Torrance Bakery Chocolate Chews

My girlfriend from the South Bay introduced me to these amazing treats. I didn't believe that they could be THAT good. I was hooked at first bite. They aren't like your traditional cookies-they're a cross between a cookie and a meringue. There's no flour involved. Just a whole lot of powdered sugar instead. The outside of the cookie is light and crispy and the inside of the cookie is chewy and gooey. It has a rich chocolate flavor. I found this recipe from losangelestimes.com. They're able to get recipes that an average joe just can't. My gain!

When you bake them, use a small ice cream scooper so the sizes of the cookies are consistent, but then use a knife or a small off set spatula to flatten them out a bit. If you don't flatten them out they taste like they're almost raw on the inside-although it still tastes good, but just not how I like them or how the bakery makes them.

Torrance Bakery Chocolate Chewies

Active Work Time: 30 minutes * Total Preparation Time: 1 hour

Rather than cracking a number of eggs, you can buy cartons of liquid egg whites at supermarkets.

1 cup egg whites

1 3/4 cups Dutch-process cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

5 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 pound walnut or pecan pieces

Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Mix together the egg whites, cocoa, salt and sugar on medium speed until the batter is stiff and all ingredients are well incorporated, about 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in the walnuts or pecans by hand.

Place the batter by rounded teaspoonfuls onto the baking sheet; work in batches. Bake until the cookies are a bit shiny and slightly cracked, 10 minutes. They will look underdone but do not overbake.

48 cookies. Each cookie: 125 calories; 34 mg sodium; 0 cholesterol; 7 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 17 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams protein; 1.67 grams fiber.

Chicken Pot Pie

Due to the cold weather-it was time to pull out the chicken pot pie recipe. We've all been a little under the weather so nothing like a little pot pie to warm us up. This is a super simple dish to make-it just requires a little chopping and if you've got the time to make the crust really nice then not only does it taste good, but it will be pretty look at. I, on the other hand, did not have the time to make the crust pretty as you can see. I had to throw on the crust because my little one has been recovering from his cold which means I had to cook while I held him simultaneously. The great thing about this is that once it's all chopped, you just combine the chicken and veggies and let it boil for 15 minutes. The sauce requires you to stir consistently, but it takes no more than a few minutes.

*I added onions to the vegetable mixture as well as to the sauce just because I like the flavor. I also used low sodium chicken broth so I needed to add a little more salt at the end to taste. I used Trader Joes pastry crust which is a little on the sweet side, but the contrast of savory and sweet was really good. I put them in small ramekins which was perfect for my LO, but my husband and I ended up having 2 each! The recipe calls for you to make sure you seal the edges of the pastry crust, but I didn't and I didn't have too much spillage. I placed the ramekins on a sheet pan to catch whatever spilled over. I halphazardly placed my crust on top and left some spaces open for the steam to be released. Cook time for the small ramekins was 30 minutes.

The best part about this was that my son ate every part of it-carrots, celery, peas and chicken! I couldn't NOT share this recipe. It's really pretty darn good.

Ingredients

1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cubed
1 cup sliced carrots
1 cup frozen green peas
1/2 cup sliced celery
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon celery seed
1 3/4 cups chicken broth
2/3 cup milk

2 (9 inch) unbaked pie crusts

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C.)
In a saucepan, combine chicken, carrots, peas, and celery. Add water to cover and boil for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, drain and set aside.
In the saucepan over medium heat, cook onions in butter until soft and translucent. Stir in flour, salt, pepper, and celery seed. Slowly stir in chicken broth and milk. Simmer over medium-low heat until thick. Remove from heat and set aside.
Place the chicken mixture in bottom pie crust. Pour hot liquid mixture over. Cover with top crust, seal edges, and cut away excess dough. Make several small slits in the top to allow steam to escape.
Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Banana pancakes

I've been on a banana craze lately. I buy bananas just to wait for them to be too ripe to eat just so I can use them to bake something. This morning I made banana pancakes. They are from the allrecipes.com website and they had a ton of great reviews so it didn't seem like I could go wrong. I usually make mini pancakes just because that's what size is good for my son. As you can see it made a ton of mini pancakes. I added walnuts to mine just to give a little more texture-about 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts. A great weekend breakfast!

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 ripe bananas, mashed

Directions

Combine flour, white sugar, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, mix together egg, milk, vegetable oil and bananas.
Stir flour mixture into banana mixture; batter will be slightly lumpy.
Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Cook until pancakes are golden brown on both sides; serve hot.

Granola

I've been wanting to make my own granola for quite some time. I see people do it all the time. I watched an episode of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives and this one place made granola pancakes and it sounded so good, so I finally pulled out this recipe and set off to the market. I realized that you can put whatever you want in your granola. It's really up to you. I think it's the honey blend that's important. That's the part that is key to making the type of granola you like. This makes TONS of granola. I almost don't even know what to do with it! My son actually loves eating the granola nuggets-and I don't feel so bad because it's got good stuff in it.

We've been eating it as a snack, topping our yogurt with it and making granola pancakes with it which are amazing. I HIGHLY recommend mixing it with your pancake mix. It gives it such a nice texture.

I used the granola from allrecipes.com, but I modified it to my own liking. Here is my modified version:

Ingredients

8 cups rolled oats
1 1/2 cups wheat germ
1 1/2 cups flax seed meal
1 cup shredded sweetened coconut
1 cup finely chopped almonds
1 cup finely chopped pecans
1 cup finely chopped walnuts
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
3/4 cup honey
1 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Optional ingredients: oat bran, sunflower seeds, cranberries, raisins

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Line two large baking sheets with parchment or aluminum foil.
Combine the oats, wheat germ, coconut, flax seed meal, almonds, pecans, and walnuts in a large bowl. Stir together the salt, brown sugar, maple syrup, honey, oil, cinnamon, and vanilla in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then pour over the dry ingredients, and stir to coat. Spread the mixture out evenly and not too thick on the baking sheets.
Bake in the preheated oven until crispy and toasted, about 30-49 minutes. Stir once halfway through.


Truly an amazing recipe for a classic homemade granola!

Tender Greens

My dear friends A+L+B took me to try Tender Greens this week. There are a few other locations on the Westside and Hollywood, but I've never been. It just opened here in Pasadena on Friday and I wonder where it's been my whole life. I didn't know what to expect-the name in itself does not make the place sound appetizing in the least. Tender Greens gets most of their ingredients from Scarborough Farms in Oxnard and small local farms. Most of their food is organic. I'm not one of those "everything must be organic" type of people. I'm actually turned off by places that are strictly organic-it doesn't sound like it would taste good, but this place is amazing. If you're skeptical like I was, this place is the place to change your views of that! Pasadena isn't really known for any really good restaurants, but this is a new favorite of mine.

They have perfectly roasted vegetables, fresh salads, soups, fried chicken, mashed potatoes..it suits all different palates. And their desserts are supposedly really good too. I only had their chocolate pot de creme sprinkled with sea salt, which was fairly good. I had their tuna nicoise salad, tomato soup, and fingerling potatoes with parmesan cheese. Everything was delicious. Their salad wasn't overdressed, their tomato soup was made with fresh tomatoes and their potatoes weren't overdone or dry.

The service was amazing as well...I hope it stays that way-I know new places tend to have great service at the beginning and then taper off once the novelty of it has worn off.
I've been thinking of this place since I've gone...I think I'll go again tonight and take my husband. You must go!

621 East Colorado Avenue
Pasadena CA, 91101

Tel: 626 405-1511
Fax: 626 405-1508

Hours:
Sunday-Thursday: 11:30am-9:00pm
Friday-Saturday: 11:30am-10:00pm

Converse Slips

We couldn't help but to get these. They are the cutest things I've seen. The best part is that there are no laces to fuss with. The back of the shoe pulls back and all you have to do is slip your foot in. It comes in a few colors. I've seen red and blue, and pink and black. I can't wait to put them on the LO.

Gyoza

One of my most favorite foods in the world is gyoza. I could eat 30 of them on my own. Gyoza means dumplings in Japanese. There are a million different ingredients you can put inside and my mom will tell you that she NEVER puts garlic in hers, but to each their own. In this gyoza I used ground pork, water chestnuts, cabbage, dried shiitake, nira (garlic chives), ginger, salt and a little bit of sesame oil.

I didn't really measure the ingredients so I can give you approximate amounts... I used a package of ground pork, 3 inches of ginger-skin removed, 1/4 head of a cabbage, a can of water chestnuts, 8 or so dried shiitake (soak in water for 10 minutes and then chop finely) I chopped the nira into tiny pieces (If you can't find nira, you can use one clove of garlic finely chopped) I add about a teaspoon of salt and a few drops of sesame oil.

I chop all of the ingredients and mix together.

Then the fun part. Filling and folding. I remember watching my mom fill and fold each gyoza thinking about how daunting it was. Boring. I tried to avoid her when it was gyoza night because guaranteed she would ask for help. I hated this part of the process, but somewhere along the way this became somewhat therapeutic to me. Now I could sit for hours on end filling and folding them. I got the hang of pleating the tops of the gyoza. You could definitely just wet the wrapper and not do a fancy pleat, but it's a nice detail to add and at every Japanese restaurant you'll find it done this way.

You can fry them, steam them, put them in soup...it's endless. My favorite way is to fry them in a pan with a little bit of oil until you get a crispy bottom, then add a few tablespoons of water to the pan, cover it with the lid and let the rest of it steam.

The Japanese way to eat these is to dip it in a mixture of soy sauce, rice vinegar and a few drops of sesame oil. It's definitely worth the time!

Toms and Tiny Toms

Since it's all about Father's Day I decided to get the LO and Daddy some matching shoes. Tommy is exchanging his shoes for a different stlye, but how cute are the tiny Toms? Not only is it a great purchase, but knowing that someone else is getting a pair too makes the deal even sweeter!

Father's Day

It's Father's Day! We've been waiting for this day for a long time. It's officially Tommy's first Father's Day and we wanted to make sure it was very special. We spent the morning at The Rooftop Restaurant at the London Hotel. It couldn't have been a more perfect location. Outdoors, relaxing, beautiful view of the city, wonderful staff and wonderful service. They know how to treat their patrons well. This place is perfect for little ones because it's outdoors so you don't have to worry about being too loud. (We were a little worried because Keags didn't take his morning nap yet. yikes!) We were seated and a high chair was already prepped for us. They had a $45 per person menu which included wonderful pastries (croissant, chocolate croissants, french bread, and apple turnovers) you get a choice of a champagne drink, coffee or tea, an entree and choice of dessert. I had a peach bellini, the breakfast burger and a chocolate almond cake. Tommy had a mimosa, chicken and waffles and a wonderful lemon curd tart with burnt meringue and sorbet. The best part were the pastries and the desserts. Keagan too enjoyed the buttery croissants and fresh baked french bread. My dessert was delicious. It was served with coffee buttercream and a coffee milkshake. Tommy's dessert was beautiful and delicious. Our entrees were so so. I won't even bother to say anything about them. Nothing memorable. The staff entertained Keagan and were very playful with him and we had the freedom to roam around with our LO. It's been a wonderful Father's Day so far!

Wednesdays @ Jones

My sister introduced me to Wheel Food Wednesday at Jones Coffee in Pasadena. Every Wednesday, a few select trucks are invited to serve their food in the Jones' parking lot. There's live music inside and outside. The word is getting out about this event and it was pretty crowded today. Today there was Rasta Taco (Jamaican tacos) BadAss Burgers, a shaved ice truck, lobstatruck, and the Grilled Cheese Truck. The Grilled Cheese truck had the longest line. Next time we will try that one if it's out. We opted to get the lobster roll at the Lobstatruck. It was small, but delicious. I love the bread they used and it was piled with buttery lobster. ($12 per roll) We also got the grilled cheese burger from Badass Burgers. ($12) It was a burger sandwiched between grilled cheese sandwiches and it was pretty amazing. If you are free on a Wednesday evening, I highly recommend this event. Bring a few chairs because there are only a few and they are hard to come by.

Chocolate macarons

I've been wanting to make macarons FOREVER. Not macaroooooooons, but the french macarons. The problem? Intimidation. They seem super complicated. They're so adorable and delicate. So, I did a lot of reading online and watched a few Youtube videos and it didn't seem too hard. I decided to give it a shot today. The batter can be whipped up in 15 minutes. The piping is a technique that takes practice. And then you have to make sure you don't overbeat the ingredients, but at the same time you have to deflate the whites. What??

A little bit about almond flour. You can't find almond flour just anywhere.. But we found it at Whole Foods today. You can find it where they have all the different types of oats and flours or they even have some in the baking section. I've heard that you can get it at Trader Joe's too.

They are super fun to bake and assemble and the final product is really good. The macarons were crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside.

Summer Berry Pudding

I always look forward to the summer berries. Blueberries, strawberries and raspberries are so sweet and they're available everywhere. This dessert only comes out in the summer (at least from my kitchen). I love being able to use fresh berries when they're at their peak. It has to be made a day in advance...or you can make it super early in the morning, but that's just too early for me. Other than it having to be done hours in advance, this dessert is super easy, and oh so beautiful. The colors are outstanding and it screams summer. I topped it with rum whipped cream which was a nice addition. This recipe is from Barefoot Contessa's Family Style cookbook. It sounds like a strange recipe. Bread soaked in fruits and their juices? There was something about it that seemed really appealing. I had to give it a try.

The only change I made was that I reduced the sugar in this recipe to 1 cup because the fruits are already sweet so I didn't think it needed any more.

My parents kept asking in detail how this was made. You can't quite figure out what it is. Is it cake? Is it just berries? Is there anything else? How does it stay together? It's puzzling. Nonetheless, they enjoyed it. Even my grandmother had seconds!

Ingredients

2 cups strawberries, cleaned and sliced
2 cups raspberries
1 cup blueberries or blackberries
1.5 cups sugar
1/4 cup water
1-1.5 pound brioche crusts removed

Directions


Coarsely chop the strawberries and put them and the other berries in a sauce pan. Add the sugar and water and cook over high heat until the berries are heated and just giving up there juices. About 5 minutes. Add 2 pints blueberries, 2 pints raspberries and cook for a few minutes.

In the bottom of a 7.5 inch wide and 3 inch tall souffle dish ladle 1/2 cup of berry sauce. Carefully place sliced bread to cover the entire bottom of the dish. Cut bread to fit like a puzzle if needed. This will be the top layer. Then ladle more berries to cover the bread. Repeat until you reach the top of the dish. The final layer should be the berry sauce.

Using a plate that fits just inside the top of the mold, place it on top of the pudding. Put the mold in a pan and weight the plate. Refrigerate the pudding overnight.

To serve, un-mold the pudding onto a serving platter by running a knife along the edge and flip over onto a platter. Serve with whipped cream!

Rum whipped cream:

1/2 cup whipping cream
1 tbsp rum
3 tbsp confectioners sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Whip the whipping cream. When peaks start to form, add rum, sugar and vanilla extract.

yum!

Apple Pie

I was skeptical when my sister told me how great this pie was. I didn't believe her, but holy cow this pie was unbelievable. It wasn't too sweet, the apples were just perfectly cooked (not too soft, not too crunchy), and the crust was super buttery and could be eaten alone. It was everything and then some. I couldn't flip the image so there it is. It's Henry's Farmer's Market brand. If you get the chance to get one, get it...just make sure it's not the sugar free one.

Sour Cream Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

It's been a while since I've baked. I'm sad to say that. But today, I had all of the ingredients so I decided to go ahead and try these out. This is a super fast recipe. You can make it in no time and the ingredients are things that you usually have on hand so that makes this even better. The chocolate stout cupcakes are definitely my most favorite recipe, but they're a bit time consuming so for the sake of time, these were a good alternative. The cupcake batter is super runny, and it uses not only oil, but sour cream as well. Those two components create a super moist cake. The peanut butter frosting was not peanut buttery enough for me so I added an additional 1/3 cup of it. I liked the idea of putting cream cheese into the frosting-it just created a wonderful creamy texture and surprisingly not a lot of tang. I decided to top half of them with chopped salted peanuts.

Sour Cream-Chocolate Cupcakes
Recipe courtesy of Sky High Cakes

1 cup flour
1 1/4 cup sugar
3/8 cup dutch process cocoa*
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup water
1 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp white vinegar
1 egg
Peanut Butter Frosting, recipe follows

Preheat oven to 350. Spray the tops and line two muffin pans with 13 cupcake liners.

Add dry ingredients to the bowl of your stand mixer. Turn on low and add sour cream and oil. When completely mixed, add water in 1/4-cup increments until the batter is uniform. Add vanilla, vinegar, and the egg, mixing on medium until combined. The batter will be very runny. Using a cookie scooper, scoop the batter into the cupcake liners, filling 3/4 full.

Bake for ~23 minutes, until a skewer inserted in a center cupcake comes out with moist crumbs attached. Let cool in pan for 20 minutes and then cool on wire rack completely before frosting.

Yields 13-14 cupcakes

Peanut Butter Frosting
5 oz cream cheese, at room temp
4 Tbsp butter, at room temp
pinch of salt
3 cups powdered sugar
2/3 cup peanut butter

Beat cream cheese and butter on high, until light and creamy (2-3 minutes). Mix in salt and powdered sugar on low speed until just combined and then beat on high for 2-3 minutes, until the frosting is fluffy. Add peanut butter and mix on high until completely combined.

Swiss Chard

Look at the color of these things! They're beautiful! In one crop there were stalks of magenta, orange and purple-all picked fresh from my Aunt's garden. Some of these were about 2 feet long! I decided to cook them and serve it as a side. I sauteed some onions and garlic, added the swiss chard and finished it off with a splash of red wine vinegar, salt and pepper. A simple, delicious dish that goes well with anything!

Mike and Anne's

Sundays are meant to be like this. Nothing planned-nowhere specific to go. We took our little man out for a walk this morning and he ended up falling asleep so we decided to have breakfast out. We walked to Mike and Anne's in South Pasadena. This restaurant is our go to place when we're in the mood for a local breakfast that's within a reasonable walking distance...it's really not that close, but it's fine. My husband always has doubts that I can make it there without pulling a muscle, or complaining about a sore side.

So Mike and Anne's is a good place for breakfast-we like to sit outside in the patio. The food is good-it's not the most amazing thing in the world, but it's good food. I'm never blown away by it, but it's never a disappointment. We ordered the lemon ricotta pancakes and now that I think about it, I can't remember tasting the lemon. It was really good today. It's been somewhat forgettable in the past, but today it was really good. It's not fluffy like a pancake. It's kind of course yet super moist and has this great unexplainable flavor-the ricotta adds such great flavor to the dish. My husband ordered their corned beef hash as always and it was good.

It was just a great way to start our Sunday.

Bo Kho-Vietnamese beef lemongrass stew

My husband always raves about his mother's dishes, as most men do. He talks about her stews and broths and noodle dishes with the highest regards. I usually lean more towards Italian food or American food just because that's what I know, but I've decided to take advantage of all the Asian markets around me and to see if my husband can maybe one day say the same about some of the Asian dishes I make. I recently bought the book "In the Vietnamese Kitchen" written by Andrea Nguyen. It had great reviews online so I figured it was a good starting point for a novice like me. Her book is beautiful by the way-filled with amazing photos and very descriptive details about the dishes. Just reading about each of the dishes is so interesting. There are a ton of dishes I'd like to try.

Last night I made Bo Kho. It's a stew filled with beef, carrots and has the essence of lemongrass, star anise and bay leaves. You dip large pieces of baguette in it and dip your beef in a salt, pepper and lemon mixture. It's hearty and homey and great on cold days-unlike today. I think we were all breaking out into a sweat eating it on such a hot day. Not so smart.

It takes a few hours to prepare it from beginning to end (mostly because it needs to cook for about 2 hours.) I started it last night around 7 and it didn't finish until 9 or so, so I just decided to save it for the next night.

My husband said that I should make the dish and he'll ask his mom to come over tomorrow for dinner to critique it. greeeeeat. He said that it would be the best way to learn. His mom could just tell me everything that was wrong with my dish and I would be a better cook for it. So, I agreed-I'm determined to learn and who better to learn from than my very own amazing cook of a mother in law?

So, my in-laws came over tonight for dinner and she said she could smell my stew from the street. She said it smelled like bo kho. Phew, that's a good thing. When she got here she took the ladle, spooned a small sip into it and said..................
"eh, it's okay." And then she went on to tell me what was wrong with it. My M-I-L is the sweetest thing, but when it comes to cooking, she knows her stuff so I grabbed my pen and paper and took my notes.

1. "You put tomatoes in it? You don't put tomatoes in it."
2. "You didn't put potatoes into it? I do."
3. "No chili powder? Next time put it in."
4. "Curry powder. Just a little bit."
5. "Black bean stuff- makes it salty and richer in flavor."
6. .....

The list goes on. My father in law was kind-he's a very soft spoken man. He said it was good and that it smelled like the real stuff too, but that "something" was missing.

I think my husband felt a little bad for me. He didn't want to translate everything his parents were saying about it at the dinner table. He made sure to tell me a few times how much he liked it. I guess ultimately that's what's truly important to me because he is the one I'd be making it for in the future...

Next time, I will do all the things my MIL told me to do, but for my first time, she said it wasn't bad, and that's one step in the right direction. I'll take it.

Oyako Donburi

Oya means parent. Ko means child. Put it together and you have a parent and child dish-the chicken and the egg. It's kind of a sad name. Nonetheless it's a wonderfully delicious, Japanese, poor man's dish. The chicken simmers in a sweet sauce and the egg on top just seals the deal. Served over rice and you have a very filling meal. I would've taken a photo of it, but to be honest, it's not the most beautiful dish. I couldn't get a good shot of it, so you'll have to use your imagination. The greatest thing about this dish is how easy it is to make-and you have most of the ingredients in your refrigerator. It can be made in about 15 minutes. This recipe is from about.com. It's a great site for really reliable Japanese dishes. Enjoy!

Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients:

4 cup steamed rice
3/4 lb chicken thighs or chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 2/3 cups dashi soup stock
7 Tbsp soy sauce
4 Tbsp mirin
3 Tbsp sugar
4 eggs

Preparation:

Cook steamed rice.
Put dashi soup stock in a large skillet and put on medium heat.
Add soy sauce, mirin, and sugar in the soup.
Put chicken and simmer on low heat for a few minutes.
Add onion slices and simmer for a few more minutes.
Lightly beat eggs in a bowl.
Bring the soup to a boil, and pour the eggs over chicken and onion.
Turn the heat down to low and cover with a lid.
After one minute, turn off the heat.
Put steamed rice into deep serving bowls, then serve simmered chicken and egg on top.

Easter

Easter has come and gone. That was so fast. From Easter egg dyeing and Easter egg hunts to Easter pageants and Sunday meals- it was so much fun this year. Having little ones around allows me to buy in to all of the things that go along with this holiday.

We spent Saturday dyeing our eggs with my nephew. The dye kits are amazing nowadays. They have great colors, shrinking wraps, stickers and a wax crayon all inside that little box! I have to say that the shrinking wrap was the neatest thing. You slip the plastic around the egg and then submerge it in boiling water and the plastic wrap magically adheres to the egg. I didn't believe it would work, but it did! Sunday included breakfast, church, egg hunts, an amazing dinner and my contribution: red velvet whoopie pies.

We had whoopie pies from Corner Bakery recently and they were amazing. I normally shudder at the idea of cake like that with who knows what is inside. Ding Dongs and Twinkies are not my idea of a tasty treat. Although my husband could eat a dozen and then some. These whoopie pies were really really good-try them-you'll see what I mean. My friends will order a platter of them for birthdays or for gatherings-they're a great dessert to put out.

I do plan on making some from scratch, but I admit I cheated this time. I only had one hour to make dessert and I wanted to keep it simple. I received a canister of Sprinkles Red Velvet Cupcake mix from my brother in law and I decided to use it, but not to make cupcakes. I made whoopie pies instead. It's the same idea except instead of putting them in cupcake liners, you use a small cookie dough scooper and place a mound of it on silpats or parchment paper. I only put 6 per sheet because they spread. Once they are completely baked, you must remove the silpat or the parchment from the baking sheets immediately so they don't continue to cook. I used a simple cream cheese buttercream frosting for the inside filling. My family liked them. I will be searching for the best whoopie pie recipe. The happy face is my uncle's contribution. He loves cream cheese frosting. He didn't want to see it go to waste.

See the tiny jello eggs? Aren't they so adorable? That's my Auntie for you. She's so creative.

I hope you all had a Happy Easter!