‘Tis the Season.. for sweets!

‘Tis the Season.. for sweets!

‘Tis the Season.. for sweets!

Many of my favorite Christmas memories are centered around food- specifically sweets! In our family, we spend lots of time cooking together, enjoying meals with visitors from out of town, and of course, focusing on dessert! We don’t need much of an excuse to make dessert for any and every occasion. Here’s how I’m kicking off the holidays with sweets. These are DIY options, but if you prefer to eat sweets more than make them, you know we’re always happy to help!

1. Peppermint Brownie Ice Cream Sandwiches

The first dessert I made at home this season was these peppermint brownie ice cream sandwiches. Choose and prepare your favorite brownie recipe (you can even use a boxed mix if you’d like!), then freeze it in two large pieces. I baked the brownies on a large baking sheet and then cut it in half. Once its firm, spread peppermint stick ice cream over one half and sandwich them together. Return to the freezer until the ice cream has set and then trim the edges and cut into individual sandwiches.

The trick: Make sure to freeze in between each step to make sure they come out with nice, clean edges. Even if you don’t, they’ll taste delicious, but freezing helps them look pretty! Melt dark chocolate to drizzle and sprinkle with crushed peppermint for the finishing touches. These have so much versatility and van be made in ANY flavor- caramel, peanut butter, death by chocolate…. it’s a challenge to find a flavor that doesn’t pair well with brownies! 

 

2. Hot Cocoa Bar

Get friends or relatives together for a hot cocoa bar! Usually I will whip up a batch of hot cocoa from scratch and then provide a variety of toppings or flavorings for everyone to choose from. This is great because it’s fun for all ages. Just like with the brownies, so many great options pair with chocolate. I’m thinking caramel, peanut butter, crushed peppermint, and of course, marshmallows with whipped cream. To kick it up a notch, add Lucky Charms marshmallows for the kids and Bailey’s and/or Kailua liquor for the adults!

3. Cookie Party

Cookies are one of the most popular desserts of the holiday season. This year, I’ll be making dark chocolate gingerbread cookies, eggnog melt away cookies, peppermint Oreo fudge and buckeyes. Although buckeyes and fudge aren’t technically cookies, they’re so much fun to make and great recipes to make with the family because kids can jump in with you. 

4. North Pole Smoothies

One of the easiest and longest standing dessert traditions in our family is the “North Pole Smoothie”. Only two ingredients needed!  1. Your favorite vanilla ice cream and 2. sweetened frozen strawberries in syrup. You’ll thaw and puree the strawberries, then layer in a glass alternating with softened vanilla ice cream. If you want to get fancy, add crushed peppermint candies to the rim of the glass! The idea is to mimic the red and white stripes of the north pole. 

4 Reasons You Can’t Miss the Greater Cincinnati Holiday Market

4 Reasons You Can’t Miss the Greater Cincinnati Holiday Market

Reasons You Can’t Miss the Cincinnati Holiday Market

We are the official bakery sponsor of the Cincinnati Holiday Market! Why is this event so special to us?! It marks the beginning of the holiday season, landing just weeks before Thanksgiving! We’ll be checking out all of the vendors and shopping ourselves! Here are a few reasons you won’t want to miss out on this event!

1. It’s a One Stop Shop for the Holidays

We love the Holiday Market because it gathers a unique collection of vendors with products that you can’t find just anywhere! This makes it a breeze to find gifts for anyone in your life and see everything in one easy stop.

Since the market takes place right before Thanksgiving, it’ll introduce you to new businesses and give you ideas for creative gifts so that you can get your shopping list checked off in plenty of time for Christmas.

From gourmet foods to specialty boutiques to gifts for your pets, it’s the perfect place to buy, get ideas for presents, and treat yourself to a little something!

2. Unique Vendors

The market is a great opportunity to see vendors that may be new to you and offer specialty products that you won’t see elsewhere! Last year I found incredible gourmet marshmallows, Cincinnati and Ohio themed home decor, beautiful handmade jewelry and the cutest dog hoodies.

There are smaller gifts available that are perfect for Secret Santa or White Elephant gift exchanges, like mini spa kits, small batch candles, and custom t-shirts. No matter who you are shopping for, there are options for you

3. Wine Down

This isn’t just a chance to shop, the Holiday Market is a great opportunity to get friends together and “Wine Down.” The show has an awesome wine and appetizer lounge for you to hit up when you need a break. Grab a glass of wine and catch up before the busy holiday season is in fill swing. There are plenty of other food vendors available as well.

4. 3 Sweet Girls Cakery is the Bakery Sponsor

What do we bring to the table?! Sweet treats, of course! We’ll have a wide variety of decorated cookies, brownies, cake pops, chocolate dipped pretzels and Oreos, and cake push ups made just for the Holiday Market. We’ll have treats for the fall and winter seasons, Thanksgiving and Christmas!

Whether your plan to buy at the market or just want idea for holiday party desserts, we’ll have you covered! We always bring ideas and information about special ordering desserts for any gathering including corporate and personal holiday parties, birthday parties, showers and any other event you could imagine planning!

Check out our website to get a head start on ideas as you look through creations we have made in the past or fill out our order form to let us know what you’re looking for!

This year’s event is November 2nd to 4th at the Duke Energy Convention Center. We will be there Friday 11am to 7pm, Saturday 10am-7pm, and Sunday from 9am-5pm! We can’t wait to see you there!

Cupcake Crazy is Obsessed with Cute Cookies

At Cupcake Crazy we have been obsessed with making cute cookies lately! We started Cupcake Crazy 3 years ago making only  cupcakes but we just can’t help adding a little more variety to our store, a little bit at a time. Yes, we are still crazy about cupcakes but is sure is fun to try different things and you all sure seem excited to be able to order a variety of goodies:)  I have included a few photos here but be sure and look at our cookie page to see more variety.  We have a lot of cookies that have not made it onto the website just yet so be sure and ask if there is something you want but do not see. We are usually up for trying something new.  Our most popular cookies are our Cupcake Cookies, without a doubt. We have a hard time keeping them in the store.  Some of our other really popular ones are ice cream cone cookies, baby shower cookies, wedding shower cookies and our summer fun cookies are also pretty popular!  We are working on some super cute cupcake cookie pops in the kitchen as I am writing and I can not wait to show you these.   Saturday we will be making Fourth of July Cookies.

It is always best to order cookies ahead if you want a dozen or more. The great thing about ordering ahead is that you can decide what colors you would like us to use to design them! Most days we have samples of the cookies in our store so if you have not had them be sure and stop in and give them a try.  If we don’t have samples out just ask and we will get you a sample. We are able to add photos and logos to any of our products, including cookies. It can get crazy busy around holiday weekends and right now with graduations and with weddings every weekend I do suggest ordering in advance.

                                 To place an order for cookies call us at 513-984-1100 or email us.