Fall Flowers for Parties and More!

The Make and Take Gals get ready for celebrating this Fall!

Jean hosted our lovely morning of catching up on all the Make and Take Gals' news since our last gathering. Lots of stories of summer travels, our grown children's adventures and plans for the new Fall season over tea and apple bread... yummy!

Our craft of paper flowers brought back memories of making these paper puff balls from our childhood. The perfect craft to allow us to focus on our conversations!

We took 8 to 12 layers of tissue, depending on the size ball we wanted, alternated colors in a stack and then made one inch accordions; tied off with a ribbon so that we had a loop to attach the fishing line to allowing us to easily hang them.

With our goody bags packed with festive flowers ready to be fluffed up at our next celebration, we moved on to a delicious lunch that had all the flavors of Fall! Jean, you knocked it out of the park again! Our surprising table favor was a darling tea bag of broth! We had never seen these before.  Check them out HERE!

For Jean's lunch recipes, see the recipe section for links to her delicious choices! Thank you Jean for a wonderful day!

 

(To die for Vegetarian African Peanut Soup and 

Arugula, Carrot & Chickpea Salad)

                                                                    (Pumpkin Cake)

We hope you will be inspired to try some Fall meals and decorating! 

Until next month, be well!

 RECIPES

For the Vegetarian African Peanut Soup, I used the tomato paste and did add two small sweet potatoes to the broth as suggested.

http://cookieandkate.com/2013/west-african-peanut-soup/ 

Apple Crumb Cake

http://www.errenskitchen.com/apple-crumb-cakes/

Pumpkin Cake

http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2013/09/22/iced-pumpkin-coffee-cake/

Arugula, Carrot & Chickpea Salad

https://www.prracer.com/content/arugula-carrot-and-chickpea-salad

Bunnies and Chicks! Make and Take Gals Prepare for Easter!

Easter Garland

 

Make and Take this week bursts with color as we make these darling bunny and chick garlands for the mantel or window! Jean hosts our gathering and starts our morning with home made scones and tea. After catching up on all the news we hop right into these darling creations. Each egg holds yummy chocolate treats!

As the birds hatch and the bunnies grow fuzzy tails I work on replenishing our stock of note cards. Jean has darling stickers and papers to create with, which all inspir a hive of Bee cards...

It didn't take long for the garland strings to emerge. Jean provided darling Easter baskets to nest the new family of fuzzy friends into.

As we package up our creations, yummy smells float into to call us to the lunch table. Jean has prepared a beautiful and delicious meal complete with Jelly Belly favors for our Easter egg treats!

Thank you Jean for a wonderful Make and Take! The colors and flavors of Spring have lifted all these Winter Blues!

Recipes:

Salted Caramel Cupcakes with Caramel Buttercream Frosting
Source: http://www.thekitchenismyplayground.com/2012/11/salted-caramel-cupcakes.html -  

 Adapted from Southern Living, as posted by From Calculus to Cupcakes

A new all time favorite of the Make and Take Gals!

Ingredients
Cupcakes:
1/2 c. (1 stick) butter, softened
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 1/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. dark brown sugar
1 T. canola oil
4 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. buttermilk

Salted Caramel Buttercream Frosting:
1/2 c. (1 stick) butter, softened
3 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 lb. confectioners' sugar
4 T. milk, divided
15 caramel candies, unwrapped (I used Kraft caramels)

Additional sliced caramels (for garnish)
Sea salt


Directions
For the Cupcakes:
1.  Line 24 muffin cups with paper cupcake liners.

2.  Using an electric mixer, cream together butter, cream cheese, sugar, brown sugar, and oil until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.  Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.  Add vanilla, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; mix until well combined.

3.  Beginning and ending with flour, add flour alternately with buttermilk, mixing between each addition.

4.  Distribute batter evenly between the muffin cups.  Bake at 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

5.  Cool completely on a wire rack.  Frost with Salted Caramel Buttercream, garnish with a slice of caramel candy, and sprinkle with a bit of sea salt.


For the Salted Caramel Buttercream Frosting:
6.  Using an electric mixer, beat together the butter, cream cheese, and vanilla until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.  Add confectioners' sugar and 3 tablespoons of the milk; beat until well combined and smooth, about 2 minutes.  Cover and refrigerate.

7.  Meanwhile, melt the caramel candies along with the remaining 1 tablespoon of milk in the microwave at 30 second intervals until caramels are completely melted.  Set aside to cool until the caramel is cooled but still soft and pliable.*

8.  Once the caramel is cooled, mix into the frosting until well combined.


*Setting the caramel aside to cool is important!  I discovered the hard way that mixing hot melted caramel into butter-based frosting does NOT turn out well.  Also, I had to use the electric mixer to thoroughly mix in the caramel - simply folding or stirring didn't work.  You may want to refrigerate the frosting for 30 minutes or so prior to frosting the cupcakes to let it set up a bit after mixing in the caramel.

Dukka

1. 1/4 cup raw pistachios
2. 1/4 cup raw cashews
3. 1/4 cup blanched almonds
4. 1/4 cup blanched hazelnuts
5. 1/4 cup coriander seeds
6. 1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
7. 1 1/2 tablespoons cumin seeds
8. 1/4 cup sesame seeds
9. 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
10. 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Spread the nuts on a baking sheet and toast for about 8 minutes, until golden. Coarsely chop the nuts.
2. In a skillet, toast the coriander seeds over moderate heat until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a food processor and pulse until chopped. In the skillet, toast the unsweetened shredded coconut and cumin seeds, stirring, until the coconut is golden, 2 minutes; add to the food processor along with the chopped nuts and pulse until coarsely ground. Transfer the dukka to a bowl. In the skillet, toast the sesame seeds until golden, 4 minutes. Stir the sesame seeds into the dukka, season with the salt and pepper and serve.

Source: http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/dukka

 What Chefs Know Best: 30 lessons from the Pros

Published July 2008

Quinoa Salad

Source: Eat It To Beat It

1 cup dried quinoa

1 bunch asparagus, woody ends removed

1 Tbsp olive oil, plus more for drizzling

2 cups cooked chicken (rotisserie chicken works well)

1/4 cup chopped sundried tomatoes

1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

1/4 cup pesto (store bought or homemade)

1 Tbsp balsamic or red wine vinegar

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Rinse quinoa. Bring 1-1/2 cups of water and 1/2 tsp salt to a boil. Add quinoa, cover, and reduce heat to low for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and fluff with a fork. 

While quinoa cooks, drizzle asparagus with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Roast in oven on a roasting pan for 6 - 10 minutes or until just tender.

Chop into bite-size pieces.

In a small bowl, combine pesto, olive oil, and vinegar. In a large mixing bowl, combine quinoa, asparagus, chicken, tomatoes, and feta. Toss with dressing.

Makes four servings.  Keeps in the refrigerator up to five days.

  ENJOY!!!

 

Salted Caramel Cupcakes with Caramel Buttercream Frosting
Source:  Adapted from Southern Living, as posted by From Calculus to Cupcakes

Ingredients
Cupcakes:
1/2 c. (1 stick) butter, softened
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 1/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. dark brown sugar
1 T. canola oil
4 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. buttermilk

Salted Caramel Buttercream Frosting:
1/2 c. (1 stick) butter, softened
3 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 lb. confectioners' sugar
4 T. milk, divided
15 caramel candies, unwrapped (I used Kraft caramels)

Additional sliced caramels (for garnish)
Sea salt


Directions
For the Cupcakes:
1.  Line 24 muffin cups with paper cupcake liners.

2.  Using an electric mixer, cream together butter, cream cheese, sugar, brown sugar, and oil until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.  Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.  Add vanilla, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; mix until well combined.

3.  Beginning and ending with flour, add flour alternately with buttermilk, mixing between each addition.

4.  Distribute batter evenly between the muffin cups.  Bake at 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

5.  Cool completely on a wire rack.  Frost with Salted Caramel Buttercream, garnish with a slice of caramel candy, and sprinkle with a bit of sea salt.


For the Salted Caramel Buttercream Frosting:
6.  Using an electric mixer, beat together the butter, cream cheese, and vanilla until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.  Add confectioners' sugar and 3 tablespoons of the milk; beat until well combined and smooth, about 2 minutes.  Cover and refrigerate.

7.  Meanwhile, melt the caramel candies along with the remaining 1 tablespoon of milk in the microwave at 30 second intervals until caramels are completely melted.  Set aside to cool until the caramel is cooled but still soft and pliable.*

8.  Once the caramel is cooled, mix into the frosting until well combined.


*Setting the caramel aside to cool is important!  I discovered the hard way that mixing hot melted caramel into butter-based frosting does NOT turn out well.  Also, I had to use the electric mixer to thoroughly mix in the caramel - simply folding or stirring didn't work.  You may want to refrigerate the frosting for 30 minutes or so prior to frosting the cupcakes to let it set up a bit after mixing in the caramel.

Read more at http://www.thekitchenismyplayground.com/2012/11/salted-caramel-cupcakes.html#EzKmPDjqyMutI1EA.99cakes:
1/2 c. (1 stick) butter, softened
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 1/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. dark brown sugar
1 T. canola oil
4 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. buttermilk

Read more at h

Hoot Owl PB & Chocolate Cookies for Thanksgiving!

This month's Make&Take was hosted by Pam, and as always she dazzled us with her baking creativity! Are these the cutest cookies ever! Our Halloween Day session was complete with every detail to get us into the Fall spirit! A touch of Halloween and a cookie recipe to carry us through to Thanksgiving!

Hoot Owl Cookies

From Joann's recipes 

1 cup of brown sugar

1 cup of white sugar

3/4 cup of peanut butter

3/4 cup of margarine or butter

Cream the sugars and butters together

Add :

3 eggs (one at a time)

2 teaspoons of vanilla

Blend well.

Add:

4 teaspoons of baking powder

1 1/4 teaspoons  of salt.

4 and 1/2cups of flour

(1 cup of flour at a time)

Mix well and  then make into a ball.

Take off 1/3 off the ball and add 5 tablespoons of cocoa with it to make the chocolate part of the owl.   Blend well.

Roll out the chocolate cookie dough into a log that is 20 inches long.  

Make the vanilla dough into a log and then flatten it out into a 4 inch by 20 inch long rectangle.

Lay the chocolate cookie dough in the center of the vanilla dough and wrap the vanilla dough around the chocolate dough.  Then roll the dough on the counter gentle until it is rounded and smooth.

Cut in  1/8 to 1/4 inch slices.

Take two slices and lay them side by side on cookie sheet.  (place them tightly together).  Pinch the top corners to form the ears of the owl.

You will need a can of cashew nuts to use for the beak of the owl.

Put a cashew in the center of the two cookies to form the beak.

For the owls eyes.  You will need 4 ounces of cream cheese.  I put the cream cheese in a pastry bag and use a # 3 tube to put a dot for the white of the eye.

You will need a bag of chocolate chip for the pupil of the eye.  Place one chocolate chip on the dot of cream cheese and press down gentle.

Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.  Remove from heat and cool on rack.

Make 3 dozen.

While we were waiting for the owls to bake up, Pam provided a wonderful Fall lunch. It was Halloween Day so we had black and orange cheese ravioli with her famous pumpkin ragout sauce, delish! Then darling brownie ala mode with chocolate spiders.

  

These cute little favors are Halloween s'mores. Package 2 graham crackers, 2 small individual snack size Hershey bars, a one darling ghost marshmallow peep on top. The perfect party favor! 

Pumpkin Sauce Recipe for Pasta

Original recipe makes 4 servings Change Servings

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 3 tablespoons minced sweet onion
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, chopped

• 1/3 cup low-fat milk
• 1 teaspoon ground sage
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 pinch ground cinnamon
• 1 pinch ground nutmeg

Directions

1. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat, and cook and stir the onion and garlic until the onion is translucent, about 3 minutes. Whisk in the chicken broth, and bring to a boil; whisk in the pumpkin puree, chipotle peppers and their sauce, milk, sage, salt, coriander, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Allow sauce to come to a simmer, then lower heat to hold at a simmer until serving time.