Cameo Charm

Sometimes when I know I have a challenging day ahead of me I look to my jewellery box and pull out my good luck charm.

A few years ago my grandmother surprised me with this broach, which she received from her father when she was a teenager. My great-grandfather found the broach on the street one day while walking home from work. When he couldn't locate its original owner he gave it to my grandmother. Knowing how much I love cameos, my grandmother passed this broach on to me and it has become one of the most cherished pieces in my jewellery box.

I love the history behind this piece and I love how happy I feel while wearing it. This little piece of jewellery has become something like a secret weapon. Whenever I feel like I could use a little bit of a boost to make it through a particularly challenging day I put on my cameo broach and smile!

Do you have a favourite good luck charm? If you do, let me know what it is in the comments below.

♥

Sweet Treat Sunday: Oreo Surprise Cupcakes

I made these cupcakes to bring to a potluck dinner at my brother and sister-in-law's place this weekend and they were a huge hit! To create these sweet treats I used two recipes from a pair of cookbooks my mom gave me when I got married.

The inspiration for these cupcakes came from my Philadelphia Best Loved Recipes cookbook, I just swapped out the recipe for the chocolate cake with one from my Bride & Groom: First and Forever Cookbook.

If you want to make these yourself, I've listed the recipes below.

Mini OREO Surprise Cupcakes

Philadelphia Best Loved Recipes Cookbook

Ingredients
1 pkg chocolate cake mix (I used the recipe below instead)
1 pkg (8.oz) of Philadelphia cream cheese, softened
1 egg
2 tbsp. sugar
1 package of mini OREO bite size chocolate sandwich cookies
1 1/2 cups thawed Cool Whip whipped topping (I used Cool Whip in a can)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix the cake batter and set aside. Mix together the cream cheese, egg and sugar.

2. Spoon the cake batter into lined cupcake pans, filling each liner only half way. Next top each with a heaping teaspoon of the cream cheese mixture and 1 cookie, then cover evenly with remaining cake batter.

3. Bake the cupcakes for 18 -22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centers comes out clean. Allow the cupcakes to cool in the pans for 5 minutes and then transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling. Once cooled top each cupcake with the whipped topping and another cookie.

Shhh Don't Tell - Chocolate Fudge Birthday Cake

Bride & Groom First and Forever Cookbook

Ingredients
1 box devil's food cake mix
1 cup water
3 eggs
1/3 cup corn oil
1/3 cup sour cream (I used yogurt instead)
2 tsps vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

Combine cake mix and all ingredients except the chocolate chips in a bowl using an electric mixer. Beat on low speed until combined and the mixture is smooth. Transfer the mix to the pan of your choice and bake at 350 degrees for 18 -25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

3 Chip Chocolate Chip Cookies

These yummy chocolate chip cookies were created using a mixture of leftover white chocolate, butterscotch and semi-sweet chocolate chips I had in my pantry. If you want to bake a batch of these 3 Chip Chocolate Chip Cookies yourself see my recipe below.

 Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon cornstarch

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 egg

½ cup of butter (un-salted)

½ cup granulated sugar

½ cup packed brown sugar

1 cup of chocolate chip mix (mix of white chocolate, semi –sweet and butterscotch chips)

¼  cup shredded coconut (sweetened)

½ cup toasted walnuts

Directions 

In a mixing bowl cream together butter and sugar then add the egg and vanilla extract.

In a separate bowl mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and corn starch.

Gradually add the dry ingredients to the butter, sugar, egg and vanilla mixture until completely combined.

Stir in the chocolate chips, coconut and toasted walnuts.

Roll dough into golf sized balls and bake on a non-stick baking sheet for 10 minutes at 375 degrees. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 3 minutes, then remove cookies from sheet and finish cooling them on a wire rack for an additional 10 minutes.

Pour a tall glass of milk and enjoy!

Watermelon Sugar Cookies

Watermelon sugar cookies? That was Mr. D’s question when he saw me baking up these sweet treats last weekend.

I quickly explained that there are plenty of excuses to make sugar cookies in the Fall (Halloween & Thanksgiving), Winter (Christmas andValentine’s Day), and Spring (Easter), and that a reason to bake up a batch of these yummy treats in the summer was long over-due!

These cookies make the perfect dessert for a summer BBQ or picnic! They stand up well to the heat, they don’t require any prep before serving, and can be easily transport in Tupperware!

If you want to create these cute and yummy cookies yourself here are the steps I followed.

1. Make a batch of your favourite sugar cookie dough
2. Roll out your dough and cut out circles using a circle cookie cutter.
3. Slice your cut out circles in half  to create a half moon shape – I used a pizza cutter to make my cuts.
4. Bake your cookies and cool them on a wire rack.
5. While your cookies are cooling whip up some icing – I used a recipe I found online and let me tell you it definitely lives up to the reviews!
6. Colour your icing with food colouring.
7. Fill some pastry bags with your coloured icing
8. Decorate your cookies with the icing! I used piping and flooding techniques to create the watermelon effect on my cookies.If you need a tutorial you can find a bunch of really great ones on YouTube.