Food

Perfect Gingersnap Cookies

1 · Nov 12, 2013 · 2 Comments

Hi all! It’s exciting to be back here from One Sweet Appetite! Today we are talking cookies. Around this time of the year it seems that all I can think about are trays full of the little treats. Every year we like to have a baking day to put together fun plates of goodies for our neighbors and this cookie always seems to take the show! These gingersnap cookies are full of holiday flavor. Lots of ginger, cinnamon, molasses… All rolled into a cinnamon and sugar mixture then baked to perfection. Chances are good you’ll end up snacking on one (or ten) before packaging them up for neighbors and friends!

Perfect Ginger Snap Cookies

2 C. sifted all-purpose flour
1 T. ground ginger
2 t. baking soda
t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. salt
3/4 C. shortening
1 C. white sugar
1 egg
1/4 C. dark molasses
1/3 C. cinnamon sugar

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

Whisk together the flour, ginger, soda, cinnamon, and salt in a medium sized bowl. Set aside. Combine the shortening and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer. Mix until light and fluffy. Add the egg and molasses. Stir in the dry ingredients.

Pinch of small amounts of dough and form into a circle. Roll in the cinnamon sugar mixture, and place on your prepared tray. Bake for ten minutes and cool on a wire rack.

These are full of flavor and one of our favorite cookies. I know they should be crisp, but I’m a soft and chewy kind of gal. If you want to each cookie to be equal in size I suggest buying a small cookie scoop. I found one on amazon for fairly inexpensive.

I hope these cookies will inspire you to create some treats of your own! Check out a few other cookies that you might enjoy:

Gingerbread cookies & Eggnog Dip // Oatmeal cookies three ways // Homemade Thin Mints

The Pillsbury Bake Off and The Party Bunch Link Party // no. 3

0 · Nov 8, 2013 · 12 Comments

My trip to the Pillsbury Bake Off and The Party Bunch Link Party // Hey guys… It's FRIDAY!! I am actually in Las Vegas right now for the Pillsbury Bake-Off. I know… It's a total honor to be invited to this iconic event. 2014 marks the 46th Pillbury Bake-off which was started back in 1949. I grew-up hearing about the bake-off and always waited for that famous winning recipe to be released. I can't wait to see who wins this year. I will be there to be your eyes and ears. Your behind the scenes girl. So… If you are interested at all in the Bake-off at all, you have to follow along in Instagram, Facebook or Twitter to join in on all the fun. Here's a little secret… I get to taste the winning recipe! You won't want to miss out on that for sure!

Now… The Party Bunch is ready to link up with you all! Amy from The Idea Room, Mique from 30 Handmade Days, Desiree from The 36th Avenue and of course me from WhipperBerry want to welcome you and thank you for being awesome and partying with us another week!

As always we had some pretty amazing projects and recipes linked up last week.

Here are some of our favorites!

Heather's Favorite

Gorgeous DIY Wood Bead Chandelier at Life On Virginia Street

Mique's Favorite

Free Thanksgiving Party Printables at Second Chance to Dream

Amy's Favorite

Samoa Doughnuts Recipe at Twigg Studios

Desiree's Favorite

Nativity Scene at Delineate Your Dwelling

What a cute idea… This is the perfect Christmas Craft for kids. I love it!

Thank you so much ladies for all of these diy projects and delicious recipes!

We hope you take a minute and button up here!

Also we want to invite you to click here and follow

The Party Bunch Favorites on Pinterest.

We will pin some of our favorite projects and recipes from the link on this board!

Here are a few things to remember before you link up!

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Please make sure to share the love and grab a button from above to let your readers know that you linked up with us!
By linking up with The Party Bunch, you are giving permission to any of us to feature your projects and recipes in our social media with a link back to you.
Link up your specific post.
Have fun!

Now it it time to link up with The Party Bunch!

An InLinkz Link-up

Sparkly Ornament Advent Calendar

3 · Nov 7, 2013 · 8 Comments

Well ho ho ho hello there! I'm so happy to be back here again this month! I'm stepping away from my usual food posts, and instead I've got a little Christmas project to share with you. I know, Christmas feels very far away, but it's not really, especially if you want to make your own advent calendar which needs to be ready for December 1!

Every year we have advent calendars for the kids and they love the countdown to the big day (secrets be told, I do too)! I've always just bought those candy or picture advent calendars, but this year I wanted to do something a little different and make my own. I was inspired by this advent calendar that I saw on Bower Power blog a couple of years ago, so when I received a box of ornaments in the mail recently, I knew they would make an amazing advent calendar.

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The idea with this advent calendar is that there is a unique ornament for each day leading up to Christmas that the kids can hang on our tree.

Here's How To:

Materials:

A picture frame
A piece of cork board to fit the frame
Paper or fabric to cover the cork board
25 paper key tags (you can find these in any office supply store)
25 silver push pins
25 ornaments
number stamps & silver stamping ink
Large ribbon for hanging the frame.

Instructions:

First choose a frame for your calendar, then string through a 2 1/2 foot long ribbon for hanging.
Then cut a piece of cork board to fit the frame, and wrap it in paper or fabric. I liked this sparkly wrapping paper, as it was very forgiving when I needed to move around the push pins…it hid tiny holes well.
Place the covered cork board firmly into the frame.
Chose 25 different ornaments to hang in the frame.
To mark each day, you can use paper key tags, and stamp them with the number of the day.
Now it's time to hang the ornaments! First lay out the ornaments approximately where you would like to hang them.
Use a push pin to first hang the date tag, then the ornament.

That's it! SO simple!

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Here's what mine looks like all done! Sparkly, fun & festive!

The fun part of making your own advent calendar is you can tailor it to your own Christmas decor. Have fun with colours, textures and different kinds of ornaments!

Here are some ideas for your calendar:

Use a picture frame that you can hang on your wall each season.
Or put heavy duty magnets on the back of the frame so that you can hang it on your fridge.
Keep the background on the frame neutral so you can change the ornaments every year. I just used silver sparkly wrapping paper.

Instead of tree ornaments you can hang:

Little envelopes with Christmas messages.
Or put a little note in an envelope that has a seasonal activity to do for that day: things like skating, make hot chocolate, go for a walk, bake cookies…
You can hang little bags filled with candy.
Fill envelopes or little boxes with tiny treasures like money, earrings, erasers…fun little dollar store items.

I hope I inspired you to make an advent calendar of your own!

Thank you so much for reading today! Have a wonderful day!

Feel free to stop on by anytime! I'd love to have you!

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Printable Thanksgiving Bread Wraps + 12 More Thanksgiving Printables

10 · Nov 6, 2013 · 9 Comments

Free Printable Thanksgiving Bread Wraps // Well hello November! Can you believe we are already here… It’s time for Thanksgiving! It’s also time for this months Printable Club. We have 12 fabulous Thanksgiving printables for you…

Aren’t they all so fun?! I created a “Today I am grateful for You!” bread wrap. This time of year we are all busting out our baking pans and making all kinds of lovely quick breads like pumpkin bread and banana bread and sharing them with friends and neighbors. I thought it would be fun to create a nice wrap for those scrumptious gifts that we all love to share. Even if you aren’t much of a baker, you can find some tasty breads at your local market and repackage them with this wrap and look like a rock star!

All you have to do is download the file from the Box.com box below and then print out as many sheets as you want. Cut them how ever you like and wrap your bread with them. I actually wrapped my bread in some parchment paper first and then the bread wrap because the wrap didn’t make it all the way around the bread. With the parchment you have something to affix the wrap to and it looks great.

You can even go a step further if you like… I printed mine on printable canvas from Silhouette. This stuff is super cool and you don’t need to have a Silhouette machine to use it. It goes right through your printer and then is self-adhesive as well. Perfect for this kind of stuff. Then your friends will REALLY think you are a rock star because who knows how to print on fabric? Um, YOU DO! Here’s the file for you to download…

But wait, there’s more… Wow, I’m starting to sound like an infomercial. I have 11 more super talented friends who are sharing their Thanksgiving printables with all of us as well! Click on their links below to see all of their amazing creations!

1 // The Dating Divas – Give your hubby this cute, personalized candy bar wrapper to show your gratitude for him!
2 // Somewhat Simple – Count Your Blessings Tree | Includes everything you need to create a beautiful display of all the things you’re grateful for.
3 // Whipperberry – Printable bread wrapper to show your friends and family how grateful you are for them.
4 // Crafting Chicks – Thanksgiving planning pages to create the best, most organized and most purposeful Thanksgiving yet!
5 // Tatertots & Jello – Thanksgiving centerpiece idea and activity.
6 // L’il Luna – Free Thanksgiving Coloring Pages perfect for the kids while the adults are busy cooking!
7 // My Sister’s Suitcase – Keep the kids busy coloring this Printable Thanksgiving Placemat – full of games, jokes, and puzzles!
8 // I Heart Nap Time – Give Thanksgiving leftovers the respect they deserve with these easy to use ‘leftovers’ printables!
9 // The 36th Avenue – Timeless “Bee” Thankful Printable and Thankful Tags. Available in two colors.
10 // Paging Supermom – “Thankful for Everything” chocolate wrapper coordinates with a collection of FREE Thanksgiving dinner decor!
11 // The TomKat Studio – Give thanks with these stylish notecards and gift tags!
12 // The Idea Room – Printable Happy Thanksgiving Gift Tags for Thanksgiving or Hostess Gifts.

Autumn Inspired Red Bird Buttercream Cake

0 · Nov 5, 2013 · 6 Comments

This buttercream cake post brought to you by Craftsy // Have you ever had that experience of learning a new skill, and then the excitement of wanting to practice, practice, practice? That is totally how I felt after taking the FREE Modern Buttercream Class on Craftsy. I have always wanted to create beautiful cakes and I have learned some skills over the years, but this class really helped to take me to the next level. I learned how to shape the cake so that it looks more professional, not all rounded and wonky. That amazing trick of adding simple syrup to the cake to keep it moist. So many fun fabulous tricks. Not to mention the step-by-step instructions on how to make Swiss buttercream. That helped me with my first practice my simple buttercream cake. You can check it out here. You can tell in that picture I still had some stuff to work on. With all of that, I had to try my hand at another cake. This time I was going to conquer a challenge of mine… FONDANT. In the class Joshua John Russell teaches how to make gum paste embellishments, but I decided I wanted my decor to be made out of fondant. I didn't want my fun graphic elements to be hard I wanted them to be soft but, the steps are pretty close.

For this cake, I was inspired by the beautiful time of year we are in. When we first moved here to Lincoln last year, we arrived at this time of year. It was so fun to actually have a real fall for the first time in 8 years. I had a very special morning one day early on here. I was feeling a little blue with the move and looking out the window at the new scenery. The trees and the leaves were beautiful, but I was feeling weighted down. Then all of a sudden a beautiful Cardinal flew right up next to my window and just sat there for a moment. My spirits soared! I hadn't ever seen such a beautiful red bird. From that time forward, Cardinals have been a special fall friend for me. I decided to make a modern little red bird cake to celebrate the season…

Now remember, I have a little bit of a fear of fondant. For some reason, it has always been one of those elements that only really cool cake decorators could use. I just didn't feel like I was at that level yet. I lacked confidence. After taking Modern Buttercream I felt like it was time to tackle this skill!

I found these fondant cutters from Wilton that are normally leaves, but I thought they could easily turn into cute modern looking birds. I used a fondant roller with rolling pin guides to make sure I had a uniform thickness just like Joshua did while working with the gum paste. He made little butterflies and affixed them to his amazing cake…

I cut out my little birds in just the same way…

Then I pinched the front of the shape to make it look a little more bird like…

I used a little gold Gragée for the eye and then affixed it to the side of the cake.

Because the cake is buttercream, it's super easy to affix the fondant birds right to the side of the cake. I kept things simple with the cake to keep the modern feel. I didn't want a completely smooth cake so I kept a little bit of movement in the buttercream, but not a ton.

It turned out so cute… It also helped that I had the cutest little red bird cake plate that I found while I was at the Smucker's Company Store in Ohio. I just adore it!

Now, as Joshua teaches in the Modern Buttercream class on Craftsy… You can have the most beautiful cake, but if I doesn't taste good, you've missed the mark. Here's one of my little secrets… If you don't have time to bake a cake, but you want to decorate your own cake, go to your favorite bakery! You may want to call a day or two ahead, but you can purchase pre-made cake rounds that are generally frozen and ready to decorate. For sure a time saver, but if you have a good bakery, you know you will always have a scrumptious cake to serve.

I CAN'T WAIT to practice some more. I also can't believe how just a little bit of education can help boost my confidence. I now love cake decorating and can't wait to learn even more though Craftsy. Have you guys checked it out yet? What classes would you like to take?

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Craftsy. The opinions and text are all mine.

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