One Atomic Summer

Howdy campers! Well, this summer has pretty much been a bust so far. Sky high gas prices, outrageous food prices, and our vacation back in May is now just a distant memory (Paid for with our stimulus check we just received today. Gee, thanks George!). What’s a girl to do to make life more interesting? Have a luau!

My mail lady brought me a whole lot of summer fun in a box! My super awesome friend Julie, Miss CupcakeDD herself, hosted an Atomic Summer Swap. And I got the fabulous hostess herself as my partner! What a super lucky girl I am! Just look at all the treasures I received. So much vintage luau fun!

My grandmother had these glasses, but she never had such fun colors. I swear, the pink glass makes drinks taste better!

Look at this pile of fun! I love the fish toothpick holder (which goes with the platter below). There is also two sets of fun luau themed toothpicks, swizzle sticks, and colorful leis.

This picture doesn't do these justice: flamingo and palm tree swizzle sticks, parrot and pineapple crepe garlands (super fun!), luau napkins, and an adorable handmade charm tag.

But wait, there's more! Look at this awesome retro platter and cookbook. The cute fish toothpick holder goes in the center of platter for appetizers, but I didn't realize that at the time I took the picture. Yes, I'm a blonde.
See? Summer fun in a box. Thanks Julie! Summer is look up. I'll see you all by the pool with a fruity umbrella drink in my new pink retro glass.
Unfortunately, I snapped really lousy pictures of the package I sent to my partner, so I'll spare you those.

Here's a little peek at some new felties I've been working on. I originally made these for two swaps, but since posting the pics on Flickr I've already had orders for more! I'll be listing some in my Etsy store soon.

I hope you all find some summer fun and a yummy umbrella drink!

I Bow to the Patron Saint of Pastry

This post is dedicated to St. Honorè, the patron saint of pastry and bakers. I thought going into this culinary school adventure that I only wanted to focus on baking and decorating cakes. I was excited to learn about how to bake other items correctly, but I didn’t think I’d have a long term interest in other pastry. Well, that was before learning how to make classical European pastries. They look so simple and unadorned (read: lack of frosting and yumminess), but when they are made correctly (with real cream and butter) they taste so incredible and look beautiful.

The base of most European pastry is puff pastry (Pâte Feuilletée) and/or elclair paste (Pâte a Choux). We’ve been making many different products using both. The crowning glory has been Gâteau St. Honoré. This complex and magical pastry includes a base of puff pastry, sides made of Pâte a Choux, mini cream puffs filled with Diplomat cream (pastry cream and whipped cream combined), topped with caramel, and attached to the rim with caramel, the center is filled with alternating rows of chocolate and vanilla Diplomat cream. It’s garnished with a caramel dome. Isn’t it just beautiful?
It's also so amazingly delicious!

These are Paris-Brest. They are a tire shaped pastry made with Pâte a Choux and filled with chocolate praline cream and pastry cream, topped with almonds and powdered sugar.
Mini Eclairs and Swans

Baba au Rhum (Baba O'Reilly?)--This is a decadent rum soaked cake filled with whipped cream and fresh berries. Please ignore the lousy presentation.

Friday was cooked fruit day which didn't really excite me all that much. Above is caramelized pineapple with homemade coconut ice cream.

Bananas Foster--Since this dessert originated in New Orleans, I'm not sure how this fits into the classical European curriculum other than it's a cooked fruit dessert. Cooked bananas REALLY don't do a thing for me.

I really was about to write off the entire fruit day, but then I made a Port wine syrup that was to die for! We poached pears in the syrup, and plated it with chocolate ganache and vanilla ice cream (called Pear Belle Helene). It was so unexpectedly delicious. I even took the extra Port wine syrup home :)

So, I am officially a devotee of St. Honorè and the fine pastries he watches over. I'm even considering doing my externship at a French Patisserie rather than just a bakery that specializes in high-end cakes. We'll see, the cake classes are still to come. I may change my mind--I've been known to do that a time or two.

Have a super sweet weekend!

Happy National Sugar Cookie Day!

national sugar cookie day – badge
Originally uploaded by Flying Time Designs

Now this is a holiday I can get behind! My friend Emily over at Sugar and Meringue is hosting a blog party and cookie exchange. Since I haven't had time to actually make sugar cookies this week (I'm going to try to this weekend), I thought I'd post my favorite sugar cookie recipe.
I LOVE this recipe which came from my best friend Erron's grandmother (Thanks Erron!). It's extremely flavorful and is fabulous for rolled cookies as the dough keeps the shape well and doesn't spread in the oven.
**One note on this recipe--You MUST refrigerate overnight, a few hours won't do it. This dough freaks me out every time I make it. When it goes into the fridge it is very sloppy and doesn't seem like it will ever firm up enough to roll out, but every time I'm pleasantly shocked and it works perfectly. So, just trust me on this and try this recipe. You'll love it!

Oh, also know that this makes a HUGE batch!

World's Best Sugar Cookies
1 Cup Butter (room temperature)
1 Cup Granulated Sugar
1 Cup Powdered Sugar
1 Cup Vegetable Oil
2 Eggs
2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
1 teaspoon Cream of Tartar
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Salt
4 Cups All Purpose Flour

Cream butter, sugar and oil together. Beat in eggs, add vanilla. Cream to just incorporated--creaming too long (to light and fluffy) makes the cookies spread. In a separate bowl sift together cream of tartar, baking soda, salt and flour. Stir flour mixture into creamed mixture until fully incorporated.
Divide into two or three balls and enclose in waxed or parchment paper. Refrigerate overnight or longer.
Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees. Roll out chilled dough and cut with cookie cutters. Bake on silpat sheets or lightly greased baking sheets for 10-12 minutes until edges begin to brown.

For those of you who like to decorate cookies you'll love these flavorful, firm cookies that hold the shapes you've so carefully cut out. Enjoy and let me know how you like them!

Happy Birthday America!

Howdy campers! And a fine Happy Fourth of July to everyone! I'm seriously trying to be patriotic, but I've been in American pastry hell for the past few weeks. Well, maybe not hell, but I haven't really learned much new or exciting while exploring the wonderful world of classic Amercian pastry. Apparently brownies and pies are about all we Americans have brought to the dessert spectrum. Alas, it's over and I got my A so we can put this chapter to bed. Here are a few of the highlights...

And my final exam presentation, which had a Thanksgiving theme: Pumpkin Pie, Cranberry Crumb Tartlettes, and Chocolate Chip Cookies with dried Cherries.

Yes, I HAD to bring in my needle felted pumpkins to jazz things up. I'm such a geek.

And then came Classical European Pastry (hear angels sing and harps play)

All I can say is don't mess with tradition...or puff pastry. Seriously, I always thought I didn't like puff pastry because I thought it didn't have any flavor. Turns out you just need to make it right, and with butter! So this week has been all puff pastry.

I can't tell you how amazing these are! These are three layers of puff pastry, a layer of chocolate diplomat creme, a layer of vanilla diplomat creme, and topped with fondant and chocolate. The sides are covered with puff pastry crumbs. Soooo good!

Pithivier--Almond Creme is sandwiched between two layers of puff pastry and baked. I love the elaborate sunflower design.

Tarte Tatin--This tart is created by carmelizing apples in a saucepan, taking it off the heat, covering the top of the apples with puff pastry dough and putting the whole saucepan in the oven to bake. You take it out and invert it for service. It's made very much like a pineapple upside down cake. OK, the aluminum foil takes away from the presentation, but it was the end of class when I took the pic.

Close up yummy caramelized apples!

This long weekend is all about finishing up a bunch of swap and mega crafting, so I should have lots of felty pics soon! Have a safe & super fun holiday weekend!

Hugs!

Heather

Who doesn't love pie?

Um, I don't. Well, I don't hate pie, but if presented a dessert buffet I'll choose any other dessert before a slice of pie (except cheesecake, I'm not crazy about cheesecake either, but that's another post). While I don't love pie, I do think that my pies from class this week have turned out rather pretty, so I' thought I'd post a mini pie gallery...

Blueberry Pie

Apple Ginger Pie
The crust was beautifully fluted when it went into the oven, but it kind of melted and came undone when it baked. Oops!

Vanilla Cream Pie with fresh whipped cream on top

I love this shot of the Vanilla Cream Pie.

Key Lime Pie

Please take a slice, have a cup of coffee and I'll check back soon.
-Heather

Vintage Kitchen Swap

I hope the week is treating everyone well & Mother Nature is cooperating wherever you hang your hat. It was a beautiful day up here in Connecticut. I wish I could bottle our dry mild weather and send it out to the Midwest.

Lately my whole world is baking and vintage kitchen goodies, and I seem to keep signing up for vintage kitchen swaps. I honestly can’t decide which part I’m enjoying more, putting the packages together for my partners or receiving my lovely packages. Today I’m mailing out this package to my partner who likes bright bold colors….

The pink and aqua breakfast sets are a really sturdy plastic. The pink and blue floral fabric is a really cute half apron (which my partner collects, hope she likes it).

I just adore this hand embroidered tea towel. It's so different from most tea towel designs.

I already received my package for this same swap! It isn't even due to be mailed out until Friday, so I'm even early, but my partner was super speedy. I had such a generous partner! All of the recipes and ephemera are from the 40's and 50's and came from her grandmother. They are all in mint condition. I can't believe how many she sent me. I really want to try some of the recipes. Some sound hideous, but most sound positively fabulous. I also just love the unique pink and black trimmed milk glass cup, saucer and creamer. I've never seen a pattern like it. It looks cute as can be in my studio.

She also sent me goodies for my kitchen which is red and white cherry themed.

I love this Jell-O cookbook. The irony is that I hate Jello, can't stand the stuff. But I've always been fascinated with how it looks, and the weird combinations of stuff people put in Jello. Being from Nebraska originally, I saw a frightening number of lime Jello Rings with shredded carrots and raisins in it. God, the thought of it still repulses me, but I do remember how pretty it looked. So this cookbook is oddly mesmerizing to look at for me. Thanks for all of my goodies Kerre!

I'm working on some new felted treats for a private swap, so hopefully I'll post new pictures of my creations soon. Until then, stay dry, stay cool and keep reaching for the stars. Hey, who let Kasey Kasem in here?

Bakery Box Swap

Look at the fabulously cute box I received in the mail today! I was part of a Swap-Bot swap for a Bakery Box filled with Faux Treats (my favorite kind, of course). And wow, did I get the best partner! The lovely Miss Amanda sent me a whole box with felted sweaters made into cupcakes, cakes and a cookie. They are so super cute. Check out her other crafty wares at her Etsy store, Violet.

Here is the package I sent my partner, Debbie, for the same swap. You might remember some of the felted treats from my previous Afternoon Tea post. This was the swap I made them for, but they were mailed off to the UK, so I wanted to wait until Debbie received them to post the picture of all of her goodies. The Yankee Candle tarts were all yummy food scents too.

I have to admit that I had hoped to post on my blog more frequently. OK, I had crazy dreams that I'd post every day. Well, life and school has gotten in the way of that. So I apologize for the infrequent posts. My first pastry school class has been Intro to Breads and Rolls, and while I've really enjoyed it and learned to make yummy things, I didn't want to bore you all with too many bread pictures.

I have my practical final for this class tomorrow and Friday, during which I need to make: one yeast bread, a batch of muffins, and a batch of croissant or danish (the laminated doughs for these take an entire day to make). I'm planning on making a whole wheat bread with dried cranberries and blueberries, pumpkin muffins and plain and chocolate filled croissant. We also have a written final on Friday. Wish me luck!

Here are my chocolate and strawberry cream cheese filled croissant, danish with chocolate and cinnamon raisin filling, and apple filled danish in the back
Apple cinnamon raisin coffee cake style danish
Blueberry scones, made with fresh blueberries.

Next Monday I start my next class--Classic American. This class is basically the retro housewife cookbook--pies, cookies, apple brown betty, blueberry buckles, and desserts like that. It's only two weeks long. I'll keep you posted!


I hope everyone stays dry, tornado free and cool for the week!

Pinkalicious!

A few weeks ago a friend of mine asked for two custom cupcakes for her girls so they could dress up as Pinkalicious. I was all about making custom cupcakes, but Pink a what? I'd never heard of this Pinkalicious. And as always seems to happen, over the next few days I saw Pinkalicious everywhere. Every blog I read had people sending their little ones off to Pinkalicious parties, so I just had to find out what this craze is all about.

I read that Pinkalicious is a cautionary tale about overindulgence. It's a book about a little girl who loves pink so much that she can't stop eating pink cupcakes by Victoria Kann and Elizabeth Kann. It was like I was hearing about my life story! So, of course, I HAD to order it.

It really is a cute story and inspired me to create these Pinkalicious cupcakes!

I love this shot, especially because it's a little naughty looking. He, he, he.

Pink Power!

You're Invited to a Tea Party!

Now that I've settled into my school schedule and I'm a little less stressed, I've decided to have a little tea party and you're all invited! So, pull up a chair, grab your favorite teacup, tea, and settle in for a bit.

I've been working on a few faux food themed swaps, and I loved the felted treats I made so much that I just had to take pictures. This time I did both needle felted treats, and treats that are sewn out of wool felt and embroidered. I'd forgotten how much I enjoy embroidering. I think I'll be doing more embroidered treats and brooches in the future.

I've invited two new friends to our teaparty. Meet Emma and Violet!

Aren't these the sweetest? These are made by the super sweet Jenn at the Lollipop Workshop. They are called Lolli Dolls. Jenn's been busy with the wedding cake season and hasn't had new Lolli Dolls for a while, but she posted new pics on her Flickr page last week and I begged for this sweet tea party set before she even had time to list it on Etsy. That was just days ago and now Emma and Violet are having their tea party in my studio! The photos I took don't do them justice, but Jenn's attention to detail is so impressive. Every mini cupcake and cookies has been individually made, there are even sprinkles on the teeny tiny cookies! I just love their sweet faces and have wanted a Lolli Doll for a while. These girls make me so happy! Thanks Jenn!

I've also been working on brooches for some swaps and have been thinking about offering them in my Etsy store. What do you think?
And since no tea party would be complete without real treats, here are some of the newest photos from pastry school. I haven't wanted to bore you all with too many photos of bread, but here are some of my yummier creations--please help yourself!

Brioche

Caramel Sticky Rolls

Pecan Maple Sweet Rolls


Farmhouse Fruit Cake with Bourbon Cream Cheese Frosting. I don't like typical fruitcake, but this cake is the bomb! I think it has something to do with the bourbon soaked fruit and bourbon cream cheese frosting.

Thanks so much for stopping by today. I hope you've enjoyed yourself. Be sure to take a slice of cake home with you!
Take care!
xoxo Heather

Happy Memorial Day!

What is freedom? We’re all suppose to take today to observe the freedoms this country affords each and every one of us (I won’t address those freedoms that are systematically being taken away lately), and to thank those brave servicemen and women who have fought for us to have those freedoms. But what is freedom, and how does it affect us on a daily basis? The way I see it, freedom is the ability to live the way you want, to take chances, to explore new things, to love who you want, how you want…to be happy. As long as you’re not hurting anyone else, I think we each have the freedom to experience life to the fullest.

I see too many people throwing away their chance at personal freedom, and ultimately happiness. From birth we’re each told what our lives should be like, where we should go to school, what jobs we should have, what lifestyle is acceptable to our friends and family, where we should live, how we should act and dress, all so we will theoretically fit within the posse we’ve been born into. I see so many people follow these pre-drawn maps, forcing themselves into boxes that were not designed for them. Consequently, there seems to be a whole lot of unhappy,

confused, frustrated, unsatisfied people wandering around each day doing things they are “suppose to do”.

Well, I say to hell with that! I’ve always been a bit off the beaten path, but have basically tried to stay right next to the path, one toe on the line, so as not to upset anyone. But as I’ve started breaking the rules (i.e. quitting my corporate job, making art, starting culinary school), I’ve found that nothing bad has happened! In fact, my whole life has opened up. I’m seeing through new eyes, trying new things, and like magic new prospects have come my way that I’ve never even considered. Sure, some people have said that I’m selfish and crazy for giving up a lucrative corporate job just because I want to enjoy my life

more, but I’m finding that the money is still out there, I just needed to find it.

Most of us in crafty Blogland seem to have the same vision—a life filled with more enjoyment, creativity, independence, friendships, and for many of us, a new business. So today I’d like to take my hat off not only to our veterans, and servicemen & women, but also those walking off the beaten path and trying something different. I salute those folks who dare to go back to school in those who quit jobs they hate to find more personally fulfilling careers. A HUGE thank you to the founders of ETSY who figured that there must be others out there who want to purchase beautifully handmade products. Most of all, I want to give a great big “Hell Yeah!” to all of us crafty bloggers who put our art, crafts and thoughts out there in the world just because it makes us happy!

So go out there today and enjoy the freedom to be you in all of your wonderful, unique, creative, off-beat, unconventional ways!

My new journey started this week with my first week of culinary school. My first class is Intro to Breads and Rolls. All of these delicious pics are my class products. I think they’re just beautiful!

I’m also long overdue to show you the fabulous swap package I received from my partner in the Atomic Housewife swap. Isn’t this apron just to-die-for? I love the vintage Jello mold fabric. Thank you Debbi!

Everyone have a great Memorial Day, eat tons, stay safe, and do something unexpected!