Merry, Merry Christmas!

Hope your holiday is filled with sweet surprises!

A peek through my kitchen window...it's been very bright and sunny and warm this Christmas.  It is usually cold and damp and foggy.

We are busy baking in the kitchen this morning in preparation for our holiday at my sister's house.

Cooling right now is a Chocolate Peppermint Schnapps Cake

and

currently baking away is a Pumpkin Brûlée Pie in a Chocolate Crust.

Oh my....that pie filling is divine!  It's from Bon Appetit magazine and I heard about it on NPR (love me my NPR) from a pair of bloggers....

at The BittenWord.

I searched high and low for a kitchen torch but couldn't find one, so Wood Bee is loaning me his vintage blowtorch that was my grandpa's.

Here's the vintage box it came in - sold it on etsy.

We are looking forward to spending time with my family and chatting with Worker Bee's family over the phone.

For unto you a Son is born....

Blessings to you and yours this Christmas!

Buzzingly,

A Little Christmas Treat

Hello???  Have you given up on me?  I sure hope not, but boy I have just not had time to buzz by for a visit or even hardly think of a post.

However, a wee bit of inspiration struck when I was packaging up some treats that Baby Bee and I conspired on to sell at her Winter Program bake sale for middle school band.

Seriously, I always think a little bit of pretty packaging always makes something look more appealing and shows how much you care.

Baby Bee baked some delicious Peppermint Chocolate Miniature Bundt Cakes – I think they might be called Bundt-lette cakes – and I just had to do my best to make them sell for top dollar.

I  made some sweet little tags using digital scrapbook paper and a fun font.  

Then, I put each cake in a little clear treat bag, 

 threw in some peppermint candies, and tied them up with baker's twine – red and white, of course.

And then I thought....how cute would it be to make these little cakes with different flavors, like maybe Kahlua or cinnamon and then toss in some coffee beans or cinnamon candies?  Well....it's an idea, right?  Is it a good one?

 Would you buy these at a bake sale?

 What would you pay?  (Not sure what they ended up selling for.)

Well, the play has now closed - looking for pictures - I never had a chance to take any myself - to share with you.  

And I can't wait to show you what my students made for Christmas gifts this year!  They turned out so cute.

Thanks for still buzzing along with me!  Only one more day of school and then it's Winter Break!!!!  Can't wait!

Buzzingly,

Why Hello There!

What on earth happened to me?

As I was telling some of my friends, I lost my mojo.  It just disappeared!  I lost my mojo for cooking, for gardening, for.....everything!

Good news is I found it.  I cleaned out my closet this weekend and suddenly my blog mojo was back!

(Lucky for Worker Bee and Baby Bee, my cooking mojo came back a couple of days ago.)

So what will my 

first 

post 

lost

mojo 

topic 

be?

BAKING!

I really love to eat baked goods.  I can't say I love to bake them though, as much as I love to eat them.  But when I find a quick recipe that I don't have to be super precise with I'm all over it like salt on a potato.  (Ummm...yeah....I just made up that simile.)

So here goes....

(it's like riding a bicycle right? posting I mean.)

I adapted this slightly from the Cake Mix Doctor.

1 box of yellow cake mix

1 box of instant vanilla pudding

1 8 oz carton vanilla yogurt

1/2 cup canola oil

1/4 cup orange juice

1 tsp ground cinnamon

4 large eggs

1 1/2 cups mixed berries (I used blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries)

1.  Preheat oven to 350º.  Butter and flour a 10 inch tube pan.

2.  Reserve 2 Tbl of the cake mix and set aside.

3.  Place all the ingredients (except the berries) in a large mixing bowl.  Mix on low speed for 1 minute and then medium speed for 2 minutes. (this batter will be thick)

4.  Toss the berries with the reserved cake mix.

5.  Pour the batter in the prepared tube pan.  Gently fold in the berries.

6.  Bake in the oven for 45-50 minutes until the cake is golden brown.  The cake should pull away from the sides of the pan.

6.  Let it cool for 20 minutes on a wire rack.  Invert it onto a rack and let it cool another 30 minutes or so.

7.  Place cooled cake on plate and sprinkle sifted powdered sugar over the top of it.

Enjoy!

Still a busy time here at Sweet Bee Cottage so I won't be buzzing around too much but I just couldn't let another day go by without saying hello!

And thank you for hanging in with me during my blog break! 

I hope to be buzzin' along with you quite a bit this summer!

A Bake Sale...er Sort Of

Baby Bee's dance group recently had a fundraising dinner and silent auction.  One thing that seems to always sell well are homemade baked goods.  So Saturday afternoon (before the auction) the Baking Stadium at Sweet Bee Cottage got busy!

Within three hours my baking assistants (Worker Bee & Baby Bee) and I whipped up three yumptious baked treats for bidding.

We made Peanut Butter Brownies (a family favorite),

Orange-Pistachio Biscotti (my mom bid on these because she says I never give her any - I'll have to remedy that - or maybe I should keep her wanting more so she'll bid them up again next year),

and Buttermilk Devil's Food Cupcakes with Dark Chocolate Buttercream Frosting!

I always try to make the package attractive too for these events.

I started off with some pretty plastic trays from Dollar Tree (the ones that look like old-fashioned pressed glass, but they're really plastic)and a paper doily (also from Dollar Tree).

Then I googled images of the items I baked (mine were still baking during this time so I couldn't photograph my own), added the item name with a cute font, and printed them out.  I cut a little slit on either side of the label, slid a ribbon through, and tied it off.  They sold for over $50, so I must have done pretty well!

And....speaking of bake sales -

are you aware of the Great American Bake Sale?

Sewing Bee, Baby Bee, and I have formed a team for this event.  I hope to add some more team members too!  I'll keep you posted on how it comes along.

You can join too by going here!

All proceeds from this event will go to help end childhood hunger.  

Do you have any tips or recipes to share?

Thanks for buzzing by!

 

Just a Few of the Reasons I Haven't Blogged Much Lately

Oh my......life!

It sure gets in the way of blogging creatively sometimes!  Know what I mean?

Well, I have some exciting news!  My school was nominated to be a California Distinguished School and today was our visitation.   You know how it is when company is coming over and there are so many little projects that need to be done and so much clean up?  Well picture that at a school with 27 classrooms, 16 classroom teachers, and multiple support staff.  Oh yes....I've been a cleaning organizing fool.  (And we qualified!  It's quite an honor!) 

And.....my principal asked me to help decorate the meeting room for the morning breakfast and luncheon.  So I've had a few projects to work on for that.  Did I take pictures?  Of course not!  But I did bring the lunch menu board home and got a pic of that so you can get an idea of some of the things I made.  

This is actually a chalkboard that hangs in my studio/guest room.  If you didn't guess, our school colors are blue and yellow.  A friend with better writing than me penned the menu with some of those fun chalk markers.  I made the little bunting with my cricut.

Did you see my little bluebird?  It's glued to the top corner of the chalkboard.  It broke off a Mary Engelbreit item (can't even remember what it was) and I just thought it was so stinkin' cute I had to save it and bring me some cheer.  Glue's a marvelous thing!

So, that was one reason I haven't posted or visited for awhile.

Now, I also was in a fun polka dottie swap from Cutie Pie Cottage!  So much fun!  I was partnered with famous Sue from It's a Very Cherry World.  I was pretty sure what color I needed to get for Sue.  So, after sewing the apron (which Sewing Bee helped me on tremendously) I decided I was good enough to sew a scarf!  

Okay....it WAS only a tube and then I knotted the fringe.....but I think it turned out cute!  Baby Bee tried to keep it for herself - that silly girl!

I found a cute tin at Hobby Lobby and decided I had to fill it with something yummy (and cherry, of course).  I found an intriguing recipe for Chocolate Cherry Biscotti.  (I pinned it of course!)

Oh my stars!  Oh my cherries!  Oh my taste buds!

These were delicious!  Just a wonderful combination of chewy cherries, crunchy almonds, sea salt, and chocolate.  Here's the link to the recipe (mine didn't look quite like hers did, but the taste was divine).

YUM!

And finally.....this is the weekend.  No more procrastinating.

We're painting Baby Bee's room and redecorating it with some thrifty finds for her 11th birthday present!  I'll keep you posted on our progress.  It won't be an overnight transformation but I hope it won't take to long!  I'm excited to tackle it.

Thank you so much for buzzing by for a visit!  

I saved some biscotti for you!

(But you better hurry, they're going fast!)

Have I Run Out of Ideas?

Say it ain't so, Sweet Bee!

Naw - I haven't run out of ideas, but I sure have run out of time to work on them.  

Do you remember this project?  

Well right now it's laying on sawhorses in my sunroom/dining room where it was recently caulked and is awaiting its paint. 

I vow to finish that project by this weekend!

But I did want to share with you one of the tastiest giveaways I've ever won!

I won a giveaway (a few months ago now) from the ever so delightful Kim from Cheap Chic Home.  King Arthur Flour was having a wonderful giveaway through her blog.  It was a muffin extravaganza!

I got those fun tulip (?) muffin wrappers.  

Don't my muffins look all fancy?

It came with the Vermont Maple Walnut Muffin Mix - yummmmmy on a cold winter day.

And also a basic muffin mix.  

I've added chopped dark chocolate to this mix with some orange zest.  YUMMM!

(that's what you see pictured above)

It is SOOOOO much better than any muffin mix I have ever bought at the grocery store.  

And another time....(yes, this mix is good for more than just one batch of muffins)

I added some crushed blueberries and a sprinkling of nutmeg and raw sugar on top. 

(of course, there are no pictures of that 'cause I made those for Baby Bee's birthday sleepover breakfast and they were devoured by ravenous 9 and 10 year old girls before I could even blink)

So thank you Kim 

and 

thank you King Arthur Flour! 

Oh and by the way, King Arthur Flour? 

------dear readers, avert your eyes now if you don't want to read my shameless begging --------- 

Any time you want to have another giveaway, I'm available! 

(that was terrible, wasn't it, but do you blame me?) 

Thank you so much for buzzin' by!  I have enough mix left to make some muffins for us - what kind would you like?  Now don't be shy!  I'd be happy to make you a little treat.

Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes - Oh My!

To me, there are two flavors that go together beautifully AND make me think of Christmas at the same time.  What would those flavors be you ask?  Glad you asked ('cause if you hadn't, I would have told you anyway)!

Chocolate and Peppermint!

So earlier this week I buzzed over to Sue's for Rednesday

and saw this intriguing recipe for Chocolate Peppermint

Cupcakes from Nancy Creative.  

So Baby Bee and I decided to tackle this recipe last night (Baby Bee was motivated because Advent Angel had suggested it in her little note she left for Baby Bee).

Cute!  Fun!  and VERY DELICIOUS!

But probably not the kind of recipe to tackle on a Friday night after a long week at work.  There might have been a few grumpy mom moments - okay - no might about it - there WERE a few grumpy mom moments.

I used my iPad to show us the recipe.

We use our kitchen table for baking.  Our funky old house does not have enough clearance between the counter and top cabinets to put my Kitchen Aid Dream Machine (yes, that's my name for it - it is a dream and it's worked like a champ for about 15 years now) so the kitchen table it is.

To make less of a mess I measure on a jelly roll pan and then easy clean up.

Mix Dream Machine!  Mix!

Want to know my secret for measuring the same amount in each muffin/cupcake tin?

Photo by Worker Bee - He wants his props!

I use an old-fashioned ice cream scoop!  I use it for cookies too.

Well Nancy Creative has it all over me for glamourous looking cupcakes, but I think they still look festive.  

So festive in fact, I'm going to subject you to even more cupcake shots.....

Keep looking....

You thought I was done?  Still more.....

Gotta' keep it real....

These are really delicious - but the frosting was a mess to work with.  It had marshmallow creme as a major ingredient and it was so sticky!  I couldn't get it to smash down properly and then there were the crushed peppermints.  More stickiness!

I would definitely make them again, but I might try a slight frosting variation.  I'll have to do some research on that.

But now they look so yumptious!  And they really taste YUMPTIOUS!

One more gratuitous cupcake shot....

Thanks for buzzin' by!  I am always so delighted when you come for a visit.

Wanna' stay for dinner tonight?  We've having Roasted Butternut Squash Soup.  The veggies are roasting right now and they smell heavenly!  Butternut squash, celery root, onion, sweet potato, and sage leaves from our kitchen garden......Can you smell it?  I sure wish you could!

Hope you are staying warm and cozy this weekend!

It just wouldn't be Christmas without a little giveaway from me to you!

Stop by tomorrow for more info!