Sunday Night Dinner

This past Sunday was a dinner with Friends (same people from the Great Bay post.) We had Chicken baked in  mariana sauce and mozzarella cheese and accompanied with grilled corn and asparagus. It was a great meal (and I had asparagus for the first time.) Dinner likes this are always great. Is it my turn next?

I brought dessert. I went with something different than cupcakes. I made one of my favorites. My choice was blondie sundaes. The blondies were filled with white chocolate and pecans. They were topped with vanilla ice cream and a homeade maple butter sauce (served warm). That sauce has to be my favorite sauce. It is a perfect complement with the blondies. I think it went well. I'll have to make them again soon.

This is Matt as he finishes his sundae. I think he enjoyed it. I left the leftovers with him. He also supplied the vanilla ice cream (Blue Bell.) He also was responsible for cooking dinner.

Free sweets.....but surrounded by women

The past 2 days have been filled with interesting new sweets that ended up being free. On Friday, I went to a bridal shower at school...I'll call it a wedding pre-bash that included the groom and me. That sounds better (it was Matt's "shower" with his bride-to-be Valerie) The menu consisted of women food. Yes, I did call it that. On a very bright note, there was a cookie that I had to sample 3 times. I had to keep testing it.

It was a sugar cookie with pink royal icing. The flower seemed to be made of marshmallow petals. The yellow part was very intriguing, but I could not determine its contents. It seemed to be more icing. I wish I had one now. That was one piece of woman food I would try again. :)








Today was the last day for teachers (if we chose to work on Saturday.) For lunch, the math department decided to go to a new Greek/Italian restaurant near the school. The food was very good and plentiful. When we received our checks, the waitress brought out some complimentary Greek donuts.

The taste reminded me of funnel cakes. Each donut was sprinkled with white granulated sugar. To finish off the presentation, the donuts were drizzled with maple syrup. It was almost like eating a pancake in a fried free-form shape. It was a great way to end the meal and the year.

Free food, especially sweets, are always...good eats (to quote Alton Brown.)

Experimental Frosting

I had extra graduation wrappers and wanted to use them soon. I made a basic vanilla cake recipe. It's one of my favorite ones. However, I was not craving any particular flavor of icing recipes I have. I went for something new, which was chocolate.

It wasn't bad at all. Debate: cocoa powder or melt real chocolate.......I chose melted chocolate. I am always over anxious with new recipes. Everyone that tried it liked it, so my experiment was a success.

Great Bay Oyster House Desserts

I went out with some friends last night (shout out to Matt from class, Valerie, and Paula D.) before going to Relay for Life. We went to the Great Bay Oyster House on the main street of Greer. The food was good. The desserts sounded good. I did not see one I would not try.

<-------- We got some desserts. They tasted even better than they looked. The top one was Pecan Pie with a lattice of caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream. It was smooth and buttery with a kick of something. I have not decided what the kick was, but it added depth to the flavor profile. The crust melted in my mouth. It was the perfect combination of flaky crust and sweet goo. It is inspiring me to want to make a pecan pie. I think a dark chocolate pecan pie with caramel would be good.

The bottom dessert is one of my favorite pies, a southern favorite. It was Peanut Butter Pie. It was velvety smooth with a chocolate cookie crust and a chocolate ganache (I think that was was on top. It could have been a layer of harden milk chocolate.)

The best part was when I took a bite from each pie and ate them together. The pecan goo and peanut butter filling complemented each other nicely. I was tempted to lick the plate, but I had to settle with a spoon to catch the drippings as I held up the plate.

I love sweets. There is nothing better than ending a great meal with friends than dessert.

Cookie Sadness

I never knew that a cookie would cause sadness. I found that out on Thursday. Quick side story: At my school we have REBS. It is like homeroom, but we do character ed activities, discussions on topics, and other activities. We stay together all three years until Graduation. This is the year for my REBS kids to graduate. I will miss them greatly.

Now back to the cookie. I wanted to post this earlier, but I have not had time to do so.

I had a knock on my door around 9:45. This would be the time that seniors would be leaving if they exempted a 2nd period exam. The person knocking was one of my REBS kids. She brought me a cookie cake that said "Thank you Mr. Bigby." I almost had to go out of the room. It was on of those moments that always get to me. She wrote me a letter too. These moments are always hard to describe in words. Here's the cake (like I said I wanted to post it earlier, but I had to sample prior to posting. :) I love sweets.)

A Sweet Success

I signed up to take a dessert to our faculty end of the picnic. What to take? Maybe a little coke, a little chocolate and mix it together. That sounds good. I'll make some coke cupcakes (yum)

40 minutes later.....
Now for some frosting. White chocolate buttercream. This would taste good on a peanut butter cake. Or maybe a white chocolate cake with caramel filling. Oh the possibilities.

I got myself a 16" piping bag and a 1M tip for some added style.

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Boom...coke cupcakes with white chocolate buttercream. All dressed up, but nowhere to go.
Look at the rows of white chocolate tastiness. Melts in your mouth as the rich chocolate and coke merge to form a perfect union on the tongue. Maybe a chocolate filling next time.

Mrs. Hallman's Teaching Tips: Ice Cream Lab - Smoothest run ever!

This was from a classmate's blog. Sweet treats and school work. A great combo.

Mrs. Hallman's Teaching Tips: Ice Cream Lab - Smoothest run ever!: Despite a hiccup in one class, where a disgruntled student took a bag of gummi bears for themselves, this was the best year of doing the Ice...

Mission: Graduation Cupcakes....3...2...1

For my REBS students, I threw a party (I'll call it a graduation party.) It was a sad affair. I've been with these students for 3 years. We have had many opportunities learn, laugh, and eat. REBS is a mentor program at my school. We met every other week on Thursday for some housekeeping of important info and character education. Today was our last meeting, but our last office meeting was last week. Of course, that means a graduation celebration was in order. Now that the setting has been given, I made them cupcakes.

It was a southern vanilla cake. See the pic  <-----------. It was cooling in its nifty graduation smiley wrapper. I have too many wrappers. I really do, but that is beside the point. This recipe is an old family recipe that I have slightly customized.

Every time I look at this cupcake, I see it with its muffin body bouncing trying to signal to me to pick it while saying "Oooo me, me. Pick me. I want some icing. Me, me please. Come on." Maybe it was the strong aroma of the vanilla wafting through the kitchen, but I could see it happening.

I chose to ice the cupcakes with a Wilton star tip (number unknown.) I made a vanilla buttercream, which was a little fussy this time. Major rule: You can aways add to, but you can never take out. With these being graduation cupcakes, I added school colors (Rally 'round the grey and blue.) I found an interesting sparkly gel icing I used a drizzle. It added a flavorful taste that enhanced the texture of the buttercream. I topped the cakes with silverly grey sugar. Mission graduation cupcakes complete. The kids loved them.

Funny note: I had one student wanting to buy a couple cakes I had left over. However, those cakes already knew where they would end up ;-)

Cupcakes

Have you ever heard of Gigi's Cupcakes? I found out about this chain in February. They have over 40 cupcakes. Each day is a different assortment. They even have a reward program where you earn points towards free cupcakes. These things are huge. If you are an icing lover, they pile it on. Here is the link:
Gigi's Cupcake

What's for dessert?

This is a new blog. It's purpose is to keep a running of the sweets I run into (or bake myself). From fruity to fatty, it all good. I often find myself drawn to the sweetness that is is dessert. Some things are tasty, something things are amazing nice to look, and somethings lack both. I want to show appreciation to world of desserts. Each post will contain one of the latest sweet treats I have had the pleasure of enjoying. I hope you enjoy. Feel free to comment any desserts, too.

Coming soon: The first treat.