WHAT WOULD MacGyver DO?

Hello, my friends call me V and I am addicted to sweets.

Yesterday (while making a delicious dinner of stuffed peppers and chorizo), I decided it was time to make Raspberry Marshmallows.  YUM!  The last few months have definitely been defined by the many batches of marshmallows that I've made (successfully I might add!) and well, it's time to switch it up a bit.  Raspberry was just the flavor!  I found the recipe from the Not So Humble Pie Blog.  My success in the marshmallow world is all thanks to Martha's no-nonsense recipe which can be found here.  It is seriously so simple and the perfect little sweet treat!

I had some time before Mr. D got home so I decided to get everything out and get the process started.  I am a habitual skimmer when it comes to reading recipes.  Which often leads to some pretty thoughtful solutions to problems that could have been avoided if I'd have actually read the short recipe.  I had one little problem that arose from my skimming and it has to do with that little rascal know as a raspberry seed.  They are sneaky little suckers and can be really annoying when stuck in your teeth!

To see more of the process and MacGyver like solutions (that may or may not work)...

I'M BANANAS FOR THIS BREAD!

After a successful attempt at cinnamon rolls (admittedly with significant help from my mother), last Friday I thought it would be fitting to tackle the monkey bread recipe I found. Mr. D has occasionally over the years brought up how much, as a child, he liked the monkey bread his mother made.  So that was the plan!

Here is the recipe we started with... I spied it on Brown Eyed Baker.

Now I'm just going to follow this with some pretty images... things started off strong!  We mixed the the ingredients as directed until the dough came together and looked smooth. The electric mixer really works wonders!

Then you want to kneed the dough for about 5-ish minutes on a lightly floured surface.

In a lightly greased bowl you want to roll your ball in the oil so it is just slightly coated and you are going to cover with a towel an place in a warm spot.  This is where the yeast works it's magic.  Come back in and hour and a half or so and if all goes well it will grow to double it's size.

So now you want to pat down the dough into an 8"x8" square and divide the dough in to 64 one inch balls.  This is where my smarts come in!  I suggest you use a sharp pizza cutter.  This worked wonders for me and all the dough was cut in a matter of seconds! You can make a quick guide by lightly rolling over the dough and making an indention and then go over it again with a little more pressure and it's done!  No fuss! 

Roll these squares in to one inch balls.

So now we've got our melted butter and our cinnamon sugar goodness all ready.  And we've also got our 'bundt' pan all buttered. What you will do is dip the dough balls in the butter and let any excess drip off.  Roll the dough in the sugar mixture and align them in the pan.  Just keep stacking until they are ready to go.  Since we did all of this on Friday night and we were cooking on Saturday morning I covered the pan with plastic and put in the fridge until the morning. 

In the morning I got up and started the oven.  I made a quick powder sugar frosting (which you can find here) and got the monkey bread out of the fridge.  As soon as the oven was all heated in they go!  

The smell of all of that cinnamon and sugar and baking dough fills the air.  It's really heavenly!  It came out looking fantastic.  And I was so ready to eat.  But I knew... I need to wait.  To see the final product you've got to read more!

A BLIZZARD IS COMING!!!

And I make Popsicles (or better known as flavored ice on a stick because Popsicle is apparently a brand)!

This was my second attempt at making them with my Zoku and they really are super easy.  This one is Mango juice with a pretty star fruit on either side.  What the star fruit lacks in flavor it makes up with interest because this would be a pretty boring frozen treat without it!  I just used some store bought mango juice (pretty sure we picked it up at Whole Food's but I've also seen it at Target... Bolthouse Farms Amazing Mango) and a pretty star fruit, that was also purchased at WF's.  All I had to do was slice the star fruit, get out my super frozen Zoku and stick the sliced fruit to the sides.  Then you shake up the mango juice and pour it in.  It's seriously that easy.  In minutes it's frozen and ready to eat!

My first attempt at making pop's was when Mom was in town.  We made Raspberry Lime-aid and they were delish!  Super tart... which I'm down with and so pretty!  If you have a Zoku... here's the recipe.

The Zoku makes frozen treats in minutes... it's fantastic!  But maybe not the best thing to be making in the dead of winter... with what is being called the blizzard of a lifetime in our near future.

XOXO