Up coming blog posts.

Hey guys!

I want your opinion on what you want to see here on Her Kitchen and Crafts

Here is my list of things I want to do some are from my original list and some are new.

I eventually would like to accomplish all of them.

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1.    Julia Child's Beef Bourguignon

2.    I want to learn to decorate sugar cookies.

3.    Attempt to decorate a cake.

4.    Sew something.

5.    Chocolate cupcakes with raspberry frosting 

6.    Cupcakes with ice cream inside

7.    Homemade marshmallows 

8.    Decorative thumb tacks

9.    More cooking recipes

10.         Checkered cake tutorial 

Leave a comment and let me know!

Rainbow Cake

I finally did it!

after several hours and a very messy kitchen. 

I managed to produce a semi-decent rainbow layer cake. 

Here is how I did it! 

Ingredients:

1 box of white cake mix prepared according to the directions.

A variety of food coloring colors....I chose to use the wilton gels because I read somewhere that they work better because they dont add moisture to the cake. 

Divide the cake in to equal parts depending on how many colors you plan on using. To make this easier I used a measuring bowl. Since I they knew how much batter I had it was much easier to divide it up. 

Once the batter is divided add the colors. I had to play with the amount of coloring I put in to get the right colors. 

Bake each color individually. I cut the bake time in half for each pan because there was such a small amount of batter in each pan. Once the cake has completely cooled remove the cake from the pan. I mean completely cooled. I ran into some issues with my cakes being too moist and warm. Even after you remove it from the pan let it sit before you level the layer. Once you have done this too all of the layers build your cake! I suggest doing a crumb coat first and then icing the cake. Unfortunately I do not have any advice for that portion because I did not do a very nice job of icing the cake. 

Hereis a simple frosting recipe.

Hopefully I can make another one soon and improve on the look of it!


-Courtney

Coffee Cake!

The first thing that comes to mind is YUM! This cake is so moist and irresistible!

No babbling, on with the recipe!

Preheat the oven to 350. 

Mix the following ingredients together throughly:

1 box yellow cake mix

1/2 pint of sour cream

1 small package of vanilla instant pudding

4 eggs

3/4 cup oil

Set this mixture aside, and mix 3/4 cup of sugar and 1Tablespoon of cinnamon and set this mixture aside. Grease an angel food cake pan using butter or oil, sprinkle the cinnamon and sugar mixture over the greased pan. 

Add 1/3 of the batter to the pan. It will sort of glop into the pan, it won't really spread. the spinkle some of the cinnamon sugar mixture over the batter. Glop some more batter in and sprinkle again, and repeat one more time. 

Bake for 45-60 minutes. DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN BEFORE 45 MINUTES! 

Let the cake cook and remove the cake from the pan, then enjoy! It doesn't matter when you eat coffee cake, it is always delicious!!







Now I have  special announcement. I am hoping to open an ETSY shop where 20% of all proceeds go to the Susan G. Komen foundation!


I hope you enjoy your coffee cake! Keep your eyes peeled in the next week or so fo some RAINBOW CAKE!


-Courtney 

Homemade Drink Coasters

Hey there! 

I am on a roll this month! 2 posts!!!!

On to the good stuff! 

Today I have handmade coasters for you guys! 

Here is what you'll need:

A 12X12 sheet of scrapbook paper, a paper cutter, mod podge, a sponge brush, and four 41/4 in X 41/4 in tiles, you will also need cork board. 

I found my tiles at Lowes for less than a quarter each. 

Next you will need to cut your paper down to 41/4 X 41/4. 

Then glue your paper to your tiles and brush the mod podge over the top of the paper. 

I actually found that it works best to secure the  paper to the tile with the mod podge. 

You will need about 3 layers of mod podge but let them dry completely before adding the next layer. 

Also run your brush in the same direction each time or you will end up with hash marks on your coaster. 

unless of course you want hash marks.

Next you will need to seal your coasters with an acrylic sealant so that the moisture from your cup does not disturb your design. 

I sprayed mine 3 times and let it dry for 12 hours each time. 

After all of the spraying, I cut down the cork board to 41/4X41/4. 

I then removed the backing (I bought the self adhesive kind.) and stuck the cork board to the tile. 

Almost finished!

Stack them up and tie them together with a bow or maybe a strip of paper that reads "Happy Birthday" 

(Or what ever the occasion maybe.)

Now you're done! 

I hope you enjoyed this, because I sure did! 

-Courtney

My Tiny Kitchen # 1

Hi everyone, 

Wait is there an “everyone”? Does anyone read this thing besides my family and friends? I guess that still constitutes an everyone.....

So, 

Hi everyone (again), 

I have decided that whenever I cook or bake and share it with you all I will call it "My Tiny Kitchen". Lame? I thought so too, but I am sticking with it. So here is my first Tiny Kitchen

Today I have a special treat for you all. 

Pillow cookies!

I first saw these cookies on Bakerella. I immediately fell in love.

These things are delicious.  What is a pillow cookie you ask?

Well a pillow cookie is a chocolate chip cookie with a brownie inside.

They are super simple to make and taste delicious. The down side is that since you need to squish a brownie inside of cookie dough, it takes an awful lot of dough to make a single cookie. An average size batch of dough only yields about 12 cookies. The plus side? Chocolaty deliciousness the size of your face!

They are really simple to make.

Step 1) Prepare your favorite box of brownies according to the package.  

Step 2) prepare your favorite chocolate chip cookie, cookie dough. 

Step 3) Shove a 1in x 1inch brownie into a half a cup of cookie dough. 

(due the messy nature of this step I was unable to utilize my camera.)

Step 4) Bake at 350° for about 15 minutes. 

Step 5) Remove from oven. 

Step 6) let cool & devour. 

Tips: My cookies were done in about 15 minutes. Your bake time may vary so keep an eye on the oven. My cookies also spread a lot and did not bake up around the brownie; it is my theory that the butter in the dough was too warm. I read later it is best to refrigerate your dough for about 1hr prior to making your first batch and then again in-between batches. I would also advise you to make a few batches. These cookies were gone in a matter of minutes!

-Courtney

No time to craft!

I am so sorry everyone for not keeping up with this blog as I had planned. I have not given up so please don't give up on me! I really hope to have something for you guys soon! 

Happy Birthday to me!

So many goodies for my birthday! 

Hey everyone! Sorry I have been M.I.A. lately. Our downstairs neighbors say we make too much noise, so I have been afraid to do anything that might be "loud". Haha screw that...do you see all those goodies!?!?!?  Looks like I'll be spending a lot of time in my tiny kitchen! 

My mom and dad got me a nice FARBERWARE set, it includes: a pie pan, ramekins (don’t know what to make in those, but I’ll find something), a casserole dish, au gratin pan (see above comment), a soufflé dish, and a loaf pan (not pictured, it broke during shipping.) I also have some pampered chef on the way, a cupcake pan maybe!?

My boyfriend’s parents got me a 101 piece professional decorating set, I would tell you what it includes but the list would be really long. So here is a picture!

My boyfriend’s sister got me a checkerboard cake pan set…. see picture below….

My butt head of a “little” brother actually scored some big points and got me some M.A.C make-up and a little” created by” stamp so that I can mark my work, the best present…. he took the day off and came to lunch with my family and my boyfriend’s.

 Thanks everyone who helped make my birthday awesome! For some unexplainable reason I was just not excited for my birthday this year, but it is turning out to be phenomenal! Stay tuned for some future deliciousness!

- Courtney