Phyllo Cups with Cream Cheese and Red Pepper Jelly

6 sheets phyllo pastry dough

2 tbsp butter melted

Heat oven to 350

Brush 1 phyllo sheet with melted butter, top with second phyllo sheet and brush top layer with butter as well.

Cut  into 24, 2" squares. Stack 2 squares on an angle to make it 4 sheets thick.

Press stacked squares into a mini muffin tin, to form a "cup" shape. 

Bake 20 minutes, until brown.

Filling

1 pkg cream cheese

3 tbsp sour cream (optional)

red pepper jelly

Option 1: Cut cream cheese into tiny cubes, place one cube in each phyllo cup and top with a little Red Pepper Jelly.

Option 2: Whip cream cheese with 3 tbsp sour cream until smooth. Spoon a little of the filling into each phyllo cup and top with Red Pepper Jelly

Enjoy!

I chose to whip the cream cheese with the sour cream, they were delicious and a huuuge hit

Cocktail Party

I have two very exciting things to share! First one...I'm going to be updating the look of my blog pretty soon! In exchange for planning her Birthday a friend of mine, April,  is going to design a blog banner and a couple buttons for me. Very very excited to see how it all turns out, and so far having a blast doing research for her party. Check out her site HERE!

Exciting piece of news #2....Cocktail Party was awesome! It went smoothly and I think its safe to say everyone had fun. We had A LOT of laughs! Great girls night in for sure! Soo...here it is!

Food Table

This was the main food table, very simple but everyone seemed to love it! So easy to do too, which is always great. 

Starting from the left we had "Sweet & Salty Kettle Popped Popcorn" put into paper cones. I just used scrapbooking paper to make those and found a template online HERE, at another party blog the Hostess with the Mostess! (be sure to look around her site too, she has some pretty cool stuff). 

Next to the popcorn is the Veggie Shots. I had those shot glasses from our wedding a couple years ago, we had a signature shot and decided we would keep a few of the glasses just in case. Glad we did! We purchases them on kijiji originally for fairly cheap. Those "risers" are just empty boxes I kept just for this occasion and wrapped up with matching wrapping paper, just to add a little something to the table.

The label templates I purchased on Etsy for $2, it was my very first Etsy purchase! And I know they will be used many many times! I used them twice on this party alone.

On the next "riser" is the Rocky Road Parfaits I posted the recipe for. Cute and Easy.

In the middle was the Cream Cheese and Red Pepper Jelly Phyllo Cups. They were the fan favorite snack! 

A Must for your next party!

To the far right was the Chocolate Mint Cupcakes With Mint Buttercream. Someone actually thought I ordered them from a bakery!!! I couldn't believe it, the comment made my night for sure. Just below the cupcakes are my favorite Ginger Cookies.

As for the decor on the table...in total it probably cost me less than $10. 

Then I set up a "Bar" area on the kitchen hutch. Again the labels template I purchased on Etsy came in handy for making labels for the Spritzers. Printed them on Scrapbook paper, cut a little slit for ribbon and made a tag. 

Passionate Peach Mango and Sexy Strawberry Kiwi Spritzers for mix or those DD's and Pregnant Ladies. =)  The sexy names because it was a Sexy Girl Party.

I already had these wine glasses, bought them a couple years ago 16 in a box for $20. Steal!! They always come in handy. I also had those drink markers already but I think they were about $9 and you get 12 different Colors. Everyone had their own color so there were no drink mix ups! 

I provided one drink for everyone at the cocktail party Champagne Punch. It was very tasty and long gone by the end of the night.

I forgot to take a picture of the centerpiece I had in the living room where the Sexy Girl Party took place. It was 2 martini glasses with pink jelly beans in the bottom holding up tea lights. Then I had a black feather boa wrapped around the bottom. I had a couple dishes of jelly beans and a veggie tray in the living room as well, for people to pick at during the party. 

All in all it was a success, I had a great time and I hope that everyone that attended did as well. And Thank-You to all the great ladies that attended! xo

Rocky Road Parfait

Today is the day of the Cocktail Party!! So far I've got lots done, so I decided to take a quick lunch break and share this recipe for one of the treats we will be enjoying tonight. 

I found this recipe at Walmart one day, with the Jell-O Pudding, just before Kraft Hockeyville Started. Its called the "post-game celebration" Rocky Road Parfait. Anyway super easy and really cost effective treat for dessert or for a party. 

For the party tonight, I did them in those small disposable wine glasses you can find at the Dollarstore 6 for $1.

Cute little individual size

Rocky Road Parfait

2 c cold milk

1 pkg Instant Chocolate Pudding

1/2 c thawed Cool Whip

Dry Roasted Peanuts, Chopped

Mini Marshmallows

Beat Pudding mix and milk with whisk. Spoon 3/4 c into another bowl, stir in cool whip until blended. Put in the fridge for 5 minutes.

Spoon remaining pudding into the parfait glasses or other dish.

Top with Cool Whip Mixture, refridgerate again for 5 minutes.

Top with peanuts and marshmallows and serve.

Time to get back to setting and cleaning up! Charlee also has a Birthday Party to attend today, Busy  Busy Saturday! Stayed tuned for the entire cocktail party post!

Chocolate Mint Cupcakes with Mint Butter Cream

Oh yes...you read it right! Chocolate Mint Cupcakes! So the other day Bestie J tags me in this random picture of a cupcake on FB. I was confused but she's preggers so I assumed it was a hint for her latest craving. (haha) So I went on the hunt for a recipe, looked at a few different ones online here and there. Guess where I found this one? Good ole faithful Martha Stewart Cupcakes! It is officially my new favorite chocolate cupcake recipe, if you want them plain chocolate simply leave out the mint extract! They were a huge hit with the family last night, so fingers crossed the ladies will enjoy them too. 

Here are the ones I made for tomorrow nights Cocktail Party!

Topped with York Peppermint Patties

Just use your favorite chocolate cake recipe and add about a tsp of peppermint extract to the batter before spooning into a lined baking pan.

When my cupcakes came out of the oven looking like this I was SO excited!

So once your cupcakes are all cooked and cooled you can eat them as is, or do like I did and pipe Wilton's Buttercream on them using a large star tip. I added about 1/4 tsp of peppermint extract and tinted my icing "mint" green. 

Using a knife dipped in HOT water I carefully cut each Peppermint Pattie into 1/4's and stuck it into the side of the icing. Yummmm!

Cookie Pops

I've been wanting to attempt "Cake Pops" for awhile now so I've been looking up different ideas, different recipes and finally on the weekend I picked up the rest of the stuff I needed to make them.(check back for that post)

Then in one of my brainstorming sessions I remembered that I made a giant batch of cookie dough and froze some....COOKIE POPS! People make those, right? They would be super cute for the cocktail party if they worked, and would be cute for my daughters baton twirling class as a little treat. Get the true kid opinion!

Before they were decorated!

Add some chocolate ...

Finished Product, Wrapped up with a Ribbon.

Now to get back to making paper cones, and labels for the weekend! Busy Busy!!

Homemade Marshmallows!

Hello Again!

So I've been wanting to try this recipe for awhile! Last night I had nothing to blog about and nothing to do, so I took out the recipe and my mixer and went to town. If your good at multitasking this is a very easy and quick recipe, it turned out great. 

With that being said I'm not one to sit and eat marshmallows so I would only make these again if I was using them in another recipe, or for a treat for the kids. I would suggest trying dipping them in chocolate, or adding a fruity extract instead of vanilla that would make them more appealing. 

My other tip is to be VERY quick when your putting them in the pan have a spatula or icing spreader ready to smooth them out. Mine turned out all funky on the top because I wasn't quick enough, so I added colored sugar to make it look a little bit better. So...here it is!

Marshmallow Recipe

1/2 c Sugar

1 tsp Vanilla (or other extract if you prefer)

1 tsp corn syrup 

1/3 c water

2 packs of unflavored gelatin (2 tbsp)

1/3 c water

1 egg white

icing sugar for dusting

Prepare your 8x8 pan, line with parchment paper and dust with icing sugar.

Combine sugar, vanilla, corn syrup, 1/3 c water  in small saucepan, Stir over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Stop stirring and boil until it reaches 240 on a candy thermometer, about 8 minutes. 

In a heat proof bowl dissolve gelatin in 1/3 c water.

In your mixer bowl, whip one egg white until it forms soft peaks.

( right now you should have 2 bowls and 1 pot all with differnt steps, see what I meant about the multi tasking)

Once the sugar reaches temp, pour into the gelatin and water mixture and stir. Allow to cool for 3-4 minutes. With your mixer running, pour into egg white in a slow steady stream.

Whip until stiff peaks form and then QUICKLY pour into parchment lined dish and spread with a spatula to flatten. Refrigerate for 2 hours. Cut into squares. To store use an airtight container with parchment between layers of the marshmallows.

What it should look like before pouring into your pan.

I added a little purple food coloring to mine just for kicks. They should be smooth on top if you pour them quick, i waited too long and they started to set up. Oops!

Now you can use your marshmallows on hot chocolate, in Rice Krispie squares or Smores! If you do try this recipe please post a comment and let me know how they turned out and what you plan to use them for.

Sugar Cookie Recipe

As promised here is the sugar cookie recipe!

Sugar Cookies

 1 c sugar 

1 c icing sugar

1 c Butter 

(not margarine or you'll end up fighting with it...believe me)

1 c vegetable oil

2 eggs 

1 tsp bk soda

1 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp vanilla (or lemon extra is yummy too)

4 c + 1 tbsp  AP Flour

1 tsp salt

Whip sugars, eggs, oil and butter together. Add dry ingredients. Mix until incorporated. 

Roll out on floured surface, and cut with favorite cookie cutter.

 Bake for 10 minutes @ 350 

Traditionally Decorated with Royal Icing but you can use  any other kind you have left over and it will taste just as good.

Royal Icing Recipe (with egg whites)

2 egg whites

2 tsp lemon juice

3 c icing sugar

beat egg whites, add lemon juice and icing sugar.