Paper Carnation Blossoms

My husband's brother is getting married this August and we had the chance to go up to Chicago to meet the bride over the fourth of July weekend. We all hit it off quite quickly and when I found out that she didn't have anyone hosting a bridal shower for her I jumped up and took the opportunity to volunteer! Though I could have gone the way of wacky crazy fun, I decided that she should have something more sophisticated and "pretty"...cause that was my first impression of her. So I've started planning and without giving away too much the theme for the party is loosely based off the quote, "Bloom Where You're Planted." Having grown up in another religion and then joining the LDS church later in life, I understand her position in her family as the only member as well and the great adversity that comes with learning the truth about the Gospel and overcoming all the trials along the way to becoming the daughter of God that you're meant to be! I guess I just gave away more than I wanted!

Such a theme needed some pretty awesome decor, and I've just completed about 250 of these little paper carnation blossoms that will adorn several items. My camera is on it's out, but I hope you can see that these little flowers are quite beautiful! I found the tutorial to make them on PlanetJune.com This website has easy to follow directions and the results look even more amazing in person than they do in the pictures! I plan on using a variation of this to make some daisies as well and will post those when and IF I've succeeded in designing them. Hope you enjoy!

Blueberry Pie

I woke up this morning with a craving for blueberry pie, and so made a run to the market to pick up some cartons of blueberries while they were still cheap (Aldi, I LOVE you!) After rolling out the dough for the top crust I thought to myself, I bet those pretty butterfly cookie cutters I bought at The Cookie Cutter Shop would look amazing on this! So I pulled them out, cut several butterflies out and came up with this pretty pie! The sad part about pies that look so pretty...you don't want to cut into them. I'll get over it later tonight when it's cool enough to eat! Here's the recipe:

Blueberry Pie

1 recipe double crust pie pastry (I'll post below)
5 cups blueberries (about 2.5 cartons)
3 tbsp flour
2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnimon

1. Prepare double crust pie recipe as directed.

2. In a large bowl, wash blueberries and drain. Coat with flour, sugar and cinnimon. Pour into pie pan.

3. Place top pie crust layer over top of blueberry filling and seal edges as desired. Be sure you have a center vent. Decorate as desired. Brush with milk...may add extra sugar to top if you'd like. I chose to use my butterfly cutters for the center vent and all decor. Place foil around edges of pie to prevent over browning or burning. Place on foil lined cookie sheet to protect oven from any bubbling over.

4. Bake in 375 degree oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil edging. Bake an additional 25-30 minutes or until blueberries are bubbly and tender. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack. Serve with scoop of icecream. Enjoy!

Double Crust Pie Pastry

2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup plus 2tbsp shortening
4-6 tbsp cool water

1. Combine flour and salt into large bowl.

2. Add shortening and blend until pea sized lumps form.

3. Add water 1 tbsp at a time and blend until moist but not sticky. Should stay together when squished in a fist, but still be crumbly.

4. Divide dough in half. Set aside one half for top of dough. Roll out one half of dough for bottom layer, rolling 1 inch larger than pie pan. Place in pie pan, insert filling.

5. Roll out second half of dough. Cut out center vent with decorative cookie cutter. Place over pie filling and trim 1/2 inch overlap to bottom layer. Tuck under first layer pie pastry and "pinch" edges closed. Decorate trim as desired. Cut slits in top next to pie vent.

Butterfly Cookies!

I disappeared for a while there, sorry about that! Hubby and I just moved into our new place and are still working on unpacking and getting settled in. However, my kitchen is open for business and I've already started working on some yummy treats! The inspiration for this latest one came from the beautiful butterfly cookies at Sweetopia. I'm new at the whole cookie decorating thing but I think mine turned out fairly well! My biggest excitement upon getting moved in was the arrival of my beautiful new butterfly cookie cutters from The Cookie Cutter Shop! As soon as I opened them I got to work on my first batch EVER of sugar cookies. The purpose for this particular batch of cookies: to say THANK YOU to all the great friends from our church that helped us move and clean our last apartment. So without further ado, I submit my cookies for your viewing pleasure!



The Cookie Cutter Shop sends a little card with their sugar cookie recipe, which is what I used. You can use your own recipe. For the glaze on top I used the following recipe:

2lbs confectioiners sugar (aka icing sugar)
1tsp lemon juice
2 egg whites

1. Beat lemon juice and egg whites in a mixing bowl, slowly adding sugar. Beat until soft peaks appear. Icing is ready for piping at this stage.

2. For liquid icing, add enough water to soft peak stage icing after piping that it remains slightly thickened. When a spoon drizzle blends easily into the mix it's ready.

So there you go! I'm hoping to make some more yummy decorated cookies in the future!