PB&J

Who doesn't love a good old peanut butter and jelly sandwich?  Nobody.  But what's the one thing it may be missing?  Frosting, you say?  Not anymore.  


I had what I believe to be an ingenious idea the other day: to make a pb&j cupcake.  I have personally never seen it done before and so I whipped up this baby.  And I have to say that I'm really (and I mean really) excited about it.  


I made a vanilla peanut butter batter for the cupcakes.  If you're wondering what heaven smells like, it's vanilla peanut butter cake baking.  I promise.  Then I filled each cupcake with raspberry jam, iced them with a swirled peanut butter/raspberry frosting, and topped each with chopped salted peanuts.  It's the perfect mix of salty and sweet, and it's the only thing better than a pb&j.  

If you would like to order these cupcakes, please contact me at susangietl@hotmail.com.  Minimum quantity is one dozen.  Pricing information will be coming soon to the blog.

Special thanks to Mr. Murphy Randle for turning my little Suzy Sweet Tooth sketch into the cute new logo!  It looks great!

Chocolate Covered Pretzels

Since I was a little girl my family has made chocolate covered pretzels every year and I still do it every Christmas, and usually throughout the year as well.  They are a staple at our annual Christmas cookie party (in two weeks we'll have our fifth), and people always seem to love them.  

I have always thought they've made great gifts for my friends and family and now I'm offering them for a very good price.  If you're in the Utah Valley area and want a pretty and easy gift for Christmas, I'm doing 3 sets of 5 assorted Christmas pretzels for only $10.  You can choose from rods or loops, and either come wrapped in a cellophane bag with your choice of a metallic twist tie or ribbon.  I can also do any sprinkles or colored candy drizzle you'd like for birthdays or celebrations throughout the year.  Please contact me at susangietl@hotmail.com with any orders or questions.

Chocolate Covered Pretzels, $10/15 pretzels (3 sets of 5)

Cookie Trees

An early Christmas present arrived today in Provo from the North Pole.  Santa Claus generously FedExed me a set of star shaped cookie cutters in graduated sizes that stack up to make these cute Christmas trees.  I would expect nothing less from a man who knows his cookies.

The stars were baked with my favorite sugar cookie dough, which is made from brown sugar and spiced with cinnamon.  Then I piped on them mint green royal icing and dusted on some snowflake sprinkles before I finally stacked them to look like trees.  They are very pretty as decorations, and just as yummy to break apart as dessert.

Gobble, Gobble.

What am I thankful for this year?  Cheesecake.  Pumpkin cheesecake, to be exact.  This is my second Thanksgiving in a row to make this recipe.  I was considering going back to the standard pumpkin pie, but the cheesecake must have left a good impression because the Martins requested that I do this one again.  And I must admit that after a healthy slice I'm glad I did.  It's got that great combination of being very moist and creamy but still fluffy.  It sits on a crumbly cinnamon graham cracker crust, and it's nestled under a semisweet chocolate drizzle.  (Heavy on the drizzle.  Who can't use a little extra chocolate in their life?)  C'mon now... who couldn't use a slice of this after their turkey?

Because Thanksgiving is all about indulgence we can't just stop at one dessert.  (Or at least I can't.)  The holiday would not be complete without a pie, so I did my go-to apple pie based off of Rombauer's recipe in The Joy of Cooking.  Mine has a few more spices and uses brown sugar.  I think a lattice top is always pretty, and I added a few leaves and acorns to look very autumnal.  Some chose to top it with ice cream, others whipped cream, I went solo.  I think we all agreed on one thing-- it was a great way to end Thanksgiving.

Stay tuned-- a little birdie tells me I have an early Christmas baking gift coming my way in the next couple of days...

If you would like information about having these desserts or others catered, please contact me at susangietl@hotmail.com.  Pricing information will be coming soon to the blog.

Coming Soon...

For Thanksgiving today I am making an apple pie and a pumpkin cheesecake.  I will post pictures soon with a little more information about the recipes and how they turn out.

I just want to say that I am very grateful today for Matt and his family for having me over this Thanksgiving and last, as well as the random frequent dinners I mooch throughout the year.  I am also very thankful for my the handful of people who have already signed up to follow this project in its very rough beginning state.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!!  And a very special Happy Thanksgiving to my sister, Kate, who is finally home with her new baby.  Happy first turkey day, Ty!

Brianna's Baby Shower

I got a call about a week ago from the lovely Brianna who is expecting a little baby boy (her first), and wanted some cupcakes for a baby shower this past weekend.  Of course I was very happy to oblige.  Brianna and her husband Neal couldn't be more excited to welcome their little one.  And what better way is there to celebrate than with sugar?  (This is, of course, a silly question.  There is no better way.)


Brianna and her mother asked for blue, green, and brown, so I did a yummy cinnamon chocolate cupcake with both vanilla buttercream and chocolate frostings.  I topped the colored ones with some candy and rimmed the chocolate ones with chocolate jimmies.  (Stating the obvious again: chocolate + chocolate + more chocolate = yummy.)


A little birdie tells me that the party was a smash and the cupcakes were a hit.  The only downside?  I may be to blame if the baby comes out craving sugar.  But with little boys that's inevitable, right?

Kevin's 20th Birthday

A good friend of mine, Kevin, had a birthday last month, right around Halloween time.  His beautiful girlfriend, Jess, hired me to make some cupcakes for a surprise birthday party she threw him.  One big specification was to steer clear of any Halloween decorations.  I completely understand, Jess!  My dad's birthday is Halloween and mine is Valentine's Day, and we holiday birthday guys and gals can tell you that having your special day lumped together with a holiday is not as fun as it sounds.  So for Kevin we went purple: purple buttercream, purple gumballs, and purple metallic jimmies.  Not a skull in sight.

I made a total of 4 dozen cupcakes, twenty-four regulars and twenty-four minis.  The cake was a lemon cake iced with a cream cheese frosting.  Jess clearly has good taste in picking out flavors in addition to picking out Kevin...

Kevin will be leaving in just a few weeks to serve a two year church mission in the Ukraine.  We'll all miss him very much.  I hope that he loved his cupcakes and party as much as we all love him!

Bigger is Better.

So tonight I made one of my favorite cake recipes to eat with my fiancé and his family after our Sunday dinner.  But the fun part is the kind of cake I baked-- a giant donut cake.  It's too cute.  It looks just like a glazed donut... but bigger.  And the best thing about it?  It's very easy to make, and the homier it looks, the better.  


The pan is from Williams-Sonoma.  I just used a basic butter cake recipe that I jazzed up for the fall with a healthy dose of cinnamon and a tiny bit of ginger.  And I couldn't go wrong with some autumn sprinkles.  Add a semisweet chocolate glaze and some chocolate jimmies and I can just hear it calling my name.


I love that it looks so homemade.  I often think that with cakes especially, the crumblier or gooier the better.  It just looks so delectable that way!  We'll just have to see if it is...

Who has a sweet tooth?

Welcome, everyone, to my new blog!  I'm sure 'everyone' is pretty small, but that's exactly why I'm starting this-- to get the ball rolling!

The purpose of Suzy Sweet Tooth for me will be double duty: to share with my friends and family the recipes I find/test/create, and to showcase some of the sweets and treats I can cater in Utah Valley.  I am hoping that anyone who lands here will contact me about what I can do to help them with a special occasion... including the ever-special occasion of treating yourself to something delicious!