Valentine's Day Baking

Valentine's Day is one of my favorite holidays (but not in the cliche way, I promise).  I just really like all the cute, sweet things you can make for this holiday, and, I like doing something for my child and making it a special day for him.  Valentine's Day also lends itself to two of my most favorite things: sugar cookies and garlands! (What's better, exactly?) My post is late, which is a sign of what all is going on in our household of late.  We are moving to a bigger house (yahoooo!) and our current house is in a tailspin of being packed, cleaned out, and prepared.  All that to say, there are great Valentine garland tutorials online for the crocheted garland pictured below. One is here and one is here, and both are super easy to learn and follow! 

These Valentine suckers are really super cute in person. I was impressed.  Got the idea here (and also in this month's Family Fun Magazine). I made 6 and only had two successes, but, I was tired and I don't ever work with candy. Now that I've tried some and know how the candy behaves, I'll be better equipped next year. It's hard to try new things when you are tired, as I'm sure you know!
 

Cute Cakes

There are so many cakes books out there these days, and I love them all. But it is only a small percentage of cakes inside that I feel like I can make without tripling the size of my kitchen or adding a commercial oven. I was super excited when I found this book: Birthday cakes for kids by Annie Rigg at my library. The cakes inside are wonderfully adorable and would be a hit at any party . . . but they also won't give the baker a nervous breakdown. Many of them offer simpler lines and shapes that you can do easily with a pan or two and some basic cutting and stacking. A few of them are more advanced, particularly on icing/piping skills. There's a particularly cute "fluffly sheep" that's covered in marshmallows. Some of the simpler designs include train cars, a tractor, a firetruck, a hot air balloon, and a sweet & chocolatly bear face. My favorite? The marmalade cat. How cute is this little kitty? Happy baking!

Amish Dinner Rolls

These are some good rolls, let me tell ya. First, they're easy. Second, they're homemade! I always feel like we are going to have a special dinner when I make these. And if you make them for company, they'll be so impressed and delighted! I got these from an Amish cookbook from the library.

2 packages dry yeast

3/4 cup warm water

1/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup butter, melted

3-3.5 cups flour, divided



Preheat oven to 375. Dissolve yeast in warm water. Add sugar, salt, egg, butter and 1 cup flour; mix well. Stir in enough four to make a soft dough; mix well. Shape dough into ball. Grease dough, turning to grease all sides. Return to bowl. Cover; let rise until doubled. (This first part takes about 70 minutes, if you want to prepare in advance.)



Punch down and shape into balls; let rise for 30 min. or longer. Bake for 8-12 minutes. Yields about 12 rolls. (Since I put mine in a round pan and have them touch each other, I bake for 20-25 minutes.)