Chocolate Cake with Rich Chocolate Frosting

For my family's get together today I made a cake that starts with a box of Devil's food cake mix.  The frosting took a little more effort, with almost 15 minutes of letting it mix in my stand mixer on medium speed.  That was a long time to wait and unfortunately, I wasn't a huge fan of the frosting result.  If you do want the recipe, please email me.  Otherwise I'd rather save recipe space for items I'd make again.

Always a bummer to not be blown away by a chocolate dessert.  Granted, the cake was perfect flavor and texture, and so rich I could only eat half a slice!  It was the frosting that sank this cake's chance.

Crayon Wall Art

Today is my birthday, so as a gift to myself I planned a fun art project to do with the kids.  I purchased a 12x16 art canvas and two boxes of crayons.

We laid the crayons down in our preferred order and then made sure we had enough to cover the length of the canvas.

I then glue gunned the crayons on to the canvas.  Blake handed me each crayon as I secured them. Team  work!

We then headed upstairs to our white, tiled bathroom and plugged the hairdryer in and turned it on hot and full power.

It took a few minutes to find the best method to melt the crayons.  I discovered that keeping the dryer on the hottest setting with the lowest blowing setting worked best.  We did splatter some crayon on to the floor, but to clean up I just aimed the hairdryer on the spots to heat them up and wiped with a kleenex.

Pretty cool artwork that will brighten up any room!

Meyer Limoncello and Lemon Curd

What do you get when you combine 18 meyer lemons worth of peel and a bottle of vodka?  Hopefully a very nice limoncello liquor in about 60-80 days!  I saw an article about limoncello and have always wanted to make some.  Due to the lengthy process, I had to make it today in hopes that it may potentially be ready in time for our Christmas Eve party. I seem to be good at finding 'must do now' projects.

I thought peeling the lemons would be a cinch.  Turns out you 'can't' have any white pith on the skin - just pure yellow.  This is a bit more work being so careful!

By the end of all these lemons I got pretty good at peeling in one continuous strip.

I divided my one 750ml bottle of vodka between 3 jars, then divided the peels evenly between jars.

Turns out I was able to fit all the peels and vodka in to two jars... So much for me dividing the lemon peels in to three pretty, little piles and weighing them (yes, I weighed them)...  The color of the peel in the jar is so vibrant, this picture doesn't do it justice.

I then placed the two jars in a dark and cool place and will check on them in 30 days! At that time, I'll add a sugar mix and another 750ml bottle of vodka and let it sit for another few weeks before giving it a try! Stay tuned and stay patient since this will be a long time in the making!

When I was done making liquor I realized I had 18 lemons remaining.  What to do, what to do!  And I was in the mood to make something with immediate return, instead of the 2-3 month torture of the vodka lemon mix.

I searched the internet for meyer lemon recipes and the one that kept coming up was meyer lemon curd.  The curd is imilar to a pudding and is spread on scones, pancakes, muffins, or used in tart-like desserts.

Eggs whisked in bowl.

Lemon juice heating up on stove.

Whisking sugar in to the eggs.

The eggs and lemon mixture on the stove.

Adding cream, vanilla and salt after mixture has been removed from stove.

Pressing the mixture through a strainer directly in to a jar.

The finished product is a gorgeous lemon yellow (no pun intended).  It's flavor is similar to a semi tart lemon pudding and is amazing on toast, pancakes, and scones.  You must give it a try - especially if you make a batch of limoncello!

Lemon Curd, courtesy of Cooks Illustrated
1/3c. lemon juice, from 2 lemons

2 large eggs
1 egg yolk
1/2 c. sugar
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes and chilled
1 Tbsp heavy cream
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
pinch table salt

Heat lemon juice in small nonreactive saucepan over medium heat until hot but not boiling. Whisk eggs and yolk in medium nonreactive bowl; gradually whisk in sugar. Whisking constantly, slowly pour hot lemon juice into eggs, then return mixture to saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with wooden spoon, until mixture registers 170 degrees on instant-read thermometer and is thick enough to cling to spoon, about 3 minutes (see photos, below).


Immediately remove pan from heat and stir in cold butter until incorporated; stir in cream, vanilla, and salt, then pour curd through fine-mesh strainer into small nonreactive bowl. Cover surface of curd directly with plastic wrap; refrigerate until needed.

Gelatin-mania

I think many of my friends think I have lost my marbles when I showed up to the tailgate with these jello shots.  A purple 'W' inside gold shots.  These were time consuming to make, but the end result was so cool! 

Jello just tastes better in the colors of purple and gold!

And what tailgate party is complete without a full bar and two different beer selections via keg?  My type of party! 

Tea for 2 (yr old)

Coming up with a theme for C's 2nd birthday party was easy.  She loves her tea set, and she loves to have 'hot tea' at her play table. So a 'Tea for 2' party is now in the works.  We're doing a very small party this year, so making fancy invites wasn't a big chore.

The tea party invite plays on the theme of tea... colorful tea cups and tea bags.  I chose a couple different paper patterns and cut out a tea cup shape - going on the idea of tea cup collections having different patterns.  Here are a few of my grandmother's tea cups in my office:

The completed tea party invitation:

The 'tea bag' insert pulls out of the cup to reveal the party details.

I'm excited to get to work on the other details! Stay tuned!

November Kid Activity

Want an easy and fun daily activity for your kids?  How about a turkey that gets one feather every day until Thanksgiving!  It takes a little cutting from mom or dad, colored contruction paper (black, brown, yellow, red, orange, and any colors you want for the feathers), and a glue stick.

Click on the below image to enlarge, and print on 8 1/2" x 11" paper or Click Here.

1. Choose a background color.  I used black so the turkey and it's feathers would stand out.

2. Cut out a turkey body from brown paper or a grocery bag (aim for a fat bowling pin shape). 

3. Cut two eyes out of black paper (or use a pen to make two round dots - even easier!).

4. Cut out a yellow or orange triangle for the beak and cut a tear drop shape from red paper for the wobbler.

5. Cut two feet out of orange paper.  I cut two 'U' shapes and then made some cuts to give the feet a webbed look.

6. Cut out a bunch of feathers, 24 to be exact since this year Thanksgiving is on the 24th of November.  I  folded a bunch of colored paper together and cut out long feather shapes.

7. Glue time!  First, glue down body by putting glue ONLY near the top of the head and on the bottom half of the body.  Stick to background.  You want to be able to stick 'feather's behing the turkey's body, thats why we left the neck and upper body area glue-free.

8. Now have your kids (or you!) glue on the beak, wobbler and feet.  Let dry and then tape to the wall or hang in a frame without the glass.

9. Each day during November have your child add a feather to the turkey.  You may need to add a bit of glue to the feather so they stick!  By the time Thanksgiving arrives, your turkey will have a full set of colorful feathers!

Another option... instead of cutting feathers out of colored paper, you can buy colored feathers from the craft store.  

Candy Corn Cookies

Every year in the fall I buy five or six bags of candy corn.  Not for consuming, but for decoration.  This drives my family nuts because they always want to eat them.  Fortunately, the vase of candy corn is out of reach (for half our household).

This morning I received my daily email from Martha Stewart Cookie of the Day and it contained a recipe for Candy Corn Cookies.  I had an extra bag of candy corn (well hidden) and went to work.  You can also use store bought sugar cookie dough - just make sure you don't overcook so you can stick the candy in the hot fresh-from-the-oven cookie.

The recipe is for a basic sugar cookie and makes a small batch (I ended up with 18 per batch).  There is also a chocolate version.  I made both at the same time, to save time.  The ingredients for both flavors are the same with the exception of adding unsweetened cocoa and reducing the flour amount for the chocolate cookies.

Roll out the dough...

When cookies are out of the oven, push in a candy corn.  You need to do while they are hot. Before:

And after:

Now it's chocolate's turn...

A quick cookie with a big impact.  I just hope they taste as good as they look!  You could add any type of candy to the top... mini peanut butter cup, M&M, Rolo...

Candy Corn Cookies, courtesy of Martha Stewart
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, very soft

1/2 c. sugar
1 large egg yolk
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 c. flour
About 18-20 candy corns

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place butter and sugar in a medium bowl; beat with a wooden spoon until combined. Beat in egg yolk, vanilla, baking powder, and salt. Add flour, and mix until a dough forms.

Scoop out level teaspoons of dough, and roll into balls (chill dough briefly if it becomes too soft to handle). Place balls on baking sheets, 2 inches apart.

Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until edges are firm and cookies are dry to the touch (do not let cookies color), 10 to 12 minutes.

Remove from oven; gently press a candy corn into center of each cookie (surface of cookies may crack slightly). Cool on sheets 1 minute; transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Chocolate Variation: Reduce the amount of flour given in the recipe to 1/2 cup. Add 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder along with the flour in step 1, and proceed.