Macaron Madness!

My friend and I decided a few months ago to take a baking class to learn something new and enjoy a fun night out doing something a little different. We found a small boutique in Toronto, Le Dolci that offers various classes and decided to give it a try.  Since our trip to France together a few years back we have been missing those cute, dainty, little cookies and we were thrilled when we realized Le Dolci offered a Macaron class!

Our instructor, Maddy, was awesome.  She explained the macaronage processes with ease and showed every step of this very intricate process.  The entire class was encouraged to participate and we had a lot of fun.  Maddy has her own food blog with wonderful recipes and can be found at  http://www.duhlicious.com/.

I was quite impressed with how special Le Dolci's space was.  They have a store front and attached, through a large sliding door is their studio where they host all sorts of baking lessons, as well as, private parties.  I wish my photos were better so you can see just how beautiful the space was.  I will be returning so next time I will bring my good camera!  To find out more about Le Dolci visit their website at http://www.ledolci.com/

Maddy taught us the Italian meringue method for the macarons.  We  filled our pink and yellow macarons with lemon creme and both regular and whipped chocolate ganache.  Oh my goodness were they ever good!!  I had one this morning with my coffee and it took all my strength not to eat the entire box I bought home last night.

I have already stocked up on some almond flour and will be practicing my skills as soon as I can! :)

Check out some of our pics from our fabulous night at Le Dolci.  I apologize for the quality of the photos - I had to take them with my phone :(

Spring Chef Party!

Yellow & Grey - a soft spring combination! 

I hosted a spring party this past weekend.  I had a chef come in and teach us a yummy treat to kick off the summer!  We decided on Tangy Pepper-Pecan Brie.   The recipe is below.  It was DELISH not to mention SO easy and quick to make.  A must try!!!

I also decided to try something a little different instead of my traditional dessert table.  This time I went with a self-serve yogurt bar.  I chopped up various fresh fruits, cookies, served whip cream and even cherries to top it off.  I had to add a few baked goods :) Im hungry again just writing this post!

Lego & Star Wars!!

My co-worker and friend booked me well in advance for her son's 7th birthday party.  She wanted cupcakes that were customized to suit her Lego/Star Wars theme.  I was super excited to bring a smile to her son, Rylan's face in the form of sugary treats (see below), but at first, had no idea what a combination of Lego and Star Wars meant!  Well it didn't take long to find out!  With the help of her custom bingo cards I was well on my creative way.

I AM SOOO PROUD OF THIS DIY PARTY MOM!!  She has not planned many large parties for her son and this year she wanted to go all out for Rylan.  And that she did!!  As I mentioned, she created custom Lego/Star Wars bingo cards for everyone to play.  She actually has allowed me to share them for anyone to use. If you are interested, please email me at frostedandfabulous@gmail.com and I will send you the free download.  Super nice of her eh?!  She found it discouraging that there were not more free downloadable print games like this and expressed her want to share her custom made printables with "all the moms out there".  They are amazing and I am sure lots of moms or party planners will make excellent use of these.  Thank you Rizza!!

She had her uber-talented sister-in-law design the invites for the party.  You can check those out below also.

The lightsabers were made from Foam pipe insulation that was purchased from Rona (a local hardware store) for $.80!! Different colour duct tape allowed the kids to customize their own lightsabers and they even took them home! Instead of traditional loot bags each child brought home a cupcake, lightsaber and treats from the Darth Vader pinata!

The kids also played "Pin the Head on the C3P0".   What a fabulous idea!  Part of the activity was that the kids got to decorate their own C3P0 heads.  Each child wrote their name on the back and the winner of the game got Star Wars tattoos, stickers or a mini lightsaber.  The same prizes were used for the winner of the bingo games as well.

I think the party was a smashing hit!  What do you think?