Tuesday, July 15, 2008

fun with food

We had such a fabulous time when the Quandt family visited...the weather cooperated (for the most part), the kids got along (for the most part) and Jenny and I made some yummy treats in the kitchen!

When they were here last Christmas, the favorite dessert - by far - among the Quandt kids was our family's famous peppermint bark. I think I just heard a collective "Uuhhgg!" from some of you, but just try to remember your first taste many, many moons ago, before you ate enough in one sitting to feed a small country. Remember how you loved it? I told Jenny how easy it was to make and she asked if I could show her while they were here. Now, back in the old days, the kids would have been sent outside with hammers to crush the peppermints, but the thought of this crew with hammers was just a little scary to me...



(thanks for the picture, Jean!)


So, I cheated and used a food processor to pulverize the peppermints. Done in about a minute with no mess and no broken fingers!


After the candy had cooled, it was ready to be broken into pieces and Gavin and Megan got in on that action:




It was a bit like Christmas in July.

The next fun thing we made were these adorable Corn-on-the-Cobcakes, courtesy of Family Fun Magazine. You decorate vanilla frosted cupcakes with yellow and white jelly beans, sprinkle with decorator sugar (for the salt), put three together with corn holders on the ends and a semi-melted Starburst (for the butter) on top and voila!




I had to promise to make them again once Ryan and Emily get their braces off since they could only have the cupcakes (no jelly beans, no Starbursts!). Again, very easy and tons of fun!

And last, but certainly not least, the perfect dessert for the Fourth of July - Flag Cake. There are lots of recipes for this kind of dessert, but this particular one comes from my culinary hero, The Barefoot Contessa. Her recipe actually calls for raspberries, but I had many requests to use strawberries instead. And the frosting...oh my goodness. One pound of butter, one and a half pounds of cream cheese, one pound of powdered sugar and a little vanilla. As Ina herself would say, "Now, how bad can that be?"




Not bad at all...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Alright, I KNOW you are talking about me with that "enough to feed a small country" comment... and yes, for the peppermint bark novice, it's the best! Let Ryan and Emily know that we made the corn on the cob cupcakes, too (God Bless Family Fun), and Owen shares their pain at not being able to eat the jelly bellies!
XOXO, Nancy