The Night Circus

The weather is officially hot and humid here in Atlanta which I've learned means my baking orders increase!  Oh Happy Day!  However, baking some nights after work and three out of the four weeks every month usually means other hobbies must be sacrificed; case in point, Book Club.  Some time ago I joined with some amazing girls and I was pretty religious about reading all the books that seemed up my alley (I just can't seem to get into romantic novels so I usually skip a month here and there) and participating in the monthly meetings.  However, now that my free time is filling up fast I don't seem to have the time to catch up.  I'm currently reading the January book...

So, to make up for it I went all out on the food I brought to the last one!  That way, if I got called out I would just hand them a cupcake for distraction.  It worked!  Well, not really.

Cupcake Cookies

I have a confession... I do not like cake.  There are very few cakes that I will actually eat like pound cake with a lot of fresh fruit, angel food cake with lots of fresh fruit... hmmm, I think there is a pattern.  So, yes, I make tons of cake and cupcakes but I'm not a big fan, however give me a bowl of batter and I'm set!

So, for those of you that do not like cake/cupcakes but want to experience the huge cupcake craze I have a solution!  Sugar cookies shaped like cupcakes!  Now, these aren't just any sugar cookies.  Say goodbye to hard, tasteless cookies and say hello to chewy, lemony, vanilla bean sugar cookies!  I totally despise cookies that look beautiful and cute but taste like card paper.  I worked long and hard to create a recipe that held its shape and tasted wonderful!  I hope you order some of my sugar cookies so you can taste the difference!

To order, contact me at Shelly@PastryShells.net.

Star Wars R2D2

Let me take a moment to be real with you, I. Love. Sci-Fi. Movies. along with a lot of other movies but give me a super hero, a new creature, or futuristic machines and I am a happy camper!  Besides growing up wanting to BE Princess Leia I have always enjoyed the Star Wars movies (I can't wait for more to come out, thank you Disney!)!  By far my favorite characters were all the Ewoks, Jabba the Hut (I didn't realize he was mean until recently), and R2D2!

All Around The South

Cupcakes are definitely a go-to dessert when hosting a party so when my friend wanted a dessert for her brother's wedding shower we knew exactly what kind.  The hard part was figuring out a theme for the cupcakes that wasn't too girly and would be conducive for a co-ed party.  So, we settled on these:

Gardenia Cake + Mother's Day

It seems like Mother's Day was yesterday when in fact it was weeks ago and now Father's Day is fast approaching.  I have been busy every weekend baking up storms and the weeks have flown by.  Remember in this post when I was trying to decide what to make my Mom for Mother's Day...