Valentine's Day Cupcakes

As a fundraiser for my Relay For Life team, I decided to have a Valentine's Day Cupcake drawing! I came across the idea for the heart cupcakes on Bakerella, a cupcake and cake pop blog which always has adorable ideas! It was great because the blog even had download for the heart shapes, so all I had to do was print them and cut them out! These made a great Valentine's Day fundraiser and I had a great time making them.

Tomato Tarte

Caramel Macarons

Apple Pie

Here is the apple pie I made for Thanksgiving dinner!

Peppermint Meringues

Buttermilk Pancakes

I found this recipe in a the recent issue of Cook's Illustrated. Cook's Illustrated is a great publication that tests recipes and gives tips and tricks on how to best prepare the recipes. The recipe was simple and easy to follow and the pancakes turned out great!

2 cups all purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup sour cream
2 large eggs
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1-2 teaspoons vegetable oil

1. Heat oven to 200 degrees. Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl. In a second bowl whisk together the buttermilk, sour cream, eggs, and melted butter (make sure that it is cool or it will reharden and not work properly). Combine wet and dry ingredients and gently stir until just combined (its okay if the batter is a little lumpy). Let the batter sit for 10 minutes before cooking.
2. Grease pan or griddle with oil or cooking spray and then scoop batter onto surface. Cook until edges are set, first side is golden brown, and bubbles on surface are just beginning to break (about 2-3 minutes) then flip. Serve immediately.

Citrus Coasters

I found these Citrus Coasters on one of my favorite craft blogs, Purl Bee. Purl Bee is the blog for a sewing/knitting store in SoHo in Manhattan called Purl Soho that I visited last winter. The store is absolutely adorable and the blog always has really cute ideas for craft projects! As part of our annual family trip down to the Outer Banks we always do a craft night. This year I found these coasters and thought that they would be a fun summertime addition to everyone's coffee tables.. The actual process is relatively easy albeit a little time consuming if you decide to hand stitch everything like we did (you could probably assemble the coasters with fabric glue and it would be faster but it wouldn't have the charming detail of the stitching ). I think that the coasters turned out great, each one really has its own character which I love about handmade crafts!!