Earth day cake pops

I had some left over white candy coating and a brilliant idea to make earth cake pops. My brilliant idea didn't translate so well. I didn't want to have to buy both blue and green candy wafers from the craft store, so I looked up if the white candy coating can be dyed with food coloring and all the websites said yes, use gel color.

I guess what I used wasn't "gel" enough, and it turned the once liquid candy coating into this dough.
I decided to go ahead and try to make it work and cover the cake pops in the "dough" like you might fondant. It worked out okay, but the final result wasn't as pretty as I was imagining from the beginning. (It never does right??)

They were pretty hard to work with, and they don't look exactly like planet earth but the resemblance is close enough. You'll have to forgive me, once again, Bakerella.

Lesson learned: Next earth day, just buy the blue and green candy coating. They would be both easier and prettier.

Happy earth day!

(Edited: For some reason i kept getting spam comments on this post so i disabled commenting. Sorry!)

The Madeleine Mini Bloomers

Hello! I keep forgetting to post this so here it is.

I've been wanting to sew a romper (or few) for this summer but I figured I should start with the shorts and once I had those down, graduate to the romper. So I started with these guys, and then I did non-pajama shorts, so I guess the romper is next!

These were incredibly easy and gave me the courage to keep going. For some reason I thought even PJ shorts might get somewhat complicated, but I was wrong. These are definitely beginner friendly. You can download the pattern for free here.

p.s. I have been obsessed with Martha Stewart's new fabric craft book. It is AMAZING! And is keeping me busy. Hopefully I'll be back with more from that.

Weekend birthdays

Over the weekend we celebrated my nephews first birthday.

I spent the better part of Friday (read: ALL DAY!) making these. Then managed to take this picture in the car on the way to the party. To say they were time consuming would be an understatement, and they didn't look exactly like bakerella's but for using what I had on hand, I thought they turned out alright. I used round mints for the eyes, jelly bean for the nose and chocolate wafer for the mouth.


And Sunday was our cat Tofu's first birthday. I made him a catnip mouse.






Completely unrelated: I cannot believe this little blog has almost 600 subscribers through google and blogger (and an uncounted amount through regular RSS feeds on firefox)!!

Thanks for caring about what I make and eat and do. I would still be doing it if my only reader was my husband, but I'm glad to know there are others out there too!

Memory lane part 1

I've been sorting through my pictures folders all day. Quite literally.

I'm constantly saving photos of inspiration for fashion, hair, food, paintings, crafts, you name it. But I also take a bazillion pictures a day so to organize it all was a daunting task but I knew it had to be done soon, or I would lose my mind. It is now done! And in the process I have relived some wonderful memories. And I wanted to share.

These are just from a few weeks ago when Georgia hit us with an amazing day. We rode our bikes down to the botanical garden here and enjoyed the pre-spring afternoon taking silly pictures.

Then this happened. That face I'm making says "Yikes! I have to land in 5-inch platforms"

(I don't usually do dramatic post-processing on pictures but I was playing with some new PS actions for the first time on this set)

Happy Easter!

In the hustle and bustle of hunting for eggs and devouring candy, let us not forget the reason we celebrate. He is risen!

Chewy, crusty french boule

Yessss. A crusty french bread you can make at home. I've been trying for a couple months to find the perfect french bread recipe, and just when I thought I'd give up joythebaker came to my rescue again. And perfect it is! This is quite honestly the best thing that has come out of my oven, EVER. And much better than anything I've bought from the bakery.

And it is so simple, and fool-proof, I feel silly for wasting countless hours trying any other method/recipes. My sister, whom had never baked bread before today, used this recipe and it turned out perfect.

If you're a first time bread baker, or been doing it for years, please try this out. You'll think you're in Paris. The result is a chewy amazing crust and a melt-in-your-mouth crumb. And if you're like my husband and I, one loaf will last about 5 minutes.

Here's how to do it. (Edited to add: No kitchenaid? See the mixer-free version at the bottom.)

You'll need:
a stand mixer
4 cups bread flour
2 tsp yeast
2 tsp salt

You'll need 4 cups bread flour. Reserve 1/4 c for countertop and kneading and dump the remaining 3 3/4 c into the stand mixer.

Put 2 teaspoons salt on one side of the bowl, and 2 teaspoons of yeast on the other side.

Pour 1 1/2 cups warm water into the middle and mix on a slow speed with the paddle attachment until the dough just comes together.

When the dough forms a mass, switch to the dough hook and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Dough should clear the sides but may stick to the bottom a bit.

If you feel like the dough is too sticky or too dry, feel free to add a touch more water or flour by the tablespoonful. (I haven't had to do this)
After 2 minutes, let the dough rest for five minutes.

After the five minute rest, mix the dough again for 3 minutes. Place the dough on the counter and, using the 1/4 cup of bread flour we reserved in the beginning, hand knead the dough. You may not need to incorporate the entire 1/4 cup. If the dough feels firm and solid enough, just knead for a few minutes and prepare it to rest. You should have a satiny, smooth compact ball.

Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, and turn the dough over to coat the entire dough lightly in oil. Cover with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and place in a warm spot to rest for 1 1/2 hours. The dough should double in size. Remove from the bowl, punch down and reform into a ball. Return to the bowl, cover and allow to rest for another 30 minutes.

After the second short rest, place the dough on a lightly floured surface and cut into 2 pieces. Form each piece into a smooth, round ball, tucking any haggard edges on the underside of the dough. Leave to rest, covered with a damp cloth, on the lightly floured surface for 45 minutes to a hour.

During the last 20 minutes of the resting period, preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Place a baking rack in the lower third of the oven and leave either a baking stone or an upside down baking sheet in the oven to heat as well.

Just before the boules are set to go in the oven, slash the top of the loaves with 2 to 4 slashes, using a sharp knife. This will allow the bread to expand in the oven. Remove the super hot baking sheet from the oven. Carefully transfer the dough onto the baking sheets and return to the oven.

Here’s some fun! Just after you put the bread in the oven, take 1/4 cup of water, open the oven door, quickly poor the water onto the hot oven floor and immediately close the oven door. We’re creating steam here people… it’s exciting. Wait 2 minutes and repeat the process.

Bake loaves for 20-25 minutes. They’ll be golden and gorgeous. Remove from the oven and insert a thermometer. The temperature should be between 190 to 210 degrees F.

Here’s the hard part: let the bread cool completely before slicing.

If you don't have a kitchenaid/stand mixer instead of mixing, then resting then mixing again.. do this:

Put your dry ingredients (minus yeast) in a bowl. Make a well in the center and pour your luke warm water into it. Sprinkle the yeast over the water and wait a minute or so. Then start to mix in the flour with the water until you get it together into a doughy gloop. Then knead the dough in the bowl until it gets the nice smooth consistency that you see in the pictures and it isn't sticking to the bowl – you may need to add a smidge of flour to get it to this consistency.. the whole process should take about 7 minutes or so..

then continue with the rising instructions as it says.

*I haven't tried this method out myself but it should work. The kitchenaid just makes it easier. If you do try this method, please let me know how it works for you and what you did.

Macarons for national macaron day.

March 20 was national macaron day.. And I made these.


And here I am on March 28 posting about it. Just a little behind. I was caught up in doing nitty gritty spring cleaning/rearranging all week, and I'm happy to say that I only have 3 closets, 1 dresser and the pantry left to organize.

Back to macarons, I had a few failed attempts after my first success. I haven't had the chance to buy almond meal (flour) so I've been using my food processor to grind slivered almonds. And I couldn't find the right mix between super chunky almonds and almond butter. I learned my lesson. This time I only pulsed a few times, then sifted, then pulsed, then sifted more, then pulsed, and on and on until i had the right amount of flour on the scale. It was tedious, and I hope I find almond meal at a store soon, but it did in fact work.

For these I used the recipe from an article by tartelette called Demystifying macarons. Download it here. It is a really useful step by step tutorial for making french macarons.

P.S. i saw she&him last night and it was ahhhhmazing. But more on that next time..

French Macarons with chocolate ganache

100g egg whites, aged (in a covered container on the counter for 24 hours, or microwave for 10-20 seconds before using)
50g granulated sugar
200g powdered sugar
110g almond meal

In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites to a foam, gradually add granulated sugar until you obtain a glossy meringue.

Combine the almonds and powdered sugar in a food processor and give them a quick pulse. It will break the powdered sugar lumps and combine your almonds with it evenly.

Add them to the meringue, and start to give quick strokes at first to break the mass and then slow down. The whole process should not take more than 50 strokes.
Test a small amount on a plate: if the tops flatten on its own, you are good to go. If there is a small beak, give the batter a couple more folds.

Fill a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip with the batter and pipe small rounds (1.5 inchs in diameter) onto parchment paper or silpat baking sheets.

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Let the macarons sit out for an hour to harden their shells a bit and bake for 10-12 minutes, depending on their size. Let them cool completely before filling.

Pipe or spoon your filling of choice on one shell and sandwich with another.


To make the filling:
Melt dark chocolate in microwave safe bowl. Once melted, add cream until desired taste and consistency.


*I'm working on getting my layout to work with bigger pictures in the post. But for now if you would like to see them enlarged, you have to click on them.

a wishlist

I did some online window shopping over the weekend. And I'm going crazy for these! Especially the rompers. I've always had a thing for onesies (just ask my family) and these look especially comfortable for the atrocity that is summer in Georgia.

plus this amazing radio

These amazing linen heels

and this swim suit!

All items are from urban outfitters