Quick Tip: Paint Samples

If you're making a small wood item, it's hard to want to buy a quart of paint when you have no plans to use the rest of it. I've recently discovered that the Martha Stewart Living paint at Home Depot has a paint sample that's nearly a full cup of paint. The paint department will mix any MSL paint color you want in the sample. It costs $3 and is enough paint to cover a smallish shelf or two of those cute Ana White doll beds.

I've got several big posts coming. I'm in the middle of about four projects right now and I want to finish them before I post. Coming up: storage for video games, what to do with an extra frozen turkey (besides roast it), chocolate caramel shortbread cookies, English Toffee, and the finished doll beds! (The doll beds are darling!)

By the way, the whole being in the middle of multiple projects at once is what earned me my nickname as a kid. Project Princess indeed.

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.

Be the Hero Apple Pie

Isn't it pretty? It's also one of the very best apple pies you'll have in your life. I know. I'm bragging. It really is that good. The secret? nah. Not yet.
Well one of the secrets is the dough has half shortening, half butter. The butter alone adds more flavor than your average pie. If you've got a thing against shortening, use lard. It's easily available in most grocery stores these days. Well, it is in my area anyway.

Ok, so your going to measure out 10 tablespoons of shortening a tablespoon at a time. Then cut up 10 tablespoons of cold butter into small pieces. Put both of these on a plate in the freezer for about 15 minutes.
Yeah, the freezer. Meanwhile, measure 2 1/2 cups flour into the bowl of your food processor. You have one right? If you don't you're going to have to do your dough the hard way. I'm very sorry.

So anyway, 2 1/2 c flour then add 3/4 teaspoon of salt and 2 tablespoons of sugar to the flour and give them a quick pulse so they are mixed together nicely. When the shortening and the butter have cooled down, scatter them over the flour in the food processor.
Pulse the fat with the flour about 12 times (one second pulses.) The mix should be a creamy white and all pebbly. You may have small pieces of just butter. Don't worry about that. That's what it's supposed to look like.
See? Pebbly. If you don't have a food processor, you'll need to grate your butter with a cheese grater while it's frozen over the mixed dry ingredients. Then blend it together with a hand pastry blender. Keep going until it looks like this picture. You may want to start with a cold bowl because this is going to take awhile.
Now you get to mix in 8 to 10 tablespoons of ice water. Luckily for me, it's winter so my tap water is pretty darn close to ice water. You'll carefully sprinkle the water a tablespoon at a time over the flour/fat and gently mix it in with your hands. Don't squeeze. Just lightly mix and toss with your fingers. When you have the 8th tablespoon mixed it, it will be pretty thick. gently begin pressing the dough together to test it. If it's still dry and not holding together, mix in another tablespoon of water.
A lot of dough recipes will get a testy about the water. They'll tell you that adding too much water is evil and will ruin your dough. Well, sure, if you add in way too much water. However, a little too much water is a ton better than not enough. Dry dough is impossible to work with. The dough needs to be able to hold together and stay together while you're rolling it out.

So, all the water is in. Gently press the dough into a ball and flatten it slightly. Do not over work the dough. All of this should be handled gently and quickly. No kneading. Divide the dough into two pieces, wrap the dough in plastic wrap, and put it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Personally, I like to make my dough a day ahead of time, so pie making goes more quickly the next day.

Now we get to the secret ingredient to my pie. Are you ready? Here you go:
That pile of apples probably looks a bit different from most apple pie apples. Your grandmother probably told you to use only Granny Smiths and any other apple was bad for pie. Here's the thing: the best apple pie uses more than one kind of apple. It's just like any other apple food, juice, apple sauce, all of that. Commercially made juice tastes so good because they use several different varieties. Same goes for the apple sauce. The different flavors blend to create a wonderful complexity to the flavor profile. Granny Smith apple pie is good. But granny smith, fuji, and rome apple pie is wonderful. It really doesn't matter that much which varieties you choose, but try to mix your flavors, sweets, tarts, firm flesh, soft flesh. Mix it up and you'll be amazed.

Now get your oven preheated to 500 degrees. You read that right. Put a rimmed baking sheet on the lowest rack.

Ok, back to your dough. Here's another secret: a bath towel. I use one as a pastry mat. Keep it floured and your dough won't stick at all. It's really easy to roll out dough on one. Doesn't my pie dough look ready to go to the beach?
When you are rolling be sure to work with a light hand. You don't want to stretch the dough. I'm still working on this one. Stretched dough will shrink back when it's baked and pull away from the side of the pie pan. It's more noticeable when making baked shells.

Roll one ball of dough out into a large circle. fold it in half and carefully place it in the pie dish without stretching. Lift the edges of the dough and let it settle into the corner rather than just pressing it down.

When your dough is in the pan, get your apple filling ready. You should have 3 1/2-4 lbs of apples. That's about 3 of each variety. I like to use a peeler/corer/slicer thing to cut them up. It makes quick work of the apples. My kids love to help with that part. After I get the apple off the machine, I cut it in half so I have nice slices of apple. If you slice the apples by hand, make sure you slice them evenly so they bake evenly.
Then add 2 tablespoons of flour, 3/4 c sugar, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1 teaspoon lemon zest (this is optional. leave it out if you don't like lemon in your apple pie), 1/4 teaspoon of salt, 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon.
Quickly mix everything together then dump it all into your pie shell. Roll out the second circle of dough so it will cover the pie. Cut the dough that hangs more than one inch over the side of the pie pan. Fold the dough back under itself on the edge of the plate and pinch it together.

(yeah, no pictures of that. I know, I know. I have pictures of a pile of apples, but not the pinching the edges. Sorry. I was working by myself and couldn't get that one.)

Make small slits all over the top of the pie so the steam can escape. I also like to cut a letter in the top, usually an A, just because that's what my mother does. This time I did an S for my nephew. He has food allergies and the apple pie was the one pie he could eat.
Now carefully brush 1 1/2 tablespoons of cream all over the top crust. It will make it brown nicely. If you don't have someone with egg allergies you're serving to, you can also brush it with egg whites and sprinkle it with 1 tablespoon of sugar.

Put your pie on the hot baking sheet in the preheated oven and turn the temperature down to 425. Bake for 25 minutes or until the top crust is just barely golden. Turn the oven temperature down again, this time to 375. Continue to bake another 30-35 minutes. The crust should be a deep golden brown with juices bubbling up through the vent slits. Like this:

Doesn't that make you hungry? (You may notice that my top crust shrunk a bit. Like I said, I'm still working on my rolling out technique. I think I should make more pies and practice.)

There you have it. The apple pie that will make you the hero of your next holiday dinner.

Be the Hero Apple Pie

for the crust:
10 T butter
10 T crisco
2 1/2 c flour
3/4 t salt
2 T sugar
8-10 tablespoons of water

Freeze the butter and Crisco for 15 minutes. Mix the dry ingredients in the bowl of a food processor. Add the cold butter and Crisco. Pulse 8-12 times until the dough is pebbly and light creamy yellow. Dump out into a large bowl. Drizzle the ice water onto the dough 1 T at a time, gently tossing and mixing with your hands. When the dough is holding together nicely and is no longer dry looking, press it into a ball. Divide the ball into two pieces. Press them into thick discs and wrap in plastic wrap. Refridgerate for at least 30 minutes. Roll out one disc large enough to fit into a 9 inch pie dish. Carefully transfer to the pie dish.

For the Apple pie:
3 1/2 to 4 lbs of Apples, about 3 apples of each of 3 different varieties
3/4 c sugar
2 T flour
1 T lemon juice
1 t lemon zest (optional)
1/4 t salt
1/4 t nutmeg
1/4 t cinnamon

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Place baking sheet on bottom shelf. Core, peel and slice the apples into even slices. combine with the other ingredients. Pour into the prepared pie shell. Top with another circle of pie dough. Trim and crimp the edges of the pie. Cut steam vents. Place on hot baking sheet in the oven and immediately reduce oven temperature to 425. Bake until the crust is just barely golden, about 25 minutes. Reduce oven temperature again, this time to 375. Bake for another 30-35 minutes until the pie is deep golden brown and the juices are bubbling. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Christmas Stockings--A love/hate relationship

This is my Christmas stocking display:
I can put it on this blog because those stockings were hand made by me. They look lovely and I'm very, very happy with them. I finished the last of these five about two years ago and treated myself to the stocking hooks then so I could display them properly. They are always the first decorations to come out and the last to go down.

Well wouldn't you make the most of these? I did put over 300 hours into making them. Yeah. Not exaggerating that. Maybe underestimating. That's where the hate part comes in. I like quick projects. By the time I finished my youngest's stocking I was ready to never, ever pick up a cross stitch needle again. Then my husband told me he wanted one too. So I would have to have one as well. You know, so we matched.

I have spent two years on my husband's and it's still not done. I can only get motivated to pick it up and work on it in November and December. Mine I pawned off on my mother who loves cross stitch.

When I started these, I had no earthly idea how long it would take to make them. No idea. I had no clue that I would stop liking cross stitching after about two of them. I did start them when I was 20 though, so you have to give me a little bit of a break. Have you ever met a 20 year old who wasn't idealistic and naive?

Since my children alternated perfectly by sex, that means the stockings can be hung in a perfect pattern and age arranged. It makes my type A heart pitter patter.
BTW, I made the shelf too. If you want the instructions on that, let me know and I'll put a post together.

Dinner Rolls

It's quite possible you have hiding in your fridge some Rhodes bread rolls just waiting for the big day. It's possible that you have cans of crescent rolls instead.

Or your family could be like mine, where the dinner rolls are more popular than the turkey or the candied yams put together.

Meet Ruby. She's going to help me demonstrate how to make the best dinner rolls on the planet.
She's brought some friends along to help. She's a bit bossy and vain though, so you have to watch out for her. Dress yours up in her spiral bread hook and pouring shield.

To start: dump 7 cups of flour, 2 T yeast, 1/2 c sugar, 1/2 c powdered milk, and 2 t salt in your mixer bowl. That is 2 T of yeast, not two packages. You will need to buy your yeast in a bulk package like a jar. They are sometimes labeled "bread machine yeast" just because you measure bread machine recipes by volume as well.



ok, Tangent over. Mix those dry ingredients together. Next, measure 2 1/2 c warm water, about 120 degrees. It needs to be a little warm for this mix method. While the mixer is running, slowly pour the water into the mixer. Then add 2 eggs and 1/2 of soft butter. The butter needs to be spread-ably soft, softer than you would usually use in baking.

After a few minutes your bread will look like this:
It's almost ready, but still needs a bit more flour. I added 1/2 c at this point. Yours may not need that. It depends on how you measure your flour.

Here it is after about 5 minutes of kneading. Notice how the dough has pulled away from the side of the pan. It's now very elastic and somewhat sticky.

It's sticking to my fingers here but when I pulled away there was very little dough on my hands. This is still a little bit soft, but I stopped here because I didn't want to over do the flour.

Spray a big bowl with cooking spray and put your bread dough in it. cover with plastic wrap so the dough doesn't form a skin on top. Set aside in a warm place to rise until double. Like this:

Dump your dough onto a floured counter top. Mine was still sticky, so I used quite a bit of flour. If your dough is not sticky at all at this point, you can use cooking spray at this point on the counter instead so you don't get too much flour in your dough.

Knead the dough into a smooth ball, then cut into three equal balls of dough.
Roll each ball out into a large circle, between 12 and 15" in diameter. Spread with about 3T of very soft butter. (ahem. Yes, more butter. In case you didn't know, diet season is officially between Jan 1 and November 20. We're in maintenance season right now. This means more butter. You're welcome.)

Cut the circle into twelve equal pieces. You can pretend that those are all equal triangles. The equal thing is more of a guideline. Don't panic if you have some big ones and some little ones. It will be just fine.

Now take one triangle of dough and roll it up from wide end toward the point.
(Please excuse my lack of a manicure. I don't spend money on my hands. And yes those are the hands of a grown woman, not a 12 year old boy. Buying gloves is no fun.)

Roll that triangle until the point is on the bottom and then stop. Like this:

Isn't it cute? Now do the other 35. Lay them out so they touch on a greased baking sheet. Mine is commercial sized, so it fits all 36 rolls.
Let them rise for another 15 minutes or so. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes or until golden brown. Like this:

Hungry yet? Those have been brushed with more butter. You can skip that, but I have no idea why you would want to.

I am. I have to save those for tonight's dinner with the in-laws though. It's torture.

Dinner Rolls

7 cups flour
2 T yeast
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c powdered milk
2 t salt
2 1/2 c water
2 eggs
1/2 c butter

Mix dry ingredients in mixing bowl. While the mixer is running, slowly pour in the water, then add eggs and butter. Continue mixing for about 5-10 more minutes. The dough will pull away from the side of the bowl. The dough should be smooth and elastic, tacky but not too sticky. Place in a large bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place. Dump out onto a floured work surface, kneading a few times to form a smooth ball of dough. Divide into three portions. Roll each portion out into a 12"-15" diameter circle. Spread with 3T of very soft butter. Cut into twelve equal triangles. Roll each triangle from wide end to point, leaving the point on the bottom of the roll. Place the rolls so they touch on a greased baking sheet. Let rise for 15 more minutes. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes, until rolls are golden brown. Brush with butter while hot.

Project Season!

I always get way in over my head in November and December with a million and one projects and crafts I want to do for Christmas. My kids always get PJ pants; some years they match and some years they all have a different fabric. Then they all get one other hand made gift. I will often do a few handmade gifts for the nieces and nephews as well.

This year, as I've already mentioned, I'm doing a bushel of Monsters. Five for my kids. Five for cousins on my side of the family. Five for cousins on my husband's side of the family. (I already finished six.)

We're also having a bit of a thin Christmas this year. (For many reasons, which I won't go into, this is not a begging for money post. I would just send money back if anyone tried to give me any. We're fine.) So I thought that having two handmade gifts would really be fun for the kids. I'm trying to keep it to stuff we already have in the house, but I already broke that rule for this:
Doll Farmhouse bed

You just went "Sqeee!" didn't you? I know I did. This is a project from Ana White. Her Doll Farmhouse bed is so adorable I couldn't resist making a pair of them. I have two little girls who will be so happy to get a bed just like that for their dolls for Christmas. I had to go buy lumber though. I didn't have enough scrap on hand. It cost me less than $10 per bed though. I do have the paint and plywood on hand and that does make a bit of a difference.

I spent my morning cutting the wood for both beds and sanding the wood for one. Unfortunately I don't have a full shop like Norm Abrams so I have to use a huge cordless hand sander. My arms are still shaking. That sucker is heavy. The wood was super quick to cut on our miter saw. I will get constructing tomorrow and paint when both are put together. I'm toying with turquoise for the color. Wouldn't that be adorable?

Also on tap is a wallet for my eight year old (he requested one.) It will be orange with dinosaurs if I can manage it. And then my 15 year old will be getting either a necklace and earrings or a purse. I may make her a ruffled bag if I feel like I have time.

My 12 year old boy has me stumped though. I did a trebuchet last year and a portable game system/game case the year previous. Anyone got any ideas?

Peanut Butter Fudge

It's candy making time! My favorite part of Christmas is the candy making. I remember helping my mother make candy as a child. I remember her teaching me all the little tricks to get the candy to turn out perfectly and my sisters and my mom and I standing around visiting while the candy cooked, taking turns stirring the toffee, because it's a long process and has to be stirred continuously, listening for the mixer to down shift, signaling that the fudge is finished, getting to be the first one to try a piece.

Love it. Candy making is as much in my blood as potatoes and my religion. (I'm a fifth generation Idahoan and my Grandfather was a potato farmer in Eastern Idaho, just in case you were wondering how inbred religion and potatoes could be.)

If you would like to see pictures of the fudge making process, read this post on making chocolate fudge.


Peanut Butter Fudge

3c sugar
1/4c light corn syrup
1/2 t salt
1/2 c milk*
1 c heavy cream
1/2 c peanut butter
2 t vanilla

In a 4 quart heavy bottomed pan, stir together everything but the peanut butter and vanilla. Put a lid on the pan and turn on the burner to medium heat. Let it cook with the lid on until the candy has boiled for 3-5 minutes. This is called sweating the pan and is very important. Meanwhile while the pan is sweating, rinse off that spoon you stirred your candy with earlier. You need a clean wooden spoon with no sugar crystals clinging to it to stir the candy once it boils.

After the candy has boiled with the lid on for 3-5 minutes, remove the lid and clip a candy thermometer to the side of the pan. Stir occasionally until the candy reaches 238 degrees. Watch carefully because you do not want to over cook the candy. If you have a stand mixer, immediately pour out the cooked candy into the bowl of your stand mixer. Only pour out the candy that will pour easily out of the pan. Do not scrape the pan. I'll say it again. DO NOT get out your spatula and carefully get out all the last little drops of candy. Don't. You'll cause your fudge to crystallize. It won't be creamy. Just pour it out and stop when you get only a small, thin stream of candy.

If you do not have a stand mixer, leave it in the pan.

When the candy has cooled to about 120-110 degrees you can start whipping it. Add the peanut butter and the vanilla and beat it with the flat beater. If you have a Kitchen Aid, speed 6 is just about right.

If you don't have a mixer you will have to beat it by hand. Stir with a wooden spoon using a strong, firm hand. You will want to have friends around to take turns with you and start beating when it's about 120 so it's softer when you start.

You beat until the mixture loses that glossy look. It will turn matte and if you are mixing in a mixer it will look like frosting in the bowl.

When it's done beating, scrape out the bowl into a buttered 9x9 baking dish. Pat it flat and cover with plastic wrap. make sure the plastic covers the surface of the fudge. Eat when it's cool.


*The recipe base (vanilla fudge) came from my grandmother who was a depression era lady. The milk was supposed to make the cream go farther. You can make this with all cream if you like. I do the part milk, part cream because I can get four batches of fudge from one quart of cream that way. I make a lot of fudge as gifts and it's nice to have the cream go farther. It comes out just fine with a lovely creamy mouth feel even with the milk in it.