Ornament Wreath

I didn't really need a new door wreath for the holidays, but, let's be honest, I really wanted one. However, I wanted a fun, bold wreath that wouldn't break the bank. Which, is a little harder to find.

On Pinterest, I found a fun wreath that didn't cost too much money; it just required some ornaments and a wire hanger. (Go ahead, make the Mommy Dearest joke. You know you want to.)



I found a set of shatter-proof ornaments at Costco for $20. Somehow, I didn't have a glue gun, so I popped over to JoAnn's and got one (seriously, how did I not have a glue gun?) and started on my wreath.

The tops of my ornaments didn't slide up, but I put a ring of glue around the base to secure everything. I grabbed a hanger from The Boy's closet, put some Vampire Diaries on (if you don't watch this show, you really should), and started stringing ornaments.

It's best to mix sizes, so they can slide snugly on the wire. There's really no rhyme or reason needed, unless you're set on a particular color pattern.

I didn't have any wire cutters, so I used some pliers to wrap the wire around the hook at the top and tied a nice ribbon to hide it.

Like I said, I got my ornaments for cheap at Costco, but if you're willing to wait, you could get some on sale after the holidays and stash them for next year. It's a quick, cheap and extremely easy project that has a lot of impact!

Plane Activity Kit

The holidays are here, which often means travelling. We've tried to get everything down to a science when going on plane trips with the girls. Snacks, DVDs, games on the iPad, the usual suspects. For our trip to visit my parents in Florida for Thanksgiving, I took an idea from something I found on Pinterest, and made activity boxes with all sorts of fun things in them.

I got plain, clear plastic craft storage boxes to hold everything. I personalized each box with the girls' names and some fun travel images. Inside, I had beads (in little, plastic pill-type boxes), string, pipe cleaners, crayons, stickers and lots of different kinds of paper. The scrapbook section of the craft store has tons of paper with different textures, which I thought might make coloring more fun.

The boxes were a big hit. My oldest spent a good 30 minutes making a bead necklace and bracelet for grandma, and the little one had fun with some lacing cards and strings I'd packed for her. I was even able to read a few pages of my book while the girls were busy. I don't know the last time I was able to do that while on a plane with them!

Peanut Butter Cup Mousse Cake

I made this cake years ago for a friend's birthday, then filed the recipe away for safekeeping. I found it a little while ago and just had to make it again. It's definitely complicated, but if you can spread the work out over a few days, it's manageable. I made the cake the first day, made the mousse and assembled the cake the next day, and glazed it the third day.

It's amazingly light, considering it's chocolate and peanut butter. The chiffon cake is spongy, and the mousse is creamy and not overwhelming, thanks to the whipped cream. I think the peanut topping is important, texture wise, as it adds a nice crunch to all the light smoothness.

I found the recipe in the now-gone Chocolatier Magazine, but it looks like the Godiva version is really similar. My recipe substitutes cocoa powder for the Godiva Dark Truffle Hot Cocoa Powder and decreases the amount of milk chocolate in the glaze.

Cocoa Chiffon Cake:
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sifted cake flour
1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder, sifted
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 eggs plus 3 egg whites, at room temperature
1/4 cup plus 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Peanut Butter Mousse:
1 3/4 cups (10 ounces) peanut butter chips
3/4 cup whole milk
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar

Milk Chocolate Glaze:
8 oz. Milk Chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Garnish
1/3 cup unsalted roasted peanuts, finely chopped

Make Cake:
1. Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350ºF. Lightly butter bottom and sides of a 9-inch round cake pan. Line with a circle of baking parchment or waxed paper. Dust side of pan with flour and tap out excess.
2. Stir together flour, 1/2 cup sugar, cocoa, baking powder and salt in medium bowl.
3. In large bowl, whisk together 2 whole eggs, oil and vanilla until frothy. Sift flour mixture over egg mixture and stir until smooth. Mixture will be stiff.
4. In a grease-free medium mixer bowl, with the whisk attachment, beat egg whites until frothy. Gradually increase speed to medium-high and continue to beat until they start to form soft peaks. Add remaining sugar, 1 teaspoon at a time. Continue to beat until egg white mixture forms a stiff, shiny meringue.
5. Using large rubber spatula, gently fold 1/3 egg white mixture into the egg- flour mixture to lighten it. Fold in remaining egg white mixture. Do not over mix batter. Scrape into prepared pan and spread evenly with a spatula.
6. Bake for 15 minutes or until cake springs back when gently touched in center. Cool cake in pan 5 minutes. Invert to wire rack and cool completely.

Make Mousse:
1. Put peanut butter chips into large bowl. In small saucepan, heat milk to a gentle boil. Pour hot milk over peanut butter chips. Let stand 30 seconds. Whisk until smooth and add peanut butter and vanilla. Let stand 5 minutes or until tepid.
2. In chilled bowl, beat cream and confectioner’s sugar just until soft mounds barely start to form and cream in still pourable. Do not over beat cream. Gently fold 1/3 whipped cream mixture into peanut butter mixture to lighten it. Fold in remaining whipped cream. Do not over mix mousse or it will become grainy.

Assemble Cake:
1. Lightly oil bottom and side of a 9-inch fluted tart pan with removable bottom. Line bottom and ides of pan with plastic wrap, smoothing out any wrinkles, and pressing it into ridges on sides of pan. Scrape peanut butter mousse into pan and spread it in an even layer, filling in all fluted indentations in side of pan with mousse.
2. Remove paper circle from bottom of cake. Place cake on top of mousse in tart pan and gently press into place. Cover layer of cake with plastic wrap. Freeze for 3 hours or until firm.
3. Remove plastic wrap from cake and invert onto a cardboard cake round. Lift off side and bottom of tart pan, using a thin bladed knife if necessary. Peel off plastic wrap from peanut butter mousse layer.

Make Milk Chocolate Glaze
1. Put milk chocolate in medium bowl. In small saucepan heat cream to a gentle boil. Pour hot cream over chocolate. Let mixture stand for 30 seconds. Whisk until smooth. Stir in vanilla.. Cool glaze until it starts to thicken slightly.
2. Place cake on a wire rack over baking sheet. Pour milk chocolate glaze over cake, covering it completely. Refrigerate on wire rack for 5 minutes or until glaze is set. Sprinkle cake with chopped peanuts and refrigerate until serving.

Battenberg Cake

I'm American, but I definitely have a fondness for Things British. Doctor Who, Coupling, Emma Thompson, the James Bond movies, Jane Austen, just to name a few. One of my favorite book series is the Thursday Next series, by Jasper Fforde. If you haven't read them, I highly suggest them. They're fun, but literary and have a kick-ass heroine.

Whenever Thursday visits her mom, Battenberg cake is served. The first time I came across the term, I googled it, thought "that looks yummy" and went on my merry way. Then, I started reading Soulless (The Parasol Protectorate), which is a Steampunk take on the whole vampire/werewolf trope, on my iPad Kindle app, saw another reference to the cake, immediately googled it again, and got sucked into searches for a recipe.

It's really pretty easy. I had to jury-rig a pan to cook the bi-colored batter, using a concept from a very helpful YouTube video. I ended up dividing a 8"x 8" pan with some tin foil and it worked perfectly. My cake fell slightly, so I might have to tweak the leavening and/or baking time a bit. I also used a 7oz. tube of marzipan from the store, so I didn't have to worry about making my own.

It was delicious. I'd love to try an orange/chocolate version for Halloween, or a red/green combo for Christmas. Really, anything covered in marzipan will be devoured quickly by me.

Halloween Costumes

This year, I made the girls' costumes. Because I'm crazy.

I made a purple and black dress for The Bean, from Simplicity 2569 and a "wady-buggy" costume from Simplicity 2788 for The Belly.

The dress was made out of satin, crushed velvet and tulle--3 fabrics I had never sewn with before. The satin and velvet are really slippery, which made cutting them out somewhat tricky. I had to re-cut a few pieces before I got a bodice I was happy with. And have you ever tried to rip stitches out of tulle? It's nigh impossible.

However, the final product was a huge success. After a switch of witch hat for wings, and antenna from bumpy chenille stems and a headband, a beautiful butterfly was born.

The ladybug costume was easier to make, but had its own challenges. The body is lined with fleece, gathered at the bottom with elastic and the wings and shoulders are attached with velcro. The dots are just ironed on with strong fusible webbing.

The elastic casing on the bottom was a little hard to sew, just because of the fabric thickness. I also made a change to the wings. The pattern calls for 2 layers of felt to be fused together with webbing, but they were too floppy for my taste. So, I put stabilizer between the felt and sewed around the edges, using double-fold bias tape as trim. The pattern also includes a jumpsuit, made from velour, but I decided The Bean could wear a black shirt and pants and save myself some sewing.

She wasn't a fan of the antenna hat, so she went without, but was still incredibly cute.