Uncategorized

I made these airplane sugar cookies for a friend’s baby shower last weekend.  They take a little time, but they turned out cute!  I’ve experimented with a few different sugar cookie recipes, and this one is definitely the best at keeping it’s shape. 

Sugar Cookies (via cakecentral.com)
6 cups flour
3 tsp. baking powder
2 cups unsalted butter
2 cups sugar (white granulated)
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract or desired flavoring (I like almond myself)
1 tsp. salt

Instructions

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix well. Mix dry ingredients and add a little at a time to butter mixture. Mix until flour is completely incorporated and the dough comes together.  Chill for 1 to 2 hours.

Cut cookies and place on greased cookie sheet.  Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes.
Once your cookies are completely cooled, you can frost them.  I like to ice a border of royal icing around the edge of my cookies so that I don’t have run-off.  It gives the cookie a crisp, professional look.

Royal Icing
3 large egg whites
1 lb. confectioner’s sugar
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar

Beat egg whites with cream of tartar until they reach the soft peak stage.  Add confectioner’s sugar, a little at a time, until stiff peaks form.

 
To ice your cookies, fill a zippered sandwich bag with icing and cut a little off the corner.  Frost your border and allow a few minutes for the icing to harden.  Finally,  you’ll want to fill in your cookie with regular icing.  I put about 2 cups of confectioner’s sugar in a bowl and add a little milk until I get my desired consistency (not runny, but not stiff).  Fill another sandwich bag with this icing, snip the corner of the bag, and fill the cookie.  To get an even consistency, use a toothpick or your (clean) pinky finger to spread the icing. 
Once this has set up, you can add any extra details with royal icing.  All of these icings can be tinted by adding food coloring. 

I really love a beautiful cookie!  Here’s some more from around the web.

 

Credits:

• Baby shower cookies are from Glory of Glorious Treats
• Star cookies are from Eleni’s New York

Don’t forget to enter our Giveaway this week!

Whitney

 

 

 

I designed this amazing confectionary dream for my daughter’s 10th birthday party. Thank heavens I own a wedding facility with all of the trays, jars, centerpieces, and a personal pastry chef! To be perfectly honest, I don’t bake worth a darn so my sister, the pastry chef, made the AMAZING cake, and my husband made the mini brownies and cupcakes. I bought all of the candy at the dollar store. I would honestly hire out Tables by WhipperBerry to do this for your next event instead of “do-it-yourself”. It’s not as easy as it looks. The investment in the hardware alone would be astronomical!

   

My daughter and her friends were extremely impressed, well as much as 10 year olds can be. But then came the sugar high and the sugar crash… did I mention it was a sleepover for nine little girls?! What was I thinking? This was truly a sacrifice of love. Maybe next year I’ll just buy her an i-Pad and call it a day…

Erin

I had been madly working on getting things together for the packaging for WhipperBerry Photography, when I stumbled upon this tasty little morsel:

 

 My creative mind went into overdrive.  Oh, the things I could do with this fun new idea (well, at least new to me.)  I placed my order right then and there.  I had to have MY Divine Twine A.S.A.P. 

I placed my order on Monday and (surprise!) received my precious twine on Wednesday.  I was floored!  Who has service like that these days?! Immediately I started crafting a very heartfelt thank you letter to the wonderful people at Whisker Graphics (the makers of Divine Twine.)  It wasn’t too much later when I received a response from Whitney at Whisker Graphics who then offered to host WhipperBerry’s first Giveaway!!

Check out what you can do with this stuff…

Isn’t that just scrumptious!

Whitney has offered one roll (240 yards) of Divine Twine to one very lucky WhipperBerry reader.  Here are the four ways that you may enter to win…

1. Go to Whisker Graphics, and try to decide which one of these delicious colors is your favorite.  Then return to WhipperBerry and leave a comment telling us your color selection.
2. Become a follower of WhipperBerry and the Whisker Graphics Blog.  Return to WhipperBerry and leave a comment letting us know you are now a “Follower.”  If you are already a follower, leave a comment letting us know.
3. Become a Fan of WhipperBerry on Facebook.  Again, return to WhipperBerry and leave a comment letting us know that you are a fan.  If you are already a fan, leave a comment and let us know.
4. Tell a friend about WhipperBerry and then leave a comment with the first name of the friend or friends who you Whipperfied!

You may enter four times per person.  Entries must be received by 11:00 pm (PST) on Thursday, August 5, 2010.  Open to US & Canadian residents only.             

Friday, August 6th we will announce the winner who will be selected by random.org. 

Good Luck everyone!

Heather

The brief history behind these delights is quite simple. I had a party coming up and decided I wanted to serve stuffed tomatoes. I had never made them before (actually, to be quite honest, I didn’t know anyone who had ever made them before) but I loved the idea, and thought they would fit my theme perfectly. But I didn’t have a recipe, so I went on a hunt. I searched the internet, and sure enough, in seconds I had hundreds of stuffed tomato recipes to choose from. I narrowed it down to certain ingredients, and started reading them all. I soon found I was disappointed. I couldn’t find the perfect combination that epitomized my taste, or my party. I wanted something simple (that seemed obvious to me since stuffed tomatoes aren’t usually your main course, so why would you want to spend all day preparing your appetizer? – DUH!) and something that sounded delicious. Apparently this was too much to ask. So I abandoned the internet and set out to make the perfect stuffed tomato. Based on the reviews I have received on these little beauties I think I did it! The only challenge I find is not eating them all before the company comes.

These are so simple there are only three real components:

The Tomato:

Okay, so I know it’s tradition to use cherry tomatoes for appetizers, but I have issues with that concept. First of all, that’s a lot of work for the tiny bite of food that you get, and second, there are better tomatoes out there. Oh don’t get me wrong, I love cute diminutive cherry tomatoes on top of my salad as much as the next girl but when used as a standalone food there are tastier options.

Personally, I love the vine ripened Campari tomato. They average about the size of a golf ball, so they are good for two or three good bites. The larger size also makes them easier to empty and re-stuff. Campari’s are juicy, and have a higher sugar level than other tomatoes. This makes them sweeter and less acidic. Their deep red color is gorgeous, and they aren’t overly farinaceous, or mealy in texture, which is a plus for me. I think they are absolutely perfect! And you can get lucky sometimes and find them at Sams and Costco. Yay!

The Mozzarella:

Mozzarella is mozzarella, right? Well yes, and no. I don’t think it matters much which brand you choose, just pick your favorite. I use low-moisture part-skim, because that’s what I like. As much as I love fresh mozzarella, I opted out for this recipe due to flavor and texture. What I did find that makes a big difference, however, is dicing the cheese. Chopping the mozzarella into small cubes instead of grating it allows for a richer flavor and creamier texture.

The Pesto:

This is where the “simple” comes in. You can slave all day making your own pesto, or you can find a great sauce already made. That’s what I do, shh! I’ve tried a dozen different pesto sauces, some of them imported directly from Italy, but believe it or not I found one that rivals the best of them right in my own Sams Club! The Members Mark brand is beautiful. It is made modestly with good ingredients: olive oil, basil, romano and parmesan cheeses, garlic and pine nuts. Delicious!

So what made me think of this triple combination? I don’t know, except I recognized that with these three you couldn’t go wrong!

The Recipe:

1 ½ cups diced mozzarella

¾ cup pesto

2 lbs. (aprox. 20) Campari tomatoes

Salt

Core the tomatoes with a small melon baller or fruit corer. Rinse out the seeds and sprinkle salt into the tomatoes. Turn upside down onto a paper towel, and refrigerate until filling is ready. This gives them time to drain and the salt helps eliminate excess moisture. Mix the pesto with the mozzarella, and use a baby spoon to fill the tomatoes. Serve immediately or refrigerate beforehand. Mangia! Enjoy.

Emily