Unicorn weekend has officially kicked off! We picked up our unicorn birthday girl from the airport last night. Before she arrived, I got to making some unicorn snacks! This weekend I will be making tons of delicious food.
Here is what I made and my thoughts on each dish:
Sweet Section
Lucky Charms Treats
This one didn’t turn out so great visually. I had to get the largest marshmallows possibly ever made at the grocery store and realized during cooking, they were entirely too big. As a result, I ended up with large chunks when I blended the second half of the marshmallows towards the end.
I then turned the oven on to a low heat and stuck it in there for about five minutes so I could spread out and the chunks. When it was done, I sprinkled some of the dehydrated marshmallows I bought entirely too many of from Amazon. So yes, I’m sure it tastes fine, but isn’t winning any beauty contests.
Update: Never make this using foil instead of parchment paper because you’re out of parchment paper and think foil will work in a pinch. It will not. It will stick to the treats, it won’t come away, and create such a horrific mess you will end up tossing the entire tray because there’s no way you can serve it without pawing it to get the foil off or leaving a bunch of foil pieces on.
Unicorn Bark
And yes, I realize the original name of this recipe was “Unicorn Poop Bark.” Forgive me for dropping the “poop” bit. It sounded unappetizing.
Anyway, this was ridiculously easy to make. I coordinated the food coloring to the sprinkle colors and then just swirled everything up. I made a lot of bowls dirty, but all in all, it was pretty simple. Definitely has potential for adding more items to it as well. Marshmallows, pretzels, etc. Sky’s the limit!
Also, this was my first time using oil-based food coloring. Good thing I remembered I needed to use it! I initially grabbed the regular food coloring.
Unicorn Cookies
I definitely took some artistic liberties with with cookies as the original have way more food coloring. I felt like there was so much going on with the cookie as it was. Also, the hour long wait while the cookies firmed up was too much for me. So I nixed the food coloring idea and charged ahead!
These cookies turned out so well! They started off a bit crumbly and dry. Entirely too much to form cookies, actually. So I did add some oil to the recipe. That did the trick and these cookies are so amazing! They taste like a butter cookie. But I always think of those as incredibly dry, and these are moist and amazing! Highly recommended. This recipe is a keeper!
Strawberry Chocolate Chip Cookies
I did not get a picture of these because they ended up looking rather like trash. As I mentioned earlier, I was out of parchment paper. But I had wax paper. Figuring that was just as cook, I tried to use that to cover the cookie sheets before putting the cookies into the oven.
I’m sure you know where this is going…
Unfortunately, you can’t put wax paper in the oven. It will melt. New knowledge unlocked! Realizing this from a Google search, I pulled both cookie trays and transferred the cookies off the paper and onto the tray itself. However, the chocolate chips had started to melt already and the light pink cookies ended up with messy dark streaks through them. They ended up looking like utter trash.
They tasted pretty good, though! Definitely a soft cookie. But the base of the cookie was a cake mix, which in my previous experience, has made for a much less dense cookie which crumbles more easily.
White Velvet Cake with Strawberry Frosting
The Bad
- I may have overbaked the cake slightly. It was a tiny bit tough. Not inedible by any stretch, but not a beautiful, delicious cake either.
- My attempts at crumb coating and cake decorating went about as good as they usually do. Please see photo for reference. I’m not sure how icing always reduces me to a puddle of jelly, but somehow it manages…
The Good
- The icing was phenomenal. Seriously turned out better than expected. When it came to the cake, I kind of wanted to scrape the icing off and just eat that.
- I managed to bake the entire thing from scratch the morning of the party and the party started at 10am. I sometimes worry about my time management, but good lord can I get something done when I need to.
- I made chocolate ganache for the first time and it was delicious. I probably needed to put more in the cake. But it was pretty darn good and at least I know how to make it in the future.
- Put my new cake-cutting skills to good use. I was always someone who would try to cut clunky, massive triangles of cake for everyone. But I recently did some Googling and found out how to service cake another way, ensuring everyone got a nice portion without serving them a 700-calorie slice. See below.
Homemade Cinnamon Rolls
This is an oldie but a goodie. This was the first cinnamon roll recipe I ever tried. I remember telling myself that if these rolls weren’t that great, there was a second, much less complicated and time consuming recipe I could try out next.
But I never tried it out. This recipe was far too delicious for me to even think about trying a different one. I was done. I had my cinnamon bun recipe.
While this recipe does demand over 2 hours of your time, the results speak for themselves. There are simply no substitutes for the warm, heavenly goodness of one of these cinnamon rolls. Also, it makes your kitchen smell so nice for the rest of the day. Clearly, if you’re pressed for time, it’s not a go-to recipe, but if you are able to make it, it’s highly, highly, highly recommended!
Classic Waffle Recipe
What’s unicorn brunch without waffles?
This is my go-to waffle recipe and always a hit. Perfect for coloring waffles with food coloring or adding all kinds of wild and wonderful toppings. Definitely a favorite!
Savory Section
Breakfast Hand Pies
We had these for breakfast the first day and they were amazing! There is something about puff pastry that makes everything right in the world. The only downside is that working with said puff pastry can be kind of difficult, as the eggs want to run everywhere and the pastry doesn’t seem that interested in keeping it restrained. Still amazing and highly recommended, though.
Marry Me Salmon
It’s pretty common to see dishes called “Marry Me Chicken” or “Marry Me Casserole.” I usually don’t click on those because it tells me nothing about the dish, other than it’s supposed to be really good. Which, I’m sure everyone who puts a recipe online thinks their recipes are really good, so it’s not like that in itself is unique either.
However, looking through the ingredients and the cooking instructions, I had a pretty good idea that this dish would be better than kind of good. And I was right! It was tasty and the touch of cream cheese was simply perfection. We served it with rice, but I could also see it going nicely with veggies or garlic bread, or a whole slew of other options. Definitely a keeper!
Creamy Tuscan Shrimp
Your eyes do not deceive you: this recipe is indeed for salmon. But I decided to mix it up and make it with shrimp instead. It honestly goes well with any protein. I’ve made it with all kinds of seafood and even chicken. Needless to say, it’s an old favorite.
It was a great choice for dinner the first full day as the dish is hearty, creamy, and we served it with a salad, pasta noodles, and garlic bread. A full meal!
I didn’t realize just how much I had been cooking and baking until I looked back on this blog. No wonder my feet are sore!
