4th of July Pretzel Sticks! (A Pin a Day #7)

Huzzah! I did it! 7 days of trying pins and making ish work! Woot!

So anyway, this last one is kind of a cheater one... but technically is was a pin I saw...there just isn't a tutorial, because 1. it's kind of self explanatory, and 2. someone needs to learn how to Pin things *cough cough*.

Anyway, I saw the picture and I decided to make this another fun thing to do with Audrey while she was visiting us for a few days. The kid is 6, so she's got the attention span of a commercial break, so the projects we do have to be quick and easy, or she will just rush through them to get back to the Disney Channel and drive me insane with the amount of work I put into it verses the amount of care she put into it. But like I said, she's 6...

We don't have her this year for 4th of July, so I figured we should do a fun holiday project for the BBQ we're going to on Wednesday, and since it involves licking the spoon and sprinkles, plus a trip to Micheal's she was totally into it.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Last week I posted about Red Velvet Cupcakes. I frosted mine with a very easy to make Cream Cheese Frosting. I once again consulted my Magnolia Bakery Cookbook, below is the recipe.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

1 pound cream cheese (that's about 2 bricks of it) , softened and cut into pieces
6 tbsp unsalted butter, softened and cut into pieces
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
5 cups (OMG I KNOW) powdered sugar

I thought for sure this would be wayyy too much and almost halved it, but it frosted the entire recipe of red velvet and I had just enough left to lick off my fingers.

In a large bowl with a mixer, (I, again, used my Kitchen-Aid) beat the cream cheese and butter until nice and smooth. Then add the vanilla, and beat well.


Next, very slowly and gradually, cuz the stuff goes everywhere, add the powdered sugar, a half a cup at a time.


Scrape the sides down after about 2 1/2 cups worth of sugar has been added. Once all added, cover and chill for about 2-3 hours, but not much longer so it can thicken before frosting.


To frost you can go about it a few ways. If you are pressed for time or don't use piping tips, you can just slather it on there with a butter knife or frosting spatula. That isn't who I am, but if it's you by all means, go hog wild! If you wish to use a pastry bag with a piping tip, use the largest one you've got. If you don't know how to use a pastry bag, watch this.


Then once again, by all means, go hog wild! I pipe my frosting on in big circular swirls. Lots of frosting on red velvet is the only way to go.

Then I got all fancy and sprinkled the living daylight out of them.

VOILA!