Babycakes

For the last few years my parents have given all the girls some kind of fun kitchen gadget. We didn't realize it was going to become a tradition initially, but I am loving this now. You might remember last year when I got the Magic Bullet. It's been used and abused. It had made everything from smoothies to chopped nuts to pesto sauce.

One year we got a Belgian Waffle Iron. Love this thing. I was never a lover of waffles as a kid. But, once you try a waffle from this thing, you tend to sway a little. Our favorite is waffles with vanilla ice cream on top. Our latest treat is french toast done in the waffle maker. So yummy.

Below is a picture of the Panini maker. I will admit, when we got this one, I wasn't sure how much we would use it. That's actually really funny now. We use this several times a week. Josh is a great sandwich maker and pretty much any sandwich can be pressed and toasted in the panini maker. My favorite is to make something from the Jason's Deli menu. They have lots of panini's on the menu and all are so yummy. I think Josh thinks this should be out on the counter 24/7 next to the toaster.

This year was the year of the Babycakes. I had never seen one of these before, but cupcakes are all the rage right now. I have always been a lover of cupcakes (hence the hips). But this little thing does a whole lot more than just cupcakes.

First, I tried muffins and brownies. Both amazing. Then I got a little more creative. Below are Golden Butter cupcakes with a Brown Sugar Cream Cheese frosting. So rich, but so good.

It also came with some cake decorating tools so you can frost them in a creative way. Below are the confetti cupcakes with buttercream frosting (my fave).

Below are little samwiches. We used a cornbread mix but added cheese and chopped jalepenos to the batter. When they had cooled a little, I cut them in half and stuffed them with cream cheese and ham. Amazing! I wanted to put a little jalepeno jelly on them, but didn't have any.

Next, we tried little pies. We bought a frozen pie crust and let it defrost. The Babycakes came with a little cookie cutter to cut the circles in the crust. We loaded them full of an empanada mix and put the top on. So great and only took 5 minutes.

Then, Jer started thinking outside the box. He is great in the kitchen so I usually don't argue. He made little individual omlets. Not only are they cute, they were full of flavor. And everything has just come right out of the pan. Easy as pie.

I wish I had a picture of the brownies, but I forgot to take some before they were gone. I sprinkled crushed candy canes on top just as I took them out of the Babycakes. It was so yummy. The candy canes melt just enough to stick to them.

I had pneumonia all last week (and a sinus infection) and Friday Josh started in with strep. So, we've been cooped up and feeling "under the weather" but at least we've had some yummy grub. Okay, so not Josh so much. He doesn't eat when he is sick. Anyway... enough rambling. Just wanted to share some of the fun and tell my ma and pa thanks for the awesome surprises every year! Can't wait to see what you have up your sleeve for next year!