TWD-Sugar Topped Molasses Cookies

This afternoon was so rough, that I don't even have the energy to bake. (I know!!!) Usually I find it very zen, very relaxing, but today it just seemed like too much work. Luckily for me, I baked my TWD - Sugar Topped Molasses Cookies a couple of weeks ago and already put the pics on the computer so I can post this and still keep up with my commitment to bake along with my favorite baking book.

Why was this afternoon so rough? I am not really sure. First of all, my Little Ladybug has a cold and is teething, so her already Drama Queen personality is exaggerated by her discomfort (poor baby). B (as my sister would say) - they were both really hungry from being too excited to eat lunch due to having friends over. Lastly, neither one slept this afternoon (never a good thing). So, LL was on a major crying jag from about 4:30 on and her siren like cry makes blood boil. Z Man and I were actually doing a pretty job keeping it together until he dropped his bag of marbles from his Quadrilla set and that was it! I actually managed to remain calm despite dozens of marbles scattering across my tile floor and just whisked LL upstairs for bath and bed (yes, it was 5:30 but I had tried everything else) with an admonishment to Z Man to "not do anything else until you find all of the marbles (aka baby chokers)" on the floor.

Went upstairs, had a nice bathtime, book and cuddle and put LL in her crib and descended the stairs thinking that I would see Z Man (self proclaimed "bad finder") playing and not looking for his marbles. Instead I detected the unmistakeable odor of, well, poop. Asking about this, Z said, "I pooped on the floor". When I asked him where it was, he said, "{Phoebe the dog} ate it." Ugh!!!!!!!!! I didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but I felt awful knowing that I had told him not to do "anything" and he took it literally. Also, I was so worried about the dog getting sick! At this point, I too lost my marbles! But, I managed to remain somewhat calm (maybe it is the yoga I have been doing?) and get him clean and into bed. He hasn't had an accident in months and this was his second one today! He peed on himself at the gym after downing an entire water bottle.

Anyways, thank goodness I had made those cookies a few weeks ago. I wish I had them now to eat, but they are long gone and that is very sad. They would be a perfect holiday cookie, a perfect after school snack, a perfect after dinner snack. They are pretty much a perfect cookie! And, this is coming from a pretty die hard chocolate lover, but these were that good. Crunchy on the outside, chewy in the middle with a great slightly spicy but very sweet flavor. I really could go for one now. However, I will not be baking tonight. Alas, am already on my second glass of Rjoja.

Here is the recipe for the Sugar Topped Molasses Cookies.

I have never baked with molasses before, but I really liked the depth of flavor of it. I have also never put pepper in my cookies, and I was skimpy on it but will actually add more the next time.

The batter was very sticky and thick and was perhaps the first cookie dough I have had "raw" that I didn't think might be better right out of the bowl rather than baked.

It was a really sticky situation to roll them into balls, roll them in the sugar and squash them. The dough was really stuck to my hands and was quite a mess. I also had a hard time getting them to the right shape. I have subsequently learned a trick for the squashing part that I will employ next time: cut a square of parchment to place over the ball of dough and then use a measuring cup to make them round and even.

They didn't look done when they came out, but they cooled to a perfect consistency and tasted even better the next day. I really recommend trying these. Next time I am going to use 1/2 white whole wheat flour and a bit more pepper, but I will definitely be making them again.

Oh, and just to remind myself why days like these are worth it:

Happy Birthday, Little Ladybug

My blue eyed little girl turned one year old last week and we were determined to celebrate this milestone in style! Though she is utterly adorable, charming, funny, delightful, adventurous, bright and sweet, she was not, and still is not, always this way. Unlike my placid, easily pacified little boy, LL knows what she wants and will scream until she gets it. It took us a few colicky months to really get in sync with her and to this day, if we are not on her wavelength, she lets us know, loudly. I love her with a consuming passion, but getting through this first year with her, on top of parenting a toddler, has been the biggest challenge of my life thus far. So, we wanted to throw a party to celebrate her first birthday, but really, we wanted a party because we haven't thrown her or ourselves out of the window this year! We wanted everyone to see our little birthday girl and then send her off to dreamland while the grown ups could get down to the celebration. No kids were invited and even Z-Man was sent down the street for the night to play with neighbors.

The theme was "Cocktails and Cupcakes" because those are two of the most festive things I could think of. We decided to have the party catered because we didn't want to spend the few days before, the first few days in a row that DrRuckus had off at home all summer, in constant party preparation. Also, since this was to be a grown up party, we wanted to be able to relax and imbibe rather than fuss with entertaining. Because I love them, I decided to have Hubbell and Hudson do the catering. Their catering manager was delightful to work with and put together a fun menu of tasty nibbles and platters to please everyone. However, I could not entrust the cupcake aspect of the party to anyone but myself. I love baking too much, and really think that my cakes and cupcakes are way better than any you could buy anywhere else. Besides, it was way too much fun to plan which cupcakes I was going to make.

I have never been a fan of Martha Stewart, but I saw her cupcake book at Williams Sonoma a few weeks back and it really caught my eye because I opened it to the page on Ladybug cupcakes! Of course, I ordered it right up from Amazon and had it two days later. I got that book and poured over it like it was my Organic Chemistry textbook back in college. It was post-ited, highlighted, annotated and broken in within two days. I wanted to make everything in there, but finally narrowed it down to four cupcakes.

I also learned something very important: Martha Stewart is a huge pain in the rear! Her recipes are way more complicated and require way more steps than I am used to, and I bake a lot! Secondly, her recipes make really odd numbers of cupcakes. Not 24 regular size ones, but 32. Not 48 minis, but 56. Why? She obviously has a huge staff, so why can't they tweak the recipes so that the whole batter can fill regular muffin tins without having to start but not fill a third tin. Why?

Usually, I am a last minute lady, but I wanted to be relaxed for the party, and I was damn excited about my cupcakes, so I started baking early in the week and got some cakes in the freezer so that I could do a bit every night instead of being crazed the day before. My mom was there for most of the week and we had fun each night perfecting the "cuppersons". This method worked well for me, and I will have to remember in the future that, with a little planning, things are much more fun and less stressful!

1. Ladybug Cupcakes


I used Martha's recipe for chocolate chip cupcakes and wanted to make a caramel buttercream because I was still dreaming of the best cake I ever had, the Z-Man's third birthday cake which was made by a baker who has subsequently moved to Singapore. First, I tried to use the recipe for Magnolia Bakery's chocolate frosting, substituting caramel for chocolate, but this came out sickeningly sweet. I could not eat it and had to dump the whole thing (much to the chagrin of my sweet toothed sweetie). Then, I decided to try Martha's caramel swiss meringue buttercream. Boy, this one was a pain! Making a fresh batch of caramel, cooking, whipping and cooling egg whites, beating with two different mixers. But, it would have been all good if it was delicious. However, it was not to my liking at all. Where my improvised caramel icing was sickeningly sweet, this one was not sweet enough and just tasted like sweet butter. I still have it in the fridge, but I couldn't use it. I wanted to make the most delicious buttercream. So, I went to Old Faithful, the Magnolia Bakery buttercream, though I always triple the vanilla:

Magnolia Bakery Vanilla Buttercream Recipe

(Makes enough for a 2-layer 9-inch cake or 2 dozen cupcakes)

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
6-8 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

15 minutes 15 mins prep

Place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Add in 4 cups sugar, then the milk and vanilla. On
medium speed of an electric mixer, beat about 3-5 minutes or until smooth and creamy.
Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well (about 2 minutes) after each
addition, until the icing is thick enough for good spreading consistency (you may not need all
of the sugar).
If desired, add a few drops of food coloring and mix thoroughly. Use and store the icing at
room temperature because icing will set if chilled. The icing can be stored in an airtight con-
tainer for up to 3 days.
**If making a 3-layer cake, use the following proportions: 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, 8-10
cups confectioner's sugar, 3/4 cup milk, and 1 tablespoon vanilla extract.

I then added some green gel paste and placed two marzipan ladybugs. My good friend, L, stayed until the wee hours of the morning making these, dying our hands black and red and cursing Martha the whole time. They came out so adorable and the completed cupcakes looked fantastic on a cupcake stand, but, even better, I thought that they were the most delicious of all that I had made.


2. Sel Your Soul cupcakes - These were directly from the Miss Martha's book. They were mini rich chocolate cupcakes, from which my mom cut a tiny cone out of the top of each, into which I poured Fleur de Sel Caramel. Then, they were topped with the richest, creamiest, most chocolatey frosting I have ever had. Martha, you more than made up for that yucky Swiss Meringue crap! BTW, I am a great baker, but not a very good decorator, and piping this slick, rich icing was quite the challenge for me, but I sprinkled each of these puppies with a little fleur de sel and they were out of this world. The definition of "To Die For".



3. Pucker Up Cupcakes - These were also from Miss Martha, though I made a combination of regular and mini sized ones. The cakes were delicious, lemony and crumbly. However, her curd did not set up right. I used her recipe exactly (8 egg yolks and 2 whole eggs, yikes!) but it did not set up. This kept me up at night and so I did some searching around and saw that there was not even close to enough butter in that recipe for it to work. I ended up adding another stick and a half of butter to Martha's recipe before my curd set up, but when it did . . . heaven! Who knew that lemon curd is one of the worst for you foods that there is? But, yum!


4. Raspberry Dream cupcakes - For my last and final cupcake, I wanted to do something in a cupcake paper that was not exactly a cupcake, so I made Martha's raspberry swirl cheesecake cupcakes. However, I had a clever twist. Later in the book, there are Oreo cheesecake cupcakes, and I used the crust from these: one whole Oreo in the bottom of the cupcake paper. Brilliant! I also substituted marscapone for half of the cream cheese. These ended up being the easiest of all, and were truly delicious.


I ended up with hundreds of cupcakes, so from Amazon (of course) I ordered a bunch of cupcake boxes so that people could bring cupcakes home to share with their kids. This was a stroke of genius on my part, as the kids got a little goody and all of the beautiful and delicious cupcakes went to good homes. In fact, we only ended up with a few the next day, definitely a very good thing after much indulgence!

And the party! Simply marvelous, darling! LL looked adorable in her French frock and managed to stay awake until about half of the guests arrived. We had friends from all different aspects of our life and it was wonderful to have them all here, mixing, at our house. We love our friends and don't get to socialize with them all that often, so it was great fun for us to have them together, meeting one another and enjoying a fun night out. Our neighbors even got a little nutty and played quarters in the entry way, always a sign of a good party.

The food was delicious, and having servers there made it so much easier for us and for all of the guests. All of the little "hors" from the coconut shrimp to the little prosciutto poblano cupcakes with goat cheese "frosting" were delicious, though I was partial to the tiny martini glasses filled with the vanilla corn chowder and a crab meat "surprise". However, my only regret was setting the bar and bartender up in the kitchen. I know that at parties people always end up in the kitchen, but I invited this to happen by having the bar here. I had set up beautiful cocktail tables with turquoise linens tied with silver sashes that set off my chocolate brown living room walls, and no one ventured into that room. Next time, I will put the bar where I want the people to be.

All in all, it was an awesome party. Happy Birthday, Little Ladybug. Daddy and I love you so much.

More Ladybug Feeding

I love the baby aisle at the grocery store. Whenever I am there I find something to buy. A new sippy cup, some type of lavender lotion, travel containers, and, of course, food! A few months ago, when the Ladybug first started on solids, I discovered Sprout baby food at HEB. This might have been one of my best finds ever. We bought some and were hooked immediately. Amazon doesn't sell them. You have to go to HEB, but if you want to buy them in bulk, like we do, you have to go to the source. (And use the coupon code JS15 for 15% off your order!)

I know a lot of people who make their own baby food. Good for you! I just can't be bothered on a regular basis. Sure, I smash up avocados, sweet potatoes and bananas. I might grind up the occasional meal if the mood strikes me. But, I believe in making my life as easy as possible. Sprout does that. And, not only do they have amazing baby food, but they have all sorts of great green baby products and are adding more every week.

Sprout was started by Tyler Florence, the cute, personable Food Network Chef. They are 100% organic, which makes me feel good about giving them to LL. But, unlike Earth's Best and some of the others, they are really fresh. The foods are packaged in small, CD size vacuum pouches. They are really easy to throw in a diaper bag, in a purse, in your pool bag, etc. And, they are re-sealable. But, that is not the best part. The best part is that that they taste really good! I have tasted them. I would eat them. Hell, I have eaten some of them. (Peach Rice Pudding is my favorite - peaches, brown rice, cardamon, cinnamon, nutmeg are the only ingredients.)

Though I can get them at HEB, as I have said before, I prefer the convenience of delivery. Especially if I can save money. So, with Sprout I joined their club and received a regular shipment. The company has been so friendly and accommodating. They will customize my order for me with the quantities that I want and makes sure that I get them quickly. We travel frequently, and they have sent me packages of food overnight to where ever I am because I have forgotten to bring. When I asked for a coupon code for my blog readers and my facebook friends, they gave me one. I can't say enough about the customer service.

Unfortunately, Sprout only makes mashed baby food right now. Now the Ladybug is eating more table food and I am not spoon feeding her very much. I am proud of LL for growing up and being more independent. However, it is sort of a bummer. First, because she is going to be one in a month and I am NOT having any more babies, and she won't be one soon. But, the bigger bummer is because spoon feeding is so much easier! It is neater, cleaner, and quicker to feed her. Now, with her bite size pieces of everything, she takes forever, makes a mess and makes the dog sick with all of the table scraps.

I will miss Sprout's food, but I hope that some of you will love it as much as we have!

Going Elegant

Even here in Texas, we get home delivery of the New York Times every day. Of course the Times has a great website, I use the NYT app on my iPhone all the time, and it is not green at all to get the paper. But, I treasure my ritual of a latte made on my Nespresso D150 and a few minutes with my real paper, black newspaper elbows and all. I tend to block everything else out for a little while, including screaming children. Though I read the front page and skim the first section every day, there are some weekly sections to which I truly look forward. These include Wednesday's Dining Section, Sunday's Travel Section, and Thursday and Sunday's Style sections. I have found so many of my favorite things on these pages. A few weeks ago, I read this article and filed it away.



I love invitations, but I am not a saver and do tend to take people's invitations, send in the reply cards, put the date in iCal and then recycle the beautiful, carefully chosen and pricey invite. I have used Evite many, many times and it is convenient, but I have always found it a little bit disconcerting to send an invitation that has ads attached to it. Also, they are cute, but so informal. So, in planning for Little Ladybug's very "grown up" first birthday party, I knew I would have to check out Paperless Post. It was so much fun to design my own beautiful invitation. They remind me of the modern, elegant engraved invites that our parents spent way too much money on for our wedding. You do have to pay for stamps, but they run about 5 cents each. A bargain for something so gorgeous, elegant, fun and easy.

Speaking of Ladybug's party, we have decided on a theme of Cocktails and Cupcakes and are making it a grown up party to celebrate our little girl growing up. We thought that a house full of kids would overwhelm the birthday girl and that she should really be a star at her party. Plus, she can be there at the beginning, charm everyone with her toothy grin, look adorable in the dress I will find for her, make everyone smile when she makes a mess with her cake, and then go off to pleasant dreams while the grown ups can continue to enjoy grown up treats. We will have wines and drinks, charcuterie and cheese platters, hors d'oeuvres and cupcakes! Plus, I get to wear my new Elizabeth and James cocktail dress and my Louboutins. Fun!

Feeding the Ladybug

My Little Ladybug is almost ten months old and I can't believe how big she is getting. In the beginning, I couldn't imagine getting to this point because she was such a difficult newborn. My little hurricane baby was born three days before Hurricane Ike blew through our part of Texas. Though it could have been so much worse (and was for countless others), it was challenging to have a brand new baby during the storm and in the days after when we had no power. Nursing and changing a newborn by flashlight was quite nerve-wracking. At least we were only without power for three and a half days. Plenty of people had no power for three and a half weeks!

Then, a few days later, I was told that my Little Ladybug was not gaining weight properly due to weak sucking and the lactation consultant suggested that I might want to try a speech pathologist in order to help her get stronger. So, of course, I went that very day and started a regimen of exercises intended to help her eat better. I also was pumping every time I nursed her to keep my supply high and giving her syringes of breast milk in order to give her a burst of energy to use to suck hard. I was obsessed with feeding her and how much weight she was gaining and it was pretty stressful. But, I stuck with it and in a couple of weeks she was eating like a champ and nursing started to get easier.

And then the colic hit! Nursing was the only way to keep my Little Ladybug calm and quiet and I was doing it all the time and starting to resent the fact that I was the only one who could keep her calm. So, MrRuckus made it his mission to be able to give her a bottle of pumped milk a few times a week and this made a huge difference. We both firmly believe that it is important for him to be able to feed and calm the baby and made sure he was able to do this. In fact, when she got an ear infection at 3.5 months and would not take a bottle, we were all distraught at the idea that she would never take a bottle again and made sure we stuck with it.

Then, all of a sudden, at about 5 months, she got easy. She started sleeping through the night and being quite placid most of the time. Now she is a doll, smiling, laughing, crawling around after her brother, pulling up on everything and just being a total sweetheart, my princess baby. And, all this time, I have stuck with nursing. For the Ladybug and me, it is our time to just be quiet and relaxed and we both enjoy it. At first, I had no expectations of how long I would stick with it, but here we are at 10 months and still it works so well for us. I was even able to go away from her for multiple days twice in the past few months, having MrRuckus or her grandparents give her bottles and spoon feeding while I brought my pump with me.

After 10 months of nursing, many months of losing weight and exercising, my nursing bras were just not working for me any longer. The ones I had just did not fit and did not give me the shape I was looking for. So, the other day I decided to take myself bra shopping. I went to Dolce Bella Lingerie at Market Street. They do a great job measuring and suggesting bras and found a number to meet all of my needs. I decided that I was tired of wearing nursing bras but wanted something that allowed me to nurse but also have nice shape and support. So, they suggested the Spanx Bra-llelujah underwire front closure bra. Now, I already knew that Spanx produced magical products like the thigh and butt slimming shorts, but this thing is a revelation! It is so comfortable, so light, seamless, and allows easy access for nursing either by folding away the flexible cups or opening it up in the front. I got it in two colors and will be buying more in the future. (I got a few other useful bras, but this one is tops!)