Salt Dough Ornament How To

Yeah yeah, I know it's after Christmas, but I just made our salt dough ornaments for this year.  I've been so busy making dozens and dozens of cupcakes, cookies, cakes etc. that I didn't get to this yet.  But I figure that my main goal is to preserve my kiddo's cute paws for all time, so the exact date isn't really that important.

I made these last year and they turned out great.  Not only do I love having the ornaments on my tree, but they make great gifts for family as well!  They are easy to make, but if you have very small children like mine, I recommend having a helping hand while doing this project.  This can also be a fun way to preserve your pet's paw prints.  It was extremely stressful to get Moses' paw print last year...I was very pregnant with my second baby, and while down on the floor trying to wrestle our 90 pound lab's paw to make a print, the dog was trying to eat the dough.  I have often been told Labradors are among the top five smartest dog breeds.  I have found no evidence to support this theory in my own house.  Needless to say, I am glad that Moses is done growing, and I don't need to get another paw print from him this year.

The dough is easy to mix up.  In a bowl, combine 1 cup salt, 1 cup flour, and 1/2 cup warm water.  This recipe makes approximately five toddler hand/lab paw ornaments.  I have read in the past to soak the salt beforehand in the water so the crystals will dissolve.  However, I personally have not found that necessary.  There is so much salt in this recipe (they don't call it salt dough for nothing), that it would take a long time to dissolve.  I have not done this in the past, and it has not affected the dough.    After mixing, kneed the dough for a bit.  Then sprinkle your surface and your rolling pin with flour, and roll it out to between 1/4 and 1/2 inch thick.  The dough does not rise much while baking.

Now, you have to get your kiddo's prints.  For a baby under six months, it's difficult if not impossible to get a hand print, so stick to foot prints for the littlest babies.  Luckily, newborn toes are pretty cute in salt dough.  It's usually helpful to have assistance with this part (thanks Mr. Sugar Dish).  After you get the prints, cut around them in the design you want, and transfer to a cookie sheet lined with tin foil.  Spray a very light layer of cooking spray.  Last year, I used too much spray, and the ornaments absorbed it.

DO NOT FORGET TO CUT A HOLE FOR THE ORNAMENT'S RIBBON.  I use a drinking straw for this, works great.

Bake for three hours at 200 degrees.  I then flipped my ornaments and baked for another 20 minutes.  I have read that you should flip the ornaments halfway through, but I would not recommend this if you are making hand or foot print ornaments.  Upside down, the gravity takes some indention out of your hand or foot prints, and 20 minutes is more than enough.

Once complete, remove from the oven and let cool.  Then paint, seal, and add a ribbon.  I used acrylic paint and this sealant.

Happy Crafting!

~Sugar Dish

"Birch" de Noel

I decided to make a Buche de Noel this year for Christmas. I've always admired these cakes, and I was very excited to make it.  Decorating a cake like a log is not something you get to do every day!

As I made my plans, I asked myself where this holiday tradition comes from. It is, after all, a little strange that a log covered with holly and snow elicits festive sentiment in so many people. So I did a little research. Apparently, for many centuries the Yule Log was an important part of the holiday tradition in Europe. A large and often scented log, it was meant to burn for several days or weeks in the fire place or bonfire. Eventually, families began to serve a cake version of the Yule log, particularly in France, known as the Buche de Noel.

For my cake, I wanted it to be chocolate with a white crumb layer of buttercream, creating a birch tree. I love birch trees, and they always make me think of my Father.  A great outdoorsman, he often took us for outdoor adventures.  When we lived in Duluth, Minnesota, I remember seeing many birch trees with him, some even surrounded by softly falling snow.

I used this recipe from Martha Stewart for the chocolate cake and salted caramel filling, and I would highly recommend it.  The cake's consistency is perfect for rolling into logs, and it was moist and springy.  The filling was definitely the most difficult part to make.  Luckily, I had some help from Mr. Sugar Dish on this part.  We initially used  too large a pan and the sugar burnt, so we changed to a smaller saucepan and started over.  This time it worked well!  I also added extra salt.  It turned out great.

After the filling was done, the most difficult part was getting Mr. Sugar Dish to stop eating it so I could use it for the cakes.  I followed the recipe's instructions for rolling the cakes, and found them to be spot on:  I removed the finished cakes immediately onto cooling racks lined with parchment paper.  Once cool, I divided the filling between the two cakes, and spread even leaving a 1/2 inch border on all sides.  I then rolled the cakes tightly, peeling back the parchment as I went.  Then, I tightly wrapped both cakes in clean dish towels.  I placed them on a baking sheet and left them in the fridge over night.  This was the best move ever.  When I removed them from the towels, they were perfectly rolled and set, and frosting them with buttercream was a dream.  The rolled cakes also held up when I cut the ends off, and hacked up the second roll to use as the knobs and bend in the log.  Be sure to use a serrated knife for cutting.

After creating the crumb layer of frosting, it is easy to add the bark texture you want using an angled spatula.  I used the buttercream to adhere the knobs to the bark, and added the rest of the second roll as a bend in the main log.

Overall, making the "Birch" de Noel was much easier than I expected!  I finished up by sprinkling with cocoa and powdered sugar, and adding some mushrooms I made and holly leaves.  This will definitely be a part of our Christmas tradition in the future.  I've already started to plan how I will decorate next year's Buche de Noel!

How To Make Christmas Cookies With Your Two Year Old

Don't.

It sounded like a great idea, but these pictures show pretty much how it progressed. Total disaster, and now my Christmas tree is broken. At least they taste damn good!

Christmas Cupcakes: A Sugar Paste How To

This past weekend I was tasked with making 30 cupcakes for a Christmas soirée. I was very pleased with how these cakes turned out, and thought I'd pass on some sugar-coated wisdom from my experience.

These were made using a cream cheese frosting base and topped with sugar paste decorations. This technique is great because the paste is easy to mold into almost any kind of decoration! You can see here that I used this same technique for these Thanksgiving cupcakes.

You can purchase sugar paste at the store - my favorite brand is Duff.  Make the decorations 2 days before you plan to assemble your cupcakes. Use a gel food coloring and kneed into the paste a little at a time. Plan out your dying strategy, and go from light to dark. For this Christmas party, I did 15 snowflake and 15 holly cupcakes. So, I first made the snowflakes, then the leaves and then the holly berries. This way, any residual food coloring on my hands or work surface won't get on the white snowflakes or green leaves.

Then, roll out the paste to 1/8 inch thick and cut out your shapes. If you have a cookie cutter this is by far the easiest route. I used a cutter for the fall leaves and snowflakes, but not the holly leaves. Lay out your shapes to dry at room temperature for two days. For leaves, dry in a bowl so they curve. The trickiest part by far is finding somewhere for them to dry where your toddler can't get them with his grubby little fingers.

I wanted the snowflakes to sparkle, so once they were dry I made some icing by beating two egg whites until frothy, and then slowly adding 4 1/2 cups powdered sugar. This makes an icing that's easy for piping. I used a size 2 tip and filled a pastry bag (for full pastry bag instructions, check out my Buttercream Rosette Tutorial). Then just go to town piping designs on your snowflakes! Once piped, sprinkle with edible sparkles and it gives a great affect! I let these dry for a few hours.

For these cupcakes, I used a size 1M star tip and cream cheese frosting. I made the frosting nice and thick to support the sugar paste decorations (again, for more instructions on how to use a 1M tip, check out the Buttercream Rosette Tutorial). After frosting the cupcakes, I sprinkled with the edible sparkles, and then simply added the sugar paste decorations to the top!

Snowflake martini, anyone?

Advent Calendar Fun

I am so excited about this Christmas season!  This year, my two year old is starting to understand more of what is going on.  It has been so much fun watching him ask us to turn on the Christmas lights, plus he has already learned to sing Jingle Bells.  The constant threat of him knocking over the tree is not so much fun, but whatever...

I decided this year to make an Advent calendar, as I thought Sully would enjoy it, and I also like the

idea of incorporating the more liturgical aspects of Christmas as well as the festive.

So, I did what was only natural, I checked out Pinterest.  Fun ideas for Advent calendars abound, and I got some great inspiration.  I originally planned to knock off a Pinterest post and create a calendar out of my mini-cupcake pan, until I considered the fact that I only have one mini-cupcake pan, and I'll probably need it over the next 24 days.  So...forget that!

I then realized that I have an over abundance of small boxes in my craft stash, and a lot of fun paper. So I came up with the plan to wrap 24 different boxes for each day of the Advent season.  This is the easiest Advent calendar ever because then you just stick the boxes under the tree.  I like the thought of a Sully's first gift unwrapping experience being about something other than toys or candy.  I also like that each box will be labeled with a number, so he can practice counting while having fun!  Lastly, we've been working a lot on "waiting" and "patience," so I'm hoping opening just one box a day while leaving the others will be a good activity.

 So, I gathered all the boxes and compiled all my pretty holiday paper, and got to work.

First, I wrote down 24 fun holiday things to do.  Some of them are purely festive like "Watch a holiday movie tonight," while others try to incorporate the true meaning of Christmas, like, "Pray for someone in need today."  I was sure to throw a few fun activities for the whole family, like "Have a festive cocktail tonight"!

Then, I wrapped each activity up in festive paper.  A few I made into pretty cards which I hid in our tree.  Sully (and Mr. Sugar Dish) will have to find the gift each day labeled with the appropriate number, unwrap it, and we'll then have fun as a family completing the activity!

I'm hoping this will become a great family tradition, and one of Sully's first Christmas memories.  So far we're off to a good start.  Yesterday, we opened box number one, which said "Take a walk and hug a neighbor!"  So we set off in our double stroller and went for a stroll.  Today, the card said "Kiss someone you love," and we all know this mama loves any excuse to get extra sugar...