Vanilla Raspberry Lollipops

A cold, snowy day inspired me to finally try making lollipops. I was stuck at home (it did snow a fair amount, and I'm not too fond of driving in the snow/ice) and had all the supplies on hand. It ended up being relatively easy, as far as candy making goes! 

I modified a recipe from Martha Stewart: 

- lollipop molds (or a non stick mat such as a Silpat)

- 2 1/4 cup granulated sugar

- 3/4 cup water 

- 2/3 cup light corn syrup

- 3 drops raspberry flavored oil

- 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 

- food coloring, if desired

- vegetable oil to spray molds

If using lollipop molds, spray lightly with vegetable oil, making sure to get into all of the creases. If you are not using molds, just use a non stick mat such as a Silpat, no oil necessary.

Combine the sugar, water, and corn syrup in a heavy bottom saucepan, and place over medium-high heat. If sugar crystals start to form on the sides of the pan use a pastry brush dipped in cold water to brush down the sides. Use a candy thermometer and cook the mixture until it reaches 310 degrees, the hard crack stage. When using your thermometer, make sure it does not touch the bottom of the pan as that will skew the reading. 

Remove from heat, and pour sugar mixture into a heatproof measuring cup with a spout (anything that is heatproof and has a spout for pouring will do the trick, its just not really feasible to pour from the saucepan). Add the raspberry flavor, vanilla, and food coloring if desired and stir with a wooden skewer or chopstick. Pour immediately into the molds or onto the Silpat in circles of desired size, then immediately place lollipop sticks into sugar. 

**If you have never worked with hot sugar before, I would recommend enlisting the help of a friend to place the sticks as you move onto the next lollipops. The sugar mixture will cool rather quickly, so it is crucial that you work quickly and efficiently. Another way to help manage your time is to make sure that you have all of the items you will need set out in advance before you start. 

Afternoon Tea

It's always been a tradition to have tea, whether for special occasions, while exploring other cities, or just at home with family and friends. My best friend, Gabby, will soon be going back to Indiana, where she is in a PhD program for Classical Studies, so I wanted to have tea before she left. 

On the menu was Pistachio Raspberry cupcakes (I made minis this time because there were a few other items, but I think the concensus was we prefer the regular size ones), cream scones, and currant scones. 

My sister Emily helped me make the scones and we had a variety of loose tea - English breakfast, blueberry, and apricot! 

Here are the recipes for the two scones. The cream scones are smaller, but you could cut the currant scones into rounds instead of triangles if you wanted them to be smaller as well. 

I like to serve my scones with lemon curd, raspberry preserves, and Devanshire cream. 

Cream Scones

Currant Scones

Dimple Stitch Cashmere Hat

The cold weather and my new found post-college free time had me thinking about getting back into knitting. I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to make, so I just started looking at the yarns that we already had in our yarn stash and found this gorgeous pink cashmere. 

While looking for patterns I found this beautiful pattern on the Purl Bee blog that I absolutely loved and did not look too terribly hard! I love the Purl Bee blog- it is the blog for the knitting/sewing/craft store called Purl Soho in NYC. Coincidentally, we were taking a trip to NYC to visit my cousin Meghan this winter and a stop by Purl Soho was on the list of things to do, so I was extra motivated to start knitting!  

I ended up finishing my hat in the hotel in New York the night before we went to Purl Soho, and I was glad I did because it ended up being freezing cold and snowing that day! I was a little reticent to wear it out in the city as I have a history of loosing beloved homemade hats in New York cabs (to my defense I was much younger), but I was just extra careful and my hat has made it home safely and been put to good use during our chilly winter. 

That day we went to Purl Soho, and it was just as wonderful as I remember. I got an early Christmas gift of soft merino wool- which I will be using to make my next project- and had a lovely time just looking around at all of the different projects and yarns. We also had a lovely tea prior to going to Purl Soho at the Harney & Sons Tea Shop. It worked out perfectly because they were literally a block away from each other, and the tea was delicious. Harney & Sons was mostly a tea shop, but they had a small tea room in the back where we stopped in a had scones, tea, and macaroons, the perfect afternoon treat on a cold winter day.