I threw together a little cake to celebrate the Fourth of July. I needed an excuse to try a new (to me, at least) technique to color wafer paper and I am quite pleased with the results. I wanted intense colors so I applied undiluted candy colors with a paint brush (for food only, of course) to the wafer paper. The paper curled slightly at the edges while drying so I placed the papers under a piece of foam to lightly hold them flat for the first 24 hours. The colors never completely dried but after a few days were just slightly oily feeling with limited color transfer. The colors were very intense and I am pleased with the results. The paper remained pliable until I sandwiched wires between two petals/stars and moistened to stick together, trapping the wire between the pieces. I used 22 gauge wire wrapped in white floral tape and a few of Wilton's premade stamens for the center of the flower.
Blueberry Ginger Fourth of July Cake
I used a boxed gluten-free cake mix and doctored it up with an extra egg, milk instead of water, and butter in lieu of oil. I added a teaspoon or so of ground ginger, a tablespoon of grated fresh ginger and a half cup of finely chopped candied ginger into the mix. I folded in a cup of fresh blueberries right before dividing equally between three 6 inch cake pans and baked until a knife came out clean.
Blueberry Ginger Fourth of July Cake
I brightened up some cream cheese frosting with a little lemon extract, lemon juice, and fresh grated lemon rind. This was spread between each layer and around the outside. After frosting I placed three big straws to support the height of the layers and added two straws in a shorter length for the flower stem wire and for the star wire bundles. The straws were purchased from Amazon and are meant for thick drinks so are much wider then typical straws. A quick and easy way to help celebrate the Fourth!
My step-daughter was married recently and as part of the celebration she asked me to make some decorated sugar cookies. As I was short on time and the cookies needed to be made with certain allergens in mind, I had the cookies made by Dee's Bakery in Glastonbury, CT. They are a wheat free, dairy free bakery and they were willing to work with my cookie cutters.
I used the SugarVeil heart mold and Sugar Dress Confectionery Lace Mix to make 40 heart shapes. Luckily, I was able to make regular royal icing with powdered sugar and Wilton's meringue powder. However, my step-daughter cannot have red dye 40, so I used blue gel color and beet root powder to color the royal icing purple, one of the colors of the wedding. I found beet root powder at Amazon and felt it dissolved well in the icing. As as aside, I used the beet root powder to color wafer paper and found it to be very grainy in that situation.
I have since thought the beet root powder could likely be ground down further for that particular application.
After letting the royal icing dried firm I dampened a lace heart and applied it immediately to a cookie. I used white royal icing to pipe details into the hearts, making each one distinctly different. No two are exactly the same. These cookies were a real treat to decorate and were well received by all. I look forward to the next cookies decorated with Dress Lace.
Need a quick Valentines Day gift for your low carb eating loved one?
Make a quick batch of Butter Pecan Shortbread Cookies, throw together a simple origami box, tie with a ribbon and you have a gift fit for royalty.
These cookies will remind you of the beloved Pecan
Sandies ... but without the carbs! It is very hard not to
eat the whole batch all in one afternoon!
Yield: 38Author: Black Bears and Bumble BeesPin it
Low Carb Butter Pecan Cookies
A delicious Pecan Sandy like shortbread cookie for all low carb, keto friendly people.
prep time: 15 MINScook time: 15 MINStotal time: 30 mins
ingredients:
Ingrediants
1/2 cup butter - Kerry Unsalted
1/2 cup sugar substitute - Lakanto Monkfruit Golden
2 cups almond flour - Bob's Red Mill
2 tablespoons coconut flour - Nuts.com
1 teaspoon vanilla - Aldis
1/2 cup chopped toasted almonds - Aldis
instructions
Mix together room temperature butter and sugar until fluffy. Add all other ingredients except pecans and mix until combined. Add pecans and mix until combined. Roll out to 1/3" thick and cut out with cutter of your choice. Place 1" apart on silicone sheet or parchment paper on baking sheet. Bake for 14 to 15 minutes at 325 degrees until bottom edges are golden.
notes
I have listed the name brands for the ingredients I used but please use whatever brands you have available/prefer. You may need to recalculate your calories/carbs/etc accordingly. Nutrition is based on one cookie. Makes 38 approximately 2" x 1.5" cookies.
I found some mason jars at a local flea market earlier this month and decided $9.00 for 12 jars was worth the money. I knew I could use them for Christmas food gifts if nothing else. But first I decided I would use them on our front walk for Trick or Treat night. $12 in glow sticks from Amazon and a couple dollars worth of spiders and spider webs from Walmart and here we are -
It only took me a few minutes to put everything together once I had the items assembled. I waited until it was almost dark, broke the glow sticks, wrapped the spider wed around the glow sticks, added a spider to each side of the roll and and inserted into the jar. I hope everyone had a great Halloween!
