Recently, we got to celebrate Ike’s 1st birthday! It was certainly a year full of excitement, worry, new experiences, unknowns, new friends, and an explosion of learning. (Be sure to read about the year by continuing to follow along. There is so much more to tell! Start HERE)
We decided on a whale theme...for no other reason but the fact that whales are not as scary as sharks, and they made us think of blue. Blue has been a theme for Ike throughout the year. He has beautiful blue eyes and so the color blue looks awesome on him. He wears a LOT of blue. Even all of his ear molds have been blue. [Scratch that, actually one time we tried the color green. It was football season and we are big Packers fans. We thought green would be a good idea, like a fun way to support the team. Turns out, we should just stick to blue ear molds.]
Anyhow, we landed on a whale theme: “Whale, Ike turned One!”. We had blue whale squirt toys, a blue whale bubble machine, and blue decorations. I hung up his monthly pictures from the past year across the fireplace. We even played the game “guess how many ear molds Ike has had throughout his first year.” **Any guesses?? For food we had goldfish (of course) and “cake”. As a family we have made the decision to do non traditional birthday desserts: no cake, no cupcakes. For example, Hank gets pie for his birthday and Adam likes cheesecake for his. For Ike’s birthday we chose to do strawberry shortcake.
To make this particular strawberry shortcake I chose to use Joanna Gaines‘s recipe from her cookbook, Magnolia Table. If you have used this cookbook, you will know that it is absolutely amazing. Seriously, everything I have made has been delicious! I am not going to be posting the recipe because, quite frankly, I don’t believe it is mine to post, but I am going to give you some insider tips on how I make her famous biscuits super fast and super easy. (If you don’t have her cookbook yet, get it! You will not be disappointed.)
The key to making an amazing biscuit is to keep the butter cold and cut it into small pieces with the dry ingredients. This allows the butter to melt during baking, creating little yummy pockets of deliciousness and a crazy flakey biscuit. Keep the butter in the refrigerator until you are about to use it. The recipe says to cut the butter into the dry mix with a pastry cutter. Now, if you are looking for a good arm workout I suggest following the recipe. If you are looking to make this recipe fast and easy I recommend the following:
1. Cut up the cold butter into chunks and throw them into a food processor with half of the dry ingredients.
2. Keep the other half of the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
3. Pulse the food processor until the butter is incorporated into the dry mix as teeny tiny pieces.
4. Add the butter mixture into the large bowl along with the other half of the dry ingredients and proceed with the recipe.
My next tip is to make the biscuits ahead of time and freeze them to use later. I like to make them ahead of time because who likes to get up super early and make biscuits for breakfast? It is so much easier to just pop them in the oven in the morning rather than making them from scratch. To do this, after you cut out the biscuits, put them on a sheet pan with a silpat mat and pop in the freezer. You will want to flash-freeze them for 30-60 minutes. Once they are frozen transfer them into a freezer storage bag. I like THESE reusable freezer bags (I found them from the Container Store). They are handy because you can wash them, so aren’t throwing away as much garbage. (Double bonus!)
Now your biscuits are ready to pop into the oven whenever you want them! Just take them out of the freezer put on a sheet pan with a silpat mat or parchment paper and cook per recipe instructions. When baking, remember to follow the instructions to set the biscuits all right next to each other. It helps them rise as they bake.
Note: when you are cooking these biscuits from frozen they will take longer. I have found that they take up to 10 minutes longer.
These biscuits were perfect with homemade whipped cream and fresh strawberries. (Side-note: if you have never made your own whipped cream you are missing out! There are a ton of recipes out there...HERE is one to get you started.) They were a hit at the party. Ike however was not feeling the best on this day, so he did not get to have the full-on cake smash experience, therefore no fun messy baby pictures. Sorry!
It was still a “whaley” fun party. 😉
**Ike’s number of ear molds over his first year = 28
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