I'm Basically A Professional Baker Now

As promised, I'm back today with more photos and recipes of the MAJOR deliciousness that we served at our housewarming party over the weekend!

Rami's friend Cary - who has since become a dear friend of mine - is an insane baker. Like, the boy whips up peach cobbler and banana cream pies from scratch like it ain't no thing. I obviously enlisted him to assist me in making salted caramel brownies, because I love salted caramel insane amounts. He chose this recipe - it was a lot of work, but well worth it in the end. Tip: use fine sea salt, and use it on the top only. These puppies are SERIOUSLY RICH and delicious!

I also made my standard crowd pleaser - chocolate chip bread pudding. I've blogged about the recipe before here. I made it earlier in the day and put it in the oven about 45 minutes before the party started so the entire apartment smelled delicious and chocolatey!

I am also a sucker for rainbow sprinkles so I knew I wanted something funfetti-flavored. These are not quite cake balls but instead are called Cake Batter Truffles! I had been wanting to make them for months and this was the perfect opportunity! They were super easy to make, and when I got scared of dipping them in the white chocolate melts, I put Cary and Gerrick in charge of that :) A total crowd pleaser!

I was a little crazy with all the chocolate-related desserts, so I put Greene Bean in charge of making lemon bars. She went with this recipe from Cooking Light magazine and I have to say - they were OUT of this world. Best lemon bars I've ever had! Tip: make sure to grease the pan thoroughly. We had a hard time getting them out.

I had planned on serving a fruit salad, but a few days before the party I saw this pin on Pinterest and thought it was the cutest thing ever. Donut & fruit skewers - they could not have been easier! Two boxes of donut holes, two boxes of strawberries, two boxes of blackberries and a package of skewers = done! Everyone loved them. 

I firmly believe that no party is complete with a signature punch recipe. I had about 8 bottles of champagne leftover from my New Years Eve bash and wanted to use them up - so I did my research and settled on a Citrus Champagne Vodka Punch based on this Emeril recipe. I changed it up slightly - I didn't add vermouth or limoncello - but I did use a lemon-flavored vodka and added a cup of Sprite and a cup of water because OH BOY was that thing strong. And delicious. I may or may not have caught BOTH my mom and Ram's mom going back for seconds!

Oh, I forgot to mention - I QUADRUPULED it - and it was almost empty at the end of the night! I also served my favorite Crystal Light peach iced tea for the non-drinkers in addition to a full bar. For someone who doesn't drink... I sure own a lot of alcohol. (Can't blame me, I like my bar cart looking good... which is a good thing, because at the end of the night we had THIRTEEN new bottles of wine/alcohol from our generous friends!)

Some more party pics - I set out little bowls of M&Ms in my favorite Anthropologie ikat bowls all over the den, which was also filled with vases of fresh flowers:

My dear friend Ashley gifted us these adorable initial Anthro mugs when we first moved in - how could I not use them at our housewarming!? Also please note the amazing leopard print napkins :)

I cannot tell a lie, after this weekend I kinda never want to eat dessert ever again. Anyone want to take some of these leftovers off my hands?!