Let Her Eat (Birthday) Cake

Eek! I'm already slacking off on my blog...but I guess you can do that when it's your birthday week. Actually, the main reason I haven't been on the computer much is because it's a constant battle with the Mister for computer time. We've been "sharing" a laptop for a few months now but I honestly could not justify using the computer for long periods of time, playing around on Facebook and Pogo when he was actually using it for work. So when I decided that I was going to start blogging, I knew I had to get my own computer somehow. Tax refund? Nope, must be a grown-up, be responsible, and pay off the credit card. Sugar Daddy Scott? Nope, he's already been covering my behind for the past few months for basic necessities....like gas for my car so I can actually go to work and make money. Paycheck? HA! Think Suzy, think! Birthday!! As soon as I thought of it, I immediately told my mom to spread the word to the family...get me Best Buy gift cards to contribute to my new venture. Well guess what, my awesome family pulled through, along with Scott and I was able to get my laptop last night. Thanks family!!

On my actual birthday (last Thursday), Scott had to teach for a little bit so I finished up on my Hello Kitty cake pops for a baby shower. Scott's boss's two sons are having baby girls and the dual baby shower theme was Hello Kitty. When I first heard about this, Scott thought it would be a good idea to give them my cake pops as a present so all the guests could fawn all over how cute they were and maybe get my name out there a little. Sure why not. I wanted to try it ever since I saw it on Bakerella.com. I usually have a fight with my cake pops whenever I make them because candy coating is so temperamental and I usually get more all over myself and the kitchen than on the actual cake. But I guess it was destiny for me to make HK cake pops and the baking gods were smiling down on me on my birthday. The cake was strawberry (It wouldn't be HK if it wasn't pink inside!) with vanilla frosting. The ears are actually white chocolate chips which I think are so creative, the nose and flower are sprinkles, and the eyes and whiskers are decorator's icing. I love how they turned out :)  (I'll be talking about my obsession with cake pops in a blog really soon!).

Oh and the Hello Kitty birthday extravaganza does not end there. Going back about a month ago, my mom and I decided to take a field trip to the new Asian market in Chula Vista (yup, going to the market IS considered entertainment in my family...especially the Asian market...don't know what you'll find there!). Inside the Asian market, there is a food court that has all the Filipino bakeries. One is Red Ribbon Bakeshop (http://www.redribbonbakeshop.us/) and when we were looking around, like an alien tractor beam, I was instantly pulled towards the Hello Kitty cake. I must say that although there are a lot of talented cake decorators in San Diego, I've always been impressed with the skill that Filipino bakeries have for decorating cakes. The icing and cake looks and tastes good and really isn't too sweet. The handmade sugar flowers are always so pretty and they almost look real. (I didn't hesitate when my mom suggested I get my wedding cake from a Filipino bakery and I personally think my wedding cake, although simple, could stand up to a lot of wedding cakes...and cost half as much too!) Sorry, I got sidetracked on how good cake is...lol. So back to the story. On Friday, my mom texted me:


Mom: What kind of cake do you want?
Me: Doesn't matter to me....not like I can really eat it anyways
Mom: I'm trying to get them to make it with Splenda
Me: Oh in that case I want something coffee flavored!
Mom: Oh they can't make it with Splenda...they said the icing wouldn't hold up

ARGH STORY OF MY DIABETIC LIFE!  So when I showed up to my mom's house for the party, I still wasn't too surprised to see my HK cake....chocolate with coffee cream and toffee crunchies in the middle. Yes, I know I'm 29 and my mom got me a HK cake but so what! Don't judge...you know it's cute!  Luckily, my birthday is the one time of the year the Sugar Police backs off a little and lets me enjoy a slice of regular, full power cake. I took my shot of insulin and savored each bite of my birthday cake. I even behaved myself and didn't eat any of the pink frosting.

So that is what I have been up to lately....saying "Hello" to lots of cute and yummy cake. Hopefully now that I have my computer I'll be able to post more often. I have a few things planned for the next month or so but nothing really set in stone. I'm just going to go with it :)

 <3 Lil Ms. Sueshine :)

Bummer Baker Sueshine Makes Cookies

I have to admit....I can't always be a ray of Sueshine all the time. It's in my nature to be an optimist but we all hit a wall head on sometimes and get a little bummed. I haven't been sleeping well for the past few days due to the weird San Diego weather (yes, we have another weather setting other than 75 and sunny). My regular 9-5  job has also been stressful and stress can wear you down to the point of wanting to crawl back under the covers and hiding from the world for the rest of the day. So when I got home, I made dinner, cracked open a bottle of red wine, and parked my butt on the couch to sulk.


Me: *sigh*
Scott: It's Bummer Baker Suzy...


I hate being in a foul mood and whenever the Mister calls me Bummer Baker Suzy, it makes me hate my "poor me." attitude. What could cheer me up other than another glass of wine? Baking. But what? I certainly didn't want to go out to the grocery store to get ingredients. What did I have in the house. Ahhh the staples....everything to make my diabetic friendly chocolate chip cookies :) A long time ago, my mom started making chocolate chip cookies as holiday gifts for everyone and they always commented on how good her cookies were. I'll tell you the secret to my mom's amazing cookies....she makes it with care and patience (I'm DEAD SERIOUS)....cause really, my mom's cookie recipe is actually just the Toll House cookie recipe (Ooooh I might be getting the Filipino flip flop for revealing her secret! (O.o) hehehe!) But seriously, my mom would tell people it was the Toll House recipe and they would NEVER believe her because they were so heavy and dense and theirs would be flat and slightly burnt. So when Scott started bugging me for sugar-free chocolate chip cookies and I couldn't find a ready made cookie dough tube or mix, I decided that I had to learn to make it from scratch and why not use my mom's "secret" recipe and adjust it slightly. Believe me, it took me a couple of tries to get this right so I encourage that you experiment and adjust to make your cookies taste the way you like them. So here we go:


Filipino Mom's "Secret" Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

(Sueshine Notes regarding ingredients: I usually cut back on the amount of salt to half and sometimes leave it out all together. I also cannot stress enough that you must use unsalted butter for this recipe or you WILL end up with salt cookies. I would recommend just adding the nuts to cut the sweetness of this recipe but that too is optional)

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated Splenda
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 1 bag of Hershey's Sugar Free chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Directions

PREHEAT oven to 375° F.

COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. (Sueshine Note: I like my cookies with crispy edges and soft centers so I aim more towards 12 minutes. Adjust to your oven. Also, invest in a wire rack if you like making cookies. I use to think my mom was crazy to have wire racks...I don't get the purpose. Listen to your Filipino mom....she knows what the heck she's doing. I now know why you use wire racks for cooling)

Store your cookies in an air tight container so they stay soft and yummy.....if they even last that long. In the end, when my house smelled like sweet noms, I was still sitting on the couch but I had a warm cookie in one hand, a cup of cold milk in the other, (a VERY happy husband at the other end of the couch "You're AWESOME!"), and a smile on my face. Happy Sueshine -->  :)