Candied Pecans in a Jar Tutorial

Hi everyone! It's Christine, again, from What's Up, Cupcake? Blog.  I just wanted to share another tutorial with you - this time for one of my all-time favorite, holiday giveaway treats.  


This recipe is great for any time of year, but I always end up making them for the holidays.  They're so easy to package and distribute that it just makes sense to make them for the holidays. They are the perfect, jar-friendly, easy-to-make, edible gift. Oh, and they're soooo yummy!  Really, I promise.  I made a batch for work and everyone was asking for the recipe.  Make them - you won't regret it.

I used the same jars as my cupcakes-in-a-jar.  Small, 8oz, canning jars.  You can buy these online, at many grocery stores (in the baking or canning section), and some craft stores.  I picked up a flat of a dozen for $8 at Wal-mart.

Sugar and Spice Pecans
Recipe from a friend

Ingredients:
1 lb pecans (4 cups)
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/2 tbsp corn oil
1 tbsp vanilla

Spice Mix (Combine to coat the nuts after baking):
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp coriander
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp all-spice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Boil water.  Add pecans and cook for 1 minute, stirring.  Drain pecans and put in medium bowl.  Add the corn oil and vanilla, stirring until the pecans are coated.  Add sugar and stir to coat.  Spread pecans in a single layer on a baking sheet.

Bake pecans for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to ensure they don't stick or burn.  I stir a minimum of once every 10 minutes.

After 30 minutes, remove nuts from the oven and pour into a medium bowl.  Sprinkle with the spice mix, then stir to coat.  Let cool.

Once the pecans are cooled, you can add them to the jars.  You can fill 5 - 8oz. jars with one batch.  If you have any extras, I love to throw them in a bag, and store in the freezer.  These are delicious at room temperature, but I absolutely love them frozen.

Decorating:
You can decorate these how you like. I did two different options.

1. Wrap a band of ribbon around the top of the lid.  I attached this with double-sided scrapbooking dots.

2. Cut out a piece of fabric (this is perfect for fabric scraps you may have!) a little larger than the lid.  Tie a piece of ribbon, twine or raffia around the lid to hold in place.

If you don't have canning jars, fill plastic bags and tie with ribbon.

Beebee's Christmas Plan

Hello Christmas Crafters! For those who don't know me I'm Stevie and I blog over at Beebee's Vintage Dress

This is my second Crafty Christmas. This year I'm intending to be much more productive and start early!

My family is small but were all very close so I hope to make something handmade for all of them.

This includes:

That Elf inspired sign for my brother!

7 PJ Bottoms

2 Men's dressing gowns (One for Boyfriend and one for my brother)

Hopefully some simple Sugar Scrub and Soaps and Bath Fizzies

Either Fabric Baskets or Bath bags to hold the bath treats

Teacup Candles

As I said last year, You can get great inspiration off of MarthaStewart.com!

Edible Treats:

Hot Hot Chilli Jam with home grown chilli's

Some kind of holiday cookie's

Fudge for my Boyfriend

I have a tendency to get carried away so that will do for now. I'm off to make the Chilli Jam today!

Happy Crafting

Christmas Plans

Hello, I'm Vicki and I blog at Vicki Kate Makes.  This is my first year here at the Crafty Christmas Club and I've loved going back through last years posts - there's so much inspiration there!

These are my plans for this year:

Mum - a photo calendar
Dad - a photo desk calendar and some lebkuchen or biscotti or both!
Husband - waiting for inspiration to strike?!
Boy - Husband is making him a toylander.  Does that count as handmade - I think it does!  I may make him a cuddly dinosaur too from this pattern.
Jess - Makeup brush roll with some new brushes
Adam - I have no idea!  May well end up being bought and some baking thrown in.
Beccy - Cookie mix jar and a purse, maybe using this pattern with some little makeup bits in
John - Again, no idea.  Probably something to do with books or cheese.  So maybe a book voucher and some cheese straws?
Ian - Aarrghhh!  Why are blokes so hard to think of present for???  May well be really unimaginative and give him a voucher of some sort and some baked goodies.
Jo - Purse and something else.  Will have to ask Ian for suggestions!
Husband' Mum - What do you give your MIL?  She's not the most appreciative person so it may well end up being a bought present, or vouchers in a handmade card.  Or possibly a terranium as she likes her garden and plants.
Husband's Mum's Boyfriend -  Another man that I have no ideas for!
Husband's Dad - Photo Calendar
GG - Chocolates from Hotel Chocolat and a framed photo of Husband and Boy
Uncle Pete - Bottle of port

I'm also hosting Christmas Dinner this year.  So I'll be making cranberry sauce with port (nom nom), the christmas pudding in the next couple of weeks and a christmas cake, again in the next couple of weeks so it can mature and be fed!  We also make brandy sauce to do with the pud which often ends up with a LOT of brandy in it.  I have to admit my go to is Nigella's Christmas for a lot of the recipes so I'll have to go through the book and plan the menu.

I'd also like to make some bunting for Boy's new bedroom.  I'll also make the wreath for the door.  As for other decorations it depends on what inspiration strikes.

Now that I've written it all out, that's quite a lot!  Ah well, slow and steady...  There's still 71 days!

Brainstorming

Hello all! I'm back and ready to start sewing gifts. (I'll do another baking post soon though, here is a link to my previous coffee cup tutorial). I'll be sewing/crafting gifts for my Mom, Oma, Aunt E, friend Ashley and boyfriend, as well as making smaller gifts for friends and teachers. I always lean towards the (over) ambitious side, so, I give you a list of possible gifts.

-hand knit scarves and hats
-wristlet/clutch purses
-big purses with matching makeup bag/coin purse
-pajamas and robes
-zip hoodie, either handsewn or refashioned
-loose fitting, season friendly cardigan
-homemade jams and cookies
-photos with handmade frames

I have been browsing patterns, here are a few I like based off gift potential and good reviews on PatternReview.com:

McCall's 5534, for the adorable hooded robe

Simplicity 2560, very simple and cute cardigans. My mom would love view A.

Simplicity 2357, views A and B

McCall's 6089, oversized clutch bags with tassels. This one is high on my list because there is lots of room for embellishment and personalization - both of which are important in a gift!

McCall's 6046, two very stylish bag shapes with embellishment options. 

I've had a lot of success with McCall's bag patterns in the past, namely 5599, so I'm leaning more towards the McCalls bag option than the Simplicity one. Ideally I will find and make one of the purses, decide it's a fabulous pattern, and cut out several more. I'd especially like to make coordinating makeup bags to go inside, so I will have more to fill with lovely fresh cut soaps and products from Lush (I work there, so my opinion is biased, but I get a discount :)

I would love input on fabrics, quick construction, or a hoodie pattern recommendation. Knit scarf or hat pattern suggestions would be lovely as well! 

Holiday Treat Box

Whether you call them biscuits or cookies, they'd sure look cute in a holiday treat box like this one:



They're simple and inexpensive to make. Here's a video tutorial:



I've got a few other ideas for wrapping treats on my blog too, but this is by far my favorite.

Yuletide offerings

Greetings fellow crafty ones and thank you Tilly for starting this excellent blog up!  Im Molly from Molly and Mango and crafting it up this year for yule will be going via the home baked goodies route!



 A couple of years ago, I sent round Rich Fruit Cakes wrapped in festively red muslin cloth, which were immensely successful (although I had trouble convincing a few people I had really made them!) so when the Molly-Porn arrived last month (aka the Lakeland Catalogue), I was inspired by their several pages of homemade christmas cookies and chocolates to do festive cookies for family and friends. I especially like the idea of these jewel trinket biscuits:

They featured a lot of great shaped cutter sets and silicone cases but when I went to one of their stores to buy, none of what I wanted was in stock yet, boohoo Lakeland. (That said I picked up 30 poinsetta cellophane gift bags for £2.50)  So a good friend tipped me off about TK Maxx and I found not only did they have a massive range of christmas cookie cutters but they were a fraction of the price of Lakeland. Last week I found a version of Lakeland's star tree cookers in Tiger (the latest Scandinavian high street import) for just £1.

And the luck didn't stop there... I love the traditional Gingerbread house and this time of year, kits are everywhere, but I wanted to build them from scratch so I dismissed those.  Then I found two great kits at TK Maxx containing just cutters which seemed like a great way to speed up the process and so this year's treats for the specials will be Gingerbread Houses after all (and filled with cookies!).  I'm about to start testing out recipes, so if anyone has any recommendations, I would love to hear them.

And if you want to make your own Gingerbread House, check out this amazing blog, Sweetopia, to get your creativity flowing.  I came across this site while looking for inspiration for icing my cookies, and when the royal icing tutorial featured owl cookies foremost, I knew I'd found the place!  Who could resist these details:

      details

More on the gingerbread houses here.

Looking forward to sharing pics with you and seeing what you have all been making!  All the happiness of the season to you and yours.

Cute "Coffee Cup" tutorial

Hi everyone! I'm Jana and I blog about sewing and such over at 98 Red Balloons. I'm all about making gifts and in the past that has mostly meant baking. I made these little cakes this weekend to give to teachers who are writing me letters of recommendation, and I thought I would write a little tutorial for CCC while I was at it!

A cake is baked in each mug. Then they are covered in chocolate ganache to look like coffee and topped with homemade marshmallow. These are great because they don't need to be refrigerated as the marshmallow won't melt at room temperature like some icings will. I baked chocolate-coffee cake in half and pumpkin spice cake in the others. 

I use this pumpkin cupcake recipe from Joy of Baking. The only change I made was to use margarine. I'm all about butter when butter is necessary - don't skimp! - but this recipe already has a lot of pumpkin weighing it down and plenty of leavening, so you don't need to worry about having enough volume from the sugar/butter mixture. Margarine is so much cheaper out here, it's nice to use it when you can.

The chocolate-coffee cake recipe is my own, adapted from the famous Hershey's cake recipe. 

2 cups sugar

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

3 eggs

1/2 cup sour cream or plain yogurt

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 dram LorAnn coffee flavor or 1 tablespoon instant espresso powder

1 cup strong hot coffee

Mix all dry ingredients together, including sugar, and wisk them thoroughly. Add the eggs, milk, oil, yogurt or sour cream, and flavorings. Wisk on high speed for about 2 minuets, until the batter begins to look smooth and silky. Add the hot coffee and stir slowly until incorporated. Bake on 350 for 20-30 minuets.  

So back to the mug tutorial! I just went to the second hand store, Goodwill, and bought some pretty mugs in good condition and gave them a good scrub. I particularly like wide-mouth mugs for this, they're so pretty! Do not grease or oil inside the mugs as this will discolor them as they bake. Just make sure they are very clean and dry, and fill them 1/2 full with batter. Bake and check after 15 minuets. 

And they'll look something like this! Perfectly domed and ready for a layer of ganache. 

I used a 1:1 ratio ganache for this which will set up after a few hours but won't be hard. That means equal amounts of heavy whipping cream and chocolate make this ganache. Put the heavy whipping cream on low heat until it just starts to steam. It should NOT boil. If it begins to bubble the cream has been overheated. 

Poor the heated cream over the chocolate and step away. The key to a perfectly smooth ganache is forming an emulsion between the fats in the chocolate and the cream. Leave for at least 2 minuets, and then stir with a wisk. The hot cream should have begun melting the chocolate. It will look piecey at first, but keep stiring and you will have a silky, beautiful ganache!

Yum! Poor the ganache over your baked cakes and let them sit for several hours. The ganache will take quite a while to soft-set, but it's delicious and very worth the wait. 

See those little bubbles? The air from the cake will escape for a few minuets after you poor the ganache, but the bubbles will go away on their own pretty quickly. As soon as the ganache has set, you are ready to pipe on fresh marshmallow!

 I love this marshmallow recipe from Food Network's Alton Brown. It's simple to make and incredibly tasty. Stop whipping your marshmallow just before it's done, so it will be easier to pipe. I used a disposable piping bag fitting with a coupler but no tip, just for big fluffy swirls on top of each "coffee"

I can do a tutorial for homemade marshmallow if anyone is interested. For now, have fun with the mug idea! They are very pretty wrapped in clear cellophane and make a very cost-effective gift for neighbors and such.