Some Days Just Call For Pie....

Yesterday was virtually a lost day.  I'm generally up and about no later than 8am on the weekends, but yesterday I slept in until after 11am.  A solid twelve hours of sleep, which my body must have been in need of.  It felt good, but the day was nearly shot, though I did manage a trip to the hardware store and nursery for a few new plants, so not a total loss.

Today I was back to my usual self - up and at 'em by 7:30.

I started by breaking out the fabric pennants I've been working on for the wedding.

Only a few hundred left to go! :)

After sewing most of the day, I felt compelled to bake something.  I've been on a strict diet (aren't all brides??) which doesn't allow for...well, certainly not baked goods!  Plus it's been AGES since I baked for me.  

So to the freezer for the strawberries from my fall bounty - small and sweet and scrumptious!  

And a little of my rhubarb.  I LOVE rhubarb.

I tossed in about 1/2 Cup of sugar and 3 Tablespoons Cornstarch, along with a dash or 4 of Cinnamon.  These are not exacting measurements, as I was baking for myself.  I tend to like things a little tart. ;)

Then I whipped up some pie crest, and pulled together these little mini pies, using a muffin tin.

Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes, and then yum!

Tart, berry goodness!!  I confess, I ate 3...before dinner. ;)

A whirlwind catch-up

WHEW!  I have NO idea where the time has gone, other than far, far, away...

Between traveling for work, attending school, and planning my wedding, my life has become overwhelmingly busy.  But in a good way.

To prove to ya'll I AM still crafting away, here are a few samples of things I've been working on for the wedding.  Much more to come, I promise. ;)

Our invitations are being custom designed by my favorite artist, R. Nichols.  This is SUCH an honor for us and I'm BEYOND excited.  While we wait on them to be completed, I bought his blank notecards to create our "Save the Date" cards.  I ordered a lovely stamp from Etsy and got to stamping! So fun.

Every out of town wedding needs gift bags for friends and families.  While a sane bride when order something easy, I'm not remotely sane with this wedding.  So naturally I ordered a case(!?!?!) of canvas bags, dragged out my Cricut, created a design...and then altered it slightly to include 2 birds instead of one.  And then I got to painting...and painting. And painting.

I'm also making my social jams for the wedding favors.  I've been collecting antique demitasse spoons for the last year to tie to each favor.  And then the favor tags...which I hand stamped. Each. And. Every. Letter.  With a little washi tape for color.  These tags too literally FFFOOOOORRRRREEEEEVVVVEEERRR to make.  But I love them. :)

So as you can see I have been ANYTHING but lazy. :)  More to come, and hopefully a bit more timely ;)

A Sweet Little Something

It's been forever since I've added a post!  I've been a busy girl, what with the holidays, end of semester at school and, oh yes, planning my WEDDING!  Way too much going on, but I'm trying to make time for my blog, because I enjoy it so much.

I have a bunch of posts "pending", but wanted to get this little ditty out there.  Here in the PNW we are experiencing a major snow/ice storm, so I've been trapped in the house for days.  Yesterday in my Etsy email was a cute post for heart shaped sugar cubes.  I LOVE sugar cubes.  But $50 for 100 cubes seemed insane.  So I Googled....and realized how simple they are to make.  Sugar, a little food coloring and a teaspoon of water.  Easy Peasy!

So half a cup sugar, and a couple drops food coloring...

Then add about half teaspoon water, and mix until you get the consistency of damp sand.  Not quite as wet as sand for a sand castle, but close.  Add water carefully as too much and it disolves the sugar.

I have these little heart candy molds from back when I thought I'd tackle candy making, which work as beautiful little molds.

Let them dry a few minutes in the mold, then carefully remove from the molds.  Let air dry about an hour, and voila!  Sugar cubes!

Halloweeney Cakey Goodness

I love this time of year.  I hate the weather, the shorter days, and the constant rain.  But I LOVE the holidays.  They are the perfect excuse to try new recipes and bake something good.

Since Halloween falls on a Monday this year, we are having some office fun tomorrow.  So I got started early this morning to create some fun goodies.  First up - Pumpkin Spice Vampire Bites.

Next I needed to make chocolate chocolate chip spider cakes, to showcase my super cute spider leg cupcake holders from Crate and Barrel.

And last but not least, my lemon Mummy cake.

Happy Halloween Ya'll! :)

Fuzzy Buzzy Limoncello

A couple months back I posted about some of my boozy infusions...Blueberry Vodka.  Cherry Bounce.  Raspberry Liqueur.  A couple are still doing their boozy thing, holding tight for holiday time, when they should come right into prime time.

But after two months of infusing, my Honey Limoncello was ready to shine.

I strained the lemons out, and ran it thru cheesecloth.  Gorgeous.  Then I placed the lemons and water in a pan over medium heat and mashed the hell out of them, extracting more pulp and lemony goodness, and strained the liquid into the liqueur.

Next I added a simple syrup made with honey, and poured into the cutest flask jars.

Now, full disclosure on how I achieved this deliciousness.  There are many recipes out there for limoncello.  Past experience has produced an overly sweet liqueur, too over-powering to consume.  Just not good.  I am happy to report this process was a happy mistake.  When mixing everything together, I had forgotten that I doubled the recipe when infusing the lemons, and only made a single batch of the honey simple syrup (roughly 1 cup honey simmered in 1 cup water).  The result was delightful, and those who have tried it concurred, so I think I have a winner.  This produced a dozen flasks, which are stored in the fridge for gift-giving time.  Assuming it lasts that long. :)

Punkin Jars!

Every so often, you need to get your hands dirty and create something.  I don't feel like I've had much opportunity for that lately.  But in the interest of the upcoming Halloween, I needed to make some decorations.  Naturally my eye fell on some empty mason and pickle jars...and then my orange craft paint.

A black sharpie for some faces...

And some battery operated tea lights...

 Instant punkins!! :)

Kona Bliss...a Swing and a Miss!

The past few weeks have been a crazy hectic mess around here, with two injured dogs, and out of town work trips.  Work took me back to Hawaii this week, and though I didn't get much free time, the sun, sand and scenery inspired me to get back into the kitchen and try to create a taste of that warmth.

My favorite part of going to Hawaii - apart from the sun - is the coffee.  I absolutely LOVE Kona coffee.  So I dreamt up these little gems.  Mocha cupcakes with macadamia nuts and coconut, topped with a mocha frosting and toasted coconut.

These were a total dream, so I kind of "winged it".  I started with some high-quality dark chocolate and butter, melted together.

I whipped together the eggs and sugar, then folded in the flour and cocoa.

Before folding in the melted chocolate and butter, I add a little instant coffee, to incorporate that coffee flavor.  (Side note: I LOVE these Via packets!  I travel quite a bit for work, and these little gems have saved me from bad truck-stop-style coffee on more than a few occasions.)  I then added some coconut and macadamia nuts.

I opted for a denser type cake base, to support the macadamia nuts and coconut. As they cooled, I whipped together a mocha buttercream.

The flavor on these is unbelievable.  I'm really happy with the flavor combo, but I still give these a B-.  In retrospect I would have gone with a lighter cake base and chopped the macadamia nuts even smaller.  But I would certainly make these again, adjusting as noted!