Fangtastic Cupcakes

Fangtastic Cupcakes

Halloween treats are some of my favourite. I made these over the weekend for my Mom's birthday and they were a hit! The best part about these is that they aren't complicated and required minimal effort. A trip to Bulk Barn for Halloween themed candy was the majority of the work.

From Bulk Barn I picked up: 

Halloween coloured sprinkles

Eyeball gum balls

Gummy worms

Eye candy

I had the Halloween picks & a set of vampire teeth in my stash. 

I bakes cupcakes, iced them with my delicious cream cheese icing and Anna added the decorations. 

Easy: ✓

Kid Friendly: ✓

Inexpensive: ✓

Delicious: ✓

Valentine Sugar Cookies

Sugar Cookies might be my favourite. Sugar cookies in the shape of a heart with pink icing are for sure my favourite. And by the lack of remaining cookies 2 days later I'd say they were everyone else's favourite too. 

I like to bake with Anna, I talked here about how I pre-portion all the ingredients out to make it easier on both of us. When making these cookies I assign jobs to avoid any arguments. For example- Momma rolls the dough, Anna cuts the hearts. Win. Win.

After I ice the cookies she decorates. This one was special for her and had a heaping pile of chocolate chips on top as well as her sprinkles. "Mmmm", was all that came out of her mouth.

I don't really have a winning recipe for these, the one I used tasted good but was kind of a pain- too dry, crumbly, had to keep in fridge, had to warm up, etc. I just Google sugar cookies and lots of options came up to try. I thought this one might be the one I try next. Until then, have a delicious weekend friends!

Baking with a Toddler

Chocolate Chip Cookies with a Toddler

I love to bake, Anna loves to bake but she also loves messes and as she is three is happy to just dump anything she can get her hands on into the batter. I have discovered that the key to baking together is organisation and prepping ahead of time. This way all she has to do is dump the ingredients and I can sit back and watch her have fun and eat chocolate chips. In fact she now says "one for the cookies, one for Anna"- so fantastic!

I get all the ingredients measured out & organised.

I tell her what comes next and be patient when she misses the bowl... it's just flour Nadine.

She is fascinated by this entire process & I love to watch her learn.

Then comes the best part, even more exciting than the finished product- licking the beaters! I  remember waiting in line with my brother when we were little (although we would probably both still do this today) to get our beater so we could lick off all gooey goodness. 

My Mom probably wouldn't appreciate me sharing her "parenting secrets" but there were nights when my Dad was gone working and the 3 of us would eat so much cookie dough we wouldn't have to eat supper. They were the best dinners and some of my fondest memories. I can only hope that Anna is left with memories of baking with me that she would want to one day share with her children.

Chocolate Chip Cookies 

1 cup softened butter or margarine

1 cup of brown sugar

.5 cup of white sugar

2 beaten eggs

2 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

1tsp baking soda

.5 tsp salt

1 cup chocolate chips (any kind works here)

1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

- Cream butter & sugar, add in eggs & vanilla. Blend well.

- In separate bowl mix together flour, baking soda & salt. Gradually add it to the butter mixture. Blend well.

- Add chocolate chips & walnuts

- Drop by the heaping tsp onto cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes

- I dare you to eat just one