Ode to Valentine's Day

About six months ago, I realized I had very few cookie cutters. I mean, for all the cookies I bake, you'd think I had one for every holiday/shape/occasion. Alas, I had some really strange shapes. Who has 3 mustache cookie cutters and one, giant rocket ship cookie cutter?? This girl. And yet, no heart cookie cutter? No heart?!?!?! Littlest Love needs a heart. A tiny, littlest heart. Just look at that cute, little guy...

Fast forward to last week. Turns out, my purchase came in quite handy. This little rockstar turned my Valentine's treats from pretty, to adorable with just a little push of the hand and a few drops of food coloring. And push and drop I did. I pushed (and dropped) it real good.

Sorry, I always get so carried away with these hilarious puns. Back to the Valentine's treats! I found this BuzzFeed "39 Absolutely Perfect Comic Sans Valentine’s Day Cards" list, and like every other BuzzFeed list, I went down the rabbit hole. About an hour later, I had clicked my way into a circle, and found myself at this list once again. And I thought, "Well, #26 is clearly the best thing I've ever seen." And it was. So I saved the image, printed several copies, and vowed to use it for at least 30 people (that's how many I printed).

I figured my client wouldn't appreciate this the way it needed to be appreciated, so I made them for my boyfriend's office because he works at an ad agency. And if anyone hates Comic Sans more than me, it's them. And if anyone loves butter more than Paula Deen, well, you need a triple bypass.

So I made the best sugar cookies in the world, and then I made two kinds of royal icing: strawberry (pink) and raspberry (purple). And they were these tiny little bites of heaven. Just perfect for my little Valentine's treat bags, which were filled with raspberry flavored Hershey's Hugs and the ultimate York Peppermint Patties (heart shaped!). Needless to say, these treat bags were hugely successful. Paula Deen, you butter believe it.

In the midst of all this heart-shaped madness, Justin and I decided to keep our Valentine's Day low-key. However, I still love this day, and I always want to do something special. So we planned an indoor picnic (because there was freezing rain, and because it's easier). I got to thinking about picnics, which led me to think about the "outdoors." And then when I was thinking about the outdoors, I started thinking about camping. And then my brain lit up like a Christmas tree in February and I was all "I'M GOING TO MAKE S'MORES!" Which I realize is not a picnic-y thing. But, I don't care because I love s'mores and you can't stop me. Also, I have a kitchen torch, so you should really stand back.

I grabbed my Littlest heart cookie cutter and got to work... I needed to make marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate. And so it began with strawberry-flavored, heart shaped marshmallows for the win!

Then, I searched high and low for graham flour in Nashville to rock some homemade graham crackers, but sadly, all 10 grocery stores that I called either said "What's that?" or "Sorry, we have every kind of flour but graham flour." And it's true, so my mission semi-failed. However, I went for the next best thing, which are cinnamon-honey shortbread cookies. Spicy, sweet, and crunchy? I'll take it. Two down, chocolate to go. 

If you know anything about Nashville, you know that we are spoiled rotten by our incredibly talented local artisans. And if you've ever seen the beautifully branded, epic-sized chocolate bars, then you know Olive & Sinclair is what is up! They are flavorful, and masterfully crafted to make your taste buds say "whaaaaat!" That being said, I didn't even pretend to try and make my own chocolate. I grabbed a few of the more intense chocolates (Sea Salt & Cocoa Nibs) and there you have it. Homemade s'mores!

Justin was super excited about his gift, and I was even more excited about the dinner he prepared! Our picnic was a foodie success! We enjoyed pasta salad with chicken & roasted veggies and fresh out of the oven homemade sweet potato biscuits with Tru Bee "Tennessee Snow." Between that and the s'mores, we went to bed full and happy.

And the next morning, we woke up early and ran the Hot Chocolate 15k! Luckily we ran, because we got even more chocolate afterwards! I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day weekend! A special shout out to MY funny valentines: Bo & Justin. <3

Summer Strawberries & Banana Jokes

It's a slippery slope when you start stealing your dad's jokes. And I'll be a monkey's uncle if I didn't have four overly ripe bananas sitting on my counter Friday afternoon. So I got to thinking, and usually thinking leads to baking...

I went a little nuts this weekend. And by nuts, I mean fruits. I went a little fruits this weekend! I got my new shipment of Bake It Pretty goods - cupcake liners, striped paper straws & a little heart shaped cookie cutter - and I was itching for a weekend of solid baking. After a run with Justin and our Bo dog Saturday morning, I strolled over to the West End Farmer's Market and grabbed myself two pints of beautiful, sweet, bright red strawberries from Delvin Farms. I also grabbed a couple of Olive & Sinclair chocolate bars from The Produce Place because I was feeling kind of frisky. And by frisky, I mean hungry. And by hungry I mean...well, you get the point.

You can see the beautiful Bake It Pretty box that arrived on my doorstep! I love how quickly I receive their shipments, and how perfectly wrapped and packaged everything always is. Not to mention, their liners are so perfect and the color stays so well. I'm a big fan. Big. Huge!

As a side note, I couldn't resist posting this adorable, green strawberry. I mean look at it, it's ADORABLE.

Oh, Delvin Farms, you sure know how to make this girl happy...

So it began with Saturday night's dinner. I had fresh strawberries on the brain, and I had just conjured up a loaf of banana bread topped with Olive & Sinclair chocolate chunks. Without hesitation, I threw strawberries into my avocado, spinach & basil salad and thought, "Those would look damn fine in some cupcakes..." During dinner my mind wandered to strawberry cupcakes and warm banana bread.

Here's a close-up of the warm, moist banana bread fresh out of the oven!

So naturally, I baked strawberry cupcakes before bed. Because that's what any rational girl would do! In my excitement from baking the hand pies last week and the banana bread and strawberry cupcakes the night before, I decided that Sunday morning I was definitely going to top those cupcakes with strawberry meringue buttercream frosting.

With a lot (too much?) of energetic morning jumps and squirms of joy, I began separating eggs, measuring sugar, and getting a double boiler going. So far so good. I whisked and I whipped and I even did a little happy dance as I saw the meringue fluff up before my very eyes. Joy! But then a wee little needle deflated my ever-growing baking balloon as I slowly added in the strawberries and watched my meringue get too glossy and then boom. It was all over.  No more fluffy, whipped, marshmallow-like goodness. Just shiny, separated strawberry goop. Boyfriend liked it despite it being completely unappealing (visually), but I knew it wouldn't do. I was crushed, but I whipped up a quick batch of strawberry buttercream and vowed to try the meringue frosting again soon.

 As it turns out, the cupcakes were a pretty big hit!

I also made a batch of triple chocolate cookies which were amazing! But those pictures turned out kind of hideous, and honestly I'd rather not go into detail with what a bad picture of a chocolate cookie looks like.

Stay tuned for this weekend's post, as I'm going to attempt the meringue buttercream again and hope for more success. But not before I bake donuts! That's right folks, it's National Donut Day on Friday. So aside from heading to Krispy Kreme and/or Dunkin' to snag yourself a free donut, be sure to check out Friday's blog post! It's your patriotic duty!