happy 25th birthday meggie!!

here's a little shout out to my little sister meggie who turned 25 this past week... awww... she's all grown up... so naturally i had to bust out a crazy fantastic cake...
so here's her cake... compliments of me :) and i must say, i captured meggie perfectly...

from her distressed jeans, her raybans, her abercrombie fashion scarf, her camera and her livestrong bracelet... and not only that... she's sitting atop a starbucks cup... just so you know, half of my sisters blood is made up of caramel macchiato...

look at that girl... what a cutie!
and here's the base of the cake... a medal in the livestrong colors... you see, my sister has run and beatsed 5 marthons already... that was a huge goal of hers... 5 marathons under the age of 25... she ran 2 in new york, 1 in boston, 1 in chicago and 1 in seattle... so proud of her!

and here are the cupcakes... i used a new recipe from booze cakes (awesome book!!), the yummy and pretty champagne cake... it was really, really good :) although i didn't add the champagne to the frosting, i just kept it a simple vanilla buttercream... and i thought they complimented each other really nicely (i'll post the recipe soon)

happy 25th birthday to my sister and best friend meggie... and as always happy baking :)

salted peanut butter rice krispie treat ice-cream sandwiches... i'm outta breath with this title

so... i whipped up a batch of yummy rice krispie treats last night, and to my dismay they came out a little on the dense side... still tasty, but a little thick... these were not the treats i was in the mood for... and i don't get it... i followed the directions, and i hardly patted these suckers down into the pan (i used gentle fingers.. hehe)... but they still came out pretty solid...

oh what to do with a huge batch of salty-gooey-peanut buttery-crispy goodness... and you all know about rice krispie treats, after one day they start to turn towards the dark side... so... i started to rack my little noodle... hmmm... i could throw them out... or i could eat the whole batch and slip away quietly into a sugar coma... or... i could be transform these suckers into something else... but what... hmmm...

then bingo! an idea slapped me across the face... i could just cut them in half and smush some vanilla bean ice cream between them... genius idea... nowhere near original, but genius all the same... and that was that... and let me just say... these were awesome...

peanut butter rice krispie treat recipe (adapted from smitten kitchen):
ingredients:
1 stick unsalted butter, plus extra for buttering the pan
1 10-ounce bag marshmallows
Heaping 1/4 teaspoon coarse sea salt
3/4 cup of creamy peanut butter
6 cups rice krispies cereal (about half a 12-ounce box)

1. butter 8-inch square cake pan with 2-inch sides
2. in a large pot, melt butter until browned over medium-low heat, stir frequently, scraping up any bits from the bottom as you do...as soon as the butter takes on a nutty color, turn the heat off and stir in the marshmallows... the residual heat from the melted butter should be enough to melt them, but if it is not, turn it back on low until the marshmallows are smooth
3. once all the marshmallows are smooth, stir in the peanut butter until fully incorporated
4. remove the pot from the stove and stir in the salt and cereal together
5. quickly spread into prepared pan, and gently press into the pan evenly


and here they are in their au' naturale state... pretty good looking i think... :)

happy baking everyone!