Bye Bye Berries

This little, 6 inch cheesecake is the perfect size for a small gathering, but it was surprisingly hard to find a recipe with portions I needed for my new pan, so I made one myself!

Lining with parchment paper is an important step!

By not opening the oven, and filling the pan up just enough, I got a perfect, crack free surface!

But I overfilled the second one, and the top of it cracked from boiling over, so be careful!

 But regardless of the blemishes, it really was immensely delicious! 

 

If you want, you can put some raspberry near the edge halfway through pouring batter, for stronger berry flavor. I changed up this recipe a little to write mine.

Vintage Revisited

Rachelle and I both got new dresses at Blue Velvet Vintage here in Austin, Tx that we are completely in love with. I got my sweet white sandals at A-Town, a local boutique, and am wearing a cameo that belonged to my amazing great-grandmother Ruby.

Postal for Postal

Here's a doodle over a photo of a really great door I saw in New Orleans. This song cover is beautiful.

 

Pink Lemonade Macarons

          There certainly is an art to making Macarons, but I firmly believe anyone can do it as long as a kitchen scale, and timer are used to keep things exact. I am certainly no expert myself, but have gotten some swell cookies in the past!
          This recipe, stuffed with this to die for lemon curd recipe, made some pretty divine tasting treats. When actually making the recipe though, I would highly recommend this walkthough.

Here's a little video I made of exactly how I use my kitchen aid(or mixer) to make a great, "lava" textured Macaron batter.

I brought some to my old French teacher, and he loved them, which of course made me all too happy!!

Berry Delicious Cupcakes

So, to make these I used this cake recipe, with the cream cheese frosting and cooking time from this recipe. Martha Stewart recipes rock, but I wanted a really moist cake, that I never seem to get with cupcake recipes. These are so delicious, I cannot even put it into words.

Ma Mère

 A little while back I took some photos of my mom, and I thought they would be nice to share. She sure is one stylin lady!

Crafty Craving

 I've decided to revisit candle making in a much more detailed way. Here are the steps it takes to create a smooth, soy, bubble free candle that burns evenly. Each time I do this I get better, but it is so simple anyone with these few ingredients and a double boiler can do it at home as well! 

 For the Candles:

Containers that are heat resistant, Crayons for color, soy wax, any scent of essential oil, sticks for poking, zinc core wicks, and wick tabs.

Tools:

A double boiler, candy thermometer, hot glue gun, and glue sticks.

 Last time I made candles I poured it all in one step, and when it burned it was full of air pockets, that create a less smooth looking candle. This time I did a few more things in between pours to assure a smooth, bubble free candle.

 Use hot glue to stick your wick tabs to the bottom of the containers. In a double boiler heat your wax with a crayon of your choice, and 15- 20 drops of essential oil, until it reaches 160 degrees.

 Pour 3/4 of the way full, unless you plan on doing multiple layers of colors.

 As it cools, the candles will become cloudy, before they are completely solid poke holes in the tops of them about a half inch down. Then fill the holes with more of your wax mixture, and fill the containers to the top.

 Cut your wicks!

 Voila!