Geeky Christmas T-shirts For All!

Well, all of us except my husband and myself.

This year for the home made gifts for the kids, I did t-shirts.  I've been having a lot of fun cutting heat transfer vinyl on my cutting machine.  It cuts beautifully and I can make those specialty geek Ts that sell for so much in the online stores.    This year we have two Doctor Who t-shirts (the girls on the end who are my biggest Doctor Who fans. Oldest girl's shirt says "Souffle girl" with a Dalek;)  a Batman t-shirt that says "Because I'm Batman and I can say stuff like that."; a Ravenclaw T for my Potterhead; and two Star Trek/Japanese Ts.

The Batman shirt is a phrase that our 12 year old says all the time.   It's his own catch phrase he just made up because he thought it sounded cool.  More than half the time he uses a gruff movie Batman voice.  It cracks me up.

The Japanese Kanji shirts are supposed to be "live long and prosper."  The shirt in red reads correctly from right to left.  The one in black I did first and then remembered that Japanese reads from the other direction.  oops.  Good thing the boy with the right T is the one that is actually learning Japanese.   (He's our oldest girl's boyfriend.  They were friends in high school and both went to the same college.  They started dating this fall.)

I also sewed four of the five pj's pictured here.  I didn't make the Batman fleece ones.  The others are mine.

I kept things easy on myself this year.  I had visions of great projects and super gifts, but halfway through the month I realized that I was working way too much to be able to follow thorough.  I scaled back and I'm so glad I did.  I was stressed, but I only had one bad emotional day.  Letting go of the big dreams and doing less was absolutely the right decision this year.

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas.  We were able to find some great deals and everyone ended up happy.  That's always a good thing.

Appliqued Towels

I have a friend who is afraid of her sewing machine.  Which works for me because she also owns a Cricut and vinyl.   I sewed a project she wanted for her kids and she's going to cut me a vinyl phrase.  I hope she knows what's she's getting into because my phrase is going to be about 30" long.  

I hope these towels are worth it for her:

I made two.   One for her girl and one for her boy.

I started with a print out of the CTR shield from lds.org.  I tried to find a link for you, but was unsuccessful.  I'm sure it's there somewhere.  This is super easy to do with any design, however.  You could do a monogram  for a child or newlyweds, too.  

I traced the image onto a piece of paper backed sewing adhesive.   You could probably print directly onto the paper, but my printer was acting up.  Just make sure you print your design mirrored.

 I just held the design up to the window (great big light box!) and traced it that way.  You'll notice all the letters are backward.  This is important.  

Next iron the design onto the back side of your fabric and cut the design out.

 Then fuse your design to towel one section at a time.  Play around with the design on towel to make sure you get the placement exactly where you want it.  It's impossible to change after this step.  

I saved my scraps with the paper backing still on when cutting out.   I ironed down the big shield shape first then I used the scraps to make sure I got the letters placed exactly where they belonged.  They did slip slightly though when I was iroring them down.  Working with towels is a bit difficult.

 Here's the design fully fused to the fabric.  It's ready to sew.

 You want to set your machine to an extremely tight zig zag.  Mine is down in the "buttonhole" size for length.  I'd give you exact numbers but my machine is not digital so I have no idea.  It's very close with no visible space between the zig zag stitches.  My stitch width is just barely smaller than 1/8th of an inch.  I kept it on the narrow side because of the narrowness of the design.

Sew around all the edges of the design.  You need to cover everything.  Notice how the foot and needle are placed.  You want the stitch to be almost entirely on the applique with less than 1/4 of it over the edge.  This will keep the applique from unraveling later as you wash it.  The nice thing about tight stitches like these is it's so easy to go slowly and take your time.  Don't hurry through this, you want to be sure your stitches are placed properly and your lines are straight.  When you sew the curves turn the fabric into the needle.  Curves can be tricky, so practice if you haven't sewn a lot of them.

And here it is all sewn down.  You can see my threads still because I'm tying them off instead of just cutting.

 I do this by threading a needle with the thread ends and pulling it down to the back side of the towel.  Then I tie a surgeon's knot and cut the ends as close as I can to the fabric.  This will help keep the thread from unraveling as the towel gets used.  Towels need to be sturdy and ready to put up with years of laundry and abuse (I don't know about your house, but towels get dropped on the floor and walked on a lot at mine.  Not that I like that happening.  We're working on it.  It's a lifetime project.)

 And you're done.  This is a great project for a niece or nephew for Christmas, too.  Do a Superman or Wonder Woman shield and you are the coolest aunt ever.   If you are doing several and use sale towels you should be able to keep the costs down to under $5 a towel.

Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

Have you tried one of those mock Oreo recipes before?  You know the ones with the "1 cake mix" in the ingredient list.  I don't know about you, but those don't taste like oreos to me.  Oreos aren't just any old chocolate sandwich cookie.  They have to be thin and crispy and with an intense chocolate taste.

Several years ago I found the perfect cookie make Oreo type sandwich cookies with.  It's a recipe from Martha Stewart that I adjusted to fit what I was looking for.

Intensely chocolate.  Crispy.  Perfect.  You can make yours into circles if you wish.  I was feeling lazy and a quick zip a few times with the pizza cutter worked great for squares.

Chocolate Sandwich Cookies:
1/2 c butter
1/2 c sugar
1 large egg
1 cup cocoa powder  (yes.  1 full cup)
1/2 c + 2 T flour

Cream the butter and sugar.  Add in the egg.  Mix in the cocoa powder and flour.   Divide the dough in half and wrap each in plastic wrap.  Refrigerate the dough for one hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Using powdered sugar on the counter to prevent sticking, roll out dough to 1/8" thickness.  Cut with 2" cookie cutter and place 1/2" apart on cookie sheets.  Bake until you smell the chocolate, aprox. 12 minutes.

I do suggest you use parchment paper on your cookie sheets because these have a tendency to stick quite badly.

I used a basic American butter cream to frost the centers.  I have four rules for better butter cream:
1.  you should use at least twice as much butter as you do cream.  Meaning if you use 1/4 cup butter you should only use 2 T of heavy cream.
2.  Use lots of vanilla.  I like to use 2 t as a starting point.  I may add more later.
3.  Use salted butter or at least add a pinch of salt to your frosting.  You won't believe what a difference it makes.
4.  Beat the holy heck out of it.  I beat my butter cream for at least five minutes and as long as ten minutes.  This makes it fluffy and light and it makes sure the powdered sugar has time to dissolve so you don't get that raw taste.

You could also use a nice ganache (Martha used ganache with mint extract), or jam, or cream cheese frosting in your cookies.

I promised my girls quilts to go with their doll beds they got for Christmas and I got one of them done this weekend. 

As you can see, this one matches the quilt I made my daughter about three Christmases ago.   She loves that her little doll has a matching blanket.  

These are super easy to do and a great project if you're just getting into quilting.   It takes very little fabric and just a couple hours of time.    The finished quilt measures 18x24.  Each block is 2x2 inches and the sashing around the edge is 2 inches wide.  

To make it cut 70 blocks 2.5"x2.5"  and four sashing strips.  Two sashing strips measure 2.5"x18.5 and two measure 2.5"x24.5".   The quilt is 7 blocks across and 10 blocks down.  I did a mitered corner on the sashes and used a super simple binding technique.  I just put the right side of the front together with the right side of the back, laid the batting over it (my batting was a piece of flannel) and sewed around the edges with the standard 1/4" seam leaving 4" on one end open.  I then turned it right side out, pressed it and hand sewed it closed.   So far I've only quilted around the sashing seam.  With the size of the quilt and the fact that the batting is really fabric, I'm pretty sure that will be enough.

Now my girls are asking for pillows to match.  Good thing I have more fabric.

Collapsible Chessboard

 It's a bag.  You can put your chess pieces in it.

 Why would you want to put chess pieces in a bag like this?

Because it's really a chessboard.

We invented this because my oldest daughters thought her buddies at school needed a new chess board.  The one they were using is currently being held together with a bungee cord.    She thought they needed a board that would fit easily in a backpack and be portable for a bunch of teenage boys. 
It doesn't quite collapse quite as much as I had hoped, but it's still fun.   It opens back up again quite well and it's great for playing on potentially uneven surfaces.  Each square may not line up perfectly, but they will be more stable than a plain fabric board.   And it's cooler than a plain fabric board.  

To make your own you need 64 little blocks all exactly the same size.  We used half inch plywood cut 1.5"x1.5".   We found that thinner wood did collapse together better.  My husband set up a jig on his miter saw to make it go a little faster when cutting the blocks.   Next you need to stain half of them dark and half of them light.    Fit them together, and depending on how well you cut the blocks this may take some time to get them lined up well.   Then you get to flip it over (unless you are a much more graceful person than I, you may want to flip these over one piece at a time in order to avoid sending chessboard squares flying around your living room.  We did find the one that went under the couch eventually.)  Let it sit while you prepare the bag.

Cut a 24" circle out of heavyweight fabric, of course, if you do smaller blocks you may want a smaller bag.  Bigger blocks will need a bigger bag.   Find the exact center and make a grid identical to your blocks on the backside centered over the center of the board.   You might want to use a quilting marker that fades over time.   I also used my quilting ruler to draw the lines.  It made it very easy to draw perfectly parallel lines 1.5" away from each other.    Make a drawstring pocket around the edge.   I put in button holes to draw the cord through.

Now go back to your blocks.  They should all be upside down and pushed together tightly.   Put a drop of E6000 glue on the back of each and every block.    Gently set your fabric down over the blocks, lining up the grid with the edge of each block.   Make sure that's as perfect as you can make it, because it's your guide for the next step.   Now you need to put one 1/2" screw through the center of each and every grid square.  If you lined that up correctly you will have the screw in the center of each block. 

That's it.  A bit time consuming and fiddly when cutting and staining the blocks, but overall a pretty easy project.  It's also something that no one else will have, which should totally give you an extra pawn that acts like queen just because your board is cooler than theirs.

English Toffee

I adore Toffee.  It's the one candy I just can't stay out of no matter what.  Needless to say, I only make it at Christmas time.  

You might notice that this recipe has a lot of water in it.  Don't worry, your toffee won't have a lot of water in it when it's done.  The water all boils off before the candy finishes.   What the water does is lengthen the cooking time so the sugar has plenty of time to fully disolve.  That makes this candy very easy to make and it almost never sugars.   (By the way, this little trick works in any cooked candy recipe.  If you have one that sugars on you easily, add 1/2 to 1 c of water to the recipe and cook it as normal.  It will take quite a bit of the fiddly-ness out of the process.)

Toffee

2 1/2 c sugar
1/4 c light corn syrup
2 c butter
1 c water
 dash salt

 Combine all ingredients in a heavy bottom, 4 quart pan.  Stir it together with a wooden spoon just for a few seconds and then put the lid on.  Wash off your spoon.  Cook over medium heat with the lid on until the candy begins to boil and steam leaks out from under the lid.  Let boil for a few minutes with the lid on.  Remove the lid, clip a candy thermometer to the side of the pan, and begin stirring.   Do not stop stirring until the candy is finished.  Stir always.  Stir lots.  Stir because if you don't this will scorch and the butter will seperate.  (If you are really concerned about scorching, turn the heat down to medium low.)   Cook until the candy reaches 300 degrees, hard crack.  This will take ages, so have a friend to talk to or a book you can read while you stir.  (yes, I read while cooking.  Doesn't everybody? No, I only ruin things every once in a great while and I never mess up my candy.)  

When the candy reaches 300, immediately pour out into a lightly buttered rimmed baking sheet (like this one).  Only pour out what comes easily out of the pan.  Do not scrape it out or you'll mess up your toffee.   You can scrape it out onto a separate buttered, heat proof plate, though.  That's totally legal and it cools off faster.  After you pour out the candy, you are going to have to smooth it out with a silicone spatula.  Gently push it around the pan until the candy is level and fills the whole pan.  Now spread a chopped Giant sized Hershey bar over the pan of candy (that's the 6.8 oz size).  Let it sit until the chocolate is soft and then spread it around with a spatula.   Now leave your candy alone until it's cooled off and the chocolate is set.    Then break apart into random sized pieces.


Enjoy!   Have a good time with this one.  And thank you very much for giving me an excuse to make that pan that's sitting on my kitchen counter right now.

Pumpkin Pie Fudge

An unassuming little fudge.  Pale orange if made with canned pumpkin, barely more orange than tan if made with fresh.   It has a mild pumpkin flavor with lovely spice notes.   Want to make some of your own?

If you haven't made fudge before you should start by reading this post on making chocolate fudge.   The process is the same no matter what kind of fudge you make. 

Pumpkin Pie Fudge

3 cups sugar
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup pureed pumpkin
6 Tbs butter
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup light corn syrup*
3/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2 tsp vanilla

*If you are someone who does not like HFCS, you should know that you leave out the corn syrup at your own risk.  Corn syrup play a very important part in the candy making process.  Without it your candy is more likely to "sugar," or become granular and crumbly.   If you must omit the corn syrup, try adding 1/2 c water to the candy to lengthen the cooking process.  I do not recommend leaving out the corn syrup, especially if you are new to candy making.

Start by putting everything except the vanilla in a four quart sauce pan.   Stir it together with a wooden spoon.  Cook over medium heat with the lid on.   While it's cooking, test your candy thermometer in a pan of boiling water.  If it reads anything other than 212 degrees when the water is boiling, you will have to adjust your cooking time to compensate.  Either add or subtract from the final temperature based on whether your thermometer is reading hot or cold.   Also, now is a good time to rinse off your wooden spoon.  Make sure you clean off any sugar crystals clinging to it.

When the candy begins to boil, it should start steaming out the side of the lid.  Leave the lid on for another 3 minutes or so after that begins to happen.  This is called sweating the pan.  It washes down any sugar crystals that may have been clinging to the side of the pot so all the sugar cooks to the same temperature and none are left to spoil your candy.

After sweating the pan, remove the lid and stir a few times with your clean wooden spoon.  Add the thermometer now.  It is not necessary to stir continuously,  just ever few minutes or so to be sure the candy isn't scorching.  Cook over medium heat until the candy reaches 238 degrees on the thermometer.

Immediately pour out into the bowl of a stand mixer.  Just pour out what comes easily out of the pan.  Do not scrape the pan out with either the spoon or a rubber spatula.  To do so could cause your candy to "sugar."  By the way, if you do not own a stand mixer, leave the candy in the pan you cooked it in.  Let the candy cool for about an hour or so.

When the temperature of the candy has reached between 110 and 120 degrees it's time to whip it.  If beating by hand, start it at 120 if you can.  The warmer temperature will make it easier to beat.  Get lots of friends to help you stir.  You need to stir with a firm hand until the candy thickens and loses it's gloss.  With a stand mixer you will want to beat on medium speed until candy loses it's gloss.  It will have the consistency of frosting.  With the pumpkin pie fudge, you will need to stop and scrape down the candy every few minutes.  It will look a little different from the other fudges because of the extra butter.  Beat it a little past the frosting like stage until the candy has a smooth consistency and the butter is fully incorporated into it.

Scrape it out of the mixer bowl and press down into either a buttered 9x9 pan or a buttered loaf pan.  I use a loaf pan because the pan shape gives me cubes of fudge and it works best for the boxes I use for gifts.  This recipe makes two pounds of fudge.

Good luck with your candy, and be sure to leave a comment telling me how you candy came out or to ask questions.

Video Game Shelf

Got a video game enthusiast on your gift lift this year?  I do.   This is going to my brother in law.  Don't worry.  Since he doesn't know this blog exists and since the blog isn't about video games, paint ball, or hunting, he's safe from having his gift spoiled.

I'd like thank my husband for building the shelves for me.  He's so great about helping out with the wood projects. I sketch them out and write up a cut list.  He puts them together.  I putty and paint.  We've got a good system going.   (It's not that I can't use power tools.  It's that he likes helping me and who am I to insist on doing more work?  My motto is:  less work=more time to read.)

So you wanna build one too?

To start you need one 8 foot piece of 1x6.  It's between $5 and $10.   You will also need a scrap piece of Masonite or thin plywood at least 18.25" square.

Cut four lengths 18.25 inches, but miter the ends with a 45 degree angle like this:

The should be 18.25" along the longest side of the board.  You can do that with a miter box, a miter saw or a table saw.  Your choice.  

(If all you've got is a circular saw, you're going to have to do butt joints.   That will change your measurements.  Cut two boards 18.25" and two boards 16.25".  The long boards are the sides the short boards are the top and bottom. )

Sand everything so it's nice and smooth.  Sand the edges to round them slightly, but don't do that to your miter cuts.  

Now take two boards and match your miter.  Apply glue to the ends and then nail or screw the two boards together.  We like using screws on projects like this.  It makes for a good, strong joint.  Since we're painting the shelf anyway, we can just fill in the screw holes with putty.   By the way, it's helpful to have a second set of hands to hold the boards in place while another person screws it together.   

Now put together all four boards to make a box.  Getting close.

Cut a square measuring 18.25" on each side out of thin plywood or Masonite.  Nail down on the back of the shelf.  Brad nails or finish nails are good here.  Your box may not be quite square, so use the Masonite as a guide.  Tap the corners lightly to square it up until your box is even with the backing piece before you nail it down. 

Ok, next you need to measure down 8" from the inside bottom shelf up the side.  Mark that on both sides of the box.   Measure across the box and cut a board to that length (90 degree cuts this time.)  It should be somewhere around 16.75 inches but may be slightly longer or shorter.   This is the shelf.  Sand it just like you did the other boards.

Now measure down from the inside top 8" on both sides.   Center your shelf between the two marks.    Attach with screws or nails. 

Fill in the holes with putty, put a light skim coat of putty over each knot hole, let dry.  Sand the putty and apply a second coat if necessary.  Sand that one.   Then prime it and paint it.   Want to know a secret?  My shelves aren't quite painted yet.  That's on my list for today.  (along with a monster, a grocery list, and running errands. Think I can do it all?  yeah.  Didn't have a book to read today anyway.)

Have fun with your video shelves!  It's a simple project that's so easy to put together my 12 year old made one for a friend.  You should be able to knock one out in no time. 

By the way, if you've got a chess player in your house, you're going to want to check back here next Friday.  I've got an awesome project to show you.

Felt and Ribbon Garland

 This project took me a bit longer than I like my midweek projects to take, but I'm happy with the results.  I don't have a lot of Christmas decorations, so I decided it was time to make something for my home.   Something quick and easy that I could make without a pattern or a lot of effort.  A felt and ribbon garland:

 decorating my antique Victorian piano (it's not really worth that much, but it's pretty, don't you think?)

I started with three 9x12 pieces of felt and 2 yards of ribbon.   I used red, green, and white, because I do traditional colors with my decorations.  The fun part about making decorations yourself is that you can customize them to fit your home.

As always, I started with a sketch.  In this case the sketch also turned out to be my pattern. I went with a candy cane, a tree, and a present for my shapes.  You can do anything you like:  Santa heads, ornaments, snow flakes, bells.  Look around at the decorations you already have and incorporate those themes into your garland.

If you have a plotter cutter machine, like a Cricut or a Silhouette, this will be even easier for you.  Let the machine cut all your pieces and parts.   (If you do have one, I'm jealous.  Those machines are so handy for crafting.)

I sketched them out on my cutting mat so I could have the grid as a reference.  The present is 2x2" and the others are about 2x2.5".    After getting my shape patterns settled, I folded the felt in half and cut out the candy cane and tree each five times (so 10 of each) and the present 6 times (12 presents.)   Then you have to cut out the accents.  You'll notice I tried to do a bow thing on the present.  Yeah.  It was ugly so I got rid of it later.  For the presents, I just needed two narrow green strips per present.  Don't worry about making them the right length, at this point it's easiest to have them a little long.   For the tree I cut three white circles for each one.  And the candy canes got three stripes each.  Those are just strips I cut long on purpose.  

Next, I used fusible webbing to fuse each of the decorations in place.  This was the process that took the longest for me.  You need to trim the webbing down smaller than the decorative strip.   Follow the manufacturers directions to fuse it down, but keep in mind felt is pretty thick stuff.  You may need to turn your iron up and keep it on longer than the package recommends.  Experiment on a scrap to see what works for your stuff.   Also, don't forget the press cloth.  You need to sandwich the felt pieces between two pieces of fabric to protect your iron and ironing board.  I'm also using the ugliest towel in my linen cupboard as an extra precaution.  That fusible webbing loves to get stuck in your ironing board and then melt right onto your favorite top the next time you iron it.

So you've got everything fused down.  Now turn them over and trim off the long pieces using the backside as a guide for the cut.

See?  All neatly trimmed down and ready to place on the ribbon.

First you need to prep the ribbon.  Trim the ends and then melt them.   If you've never melted a ribbon end before, you've been missing out.  I've never found a better way to halt fraying.  I put too much time into this garland to have the ribbon go ugly on me.   Just hold the edges of the ribbon close, but not in, a candle flame.  The heat will melt the polyester ribbon, fusing the threads together so they don't fray out.  If you are using a cotton or silk ribbon, you'll have to use another method to fix the ends.  (I hope you are also using nice wool felt, because otherwise, save the nice ribbon for something else.)

Now it's time to place your felt pieces.   I put mine about three inches apart.  I allowed for a little bit of overlap and did 3" from the center of each shape.   I put mine pretty much centered on the ribbon.  They are kind of overbalancing as it hangs though, so you might want to place yours so the ribbon is nearer the top of your felt shapes. 

Once all the shapes are pinned on, sew around each one with a zig zag stitch, leaving a gap in one end for stuffing.  It's best to work on all the shapes of the same color at once so you aren't switching thread quite so much.

I found that cute little wooden stick in the package of stuffing the other day.  It's been very helpful in filling small shapes like these.  Using a stuffing stick, or a knitting needle, or a chop stick or other small instrument, lightly stuff each piece.

With the candy cane, you need to leave the top of the hook open so you can get all the way down both sides of the cane with the stuffing.

Once you've stuffed, sew the gap closed.  Finish the rest of the felt shapes,  and you're done. 

Isn't it cute?

Caramel Chocolate Shortbread

You want one don't you? Be careful. Once you've had one, it's very, very difficult to stop. This is one of my very favorite cookies. The chocolate, the caramel, the perfectly textured shortbread. Sigh. So lovely. It's perfect for gift giving and for cookie exchanges. It's also super simple to make.

The caramel is made from scratch, but don't let that worry you. It never sugars on me. I don't even have to take the precautions I normally take with candy. (Like sweating the pan, using clean spoons, not scraping out the pan, etc. ) It's simple and can be made while the shortbread bakes.

To start, dump 2 cups of flour, 1/2 c + 2 T brown sugar, and 1/2 c cold salted butter into the bowl of your food processor. It works best to cut the butter up into pieces first. Pulse until the butter is fully worked into the flour, about 12 pulses.
(If you don't have a food processor, you can do this by hand with a pastry blender. You might want to start with room temperature butter in that case.)

Dump the shortbread out into your oldest, ugliest 9x13 pan. Do not bake these in your brand new Williams-Sonoma Gold pan. These cookies are hard to cut and require a sharp knife. A sharp knife that will leave lovely cut marks in the pan. Please use a pan you won't feel bad about ruining when you bake these. Or you can line the pan with a foil sling. Whatever works for you.
So you've dumped it out and now you press it down firmly. Pack the shortbread down well with either your hands or the bottom of a measuring cup.
Now put it in the oven to bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Meanwhile, you get to make the caramel layer. In a 3 qt pot, stir together 3/4 c salted butter, 1/2 c brown sugar, 3 T light corn syrup, and one can of sweetened condensed milk. Cook over medium heat until all the butter is melted and the candy is smooth.
Like this. Now turn the heat down just a notch.
This stuff scorches easily, so stir continuously making sure to cover the whole pan with your stirring pattern. If it scorches lightly, don't freak out. Just stir it in and turn your heat down a bit. Cook until the candy comes to a full rolling boil. Like this:
Boil for 6-8 minutes. This is a loose number because it doesn't matter that much. You want it to reach near soft ball, but the exact temp is not a big deal. If it's a little softer or a little harder it's ok. You just want it soft enough it's easy to eat and hard enough it doesn't drip on your fingers. There's a lot of leeway there.

The shortbread layer should just be finishing up around the time your caramel is getting done. When it's baked, it should be lightly golden brown.
(Yes, I know that's an ugly pan. My children do the dishes and there are some things that are worth comprimising on for the sake of not having to do the dishes myself. )

Pour the hot caramel onto the hot shortbread. Feel free to scrap every last drop of caramel out of the pan. It's lovely stuff. Don't let it go to waste.
Let it cool for 5-10 minutes and then put it in the fridge to finish cooling. I always protect my glass fridge rack with a hot pad under the pan. It works fine.

When the caramel is firm, melt 1 1/4 c chocolate chips and spread that over the caramel.
Use milk chocolate or dark chocolate your choice.
Isn't that lovely? When the chocolate is spread evenly, put it all back in the fridge for another hour or so to firm the chocolate. You can cut into squares as soon as the chocolate is hard, but it will be easier to cut if you let the pan come to room temperature before you cut them. I don't do that because I've already waited three hours for these cookies and I'm not patient enough to wait any more. You can wait. You're much better than I am at waiting for cookies, I'm sure.

There. The best cookies on the planet. You're welcome. Now go forth and wow the other bakers at your cookie exchange.

Caramel Chocolate Shortbread
1 c salted butter
2 c flour
1/2 c brown sugar

3/4 c salted butter
1/2 c brown sugar
3 T light corn syrup
1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 1/4 c chocolate chips

Pulse first three ingredients in a food processor until the butter is fully worked into the flour. Dump out into a 9x13 pan and press firmly and evenly into the pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes, or until light golden brown. Meanwhile, mix the next four ingredients in a 3 qt sauce pan. Stir over medium heat until the butter is melted and the candy is smooth. Turn the heat down a notch or so and continuously stir until the candy comes to a full rolling boil. Boil while stirring for 6-8 minutes, until the caramel is very thick. Pour out onto the baked shortbread layer. Let cool for 5-10 minutes and then cool in the refrigerator until the caramel is firm. Melt the chocolate chips and spread over the caramel layer. Refrigerate again until the chocolate is firm. Let rest at room temperature for another hour before cutting. Cut into 48 squares. Serve. Try not to eat all of them yourself.

Monsters Again

I'm still working on my my monsters projects. I've finished seven. Two got given away as gifts before I could get pictures of them sadly. These two are going to cousins on Christmas Eve.

The fin on the orange guy was sewn the same way I sewed the fins on the turquoise dude. After I stuffed the monster, making sure to lightly stuff the fin thing, I sewed the dividing line between the fin and the body. Then I sewed down toward the body several times to create the fin definition lines.

I think the green slug guy is my favorite monster yet. I'm pretty happy with the monsters my kids have drawn for me. They are pretty easy to work from.

Candy As Gifts

You've probably noticed that I make quite a bit of candy this time of year. I like to give hand made gifts because they aren't something that anyone can just buy somewhere. Also, my hand made gifts tend to save me money during a time of year when money needs to stretch as far as it can go.

When giving candy it's important to make sure that the candy is properly packaged. It's easy to find cute containers to put them in, but the candy should always be wrapped in something else before it's put in the cute container. If properly packaged, candy can last for weeks, unlike cookies and bread which must be eaten right away and prepared right before they are gifted.

All candies do best when put in air tight containers. Soft candies should always be stored separately from hard candies. Otherwise the moisture from the soft candies will migrate into the hard candies. Your soft candies will dry out and your hard candies will soften. Neither is palatable.

Caramels need to be individually hand wrapped in candy foils or waxed paper. Those can be put in your packaging as is or you can put them in a zippered top plastic bag before packaging. Fudge should be gifted as a block and not cut into individual pieces. Air dries fudge quickly, so wrap it either in several layers of plastic wrap or in a zippered baggie with all the air squeezed out. You want the plastic touching the fudge all the way around. I prefer baggies because it makes it easier for the recipient to keep the fudge air free while they get into the packaging.

Hard candies can be placed in plastic baggies as well, of course. Disposable/reusable plastic food storage containers make great containers for hard candies, too. The lids are tight fitting and easy to get into and seal up again. It also allows the candy some breathing space in their packaging. If you are going to put the hard candies in a paper or other non-air tight container for gift giving, like a take out box, do put it in a baggie first.

Remember that candy is very rich and dense. While you would give a large plate of cookies as a gift, hand made candy can be given in much smaller amounts. A pound of fudge may not look like much, it's a generous amount to give as a gift. The recipe I have for chocolate fudge and my other fudge recipes make about 2lbs of candy. That's enough for two gifts.

For labels, I love printable labels I download off the internet. Just Google printable gift tags. They are all over the place. You can also check out One Pretty Thing and Tip Junkie Printables for collections of tags to print. Just print, cut out, personalize, and attach to your cute container with a ribbon. Done and ready to gift.

Good luck with your gift giving. I'm working on some batches of fudge myself today. My husband asked for gifts for his coworkers and our local librarians need some fudge as well. I love giving candy and it's always well received.