Spatulas, Corkscrews & Suitcases

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY Cookies, Cupcake Recipes

 
  

Heart Shaped Valentine's Day Cakes, Valentine's Day Cookies, Red Desserts, Valentine Cupcakes and lots more to say "I LOVE YOU" on Valentine's Day! Red Velvet Cupcakes and New York Style Strawberry Cheesecake recipes are sure to win someone's heart this Valentine's Day.

Red Velvet Cake Recipe with Cream Cheese Frosting

Read my Valentine's Heart Shaped Cake story from last year. It'll give you an idea of how we made hundreds of these babies every Valentine's Day. Ahhhh, memories! 

 

 

 

How to Make Valentine's Day Heart Shaped Cakes  

 

 

 

Heart Shaped Cookies: Coconut Lime and Chocolate Madeleines

 

 

 

Cherry Meringue Cookies Recipe

  

Cherry Hershey's Kiss Cookies

 

 

 

Most Popular Red Valentine's Day Desserts

• Strawberry Cheesecake Recipe with Graham Craker Crust
• Cherry Cheesecake Recipe with Graham Cracker Crust
• White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake with Oreo Cookie Crust
• Fresh Strawberry Shortcake with Homemade Buttermilk Biscuits
• Strawberry Cream Cake with Cream Cheese Filling
• Red Velvet Cake & Cupcakes
• Raspberry Cream Cheese Coffeecake
• Strawberry Mousse Pie & Parfaits
• Cherry Pie made with Fresh Cherries
• Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Recipe
• Cherry Kisses Cookies with Hershey's Chocolate Kiss
• Soft Sugar Cookies with Valentine Sprinkles
• Chocolate Covered Strawberries
• Fresh Raspberry Pie Recipe
• Fresh Strawberry Pie Recipe
• Strawberry Daiquiri Frozen Pie
• Fresh Strawberry Tart with Shortbread Crust
• Heart Shaped Shortbread Cookies with Raspberry Jam
• Cherry Meringue Kiss Cookies
• Cherry Almond Scones

If I Were an Oscar Mayer Wiener.....

In Honor of Oscar Mayer
I wrote an article yesterday for Examiner.com called 'Oscar Mayer Bologna & Wienermobile Man Dies at 95'. I added a YouTube video of the little boy that sang the jingle in the 1973 commercial at the end. After writing the article, I felt like we needed to remember him by having Oscar Mayer wieners for supper (OK, truth be told, it made my mouth water just thinking of them). I also wanted Red Bliss Potato Salad to go with the wieners. I surprised myself by having everything I needed on the boat, so I didn't need to go out to the store. How many boaters can say that, huh?

When John came home he saw the potatoes and the wieners and put 2 & 2 together. Grilled hot dog buns, Oscar Mayer wieners, green relish, yellow mustard, minced onions and celery salt. Oh, and the potato salad. We sat down, had supper and watched the video. Man, did that take us back. Everybody knew those songs!

Go check out my article and let it take you down memory lane! Here's another video that isn't in the article. Enjoy!

RED VELVET CAKE for Valentine's Day

                               

Red Velvet Cupcakes ---Sweet!
A baker knows how to measure ingredients; flour, sugar, cocoa powder, salt and baking soda. Sometimes the cup is short, other times it's filled to over flowing. But, True love can't be measured with a measuring cup. That's where some awesome Red Velvet Cupcakes come in handy! Feeling blue? Have a cupcake! Got great news? Have a cupcake. Found out you're pregnant? Have a dozen cupcakes! They really do make life worth living, especially the Red Velvet Cupcakes!

Heart Shaped Red Velvet Cake
As Valentine's Dat got closer this year, I missed making the heart shaped Red Velvet Cakes we were so well know for in Vermont. Thing is, we always got orders for hundreds, which to many of you would say, "That's a good thing, right?" YES, and NO! You see, we decorated them ALL by hand. Everyone of them were personalized with a loving, or not so loving, sentiment.

Wilton Heart Shaped Non-Stick Pans
I loved these pans! They were clean and shiny, and for the most part, the cakes slid right out of the pans. There were 6 hearts to a pan, and we had 4 pans, so we were in business. John made the batter and baked them, and baked some more, and baked again, and again, until we had enough for our orders, and then some. 

                                       

The Cake Assembly Line
The cakes were popped out of the pans and placed upside down on sugar-dusted parchment lined baking sheets. Then they wre frozen over night. That made it easier to ice and decorate. In the morning, John would trim the bottoms so they layed flat. He than iced them tops and sides, and placed them back on the sheet for me. He'd lick his fingers, I would get after him, it was the things memories were made out of!

                                                                        

Can I Take Your Order, Please?
I had my pastry bags, each one with a small star tip, and the other had a round writing tip. I piped a border all around the top of the cakes. Very simple but it gave it a finished look. Next was time for the messages. We would take specific orders with names of loved ones, something funny or something off-the-wall. I did put my foot down though, when I was asked to do some REAL naughty things.  Nope, not going there! If I felt wide awake (which was questionable), I would make red rosebuds with green leaves. They were so sweet and cute!

                                                                     

The Cakes With No Names
After all the ordered cakes were done, I had my fun! I had a whole slew of slogans and sayings I thought up. Some were the standard messages like "I LOVE YOU" or "Be MINE". But then I got my mo-jo on, and started writing, "TONIGHT?", and "HOT STUFF", or "YES, YES, YES!". That lead to "BITE ME", and "RED HOT", or "ON FIRE", and "OH, BABY!" You get the picture? Every Valentine's Day, we'd go into all our regular stops with blank cakes, and the customers would tell us what they wanted. I did this ON THE SPOT, in the ice cold van with numb hands (remember, it was February in Vermont). John and Brad would bring the list out to me, and after blowing on my hands for 5 minutes, I could get them to work my magic with the pastry bag. And, when I say we did hundreds, I mean hundreds!

                                              

Do I Miss Playing Bakery?
Yes, I do. I asked John that question the other day. He didn't even hesitate. It was a very firm, NO! He loved making the customers happy, but hated the LONG hours, like 40-48 hours without sleep. We were like the walking, talking, decorating dead! But everybody was happy. And, I'll bet if we walked back into those businesses tomorrow, it'd be like old times again. We'd be sold out in a matter of hours! To the good times! If anyone from Burlington, Shelburne, Charlotte, Ferrisburg, Vergennes, Panton or Middlebury are reading this, "HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY - WE MISS YOU!"

                         

                                                 

Red Velvet Cake Recipe
Oh, you were wondering where the Red Velvet Cake Recipe with Cream Cheese Frosting was? As usual, run on over to Suite101, and it's right there, ready for you to crank up the oven and get baking. Print it off for yourself, email it to a friend and tell them you love them! All the buttons are at the bottom of the recipe. Click away happy bakers! Click away!

LOVE, DONNA - XOXO

                                                                       

TO THE MEN IN MY LIFE ~ HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

FATHER'S DAY!
Today is Father's Day. It happens every year around the same time. Most of the time, I send only my father a card, sometimes John gets one too as the father of my spawn! This year, I want to acknowledge all the men in my life. There is no order of preference. They all think they're the most important! The order is the legnth of time spent as part of my life.
                                                                          
DAD
My Dad, Bruce, is the absolute BEST Dad in the whole wide world! Of course my children would beg to differ, thinking their Dad (John) is the coolest Dad. It's a heated contest between the two of them! Anyway...Dad has been there through thick and thin. He loves me unconditionally. He loves me for who I am - even though that's not tough to do! He's 79 now, but still a young guy at heart. As you can see, he's very handsome and in "his day" was known to be quite the dancer and ladies man. My Mom won his heart though and they were married 51 years until she passed away last January. He's lost without her and although I'm the second most important girl in his life, I live 5 hours away. I try and call him at least 2-3 times a week and even though he's not a "phone person", he can talk to me for hours. Clearly, I AM his favorite daughter! HAPPY FATHER'S DAY DAD!
                                                                                                                                                  
BRUCE
Bruce is my baby brother. Not really a baby, he just turned, well, I'm not telling you how old he is, because then I'd have to tell you how old I am! Bruce loves a good poker game and dabbles in the stock market. He's quite good at it too. My fondest??? memory of our childhood is helping him with the paper route. Gosh, those Sunday papers were heavy! Uphill both ways!
                                                                             
JOHN
BIG John, aka my hubby, is my best friend and the love of my life. We started dating when I was only 14! I know, What were my parents thinking??? Letting me date a stud like that at such a tender and naive age? He was only 16 at the time, so we were two kids infatuated by each other. It was a love-hate relationship at first. He didn't know how to "get a girl". His method of flirtation was to kick me (lightly) in the back as I was sitting on the stone wall during break at school (recess). I was soooo embarrassed! One thing led to another and we started dating. Problem was, he didn't have his license. His Mom had to drive us around on our dates! "Turn around Ma, I'm checking out her tonsils!" He's the father of our four spawn...er...I mean children! There isn't a day that goes by that I still feel the teenage love. Oh, all right! Who am I kidding? We all have our days when I feel like throwing him over board or he hasn't thought of pushing me off in the dinghy! But, all in all, it's been a great 34 years...37 if you count our dating/necking years. I think I'll keep him!

JOHN
My son, John, will be 30 in August. He's the handsome dude that gave me the Cuisinart Food Processor. He loves his mother! John took over the wholesale bakery when we sailed off and left it all behind. He's doing better than we ever did because he just concentrates on just cookies...thousands and thousands of cookies! He could make a lot more, but alas, he isn't married yet! I told him "Get a wife or a girlfriend and you can make TWICE the cookies!" He loves to travel with us, has a heart for animals especially his dawg Heidi and loves the outdoors. He was the only child I can claim is really mine since we had a home birth. And weighing in at a hefty 9 1/2 pounds, we weren't about to give him back!

                                     
BRAD
My second son, Brad, is 24. He's also single. He's just as handsome as his older brother, John. He loves his Mom too, but I don't hear from him as often. He works hard and lots of hours and he's ALWAYS running out of minutes on his cell phone! He's a great cook and has worked in some unusual restaurants. He used to go out with my husband John, hawking our baked goods through town. He was such a cute little kid carrying that big basket of goodies around. Everyone loved him on the route. He could make change like it was nobody's business! He was our "love child". The only one we planned for! Not that we didn't want each and every one of them, but back in those days, either we or the contraceptive companies weren't paying attention to detail! Anyway...he was our last since I had major complications after he was born. Brad! Call your mother!

DAVID
David is our oldest and first son-in-law. At 33, he THINKS he's also the most handsome. He's Erika's husband - the love of her life - and the father of two of our grandchildren, Zach and Girly. He's a great Daddy to those kids and we're blessed to have him as part of our bizarre family. Erika often says he's just a big kid at heart. He loves the outdoors and will often spend from sunup to sundown hiking one of the highest mountains in Vermont or NY or kayaking Lake Champlain.

JONATHAN
Jonathan is the second and youngest son-in-law. He's also David's brother, which means that our girls married brothers! He'll be 32 in a few weeks and KNOWS he's the most handsome. Jonathan is an amazing cabinetmaker. He took our old boat apart and made it into a thing of beauty. He loves to play poker and can be as competitive as I am in any card game! He loves to go biking and will often bike 25 miles or more at a time. He's also the best Daddy to Hannah and Ethan - two more adorable grandchildren.

Do you see a trend here? They all THINK they're the handsomest. Then they say they KNOW they're the best looking! I can't play favorites, so I tell them they're ALL handsome!

ZACH
Zach is our oldest grandson and at 9 years old, he's all boy! He's amazing with animals and has an obsession with bugs of all kinds. Moths are his specialty! We think he'll grow up to be an entomologist someday working for The National Geographic Society! He's a wiz with numbers and we jokingly say we'll take him to Vegas when he gets a little older!

ETHAN
Ethan is our youngest grandson. He's 6 now and he's a rough-and-tumble kinda kid. Look at that cute little face! You're thinking what an angel, right? He's so good natured but can be a little imp all at the same time! He's an amazing reader and has been reading bedtime stories to his sister for over a year now! Video games are his specialty and can give a video master some real competition!

So, that's it for the men in my life. There have been others that have come and gone...Oh, come on, they're just good friends! HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to all the fathers and hugs and kisses to the all the others! I LOVE YOU!

GRANDMA'S RECIPE JOURNAL

                                                               
Grandma's Favorite Recipes      (click photo to read the recipes) 
I'm sure some of you have heard me tell how I learned to bake in my Grandma's kitchen at a very early age. Well, it's true, and now I have more proof! Grandma left me her personal Recipe Journal when she passed away. It's a very old and large ledger filled with all her favorite recipes and  newspaper clippings, some dating back to 1930. The cover is worn, tattered and the binding is ripped. And even though the pages are smudged and splattered with batter and chocolate, they are amazingly well preserved. Even the newspaper recipes are clear and legible. There are recipes for the ever popular Chocolate Cake and Snickerdoodles. But then there are some really odd recipes for Pork Cake and Doris Belcher's Rocks, whatever they are!

My Cousin and Me
My cousin Cindy and I lost touch with each other for about 15 years. You know how it goes. You're great cousin-friends and then one of you gets married and moves away. Years go by until you're brought back together whether in person or by email. And then you have years of catching up to do. Things that neither of you knew about each other, even though you share a common bloodline.

We're both the same age, and no, I'm not telling you what that number is! The only thing I'll fess up to is that I'm the youngest! Our parents would drop us off at Grandma and Grandpa's house and we would play until we got bored or fell asleep. We both took after Grandma and Grandpa in very different ways. Grandpa painted signs for the City Hall Store in Providence way back then. He had all his paints and charcoals down stairs next to his drawing board. Cindy loved to watch him and spent many, many hours painting and drawing with him.  I, on the other hand, hated going down into that creepy basement. There were spiders and webs and icky things down there.

                                                                           

Grandma's Kitchen                                         (click photo to enlarge)
I chose to stay upstairs where the sweet smells of cinnamon rolls and apple pie were intoxicating, even for a kid my age. Grandma's kitchen was the place where magic happened. As a little girl, I thought cookies fell from the sky! Grandma's kitchen was like Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory where everything was sweet and delicious! She was a Grandma that everyone loved to be around. I'd like to think it was for her easygoing ways and pleasant moods. But, I think most remember her fondly for her incredible baking skills! Even during the depression when ingredients were scarce, she could make an Apple Pie with Ritz Crackers! She was born in 1904 or 1905 (can't remember?) and worked for the Warwick, RI school department in ~ you guessed it ~ the kitchen! After cooking and baking all day, she still found time to bake for family and friends! Everyone loved her! I wonder why?

Warm and Fuzzy Memories
So, to get back to the Cindy & Donna story. Cindy loved watching Grandpa paint so much that she became an artist. I loved helping Grandma in the kitchen so much, that I became a baker and caterer. Both of us have such wonderful and personal memories, and it's been fun comparing notes with each other. During one of our chats, I mentioned that I inherited Grandma's Recipe Journal. Cindy wants to see it in the worst way! She didn't even know it existed.

                                                                         
Yikes! I Lost The Journal!                       (click photo)
Before we moved onto the boat almost 4 years ago, we put everything in storage. I thought I knew right where I put that journal, but for the life of me, I just couldn't find it. I started to panic. Did I lose it? Did someone take it from a pile of give-aways and yard sale stuff? I've been beating myself silly the last few months trying to find Grandma's Journal. But I couldn't find it anywhere. After all the anxious moments and guilt I had, my hubby says, "What does it look like again?"  I know I told him at least 10 times what I was looking for. He says, "Oh, that book? I think I know where it is."  He goes out to the car and picks it out of a box of photographs and asks, "This one?"  Sheesh! "YES, that one!"

We Found It!
I wrote to Cindy that night and told her I had it in my possession. I also told her to be prepared to photocopy all the recipes if she would like them. I don't mind sharing, after all she was Cindy's Grandma too. But this was my gift from Grandma and she told me I would have it one day. Grandma's Original Journal will remain with me until I hand it down to one of my daughters and they do likewise.

Even though she's been gone for about 16 years, I still have fond memories of Grandma's kitchen. If I close my eyes tight and think hard enough, I can still smell the apple pie cooling on a rack in front of the open kitchen window.