Cookie's Crumbles

Cookie's crumbles, morsels and tidbits

October 20, 2013 | 1 Comment

Woodland Wedding Stylized Photography

This was my little project for the fall. I’ve been wanting to do a stylized wedding shoot for a few years, and finally this year I was able to pull it all together. My stunning cousin Johanna was my model, she brought along her boyfriend Jake. I borrowed a friend’s fall-tastic backyard, mom and I styled the shoot, and my very talented sister did hair and makeup. Dress is from The Bridal Gallery on 44th Street. Jake’s suit is from Banana Republic. I made the bouquet and boutonniere. The day started with a steady drizzle, I thought we would have to scrap the whole thing. But the rain stopped and off we went. Everything turned out beautiful! Thanks to everyone for all their help!

October 19, 2013 | 0 Comments

Apple Bread Pudding

I found this recipe this week in a Taste of Home magazine. I would never eat bread pudding as a kid, but as an adult, I have formed a small addiction to it. I love it and anywhere I go that might have it on the menu for dessert, I order it. So when I saw this recipe for an apple bread pudding with a caramel drizzle over it, I knew it would be on the menu this fall. This morning I made an entire 9×13 pan and realized that I was going to need to find someone to share it with. No one in my house will eat this, don’t ask me why…I live with a bunch of freaks. So I called my BFF and invited myself and my bread pudding over for brunch. We had pudding, coffee and good talk, a perfect way to spend a rainy Saturday morning. Enjoy!

Apple Bread Pudding with Caramel Drizzle

3/4 cup butter

4 cups chopped peeled tart apples (I used Honeycrisp)

2 cups sugar

3 t. cinnamon (I might have used 3 Tablespoons, I tend to over dose on the spices)

2 t. vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9×13 pan. In a large skillet, mix together the butter, apples, sugar and cinnamon. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat, simmer uncovered until apples are tender, stirring occasionally.

6 eggs

2 1/2 cups milk

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup heavy cream

dash of nutmeg (Again, I tend to be very liberal with my dashes)

1 loaf of almost stale bread (recipe called for french loaf, I just used plain white bread)

For bread pudding, whisk eggs, milk, sugar and nutmeg until blended. Stir in bread crumbs and apple mixture. Transfer to a greased 9×13 pan. Bake uncovered for 45-55 minutes, until a knife comes out clean in the middle. I just used a jar of ice cream caramel to drizzle over each individual serving. Serve warm, it’s soooo good. Transfer left overs into the refrigerator, when ready to eat, just microwave for a few seconds until hot again and enjoy all over again!

August 24, 2013 | 0 Comments

Tomato Jam

About a year ago, we were out in Wisconsin visiting my Grandma, who is now over 80 years old. Her and her boyfriend still have a huge garden that they harvest and almost everything that comes out of it, they can. At dinner one night, my Grandma pulled out a jar of tomato jam. I thought in my head, “Gross, who eats this stuff. It sounds disgusting.” My Grandma told me to take a piece of toast and just try it. Four pieces of toast later, I was hooked. This has turned into my favorite jam ever and I decided to plant tomato plants this year just so i could make a bunch of it. Well, my tomato plants were terrible, I ended up getting about 4 tomatoes from them. But my sister, who has a very green thumb and a huge garden, had plenty to share. So today was tomato jam day. I’m not kidding, you must try this jam. I promise, you will definitely be wanting more!

Tomato Jam:

3 cups of peeled and crushed tomatoes

3 T. lemon juice

1/2 t. cloves

1/2 t. allspice

1/2 t. cinnamon

1 box Sure-Gel

4 1/2 c. sugar

Mix all but sugar together in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Cook for 2-3 minutes. Add sugar. Cook at a slow boil for 10 minutes, stirring often. Have your jars sterilized and ready to fill according to how you normally can. Laddle into jars and process with a hot water bath for 10 minutes. Remove from bath and cool. Enjoy!

July 27, 2013 | 0 Comments

Summer Weddings

I feel bad, I’ve been so busy with wedding season, I really have not had time to blog much this summer. I thought I would throw up a quick post with some of my favorite images from this summer’s weddings (so far). I’ve had 3 weddings in the past 8 days, so I have plenty to pick from 🙂

July 7, 2013 | 0 Comments

Baked Brie and Chutney Tarts

Tonight we had some friends over for dinner. We decided to do an appetizer buffet instead of an actual sit-down dinner. We had baked brie tarts, rosemary shortbread cookiees, spicy corn dip and nachos, mushrooms sauce on crustini’s, coconut flan, and pita sandwiches with walnut feta stuffing. Everything was wonderful, but these little bite-size tarts were especially awesome. I thought I’d share the pics and recipe! Enjoy!

Bake Brie with Apricot Cherry Chutney

2 packages of mini fillo cups (I had Athens brand that I found right in the grocery store freezer)

1 wheel brie cheese, cut into 30 pieces

1/2 cup dried cherries

1/2 cup dried apricots, diced

1/2 cup onion, diced

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup water

salt/pepper to taste

1/2 cup brown sugar

zest from about half a lemon

dash of cayenne pepper

Chutney should be prepared at least 4 hours prior. It can be made up to 3 days ahead of time and just stored in the refrigerator until ready to use. Mix the cherries, apricots, onions, vinegar, water, salt, pepper, brown sugar, lemon zest and cayenne pepper in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Simmer over heat for 30 minutes. Remove from heat and cool, then place in refrigerator until ready to use. When ready to make tarts, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place mini cups on a cookie sheet. place cheese bites into each cup. Place a dollop of chutney on each tart. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until brie is melted. Remove and serve warm! Enjoy!

June 13, 2013 | 1 Comment

Rhubarb Orange Marmalade

This week’s recipe was rhubarb orange marmalade. I’ve been trying to do one recipe a week in my new canning obsession. This recipe had three ingredients and turned out awesome! So so so so good. If you like orange marmalade, you will love this. If you still have rhubarb, make this today! You will not be disappointed. Enjoy!

Rhubarb Orange Marmalade Jam:

6 cups chopped rhubarb

6 cups sugar

2 medium oranges

Combine rhubarb and sugar in a large dutch oven. Grind oranges in their entirety in a food processor, add to rhubarb and sugar. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, stirring OFTEN until marmalade sheets from a spoon (when you dip a cool metal spoon in the mix and when pulled out, the jam runs off the spoon in a sheet, not in drips), about 1 hour. Remove from heat, skim off foam. Carefully ladle hot mix into hot half-pint jars, leaving 1/4″ head space. Remove air bubbles, wipe rims and adjust lids. Process for 10 minutes in a boiling water canner.

June 11, 2013 | 0 Comments

Sarah & Blake {Wedding}

I had the pleasure of shooting a very special day for Sarah and Blake on Saturday. I’ve been working with this family now for the past 2 years with various members of their families for pictures. Much love to you Sarah and Blake. May you be blessed as you begin your lives together!

June 2, 2013 | 0 Comments

Cherry Rhubarb Jam

About 10 years ago I tried my hand at canning, hot water bath canning. I started with peaches and proceeded to make a huge mess, with only half of the jars sealing. Epic fail. So I decided I would stick with freezer jams and jellies and leave the canning to the professionals, like my Grandma. This year I passed a magazine on a rack titled “Canning & Preserving.” I decided this year is the year to conquer my fears and try again. The front of the magazine has hot bath canning recipes, the back has freezer and refrigerator recipes. Just because I had the ingredients in the house, I started with a refrigerator jam tonight. Tomorrow morning, toast and jam, no question…SO GOOD. And a beautiful red, could easily be used as Christmas gifts. The only negative in my book is that it is not a freezer jam and needs to be eaten within three weeks. After my first taste, that will not be a problem. Enjoy!

Cherry Rhubarb Jam

4 cups rhubarb, chopped

1 1/2 cup white sugar

1 – 3 oz pkg cherry geletin

1 can cherry pie filling

1 t. almond extract

Place rhubarb and sugar in a large dutch oven or saucepan. Let sit for 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally. Bring to a boil and cook for 10 minutes, or until rhubarb is tender. Remove from heat. Stir in geletin until dissolved. Stir in pie filling and extract. Transfer to jars and allow to cool. Cover and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks. Enjoy!

June 2, 2013 | 0 Comments

Quick Rhubarb Crisp

I found this recipe on Pinterest for rhubarb dump cake. I had a nice crop of rhubarb this spring and had some that still needed to be used up. I decided to make this for Sunday dessert at Mom’s house today. It was easy, used only a couple ingredients and was delicious. I think my Dad ate half the pan. I especially liked it warmed up a bit in the microwave with vanilla ice cream on top, or as you fancy folks call it, a la mode. Enjoy!

Quick Rhubarb Crisp

4-5 cups rhubarb, cut into 1″ pieces

1 cup white sugar

1 – 3 oz pkg strawberry gelatin

1 yellow cake mix

1 cup water

1/2 cup melted butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour rhubarb into the bottom of a 9×13 pan. Spread evenly. Evenly spread sugar over rhubarb. Spread strawberry gelatin over sugar. Spread yellow cake mix over gelatin. Do not stir or mix. Just layer these ingredients. Then pour water evenly over cake mix. Finally pour melted butter over entire pan. Try to moisten as much of the cake mix as you can with the water and butter. But do NOT mix. Bake for 45-55 minutes. Serve while warm with vanilla ice cream. Or store covered until the next day and just warm up individual pieces in the microwave for about 20 seconds. Yummy!

April 20, 2013 | 3 Comments

Cinnamon Roll Cake

This morning we have a big clean up at our church, inside and out. I found this recipe on Pinterest this week and thought it would be a great time to try it out, I’m bringing it to church this morning to share with everyone helping at the clean up. These were quick and easy to make. They tasted great while still warm. Now if I could only find the recipe for the cinnamon roll frosting that they used at Happiness Is restaurant in Byron Center all those years ago when I was young. I had to settle for plain powdered sugar frosting. Try these on a Saturday morning…you won’t be disappointed! Enjoy!

Cinnamon Roll Cake:

Cake:
3 c. flour
1/4 tsp.salt
1 c. sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 c. milk
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. butter, melted

Topping:
1 c. butter, softened
1 c. brown sugar
2 Tbsp. flour
1 Tbsp. cinnamon

Mix everything together except for the butter. Slowly stir in the melted butter and pour into a greased 9×13 pan. For the topping, mix all the ingredients together until well combined. Drop evenly over the batter and swirl with a knife. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

Glaze:
2 c. powdered sugar
5 Tbsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla

While warm drizzle the glaze over the cake.