Rhys' Sprinkle - Part 3: Decor & Details

to see parts 1 and 2 of Rhys' sprinkle, go here and here! 

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DECOR 

as a reminder (or if you're new around here... and if so, HI!),

 here are the invites that I sent out for Kaley's sprinkle.

I wanted to lightly stick with the onesie theme, without going overboard and have it be cheesy. most of all, I wanted to really emphasize the color palette of blues, greens, and teal. my focus was to really make the decorations personal and whimsical. I knew that I wanted the paper products to be handmade and to display a few banners, pennants, and poms. 

Martha Stewart poms in blue & green, pennant banner in front of the glass door, and blue striped table cloths [photo courtesy of Kaley]

shower in action [photo courtesy of Kathy]

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DETAILS

of course, I didn't get a picture of my most favorite project: the 'rhys anthony' banner. 

I just used different colored and patterned paper to spell out his name, and added a cut-out onesie in between 'rhys' and 'anthony' - tied all together with blue ribbon. you can see a smidgen of it in this picture, hanging below the bar:

I also made this little banner to hang from the drink cooler using card stock and twine:

lemonade sign

and as mentioned here, the 40 cupcake toppers with individually cut out onesie shapes (don't worry, I used a scallop punch for the background): 

I bought these stripey straws from Etsy seller ThePartyFairy:

the mason jars were a HUGE hit! 

I baked onesie shaped cookies as favors for the guests. 

well, that's a lie. Sean baked them, because I'm an idiot when it comes to following directions. 

I attempted to decorate them with icing to look like this, but it just wasn't working like I thought it would, so I nixed the icing all together and hoped no one would judge my plain cookies. I just bagged them in blue cellophane and tied them with the tags that I made. 

hopefully they tasted alright without the added sugar! 

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I'm very grateful that Kaley has such wonderful friends & family who were more than willing to lend a helping hand on the day of the shower, whether by bringing a dish, helping set up, or lending their home for the party itself - so to those folks who helped out, THANK YOU so much! 

all in all, planning my best friend's baby sprinkle was an awesome experience, and I'm so honored to have had the opportunity to do something nice for her and baby Rhys. she is a wonderful mother to Kullen, and I know she'll grow even wiser with the arrival of Rhys. I'm so thankful to be a part of Kaley's life and I can't wait to meet the new Poag when he arrives in September! 

cheesecake brownies [recipes]

I made these brownies last weekend to bring to Kaycie's house for dessert and they were a huge hit between the four of us. in fact, there were only two left in the pan when we got home later that evening, although that could have been due to Sean's drunk ravaging. either way, they were delicious. very, very, very simple recipe... easy enough to do on a whim and bring to a party, for sure.

Cheesecake Brownies

[Facts]:

prep time: 15 minutes

cook time: 20 minutes

ready to eat: 45 minutes

[Ingredients]:

• 1 package (19.8oz) brownie mix - I used Betty Crocker's Ultimate Fudge mix
• 1 package (8oz) cream cheese
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup white sugar

[Directions]:

1. Prepare the brownie mix as directed by manufacturer. Preheat oven to temperature indicated on box. Grease a 9x13 inch pan.  (I used a 9x9 pan because I like thicker brownies).
2. Spread the brownie batter evenly into the prepared pan. 
3. Using an electric mixer, beat together the cream cheese, egg and sugar until smooth. 
4. Dollop the cream cheese mixture on top of the brownie batter. Swirl together using a knife or skewer. (my mixture didn't really "swirl" well... probably because I used the 9x9 pan. there was more cheese mixture than I thought there would be, so I just spread it along the top and it came out fine).
5. Bake according to manufacturer's instructions. Brownies will be done when a toothpick inserted comes out clean (about 35 minutes for me). Cool in the pan, then cut into bars and serve. 

Unfortunately, I didn't take any 

photos of these, but here's one that 

I shamelessly jacked from All Recipes. 

ENJOY!

cookie dough stuffed cupcakes [recipe]

remember when I mentioned these completely mouth watering cupcakes (that I discovered via Pinterest) in this post? well guess what? 

I finally made them. 

and they were everything I thought they'd be 

but about 1000x more delicious than I imagined possible. 

this recipe made enough for 24 cupcakes... I quickly (and somewhat somberly) made the decision to send Sean to work with half of them, just to get them out of my house.

Cookie Dough Stuffed Cupcakes

[Ingredients]:

• cupcakes: (1) box Betty Crocker Supermoist butter recipe yellow cake mix (cheating? maybe. delicious? for sure)
• cupcake frosting: 12 oz (1 can) Betty Crocker Whipped milk chocolate 

: for the filling :

• 4 tablespoons (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 6 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 1 cup and 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 7 oz (1/2 can) sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used regular sized chocolate chips and increased the amount to a full cup)
• optional: Pillsbury refrigerated cookie dough for garnishes

[Directions]:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pan with cupcake liners. Make cupcake batter according to directions. Bake cupcakes according to package directions. Let cool.
2. To make the cookie dough filling, combine the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and cream on medium-high speed until light and fluffy (aka not crumbly), about 2 minutes. Beat in the flour, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla until incorporated and smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until the mixture has firmed up a bit, about a half hour.
3. To fill the cupcakes, cut a cylinder shaped portion out of the center of each cupcake. An apple corer spoon works great for this. I just carefully edged the spoon into the cupcake in a circular shape and took out the middle. Fill each hole with a chunk of the chilled cookie dough mixture.
4. Frost cupcakes with chocolate frosting. I like to put the frosting in a plastic storage bag and snip off a nickel sized hole in one of the corners to pipe the frosting on in a cone shape have no idea how to properly (or aesthetically) frost a cupcake.
5. Garnish with mini chocolate chips and mini chocolate chip cookies (See tip below).
6. To fancy up your cupcakes, garnish with mini chocolate chip cookies. I used 1/4 of a package of refrigerated cookie dough. I placed little balls of dough on a cookie sheet and baked for 8-9 10-14 minutes (which was slightly too long, haha) at 350 degrees. My cookies were a little big, which is why the garnish is a broken-in-half piece of cookie. 

and now, here are some pictures of what I consider to be the baking masterpiece of my life. please keep in mind that I have no idea how to frost a cupcake... and I think next time I'll go with normal frosting instead of whipped. the whipped stuff kind of resembles dog poop. but don't think about that, cause they tasted AMAZING. aka not at all like dog poop. 

 

enjoy! 

chocolate mint brownies [recipe]

oh yes. these were delicious. I'd say they were more cake-like in texture than brownies, probably because they had to cool first before adding the mint layer.

to be fair, I should mention that Sean made these from beginning to end... I had nothing to do with it at all... I was too busy cleaning to even pay attention. but I did help eat them, so that gives me rights to post the recipe! HA!

Chocolate Mint Brownies

[Facts]:

prep time: 15 minutes

cook time: 30 minutes

ready to eat: 2 hours 5 minutes

[Ingredients]:

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups chocolate syrup
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons creme de menthe liqueur
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

[Directions]:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
2. In a large bowl, cream together 1 cup sugar and 1/2 cup of softened butter until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in the chocolate syrup. Stir in the flour until just blended. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan.
3. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until top springs back when lightly touched. Cool completely in the pan.
4. In a small bowl, beat the confectioners' sugar, 1/2 cup butter or margarine and creme de menthe until smooth. Spread evenly over the cooled brownies, then chill until set.
5. In a small bowl over simmering water, or in the microwave, melt the remaining 6 tablespoons of butter and the chocolate chips, stirring occasionally until smooth. Allow to cool slightly, then spread over the top of the mint layer. Cover, and chill for at least 1 hour before cutting into squares. 

Happy Thursday!