Duo of Macarons

I've been meaning to make some macarons for a while now! Since I didn't have aged egg whites, I adapted a simple recipe for Almost Foolproof Macarons from The Food Geek.

Pink and Plain Macarons

Ingredients:

75g blanched almonds

75g almond slivers

150g powdered sugar

120g egg whites (about 4 eggs)

185g granulated sugar (150g + 35g)

50g water

Pink food coloring

Buttercream frosting

Prep. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. Prepare 2 pastry bags for piping (I used a coupler with no tip attached to make the circles.)

Step 1 (The Meringue). In a small sauce pan, mix together 150g granulated sugar and 50g water. Boil the syrup to 230 degrees F.

Meanwhile, beat 60g egg whites to soft peaks in a stand mixer, then mix in 35g granulated sugar. 

Turn mixer to medium and slowly pour in the boiling syrup. Mix for 12 minutes.

Step 2 (Pink Batter). Grind 75g blanched almonds and 75g powdered sugar in a food processor, then transfer the mixture to a bowl. Combine with 30g eggs and pink food coloring. Carefully fold in half of the meringue that was prepared in Step 1. Pipe batter onto a lined cookie sheet.

Step 3 (Plain Batter). Grind 75g almond slivers with 75g powdered sugar. Combine with 30g egg whites. Fold in the rest of the meringue to this mixture and pipe batter onto a second cookie sheet.

Step 4. Bake at 320 degrees F for about 20 minutes.

Step 5. Attach pieces together with buttercream frosting.

Lace-Stenciled Ceramic Plate

Painting things at the ceramics shop is one of my favorite crafts because no matter how the painting turns out, it always looks nice once it is fired.

This method of taping/lace-stenciling is an easy way to make a clean pattern. 

To make this pattern, you'll just need painters tape, lace and two colors of paint (one dark and one light.)

Since there was only a small piece of the lace I wanted to use, I painted this two sections.

Painting with Lace

Step 1. Apply 2 thin coats of white paint with a large paint brush; let the paint get tacky between coats.

Step 2. Apply 1 thick coat of white paint, then immediately position the lace on the paint. (The lace should be stuck in the paint.)

Step 3. Apply 3 thin coats of blue paint over lace with a sponge. Be careful not to lift the lace with the sponge. I used a rolling motion with the sponge to prevent the lace from moving.

Step 4. Carefully peel off the lace.

Step 5. Repeat steps 1 - 4 on the other half of the plate. Make sure the seam lines up correctly.

Step 6. Peel off all of the painters tape.

Step 7. Wait a week for your plate to be fired.... this is the hardest part!

Penguin Cake Pops

Update: I've added a new post with a full Cake Pop tutorial with some changes to the process. Check out the post here.


I've been reading Bakerella's blog for a while now and I've finally made a batch of cake pops - pink penguins and icebergs!

The key ingredients for cake pops are a boxed cake, can of frosting, lolly pop sticks, and candy melts. I picked out some different sprinkles and candies for decorations.


Cake balls are simple to make. Just bake the boxed cake, let it cool, break it up into crumbs, then mix in the frosting. Roll the dough into balls and put them in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Dip the sticks in chocolate, then stick them half-way into the cake balls. I used a chocolate melter from Wilton that made the process really simple (the chocolate didn't get too thick.)


Then dip the cake pops in the chocolate, rolling the pops as they are removed from the chocolate, to smooth the surface.

The penguins were dipped in pink melts, and the icebergs in blue and white melts. Some of the icebergs also got blue sprinkles. 


To make penguins, dip a small section of the pink balls in the white chocolate to make penguin bellies (after dipping, I tapped the sticks against the counter to smooth the peak that formed on the belly.)

Use large confetti sprinkles for wings and feet, and cut Starburst candies to make the beak. The eyes are drawn on with food-safe pens.

Third Quilt

This is the third quilt I've made. Penguins and baseballs aren't exactly a classic combination, but I'm really enjoying the fun design.

These are the two basic squares.

 Matching squares are in diagonal lines. I wish I had taken more pictures while I was in the process of making this quilt - next time!

Matching Thank You Cards

I've been playing around with the Cindy Loo and Just Because cartridges and made these matching Thank You Cards.

With matching envelopes too!