Green Peppermint Macaroons

Hand Painted Green Peppermint Macarons

This is a great addition to the Chocolate Stout cupcakes that I made for St. Patricks day. Macarons are a delicate cookie made from almonds and whipped egg whites. They are one of my favorite types of desserts and can be created in so many difference flavor profiles! 
Here are some recipes that you may like filling these macarons with:

Whiskey Chocolate Ganache

Cream cheese frosting

White Chocolate Buttercream frosting

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Green Peppermint Macarons
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 10-15 minutes
Passive Time 30 minutes
Servings
Ingredients
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 10-15 minutes
Passive Time 30 minutes
Servings
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. Place the ground almonds and confectioners' sugar in a food processor and process for 15 seconds. Sift the mixture into a bowl. Line a cookie sheet with your silicone mat or use parchment paper.
  2. Place the egg whites in a large bowl and whip until holding soft peaks. Gradually beat in the superfine sugar to make a firm, glossy meringue. Beat in the peppermint extract and enough green food coloring for your desired color.
  3. Using a spatula, fold in the almond mixture into the meringue one-third at a time. When all the dry ingredients are thoroughly in corporate, continue to cut and fold the mixture until it forms a shiny batter with a thick, ribbon like consistency.
  4. Pour the batter into a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2 inch tip. Pipe 32-36 small circles onto the prepared baking sheet or the silicone mat. Tap the baking sheets firmly onto a work surface to remove air bubbles. Let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. This helps the meringue form a crust that will keep it's shape when baked and give it it's pretty legs. Preheat oven to 325 F./160 C.
  5. Bake in the preheated oven for 10-15 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes and carefully peel the macarons off the parchment or silicon mat, let cool completely before filling.
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Whiskey Chocolate Ganache

Whiskey Chocolate Ganache

I am a chocolaholic, so anything with chocolate makes me drool! This Chocolate ganache recipe can be used for any recipe calling for ganache. you can omit the whiskey if you choose too, you can add other flavors instead if you like. Just exchange out the liquor for another liquor or flavoring. Make sure your bowl is clean and dry, ganache doesn’t like water.


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Whiskey Chocolate Ganache
Servings
Ingredients
Servings
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. To Make the Whiskey Ganache Filling: Put chocolate chips into a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream in microwave for a minute, then for 30 second intervals until warm. Pour it over the chocolate. Let it sit for a couple minutes and then, using a rubber spatula, stir it from the center outward until smooth. Add the butter and whiskey (or vanilla) and stir until combined. Let the ganache cool until thick but still soft enough to be piped.
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Cream Cheese Frosting

Cream Cheese Frosting

This is a great shelf stable cream cheese frosting that you won’t have to worry about refrigerating. Cream cheese frosting is so good on many types of cakes like red velvet and chocolate.

 

 

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Cream Cheese Frosting
Cream cheese frosting or icing
Servings
Ingredients
Servings
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. In a large bowl, beat butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Gradually add sifted powdered sugar one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides of the bowl often. Beat in vanilla on medium until light and fluffy.
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Chocolate Stout Cupcakes

Chocolate Stout Cupcakes with Whiskey Ganache Filling and Cream Cheese frosting

Chocolate Stout cupcakes with Whiskey Ganache filling and cream cheese frosting are so yummy, and they are great on an Irish St Patricks day! The Green Peppermint Macarons with chocolate ganache filling are my personal favorite flavor!

 

I just wanted to share the recipe for the Chocolate Stout Cupcakes that I made for St. Patricks day. They were so scrumptious and delicious. I was so pleased at the rise that I got out of the recipe and the chocolate ganache centers made them so full of chocolate deliciousness!

 

The macarons were so fun to paint! I really enjoy painting on macarons. I will post more painted macarons in the future. Click here to get the recipe for green peppermint macarons.

I am a chocolaholic, so anything with chocolate makes me drool! This Chocolate ganache recipe can be used for any recipe calling for ganache. you can omit the whiskey if you choose too, you can add other flavors instead if you like. Just have a clean dry bowl to work with. Ganache doesn’t like water.

To Fill the Cupcakes: Using a 1-inch round cookie cutter (or the bottom of a large decorating tip), cut the centers out of the cooled cupcakes, going about two-thirds of the way down. Transfer the ganache to a piping back with a wide tip and fill the holes in each cupcake to the top.

Using your favorite decorating tip, or an offset spatula, frost the cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and decorate with sprinkles, if desired. Top with the chocolate mint macaron. Store the cupcakes in an airtight container.

Print Recipe
Chocolate Stout Cupcakes
Chocolate cupcakes made with a good Stout beer is the perfect combination for your St. Patricks day celebration.
Course Cupcakes, dessert
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 17 minutes
Servings
cupcakes
Ingredients
Course Cupcakes, dessert
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 17 minutes
Servings
cupcakes
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Line 24 cupcake cups with liners. Bring the Stout beer and butter to a simmer in a heavy, medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the cocoa powder and whisk until the mixture is smooth. Then cool slightly.
  3. Whisk in the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a large bowl to combine. Using an electric mixer, beat the eggs and sour cream on medium speed until combined. Add the Guinness-chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and beat just to combine. Reduce the speed to low, add the flour mixture and beat briefly. Using a rubber spatula, fold the batter together until completely combined. Divide the batter among the cupcake liners using an ice-cream scoop. I find that I can get a more equal amount by using this method. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 17 minutes. Cool the cupcakes on a rack.
  4. Top with chocolate ganache and cream cheese frosting! Enjoy!!!
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Why are Author-Illustrator School Visits So Important

Children are inspired to read and write when they meet the author and illustrators of the books that they read!

Scholl visit

Why are author-illustrator school and library visit so important?

Children feel empowered in a world where they usually have no influence. By meeting an author/illustrator or relating to a character in a book, they see possibilities in themselves. When kids meet an author or illustrator, they are inspired that they too might be able to write or illustrate their own story. They feel empowered to make a difference and they are more inclined to WRITE and READ!

Statistics from schoolvisitexperts.com

Alexas O’Neal is an author who created schoolvisitexperts.com This statistic comes from a nationwide survey of over 600 teachers, librarians, administrators and parents.

Top Benefits of an author visit:

1 – Motivates students to read more (91%)

2 – Inspires creativity and expression (75%)

3 – Motivates students to write more (70%)

How to have an author/illustrator visit

Question to ask your team:

•Who do I invite?

•How do I raise funds?

•How do I set up the visit and make it successful so that the children are influence to read and write even after the visit? Things to think about before looking for an author.

• Who is your Audience – are they children who read picture books, middle grade or are they adult readers?

•What is your Budget – How much can you do to achieve your goal for the visit? Kids can get involved here too! This may determine if it will be an in-person visit or virtual. Local or out of state.

• Who is your Support Team –  will you be doing set up yourself or do you have a team of people who can help? PTO? Other librarians and or teachers?

Links to find speakers

Author listings by state – http://authorbystate.blogspot.com

SCBWI Hawaii – “find a speaker” tab – https://hawaii.scbwi.org

The Booking Biz Author list – https://thebookingbiz.com/speakers/

YA Authors list https://wikis.ala.org/yalsa/index.php/List_of_YA_Authors_by_State

Authors who do 15-20 minute free Skype visits https://www.katemessner.com/authors-who-skype-with-classes-book-clubs-for-free/

Penguin Authors who do skype visits https://www.penguin.com/school-library/author-appearance-roster

Skype an author network http://skypeanauthor.wikifoundry.com

How do I raise funds?

On Campus Field Trip – Instead of a field trip you could have an author visit. For the low cost of a couple dollars from each student you could have a half day to full day of live entertainment and expose them to literature and art!

Parent or Community Organization – You can request the PTO or FOL to raise funds for an author visit.

Pledge Drive – Students could have a read-a-thon or write-a-thon pledge drive.

• Sponsorship from Local businesses – Banks and other businesses often have funds set aside for supporting the community.

Share the cost – Share the expense of the author visit with with other libraries or schools in the area.

Book sales – Work with a bookstore that would give you a discount and sell books at regular price. You can use the money you make to off set the cost of the author visit.

Penny Drive – Children could run a penny drive. Children take pride in being able raise money for a visit!

Creative Ideas – Other Ideas might include the kids making and selling Recipe books and or Calendars. You could use the author/illustrators book as your theme.

Pizza night or Movie night – A paid fun night at the library or school.

Title 1 Funds and Grants

If your school qualifies you may be eligible to apply and put your funding toward an author/illustrator visit.

U.S. Department of Education: https://www2.ed.gov/programs/titleiparta/index.html

Grant Opportunities https: //thebookingbiz.com/2016/08/21-ways-to-fund-author-visits/

•SCBWI Amber Brown Grant Any school may apply.
Submit Nov 1-April 15th, 2020  https://www.scbwi.org/awards/grants/amber-brown-grant/

•Follett Challenge Deadline December 12th, 2019 https://www.follettchallenge.com

•Target Grants- https: //corporate.target.com/corporate-responsibility/philanthropy/Target-Foundation/national
•Dollar General Literacy Foundation – https://www.dgliteracy.org/ – youth-literacy-grants

How do I make a successful author/Illustrator visit?

•Check with the author to find out what kind of program they will be presenting.

•Have the kids read the authors books ahead of time, kids are more enthused when they know the books ahead of time.

•Some authors have curriculum guides for their books. These usually have exercises and games that help the children get into their book’s world.

•Advanced book sales are a great way for kids to be able to see the author up close and get a book signed.

•If books can’t be signed ask for the author to bring bookplates for kids that order the book after the visit.

•Reserve a parking spot for the author.

•Have water available for the author.

•Ask about dietary restrictions if you are providing snacks or lunch.

•Make sure teachers are also modeling good listening skills during the presentation.

You can find out more about my school visits on my presentation page on my site. Email me if you have a specific event that you would like me to present at. I’ve done hands on workshops as well as Skype presentations.

Most of all, enjoy the process of having an author and or illustrator visit your school or library. Don’t sweat it, Authors and Illustrators are people too. You will be thrilled with the visit and how the children will be encouraged to read and write! You can hear more about me on a blog that was posted through 

Hawaii Book and Music Festival

Celebrating books at the

Hawaiian Book and Music Festival

 

This free event brings together booksellers, publishers, musicians, actors, authors and illustrators. Not to mention the food of Hawaii! Scbwi Hawaii were represented by a few of our members at the HBMF this past weekend


We first met at the former Olympic gold medalist, Kristi Yamaguchi’s reading tent. Kristi has a foundation that helps support early childhood literacy. The books in her program are all-digital and can be accessed through student’s classrooms. She also has her own children’s books “Dream Big, Little Pig”, “It’s a Big World, Little Pig” and “Cara’s Kindness”. http://www.alwaysdream.org

SCBWI member and Hawaii State Librarian, Author Christin Lozanoshared her book “Island Toes”

Christin began her career as a 4th grade teacher and quickly discovered that her young students’ favorite part of the day was when she would read aloud to the class. The experience became so rewarding that she decided to become a Children’s Librarian. Today she is the Reference Librarian at Kaimuki Public Library. After having read hundred’s of keiki stories with mainland themes, she became motivated to write her own story for local keiki. This is her first book.

SCBWI Member Sue Cowingshared some of her poems that were published in the Bamboo Ridge, Journal of Literature and Arts.

Sue was born to a family of amateur naturalists and poetry lovers and grew up in Carl Sandburg’s birthplace, a small town in western Illinois called Galesburg. She’s been writing poems and stories and letters since She was about seven. Her favorite days then and now have always been rainy days, because they fill her with energy and ideas for inventing stories and poems and songs.

Though She studied and eventually taught history, Sue has always loved myths and fairy tales too. She believes they tell their own kind of truth. An illustrated book of Chinese tales she read in elementary school stirred what would become a lifelong curiosity about Chinese culture and art. As soon as Sue could manage it, she moved to Hawai‘i to study Chinese history, which she’d had a taste of in college. Sue soon made Honolulu her home because She loved, and still loves, the multicultural world of Hawaii. She has continued to enjoy exploring Chinese and Japanese culture through t’ai chi, tea ceremony, and taiko drumming.

Sue’s greatest pleasure in writing poetry is finding just the right language to convey an observation or experience that might otherwise be lost. In fiction she tries to write stories of serious hope, with a dash of humor. In almost every story of hers there is a hint of Asian culture and a special object, and often a major character is some kind of artist.

Focusing on writing means that there is not enough time for many things that she would like to do, but she can always write about them. Sue hopes to be lucky enough to do this for the rest of her life.

SCBWI member Mirka HokkanenRead her debut book “Four Otters Toboggan: An Animal Counting Book”Which came out this March.

 Mirka is a Hawaii artist, illustrator and author. Mirka’s favorite things to illustrate are animals and kids. She loves a good chuckle and adds a spark of humor where ever she can fit it. When not brandishing a pencil, Mirka is probably wielding a cheese stick and a book to appease the three wild kids that claim her as their mother at home. Her debut book, Four Otters Toboggan: An Animal Counting Book, came out in March 2019.

Thrilled that I got to meet the Hawaii State Librarian Stacey Aldrich

Martina Wing a diver and a SCBWI member from the Big Island also join us at the HBMF. She is an ambitious author with a true story about a dolphin that came to a group of divers asking for help, she filmed the dive master helping the dolphin. It’s a truly inspirational story. You can find her book and story on mantarayadvocates.com

It was a wonderful weekend to celebrate books! I visited many of the local publisher’s tents, and they are always looking for a good story, especially one for the children and adults of Hawaii.  You can look at their websites for their submission process.

Here are a the publisher’s represented at the HBMF :

Mutual PublishingBeach house Publishing

Bishop Museum Press

Kamehameha Publishing

Watermark Publishing

University of Hawaii Press

Bess Press and Da Shop

Bamboo Ridge Press- Journal of Hawaii Literature and Arts

Here are a few pictures from the event.

Aloha!!!

https://hawaiibookandmusicfestival.com

White Chocolate Buttercream

White Chocolate Buttercream

In a microwave safe bowl melt the white chocolate melts in the microwave, warming at 30 second intervals until smooth and creamy. In a separate bowl, beat pasteurized egg whites with sifted powdered sugar. Scraping sides of bowl often. Beat in vanilla, lemon extract and salt. Gradually add butter and beat well. Make a well in the center of the buttercream and pour in the melted white chocolate being careful not to get any on the sides of the bowl. Whip on high for 1-2 minutes or until white and fluffy. Mix on low to eliminate any air bubbles.

This can be stored in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks or frozen for up to two months. Always bring to room temperature before using and whip up to reach original consistency. Makes about 3 lbs of buttercream.

You can watch my YouTube video on how to make this icing here:

I use this icing all my cakes. It is a good versatile icing for sculpting to your basic cake shape. It is very smooth and works well in a piping bag. It also taste so amazing!

Thanks to Christy Duffell-Seguin of Cake Rocks in Austin, Texas for this great recipe!!!


Print Recipe


White Chocolate Buttercream

White Chocolate Buttercream my Ultimate Favorite!

Course Icings
Cuisine Icings

Servings


Ingredients

Course Icings
Cuisine Icings

Servings


Ingredients


Instructions
  1. In a microwave safe bowl melt the white chocolate melts in the microwave, warming at 30 second intervals until smooth and creamy. In a separate bowl, beat pasteurized egg whites with sifted powdered sugar. Scraping sides of bowl often. Beat in vanilla, lemon extract and salt. Gradually add butter and beat well. Make a well in the center of the buttercream and pour in the melted white chocolate being careful not to get any on the sides of the bowl. Whip on high for 1-2 minutes or until white and fluffy. Mix on low to eliminate any air bubbles.

    This can be stored in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks or frozen for up to two months. Always bring to room temperature before using and whip up to reach original consistency. Makes about 3 lbs of buttercream.


Recipe Notes

I use this icing all my cakes. It is a good versatile icing for sculpting to your basic cake shape. It is very smooth and works well in a piping bag. It also taste so amazing!

Thanks to Christy Duffell-Seguin of Cake Rocks in Austin, Texas for this great recipe!!!


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How to make pom pom flowers out of wafer paper

How to make pom pom flowers out of wafer paper

wafer paper flowers with sprinkles

I like to play with all kinds of sugar materials. This is a quick tutorial on how to make pom pom flowers out of wafer paper. Wafer paper can be so fun! You can pretty much create the same things as you can with regular paper, with some exceptions. Wafer paper can't do a lot of folds like real paper can, so you have to improvise sometime.

Please enjoy my wafer paper pom pom tutorial on YouTube

Miniature Sweets! 

Miniature Sweets! 

‪I’ve been working on my little book called “Emma has a Dilemma” recently and created these small sweets for some of the color spreads.


These cakes are under 2 inches tall! I never knew putting on sprinkles in just the right place would be so tedious!  


I wanted to create a simple designed cake that any child would be able to make. I will put up a tutorial on it as a real cake eventually. I think it would be fun for my readers to make it someday! 


Have SWEET weekend!!!

XO, -A

King Tut Book Launch Cake for P.J. (Tricia) Hoover

King Tut Book Launch Cake for P.J. (Tricia) Hoover

King Tut Cake!

I was invited to create an epic cake for my friend P.J. (Tricia) Hoover’s book launch for her second book in her Tut series. The book launch party was at Book People in Austin on March 4, 2017. It is a great series about Tut’s internal life as a middle schooler. There are battles to be fought with Egyptian creatures and lots of experiences that teens can relate too. It’s a must read! #readtut

We made it into Publisher’s weekly!!

Below is the YouTube video of my process in making the cake and also a video of the party. Enjoy!



TUT

How I created the King Tut Cake

This was a challenging cake to create because I wanted to use the gold paint. Gold paint is actually nontoxic, but not recommended for consumption. (The Silver dragree balls that you see on cakes or cupcakes are painted with the same product. I recommend using only on parts of a cake that will not be eaten.)

I also wanted to make the head shelf stable for days to come so that Tricia could keep it in her bookshelf. They call cakes that are shelf stable for years Dummy Cakes. These are usually made with styrafoam dummies that are either shaped in the style of cake or carved to the design specifications.

Also when I create these cakes I want to make it easy for serving purposes. There are usually around 50+ people at a book launch. I want to make it easy to serve those hungry children…of all sizes! So instead of just stacking all the cakes on top of each, I usually put multiple cardboard bases between the layers. This also helps with the structure of the cake. I usually have to drive over 50 miles to deliver these types of cakes. I need them to be structurally sound for the ride.

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