Uncategorized

On the ninth day of Christmas my true friend gave to me…

…nine chocolate pretzels ‘cause by now I need a treat!

It’s Day Nine of our 12 Days of Christmas event! Click here to go to Day One if you’ve missed any of the details!

Here’s Kristin’s awesome printable for today! Click on the image to download it for free!

Whitney brings us our fabulous recipe today:

Peanut Butter Chocolate Pretzels:

I am a self-proclaimed peanut butter connoisseur.  I LOVE it.  Everything is better with peanut butter smothered all over it.  But only certain kinds.  If it’s not the right kind of peanut butter, I won’t even eat it.
I’ve received a lot of chocolate covered pretzels as “neighbor gifts” at Christmastime over the years, and I’ve always loved them.  But when the idea popped in my head to make pretzel rods covered in peanut butter and THEN chocolate, nothing was stopping me.  I made a bee-line to the grocery store and bought some pretzel rods.  I experimented with a few different ways and finally got a delicious peanut butter chocolaty treat that any sweet tooth would die for.

 

Here’s how I did it:
Gather together some pretzel rods, some chocolate (I just used chocolate chips) of your choice… milk, semi-sweet, dark… whatever you like, and your favorite peanut butter.
Melt the peanut butter in the microwave so that it runs.  I melted about 3/4 cup in 30 seconds.  Dip your pretzel rod in the melted peanut butter and immediately put it in the freezer.  Continue dipping and freezing until you have all the pretzels that you want.  I like to freeze mine until they’re nice and hard, to ensure that the peanut butter doesn’t just slide right off when you dip it in the chocolate.  This should take 1-2 hours.
Next, melt your chocolate in the microwave in small increments (10-15 seconds) so that you don’t burn it.  Make sure you stir it well in between.  Once it’s nice and melted, take your pretzels out and dip them, fully covering the peanut butter, and put it back in the freezer quickly so that everything doesn’t melt off the stick.  Once you’ve dipped all the pretzels, let them freeze until they’ve set up, 15-30 minutes.
Take them out of the freezer and give them away or eat them up, they’re definitely hard to resist!

-Whitney

Don’t those look delicious? Thanks Whitney!

Guess what? WhipperBerry was chosen as a Top DIY Craft Blog by onlinedegrees.org. If you are looking for gifts on a budget, this is the list to check out!

Click on the link below to see the sweet things they said about us!

Only 3 days left of our 12 Days of Christmas Event, and then we can’t wait to see what you’ve got!  Start getting those projects ready to link up.

On the eighth day of Christmas my true friend gave to me…

…eight place cards so my guests will all know their seat.

If you are just joining our 12 Days of Christmas Event, go back to day one for all the yummy details!!!

Download Kristin’s printable for today by clicking on the image.

Everything about a pomegranate speaks Christmas to me. Its jolly red color, the sweet tangy fruit, and the fact that it’s December and I can still find these beauties falling off the tree. Why not turn them into beautiful place cards?

Supplies:

• Pomegranates
• Ornament hooks (from the dollar store)
• UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel)
• Embossing ink
• Embossing Gun Heat Tool
• Paintbrush
• Mod Podge
• Glitter or Dimaond Dust
• Hot Glue Gun

Paint the top half of the pomegranate with clear embossing ink. Pour UTEE over the ink to generously cover. Set with a heat tool. This gives the fruit a perpetually wet look, and makes the color pop!

Thin your Mod Podge with a few drops of water, and paint onto the lower half of the pomegranate. Sprinkle with glitter to give the pome a dipped-in-sugar appearance. I used Deco-Art’s Glamour Dust for this step because that’s what I had.

Secure an ornament hook to the top with hot glue. Now you are ready to attach your tag!

The best part about these treats? Your guests can still eat them! Nothing we did to them has harmed the inside in any way; all you need to do is slice open and serve.

And this whole project only cost me a buck (for the ornament hooks), everything else I had on hand. Love a thrifty project!

On the seventh day of Christmas my true friend gave to me…

…seven macarons for the Parisian in me!

We are in the middle of our 12 Days of Christmas event! Read all about it here!

Click the image to download Kristin’s printable tag for today!

Today we are joined by Melissa and Kellie, the wonderful ladies from Icing Designs!  They were sweet enough to bring you today’s gift: the macaron!

They have put together a three part tutorial on how to make the perfect macaron. Click here to become educated on this beautiful, and delicious, treat!

Aren’t they gorgeous? A HUGE thank you to Melissa and Kellie! We heart you so much! Go give them a little love from us!

On the sixth day of Christmas my true friend gave to me…

…six cookies because I deserve something sweet!

If you need all the fun details of our 12 Days of Christmas event, check back to day one, and see what’s it’s all about!

Click on the image to download Kristin’s free printable for today:

 

Whitney made these yummy cookies, and tells us how she did it:

These fun snowflake cookies are made using the same recipe as my airplane sugar cookies.  I love this recipe for 2 reasons.  The first is that the cookies hold their shape really well, which is perfect for intricate cookies like these.  The second reason is that they’re just yummy.  They really taste fabulous. 

Sugar Cookies (via cakecentral.com)
6 cups flour
3 tsp. baking powder
2 cups unsalted butter
2 cups sugar (white granulated)
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract or desired flavoring (I like almond myself)
1 tsp. salt

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix well. Mix dry ingredients, and add a little at a time to butter mixture. Mix until flour is completely incorporated and the dough comes together.  Chill for 1 to 2 hours.

Cut cookies and place on greased cookie sheet.  Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes. Once your cookies are completely cooled, you can frost them. I like to ice a border of royal icing around the edge of my cookies first, so that I don’t have run-off.  It gives the cookie a crisp, professional look.

Royal Icing
3 large egg whites
1 lb. confectioner’s sugar
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar

Beat egg whites with cream of tartar until they reach the soft peak stage.  Add confectioner’s sugar, a little at a time, until stiff peaks form.

To ice your cookies, fill a zippered sandwich bag with icing and cut a little off the corner.  Frost your border and allow a few minutes for the icing to harden.  Finally,  you’ll want to fill in your cookie with regular icing.  I put about 2 cups of confectioner’s sugar in a bowl and add a little milk until I get my desired consistency (not runny, but not stiff).  Fill another sandwich bag with this icing, snip the corner of the bag, and fill the cookie.  To get an even consistency, use a toothpick or your (clean) pinky finger to spread the icing. 

The cookie cutters were bought at Williams-Sonoma last winter, but I was just in their store a few weeks ago and they still have them!  I love the cookie cutters because you can be creative with how you design them.  Every snowflake can be different.
I hope you’re enjoying our 12 Days of Christmas and check back for some more fabulous ideas.  We can’t wait to see yours!   -Whitney

I am so excited for our Link Party on the 13th, where we will see all of your creativity. There are going to be a lot of lucky recipients out there!