My First Quilt Top - African Themed

So I finally got into quilting. It's something I've been meaning to do for ages but just never got around to it. Earlier this month after seeing some quilt photos online I came up with the idea for this quilt. It was reasonably simple to do and it only took me a couple weeks to put together. I really like how the thin black borders make the colours pop.

I'm still debating on what to do for a final border, but in the meantime I'll just enjoy the progress I've made so far. I already have multiple ideas for future quilts in my head.

Confetti Caramel Bars

When I was a kid, I loved nothing better than my Betty Crocker cookie book. One of my favourite recipe of all time in it is these Confetti Caramel Bars. I making them with a variety of different candy and nut combinations depending on the season and upcoming holidays.

Makes about 32 Bars

Bars

1 cup	225 g	Butter or Margerine
1 cup	145 g	Packed Brown Sugar
1 1/2 tsp	8 mL	Vanilla Extract
1	1	Large Egg
2 cups	250 g	All Purpose Flour

Caramel Topping

1/2 cup	240 mL	Light Corn Syrup
2 Tbsp	30 g	Butter or Margerine
1 cup	170 g	Butterscotch Chips
		Assorted Candy and/or Nuts

1. Preheart oven to 350 degrees F (150 degrees Celsius)
2. In a large bowl, mix together butter or margarine, sugar, vanilla extract and eggs until light and fluffy. Stir in flour.
3. Press mixture into a 9"x13" (23 cm x 33 cm) pan. Bake 22 minutes until light brown. Allow to fully cool.
4. In a saucepan, combine corn syrup, butter or margarine, and butterscotch chips. Place over medium heat until mixture boils. Stir occasionally.
5. Spread mixture over cooled cookie layer and immediately sprinkle with candy and nuts. Gently press toppings in place.
6. Cool until butterscotch mixture is firm and cut into bars.

*Note I have occasionally multiplied the caramel topping mixture from 1.5x to 2x. It works fine, but be warned that it does make the bars a little gooey, as once they are cut the caramel will spread over the edges a bit.

Christmas Cookies Round 1

The first batch of Christmas Cookies for this year has been baked and is ready to go! I found the tins at Value Village for a dollar each and they match the colours seen on the cookies. These cookies are sugar cookies decorated with royal icing, sanding sugar, lustre dust, and dragées.

Haystack Cookies

These cookies are super tasty and take only minutes to make. I love their crunchy texture and simple flavour. During Christmas time, I like to call them Reindeer Haystacks.

Makes 12 cookies

1 cup	170 g	Butterscotch, Chocolate* or Peanut Butter Chips
1/2 cup	130 g	Peanut Butter**
1 cup	150 g	Peanuts
2 cups	90 g	Chow Mein Noodles

1. Using a microwave*** or a double boiler, melt peanut butter and chips together. Stir constantly until a uniform mixture is achieved.
2. In a large bowl, mix together peanuts and chow mein noodles.
3. Pour melted peanut butter mixture over the peanuts and chow mein noodles and stir until well coated.
4. Drop by spoonfuls onto wax paper, and allow to cool until set. For faster cooling, place cookies in fridge.

Notes:

*I find chocolate chips tend to make gooier cookies than the butterscotch or peanut butter chips. If you don't like sticky cookies, reduce the amount of peanut butter you add to about 1/4 cup or 65 g.

**While it may be healthier, stay away from natural peanut butter. Its much too oily and the cookies won't stick together.

***I find 3-4 minutes on medium low heat works well. If unsure, always remember less is more. I've burnt this recipe a few times and the results are rather unappealing.

There's an app for that... in cookies

So my boyfriend and I celebrated our 3-year anniversary recently. To celebrate, I had the brilliant idea of making him iPhone cookies. They were a bit of a nightmare to be honest, I really should have given myself more time. These are brown sugar cookies decorated with royal icing.

Here they are in all their glory:

From Top Row, Left to Right: SMS, App Store, iTunes, Facebook, Pictures, Notes, Weather, Clock, Camera, Stocks, The Chemical Touch, Angry Birds, Calculator, Maps, Calendar, Settings, Phone, Mail, iTunes, Safari.

So my advice to you, dear reader, is to give yourself plenty of time before attempting to do something crazy like this, or you may tear your hair out. I did learn a lot from the experience though. One being the "sugar bloom" on some of the blue and green cookies (the mottled look). Apparently it also happens quite a bit with red dyes, so I will be playing with some methods to prevent it in the future.

Brown Sugar Cut-Out Cookies

There are a number of people in my family who aren't big fans of sweets. However, they all love these brown sugar cookies. They are only lightly sweet and are a bit heavier and crisper than my other sugar cookies.

Makes about 72 cookies

1 cup	225 g	Butter or Margarine
2 cups	290 g	Brown Sugar
2	2	Eggs
1/4 cup	60 mL	Milk
1 tsp	5 mL	Vanilla Extract
5 cups	625 g	All-Purpose Flour
1 tsp	5 g	Baking Soda
1/2 tsp	3g	Salt

1. In a large bowl, mix together butter, sugar, eggs, milk, and vanilla extract until light and fluffy.
2. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt.
3. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture until well blended. Chill dough for 1 hour.
4. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/4" thickness. Cut into desired shapes using cookie cutters and place 1/2" apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
5. Bake for 6 minutes in preheated oven.
6. Remove cookies from pan and cool on wire racks.

Royal Icing

Poodle shaped Chocolate Cut-Out Cookies decorated with Royal Icing

(The poodle cookie cutter I used is available at Amazon)

Royal icing dries smooth and hard like candy. It is ideal for icing cookies, making decorations, and cementing things like gingerbread houses together. I've found two recipes that work well with royal icing, though I personally recommend the one that uses egg whites as opposed to meringue powder as its easier to work with a provides a better finish. Egg whites can now be be bought in a pasteurized form in a carton, so bacteria should not be a concern with using raw egg whites in icing recipes.

Royal Icing Recipe 1

Makes about 3 cups of icing

1/2 tsp	1.6 g	Cream of Tartar
3	3	Egg Whites
4 cups	500 g	Confectioners Sugar

1. Beat all ingredients for 7-10 minutes or until icing forms stiff peaks. If icing is too thick, add water a teaspoon at a time until desired consistency is reached.
2. Store icing in an airtight container until use.

Royal Icing Recipe 2

Makes about 3 cups of icing

3 tbsp	35 g	Meringue Powder*
6 tbsps	90 mL	Water
4 cups	500 g	Confectioners Sugar

1. Beat all ingredients for 7-10 minutes or until icing forms stiff peaks. If icing is too thick, add water a teaspoon at a time until desired consistency is reached.
2. Store icing in an airtight container until use.

*Meringue Powder can be purchased at most hobby shops where cake and cookie decorating supplies are found, such as Michaels. It can also be purchased online through dealers such as Amazon, Global Sugar Art, Golda's Kitchen (Canada), and Wilton.