Christmas, I didn't get to be especially "Christmassy" and I HAD to make some Christmas themed cupcakes! Gingerbread with peppermint buttercream frosting.

Cakes

5 Table spoons of butter

1/2 a cup of white sugar

1/2 cup of honey (I don't like molasses)

1 egg

1 egg yolk

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 table spoon of cocoa powder

1 1/4 teaspoons ginger

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon of all spice

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup of hot milk

Cream the butter with the sugar, add the egg and egg yolk. put all the dry ingredients in a separate bowl excluding the baking powder which will be dissolved in the hot milk. add dry ingredients to the butter mixture, after stirred, pour the milk a baking powder in. Place in cup cake liners and make at 350 for about 20 minutes.

Frosting

8 tablespoons butter (1 stick), at room temperature

1/2 cup peppermint candy (about 7 peppermint sticks), finely crushed

3 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

2 to 3 tablespoons milk

1 to 2 tablespoons peppermint schnapps (or 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract)

make sure the butter is room temp. Just mix it all together and it will turn out fine! YUMMM.

I got the recipe from all over the place, cook books, internet, I also made a lot of this one up myself. Let me know if there are any questions. Enjoy my post Christmas treat!

Citrus in a Winter Way

2012-01-11T08:43:00.000-08:00

Citrus in a Winter Way

I started cooking/ baking summer of 2011 and it stuck! I have so many idea's every day I feel like they are flying out of my ears! I used to work at a candy store called Kilwin's where we used to sell chocolate covered orange peels. I liked the idea but never tried them because I thought it was weird. I finally tasted one recently and fell in love love love! They are so tasty! Not anything like an orange peel which would in-fact not taste very good. I thought and thought about how I would make orange peel's sweet. Just dipping them in chocolate would be gross... How would I do it? well,

I cut up a ton of oranges and peeled them (I also used the inside for some tasty orange-aid, two birds one stone!) I cut up the peels in slices and boiled them for 5 minutes. After I boiled them and strained them they were still gross! I refilled my pot and boiled them again, after repeating this step 4 whole times, they were finally tolerable. Then, I simmered them in a simple syrup (a mixture of half sugar half water, over heat until the sugar is gone) for an hour. I don't have a double boiler so I used a pot with water and a metal bowl on top. I started melting the chocolate while I let the orange peels cool on a rack after I pat them dry with a paper towel. Then, I dipped them in chocolate and sprinkled them with some spicy cocoa powder that I found in a random cabinet in my kitchen. I let them cool and I took them to a moving out party for a friend that just got married and is moving to Texas :(. Everyone was confused because they had never tried one but they turned out to be a hit! I hope this entry helps you with your yummy treats!

Me and You

2012-01-09T15:39:00.000-08:00

Me and You

Hello there! My name is Sarah Jane, you can call me SJ. I live in Asheville, NC and I love everything about fashion, food, learning, and living life to it's fullest. I'm currently and student and I am hungry to learn! .... and eat. I love to bake, and make other things. I like to take recipes that I find all over the place and tweak them to my specifications.

I love all of you and I would really like my blog to get bigger than a couple of family friends that read it to make me feel better. Send me an e-mail, or a message, or anything if there are questions or suggestions. I'm just starting this blog thing, so lets see how it goes!