Saturn Peach Galette

It must be the nesting bug (11 days and counting) combined with the longing for Fall - but I've been dying for tasty dessert that made me feel accomplished, and made my family feel loved!

We've recently gotten into quiches, so there's been more pie crust lying around, and I've also now located where the puff pastry is in the grocery store.  

Also, at the beginning of summer we were introduced to a new fruit - the Saturn/donut/flat peach, which if you ask me, is the reigning queen of all peaches.  It's lovely shades of pink and white, and has a crisp sweetness that is addictive.  

So, we bought some at the market on Friday.  Although everything from the market TASTES better, and is most likely better FOR you, it spoils so much quicker.  I had them in a bowl with some nearly-too-ripe figs, which didn't help.

I was searching for a tart, or a pie, and came across something called a galette.  I read a few recipes (I drew heaviest from here), and decided to give it a go.  It seemed pretty dummy-proof, and I had most of the ingredients, so that helped.  Apparently galettes are best with pitted fruits (peaches, nectarines, plums, cherries, etc), I'm assuming because they are a little heartier fruit.  I also learned that pretty much EVERYONE'S looks great, because it's supposed to look rustic and home-made.  Score!!  Also, it had cinnamon in it, and it's rainy and cooler out, which to me screams cinnamon!!!

Here we go!

Ingredients:

1 puff pastry (that you've thawed, and had out of the fridge for 10 minutes-ish)

3 cups (approx.) Saturn peach, sliced thinly

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/4-1/2 tsp cinnamon (depending on how cinnamon-y you like it)

1/2 tsp lemon juice

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg beaten

Coarse sugar

Whipped cream/mascarpone/vanilla ice cream - something yummy to top it with.

(Next time, I might add some nutmeg!)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 F, or 190 C.  (Adjust for convection oven if needed.)

2. Wash and slice your peaches into thin slices.

3. In a large bowl, combine them with the sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and lemon juice.

4. Put parchment paper on a baking sheet, then roll out your puff pastry.  Because of its rectangular shape, I decided to cut the end off, and make two little tarts, too.

5. Pour the mixture into the middle of the pastry puff, leaving about 2 inches around the edges.

6. Fold up the edges.  It doesn't have to be perfect.  Just be careful not to tear it, because if you do, your yummy juices will leak out while baking.

7. Brush the egg wash on the crust, and sprinkle the coarse sugar on the crust.

8. Bake for about 35 minutes (adjust time for convection oven, if needed) - until golden brown, and fruit is bubbling.

9.  Allow to sit for about 5-10 minutes, then serve!

Tips:

- For some extra decadence, top with whipped cream.

- If making the little tarts, make sure you drizzle/add some of the sugar and cinnamon "juice".  We liked the galette better, simply because it was juicier.

- This tart is one of those things that is best served soon after making - a few hours later it was still scrumptious, but I don't know well it would do overnight.  I imagine the crust would get soggy.

It turned out totally delicious, and when I asked Dan if I should make it again, he said, "yes, every week!"  Sounds like a win to me!

Cookies In A Jar How-To

I love making hand-made gifts, especially at Christmas time.  I just think they're heart-felt, and people seem to really like them.  From a budget perspective, they're usually more cost-effective too.

I also think mason jars are totally adorable.  They are starting get overused, but I still love them.  So, I decided to make our friends Cookies In A Jar.  I used this recipe as a starting off point: somethingturquoise.com.  They turned out really cute, so I thought I'd share them with you!

Here's what you'll need:

(This is for one mason jar.  Multiply by how many of these you're making.)

1 12 oz. mason jar (with lid)

3/4 cup packed flour

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup chocolate chips (you could use any kind of chocolate candy or nuts you'd like)

Directions:

(Tip: Even though it might be tempting to measure out all the ingredients for all the jars, you should do each jar individually.)

1. Measure out 3/4 cup flour, 1/4 tsp baking soda and 1/4 tsp salt into bowl. Gently mix together.  Pour into bottom of jar.  (Tip: You can make a funnel out of paper to make it easier, and not get on the sides.) Pack down.

2. Measure out the 1/3 cup brown sugar.  Pour into jar, and pack down.

3. Measure out 1/3 sugar.  Pour into jar and pack down.

4. Measure out 1/2 cup chocolate chips.  Pour into jar.

(Tip: you could use red and green M&Ms, or other colored ones, if you're making these for a baby shower, or party.  You could add nuts too.)

(Tip 2: If it doesn't fill the jar to the top, add a little more.)

5. Screw on lid, and voila! :)  

Okay now for the baking instructions.  I made labels, that I cut out, and glued to the top of the lid.  Here's what they said:

Directions:

Empty contents of jar into mixing bowl. Add 4 tbsp of butter (room temperature), 1 egg and 1/4 tsp vanilla extract.  Beat until smooth. Put batter in freezer for 15 minutes before baking. Preheat oven to 350 F.  Roll dough into balls (makes 10 cookies), and place on ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake for 13-15 minutes, until golden brown.

Now for decorating.  You could cut out a piece of fabric, put it on the top, and wrap baker's twine around it.  Or, you could do what I did:

I made little labels out of Crayola air dry clay.  Once they dried, I stamped the word "joy" on it, and wrote our friends' name on the back with a Sharpie.

Blueberry and Blackberry Streusel Topped Pie

I really enjoy baking, but it seems like I never have time anymore.     So, when I had actual vacation time over Thanksgiving, I decided to make up for lost time.
I love streusel, and a couple years ago, I posted this recipe for Streusel Coffee Cake Muffins.  I used the same recipe for the streusel part.
I wasn't as "Betty Homemaker" on this, I used a pre-made crust, and store-bought pie filling.  But, it was yummy, and the streusel was a nice touch, so I thought I'd share...

You'll need:

- Pie pan

- 1 pre-made Pilsburry pie crust

- 1 egg white

- 1 can of blueberry pie filling

- 2 cans of blackberries (not the pie-filling kind, just regular)

- 1 cup brown sugar

- 1 cup flour

- 1/2 tsp salt

- 1/2 tsp cinnamon

- 1/2 (1 stick) unsalted butter (chilled)

- Kitchen scissors

- Fall-themed cookie cutters

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Press pie crust into pan.  Cut off extra that hangs over.  Set that aside.  We'll be using it later.

3. Mix together blueberry pie filling and drained blackberries.  Pour into pie crust.

4. In a separate bowl mix together brown sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon and butter.  Mix together (using forks or a hand mixer), until there are small pieces of butter left.

5. Pour a generous amount on the top of the pie.

6. Roll out the leftover dough we set aside earlier, and cut out some fall leaves.  Place them in a pretty pattern on the top of your pie.

7. Place in the oven for 30-40 minutes.  If you find that the top is getting too brown too quickly, put a sheet of aluminum foil over it, to slow down "browning".

Yummm... that's all I have to say!

So, tell me, what's your favorite holiday pie flavor?

Do you have any tricks that make it your own?

Danish Lagkage For A Special Someone's Birthday

Happy Saturday, folks!

So, my husband turned 29 yesterday, and I wanted to do something nice for him.  He's not really a cake guy, but when he lived in Denmark for a year (attending Master's Commission), he found a cake that was much to his liking.  It's called lagkage (pronunciation [ˈlɑwkʰæːɪ]).  It literally means layer cake.  I think he likes it because it's not super-sweet, (like many European cakes are), contrary to most American cakes.  Also, it has a light, airy texture, which makes it a nice summer cake.  In addition to all of that, you can use any filling, and my man does love fresh fruit, so there you have it!

I made lagkage.

I searched online for a good recipe, and found this one: http://www.food.com/recipe/lagkage-danish-layer-cake 

While the recipe itself was good, I had to tweak it to my own oven-situation.  My oven loves to overcook/over-bake stuff.  So, I followed the recipe to a T, and ended up over-baking the first layer.

Not terrible, but not the "airy, spongey" texture I was going for.  Plus, the bottom was... well ... done.  Very done.  The original recipe said it would make 4, 9 inch cakes.  In my opinion, it only made 2.  

So, with half the batter left, and since it is called a "layer" cake, I decided to make a whole new batch.  Therefore, I had 1 1/2 of what it called for, and thought it was just the right amount.  So for you, that's the amount I will give.

What I ended up with, and I quote, was "Exactly the right taste, and even better, because even Danes don't make it from scratch."  You tell me this now???  Anyway... on to the recipe.

Cakes (makes 3 layers):

6 eggs

4 1/2 tablespoons cold water

1 1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 all-purpose flour

2 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch

2 1/2 tablespoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Filling:

(you can use anything, Nutella, jam, plain whipped cream, fresh fruit, whatever you like)

I used:

1/2 cup fresh blue berries

1/2 cup fresh, chopped strawberries

2 cups heavy whipping cream (I actually eyeballed it, but I think that's about what I used)

1/2 cup powdered sugar

What you'll need:

Mixing bowls

Hand or Standing mixer

9 inch cake pan

Cooling rack (I used a silicone baking sheet liner)

Instructions:

1.  Separate all the eggs into two bowls.

2.  Beat the egg yolks.

3.  Add 4 1/2 tablespoons of water and 1 1/2 cups of sugar and beat for 2 minutes.

4.  In a separate bowl mix together 1 1/2 cups of flour, 2 1/2 tablespoons of cornstarch, 2 1/2 tablespoons of baking powder and 1 teaspoon of salt.  

5.  Add to egg yolk mixture, and beat well.

6.  Beat egg whites until stiff.  (This was my first time beating egg whites, and it took longer, and a higher speed than I thought it would.  Once I saw bubbles, I knew I was on the right path.)

7.  Once they are stiff, fold into the egg yolk mixture, and add the 1 1/2 tsp vanilla until it looks like this:

8. Preheat oven to 425 F.

9. Pour a third of the batter into a greased and floured 9 inch round pan. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until just slightly golden brown.

Place on cooling rack, and bake the next two layers.

Now for the filling.

1.  Put the 1/2 cup of blueberries, and the 1/2 cup of strawberries in a mixing bowl.

2.  Add 2 cups of heavy whipping cream.  Eyeball it.  If it doesn't look like it's enough, add more.  You can never have too much whipped cream.  Next, add the powdered sugar, and whip away!

It should look like this:

Then, start spreading it generously between layers.

                          

If you're not planning on eating it right away, leave it at this, cover it, and put it in your fridge, so the cream doesn't lose its consistency.

(We went out to dinner at North Beach Fish Camp, and got a fantastic, free cranberry bread pudding for dessert, and were feeling very full when we got home, so cake had to wait.)

You can leave it plain, you can can decorate with fruit, you can do whatever.  I chose to decorate it with some whipped cream and blueberries. 

And then, being the fabulous wife that I am, I brought Dan breakfast in bed.

Ps: the sweet and condensed milk is for the coffee.  Try it.  Trust me. :)

So, that is how you make Danish lagkage.  Dan has told me, that this is what he wants for his birthday, from here on out.  And that I'm not allowed to make it for anyone else.  So, if you want some of my lagkage, you'll have to come by next year, on May 24th. :)

Hope this recipe helps, and inspires you to make your own lagkage.  

Here are some questions:

1.  What is your favorite European dessert?

2. If you've made lagkage before, what filling did you use?

3.  Do you have any filling suggestions for me for next year?

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

Yummmmmm

I love Dr. Seuss.  

I know that's not a huge confession, as most anyone who's ever read any of his books feels the same way, however I REALLY love Dr. Seuss.

And like I've said before, give me theme, and watch me go wild.

Firstly, I wanted to do my nails in Dr. Seuss fashion.  I checked online, and found many cute ideas, and then realized, I didn't have any of the colors.  However, I do have the most thoughtful husband around. While at Target running some errands, he bought me 3 Dr. Seuss books, as well as matching nail polish.  So, that problem was solved.  

My Dr. Seuss "I love you" care package

I'm not very good at doing my nails yet, it's mostly just something I do while I'm watching TV or something.  So, I don't have a tutorial for the nails here.

All I do, is paint my nails a solid color, and then with a toothpick, I paint on any extra details.

This is how they turned out:

The Lorax, Cat in the Hat stripes, Truffula trees and a Thing 1!

After that, I had to think of some things I could do to decorate my classroom.  

I saw an idea on decorating a class door in Truffula trees on happymrsc.blogspot.com.  It didn't say how she made the trees themselves, so that's where my creativity had to come into play. 

For these Truffula trees you'll need:

Colorful tissue paper

Black construction paper

White paint (I actually used white out tape, for convenience sake)

Tape

Scissors

 I found some great, colorful tissue paper in our resource room, and got to work.  I folded the paper on top of itself, then cut the paper into about 2 inch strips, cut it like you would cut grass for a craft.  Then I would open it up, and fold it back onto itself, like this:

Then, I just started taping away, until the trees were the size I wanted.  Then, I added some black construction paper trunks, added some white stripes to them, and they were done.

The teacher in the room next to me, who is wonderful, and we do lots of things together, made a Lorax on her door, who is pointing to the Truffula forest on my door. 

THEN, our director asked me to make Truffula trees on the bulletin board in our drop-off room, which is a total "no-man's-land".  I was happy to do it, and perfect my Truffula tree technique.  Again, my wonderful husband came to the rescue, and came to help me out.  More cutting, taping and stapling, and:

Next, I needed to come up with something for my students to do.  That bulletin board looked like a perfect backdrop to me.  Also, I've been intrigued by the hipster mustache and bow tie craze, and I finally had a way to incorporate it into my lesson plans:

Dr. Seuss hipster photo props!

I found the original idea on blog.kidzui.com and then decided to make it my own.

Here's what you'll need:

Poster board (the number of kids you have, or size of your props will determine how much you'll need)

Pencil

Black Sharpie

Paint (orange, yellow, red)

Large Popsicle sticks

Tape

I drew out with pencil the outline for mustaches and bows.  Then I traced it with black sharpie.  I had the boys cut out the mustaches, and the girls cut out the bows.  Then, the boys painted their mustaches orange or yellow (even though, the Lorax's is yellow, I wanted to add just a little more color), and the girls painted their bows red or red and white striped.  After that, I taped the popsicle stick to the back, and voila!  Hipster Dr. Seuss photo props!  You could use this idea for a class party, like I did, or even a birthday party photo booth!  How cute would that be!?

My adorable kiddos!!!

Now that all that is done, let's party!

But wait!  What to wear, what to wear...?

If you know anything about, you are well aware of the fact, that I will pounce on any chance I get to dress up.  I'm not sure what it's rooted in - cough, cough - mom!!!

And because of said culprit, I am always partial to home made.  

So, when I decided I was going to be "Thing 1", I got cracking.  

What you'll need to be a "Thing":

Red T-shirt

White felt

Black Sharpie

Scissors

Plastic hairband

Blue yarn

Blue tissue paper (optional)

Hot glue gun

Felt circle

I found a red shirt for under $4 at Walmart, which I was very happy about, and even went back and bought it in a couple other colors, because it was comfortable, and nice and long.  Then, I found some great, heavy-duty white felt, for only $2.77 a yard.  Once home, I traced a circle onto the felt (I used a dinner plate as a guide), traced over it with black sharpie, and wrote "Thing 1" on it (I would suggest writing it in pencil first).  I had roped the same teacher from earlier into being "Thing 2" with me, and she had the genius and adorable idea of adding "Thing 3" to her growing baby bump.  So cute!  So, I also traced hers.

Then I cut it out, and because I wanted to be able to reuse the T-shirt, I only pinned it to my shirt. 

 

Next for the hair.

I found a great yarn wig tutorial on www.u-createcrafts.com, but decided it was a little more involved than I wanted.  However, I will be keeping this in my arsenal, I'm sure I will need it one day.

I decided to go for something a little more wearable, and cuter.  I have this clear, plastic hairband that I've had laying around for ages.  Also, I had some blue yarn (that was the perfect color) and some more of that tissue paper on hand.  

First, I covered the hairband in the blue yarn, using a hot glue gun, which wasn't really necessary, I just wanted it to look "finished".  Next, I did the exact same thing to the tissue as I did for the Truffula trees, and glued it to the felt circle I'd already cut out.  

After that, I wrapped the yarn around my fingers:

Then, tied it off with a small piece of yarn:

Finished product!

Then cut the yarn on the other side.  Then, I glued that to the felt circle too.  I kept doing that until it was the size that I wanted, and then:

Done!  (I feel like I should be on my way to a -
crafty, and laid back, but still - English wedding)

Next, a girl's gotta eat!

I found a super-cute idea on purplecarrotsinc.blogspot.com, and even a couple other places, for

 "Thing 1" cupcakes.  It's very simple.  It's just a red velvet cupcake, with a little cream cheese frosting and some blue cotton candy sticking out of it for the "hair".  Now, I'm going to tell you something that the other blogs didn't.

YOUR COTTON CANDY WILL MELT!!!

I made my cupcakes the night before, and everything was going great, I put the frosting on, and then the cotton candy, and they were adorable!  I turned to do some other things, and... when I turned back around the cotton candy had completely melted.  Now, I wasn't sure if it was because my cupcakes were maybe still a little warm (which they weren't, because that would be an amateur mistake, but I was looking into all the possibilities), or if it was the moisture in the frosting.

So, I wiped off the frosting and sad cotton candy.

I decided that I would frost the cupcakes, and then the next day, I would put the cotton candy on RIGHT before I served them.

So, the next day, I took them to school, and hoped for the best.  I did prepare, though for it not to work.  So, I made cupcake toppers.  I took some toothpicks with me to work.  Then I traced circles, went over it with sharpie, and decorated them.  Then, I taped them to toothpicks.  Really simple, really easy, but a tried-and-true way to spruce up some cupcakes.

Then, right before the party, I added the cotton candy.  (For the kids, I didn't add the toppers, I figured toothpicks weren't something they needed to have access to)

Here's what I had for the party 

(but there are so many more things you could add to a Dr. Seuss party menu):

Strawberry and marshmallow skewers (to look like the Cat in the Hat's hat)

Thing 1 and 2 cupcakes

Rainbow Gold Fish (One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish Blue Fish)

Swedish Fish (same)

Then, for the teachers (I figured they could handle the toothpicks), I added the toppers.

Please pardon the ugly pan and backdrop.  There weren't many places I could take a picture of them.

Thing 1 and Thing 2