Strawberry Jam

I have memories as a kid of my Mom making homemade strawberry jam. We would have waffles for dinner with fresh strawberries. Then ice cream for dessert with still warm jam poured over the top. Since I live across the country from my Mom, I can't have her make me jam anymore. So, I made my own. I thought it would be really hard. I was surprised. It is a lot of work, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I burned myself several times, and made a huge mess in the kitchen but, I am glad I did this. This is how I made my jam. There are other ways, but this is how I did it.

Ingredients:
1 Package of Pectin
4 Pints of Strawberries
7 Cups of Sugar
10 8oz jars

Directions:
* Wash jars, lids and bands. Dry off bands.
* Wash, and cut stems off of strawberries





* Mash strawberries with potato masher (the recipe said do one cup at a time, I did like 4 cups! Oops!). You should have 5 cups total mashed.





* Add the pectin to the strawberries and place in large sauce pan



* Bring the strawberries to a rolling boil (where the boiling doesn't stop even if you stir it).
* Quickly add the sugar, stirring constantly. Bring back to roiling boil. Boil for one minute



* Meanwhile boil water. Pour some over lids in small sauce pan. Pour rest into glass jars to get them hot. If you don't, they will break.



* After minute of boiling, pour water out of jar, and ladle in jam. Leave some room at top.
* Place lid and rim on jar. Do not tighten the rim all the way.
* Let jam cool and seal. The jars are sealed when they "pop" and you cannot push the lid in.
* I saved some for ice cream! :) ENJOY!

Finished Product


My Mess!


A little hard work pays off!

Strawberry Champagne Cupcakes

I love champagne. And strawberries. And cupcakes. I just don't know why it took me so long to make this recipe. I originally found it on Betty Crocker, but couldn't find it there again. But this one did the trick. They were delicious!! We loved them. I made them for my cousin to celebrate her birthday, so I had to make the frosting bright pink!!



Here is the recipe:
Sweet Pink Strawberry Champagne Cupcake Recipe

* 1 box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® strawberry cake mix
* 1 1/4 cups champagne, (The original recpie used a Red Sparkling Wine - Cinzano Brachetto d’Acqui, I used Domaine St. Michelle which is our favorite)
* 1/3 cup vegetable oil
* 3 egg whites

Champagne Frosting

* 1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
* 4 cups powdered sugar
* 1/4 cup champagne
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 4 to 5 drops red food coloring

Garnish
Pink decorator sugar crystals
Edible pink pearls

Directions:

* Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Place paper baking cup in each of 24 regular-size muffin cups.
* In large bowl, combine dry cake mix and champagne. Add oil, eggs. Beat with electric mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups.
* Bake 17 to 22 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pan to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.
* In medium bowl, beat frosting ingredients with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Frost cupcakes. Sprinkle with pink sugar or pearls.

CHEERS!!!

Happy 2nd Birthday Hadlie!

Last year I helped my Sister in Law with my nieces first birthday cake, a lady bug on a bed of grass. It was pretty darn cute! But Hadlie, my niece, wanted nothing to do with her first birthday cake. In fact, she cried. I knew I couldn't take it personally, after all, I did make her first chocolate chip cookie, and she LOVED it!

So, I was asked to make the cake for this years birthday. A purse cake. It had to be pink, inside and out. So I made a strawberry cake, and white chocolate butter cream icing from Wilton. I was so happy with the flavor, unlike my Valentines Day cupcakes. But the recipe says to melt the chocolate with the milk, I did that. It smelled awful. So I tried again, and just mixed it in with the melted white chocolate...much better! Anyways, I made a 2 buckle with pink candy melts, and the handle out of white fondant. Yup, I used fondant. Ok, just a tiny bit of the pre-made stuff, but I was so happy with how easy it was to use!

The purse was more challenging than I thought..but that is because I didn't crumb coat it...what was I thinking?

Well, Hadlie didn't even want to TRY the purse cake. No bright pink frosting. No pink cake. Nothing. Just shook her head at it.

BUT! I had made some cupcakes with the extra cake batter. And well...Hadlie liked that! Especially the frosting.

I am happy that my first Purse cake turned out so well...despite a few setbacks!



I think she was a little unsure...


"CHEESE"