I love spending my time in the kitchen, but during the holiday season I have a million things to do, so anyway I could take a short-cut I do. The other day I needed a festive cake for a party I was attending. I didn’t have time to bake a cake, so I bought a plain white cake from the super market, and thought I would just decorate it myself to give it that special touch I was looking for. While I was there, I found some super cute little candy flowers, green candy balls, meringues, and (more…)

Everything seems to be wrapped up in a bow at this time of year, from presents to cookies to hair clips. A bow insinuates a gift of some sort, even if it is worn on a person’s head, in this case mine. (more…)

Festive pancakes made with cake mix. Does that sound like your craving? Are you dreaming of pancakes that taste like cake? I know I always want this taste combo because I have the biggest sweet tooth in the world and why wouldn’t I  make this happen? Here are my festive pancakes made with cake mix for you this Christmas. You’re welcome. Bye. (more…)

I don’t know about you, but when I think of the holidays, I think of a tribe of people coming to my house and eating all that is in sight. Yes, I have a big family and we like to eat, especially when we are celebrating.

Recently I traveled to Bentonville, Arkansas as part of the Walmart Moms program  that I am proudly a part of. At a certain point in the trip we had a holiday dinner, where everything from appetizers, main course, sides and desserts were served. It definitely got me thinking what I wanted to do for the holidays. For me, Thanksgiving through New Years Day is all one big time to be with the people you love most, and pour over food. I appreciate that Walmart displayed different ways to keep the holiday season festive, and I’m sure I will be exploring more of that in the food department as we get closer to Christmas, but the one thing I craved to see was donuts, and it was missing. Considering that donuts are basically the new cupcake… as far as trends go. I thought wouldn’t it be divine to walk into a house during this holiday season and see a pile of donuts waiting for you to bite into one? I’m testing this theory starting now, I stockpiled my supplies from Walmart and baked my first batch of donuts yesterday. I figured I might as well go with the season, so I made glazed pumpkin donuts. Baked not fried….. but just as delicious. The baking adds to a certain cake-like texture with a nice moistness that helps keep the donuts irresistible for a few days…. if they last that long.

Ingredients for glazed pumpkin donuts:

• 3 – eggs
• 1/2 -cup vegetable oil
• 15 – onces pumpkin puree (1 1/2 cups)
• 1 1/2 – cups sugar
• 2 – teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 1 – teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 – teaspoons baking powder
• 2 – cups flour
• For the glaze: 1 1/2 – cups powdered sugar
• 4 – tablespoons milk
• 2 – teaspoons vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Spray a donut pan with a non-stick baking spray. Set to the side.
3. In a mixer add eggs, vegetable oil, pumpkin puree, sugar, pumpkin pie spice, salt, and baking powder. Mix to combine.
4. Add in the flour and mix to combine.
5. Fill the donut pans 3/4 full.
6. With the back of a spoon smooth out the top.
7. Bake for 20 minutes.
8. Allow to cool in pan in 5 minutes before removing them.
9. Allow to cool until warm on a cooling rack. In the meantime make more. 
10. Make the glaze: Whisk the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla together. Then dip each donut into the glaze. 
11. Place on cooling rack for 30 minutes, then dip donut into glaze for a second time, place back on cooling rack at least an hour for glaze to set.
12. Enjoy!

It’s time for me to get in touch with my southern roots. I spent some time in Nashville, Tennessee recently and everywhere I went out to eat…. I was served a basket of freshly baked biscuits. I nearly died from happiness, they reminded me of the lovely rosemary buttermilk biscuits my southern Great Grandmother Presley used to make me when I was a little girl. I always remember her with her Fiskar gardening shears out in her backyard cutting fresh rosemary from her herb garden, that would eventually end up in our supper. It was those days that I look back on so fondly and wish I talk to her and ask who she learned to make biscuits from? Or why she choose to plant rosemary, since it’s so hard to cut? Who introduced her to Fiskar for the first time? Since I no longer have the luxury of talking to her, the next best thing I can do, is make a version of her biscuits. I am no longer going to let anything keep me from my baked biscuits, and luckily I have a rosemary bush growing in my backyard, just like Great Grandma Presley. Like her, I cut my rosemary with Fiskar’s Gardener: Platinum Series™ Smooth-action Pruner and am following in her footsteps in the kitchen too.

Since I had all these questions about the lovely gardening shears my grandmother treasured, I decided to do a little research…. this is what I found out:

• Fiskars turned 365 years old on October 31st 2014 and was founded in 1649 in Fiskars, Finland. Fiskars was founded in the Fiskars Village in Finland, which still exists today!
• Nearly 100 artists and designers currently live in the Fiskars Village. The creation of Orange Handled-Scissors was purely by chance.
• To use up extra plastic in the molding machine, left over from our orange juicer production, Fiskars created the first Orange Handled-Scissors. The color orange won out by two votes.
• Ideal for cutting stems and light branches.
• Self-lubricating, maintenance-free bearing drive.
• Fully hardened, precision-ground steel blade stays sharp, even through heavy use.
• Steel construction provides excellent durability.
• Softgrip® touchpoints enhance comfort and control.
• Easy-open lock protects the blade during transport and storage.
• Bypass blade style.
• Maximum cutting capacity: 5/8″ dia.
• Lifetime warranty

Ingredients for rosemary buttermilk biscuits:

• 2 – cups bread flour
• 2 – teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 – tablespoon sugar
• 1 – teaspoon coarse sea salt
• 1 – teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 – cup butter (cold- cut into tablespoons)
• 1 – tablespoon rosemary (coarsely chopped)
• 3/4 – cup buttermilk plus 2 tablespoons for brushing the tops

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Line a cookie sheet with a non-stick baking mat or parchment paper. Set to the side.
3. In a large bowl sift flour, baking powder, sugar, sea salt, and baking soda together. Set to the side.
4. In a food processor, transfer 1 3/4 cups of dry ingredients and butter. Pulse together until crumbly. 
5. Mix rosemary into remaining dry ingredients, then add in the crumbly buttery mixture from the food processor. Mix well.
6. Make a well in the center of the mixture, and slowly pour the buttermilk into the center. 
7. Mix with a wooden spoon until the mixture comes together.
8. Pour the biscuit mixture on a lightly floured surface, and knead with floured hands until the dough comes together.
9. Pat the dough down as much as possible with your bare hands, then using a 3 inch circle cookie cutter, cut out as many circles as you can. 
10. Place biscuits on the baking sheet and gently brush each top with buttermilk.
11. Bake for 15 minutes.
12. Serve with butter and jam.

Buy a pair of amazing Fiskar gardening pruners…. by clicking here! Then make your own biscuits!

Talk about an ENERGY boost… I was in Nashville, Tennessee last week  to cover the Pillsbury Bake-Off. Lots of people assumed I was competing for the grand prize of One Million dollars, let me clarify right off the top I was not there baking, nor did I submit a recipe, I was there to cover the event for Que Rica Vida (General Mills- Latin division). I had always heard about the bake-off and have even caught a glimpse of it on T.V. , but to actually be there and feel the energy of the room and the tension of the competitive bakers was a completely different experience then I had imagined.

A lot of contestants have been submitting recipes for years and were there for the first time, and others are professional contest recipe applicants. This is a serious business for some especially when there is a million dollars at stake. It was interesting to watch and even more enticing to sample some of the finalist recipes. At the end of the four hour bake-off a panel of judges chose 4 finalist who are all vying for the grand prize. The announcement will be made on ABC’s The Chew Dec. 3rd. Do you want to help pick a winner? Vote here!

I left the bake-off so inspired by what I saw… it made me think what would I make with Pillsbury if I was in the competition. I would definitely enter under the breakfast category with these apple raisin cinnamon knots topped with a Eagle brand sweetened condensed milk glaze.

Ingredients for apple raisin cinnamon knots topped with Eagle brand sweetened condensed milk glaze:

• 1 – tablespoon butter
• 1 – piloncillo cone
• 3 – small green apples (peeled, cored, and chopped into small chunks)
• 1/2 – teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 – ounces raisins
• 1/2 – cup chopped pecans
• 2 – 12.4 ounces of Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls
• 4 – tablespoons Eagle brand sweetened condensed milk

Directions:

1. In a small sauce pan over a medium flame add in butter and allow to melt.
2. Once melted add in piloncillo. Let piloncillo dissolve, then add in apples and stir to coat all the apples in the sugar syrup.
3. Sprinkle with cinnamon, and continue cooking for 10 minutes.
4. Add in raisins and mix them into the apples. Cook for an additional 5 minutes allowing the raisins to plump up.
5. Remove from flame and mix in the pecans. Set to the side.
6. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
7. Line a cookie sheet with a baking mat or wax paper and set to the side.
8. Open Pillsburry cinnamon rolls and remove icing. Separate each cinnamon roll.
9. Working with one at a time, get a cinnamon roll and flatten it out into a flat circle with either your hands or a rolling pin.
10. Fill the center of the dough with 1 teaspoon of the apple raisin filling, then gather all edges of the dough to the top and pinch them together and twist. Creating a dumpling- like ball.
11. Place on the cookie lined sheet and continue till done.
12. Bake for 10 minutes.
13. Remove from oven and drop a dollop of Eagle brand sweetened condensed milk in the center of each cinnamon roll bite.
14. It will melt a little and spread down the sides.
15. Allow to cool and enjoy!

Disclosure:  I was invited by Pillsbury to attend the Pillsbury Bake-off.  All opinions are 100% my own.

What’s with Mexicans and skulls? Usually skulls are associated with a negative connatation, but for Mexicans during Dia De Los Muertos, the skull takes on a completely different and beautiful meaning. The skull represents death and rebirth, the death of somebody leaving the world as we know it, and a rebirth of your beloved one who has passed and their soul moving on to a world of spirits and the afterlife. The skull personifies the humans we once knew, and during the Day of The Dead we take the time to honor the family and friends we have lost with offerings to their spirits in the shape of the skull, the same way our ancestors had done centuries before us. Of course there are the traditional foods associated with Dia De Los Muertos like Pan De Muerto, Tamales, Sugar Skulls, and Mole. I observe those foods as much as the next person , but I also enjoy making a skull dessert and decorating it ever year along with building my in-home alter.

I needed some flowers for my home altar I’m building, where I will eventually present my foods. Once I grabbed the yellow silk marigolds I ran across a skeleton mold on my way to the check out, and quickly imagined what it would look like on top of a cake. I thought of my friend Rocio who I lost twenty years ago and how she loved chocolate cake. This year in addition to my family, I will make a special place for Rocio’s chocolate cake and decorate it in marshmallow flowers .

Ingredients for Dia De Los Muertos Gelatina Cake:

• 2 – packets Knox gelatin
• 1 – can La Lechera (sweetened condensed milk)
• skeleton gelatin mold
• Chocolate cake mix
• eggs
• water
• oil
• chocolate frosting
• small marshmallows
• colored sugar
• small round colored candies
• black icing.

Directions:

1. In a bowl mix together 2 cups of boiling hot water and Knox gelatin. Mix until completely dissolved. Add in entire can of La Lechera and mix to combine. Should make 3 cups. Pour into skull mold and refrigerate for 4 to 5 hours or overnight. 
2. Bake cake according to box and allow it to cool completely.
3. Assemble and frost cake with frosting.
4. Cut marshmallows with sharp kitchen scissors diagonally.
5. Then dip sticky side of cut marshmallow into a dish of colored sugar to color marshmallow petals. Set to the side until ready to use. 
6. Unmold gelatin skull from mold. Place it in the center of frosted cake. 
7. Decorate the sides of the cake with colored marshmallow petals, and place a small round candy in the center of the flowers. 
8. Take the black icing fitted with a piping attachment and fill the eye cavity of skull gelatin with icing. 
9. Also draw a straight line across the skull mouth, then stitch over from top to bottom with black icing. Let the icing mouth sit on the gelatin skull for about 10 minutes, then remove the icing to reveal a stain.
10. Fill the nose cavity with colored sugar.
11. Decorate the forehead of the skull with  marshmallow flower petals.
12. Enjoy!

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