My subtle valentine

Unlike me, by husband doesn't like stuff. He doesn't collect anything or have any particular hobbies. This is all fine with me, but it makes gift buying difficult at best. The one thing I know he appreciates is homemade chocolate chip cookies (always with nuts!). With Valentine's Day coming up, I wanted to make him a sweet, but not cutesy, over-the-top gift. Using Silhouette vinyl and glass etching cream, I created the simple "Je t'adore" (I adore you) cookie jar that I can fill with treats he loves all year long.

Cooks Illustrated perfect chocolate chip cookies (with a couple of changes..)

1¾ cups (8¾ ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
14 tablespoons (1¾ sticks) unsalted butter, melted
½ cup (3½ ounces) granulated sugar
¾ cup (5¼ ounces) packed dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon table salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips or chunks
¾ cup chopped pecans or walnuts, toasted

Preheat oven to 350, and prepare 2 baking sheets with Silpats or parchment paper

1. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt.

2. Mix the melted butter and sugars together until fluffy

3. Add the egg and egg yolk and mix until combine. Stir in vanilla

4. Mix in dry ingredients, then chocolate chips and nuts.

5. Scoop out cookie dough into 18 balls and bake for approximately 16 minutes.

Note: In the original recipe the butter is browned, but I don't think this step makes a big difference. For thin, crispy cookies, bake immediately. I made a happy discovery by leaving the dough at room temperature for 1 hour before baking - the cookies turned out thick and chewy and crispy - perfect!

Would you like to make your own cookie jar? Leave me a comment with your email and I will send you the "Je t'adore" file.

Before and after

It's amazing what a fresh coat of paint and some new hardware can do!

(and a great photo by Sherry Heck)

Pink + Gold + Glittery all over ~ the sweets

As always, collaborating with Becca of Cake. and Sherry Heck is a dream - a very, girly sparkly dream in this case. We shot these photos in my recently renovated office and I've been sweeping up plumes of glitter ever since (just how I like it!).  We shot these with Valentine's Day in mind, but color scheme would be equally lovely for a shower or birthday party. Enjoy the recipes and make something glittery today!

Vanilla Cupcakes with Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Cupcake Ingredients
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 1/2 cups cake flour
1 1/4 cups whole milk

Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F. Bring the eggs, milk & butter to room temperature (don’t skip this step, it’s very important!) In a mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and pale. Add in the eggs one at a time and mix until combined. Sift (yes you must, sift!) together flour, salt and baking powder together. Stir together vanilla and milk Alternately add dry ingredients and milk to mixing bowl, scraping down after each addition. Start and end with dry ingredients. Fill paper-lined muffin tins with batter 2/3 full. Bake at 350° for 18- 20 minutes.
recipe adapted from Amy Sedaris

Frosting Ingredients
1 lb unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
8 egg whites
1 cup crème friache or sour cream
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Seeds from 2 vanilla beans

Directions
Combine sugar & egg whites in mixer bowl and whisk together over simmering water until hot to the touch and all of the sugar has melted and no longer grainy. Transfer bowl to mixer stand and whip on high until fluffy & cool – about 10 minutes. With the mixer on low, add the softened butter 1 tablespoon at a time until incorporated. Add in vanilla, crème fraiche or sour cream, and vanilla beans. Beat until smooth (it may look curdled, but just continue to mix & it will be come together!).



Homemade Gumdrops

Ingredients
1 cup sugar
1 cup corn syrup
3/4 cup water
1 box powdered fruit pectin (1.75 oz)
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp citric acid
¼ tsp natural citrus oil
a few drops of gel food coloring

Supplies
Pan spray Candy molds
Sugar for coating
Disco dust (if desired)

Directions
Prepare your molds (you can use chocolate or hard candy molds) by liberally coating them with pan spray. Mix the sugar & corn syrup together in a medium saucepan. Mix water, pectin & baking soda together in another saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Bring to a boil and cook for approximately 8 minutes, until the foam from the baking soda mixture has died down. Pour the baking soda mixture into the sugars and stir constantly for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and stir in the citric acid, citrus oil, and food coloring. Working quickly, fill your molds with the hot liquid. If you wait too long, the mixture will begin to gel and is difficult to pour. (Alternatively, you can pour the mixture into a 8” square cake pan and cut out shapes). Let your gum drop set up in the molds for several hours. When they are firm, coat them in sugar (with a pinch of Disco Dust for sparkle if desired). Enjoy!

recipe adapted from Sew Can Do

Truffle Pops
Ingredients
8 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine
½ cup whipping cream
2 oz Brandy (or other liquor, if desired)
Candy Melts in your color of choice
Oil food coloring (if desired)
Disco dust (if desired)

Directions
Place the chocolate in a heat proof mixing bowl. Bring the cream and brandy to a boil in a small sauce pan. Immediately pour the cream on the chocolate and let it stand for a few minutes. Sir the chocolate with a spatula until smooth. Leave the chocolate at room temperature, stirring occasionally until firm. This can take several hours. Once the chocolate is firm, roll into balls of your desired size. Insert lollipop stick and refrigerate until hard, preferably overnight. Melt the candy melts in a heat proof bowl over a double boiler. If desired, add a few drops of oil based food coloring. Holding your pops by the lollipop stick, dip them into the candy melts and swirl to coat completely. Remove from the chocolate and tap gently to remove excess. Insert into Styrofoam block to dry. When dry, sprinkle with disco dust.

Macarons
Ingredients
125 grams almond powder (ground blanched almonds)
225 grams powdered sugar
100 grams egg whites
25 grams of sugar
pinch of cream of tartar
Gel food coloring if desired

Directions
Separate the egg whites the day before you want to use them and leave them covered at room temperature. Put the almond powder & powdered sugar in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade and pulse until well combined. Whip the egg whites, cream of tartar, sugar and 2 drops of food coloring (if desired) until glossy peaks. Gently fold the egg whites into the almond mixture until combined – approximately 50 strokes. Pipe the batter into 1 1/2” diameter circles on a Silpat or parchment lined sheet pan. After piping out the macarons, give the baking sheet a whack on the counter and let them sit for about 30 minutes before baking (this helps develop their “feet”). Bake for approximately 15 minutes at 300°. After they are cooled, pipe center on 1 cookie with buttercream

Hello, stranger

Happy New Year! Can it be that January is almost over and I'm just posting for the first time? Oh well, one of my resolutions was to give up fretting. I'm a lazy blogger, take it or leave it (oh, but please don't leave!).

Graham and I had a day of adventure last week, hitting some of our favorite spots in San Francisco - the Conservatory of Flowers and La Boulange (the BEST canneles and almond croissants around as well as yummy bistro food) and finally making it to two that have been on my must-go-to list forever: Miette and Smitten Ice Cream. Miette did not disappoint - it is lovely and inspirational and everything a candy store/bakery should be (though cakes and cupcakes were in short supply when were there). I've been wanting to try Smitten Ice Cream because they spin all of their ice cream to order using liquid nitrogen.  I thought it would be fun and gimmicky to check out, but didn't except it to truly be the best ice cream I've ever had. It has moved over to a 'favorites' spot for us! It was such a gorgeous day in the city that we stopped at Treasure Island on the way home to capture a shot of the beautiful SF skyline. All of the pictures were taken with Instagram (obsessed!) on my iPhone.

On to business...

A lot of exciting things have been happening behind the scenes around here. This week, One Charming Party will be featuring a week full of glittery Valentine's Day projects that I collaborated on with Becca of Cake. Sherry Heck, our faithful photographer took all of the gorgeous shots. There will be freebies, great recipes, and crafty DIY's. Be sure to check them all out!

I am also super excited to be heading to NYC in the beginning of March for the Martha Stewart Dreamers into Doers conference. I haven't been to New York since I was 17 and that was a very loooonnng time ago. I will have a couple of free days prior to the conference, so I would love your suggestions of favorite hot spots. Two spots that can't be missed: the Brooklyn Flea and NY Cake.

I hope your 2012 is off to a great start - I have a good feeling about this one!

Happy Holidays everyone!

snowflake sugar cookies for Graham's classmates

I've been busy, busy working and shopping and crafting and baking and candy making and party throwing, but unfortunately can't seem to do all those things and still take interesting photos and blog about it. Oh well, there's always next year...

In case you still have some baking to do, here are my favorite recipes from the season:
1. Homemade peanut butter cups - to D-I-E for! I used milk chocolate and topped off with crushed peanuts and Maldon Salt.
2. Peppermint Bark - I doubled the recipe for a 1/2 sheet pan and added half the oil. Make sure to wrap them it and store in the fridge.
3. Penuche fudge - I tried this recipe with both dark & light sugar and they were both equally as yummy. Make sure to not over cook or it will be crumbly.
4. Gingersnaps - I subbed the cardamon for black pepper and left out the fresh ginger because I didn't have any. I rolled the cookies in raw sugar before baking.
5. English toffee - Using chocolate chips makes this so easy, I prefer it will almonds
6. Mexican wedding cakes (or Russian tea cakes) - my husband's favorite. I added a 1/2 teaspoon of salt because every cookie should have salt.
7. Gingerbread caramels - Perfect!
8. Vanilla Bean marshmallows - I add the seeds from two vanilla beans as well as adding the extract.

I hope your holidays are merry and bright! See you next year...

xoxo,