My Stained Apron

Chai Spiced Scones with Brown Sugar Glaze

August 18, 2015 by Holly

If you know me much at all, you know I’m a total herbal tea junkie. One of my favorites is Celestial Seasoning’s Bengal Spice. It’s an herbal version of chai tea, which usually contains black tea leaves. I was trying to figure out how to infuse scones with that flavor and figured I could steep the cream with the tea. It worked, but I wanted to bump up that flavor a little more. With some spices added to the dough I finally had what I was looking for. With that little hint of black pepper, these remind of pfeffernusse. I think I’ll be making them for a Christmas tea sometime. Of course, if you know me much at all… you know me and my girls are ready for Christmas now! 😀

CHAI SPICED SCONES WITH BROWN SUGAR GLAZE

Scones:
2 cups flour
¼ cup brown sugar
½ tsp kosher salt
1 T baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp ground cloves
¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp black pepper

½ cup unsalted butter
1 cup heavy cream, divided (or milk works fine too)
3 Chai tea bags (I used Celestial Seasonings Bengal Spice)
1 egg

Glaze:
6 T brown sugar
2 T unsalted butter
pinch kosher salt
1-2 T cream (reserved from recipe)
¼ tsp cinnamon
pinch cloves
pinch nutmeg

Put the cream in a small pot and bring just to a simmer over medium heat. Add the tea bags, cover pot, and remove from heat. Let steep 5 minutes then remove tea bags and transfer cream to a bowl and chill in the refrigerator. (This can be done the day before even).
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Lightly grease a baking sheet and set aside.
Measure all of the dry ingredients into a medium bowl and whisk together to combine.
Cut butter into 1 inch cubes and cut into the dry ingredients with a pastry blender until butter is smaller than peas.
Make a well in the center of the bowl. Lightly beat the egg with ¾ cup of the cream (reserve the remaining cream for the glaze). Pour into the well and use a fork to stir together until combined.
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured counter and pat to ½ inch thickness.
Cut with a circle or fluted circle cutter and place on baking tray ¼ – ½ inch apart.
Bake for 10-12 minutes.

To make the glaze:
Melt the butter in a small pot. Add the remaining ingredients (start with just 1 T of cream) and whisk until sugar is melted. Add the additional T of cream if needed.
Drizzle over scones.

Filed Under: Bread, Quick & Muffins, Tea time

A Very Un Birthday Tea Party

August 6, 2015 by Holly

I recently threw a cousin’s party for my girls and their cousins. And of course it had to have a theme. If you question why you probably don’t know me very well 😉 We’ll just say it’s a problem of mine. 😀 We went with a Un-birthday tea party (Alice in Wonderland style, of course!).

If possible, I like making a menu to go on each plate, it’s just a fun touch.

Since my sisters were coming with the kids I made some sandwiches for the adults (and older cousins). Using rye bread works well for making the “black” clover and spades. I filled them with radish sandwich spread. I bought some card suit cookie cutters on Amazon to use for these and the cookies coming up. I also made Curry Chicken Sandwiches and just cut them in triangles.

The same cutters were used for making fairy bread (bread spread with frosting and coated in sprinkles) and a bunny cutter was used to make peanut butter white rabbit sandwiches.

Fairy bread is a staple around here for parties 🙂

I was going to make hot tea, but did Iced cherry berry herbal tea instead, along with strawberry milk for the younger kids.

Queen of heart scones, made with a tiny heart cutter.

Mad Hatter hats. We just had to.

They are just oreos dipped in green candy melts, then jumbo marshmallows dipped in melts as well and put on top of the cookies. (Work quick so the marshmallow doesn’t melt! Don’t ask how I know that… 🙂 We used fondant to make the band and card, and a food marker to mark the card.

We piped green leaves on half the mini cupcakes and on the other half put a fondant rose. A few with red fondant, and on the others we made them white and painted some red on them. To do this mix some red food coloring gel into a little lemon extract and paint on.

And the teapot cake, of course!

A better look at the cookies. I did a simple glaze instead of royal icing for my sanity’s sake.

Rice krispy playing cards. I was going to make them look like the soldiers but they looked good so I left well enough alone. We made rice krispy treats and spread them into a large baking sheet so they’d be thinner. Spread the tops with white candy melts, then added some fondant shapes and such. I have this mini cutter set I used for the card suit symbols and this is the set I have I used for the numbers and letters.

Cheshire cat tails 🙂 I don’t know what it is, but anytime I make decorated pretzel rods for a party they are one of the most popular things.
I dipped pretzel rods halfway in pink candy melts, then dipped the very end into purple sprinkles. While holding the undipped end of the rod (work over a tray) I sprinkles more purple sprinkles around them to make stripes.

We made giant card suit shapes out of construction paper and used mini clothespins to hang them from twine we strung around the room.

I put out a Alice In Wonderland pop up book, and a white rabbit puppet, a big hat, some fun keys, and an alice in wonderland teapot I found at home goods.

My girls love using that teapot. Oh, and I borrowed hubby’s pocket watch for the rabbit.

For an activity the kids painted little teacups with porcelain markers.

It was such a fun party and I hope all the kids will have special memories of it. I know my girls really enjoyed helping me make all the food and decorations for it! Now, what to choose for a theme for next years?….

Filed Under: Parties, Tea time

Teapot Cake

July 29, 2015 by Holly

If you know me at all.. okay, maybe even a little.. you probably know that I have a thing for teacups and teapots and tea parties (of course!). I recently threw a cousins “un birthday” party (Alice in Wonderland themed of course) and it seemed the perfect time to try making a teapot cake. My youngest is becoming quite the kitchen helper and we made it together. I promise it’s easy!
Here’s what I used:
Cake of choice, baked in a round bowl
Frosting
Marshmallow fondant
Tylose Powder
Martha Stewart Romantic themed silicone molds
Big Sugar Pearls (I couldn’t find these online, but I did buy them at JoAnns. They were in a Christmas blend, red white and green, but they have other colors too).

Put a thin layer of frosting on the cake.
Roll the marshmallow fondant out. I go for in between 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick.
Gently lay fondant over cake and smooth over sides.

Use a knife to cut the excess off around the edge.

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Now… let’s pretend I took more pictures in the process of making it. But I was having too much fun with a very excited 8 year old sous chef!
For the details, you’ll want to add some tylose to some marshmallow fondant. This will harden it some so it will hold it’s shape better. My rule is 1 tsp tylose per 1 lb of fondant.
I don’t mix up more than I’m using, so if I do 1/4 lb fondant I’ll only add 1/4 tsp tylose.
Form a handle, then using a toothpick in each end of it, insert into cake.
Now form a spout and insert with a toothpick as well.
Then for the top roll out the fondant and cut a circle out, then roll a ball for the top. Put a toothpick through all into the cake.
Form 2 hearts out of red using a mold (or decorate some other way). Use a dab of frosting to glue one on each side.
Add a small line of frosting around the base of the cake and also the lid. Add the sugar pearls.
For the rose on top I used this method here (You basically overlap circles, roll it up, then cut in half to get 2 roses).
I used a dab of frosting to “glue” it to the top.

That little rose makes my heart happy! 🙂
And done!

Filed Under: Cake / Cake Pops, Tea time

Mary Poppins Themed Party

July 10, 2015 by Holly

My oldest turned 12 and is OBSESSED with Mary Poppins. Some may say that’s because she has Autism.. but I think she’s just more in tune with what awesome is. 😀
We had a whole Mary Poppins themed party, it was so fun!
I made her a carpet bag, hat, and costume, and a sweet friend made her the scarf. The gloves were a thrift shop lucky find.

A sweet friend bought her the umbrella and it made her over the moon happy. She wears this costume all the time now! The dress was made from an old shirt, I added a red elastic waistband, blue skirt, and red bow. We found the hat for Daddy’s chimney sweep costume at Target. He still has to learn the chimney sweep dance routine. 😉

“17 Cherry Tree Lane Cherry Limeade” for the drink, my recipe is here.

Pic Nik Shoestring potatoes for “Fiddlesticks” 🙂 My favorite movie quote of all time “Fiddlesticks, boy! Feed the birds and what have you got? Fat birds!”

I HAD to make something for spoonfulls of sugar. At first I thought I’d just put a dollop of frosting on some small spoons but I had sugar cookie dough left and thought of this.
So glad I did, they were so cute! I just traced a small spoon (you can buy cookie cutters in spoon shapes too). I used a small rolled up piece of foil under my silicone baking mat so the spoons would be curved… but many of them broke after cooling. Next time I would just make them flat. Piped a dollop of frosting on the spoon and sprinkled with sanding sugar!

For the sugar cookies I made cherries, hats (using sprinkles for the decorations), daisies, and a waiter penguin.

I am not the best at decorating sugar cookies, but I was pretty happy with how theses came out!

I figured we shouldn’t have ALL sweets so I made kite PB sandwiches (twizzlers pull and peel licorice for the kite strings) and the umbrellas are made from babybel cheese cut in half and a cut down bendable black straw for the handle.

My daughter LOVES a special little candy shop in Portland, Candy Babel, so we had some of her sweets at the party. Licorice scottie dogs to represent Andrew (The little dog in the movie), gold coins for tuppence, gummy cherries, and gummy peach penguins.

Chimney soot treat bars and chimney sweeps, recipes here.

I made a little kite for the top of her cake with green paper , bendable gold ribbon, and washi tape for edge. I used twizzlers pull and peel for the red stripes, and used marshmallow fondant for the cherries (with this martha stewart mold) and also cut out letters from it to spell supercalifragilisticexpialidocious around the top.

I made the cake really small, so I made some mini cupcakes to go with it. The daisies were made with a tiny daisy cutter I have, and a mini candy chip in the center.

For the activity we made “stained glass kites”.

You’ll need:
Contact paper
Black construction paper or cardstock, cut in kite shapes and straight strips
Twine
Tissue paper squares
Glitter and sequins, optional

They place the kite shape on contact paper, then make the cross strips if they want, then sequins and glitter, then fill with tissue.
Top with another piece of contact paper, trim edges, and add a string. Hang in the window.

Other activity ideas:

Feed the birds: Make peanut butter pine cone bird feeders. Tie twine around a pinecone so you can hang it. Spread it with peanut butter and roll in birdseed.

Chalk drawings: This buttermilk chalk painting is SO fun for kids!… okay, adults too! I totally do it with my girls every time.

Visit a carousel.

Other refreshment ideas:

Cotton candy “London fog” or “chimney smoke”

Candy Apples (like Jane and Michael have at the horse race)

Tea sandwiches.. you could even do a whole tea party theme, go with the Tea party on the ceiling.

This girl was soooo happy to have a Mary Poppins party and we all had so much fun!

I made the invites, pretty simple, but cute:
The front:

And the inside:

Filed Under: Parties

Chimney Soot Treat Bars and Chimney Sweeps

July 10, 2015 by Holly

We recently had a Mary Poppins themed party for our daughter who is OBSESSED with the Mary Poppins.
My hubby even dressed up like a chimney sweep so I thought I better come up with some cute treats. The kids loved them, plus they were so quick and easy!

CHIMNEY SOOT TREAT BARS

3 T butter
4 cups mini marshmallows, or 10 oz (about 40) large
5 cups cocoa krispies
1 cup chopped oreos (or another cup cocoa krispies)
black food coloring, optional

Melt butter in a large pot on low heat. Add marshmallows, stir until combined and melted.
Remove from heat, stir in cereal until well coated. Spray a 9 inch square pan and use a sprayed spatula to spread mixture in pan.
Cut into squares and insert a stick in each (optional).

CHIMNEY SWEEPS

Black candy melts (or dark chocolate), melted
Black sprinkles, optional
Pretzel rods

Line a tray with waxed paper. Using a knife to spread, or fill a paper cone with melted candy melts or chocolate, make an asterisks type shape (don’t worry about being too perfect!)
Sprinkle with sprinkles, if using. make a few extra since some might break.
Next, dip half of the pretzel rods into melts and set on wax paper to dry. After both are set, put a little melted candy melt on top of the pretzel rod and place an asterisks on top.
I had a container filled with cocoa krispies to serve them in so I place them in this so they could dry upright. You could also use a container of dry rice or beans or whatever.
I wrapped the container with paper with a chimney design on it for serving.

Filed Under: Desserts

Cherry Limeade

July 10, 2015 by Holly

I have a weakness for fresh cherries. Luckily for me, they are everywhere this time of year here in the pacific northwest. Plus, since they are grown locally we can get them super fresh. This recipe can be used with frozen cherries just as easily though, so it will turn out great if that’s all you have as well. If you do use frozen just let them thaw for a bit first so they blend easier. I didn’t write in how much water to add to it because I don’t like drinks too sweet, so I don’t add as much syrup as some would. A nice way to serve drinks is to leave the syrup separate and have cold water or club soda and let everyone mix their own cup to their liking.

I made it for my daughter’s Mary Poppins birthday party recently (hence the cherry tree lane sign and lack of better picture…) but I’m sure we’ll be having it often!

CHERRY LIMEADE

5 cups fresh or frozen cherries, pitted
1 1/2 cups lime juice
1 1/2 cups sugar

Puree in a blender until smooth. Strain if desired. (My vitamix gets it pretty darn smooth so I don’t.)
Refrigerate until ready to use, then add water or club soda for a sparking limeade.

Filed Under: Drinks

Oven Fried Cauliflower

July 7, 2015 by Holly

I love these cauliflower poppers I made awhile back but since I don’t fry food that often I had to try this baked cauliflower I found on pinterest. Of course, I had to change it up since we don’t like super spicy food, and I wanted it to be something the kids would eat too. Oh, yum. I could eat a plate of these for dinner and nothing else. Even my hubby, who despises cauliflower ate seconds. Super quick and easy and yum! Next time I’ll be making my roasted kale chipotle dip to serve with them.

OVEN FRIED CAULIFLOWER

1 head cauliflower, cut into florets

Batter:
1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup water
dash Frank’s hot sauce (or your favorite)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp dried onion powder (I only use Penzey’s toasted onion powder!)

Coating:
2 T melted unsalted butter
dash hot sauce (more for spicier)
pinch smoked paprika
salt to taste

Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with non stick coating.
Whisk together batter ingredients in a large bowl until smooth.
Add all the florets and toss with a spoon or spatula until they are all coated. (You should have the batter coating the florets without a lot of excess.)
Pour out onto baking sheet and spread out in a single layer. (If you had excess batter, remove the florets by hand so you don’t have a lot of extra batter on the baking sheet.)
Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, mix together the coating ingredients.
Brush the cauliflower with coating and return to the oven for 5-8 minutes. Cauliflower should be crispy.
Serve immediately with dipping sauce, if desired.

Recipe adapted from Persnickety Plates

Filed Under: Appetizers / Dips / Snacks, Side Dishes

Roasted Beet Salad with Beet Greens and Feta

June 26, 2015 by Holly

Beets and feta. I’m kind of addicted to the combination. I think it’s the sweetness of beets with the salty briny flavor of feta that makes it so good. If you haven’t tried it before you have to.

The greens will wilt up to much less than you thought, so if you want more greens in the salad I would add in some kale or other sturdy green and saute with the beet greens.
And if you don’t like/have feta, it’s still delicious without it. 🙂 You could totally do a citrus vinaigrette on this as well, but beet and beet greens are really flavorful and I think a simple olive oil and balsamic dressing is perfect for them.

ROASTED BEET SALAD WITH BEET GREENS AND FETA

2 bunches beets with greens attached
Olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
Salt and Pepper
Feta cheese, crumbled
Balsamic vinegar (blackberry balsamic is my favorite!)
Sunflower seeds

Trim and peel beets. Cut into quarters, then each quarter in half, so you have 8 skinny wedges per beet.
Toss with a drizzle of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Spread out in a single layer on a baking sheet and roast at 425 degrees for about 25 minutes or until golden and cooked through.
About 5 minutes before they are done start on the greens. Trim out the stem from the greens and cut into 1/2 inch strips.
Heat a drizzle of olive oil over medium high heat in a skillet. Add garlic and cook until just starting to become fragrant. Add greens and toss in skillet, cooking for just a couple minutes until wilted.
Put the greens in the serving dish and top with roasted beets, feta, and sunflower seeds. Serve with balsamic vinegar.

Filed Under: Salad / Dressings, Side Dishes

BBQ Bacon Burgers

June 9, 2015 by Holly

Not going to lie. I could barely eat half of one of these. Next time I might make them slider style. My hubby had no problems polishing one off though.
My Dad couldn’t cook many things but he was the grill master at our house. Summers were BBQ season at our house when I was a kid. We didn’t have AC and if it was hot out he would grill dinner to keep the house cooler. So I always feel like making BBQ food when the weather starts to warm up. These are over the top burgers, great to make for Father’s day or a BBQ.
There is a trick to making the onion strings I’m going to share with you. After you coat the onion rings in the buttermilk and seasoned flour let them rest for a bit on a tray. The buttermilk starts to absorb the flour a little bit and you’ll get a better crunch.

BBQ BACON BURGERS

Green leaf lettuce
Sharp cheddar
BBQ Sauce
Onion strings (See recipe at end)
Hamburgers, grilled, or cooked in an iron skillet
Bacon, cooked crisp (Homemade for extra points!) 🙂
Hamburger Buns (Homemade for even more extra points!)

Form 1/4 to 1/3 lb ground beef into a patty, making an indent in the center of the patty. Cook on a grill or in a cast iron skillet over medium heat. Flip after a few minutes, when the first side is well browned. After a couple minutes on the second side top with cheese and cover to melt. Make sure to lightly butter the inside of the buns and toast in a skillet. I usually do this before cooking the hamburgers and then set aside while the hamburgers cook.

For the onion strings:
1 onion, thinly sliced (white or yellow is fine)
2 cups buttermilk
2 cups flour
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
Oil, for cooking

Pour buttermilk over the onions rings and toss to coat well. Combine the flour and seasonings in a shallow bowl. Take a small handful of onion rings and coat in the seasoned flour, shaking off excess. Place on a tray while you repeat with remaining onions. Set aside while you heat a couple inches of oil over medium heat (or use a deep fryer).
Cook in batches until golden brown. Place on a wire rack over a baking sheet when cooked, repeating with the rest.

Filed Under: Beef, Grilling / Smoking

DIY Bagel Dogs

May 28, 2015 by Holly

I have a secret to tell you… soft pretzels and bagels.. basically the same thing, just in a different shape. Honest. I have another secret. Bagel dogs are the secret to a happy life. Well, happy kids and that’s basically the same thing. 😉 I keep my freezer stocked with these at all times and they are a total life saver for crazy days when you need something quick for the kids (okay, some adults too). When we have company over for dinner, no matter how nice of a meal it is, I will have some of these out for the kids too. Often times kids won’t want to eat something new, especially when they are having fun playing at a friends house. They are super easy and way better than what you’d get at the store. Best part is you control the hot dog component so if you want them to be organic, chicken, turkey, heck even vegan, you can do that. This dough is the same as the soft pretzel dough so you can even make some of each. I usually make a double batch, and make half into bagel dogs, and the other half into soft pretzels.
Now let’s make some!

DIY BAGEL DOGS

For the dough:
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 T sugar
2 tsp kosher salt
1 pkg active dry yeast
4 1/2 cups flour
2 oz butter, melted

10 cups water
2/3 cup baking soda
egg wash (1 egg yolk mixed with 1 T water)
pretzel salt, optional
24 hot dogs

Combine all the dough ingredients in the bowl of a standing mixer (you could mix this by hand as well of course).
Mix until dough pulls away from the side of the bowl.
Place in an oiled bowl and cover for 1 hour.
Heat oven to 450 degrees and bring the water to a boil with the baking soda (A wider pot will come in handy here too). While the water is heating form the bagel dogs.
Divide the dough into half, then each half into 12 equal pieces. For each piece of dough stretch into a rectangle and shape around the hot dog, leaving the ends exposed, and pinching well to fuse the dough together, making sure the dough is snug around the hot dog.
Place on a greased baking sheet and repeat with remaining hot dogs and dough. (I used 2 baking sheets)
Working with a few at a time (I use a big pot so I can fit about 6, just make sure they have room and are single layer) place in the boiling soda water bath for 30 seconds.
Remove with a slotted spoon and place back on the baking sheet, leaving some room around each one.
Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with pretzel salt if using. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, until golden brown.

To freeze, cool first then place in freezer bags or containers. I’ve never flash frozen these and have never had them stick together. Reheat in oven or microwave.

Filed Under: Beef, Chicken / Turkey, Freezer, Pork

My Stained Apron

Keep In Touch

Chai Spiced Scones with Brown Sugar Glaze

A Very Un Birthday Tea Party

Teapot Cake

Mary Poppins Themed Party

Chimney Soot Treat Bars and Chimney Sweeps

Cherry Limeade

Oven Fried Cauliflower

Roasted Beet Salad with Beet Greens and Feta

BBQ Bacon Burgers

DIY Bagel Dogs

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