How to jazz up your store-bought, allergy-free treats

A few days ago I was tweeting with @MiscarriageMom about our kids' upcoming birthdays - her daughter turns 4 on October 20th, and my lil man also turns 4 on the 21st, just one day apart, awesome! So I was telling her about how I was taking cupcakes to his classroom and singing Happy Birthday with his classmates, and she mentioned that at her school, they're not allowed to bring any homemade treats because of allergy issues. I thought that was ridiculous! Not the allergy part, that seems reasonable, but the part where you can't actually MAKE anything - everything has to be store-bought!

So we tweeted back and forth with ideas, and finally I came up with an alternative that I THINK is allergy-free: Rice Krispies Treats!

OK, so the individual squares that come in a box don't look very appealing, but there's a way you can jazz them up and make them party-ready.

Here's what you will need:

• Ready-made Rice Krispies Treat squares


• Can of cake frosting - I like the "whipped" version because it resembles the consistency of homemade frosting


• Sprinkles - any kind


• Plastic food bag or piping bag (I used a piping bag)


• Optional: star tip (any size - I used the giant star tip)

 

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="What you will need"][/caption]

First, open all your individual packets and lay them out on a platter or serving dish, making sure it fits the amount of squares that you will need. Optionally, you can also serve them in individual paper liners.

Using scissors, make a small cut on a bottom corner of the plastic bag or piping bag. If you're using a tip, insert it and make sure it fits snugly through the hole. Fill the bag with the frosting, making sure to press it down so there are no air bubbles.

Using a circular motion starting from the outside in, pipe the frosting on each square.

Finally, to make them look more interesting and festive, add any sprinkles you like!

 Don't they look cute? Much better than the plain-old foil-lined squares in a box, right?

Alternatives:

• If you can make your own, try molding them into cupcake tins to make them look like cupcakes. Or use cookie cutters to make fun shapes!


• Use canned whipped cream! Just shake & pipe. I've also seen some frostings that come in the same type of can as whipped cream - I bet those would be fun too!


• Dip them in chocolate! Melt equal parts chocolate chips and heavy cream in a double boiler (place them in a glass bowl over boiling water) until it's completely smooth, and then dip the treats. Lay them in parchment paper until they're set. You can even dip them in sprinkles or nuts before they set!

Do you have any other ideas for store-bought, allergy-free treats to take to school? Give us your suggestions below!

Zelma's Bakery: October's featured cupcakes

OK, so I live in Puerto Rico and we don't really have Fall, or any season other than Summer for that matter. That doesn't mean I can't get inspired by the flavors of Fall. I might eat them with hot cocoa and a warm sweater, but then again, I might melt and people will surely call me crazy. :)

Take a look at the cupcakes I have featured for the month of October:

Almond Chocolate Cupcakes:

These yummy cupcakes are almond-flavored with chopped toasted almonds. With double-chocolate buttercream icing and topped with chopped toasted almonds.

I think the almond taste is very subtle, and the chopped almonds give it a great crunch. The icing is super chocolatey!

Apple Cinnamon Cupcakes:

These cupcakes are apple-cinnamon-flavored with chopped walnuts and raisins. Filled with cinnamon-sugar-cream-cheese filling. With vanilla buttercream icing and topped with chopped walnuts.

I would categorize these more like muffins than cupcakes, and the filling is the awesomest I have ever tasted!

Peanut Butter Cupcakes:

These cupcakes are peanut-butter-flavored. With double-chocolate buttercream icing and topped with chopped peanuts.

Everyone who likes peanut butter cups will surely love these. Even my husband liked them, and he doesn't like peanut butter!

Zelma's Halloween Cupcake Box:

Happy Halloween! These festive cupcakes are vanilla-flavored with orange and black jimmies. With vanilla buttercream icing in orange and black colors and topped with a halloween-themed decoration in fondant. Includes a variety of decorations: pumpkin, ghost, bat, and witch's hat.

These have to be the cutest cupcakes I've made so far, if I do say so myself. They're so friggin' cute, my lil man started screaming when he saw them!



Unfortunately, these are only available in Puerto Rico. If I try to ship them, no matter how careful I am, the frosting will get smushed, and that's definitely NOT good eats!

Zelma's Bakery: My Cupcakes

I still can't believe it's been 2 weeks since my last post! The reason is that things have been pretty busy at Zelma's Bakery. You see, lately, I've fallen in love with cupcakes. They're super easy to make, and they're the perfect portion-controlled treat. So I decided to look up different tasty and interesting recipes, and have been having a ball testing them!

Besides my standard vanilla and brownies cupcakes (which I still love!), I have decided to start testing the following flavors:

• Almond Chocolate: Almond-flavored cake with chopped toasted almonds inside. Double Chocolate buttercream topped with chopped toasted almonds.


• Boston Cream: Butter cake filled with Bavarian Cream. Chocolate Ganache frosting.


• Apple Cinnamon: Apple Cinnamon cake with raisins and chopped toasted walnuts inside; filled with Cinnamon-Sugar Cream Cheese. Cinnamon-Sugar Cream Cheese frosting topped with chopped toasted walnuts.


• Mocha: Mocha cake (chocolate and coffee). Mocha buttercream frosting topped with chocolate shavings.


• Peanut Butter: Peanut Butter cake with chopped toasted peanuts inside. Double Chocolate buttercream topped with chopped toasted peanuts.

So far I have only tested the first three, and can I say YUM!! The Apple Cinnamon is more of a muffin than a cupcake, but it's still super tasty. I'm working on taking photos of all my cupcakes for my album, and I will post them soon!

Zelma's Bakery: My Brownies

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="White and Dark Brownies"][/caption]

You may have wondered why my Facebook page is titled "Brownies and More by Zelma" and yet I keep calling it "Zelma's Bakery". Well the story behind it is very simple: it's the first thing that I sold, and at the time, my imagination was non-existent. Besides, I never thought it would become a long-term thing, much less that people would actually be interested in anything that I baked!

You see, last year, when lil man started preschool, I noticed that there were many holidays and special occasions where I would need to buy gifts for his teachers and classmates. Since I am extremely cheap and a horrible shopper (that's a story for another day!), I decided that a good alternative was baked goods, so I started taking classes at the local cake supply store.

One day, Vanessa, a coworker and one of my closest friends, asked me for a dozen of my "White and Dark Brownies" that she had heard me talk about. I posted a pic of those brownies on Facebook and people liked them!

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Heart-shaped Fudge Brownies"][/caption]

At first, Vanessa and her mom were my only paying customers, and I was happy to bake for them. Every time I took a different class - cupcakes, cookies, etc. - I tried out the different recipes at home and posted the pics on Facebook. That's how it all started! Pretty soon I had friends calling me for cakes, cupcakes, cookies, and tons more.

It wasn't until I started getting calls from strangers that I thought "hey, I might have something here!" That's when I realized that the name "Brownies and More by Zelma" was silly. People kept asking me why I had named it like that, and after having to explain the whole story about a dozen times, I decided to change the name. However, my brain was still drawing a blank, so I ended up with the simple "Zelma's Bakery". It's not very catchy, but it does the job. I actually kinda like it now, and it goes with my blog "Zelma's Workshop", so everything worked out. :)

What do you think? Do you like it? Not? Maybe? Suggestions? Sound off below, I would love to read your feedback!