After the record-breaking (90 days at 100 degrees or more) heat of
summer, it's only reasonable that I'm jumping into fall/winter with
scarves and jackets and boots though it's really still 80 degrees
outside. It's also time for fall treats.
Caramel apples. My roommate Rachael insisted that unwrapping each candy was a part of her childhood caramel apple experience, and so purchased the individually wrapped candies. While I would probably go for the chips... I forgive her. We melted it with some vanilla, salt, and half and half or whole milk (I forget which) til we got that just-right consistency.
Rachael fashioned some sticks out of plastic spoon handles and we dipped and rolled in almonds and coconuts and drizzled with melted chocolate. I even sprinkled a few with kosher salt. They were divine, but as the sat on the counter, gravity took its toll on the caramel and it slowly but surely pooled around the bottom of each apple.
My friend advised me for next time - keep caramel apples refrigerated. Also, I'm sure you will need this tip for any time in life that you use caramel. It's incredibly stubborn... but baking soda will get it off of most things!
Pumpkin Pie Poptarts. Joy the Baker's recipe for these is great. We made ours a litle smaller, because I was making them to serve at a party alongside a lot of other treats. Rachael also had the great idea of putting some glaze on right away to sink into the tart and then drizzling some on once they have cooled, mostly for looks. And! My favorite new crust tip - roll out your dough between two pieces of saran wrap. This way, you make less of a flour mess, and you add less flour to your dough, which can throw it off. Yay!
I'm no one trick pony. I love crafting as much as I love baking. And working with preschool-aged children is the perfect job for holiday crafts. Honestly, I only carved one eye on this pumpkin... but I helped get all the goop out.
These were the kids' trick or treat bags. I bet you can probably guess which ones the adults in the room made. The C is for Calabaza, the P for Pumpkin. I love my bilingual kiddos! Their costumes were way cuter than anything I've posted here, but it's not really kosher to post pics of other people's kids. Just imagine lots of little superheroes and fairy princesses.
The aforementioned engagement party! This beautiful display was made by the hostess, and just looks so very Pintrest and wonderful, so I had to share, in case you are hosting such a party sometime soon.
Snickerdoodle Cakeballs. The food spread! Also very well designed by our lovely hostess. You can see the pumpkin poptarts there and in the back in three tiers are my snickerdoodle cake balls. I'm not on the cakeball bandwagon, but everyone around me is, and I aim to please.
These I made with a recipe from
Always With Butter. I made the cakes, took them out of the oven to cool, made the icing, and crumbled the cakes into the icing in a mixer where they blend together into a gnarly goop. Then you freeze for about an hour, or until it can be rolled into balls, either by hand or with a cookie scoop. The balls should freeze for four hours or overnight.
When you take them out, melt some coating chocolate (Hobby Lobby has lots of fun colors. For the snickerdoodle balls, I mix cinnamon into a vanilla coating). Because I'm adventurous, I roll the cake balls in the coating using my fingers. You can use a toothpick if you like, but they may fall apart, unless you use less frosting than I do. I use a lot of frosting.
Me with the happy couple. I really am that happy they are getting married... It's super neat to have watched their whole relationship and to know both of them really well. Oh, and I maaaaybe have another wedding cake assignment.
My roommates and I are were just too excited about the weather. Rachael cut paper snowflakes, and I sprinkled them with black (edible...) glitter. We hung them from yarn above our kitchen table. We probably should have done leaves and put these up in December but.... oh well.
We couldn't keep our holiday cheer to ourselves, so we delivered snowflakes to a bunch of our neighbors with a borderline creepy but mostly adorable sign. That's right, it says "We SNOW where you live!" Feel free to take this idea and run with it.
That's all. Hopefully it won't take me seventymillion years to update next time.
Melissa
