Other Featured Dabbled Projects

Very cool huh? This isn’t even the favorite cake I’ve ever made (I think the dragon cake is even cuter) but he does hold a special place in my heart! See the how-to on making the robot cake, plus matching invitations and such for a Dabbled inspired Robot Party! LINK TO MSNBC article

Twitter It!

Here’s a great idea for cake or cupcake decorating, using tootsie rolls! They come in all kinds of wonderful colors now… My friend Grieg made these (apparently he’s not just a great photographer, but a great cook as well), and was generous enough to show us how!  You can see some of his other creations at Foodwhirl, too!   (Like the Cheesecake Cookie Cupcakes, and Chocolate Hearts)

How to Make Tootsie-Roses

#gallery-1 {
margin: auto;
}
#gallery-1 .gallery-item {
float: left;
margin-top: 10px;
text-align: center;
width: 50%; }
#gallery-1 img {
border: 2px solid #cfcfcf;
}
#gallery-1 .gallery-caption {
margin-left: 0;
}

Trust me.. you want to try this. Homemade Guinness Icecream topped with Bailey’s and Irish Whiskey. Trust me on the Guinness ice-cream too, if you’re going “eww, beer!??”.
Perfect for St. Patty’s! As promised yesterday, I wrote up the whole thing. Read the whole story on the making of, over at Foodwhirl.

Twitter It!

Today I’m over a Foodwhirl, posting my recipe for White Chocolate & Ginger granola bars.. Go check it out!

My husband and son eat a granola bar for breakfast almost daily, and while I’m always stocked on the store bought ones, sometimes I like to make them from scratch. It’s an easy process — very kid-helping-friendly, too. And it takes an hour at most from start to finish (including 25 minutes bake time)
The variations on these are endless. I actually made 3 different flavors in this batch, 1 Chocolate Chip, 1 White Chocolate, and 1 Ginger/White Chocolate, but the ones that…

Dabbled LOVES Hello Naomi (aka Naomi Henderson), a favorite cupcake maker from Down Under! (Read the Dabbled Interview with her)

We’ve features her fabulous work here before (here, and here), and she has graciously given us a tutorial on how to make some lovely V-day cupcakes.

See below for

• The Vanilla Cupcake recipe
• How to Decorate them

(a few translations from us Yanks, to the best of my ability: Icing Sugar = Powdered Sugar.  Castor Sugar = a superfine sugar, which you can purchase in speciality stores here in the states, or make by pulsing regular sugar in a food processor or coffee grinder)

I’ve included…

I’m visiting over at Dollar Store Crafts today, sharing my Flax-seed Brittle Hearts that I made for my sweetie for valentines day… So pop on over there and get the recipe and the directions!

Observant readers will remember I tried (and failed!) at something similar last year..

Twitter It!

Here is a fun little idea I came up with last year, a cute valentines (or anytime) gift for a little girl. A stacked felt heart or flower pin.

This was inspired by the fact that kids grow out of clothes so fast, and while I was going to make a shirt or dress with a heart applique, instead I decided to make this pin (and a few others) so they could be used for a longer time. This looks adorable pinned on a dress or jacket, and would even work pinned to a hair elastic for a cute hair accessory.

You…

My latest party recipe: Sweet Potato Mini-Tarts.

I got rave reviews on my sweet potato casserole with cranberry-macadamia topping at Christmas, so I decided to adapt the recipe for use as a mini party dessert / appetizer. Last week I gave you the run down on making the tartlet shells… they were very easy and inexpensive to make, but if you’re pressed for time, you can use any type of pre-made appetizer shells for this recipe.
The same ideas can of course be adapted for other types of mini-pies, but I’ll tell you these were certainly a hit at this weekend’s gathering!

So,…

My after-christmas White Elephant Party is this weekend, and I thought I’d share a little of the party preparations with you today.

First off, if you’ve never done a White Elephant Party, they are a lot of fun… I try to do one every year, and this year –since my December was so busy– it’s happening after the holidays. In fact, a White Elephant is a great *after* the holidays party since people probably received one or two things that they could stand to regift! A White Elephant (also called a Yankee…

For a party this weekend, I decided to make some little pies for appetizers.. You’ll have to wait til later this week to see what I fill them with, but here is how I made the tart shells… so easy, and inexpensive!

These can be used for small appetizers (anything you’d do with phyllo shells, for example) or mini desserts.

You’ll need:

• mini sized muffin pan(s) – My muffin pan is non-stick so I didn’t use any cooking spray or anything.
• Either a cookie cutter, or juice glass to cut out your rounds. This juice glass was about 2 inches in diameter, and…