{Happy Birthday, Harry Potter!!!}

Today is Queen Rowling's birthday! Since she had our boy born on her birthday, well, it is, in turn, Harry Potter's birthday as well!

I was going to make something new for Harry's birthday, but after the 4+ hours I spent in the dentist's chair yesterday, I...um.. didn't.

Now, perhaps if the dentist had been Hermione's mum or dad I would have enjoyed it a little more.

No, no, that's a lie. I wouldn't of. Period. The end.

Instead, I'm just wrapping a bunch of my old Potter posts into one. There are a LOT. There are actually a few I didn't post here. You can see ALL of my Harry Potter posts at this link. If you are headed to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal's Islands of Adventure, be sure to read this one in particular.

As for the ones in the photo above they are all linked below:

Hogwarts Acceptance Letter Cookie

Weasley is Our King Cakes

Knickerbocker Glory

Apple Pie Cupcakes & Pumpkin Juice

Butterbeer Shake

Cauldron Cakes & Butterbeer

Toffee Cupcakes

Chocolate Frogs

and....

The Epic Harry Potter Party Post

Harry Potter Party the Second

I hope you enjoy these posts as much as I enjoyed creating them.

Happy Birthday, Jo. Thanks for your imagination. Thank you for sharing it with the world at large. Thank you for giving us Harry.

Happy Birthday, Harry. Though you may not be real, you have had a huge impact on my life. You've brought irreplaceable memories and moments with my child. You've let me celebrate with friends. You've allowed me to totally geek out over your world. You've brought me new friends. And you, Harry, along with Ron, Hermione, and the rest of the crew, have been my friend. One I can count on when I'm sad, one I can turn to when I need a lift, one I can carry around in my purse, one I that always cheers me, one that is always there.

“Whether you come back by page or by the big screen, Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home.”

J.K. Rowling

Thanks for that.

Happy Birthday, dear ones.

Tina

{Mary Poppins Party}

Bean's girlfriend turned 16 yesterday. He came to me a few weeks back with the idea of having a surprise birthday party for her. Well, you know me... I like a good party.

She's into a lot of geeky things like we are: Harry Potter, Doctor Who, The Hunger Games, etc, etc... However, one thing that she loves is a little different. It's Mary Poppins. She loves Mary Poppins so much that she even changed her name in Bean's cell phone contacts to just that. Now every time she texts him "Mary Poppins" pops up on screen.

So, the idea of a Mary Poppins idea came to mind. I thought it would be unique and fun, and undeniably her.

I set to work and ended up what I think turned out to be a fun little party. I just invited my nieces & my niece's boyfriend, all of which are the Girl's friends. And.. myself, of course.

I started, of course, with the idea of a Spoonful of Sugar. This was super easy, just white chocolate sprinkled with regular white sugar. I added a little tag. Easy peasy.

I also found some cherries in the craft section, I thought they'd be super fun. Just a little souvenir.

I made labels for soda in glass bottles. Mary POPpins. Around these parts, we call it pop, however, it would be just as cute if it said Mary soda POPpins. To make these, I simply measured the bottle, then created them in photoshop. I printed them out, glued them on a blue cardstock and taped them to the bottles.

You can see the placecards I made as well.  They simply said ______'s Mary 16th Birthday.

I found the graphic of Mary on the internet.  I believe it's from the Broadway show.

This was not for profit. Don't sue me, please.

I threw some candy necklaces on the place settings as well. Not sure why, they just seemed Mary to me.

I popped up some Mary Poppinscorn.

flowers, whirlagigs, and books for the table.

Square marshmallows on skewers, dipped in chocolate and then topped with cookies and cream sprinkles for Chimney Sweeps

We had a "proper British tea", of course!

I had several selections of British tea for them to choose from.

At one point in the movie, they laugh so hard that they have tea on the ceiling. My friend Joyce reminded me of this. Bean found a bunch of silly jokes on the internet that he printed and cut. While waiting for the food to be ready, we passed the cup around and all drew jokes and read them aloud.

and here's the cake! It was just a 6" cake, 3 layers. White with maple buttercream.

I topped it with a banner I printed out which read "practically perfect in every way". I glued the banner to 2 stripey straws. The best decoration on the cake was not that, or the sugar pearls, or the sanding sugar, or the little flower cupcake toppers, it was the Funko Pop Mary Poppins I bought.

I LOVE Funko Pop. I only own 6 at this time (The Avengers, Dumbo, and The Little Mermaid), but my wish list for them is about 300 miles long. They are sooooo cute. Even though I'm not a huge Mary Poppins fan, I really wanted to keep her. I didn't though. I gave her to the birthday girl. Most reluctantly.

Here's the whole table.

I know most American's probably don't, but Bean has flags from different countries/eras in his room. He's got around 7 of them. 2 are even the curtains. He happens to have the British Union flag, so, that was perfect to use. 

I also purchased a hardback copy of the Mary Poppins book. We all wrote in it as a guest book from the event.

After we told jokes, ate, had cake, and watched present opening, we simply went and watched the movie (while eating the Mary Poppinscorn).

That was it, but it was super cute, a lot of fun, and the Girl LOVED it. She was so surprised!

We lured her here, dressed up as Mary Poppins on the pretense that I was doing a themed photoshoot of her as Mary & Bean as Bert.

....And so... I did.

She looked AMAZING!

She and her mom did the best job finding the outfit at thrift shops. 

 A little vintage Mary Poppins action on this one :)

So, there you have it.

Another party.

Yes, I know I've posted a lot of them lately, I'm a partying fool.

Too much party? NEVAH!

Tina

{Cake for Breakfast: Waffle Crisp Cupcakes}

Bean has a favorite cereal. Like, a favorite, favorite, favorite. No other cereal compares. No other cereal walks the same ethereal, lighted path. Post Waffle Crisp stands high above all others.

Waffle Crisp is King of the World (of cereals).

When I told him I had the idea of a Waffle Crisp cupcake, I was deemed "THE BEST MOM EVER!". I made him define this. Cause really, if I'm just the best mom HE has ever had, this really isn't a compliment. Best mom in the history of all moms. Yes, fine, I will make you the cupcakes.

This is a super simple recipe (but don't tell Bean that, eh? He doesn't need to know. My title cannot be revoked). You just start with a basic yellow cake recipe (or box mix, if you please). Then skim coat with a bit of maple buttercream. Sprinkle on crushed Waffle Crisp. Swirl on more maple buttercream & top with a single cereal. Drizzle with a bit of maple syrup.

Dozna.

The way I figure it, this cupcake totally counts as breakfast. I mean, it's maple AND it's covered in cereal. Totally breakfast. All arguments are invalid.

You know who else likes cake for breakfast (besides everyone on planet earth)?

Darla.  She made some crazy beautifully delicious Chocolate Chai Tea Cupcakes. So, there you have it, cereal cupcakes and tea cupcakes. Breakfast is served.

Maybe chase it with a little milk though, just cause ;)

Tina

P.S. If you haven’t already,  you can ‘like’ my Facebook page here, and follow me on twitter here, and you can follow me on instagram here.

Waffle Crisp Cupcakes
by Tina of Sugar Bean Bakers

12 yellow cupcakes, baked and cooled (recipe below or use a box mix)
1 recipe maple buttercream (recipe below)
Post Waffle Crisp Cereal, crushed
Post Waffle Crisp Cereal, 12 pieces whole
Maple Syrup

Frost yellow cupcakes with a thin coating of maple buttercream.

Sprinkle with crushed Waffle Crisp Cereal & then add a swirl of Maple Buttercream. Top with a whole Waffle Crisp cereal. Drizzle with maple syrup.

Note: only frost & top as many as you plan to use right away, otherwise the cereal will become soggy.




Yellow Cupcakes
recipe by  Darla of Bakingdom
Recipe with metric conversion 
makes 12 cupcakes

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in mixing bowl. Add the butter, sour cream, eggs, and vanilla and beat until smooth. Scrape the bowl, until there are no streaks of flour (do not over mix).

In a muffin pan prepared with cupcake papers, add 2 tablespoons of batter to each liner.

Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Move to wire cooling rack and allow to cool completely before frosting.


Maple Buttercream
adapted from Perfect Vanilla Buttercream by Bakingdom
 

1 stick butter, softened (but still chilled)
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon heavy cream*
1 teaspoon maple flavoring
dash of salt

Add butter to mixing bowl. Beat until fluffy (about 3 minutes). Slowly add in powdered sugar. Beat in heavy cream and  maple flavoring. Add dash of salt. Beat for 4 minutes until light and fluffy.


*if too thick, add more cream 1/2 teaspoon at a time

{Christmas In July Party}

It's an established fact that I am a complete and total Christmas fiend.

I know I'm not alone in this. I mean, it's the most wonderful time of year. (You've got that song in your head now, don't you? You're welcome). I know it's high stress, and high expense, but I love to pick out gifts that I think will be perfect for each person. I like to take the time and really think about what they'd like. I love Christmas movies, Christmas music, Christmas specials on TV. I love decorating, and baking, and driving around looking at lights.

I have an addiction and it's Christmas.

In my post holiday blues, that hit every January, I decided once a year was not enough to celebrate. I would, in fact, host a Christmas in July Party.

And so.. I did.

I invited fellow Christmas lovers over and we had a holly, jolly time.

People arrived in sparkly shirts, Christmas tees, wearing jingle bells, and Santa hats!

I put up a 3 foot, prelit tree. Easy peasy.

 I put on Christmas music and lit a Christmas candle. The candle, especially, added to the mood.

Then I made Christmas favorites!

 Buckeyes! (recipe)

Ranch Cheeseball (recipe)

A Crockpot of Cocoa, of course

Chocolate Dipped Mallows to stir your cocoa

Since there were no candy canes to be found, I used starlight mints instead

We decorated Christmas cookies, of course (made from this recipe).

On the drink cups, I wrote the names of the reindeer. Whoever you 'drew' you were for the night. (I used the same idea at my Disney party). My oldest niece drew Rudolph. She was super excited, until....

She was supposed to wear it all night. She failed.

We played Christmas Song Pictionary

 and Christmas Charades

We played "Dirty Santa". This is just the gift exchange where you steal presents from each other. Everyone brought a $5 gift.

We ended the night with a few rounds of our very favorite party game which we call "Visual Telephone". See game instructions here (at the bottom of the post). The game had to be Christmas themed.

It's been nearly 100 degrees here for the entire week, so taking a break and imaging we were in December was a lot of fun.

After everyone had left Bean gave me the best compliment. He said, "I had a great time at the party. I actually forgot it was July for a little while!".

He's kinda awesome. I guess I'll keep him.

Merry Christmas in July!

Tina

P.S. If you haven’t already,  you can ‘like’ my Facebook page here, and follow me on twitter here, and you can follow me on instagram here.

{Liege Waffle Strawberry Shortcake}

I blame Darla.

After her post about Liege Waffles months ago, I've never looked at a waffle the same. I've judged waffles for not being dense and crispy. For not having those pops of sugar in them. For not being shiny and caramelized. Regular waffles are so flimsy. So wibbly wobbly.

I'm a dirty waffle bigot. I don't even care.

Once you have a liege waffle, you'll understand. You'll join me. We will have liege waffle superiority badges. It'll happen.

I first made my Vanilla Bean Liege Waffles in January. Big hit. Big. Huge.

The liege waffle is really such an amazing base, you could add most anything on it.

Which is where this post comes in.

Imagine a strawberry shortcake with crunchy pops of sugar inside. Mmmm.. You've just imagined this.

For this recipe, I made small waffles, using dough a little larger than a golf ball.

See the sugar? Yummeh.

You can use 1 or 2 for your shortcakes. I chose 2, because yum.

I also made a simple strawberry syrup for the waffles.

is goooooood.

Add some strawberries, syrup, a little whipped cream, and perhaps a dusting of powdered sugar?

Delish. Or as the Bean described them: "Delicious in every. single. way."

I guess he liked them.

 By the way, check out Darla's Chocolate Liege Waffles.

She says she's my friend, but I think she's trying to kill me with these. I mean seriously. Can you even? For really!

Tina

P.S. If you haven’t already,  you can ‘like’ my Facebook page here, and follow me on twitter here, and you can follow me on instagram here.

Liege Waffle Strawberry Shortcakes with Strawberry Syrup

Waffles adapted from Bakingdom

For the Waffles:

1/3 cup  hot milk
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups bread flour
2 1/4 teaspoon (or 1 packet) instant yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup Belgian pearl sugar

In a medium bowl or measuring cup, heat the milk until it’s hot enough to melt the butter. Stir the butter into the milk, stir until melted. Add vanilla.  Add the eggs, whisking lightly.

In a large bowl, or the bowl of a standing mixer with the dough hook attached, combine the flour, yeast, and salt. Turn the mixer to low, and slowly add the warm milk mixture in a slow steady stream. Increase speed to medium, beat until the dough barely sticks to the bowl, this will take about about 7 or 8 minutes. Scrape sides as necessary. Lightly oil a bowl, place the dough in there. Cover & allow to rise until double (about 1 hour).

Once doubled, turn on the waffle iron. Knead the pearl sugar into the dough. Set aside to rest while the iron heats.

Divide the dough into14 pieces, slightly larger than a golf ball. One piece at a time, spread the waffle dough into the hot iron. Cook until golden brown (about 2 to 3 minutes). Let sit for about 1 minute before serving (the melted sugar will be HOT).

For the Strawberry Syrup:

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup cleaned and chopped strawberries 

Add water, sugar, and berries to a heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and allow to simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat. For a clear syrup, strain out strawberry bits. For chunky, allow to cool, then blend in a blender.

Store leftovers in refrigerator.

For Shortcakes: 

Add one waffle to a plate. Cover with strawberries. Add another waffle. Top with strawberry syrup and whipped topping. Enjoy!

{ Virgin Strawberry Daiquiri Smoothie}

I posted about the Peanut Butter Chocolate Dipped Krispie Treats that I made for our Bean's Pool Party the other day. I also made, what I thought was, Strawberry Daiquiris.

Lemme just tell you, I don't know much about drinking. So, what I thought was a daiquiris may not actually be. After a bit of googling, I found out that daiquiris don't take NEARLY as many berries as I was using.

I'd say I'm sorry, but I'm not. These were yummy.

Very strawberry, very cool, very refreshing, and daggone it, not bad for you at all!

Did I say yummy? Cause they were.

So quick and easy, but perhaps not a real daiquiri. So, I changed the name to Strawberry Daiquiri Smoothie.

Call it what you want. I call it good.

Try it.

Tina


Strawberry Daiquiri Smoothie
Recipe by Tina @ Sugar Bean Bakers


4 cups fresh strawberries, washed and hulled
2 cups ice
1/2 cup lemon lime soda, chillled
teaspoon of lime juice
sugar to taste


This recipe requires a blender that can crush ice.

Add the strawberries, lime juice and sugar into the blender. Pulse until smooth.  Taste mix. If too bitter, add more sugar. Add in ice. Blend until ice is crushed well. Stir in soda, do not blend. Pour into glasses.

Makes 4-6 servings.

{Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats}

Bean will kill me for posting this, but the fact is, school starts here in just over one month.

One month? AREYOUSERIOUS? Yes, and that's just really, really dumb.

Maybe it's the fact that I only have one kid, I'm not sure, but I LOVE summer break. While my child is 16 and headed full steam ahead toward Junior year (talk about dumb! Junior  year? That's not possible!), we still  love hanging out together. In fact, this year we even made a Summer Bucket List.

At the beginning of Summer, I handed him a piece of paper and a pen and told him to write down what he wanted to do this summer. I typed it, printed it, and hung it on the refrigerator. I'm happy to say that the list is about 2/3 completed!

We still have to go on a picnic, have a board game -a-thon, go to the outlet malls, go to Comic Con (not THE Comic Con in San Diego though), finish the River Song episodes (we started), drive with no place to go, have a movie-a-thon, and go to Half Price Books.  Also, the last day of summer thing, obviously. Since Bean was little, on the day before school started, we go out to lunch and to the movies. Sometimes we end up at the cheap theater, sometimes, it's the regular one. We actually watched several movies we expected to not be great and LOVED on these days. Including Ratatouille and How to Train Your Dragon. This year we are hoping to hit up Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters.

Anyway, all too soon we will dragging out that dreaded backpack and heading off to school.

When Bean was young, one of his favorite lunchbox treats were Reese's Krispie Treats. They were pre-packaged treats you bought alongside regular Krispie Treats (but not made my Kellogg's). Then, poof. Gone. I looked everywhere for them over the years before I finally gave up. I even tried to google a photo to post here. I found nada. WHAT IS THIS MAGIC? I know they existed. I ATE THEM, people!! They were real. And delicious. Does anyone else remember these?

They were little rectangles of peanut butter krispie treats with chocolate bottoms.

They aren't hard to make at all, of course, but buying them was so much easier. I enjoy making them now as to not have all the icky additives and preservatives in the boxed treats.

What we are looking at here is your basic Krispie Treat recipe with peanut butter, then cooled, cut, and dipped in chocolate.

Easy.

Also, extremely popular. I made a batch last night for Bean's Pool Party (refer to Summer Bucket List), and there were 3 left, with only 8 kids here.

Super great for lunchboxes. Or Pool Parties. Or, really, any time because chocolate. And peanut butter.

Tina

P.S. Don't tell the kids, but SCHOOL IS COMING.


Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats
Adapted from Kellogg's

For the treats:

1/4 cup butter
10 ounces mini marshmallows
6 cups Rice Krispies Cereal (or store brand)
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter


Prepare dish, spray lightly with cooking spray and set aside. You can use a 9x13 for thinner treats (like mine) or an 8x8 for thicker treats.

In a large saucepan, melt butter over low heat. When melted, add marshmallows. Remove from heat. Stir until fully melted. Add in peanut butter. Stir until well combined. Add cereal and mix until fully coated.  Press into pan. Allow to cool completely. Cut into squares.

For the chocolate:

Chocolate bark or chocolate chips
(I much prefer chocolate bark for dipping)

Melt in microwave at 30 second intervals, stirring each time, until fully melted.

Dip each square into chocolate and then place on well greased cooling rack (with paper towels under to catch drips) or onto parchment paper. Allow chocolate to cool and harden.

Enjoy.

Makes approx 24 treats, depending on size.

{Delicious Summer Drinks}

As the thermometer heads up, you can keep cool with these drinks that I've posted.

They are yummy, and, my favorite thing, EASY.

Easy is especially great on a hot day!

{Disney Inspired Dole Whip}

{Peach Banana Smoothie}

{Frozen Strawberry Lemonade}

{Strawberry Lemonade}

{Layered Drinks}

{Easy to Make Smoothie}

Stay cool, my friends!

Tina

{Disney-Inspired Dole Whip}

If you are a regular reader, you'll know this story I'm about to tell. If not, well... you soon will.

Last summer, we went to Disney World. I never knew I wanted to go to Disney World... until I was there. The Bean and I (and our friends) had THE BEST DAY. It was true magic for us at The Magic Kingdom. Since that time, I've become a little obsessed about Disney. I've amassed a collection of Disney items, clothes, purses, and an unhealthy amount of earhats. People, I need HELP. We just LOVED it. You can read all about it in my post (it's a Magic Kingdom walk through guide with prices, etc).

We went in September. By November I decided to have a Disney themed party. This was a simple, little party, but believe me people, there WILL BE MORE. Well, speaking of more... I did just host this Alice in Wonderland party last week!

Then, for Easter, I made some Mickey Mouse Easter Egg Cookies. Because. I have no other reason.

The one thing I really wanted to try at The Magic Kingdom was the Dole Whip. I'd read so much about them! It is available at Aloha Isle in Adventureland. We finally got around to it mid-day. I just sat down to take a bite when Bean SPILLED EVERY DROP of it. I was upset. He was upset. Annoyance ensued. However, all was set right in the world, because we were at Disney! Who can stay  mad there? My friend Bobby went and bought me another. He didn't need to, but I was glad he did, because, hello yummy!

As soon ate it, I knew I'd make this at home. However, I found many, many recipes which all called for massive amounts of heavy cream. Oy. The actual Dole Whip is non-dairy and comes in a powder that they mix there. You can actually buy the powder. It comes in a HUUUGE 70 serving bag though.

I was surfing around the net when I stumbled upon this YouTube video by The Disney Diner. I liked her recipe. Simple. Good. Score.

So,  her's is what I decided to make. She has a full website of ALL KINDS of Disney treats! Shuffle on over there, Disgeeks and tell her I sent you! I know I'll be referencing it again!

Oh, did I forget to mention the Mickey Mouse silverware I now own?

The Dole Whip itself is a pineapple soft serve. You can actually get a Dole Whip in pineapple, vanilla, orange, or swirled. The BEST thing to get though, in my (any many other people's) opinion is the Dole Whip Float. That is the Dole Whip with a bit of pineapple juice poured over. Yummeh.

My friend, Steph, loved it SO much she wanted another. I can't wait to make this for her!

This is a light, refreshing treat that is so great for summer!

Give it a whirl...

Tina

P.S. If you haven’t already,  you can ‘like’ my Facebook page here, and follow me on twitter here, and you can follow me on instagram here.

Dole Whip
adapted from The Disney Diner

4-5  cups Pineapple Sherbet (softened, but not melted)
1 (8 ounce) Tub Cool Whip (thawed)
4 tablespoons pineapple juice, chilled


In a mixing bowl, add the sherbet & cool whip. Mix together. Add pineapple juice. Mix again. Scrape down sides and make sure the cool whip is well incorporated. You can also use  food coloring to achieve a yellow look (like at Disney). I opted not to do this.

Pour into a 1 gallon zippered bag. Freeze for 2-3 hours. It will still be a soft serve consistency. Snip one corner and squeeze into serving dish.

Enjoy!

OR... for a 

Dole Whip Float 

Recipe of Dole Whip
Pineapple Juice
Sugar

Sweeten a bit of pineapple juice to your liking so it is not too sour for your Dole Whip. I used about a Tablespoon for 1 cup juice. You can use more or less to your personal taste.

Pour over Dole Whip.

Enjoy!

If you have any Dole Whip left, place your snipped zippered bag into another zippered bag and return to freezer. It will freeze solid, but place on your counter for a few minutes to return to a soft serve-like state.

{For the Fourth}

A quick recap of some fun and easy treats for the Fourth of July.


Red, White, and Blue Strawberries

Layered Drinks

Homemade Snow Cone Syrup


Did I mention easy?

Cause yeah.

Tina