Fondarific

I went to the Bakery Expo in Atlantic City this past Monday on the hunt for a good tasting fondant (among other hunts...). Currently, there are not many on the market, and it can get to be quite expensive buying each one, just to taste it! Well, as I went around asking if I could try a bit from different vendors, I came upon a booth with a nice lady holding a basket full of little samples of - FONDANT! Apparently, they are a new company and according to their website (www.fondarific.com) they are the only ones with a buttercreme flavor! In addition, they offer many different flavors of fondant. I was lucky enough to try the buttercreme, chocolate (which tasted a lot like Tootsie Rolls - yum!) and the cherry flavor. All of them were delish! =) Actually, I went ahead and ordered some of the chocolate already along with the free sample pack (you do have to pay $1.50 though for handling). I can't wait to receive my order and try out all the flavors! I'm excited to try the tutti frutti - if it tastes anything like Jelly Belly tutti frutti jelly beans, I think I will be in heaven! They seem to have many advantages. It seems the only downfall is that it is pricey, but then, as the cliche goes, you get what you pay for here. Anyhoo, I will keep you posted and let you know if it is worth the money - I certainly hope so!

Cut Out cookies

My son's 3rd birthday was on September 4th. Last year we brought cupcakes to his daycare and that turned out to be way too messy! I felt SO bad for the teachers because they had to clean up each and every kid. And so, this year, I decided to make some cut-out cookies (thanks Maricel for the idea!). Our theme was fire trucks, so I found a fire truck cookie cutter and a #3, which was absolutely perfect, and then all I needed was the recipe. There are so many recipes online, it was quite difficult to try to pick one. I don't remember which one I ultimately ended up with, but the best tip I read during my research was to use powdered sugar instead of flour when rolling out the dough. This way the dough does not get too tough to work with and you don't end up with any waste! This worked perfectly! I topped it off with some fondant and voila we had some pretty cool looking cookies! Definitely better than the cupcakes!