Brownie Pops

Last week I finally broke down and bought the brownie mold I have been eyeing for weeks. I kept envisioning all the wonderful treats I could make with this lovely thing. So while I was picking up some stocking stuffers, I grabbed it off the shelf before I could talk myself out of it. I bought some brownie mix at the grocery store since I was to lazy to research a recipe, and Avery and I made the 1st batch last Thursday. Well, I am very impatient! I should have forced myself to at least look-up what to do, but I have been baking for years, I don't need any stinking research! I will just do it! Yeah, big mistake.....I forgot to spray the mold with non-stick spray. I couldn't wait for them to cool before unmolding. Bottom line.....huge mess and very frustrated baker. I turned to Google! I went to Wilton.com and read about my new acquisition and learned what I did wrong. Everything!

Saturday, I armed myself with a different brownie recipe (more cake like, less fudgey ) and got to work. My biggest pet peeve is that I have to wait for the brownies to cool all the way (1 hour) before demolding. Each mold has 8 wells. The recipe made 24 brownies.......I took all damn night. Preheat oven, bake, cool, demold, wash mold, repeat. My last batch finished baking @ 12:30am. I put sticks in them during the last 10 minutes so I would have a different looking pop. I spent 5 minutes checking every 30 seconds to see if the sticks were falling (yes) and then reaching in the hot oven to adjust them. I really don't want to do that again!

I did cover a small amount of them in chocolate (white per Avery) and they turned out so cute. I am saving the rest for X-mas. I have some home picture on my facebook page.....

The lesson.......always do your research of a new product/recipe before jumping in with both feet!

Thanksgiving Day Cookies!

Acorns

A gaggle of turkeys!

Pumpkin patch

Fall leaves

I hope I have successfully uploaded the pictures and managed to get each one labeled! I had a great time at this photo shoot now that I have learned some things from Halloween; always have an odd number of cookies in different sizes, they look better in a shot. Cookies that only have 2 colors don't always photograph well, just look at the cats...

I did take those chocolate cupcakes to the 3 Day, and there was none left. No one noticed that I had colored the filling pink, as they were in such a hurry to stuff their faces! I did hear a lot of "mmmm good", so I guess they were a success.

The next big adventure is planning the Christmas shoot. We are already planning and plotting what to do.....

A big thanks goes out to the HerrNeckers....without Anita and Adam, I would not have such great pictures to show off. But not that many people come to this site..... oh, well. If I keep posting, they will come!

I need to bake!

Everyone should know that I am a crew member for the Breast Cancer 3 Day. I have so much that needs to get done before I leave town, but I want to bake so bad. So I have found an excuse to whip up a little something: Crew Day! We meet up the day before the event to train on the phones and other basic things we will need to know to make everything flow smoothly. But last year Alan and I forgot to eat and were absolutely starving at the end of the day. So I will bring some snacks for everyone on my crew, satisfying the need to bake and the need for food all day. I totally stole a recipe from another blogger and will make them Tuesday. How does Chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese and chocolate chip filling sound? I know.....sounds fabulous! I can't wait. So off to the store for ingredients......I will take a picture and taste them and let everyone know how they turned out. Should I color the filling pink for an added touch? It might make them look like they are bleeding......Ha Ha! But at the 3 Day, nothing is over the top.

Halloween photo shoot!

A few weeks ago I had a photo shoot with my Halloween cookies. One of my clients, Anita, offered her husband Adam's talents with the camera and equipment. I had a great time setting up the shots and trying to figure out what to use in the picture. The picture of all the cookies was actually the last set up we took. I was surprised that the whole shoot took a little over 2 hours to finish, and we could have done more!

As this is my first post with pictures on my first blog, it may just suck a little. I wanted to have captions with every picture, but can't understand how things are composed and put in a post. So bear with me until I figure everything out!

Thanks!

Here we go!

Well, Alan gave me the idea to have a website through a blog, and it would be easier to set up and handle. I am not so sure. I don't have a lot of computer sense, and some of the settings are confusing to a novice like me.

This blog will chronicle the trials and tribulations of my baking adventures. All my friends know about them, so now the blog world will too!

Wish me luck.....