It’s a quick bus ride out from Port Authority in NYC.  Hope to see you there!

Tickets can be purchased at Chocolate World Expo.

Chocolate World Expo Flyer

Easter cookie charms and brownies

This can be a  fun project for kids or anyone looking for a little creative outlet.  No stress.  Don’t like what you painted?  Pop it in your mouth and try again!  When you are through, you will have a collection of beautiful cookies.  Use them to decorate a cake, cupcakes, or brownies.  Or, simply arrange them all on a plate to enjoy the cheerful array of colors. (For a minute or two, as they are sure to be quickly consumed.)

Use an egg-shaped cookie cutter to cut out rolled sugar cookie dough, bake, cool, frost with royal icing, and then get out the paint brushes and food safe colors and let your inner artist go to town.  You can get a vast array of colors at any store that sells cake decorating supplies.  Powder colors, which you will have to mix with water, and gel colors work  equally well.

In the above photo (upper left to lower right): Easter egg cookie charms; a brownie decorated with green tinted buttercream frosting, sprinkles, and an Easter egg cookie charm, and brownie eggs – made by attaching a cookie charm with a dab of frosting to a brownie cut with the same cookie cutter. 

These cookies above were cut using a mini cookie cutter.  A full-size cutter would be great for making cookie favors that would look beautiful in cellophane bags and wrapped with a bow.

Experiment, have fun.  It’s spring!

–Chilled brownies. Store your brownies in the refrigerator or freezer. Not only will you extend their freshness, but they are deliciously dense and chewy when cold.

–Brownie Ice-Cream Sandwich. Split a chilled brownie in half, top one half with a large scoop of slightly softened ice cream, top with the other half, press the two halves together, wrap tightly in plastic and place in the freezer

–Brownie Ice Cream Topping. Crumble brownies on top of a bowl of your favorite ice cream. Pretend you are a famous ice cream entrepreneur and get creative with the combos you put together!

–Brownie Strawberry “Shortcake”. A chocolate twist on a summer classic. Split a chilled brownie in half. Place one half in a bowl and top with sliced strawberries and whipped cream. Place the second half on top and cover that with strawberries and whipped cream. Also great with bananas!

–Fruit and Brownie Kabobs. Cut chilled brownies into bite-size pieces (or cut and then chill). Alternate the brownie pieces with chunks of fruit on a skewer (3 pieces of each) and serve with various toppings, such as hot fudge or melted chocolate, whipped cream, melted caramel, and nuts. Make a smaller version that can be nibbled on the go, with just one piece of brownie and one piece of fruit on a toothpick.

June – S’Mores
July/August – Raspberry Swirl Blondie
September – Cappuccino
October – Butterscotch Blondie
November – Amaretto Nut
December – Hot Chocolate
January – Mint Chocolate Swirl
February – Double Chocolate Cherry
March – White Chocolate, Macadamia Nut, Caramel Blondie
April – German Chocolate
May – Cocoa Banana or Bananas Foster (depending on what works best when tested, or maybe both!)

We’ll request contact information from each individual who suggested one of the above flavors (or similar variant) and send out a Buddy Gift Box with the special flavor around the time when the flavor is featured.

Eleven flavors were selected, as that lines up the coming year, but of course other flavors will make there way into the mix after that. I always love to hear your thoughts on what would make a delicious brownie flavor.

Thanks to everyone who participated in this round of the brownie flavor contest!

Get your creative juices flowing and drop a comment here detailing what your dream flavor would be. We’ll be collecting ideas throughout April and let you know which new Special Edition Flavors will be featured in the coming months.

The brownie pictured below is The Christine. Christine got a jump on the things because we were doing a play together in February. Without even knowing about the upcoming contest, one day in the dressing room she suggested this decadent fudge brownie creation that includes pretzels, peanuts, caramel and milk chocolate. It was featured as the March Special Edition Brownie and won quite a few fans during that time.

Let us know what flavor you would like to see Sweet Muse feature?

You can purchase ready made sugar cookie dough from the store or make your own and cut out fun shapes with cookie cutters. If you don’t have cookie cutters in the shapes you want, you can use a knife to cut out shapes or letters. Plastic caps or small tin cans can also work to give you various sizes of circles (nice for a fun polka dot cake).

Decorate the cookies with colored sugar and then bake, or bake and then frost with royal icing. Ice the cookies in various shades or try swirling two colors of icing together to create a pretty design. If your inner artist is inspired, frost the cookies in white and paint your design using powder or gel paste food colors.

Once your cookies are done, they can be added to the cake. Use letters to spell out “Happy Birthday” on the top of your cake rather than writing it in icing, or stick the cookies to the sides and top to make it fit the occasion. A plain white cake becomes perfectly adorable with new baby cookies “sprinkled” all over it. Dress up a summer cake with flowers, butterflies, dragonflies, and ladybugs.

I dressed up some cupcakes from a local bakery for St. Patrick’s Day by placing shamrocks on top. I much prefer decorating with cookies than using standard sugar decorations because the cookies are prettier and much yummier.

If you are like me and love the sweet, tart, cinnamon yumminess of a fresh apple pie, treat yourself with the following recipe. With minimal sugar, no butter, and crammed full of apples, you might decide to have it for breakfast too!

Apple Pie

Filling
6 cups apples (peeled, cored and sliced)
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup dried cranberries (optional)

Pie Crust
2 cups flour
1/2 cup canola oil
3 tablespoon ice water

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Farenheit.

Pour ice water into oil and then pour into flour. Mix until blended. Split dough in half and chill.

Mix apples, sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon, and cranberries (if desired).

Roll one half of the dough and place in a 8-1/2″ or 9″ pie pan. Place apple mixture into the pan. Roll the other half of the dough, place over the top of the apples, and pinch together the edges of the crust. Make a few decorative cuts in the top of the crust to let the steam escape or use a small cookie cutter to cut a design.

Bake for about 25 minutes or until slightly golden and bubbly. Serve warm, topped with ice cream. Pop a Fall Cookie Charm into the ice cream for a beautiful garnish!

As explained on their website:
Baking GALS (GALS stands for Give A Little Support) is a group of volunteer bakers who bake and ship homemade goodies to our heroic troops that are currently deployed. Each soldier is “Hosted” by a blogger, and potential bakers are “recruited” from the bloggers own site as well as the GALS site. Each Host recruits between 20-25 bakers, meaning LOTS of goodies get delivered to our soldier…so many, in fact that he or she has plenty to share with their fellow troops!

Huge kudos for organizing this effort. It’s a great reminder that, with a little creativity, there is always a way to use our skills to help in some way.

Learn more or join a baking group at:
Baking GALS