Pink Ribbon Cookies and Pretzel Rods

October has arrived and that means falling leaves, mums, hayrides, and pumpkins. It also means Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Starting October 1, Sugar Ribbon Cut Out Cookies with pink icing will be sold at Erin’s Deli.

Along with the cookies you will also have a chance to buy Pretzel Rods dipped in Chocolate or dipped in Pink Chocolate with white, pink, and silver sprinkles. The pretzels will be sold two to a bag.

Support Breast Cancer Awareness with a Pink Ribbon Sugar Cookie or Chocolate and Pink covered pretzels.

Better still buy both and enjoy!

Confetti Cake

Making Confetti Cookies are easy and fun. I like changing the color of the sprinkles for the different months, seasons, and holidays. I will be making these cookies for a long time. I will probably make a Vanilla Bean Scone, using the sprinkles in it as well.

Last week, I made a Confetti Loaf Cake which I doubled the recipe with unsalted butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, flour, salt, and rainbow colored sprinkles. After I baked the loaves and let them cool, I frosted the loaves with a white vanilla frosting that had rainbow colored sprinkles.

I stepped back and admired the festive look of the cakes that would go down to Erin’s Deli.

The cake was easy and delicious and would make the perfect cake for a birthday or any kind of celebration. In the meantime, the cake will be served at Erin’s. Stop in the Deli and celebrate with a slice of Confetti Cake.

Being a Browns Fan - Ain't Easy!

I am a Browns fan and it definitely has been hard.

I wasn’t born in Cleveland. I was born in New York and moved to Cleveland when I was little. I attended grade school and high school in Cleveland and went to college in Ohio. So I have been a fan for a very long time. I have seen and felt the highs and lows of being a Browns fan. In the 50s and 60s, we had THE TEAM. We were winners and champions under Paul Brown and Blanton Collier. We had some great players like Otto Graham, Lou the toe Groza, and of course Jim Brown who was in a league of his own. The Browns were winners in the 50s and 60s. They won their last the NFL Championship in 1964. If they had a Super Bowl back then…the Browns would have had rings on one hand and one for the thumb.

I cheered for the likes of  Brian Sipe and the Kardiac Kids of the 80s. I loved how they would come from behind and pull out a win in the last two minutes of a football game. Those games left me excited, ecstatic, and exhausted!

Then there was the home grown Ohio boy…Bernie Kosar. He loved Cleveland and wanted to be the quarterback for them. Cleveland fans loved him.

I booed Art Modell and Bill Belichick when they got rid of Bernie, along with all the other disappointed fans.

Then Art Modell pulled the Browns out of Cleveland and relocated them to Baltimore. That was the ultimate worst offense and the fans wouldn’t forget it.

I wore a browns sweatshirt “Countdown to 1999” until a new team was formed using the same name, uniforms, and colors.  I owned season tickets with my daughter. We sat in the stands cheering, frustrated, until the Browns team looked like a third class team from some underdeveloped country that had no idea who they were or what they were supposed to do. Winning was elusive and watching them was even harder.

The only bright shining star was their offensive tackle, Joe Thomas who always played the game and always was constantly  named to the Pro Bowl, no matter what Cleveland’s record was.

I watched QBs come and go, along with coaches, players, GMs, and Owners as if there was a revolving door in Cleveland

The Browns were the butt of every joke. All I heard from my family and friends was how the Browns Sucked! That was hard to swallow living in Pittsburgh!

Every year when football season would begin, I would believe in the Browns but then the team just couldn’t do it. But this year, 2018, with a tie and a close lost, came the unbelievable win…after 635 days of not winning a game...the Browns gave the fans something to celebrate…a Win.

I do believe…Go Browns!!!

Decomposition Notebooks

Every so often my writing takes a back seat to life. I lied, my writing takes a back seat more often then I like it too.

Right now, I have sent a few queries out for my children’s book and for a few magazine articles. While I wait to hear if my writing gets accepted, I keep working on my Blogs and my journal.

I look for something to add a difference to my writing or someone to help me jump start it. The other day while I was at the bookstore, while looking for a book, I found a few of my favorite decomposition notebooks that I like to use for my writing. The last time I was at the bookstore I came across the decomposition notebooks and bought a few for Christmas presents.

This time I found an array of the notebooks and bought three for my personal use.  Okay, you’re thinking, what’s the deal? To you, nothing. To me, those little gems are a real treasure and those decomposition notebooks help me. They are like an aid. They are my writing muse.

Here’s hoping that my writing starts to move forward.

Chocolate Cappuccino Brownies

I’ve had this recipe for Chocolate Cappuccino Brownies for two years. I looked through one of my baking books, found this recipe and marked the page. I looked through the book off and on and every time that I came to the recipe I would think…I need to make this for the Deli.

Well, today, I finally decided it was time. Instead of baking the brownies in the catering kitchen, I decided to bake it at my house. I doubled the recipe and was going to make it in a half sheet tray with one of the collars. Instead, I baked it in a rectangle pan measuring 9”x13”.  After making the brownies, I decided that the next time that I would make it in the half sheet tray for the Deli. I would probably triple the recipe. But for now…I went with a smaller pan.

I hoped the brownies would be good. They looked good and my daughter, who owns the Deli, stopped over and sampled a piece. I took a taste and decided that the next best thing to a cappuccino itself was this brownie.  Better still, the next time I would drink a cappuccino and eat one of these sumptuous brownies. 

I posted a picture of the brownie and announced that it would be down at the Deli. I have had a few requests for the recipe…so here it goes for a single recipe: 

            ½ cup unsalted butter, melted                            ½ tsp. salt

            1 cup brown sugar, packed                                1-1/4 cup all-purpose flour

            2 Tbs. instant coffee granules                            1/3 cup + 1 Tb. baking cocoa

            3 eggs, slightly beaten                                        1 cup chopped walnuts

            1 tsp. Vanilla extract                                           1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

            ½ brewed coffee, cooled                                     Garnish: powdered sugar

            1 tsp. baking powder

In a bowl, combine butter, brown sugar and coffee granules; blend well. Add eggs, vanilla, and cooled coffee; stir. In separate bowl, combine baking powder, salt, flour and cocoa; add to butter mixture. Stir in walnuts and chocolate chips. Pour batter into a greased 13” x 9” baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Allow to cool and cut into squares. Dust with powdered sugar before serving. Makes 1-1/2 to 2 dozen.

The recipe is easy. But if you don’t want to try it make your way to Erin’s Deli, downtown, and sample one!