Sunday, March 27, 2016

foil wrapped easter bunny mini and mom macarons

happity hoppity easter everyone!
hope you're with your love bunnies today 
celebrating this glorious holiday!
you know i started this week off pretty good, 
4 days in a row with 4 new posts,
highly unlike me and i was going 
to do a post everyday for a record 
7 in a row that included 
an egg craft and a round-up
but alas!

this dang post took me all of 48 hours 
to complete with all the internet issues 
and camera issues and i was going bonkeroos!

so the egg craft and the round-up will have 
to wait cuz i don't think they'll make much 
sense posting them after bunny day.

so i hope you like the bunnies up there.
and yes they are macarons.

and YOU can make them too.
just pick up this mix at home goods for $9.99,
much less than if you were to buy 
the macaron ingredients themselves 
and you don't even have to weigh the 
stupid ingredients to make the 
oh-so-persnicky macarons.
all you need are 2 eggs, butter, milk and a sifter.
the rest comes in the box.
you just sift the macaron mix,
beat up 2 egg whites and add the meringue mix, 
and then fold the 2 together to get the ribbon-like consistency.
then you get the bunny templates below that  you can right click, save, and print.
then put those templates under some parchment paper,
load up a piping bag with a wilton #5 tip
and pipe away.

you can scoot the template under the 
parchment paper down a bit when you do your next row 
to space the bunnies better as you pipe them.
(i know i shoulda spaced the bunnies out 
better when i made the template but 
heck,the world goes on.)
you'll notice there are bunnies facing left and some right.
that's cuz you want to match them up to make your macaron.

after you pipe, bang the cookie sheet 
a few times to smooth out the mix and 
wait 20-30 minutes for the macarons to develop a shell like so:
but wait!

i think i see a BIGGER bunny coming!
why it IS a bigger bunny, 
about the size of my hand actually.

(save and print the template below)
now pipe that big one.
and get a thumbs up for banging to smooth.
wait again to develop a shell, 
and bake as directed.
oOooOoo! puffalump bunnies.

with macaron feet!
how'd the big ones do?
yay! this one's got feet too, 
i can see them by the tail. lol

 anyway, after they cool, fill 'em up with chocolate buttercream filling that's in the kit.
then add a candy eye.
oopsies!
this one needs to go to the hospital right now.

may i suggest you be gentle and add the eyes with a teeny tiny dab of the filling as glue.

cuz these poor baby bunnies need someone 
to watch over them 
so that doesn't happen again. 
ahh, there you go sweetie.

now momma's gonna put on her pretty bow, 
and gather up the children.
HOLY BUNNY that's a lotta kids.
so are we all done yet?
no cuz i don't think the kids are dressed up 
seeing that momma has a bow on her.

let's fix that.

i got some foil wrapped belgium oreo cookies 
at home goods and think i'm gonna do something here...

ok NOW they are ready for Easter.
and with their momma,
so there you have it.

a bunch of bunnies.
bunnies that took up waaaay too much 
of my time to post but i think it's 
all worth it do you?

good thing there's no papa bunny or 
this may have been a longer post! lol

have a 
BLESSED EASTER EVERYONE!









Thursday, March 24, 2016

marshmallow easter egg colored bunnies and chicks

4th day 4th post in a row!
so without further ado,
here are my groovy easter egg 
bunny and chic psychedelic pals.
i shoulda put bunnies in larger letters. 
they look like dogs. ugh. 

but hail to the long floppy-eared bunny who gets little love this time of year 
compared to the peter rabbit kind.

anyway, i got this marshmallow kit 
from walmart i think that comes with 
a bunch of egg shaped marshmallows and 
food coloring packets.
along with adorable straws from marshall's.

so you basically color marshmallows 
like you would eggs.

only i put them on easter straws
something i don't think you can do with a regular egg. lol
then add the chick face details with 
candy eyes and sunflower candy seed.
 and sixlet noses and food marker mouths
(at least for the puppies bunnies).

next for those dogs rabbits:
they have egg shaped marshmallows at 
walmart that are pastel colored,
but there's no reason why you couldn't use them along with regular food coloring too if you can't find the kit.

so there you have it.
easter goodies for the kiddies.

if you have little ones who are just learning their animals,
i would suggest you not use these.
hey did i just hear a woof?




Wednesday, March 23, 2016

easter basket graham cracker bark

yay it's easter week.
full of candy, baskets, and spring colors.

well would'ya look at that!
 
no not that,
 it's the fact that it's the 3rd day and 
the 3rd post in a row for me!

whoa.
whassup with that?
anyway,
i said before that i was behind in easter posts so i am making up for it this week.

so before i go on with today's tute,
i wanted to ask the pretzel makers of the world, 
or at least in this state of FL
since it's where i live,
these burning questions:

why oh why is it so easy to find pretzels 
in twisted shapes but impossible to find them 
in simple circle rings?
aren't plain circles easier to make than twisted ones?!

do they realize i have been searching for pretzel rings since the beginning of time 
(ok since the beginning of this blog actually)
and i STILL cannot find them anywhere 
in the stores?
only the usual twisted ones and sticks and 
rods and squares and mini ones.

#nopretzelcirclesattargetwalmartanygroceryanywhere

#pretzelringstruggleisreal

thank God for amazon.
but amazon led me in a circle too
as i kept putting pretzel circles in the search box 
and kept getting anything but 
pretzels and rings.
instead i got pretzels in yogurt 
or chocolate covered or gluten free or osem sesame 
(which i have zero circle clue what that is).

then ALLELUIA!
a company called wege 
FINALLY got them on amazon HERE
and i no longer suffered from 
absence of pretzel ring anxiety.

except i had to buy almost $15 worth.
now i have 
over abundance of pretzel ring disorder.

#pretzelringoverloadstruggleisreal

guess you'll be seeing alot of pretzel treats a "round" here.
hehe

good gracious.
let's just move on to the treat already.
here we go.

get this:
mixing these all together will give you a pretty bark.
and candy bark is oh so easy to make,
just melt the candy and throw 
some stuff on top and let dry.

but again,
i can never leave things well enough alone 
so i did this:

(no that's not 2 different colored candy, 
it's 2 different stupid photos my phone took)

i got those sprinkle nonpareils at 
marshall's for $3.99 and i've seen them at home goods too.

but if you can't find them there,
try here with a high shipping fee (ugh) 
or
you can use a plain candy melt cut in half.

the yellow rabbit sprinkles 
i got at walmart and the confetti sprinkles 
are from jo ann's.

ok next step:

you can actually get this altogether BEFORE 
you do the melted candy graham step.
that'll make it a lot easier to place 
before the candy dries.

you can see what i mean here:
then add a pretzel handle,
a confetti egg sprinkle and 
a bunny in each basket.
look it's easter basket mania.
allow to dry in the fridge before cutting apart.
it's a little trickier to cut than 
regular bark because of the grahams underneath 
and you will have to trim the edges a bit 
but take your time and you'll have it together.

so there you go, 
an easter basket you can eat entirely in one setting.

AND
it includes a pretzel ring!
where else can you get that?