Sugar Swings! Serve Some: December 2012

Saturday, December 29, 2012

new years eve cereal treats....!



...so is it really almost 2013?? it kinda seems impossible that another year has flown by, but every year i seem to say that so guess it's just what happens as time passes faster and faster each year....

but seriously, these cereal treats can be made in no time at all for a last minute desserty-sert for a new year's eve party...and they are just too fun!


i spotted these at my local tar-jay while doing some after christmas sale shopping....fruity pebbles cereal in "rockin' extreme colors"!


....look how bright and neon these are! (ok i agree, not natural at all, but it's new years eve and a little neon coloring in your digestive tract once a year can't hurt too much, right???)


these are made like any rice krispie treat recipe, using 6 cups of cereal, 4 cups of mini marshmallows, and 3 tablespoons of butter...heat, mix, set, then cut....


and add the new year with some melted vanilla candy melt (or you can use melted white chocolate too or royal icing, whatever you have around)


cut into any sizes or shapes you like...to make this simple i just did squares and rectangles...


...and you get some really easy, festive, and fun cereal treats to ring in the new year!

Thanks as always for stopping by--sharing all my sweets with you this year has really made my 2012 so enjoyable and i can't wait to see what 2013 brings....! Have an AWESOME time this new years eve whether it's at a gigantic party or just very low key and spending it with those special to you....enjoy every moment left in 2012 and wishing you all the best for an amazeballs 2013...!

Monday, December 24, 2012

Merry Christmas!! some candy snowmen for you...!


just a quick merry christmas to all, and thought you'd like to see my snowman army for the holiday!


made from christmas malt balls and gum drops, orange sprinkle for carrot nose, chocolate arms, and held together with candy melt....they kinda remind me of calvin and hobbe's snowmen....


and they go nicely in the treat box for christmas this year!


have a great christmas for all who celebrate--enjoy your time with family and friends, and some much needed down time!


Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Reindeer Cookies....!


...so i know the christmas holiday is right around the corner so wanted to share another super easy one with you, and i'm all about re-using any baking pans that i get, especially ones that are pretty specific like my madeleine pan (i know all of you are probably sick of madeleine posts, but here's the most recent in case you'd like to see a bunch of rainbows!)

and i got a mini gingerbread one recently too, so of course needed to make some mini superhero gingerbread men!

....but after seeing this post on martha stewart (among others!), i knew i could re-use the gingerbread men form to make some little reindeer!


and really super simple, i used a pre-made sugar and gingerbread cookie mix to speed the process up, but you could definitely use your own favorite cookie recipe...

turn the gingerbread man upside down and add the reindeer design....the detail is done with melted milk chocolate (or you can use candy wafers/melts), add 2 white flat sprinkles for eyes and one red one for rudolph's nose, then add black part of eye with an edible marker...


i like giving them googly eyes so they are looking all around!...and it really took no time to put together


and just a quick thank you to everyone who has stopped by the blog (either once in awhile, just finding me during a search or those who regularly read and encourage me with comments)....i truly appreciate all of you and what started off as a fluke, this blog and the energy that goes into it and the posts are really therapeutic for me....so again THANK YOU!

...hope you all have a great week and happy one week before christmas!

***this post is dedicated to the beautiful lives lost on Friday at Sandy Hook Elementary***

Tidy Mom's I'm Loving It

Monday, December 17, 2012

Day of Remembrance


...i'm still trying to process the terrible events in Newtown last friday as i'm sure many are--as a mom of twins in kindergarten and a second grader, this is just too much and my heart is broken for everyone and my head hurts from lack of understanding on how such a terrible act could ever happen- as i put my kids on the bus this morning, i find myself both sad and mad that i feel so anxious about what should be a normal routine but i know those families directly affected are dealing with so much more today....i am so sorry our world has been changed forever.

Thursday, December 13, 2012

rainbow madeleines for a virtual baby shower...!


....so i'm so excited about this post, one because it's rainbow and madeleines combined (2 of my favs!), but more importantly this is part of a fun virtual baby shower for Meaghan from The Decorated Cookie!!!...by this time she probably has her brand new baby girl in her arms and is enjoying that magical newborn time again!....and in addition to her awesomely awesome blog where she shares her own yummy creations (like the infamous melting snowman cookies that she invented and is now uber famous) she also is an editor over at Edible Crafts - where she shares all the cool fun foods and sweets that all of you come up with on a daily basis...

so a bunch of us decided on a "rainbow" themed shower, well because meaghan and her daughter love rainbows (they did this cool rainbow birthday party)...and well, who doesn't like rainbows, they just make you smile, right??!


...my sister got me a madeleine pan a couple years ago and ever since i've had this weird obession with making them over and over again like here for 4th of july, here for valentines day, here for last holiday season, and here for halloween...for these rainbow madeleines i used the same madeleine recipe i have for all of them because its super simple, but added 1 teaspoon of lemon extract as well...

then divided batter into 5 zip lock bags and add the colors you want your rainbow to be, mix each well until the color is all through....


snip one end of the zip lock bag (a small snip) and pipe lines of color - horizontal or vertical, whatever you prefer!


you can even do some solid colors if you don't want to go to the trouble of piping rainbows...


and you get some really fun rainbow madeleines to celebrate a brand new baby as well as a great person and friend!


Super Congrats MEAGHAN!!!!! i am so very excited for you and hope you and baby Violet are doing great! 


All of these other creative bloggers are also participating in the rainbow shower too!

Please take a look at all of the fun stuff they have come up with to celebrate this special occasion! Thank you ladies, it's been a blast!!!! THANK YOU Kathia for putting together this sweet collage!

1.  Vanilla Bean BakerBaby's First Christmas
2.  Not Your Momma's Cookie - Rainbow Swaddled Baby Cookies
3.  Crazy for CrustRainbow Peanut Butter Cookie Cups
4.  Dollhouse Bake Shoppe - Rainbow Sprinkle Sugar Cookies
5.  Creative FoodRainbow Pancakes
6.  Hoosier HomemadeRainbow Jar Cupcakes
7.  Kitchen Fun with My 3 Sons - Rainbow Smores Pops
8.  Pink Little CakeBaby at the End of the Rainbow Cake
9.  Love From the OvenRainbow Cake Pop Cupcakes
10. Munchkin MunchiesRainbow Balloon Cookies
11. The Baked EquationRainbow Baby Shower Cookies
12. SweetologyMarshmallow Baby Pops
13. Sugar SwingsRainbow Madeleines
14. Pint Sized BakerRainbow Meringue Tarts
15. Bird on a Cake - Rainbow Petal Cake
16. Haniela'sRainbow Centerpiece
17. Miss Candiquik - Marshmallow Baby Bottles


Monday, December 10, 2012

Santa Cupcakes plus a bonus Santa Zombie.....!



...so i know you are thinking "again with the little people cupcake toppers"? i know i know, sorry! but i can't seem to stop myself, but i have a feeling i'm about out of ideas...but how about some mini santas....?

mini saint nick is made the same way as the gnomes--the body/head is a hershey's chocolate bell (which you should be able to find these days), the hat is a candy coated bugle, and the rest of the detail is candy melt, an edible food writer, and a black sprinkle for the belt....


also added some hershey kiss christmas trees (use either 2 or 3 hershey kisses--cut off the very tip of the kisses not on top) then use candy melt or white chocolate to stick them together...add a star sprinkle on the top....(i saw these trees made from kisses and peanut butter cups which are so very cute, but my kids have peanut butter allergies so figured why not use all hershey's kisses for this)


....thee little guys were added to some red velvet cupcakes for a party.....made from scratch from this mocha muffin recipe over at the food librarian....(i added some food gel to get the red color, but essentially used the same recipe and now they are "red velvet"!)

and although they are muffins, they are now cupcakes since i added some cream cheese buttercream on top (oh what is cream cheese buttercream? thanks for asking! it's my go to buttercream recipe--but i had 1/2 can of duncan hines cream cheese frosting leftover from another goodie, so in an attempt to not waste, i added that to the homemade buttercream....and i have to say, very tasty! i really don't like store bought icing anymore, so adding a little to the homemade was actually very nice and not too cream cheesy...and the whole shebang made for a quite tasty cupcake :)


AND...of course just to show you, my little guys don't always come out perfect--this guy was not loving the dunk in candy melt (too blobby)....and as i was about to call one of the kids over to see if they wanted to eat him, i kinda thought "eat him"....yeah actually he could be a great little zombie....and what's better than a santa zombie???!

...i'm sure there's a tv show or movie in here somewhere....santa brings presents and also looks for something for himself---like BRAINS!....but only the kids who have been naughty.....right right? are you with me...?!!


ok, maybe not, we don't want to give little kids nightmares about santa (like that creepy elf on a shelf---i know there are lots of fun things he's doing at night, but really if i was a little kid i'd be like "mom, can we throw him away, he's giving me the heebie jeebies!")


...anyhoo at least he is a cute santa zombie, no??? and i can't promise i'm totally done with making these little guys, but there will be a break (for now!)...thanks for stopping by, and have an awesome week!

Also entering these santa cupcakes in the Creative Holiday Recipe Contest being hosted by Confessions of a Cookbook Queen and Cookies and Cups! (wish me luck!) 

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

mini superhero gingerbread men.....!


 ...so i know, i know i've done superhero themed stuff a bunch of times already, and last year did these superhero gingerbread men and women....


....and although i really enjoyed doing them, they did take some time to do....so i thought i'd share this simple version and they are mini! win-win right??



...i got a mini gingerbread man silicone pan for my birthday last month (thanks Sus and Ebb!)....and then just used a boxed gingerbread cookie mix....and baked them up in the pan!


just be sure to bake long enough so the cookies are firm enough to pop out of the mold (had a couple of gingerbread men with some issues, but no worries they didn't go to waste!) or you could also freeze them for a bit before popping them out....aren't they cute even un-decorated??


then just pipe on some simple superhero logos with candy melts/wafers (you could use royal icing too, but i always have different colored candy melt around so this is much faster for me).....and in case you can't guess, from left to right from the top:

x-men, green lantern, batman, wonder woman, fantastic four, superman, iron man, captain america, the flash, spiderman, and the punisher


...and really these probably took less than an hour or so once baked (which took hardly no time because i used a boxed cookie mix)....this year i'm all about taking some short cuts to make my life easier (but still fun!)


...have a happy happy holiday season!!!....i'm so enjoying all the fun christmas and holiday goodies being shared out there....you people are so dang creative! thanks as always for stopping by!