What I did remember to take a photo of, is the log cabin wedding blanket. I know another log cabin blanket, but after finishing up the other blanket I know the pattern pretty well and have enough episodes of Vampire Diaries to watch, that I think this one will fly by.

Also, I keep forgetting to show you all what my Secret Santa Lily, from Sweat Shop of Love‘s gift exchange made me. A knit yoga bag! Pretty awesome, right? The patter is call Om Nava Shivaya Yoga bag and you can find it on Ravelry.

Today I will be traveling to Northern Wisconsin to spend the weekend at a friend’s cottage, cabin, lake home… whatever you call it.   I’m looking forward to spending a long weekend surrounded by trees and people who say “boat” the same way I do.  I’m also pretty pumped to make Monkey Bread and Spinach Souffle (really, it’s an egg bake) for breakfast.  Happy weekend and I’ll have pictures and recipes for everyone on Wednesday!

This past weekend my sister and I hosted a baby shower for my sister-in-law in St. Paul, MN. Since we both came in from different states we decided that we wanted the menu, games and decorations to be simple and fun. My sister with help from our mom, handled the menu and made three delicious salads and finger sandwiches… I promise to post all of those recipes as soon as she emails them to me.

I handled the game, which I wanted to make completive, fun and creative and non-traditional, so I thought of “Baby Project Runway.”

Here are the rules:

Break the party up in to design teams based on the size of your party. Give each team a onesie and access to fabric, ribbon, scissors, fabric glue, safety pins and a needle and thread.

In the same style of the show Project Runway, explain to them that they have (number) of minutes to create a onesie for a style, ie Rock ‘n Roll, Hippie Chic, Jetsetter, etc with the supplies available to them (I put everything on one table).

When time runs out give everyone a stuffed animal or baby doll to wear the onesie and have a fashion show, just like they do on the show. Oh and the judge or “Heidi” is the Mom-to-be.

I think I might have missed something, so post if you have questions about the game.

I had such a great time at the shower and it was so nice seeing all the love my future niece or nephew has waiting for it. I almost forgot! For my baby gift I made the felted slippers and the Classic Baby Cardigan from Debbie Bliss’ Essential Baby.

I finally finished Ella’s log cabin baby blanket! You all have heard me talk about this blanket so much already, so I’ll spare you the detail but I wanted to show off the final photos.

In high school, Pop Tarts kept me alive. I was usually running late for class, and I would always bring one to have for breakfast during first period. Nowadays, I wouldn’t think eating them, but when I saw the recipe for them in Home Baked Comfort, “past Calley” insisted “present-day Calley” make them.

Making the pop tarts was a three-step process. One: making the dough; two: making the filling; three: cutting and assembling the pop tarts. So, the total time it took me to make these bad boys was 2 hours. I made the dough on Saturday night (about 30 minutes) and refrigerated it overnight. The next day, I did steps two and three -they weren’t very hard steps, but because you have to roll the dough out in such a precise way, it took longer than, say, rolling out dough for cookies.

I wouldn’t do anything different for the ingredients, but I have made a few edits to the steps. Click here to download a pdf of the recipe.

Dough
2 cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup confectioners’ sugar
½ tsp kosher salt
10 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into chunks
1 large egg yolk
1/3 cup whole milk

Filling
¾ cup jam – I used raspberry
2 tsp cornstarch mixed with 1 tsp cold water

Glaze
1 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
2 tsp whole milk
2 tsp corny syrup
½ tsp pure vanilla extract

Dough:
I a food processor or with a pastry cutter, combine the flour, confectioners’ sugar, and salt and process until blended. Add the butter and processs until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Add the egg yolk and milk and process until the dough just comes together. If the dough is not coming together, ad a splash of milk until it does. Dump the dough onto 2 large sheets of overlapping plastic wrap. Press the dough into a disk, wrap with the plastic wrap, and refrigerate for about 30 minutes or overnight.

Filling
In a small bowl, mix the cornstarch and water. In a small saucepan, cook the jam and cornstarch mixture over medium heat -don’t walk away from the stovetop- stirring, until slightly thickened and bubbly. Remove from stovetop and let cool.

Assembly

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.  On a lightly floured work surface, dived the dough in half and form each half into a rough rectangle.  Roll one rectangle until it measures about 16 by 9 inches (40 by 23 cm). Using a ruler and a pizza cutter, cut the dough into 12 small rectangles, each about 3 by 4 inches (7.5 by 10 cm). Set the rectangles on a baking sheet and refrigerate while you repeat with the other piece of dough.

Lay half of the rectangles on the lined baking sheet and lightly brush with the beaten egg.  Dollop a tablespoon of the filling on to the center of each rectangle.  Spread it out on the dough, leaving a border of ½ inch (12mm). Top with a plain dough rectangle and press the edges together with your finger tips being careful not to let the filling ooze from the sides. With a fork, crimp the edges and prick the centers – just like a pie. Put them in the refrigerator.

Position 2 oven racks evenly in the oven and preheat to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Bake the tarts, rotating the pans once halfway through, until golden brown, 15-18 minutes.  Remove the tarts form the pan onto a wire rack and let them cool.

Glaze (optional)
Whisk together the confectioners’ sugar, milk, corn syrup and vanilla until smooth. Smear the glaze on the tarts. If you’d like add sprinkles. Let them sit for a bit to let the glaze set.

Truth be told, I have no plans to watch the Super Bowl this Sunday. I have to be up and at a local yarn store at 7 am to hit a 40% off sale, and I think I would be too tired by 5:30 pm to keep my anti-New York Giant comments to myself. If you know me, you know the types of comments that I make, and if you don’t, I’m not putting them up because I’m too Midwestern to put them in print. So, I may not be the happiest person to watch the Superbowl with this Sunday but if I do go somewhere at least my snarky comments would be muffled by the chewing of delicious treats I brought. Like…

football oreo truffles

loaded baked potato dip

root beer cake

Wisconsin may not be sending a team to the Super Bowl this year, but they are still the home of the “30 Days, 30 Ways Mac and Cheese” recipe website. You can find things on there like these Macaroni and Cheese Balls.

For part one of my baby shower gift to my future niece or nephew, I knit a pair of slippers from Debbie Bliss’ Essential Baby. Using Malabrigo worsted on size 8 circulars, they were fast and easy to knit. Except for the one part of the pattern where she assumes you knit 12 stitches; if you look on my ravelry page, I’ve made a note of the correction. Now I just need to felt them!

Today I was reading unapologetically cute’s post musical monday: friends with benefits and agreed with them that it would be nice to send letters to your friends to let them know how amazing they all are.

Then I found this great post from the purl bee about making and sharing friendship bracelets with friends for Valentines Day. So my goal for February is to not only write notes to friends, but include something small and handmade that surely let them know how much I appreciate them. How do you let your friends know you appreciate them?

If you saw my Game Day post, you know that I intended to make the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies a couple of Sundays ago, but because of everything working against me I wasn’t able to. So, the other day when I left work  in a sour mood; I decided to go home, watch Moulin Rouge and make the bars. Luckily they turned out great and Ewan McGregor’s awesome voice was able to cheer me up!

If your worried about people liking this rich treat – don’t, folks around the office and in my yoga group loved the combination of flavors and texture. Since the recipe makes a 9x 13 pan of bars, I would plan to share them with friends or make them for an event. Also, I didn’t have everything that the recipe called for, so I’ve included my recipe alterations below, but I don’t think they are necessary if you have all the materials on hand.

For the Brownie:

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups light brown sugar
4 eggs
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour

For the Cookie Dough:

¾ cup unsalted butter
¾ cup light brown sugar
¾ cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons half and half
1½ cups all-purpose flour
1½ cups chocolate chips

1. Prepare the Brownies: Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line a 9×13-inch pan with foil, with enough to hang over all four sides. Butter the foil. In a medium glass bowl, melt the chocolate in the microwave in 30-second increments, stirring after each, until melted and smooth. Set aside to cool slightly. In a large mixing bowl, mix the butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla extract, scraping the bowl as needed. Mix in the melted chocolate until combined. Reduce the speed to low, add the flour and mix just until combined (don’t over-mix). Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Bake 25 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool completely.

2. Prepare the Cookie Dough: In a medium bowl, use an electric mixer on medium speed to combine the butter and both sugars. Add the milk and vanilla and mix until combined. Reduce the speed to low and mix in the flour just until combined. Using a rubber spatula, stir in the chocolate chips.

3. Spread the cookie dough over the cooled brownies. Refrigerate until the dough is firm, about an hour. Use a sharp knife to cut the brownies. Store the brownies in an airtight container in the refrigerator.