Banana Cream Pie for the Lactose Intolerant

My son is lactose intolerant, so I've been trying a few recipes using lactaid instead of milk or cream. Here is one that turned out really yummy - Lactaid Banana Cream Pie!



Ingredients
1 9-inch pie shells, baked
3 cups Lactaid
3/4 cup white sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt 3 egg yolks, slightly beaten
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 bananas Directions
Have baked 9-inch pie shell ready (I used a store bought and cooked it at 400 degrees for 10 minutes.
Meringue:
4 egg whites
6 tablespoons white sugar

Directions
1. In a large saucepan, scald the Lactaid.
2. In another saucepan, combine the sugar, flour and salt; gradually stir in the scalded Lactaid.
3. Over medium heat, stirring constantly, cook until thickened.
4. Cover and, stirring occasionally, cook for two minutes longer.
5. In a small bowl, have the 3 egg yolks, slightly beaten, ready; stir a small amount of the hot mixture into beaten yolks; when thoroughly combined, stir yolks into hot mixture.
6. Cook for one minute longer, stirring constantly.
7. Remove from heat and blend in the butter and vanilla.
8. Let sit until lukewarm.
9. When ready to pour, slice bananas and scatter in pie shell; pour warm mixture over bananas.
10. For meringue -In a large glass or metal bowl, whip egg whites until foamy. Add sugar gradually, and continue to whip until stiff peaks form. Spread meringue over pie, sealing the edges at the crust. Like this:

11. Bake in preheated oven (350 degrees) for 10 minutes, or until meringue is golden brown

Happy Birthday Brenda!

It's my friend Brenda's birthday, and I was very excited to make this fun little cake for her!



It's also my first cake using the new Wilton Sugar Sheets! They were fun and easy to use and the zebra print is pretty cute! I surrounded the cake with glitter cake balls which are triple chocolate - yum!




Happy Birthday, Brenda!

A Father's Day Poem for my Dad

Days go by and we're so far apart
But I can always remember from the start
Where I came from and who I am
And you being there to guide my hand



I've learned a lot from all you do
and here's five things that I got from you



5. You taught me never buy retail
Patience is a virtue and it'll go on sale.



4. I learned to tie a windsor knot (because "it's the best")
And, a girl who can tie a man's tie is a little cooler than the rest.



3. I can catch and fillet a fish
Then fry it up for a yummy fried fish dish.



2. Work hard to become, work hard for your dreams
Believe it or not, they're always closer than it seems.



And, finally, #1 is family is always 1st because they are your heart and home
And right or wrong they've got your back and you're never alone.



My Dad and I are so different - not too much the same
Now that I'm married, I even have a different last name.



You play piano - I sing a song




You sport a comb-over, my hair is long.



You're my Daddy and I'll always be your baby girl

Now I pause cuz I can't think of any more.

You are strong and so am I
We're both friendly and also shy
You believe in me and I in you
You have a temper and me too
Both of us favor the color blue
Blue like the eyes we also share
And, Hey! We also have the same color hair
You are competative just like me
We can both plan trips to a tee
When we play, we both want to win the game
Not so many differences when we're so much the same.


And, there's one thing more that I know is true
and, that's that I know you're proud of me and I of you.


Happy Father's Day, Dad! I love you!

My Dad's new painting

My Dad loves fishing and taught me to be a little fisher lady as well. His birthday is tomorrow and of course, Father's Day is the following day, and I wanted to make something special for him, because he always said homemade gifts mean so much more than store bought gifts! So, for his birthday, I painted a picture of his favorite salt water fish as well as a couple of fancy ones:)

I call it "Catch of the Day"





I hope he likes it!!

Cakes Since I've Been Gone

I've done a few cakes in the past year that I'd like to share:

Here is a Christian Louboutin Shoebox Cake that I made for a friend's 40th Birthday Party.



The cake is a Strawberry Champagne Cake

Ingredients:
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup butter 1 1/2 cups white sugar
3/4 cup champagne
6 egg whites

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter a 10 inch round cake pan.
2. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until very light and fluffy. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together, and then blend into creamed mixture alternately with champagne.
3. In a large clean bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold 1/3 of the whites into batter to lighten it, then fold in remaining egg whites. Pour into prepared pan.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

The Icing was just regular buttercream and I added some chopped strawberries in between each layer and it was so good. The shoe is a replica of Sex in the City's gold sparkle shoe that Carrie wears in the movie!



I bought a candy mold of a high heel shoe then painted red chocolate at the bottom and then poured in poured in gold pearl dust into the mold followed by off white chocolate, and then let it harden in the fridge. I then made white chocolate covered strawberries and sprinkled them with gold dust as well. All in all, I'm pretty happy with the results.





Twilight Cake
I was pretty pressed for time with this cake, so I made a store bought cake, covered it with buttercream, and then painted the cover of the Twilight book on top with chocolate. I added a few strawberries and Wal-lah - the birthday cake was complete!




Kiddos' Birthday Cakes
My sweet daughter could not decide which princess she wanted for her birthday cake, so we represented all of them - complete with a melted jolly rancher magic carpet for Jasmine! Can you pick out all the princesses?







On my daughter's actual birthday, I made pink butterfly cupcakes, from Hello Cupcake





For My son's birthday - we did a Toy Story 3 Cake; which was perfect b/c Toy Story 3 was just coming out AND my son was turning 3 - how perfect is that!





And, for his actual birthday, we did Spiderman Cupcakes! The cupcakes were red velvet and the icing was tinted blue buttercream with black spiderwebs and candy, store bought spidermans.




Well, that's it for now! More to come:)

Homemade Monkey Bread Muffins

Hello Blog World!
It's been so long since I've posted anything, but I've been so super busy working full time and with two toddlers on my hand, but decided to get back into it! This morning, I had a day off and decided to try my hands and making homemade Monkey Bread Muffins - so YUMMY and so easy to make!




I adapted the recipe from a blog that I found and really enjoy called Sweet Tooth

And, here's the recipe:

Monkey Bread Muffins

1-1/2 sticks unsalted butter, chilled
3 tbsp maple syrup
1/3 + 2 tbsp granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
2 cups flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 cup confectioners sugar
2 1/2 tbsp Heavy Cream
Splash of Pure Vanilla Extract

- Move an oven rack to the bottom third of the oven and preheat to 425 degrees. Line 1 muffin tin with 12 liners
- In a small bowl, microwave 4 tbsp butter and the maple syrup at high power until melted, about 30 seconds
- In a small bowl, mix together 1/3 cup granulated sugar, brown sugar, and cinnamon
- In a food processor, combine the flour, baking powder, the remaining 2 tbsp of granulated sugar, and salt. Pulse until well combined. Cut the remaining butter into small pieces and pulse together until the mixture resembles bread crumbs.
- Pulse in the buttermilk until the dough comes together.
- Transfer to a floured work surface, and pat dough into a 10" square. Use a pizza cutter or sharp knife to quarter the dough, then cut each quarter into 16 equal pieces. Roll into balls
- Dip each ball in the maple butter, then the sugar mixture. Place 4-5 coated balls into each muffin cup press down gently.
- Tent the muffin tin with tin foil and bake until cooked through and golden, about 15-17 minutes.
- Mix together confectioners sugar and heavy cream and vanilla to make the glaze. While the muffins are still warm, drizzle the glaze over the muffins. Serve warm.

Recipe yields 12 muffins

So good - Enjoy Y'all!!