Salt Ceramic Dough

Elijah (and I) had to use this recipe to make a water cycle chamber. It is an interesting dough. The water cycle chamber is pretty awesome. It was a great project.

Mix together:

one cup table salt

one half cup cornstarch

three quarters of a cup of cold water

Heat this mixture on the stove.

(A double boiler works best, but a saucepan on low to medium heat is satisfactory.)

Stir constantly. In about two or three minutes it becomes so thick that it follows the spoon in the stirring process. It quickly reaches a consistency similar to bread dough. Spoon out the mixture onto foil or waxed paper. When it is cool enough to handle, knead the dough for several minutes, place it in a sealed plastic bag.

Marshmallow Cupcake Pops and Truffles

So I found this alternative to the cupcake pop on Little Birdie Secrets. It is basically just a marshmallow on a stick, with the end dipped in chocolate and sprinkles on top. They are a genius!!! This is so much faster.


I also found a great idea from Emily. She has some great recipes for truffles on Delectable Edibles. She made these and Bakerella's Cake Balls. Isn't it a fantastic idea! I so want to try this.

Sidewalk Paint

1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup water

Mix well and apply to sidewalk with paintbrush.

You can add food coloring to this to give it color. But the colors don't wash off the sidewalk so well. So white is probably good.

Martha Stewart Cupcakes

Martha Stewart has a list of the most scrumptious looking cupcakes.

Just one example is the Boston Cream Cupcake.
I can't wait to try them. Which one do I start with?

Bakerellas Cupcake pops instructions

Cupcake Pops and Cupcake Bites

1 13X9 baked cake (from a box cake mix or from scratch … any flavor)
1 can cream cheese frosting (or about 2 cups equivalent from scratch)
1 flower shaped cookie cutter (1.25" wide X .75" tall)
1 package chocolate bark
1 package pink candy melts or white chocolate bark
bowls for dipping
wax paper
aluminum foil
lollipop sticks
sprinkles, m&ms or something similar for top of cupcake
small plastic treat bags and ribbon to package the Cupcake Pops
candy cups and truffle boxes to individually package the Cupcake Bites
styrofoam block
1. Bake a cake from a mix or from scratch and cool completely.

2. Crumble cake into a fine consistency into a large bowl.

TIP: If the texture is too coarse, you can run it through a food processor.

3. Add can of cream cheese frosting or homemade frosting and blend together using the back of a large spoon. Blend thoroughly.

4. Roll mixture into 1.25" - 1.5" size balls and lay on wax paper covered cookie sheet. You may want to periodically rinse and dry your hands off in between.

5. Cover with aluminum foil or plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator for several hours.

TIP: You can speed this up by placing in the freezer for about 15 minutes.

6. Remove. Begin to shape into cupcakes using a small flower-shaped cookie cutter. (see below) Take the chilled ball and roll it into more of an oval and then slide into cookie cutter. Push it into cutter until about half fills the cutter and the rest sticks out of the top in the shape of a mound. Then push the shaped cupcake carefully out of the cookie cutter from the bottom. Set right side up on a wax paper covered cookie sheet. Continue with remaining balls.

7. Once shaped, cover and return to freezer. (5-10 minutes)

TIP: You can leave them covered in the refrigerator overnight if you want to do the dipping on the following day.


8. While cupcake shapes are chilling, begin to heat up your chocolate bark.

9. Brown chocolate bark for the bottoms. Pink or white chocolate for the tops.

10. Follow the instructions on the package for melting. Most recommend heating for 30 second intervals at a time and stirring in between. You can also do the double boiler method.

11. When you are ready to dip, remove from freezer and set up another wax paper covered
cookie sheet.

12. Take the cupcake shaped mixture and dip bottoms into the melted chocolate - just to the point where the mounded shape starts. Remove from chocolate, turn upside down and wiggle so that the excess starts to slide down slightly. Then lay on the wax paper upside down. If you want them to be lollipops, then go ahead and insert the lollipop sticks while the chocolate is still wet. Continue with rest of the cupcakes. You can also leave some without the sticks. They’re just as cute as Cupcake Bites.

TIP: Dip end of your lollipop stick in the melted chocolate before inserting into chocolate bottoms. Not sure if this helps a lot, but it couldn't hurt.

DON'T - get water in the chocolate. Make sure your hands are completely dry. Water will cause the chocolate to separate and mess up all your hard work.

13. Dry completely. (15-20 minutes)

14. Once dry, dip the tops of the cupcakes in the pink or white chocolate. You may need to move it around a little to cover all the exposed areas.

TIP: Let the pink chocolate sit for a few minutes after heating to thicken. This will help it from dripping down the sides of the cupcake.

15. Remove from the pink/white chocolate and turn right side up. You may need to hold and rotate it if there is any excess so that it doesn’t drip down too far.

TIP: You can use a toothpick to help cover any areas the melted chocolate didn't cover.

16. For the Cupcake Bites - just turn right side up and rest on the wax paper. Then go ahead and put a m&m on the top and add sprinkles while wet.

17. For the lollipops, Continue holding and place an m&m on the top and add sprinkles. Let them dry in a Styrofoam block that you have already poked holes into.

18. When completely dry, cover the lollipops with small plastic treat bags and tie with a ribbon.

19. For the Cupcake Bites, place in a candy cup and package in small candy truffle boxes to present individually.

Hard Candy Suckers

HARD SUCKERS

1 c. sugar
1/2 c. water
1/3 c. corn syrup
1/4 tsp. oil flavor
Food coloring

Combine sugar, water and corn syrup.
Cook to hard crack (300 degrees).
Check your thermometer first to see if it is accurate with water boiling, as this burns easily after 300 degrees.
Remove from heat.
Add flavoring and food coloring.
Stir and pour into greased sucker molds arranged on a greased cookie sheet or a marble slab.
Makes 10 suckers.

Double fruit flavors or add 1/4 teaspoon citric acid.

Traditional Play Dough

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup warm water
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon oil
• 1/4 cup salt
• food coloring

Mix all ingredients, adding food coloring last. Stir over medium heat until smooth. Remove from pan and knead until blended smooth. Place in plastic bag or airtight container when cooled. Will last for a long time.

Flubber

Mixture 1: ¾ cup Warm Water

1 cup Elmers Glue

Food Coloring

Mixture 2: 2 tsp. Borax

½ cup Warm Water

Stir mixture 1 together in 1 bowl, mixture 2 in another bowl. Make sure both are mixed well. Pour mixture 1 into mixture 2. No need to stir, just reach in and pull out a glob of flubber! Work it well for 2 or 3 minutes. ENJOY the FUN!