Night Circus Themed Book Club Party

While I was at home on maternity leave for my second child, I had a hard time reading a book.  Between watching my toddler run around and get into EVERYTHING and the constant feeding and holding of the newborn, I just had a hard time committing myself to anything for a while.  However... there was one book that I did manage to read and it was Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.  It truly captured my imagination and I found a lot of inspiration from it.  As a result, I started my first ever book club and hosted a dinner at my house.  Below are pictures of some of the things that I did to stick with the theme of a black and white circus (with red splashes for the circus enthusiasts).

Cookies that I made using a cookie cutter from fancyflours.com

Posted from a previous blog post... here is how I make the cookies.  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/sugar-cookies-recipe/index.html  If you follow these directions, the dough is a little dry so I add in one extra tablespoon of milk.  For the icing recipe, I use this website: http://www.christmas-cookies.com/recipes/recipe288.powdered-sugar-icing-i.html    For this recipe, I put just a little more water and a little more vanilla extract (I actually use the french vanilla flavor). I do that just so I can spread it easier.

Candy jars accented with black and white ribbon.

Favor boxes (containing circus cookies and white chocolate covered oreos).  The tags are chalkboard tags with red tulle.

Potato Soup... Mmmm... Perfect for Winter

My husband and I get fruit and vegetables from a coop called Bountiful Baskets.  The fun thing about it is that every week (that you choose to order) you get a basket of fruit and a basket of vegetables and you have no idea what will be in those baskets.  Some weeks you get kiwis.  Some weeks you get potatoes.  Some weeks you get spinach.  Some weeks pineapple.  You have no idea and the challenge is to try to use as much of the stuff that you get as possible.  For a couple of weeks we kept getting potatoes and I scoured the internet for the perfect potato soup recipe.  I used a Paula Dean recipe at this link:  http://www.smithfield.com/recipes/recipe/baked-potato-soup


Changes:  Instead of baking the potatoes, I boiled them.  For me that is just easier.  Also, instead of making my own bacon, I used bacon bits.  Way easier :-)

Dad's Birthday Cake

In September, my sister and I decided that we wanted to put my newly found passion for baking to practice by making a cake for our father's birthday.  We decided to try a cake mix that we hadn't tried before and were able to get at our local Michael's.  It was the red velvet cake by the Ace of Cakes and we really liked the flavor of that cake.  Anyhow, this cake was made by stacking two different sized square cakes on top of each other and tinting a cream cheese icing blue.  We then made shapes out of fondant using my new Cricut cake machine.  I have to admit, that was not an easy process and one that I need to know a lot more about fondant about before I ever try to do it again.  Anyhow... you can see our end product below.

Back to School Themed Cookies

I have posted about my sugar cookies before but this is a quick update to show a school themed cookie that I made for a small gathering at my house recently.  I'm just sharing b/c I kinda think they are cute (although really really really basic).

I used the Alton Brown sugar cookie recipe as usual.  For the icing, I just bought black icing in a tube this time and used red and blue fondant to make the books.  For the books, I took a pasta roller thingy (whatever those are called) and crimped the edges to look like binding.  For the lettering, I used a basic royal icing recipe.  Nothing too fancy.


Cookie baking info:

Posted from a previous blog post... here is how I made the cookies:  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/sugar-cookies-recipe/index.html  If you follow these directions, the dough is a little dry so I add in one extra tablespoon of milk.  For the icing recipe, I use this website: http://www.christmas-cookies.com/recipes/recipe288.powdered-sugar-icing-i.html    For this recipe, I put just a little more water and a little more vanilla extract (I actually use the french vanilla flavor). I do that just so I can spread it easier.

Hands Off Ladies- This One's Mine

To be honest, I don't really have much of an affinity or talent for any craft involving fabric.  My husband on the other hand is a completely different story.  Yes ladies, in addition to cooking and cleaning, this man sews and makes bows.  Recently we got a bowdabra (using our trusty mega Joann's coupons) and my husband has begun making bows for our daughter.  Since Ellie's bow collection is growing quite substantially (Ellie also has an Aunt that makes bows into actual shapes of things), I requested that Mark make a hangar for the bows.  Witness his work below.

The High Rise Pancake

Every once in a while, my husband treats me with a homemade breakfast of a high rise pancake.  He found the recipe in the December 2010 issue of the GQ.  GQ of course doesn't have this recipe online but others do in various forms.  It is also called the Dutch Baby and I know that food network has a recipe or two online.  Anyhow, here are a few pics of this delicious (very unhealthy) breakfast option.

Updated Cakeball Instructions

Below are the instructions that I typed out for friends in an email with my own little tips thrown in :-)

Bake a cake according to instructions (I just buy the boxed variety).  After baking the cake, put on a cooling rack.  I usually cut the cake into four to help it cool down a little faster.  Let cool for 10 minutes or so.

Place a can of frosting in a stand mixer along with the cake and mix until the frosting is evenly distributed.

Spoon out the mixture and roll into balls (I use a small cookie scoop to keep them even... this also allows me to make about 50 cakeballs per cake). 

Freeze the balls for at least 12 hours.  Anything less and they'll come apart when you dip them.


To coat the cake balls...
Melt chocolate (I use a Wilton Chocolate Pro... keeps the chocolate melted so I don't have to keep remelting).  If the chocolate seems thick, use vegetable oil to thin (try a teaspoon at a time until you get the right consistency).  Here is the tricky part... some people use sticks to dip the balls into the chocolate.  I use a cheap plastic dipping fork and spoon to coat the balls.  Lay the balls on wax paper or foil to harden. 

When finished, I like to put them in small baking cups to serve.  Refrigerate until ready to serve. 



Variations....
When I make them I coat them in either white chocolate or semisweet chocolate.  I use the Ghiradelli chocolate chips.  Some people use the baking chips that you can get places but I think it has a richer flavor if it is actual chocolate or white chocolate.

Flavors I've tried that are a hit... red velvet, strawberry, and orange cake (white cake with orange food flavoring)