Feeling 22- My Birthday Weekend

It was a beautiful, long, and fun-filled birthday weekend! I can’t believe how fast it went by. It was one of the best birthdays I have had in a while! On Saturday night, Tyler took me to The Cheesecake Factory, and surprised me by having parents, brother & sister-in-law, our best friend, and his mom there when I arrived. It was so fun! We were there for about 3 hours but I didn’t mind, I love to sit and talk and laugh with the people I love. I was honestly so surprised because I did not expect that at all, I loved it! I really had a great time. I wore my new maxi dress that I got from Old Navy for $15. Here is a pic of me and my sugar, he was talking to my dad hehe:

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On Sunday, my actual birthday, we went to the Franklin Park Zoo in Boston. It was a beautiful day for a zoo trip! I was able to wear my khaki jacket with some leggings and moccasins. It was just LoVeLy. Tyler got me a bouquet of flowers, some Maple Leaf cookies from Trader Joe’s (my FAV) and the most adorable Pandora ring ever (I may or may not have emailed him a ton of hints for this one lol). Here is a pic of the ring, and also how pretty the people at Pandora wrapped it!

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Don’t mind my stubby fingers, it is not a gene I wanted to inherit.

I also made my own birthday cake, as I said I would. Just made a vanilla funfetti cake with vanilla marshmallow buttercream. The buttercream came out a lot better this time cause I used unsalted butter and I put a dash of vanilla extract! It was a big hit:

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Also, I got this Dooney and Bourke bag from my parents for my birthday. I love it! It holds a lot of my stuff but is not too big. Perfect for my upcoming trip to Kitty Hawk, NC and HOPEFULLY Disney in September!!! (This pic is filtered, from my Instagram):

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Thanks for reading! Hoping to bake some oatmeal cake this week, with a cream cheese icing! Will let you know. Have a lovely day people!!!!!

 

Featured Image: Me, eating my oatmeal this morning out of my favorite cup!

Peanut Butter Marshmallow Cookie Pie Goodness!!!!!!

This recipe is pretty basic, but definitely a favorite of my friends and family. It is exactly as titled! I got it off of Google one day when I was in the mood to bake a pie. Whenever I make it, the cookie crust never hardens and it is always moist. Sometimes I get complaints that it was TOO marshmallowy (craziness, I know) and sometimes I get “there aren’t enough marshmallows.” Obviously I have not perfected the recipe yet, and maybe I never will because it is anyone’s preference on the amount of marshmallows they like (the gooeyer the better if you ask me).

Again, I think this recipe is way too sweet LOL. It is weird that I do not like most of the things I bake!

Peanut Butter Marshmallow Cookie Pie:

Ingredients:

  • One roll of store brand or Toll House cookie dough
  • One package of store brand or Toll House cookie dough (pre-cut squares)
  • One package of mini or regular sized Reese’s peanut butter cups
  • 2-3 handfuls of mini marshmallows (depending on your preference)
  • Chocolate sauce

Instructions:

  1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and grease pie dish (I use the Hefty disposable aluminum pie dishes for cookouts, parties, and easier cleanup).
  2. Open your roll of cookie dough and break off a chunk and start kneading into the pie dish until completely covered. Be sure to knead up the sides of the dish as well as this will be the crust of the pie.
  3. Unwrap and start placing your Reese’s cups face down into the crust along the outer edge of the pie. I usually use about 8-10 normal sized cups or about 15 mini cups, you can use however many you want. I also place about 2-3 in the middle of the pie.
  4. Grab your handfuls of marshmallows and spread over the crust and Reese’s cups (your preference on how marshmallowy you want your pie to be).
  5. Open your package of cookie dough and break apart the individual squares. Start to roll one square at a time and then flatten and place on top of your crust and filling. Do this until all is covered. TIP: I like to slightly layer the individual flattened cookie dough pieces as it gives the pie a “quilted” look. I also leave some tiny spots open for the pie to sort of breathe when it comes out (also the marshmallow oozes out a little and looks delicious).
  6. Place your pie on a cookie sheet (in case of over spill!) and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until the top is golden brown, I put mine in for about 17 minutes and check when it gets close to the end.
  7. Using an oven mit, take your pie out of the oven. The pie will wiggle and jiggle but this is fine, remember there is melted and gooey marshmallow in there!
  8. Let your pie cool (the top will sink in a bit) and then drizzle with chocolate sauce!

I cover mine with foil to keep it moist and I also think the chocolate sauce has something to do with keeping it moist as well. Either way, the pie does not last long, it is usually gone same day!

Here is a pic of the process I took off my Instagram:

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Side note, I went to Target and Old Navy last night on my way home from work and picked up these gems!!!

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I am obsessed with cake batter Chapstick, anyone else?? It is a problem, I have about 5 tubes of it because I want to have extras incase I lose one. It smells exactly like vanilla cake and keeps my lips so smooth. When I saw it in a 3 pack at the checkout line at Target, I grabbed it so fast! People probably thought I was crazy. The Hello Sunshine tin mug is cute to me because my grandmother used to call me her sunshine and I lost her 3 months ago, so it is near and dear to my heart. When I saw it at Old Navy, I had to get it. I am not sure if I will drink out of it or use it as a keep sake on my dresser. Either way, I am happy I bought it. $7? Sure! (I also got a super cute and springy $40 maxi dress at Old Navy for…$15!!! I was thrilled)

Have a great Thursday!

-Steph

Take my dessert poll!

Let the Funfetti Begin🎉

As promised!

Last night I did a trial run on a cake I want to make for my birthday this weekend (yes I want to bake my own cake, cause why not?). It was just a basic vanilla funfetti cake with a marshmallow buttercream frosting. They are delicious! 

I just made a basic vanilla cake batter and threw in some colorful nonpareils, which melted and made swirls in the cupcakes. I wish I had gotten a picture of one half bit to show you guys, side note: I am bad at the picture part. Usually I am not, I think I was just excited that the frosting tasted so good. One part I was disappointed about was the fact that I accidentally used imitation vanilla extract instead of pure. Nonetheless, the cakes were still amazing.

Here’s a photo of my last batch baking. The recipe said “makes 24 cupcakes”, I somehow banged out 30 normal sized cupcakes (and some were even enormous!)  

I added a little spin to my frosting and used heavy cream instead of milk, and a little more than directed. I am not sure if it made a difference but it was delicious! I feel like the cream and marshmallows made the frosting more fluffy. I made a basic buttercream frosting but then threw about 10 oz of mini marshmallows into a microwave safe bowl and put them in the microwave for about 30 seconds (until the puffed up.) Again, wish I had the picture!!!!! Once I took them out of the microwave, I immediately scooped them into the frosting and mixed until smooth.

Here is the end result, even after frosting all the cupcakes. I thought it was too sweet but I think everything I make is too sweet!!!  Everyone else really enjoyed it. Tyler was eating it by the spoon. 

So that was my trial for my own birthday cake! I may try something else, maybe a chocolate buttercream instead, we will see! Hope you all enjoyed!🎂🍰😊

-Steph🌺

Ps: Tyler did all my dishes for me. I didn’t even ask, he just did! And there were a ton! That’s the worst part of baking if you ask me lol. I know he reads my blogs cause he is subscribed and supports me so much, so thanks my love 💋💙😊

  

Nightly with Sugared

Hey everyone! 

Sorry I haven’t posted in a while, we went away for the weekend so it was a busy one! Plus I’ve been sick which hasn’t been fun but I am finally starting to feel better (thank the lawd).

I did some baking tonight so I’ll have that to post about tomorrow. I also have some baking/recipe favorites that I want to share with you guys, which is great cause that helps me plan ahead with my blog posts. Hopefully I can find some photos I’ve taken to post along with the recipes! I also got a new camera so I can tell you guys about that as well. Also, my birthday is coming up in a few days so there will be some exciting stuff going on 😊🎂🎈🎉 

But that’s all I got for you tonight! Hopefully everyone is having a good week (going by fast, or is it just me??????)

Aloha!!!!

-Steph🌺

Featured photo credit to Google, some gorgeous hibiscus sugar cookies!