I took the Christmas village off the mantel this week. In its place, I put together a group of mostly vintage jars filled with all sorts of collections. I thought it was complete, but as you can see, CJ felt differently.
Archive | December, 2009
Christmas surprise
29 DecI have been meaning to make a hat for the spouse for years now.
The weather for the days surrounding Christmas was rough, so all of our plans went awry. I started this on the morning of Christmas eve and finished it up on Christmas night. It’s knit with 2 types of yarn held together. The off-white is a merino wool. The dark brown is a blend of 75% bison and 25% wool.
men’s 2×2 rib hat
cast on 84 stitches on circular needle (I used size 9). Place marker at beginning to keep track of beg/end of round.
*k2, p2* in rib pattern for 11 inches
*k2tog, p2* repeat for one round
*k1, p2* repeat for round
switch to double-pointed needles
*k1, p2tog* repeat for round
*k1, p1* repeat for round
k2tog for round
k for round
break yarn and draw through remaining stitches on needle, weaving end into stitches on wrong side of hat.
weave in tail from beginning stitches as well.
easy does it
28 Dec
Every now and then we remember that lulu has an easy bake oven.
We sprinkled the top of each cake with rainbow nonpareils before we slid it into the oven. Then when it was time to assemble, we sandwiched those in the middle so it became a sprinkle filling.
white cake for easy bake oven
5 Tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 teaspoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
4 teaspoons canola oil
8 teaspoons milk
nonpareils (optional)
Preheat oven for 15 minutes. Grease two easy bake cake pans.
Mix all ingredients together and divide evenly between the two pans. Sprinkle tops of cakes with nonpareils.
Bake each layer individually for 15 – 20 minutes each.
Allow to cool and frost.
vanilla frosting for easy bake cake
2 Tablespoons butter at room temperature
2/3 cup powdered sugar
1/8 teaspoon vanilla
2-4 teaspoons milk
Place the sugar and butter in a small bowl and blend together with fork. Add vanilla. Add milk until of a spreadable consistency.
holiday wishes
22 Dec
Best wishes for the holidays.
Whatever holiday you hold in your heart,
may it be peaceful, joyful, and sugarful.
wool stockings for Christmas
21 DecThe postman told me these would arrive at their destination today.
I pieced each stocking together by machine and then embellished all the seams by hand with different embroidery stitches.
never mind the cocoa
19 DecI made these for this years teacher gifts.
They are supposed to be stirred into a steaming cup of milk to make a sinfully chocolaty cup of hot cocoa. I’m not going to lie to you. I tasted these, and not a single one of the leftovers has seen a cup of milk. It turns out, these are actually giant truffle lollipops, with vanilla marshmallows to keep you from going into a chocolate overload.
mocha cocoa blocks
adapted from King Arthur
makes 16 blocks
4 ounces heavy cream
14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
18 ounces bittersweet chocolate (finely chopped)
4 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate (finely chopped)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon coffee extract
Line an 8 x 8 pan with parchment or aluminum foil
In a large saucepan, stir the cream and condensed milk together and heat over low heat until steaming. Remove from heat and add the chocolate; set aside to let the chocolate melt.
After 10 minutes, return the chocolate mixture to low heat to completely melt the chocolate. Whisk vigorously until the mixture is thick and shiny. Add vanilla and coffee extracts.
Pour the mixture into the pan and tap gently to level and release any bubbles to the surface. Set aside overnight to set up.
Dust cutting surface with cocoa powder and turn out chocolate on to cocoa powder. Cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes. Top with vanilla marshmallow (recipe below) and skewer with lollipop stick.
vanilla marshmallows
makes about 40 1 1/2″ marshmallows
3 packages unflavored gelatin
1 1/2 cups granular sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
Powdered sugar for dusting
Combine the gelatin and 1/2 cup cold water in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and allow to sit while you make the syrup.
In a small saucepan, combine the sugar, corn syrup salt, and 1/2 cup water and cook until the syrup reaches 240 degrees F. Remove from heat.
With the mixer on a low speed, slowly pour the sugar syrup into the dissolved gelatin. Put the mixer on high and whip until the mixture is thick (about 15). Add the vanilla and mix thoroughly.
Dust an 8 x 12″ glass baking dish with powdered sugar. Pour the mixture into the pan, smooth the top and dust with more powdered sugar. Allow to stand uncovered overnight until it dries out.
Once dry, dust your cutting surface with powdered sugar, and cut into squares. Dust the edges with powdered sugar and store in airtight container.
which list are you on?
18 DecWhen I saw this post on flagrantedelicia, I knew I had to give it a try. I was hopeful it would turn out so I could put a little bag of coal in each red gift bag this holiday. (Not that the teachers deserved coal, but I like to do something a little different each year for them.) It was quick and pretty tasty too.
The biggest challenge was the black food coloring. I had to use an entire small container of black paste coloring and there was still a hint of purple undertone. Next time I will go with even more to have a darker shade of black to the coal.
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