Cupcake cake pops

Cupcake pops for my daughter's 13th birthday.  To celebrate Cassandra's birthday at school, I sent cupcake pops wrapped in a baggie with chocolate kisses for each student.

So moist and delicious!  All the kids loved them.  Cakepops are very easy to make and are so delicious.  Check out  www.bakerella.com for the how-to and creative ideas.

Homemade cinnamon rolls

My daughter's have been asking me to make cinnamon rolls for the longest time.  I decided to use  Paula Deen's cinnamon roll recipe.  Super easy to make and delicious.  You will need the following ingredients:

Dough: 
1 package yeast (1/4 oz)
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 cup scalded milk
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg
3 1/2 to 4 cups flour

Filling: 
1/2 cup melted butter, plus more for pan
3/4 cup sugar
2 T ground cinnamon
3/4 cup raisins, walnuts, or pecans, optional

Glaze:
4 Tables butter (softened)
2 C powder sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 to 6 T hot water

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
In small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water and set aside. 
In large bowl mix milk, sugar, melted butter, salt and egg.  Add 2 cups of flour and mix until smooth.  Add yeast mixture.  Mix in remaining flour until dough is easy to handle.  Knead dough on lightly floured surface for 5 to 10 minutes.  Place in well-greased bowl, cover and let rise until doubled in size (about 1 to 1 1/2 hrs).
When doubled in size, punch down dough.  Roll out ona floured surface into a 15 by 9 inch rectangle.  Spread melted butter all over dough.  Mix sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over buttered dough.  (Sprinkle with raisins or nuts if desired).
Beginning at the 15 inch side, role up dough and pinch edge together to seal.  Cut into 12 to 15 slices.
Coat the bottom of baking pan with butter and sprinkle with sugar.  Place cinnamon roll slices close together in the pan and let rise until dough is doubled, about 45 minutes.  Bake for about 30 minutes or until nicely browned.
Meanwhile, mix butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla.  Add hot water 1 tablespoon at a time until glaze reaches desired consistency.  I like our glaze to be very thick, so I don't add too much water.  Spread over slightly cooled rolls.  You can also link to the www.foodnetwork.com and search for Paula's cinnamon recipe. 

Photo booth - Sweet 16

The girls taking silly photos at the "photo booth".  We made different silly props and set-up a camera on a tripod.  The background is a film screen my husband checked-out at his school.

Here I am with my other two daughters.  We totally forgot to take a family photo.  We have no funny photos of my husband - oops!

Guests were asked to take photos at the photo booth.  Everyone seemed to have a good time taking silly photos.

Grandpa and grandma having fun posing (I think, lol!).

Even the little ones had fun posing.

Sweet 16

My daughters Sweet 16 dessert table.  I took this picture before I completely finished setting up the table.  It is still missing the fruit (grapes and strawberries) that I put on top of the white platters.  I also did not have out the cheesecake truffles. 

The Sweet 16 girl - Aahh, she is so grown up.

I love the simplicity of this cake.  I bought my daughter's initial at Michael's and "voila" a special birthday cake. 

Each table included mason jars with purple and lavendar paper flowers that included a black and white picture of my daughter throughout the years.

Our sign-in tree was a thumb print of all the guests.  Each guest was asked to leave their "leaf" print on the tree with their signature on it.  I drew a dress and decoupaged my daughter's head on it.