Make and Take Is All a Flurry This Month!

Today we gathered at Pam's house early in hopes of having our fun before the snow hit. Well, flakes were falling outside as inside we were all a flurry putting finishing touches on our fun and yummy Valentine projects! Soon it was a flurry outside as well and we packaged our dessert up, cut our lunch short, bundled all the treats and made our way to the cars. Jean almost blew away! We all arrived safely home, but not without some treacherous roads to cover. As I sit typing to you, it looks more like a frosty blender outside my window. Hard and heavy, the snow is piling up. The good news is the family is home safe, we have electricity and a chicken pie, and Mississippi Mud Pie from Pam's Make and Take. Life is good!

So Pam took us on a tour of several projects we would be creating, all adorable! Of course we began the morning with Tea, handsewn into little hearts with tags that read "Tea-riffic" accompanied by the most delicious Banana Lime Coconut Cake. No kidding, it sounds out there, but it is amazing!

Just when we thought it could not get any better, we discovered that our projects were all care package friendly for our college girls. We made the rice krispy dessert foil wrapped Kisses, a valentine cookie-butter popcorn Pam has perfected using cookie butter as the base for the glaze; and finally heart shaped Mississippi Mud Pies!

Best part was Pam had all the ingredients premeasured and laid into separate baskets so we could get right to work!

Using your favorite Rice Krispy dessert recipe, create the "Kiss" by shaping the mix into a well oiled funnel. Find just the right one to achieve that recognizable shape. Then turn your Rice Krispy Kiss out onto foil or waxed paper. Allow to set awhile. Then splatter chocolate across and valentine sprinkles and candies. Wrap in foil creating a swirl as you wrap and tuck in a Valentine message flag before sealing off the top.

 

 

Next we got our Mississippi Mud Pie basket and got to work. See recipe below. The trick here is to only fill your mold or pan 1/4 of the way so you have plenty of room for the other layers of gooey goodness. Start with the brownie mixture and bake. Cover in mini-marshmallows and bake until just turning brown.Whip up the amazing fudge frosting and cover the marshmallow layer then sprinkle with toasted, chopped pecans. Serve warm with Vanilla ice cream! Yummers!

Our last project was the Valentine Cookie Butter Popcorn. Take a lot of your favorite candies and make sure they are red, pink, white, and chocolate for a beautiful pop of color with the popcorn. For this project we found it best to coat the popcorn thoroughly and then add candies. Do this by spreading the coated popcorn on a silpat and then sprinkle candy on top and press in. The candy is quite ugly if you mix it into the coating, so better to tuck it in. Pam had some cute cellophane bags and these darling yarn hears to decorate the bags.

By this time we had worked up quite the appetite and snowbanks were beginning to build. Outside looked like a huge white blender as Poh and I began to get nervous about our drive home. Then we sat down at Pam's darling table and delicious lunch and the outside storm was forgotten while we enjoyed a chicken chili, grilled heart cheese sandwiches and bacon heart salad. Life was good and are tummies were full and warm. Half way through Pam was called to work where she helps get the kids at school looked after until their parents could get there to pick them up. We grabbed our goodies and bulbs she had planted in cute red pots and headed to our cars.

 

Thank you Pam for a wonderful and memorable Make and Take!

RECIPES

Banana Lime Coconut Bread

By Ninja 

Ingredients:

Cooking spray

Grated zest and juice of 2 limes

1 cup all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

Pinch salt

4 tbls butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1/2 ripe banana, mashed

2/3 cup skimmed milk

1 tsp vanilla

4 cups water

1/3 cup chopped toasted pecans

1/3 cup sweetened toasted coconut

1/4 packed brown sugar 

1. Spray multi-purpose pan with cooking spray. Stir flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.

2.Beat 2 tablespoons butter and sugar in another bowl with electric mixer until mixture is creamy. Beat in an egg.

3. Stir in banana, milk, half lime zest, half the lime juice, and vanilla into butter mixture. Repeat with remaining flour mixture and butter mixture.

4. Pour water into pan to create a bath. Place bread pan into bath. Set oven 375degrees and bake 40 min. with foil over top of bread pan and bath lightly situated.

5. In pan on top storve, cook on high remaining butter, pecans,coconut,brown sugar, lime zest, and lime juice. Cook uncovered for 1 minute or until sugar is dissolved. Spoon mixture over bread.

Cookie Butter Popcorn

(By: iheartnaptime.net)

Ingredients:
16 cups air popped plain popcorn
1 16oz pkg Krogers vanilla candy coating (or candyquick)
3 TB Cookie-butter (found at Trader Joes)
1/2 cup colored candy of your choice
1 package M&M Valentine chocolates
Sprinkles

1. Pop your popcorn and place in large bowl. Melt your vanilla candy coating in the microwave according to the package directions. Then add the cookie butter to the melted chocolate. Stir until combined. Drizzle the coating over the popcorn. Stir until evenly coated. Spread over a cookie sheet lined with silpat or waxed paper. sprinkle candy selection and pat into popcorn mixture. Allow to set for an hour and then break apart and bag to give as gifts or fill a bowl to share.