You're a Peach!

Peaches.  Peaches are my absolute favorite thing about summer.  Peaches and tomatoes. 
Am I right?

If you've never eaten a Texas peach, get yourself on down here quick.  I hear Georgia has peaches, too.  Have you ever been to Atlanta?  Did you notice that every other street is called Peachtree?  Nope, not confusing at all.

I lived in Atlanta for a bit after college, in flight attendant training for Delta.  Would you like to hear another flight attendant story?  Oh yay.

I remember my mom was so excited for me to go through training so I could come home and teach her the proper way to pack a suitcase.  I was looking forward to learning the best way to pop open a Coke can without breaking a fingernail.

Well, turns out...flight attendant training is really about the safety and health of the passengers, not packing suitcases and popping Coke cans.  Who knew?

One day in training, the instructor was talking to us about dehydration...signs a passenger might be dehydrated and a warning to avoid it ourselves.

"A lot of people walk around in a dehydrated state and don't even know it," our instructor said.  A sweet girl in my class raised her hand and asked, "Is Georgia one of those dehydrated states?"

And that's my flight attendant story for the day.

Let's make some decorated peach cookies!  You'll need:

• peach shaped sugar cookies
• royal icing tinted peach (using a mix of AmeriColor Soft Pink & Lemon Yellow), chocolate brown, and leaf green
• disposable icing bags
• couplers and tips: #2, #4, & #3
• squeeze bottles, one preferably with a small, removable tip
• toothpicks
• clean paintbrushes (2)
• cotton swab
• AmeriColor Soft Pink & Lemon Yellow food coloring
• meringue powder
• clear sanding sugar

Use a #2 tip to outline the body of the peach in peach icing. Reserve some of the piping consistency icing.

{I made peach by mixing together AmeriColor soft pink & lemon yellow colors.  No real ratio here...mix it a bit at a time until you get the shade you desire.}

Thin the remaining peach icing with water, a bit at a time, stirring with a silicone spatula, until it is the consistency of a thick syrup.  You'll want to drop a "ribbon" of icing back into the bowl and have it disappear in a count of "one thousand one, one thousand two." Four is too thick, one is too thin.  Count of 2-3 is good.  Cover with a damp dishcloth and let sit for several minutes.

Stir gently with a silicone spatula to pop and large air bubbles that have formed.  Pour into squeeze bottle.

Fill in the outline with the thinned flood icing, using a toothpick to guide to the edges and to pop large air bubbles.

Use a #4 tip to pipe a stem with brown icing.

For the leaves, thin the icing as directed for the peach icing, but instead of thinning it all the way, stop when the ribbon of icing is thicker than regular flood icing, and disappears in 12-15 seconds.  Cover with a damp dishcloth and let sit for several minutes.

Transfer the icing to a squeeze bottle with a smaller tip. (Usually these are bottles with removable tips.  Use the one provided or use a #2 icing tip.)  Pipe an outline with this slightly thinned icing and immediately fill entirely with the same icing.

Switch the tip on the peach piping icing to a #3 and pipe detail onto the body of the peach. It's very similar to making a heart.

Let the cookies dry uncovered overnight or 6-8 hours.

The next day, mix about 1 drop of each soft pink and lemon yellow colorings with 2 drops of water. Combine with a paintbrush.

 

Dip a cotton swab into the mixture, blot on a paper towel until most of the color is gone, then dab onto one side of the cookie.

Let dry for 30 minutes.

If desired, add some sparkly peach "fuzz."  When I make cookies, sometimes get indecisive about whether I like with sanding sugar or without.  Instagram voted "with," and I agree, but feel free to skip this step if you like fuzz-free.

Mix 1/2 teaspoon meringue powder with 1/2 teaspoon water.  Brush onto the body of the peach, sprinkle on the sanding sugar and shake off the excess.  I use a basket-style coffee filter to catch the excess.

Peachy keen, jellybean.

The only school supplies you really need...

New pencils, backpacks, markers, loose-leaf paper, colored folders...this is what back-to-school is all about, right?

I used to love school supplies, before I had kiddo and was presented with "the list."  You know, the list that mandates you have construction paper and Manila paper both in sizes that are the exact OPPOSITE of the first three stores you check. 

Back-to-school always has me thinking cookies.  {Let's be honest, most every time of year does.}  I'm not sure if my mother really *did* always have freshly baked cookies for us on the first day of school, or I invented that memory.  Either way, back-to-school gives me cookie brain.

With school just around the corner, you may want to whip up a batch of these for lunchboxes or an after-school treat.  Or, maybe just maybe...eat the entire batch yourself.  I'll never tell.

Nutella-Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

{makes 24}

24 teaspoons Nutella
2 & 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 sticks (1 cup) salted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips

Line a cookie sheet with waxed paper.  Dollop on 24 teaspoons of Nutella.  Freeze for at least 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, soda and salt.  Set aside.

In a large bowl of an electric mixer, use the paddle attachment to cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy.  Add in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Beat in the vanilla.

Add the flour on low speed in three additions.  Stir in the chocolate chips.  Chill in the refrigerator for 15-30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350.  Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Scoop the chilled dough 2" apart onto the cookie sheets with a 2 TBSP cookie scoop, or use a spoon.  With your fingers, pull the cookie dough apart in the middle and place a frozen Nutella dollop inside.  Cover with the remaining dough.

{Between batches, place the Nutella back in the freezer.}

Bake the cookies for 12 minutes, until done, but still soft.  Let sit on the cookie sheet for two minutes, then transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

{{psst....if you love the idea of Nutella in a cookie, be sure to check out Dara's Nutella & Sea Salt  Stuffed Sugar Cookies.  They are DIVINE!}}

The only back-to-school supplies you really need?  Cookies.

Continuing on with the Cheerios Motif...

Salted caramel.  Have you tried it?  

Now, I'm a chocolate girl, through and through, but salted caramel has me a bit smitten. I had a salted caramel cupcake in Seattle that was absolute perfection.  Don't even get me started on Teresa's Salted Caramel Frosting.

After making the Peanut Butter Cup Cheerios Bars, these Dulce de Leche Cheerios started calling my name.

Caramel Cheerios are perfectly delicious in a bowl with milk, and would be perfectly delicious in a bar on their own.  But, BUT (!), with layers of salted caramel sauce and just a *sprinkling* of flaky sea salt to make SALTED CARAMEL CHEERIOS BARS?  Oh baby.

{Did you know that food bloggers are not supposed to use the word "delicious?"  I just used it twice in the same sentence.  I hope I don't get kicked out of the union.}
 

Salted Caramel Cheerios Bars

for the sauce:
1 (14 oz.) package Kraft caramels, unwrapped
1/3 cup evaporated milk
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

for the bars:
3 TBSP salted butter
1 (10 oz.) package marshmallows
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
6 cups Dulce de Leche Cheerios
flaky sea salt

Grease a 8" or 9" square pan and set aside.

In a medium saucepan, heat the caramels and evaporated milk over low heat, stirring frequently, until melted.  Stir in the salt.  Keep warm over very low heat and stir occasionally while making the bars.

In a large pot or a dutch-oven, heat the butter, marshmallows, and vanilla over low heat until melted.  Remove from heat and stir in the Cheerios.

Place your hand in a baggie, spray with cooking spray and use your covered hand to press 1/2 of the mixture into the pan.  Drizzle on a heaping 1/4 cup of the caramel sauce.

Add the remaining Cheerios mixture on top.  Drizzle on 1/3 cup of the caramel sauce.  Sprinkle on flaky sea salt.  Set aside to cool and set before serving. (A bench scraper is the best tool for cutting.)

One word of warning...you will have extra caramel sauce.  Use it as an ice cream topping, to drizzle on your morning latte, or. or. or....do like I did and grab a spoon.

Dear Cheerios, may I suggest your next flavor be birthday cake? ;)

Where the Magic Happens

Sometimes you're lucky enough to be where the magic happens.

Last weekend, I was here...

Have a guess?

 

How about now?

Now?

Now?!?

So, a few of us were were at THE ranch for a cheese (bread & red pepper jam) class taught by the beautiful Rebecca of Foodie with Family.
{recipe and instructions are over at PW's}

We laughed, we cried, we squealed, we sang songs from Grease.  We wondered what our parents were thinking when they let us WATCH Grease.  We made "cheesy" puns that were "whey" bad.  Get it?

I really, really, really want you to know these girls if you don't already.

 

{Rebecca, me, Robyn, Amy, Wendy, Sandy, photo credit: Sandy}

Sandy decided this looks like a promo shot of a new TV series, "Pioneer Wives."

or maybe, Real Housewives of the Ranch. 

This is Ree.  Hostess with the mostess.  If you don't know Ree, please come out from under your rock now.  If you are not living under a rock, I hope you get a chance to meet Ree someday.  What you love about The Pioneer Woman blog, books, TV show, etc., you'll find tenfold in Ree herself.  Genuine, generous, FUNNY, and can rock a pair of skinny jeans.
{I'm not jealous about that last bit or anything.}

Sandy.  Sandy is a-DOR-able and was my roomie for the weekend and I've decided that she needs to move her whole family to Texas from Oregon and be my next-door neighbor.  (Too much to ask?) Sandy publishes the blog Reluctant Entertainer and has a book of the same name.  Her book really spoke to me...I AM a reluctant entertainer (entertaining means I have to mop the kitchen)...and made me look at entertaining differently.

Georgia.  Miss Georgia.  You've met Georgia and her book Girl Hunter here before.  What can I say?  Georgia kinda does it all.  She's drop-dead gorgeous, hunts her own food, and is an exquisite cook.  She also elevates the plaid shirt to high fashion. 
{photo credit for this and horse pic up top: Wendy}

Wendy.  Wendy, Wendy, Wendy.  Wendy's blog, Wenderly, feels like home.  Food, entertaining, decorating, finding joy in the everyday....that's Wendy.  Wendy also designs cards, like AMAZING cards.  Here, look at these.  Mr. E thinks she looks like a young, Body-Heat-era Kathleen Turner.  I think he's right.

Robyn.  Robyn is a beautiful, southern lady.  I've wanted to meet her for so long now...and really felt like I already had just through reading her posts.  Robyn's blog, Add a Pinch, is full of easy, southern recipes that you'll want to add to your grocery list right now.  I think I've pinned everything on her blog.  Have I mentioned that all of these ladies are stunning? Truly....look at those eyes. {photo from Ree}

Amy.  I've had the pleasure of hanging out with Amy on two different occasions.  I remember before I met her the first time, I was so NERVOUS to meet the creator of She Wears Many Hats.  I mean, this girl takes killer photos, makes killer recipes, all while maintaining killer hair and a gorgeous smile. Somehow I managed to come home with only this picture of Amy....we were the gingham twins for horse riding.  Real cowboys wear gingham, right?

And now to Rebecca, our class leader.  Rebecca homeschools 5 boys, bakes bread every day, makes her own cheese, and raises chickens.  I think she even manages to slip in sleep every now and then. Seriously, I'm not sure how she does all that while managing to look elegant and maintaining the perfect side-swept bangs. I was so, so impressed with not only her cooking, but the way she is raising her boys.  Her blog, Foodie with Family is a treasure.  I love the way she writes! 

I don't want to forget the local girls who came in for the day.  Julie from Another Chance Ranch and Stephanie.  I had the pleasure to meet both of these ladies at the cookie decorating class and LOVED seeing them again.  They tolerate me even though I'm a Sooner. 

Shari from Really Most Sincerely and her aunt came in for the day.  Loved their aunt/niece story.  Also, Shari was wearing Burt's Bees Raisin lip balm which looked so beautiful on her, I ran out about bought it the next day.  She wears it better.

And then, there's Meseidy from The Noshery.  The girl can COOK, y'all.  She's also funny as heck.  You need to know her.

I brought cookies. And was so nervous about being there, I forgot to pass them out.  Instead I opened the box and set them on a table.  The heart is supposed to be over Pawhuska, but Pawhuska isn't *quite* that big. MM assured me I had covered Osage County. ;)

 {photo credit: Sandy}

So, that about wraps it up.  I'm still not quite sure I was really there.  But, I'm in some pictures....I guess that's proof.

Next time, I'm taking you all with me.

Cookie Decorators, Raise Your Work Surface...Works for Me Wednesday

Every now and then, husbands know best.


I'd been decorating cookies for a couple of years...I always decorated at night after putting kiddo to bed. It never failed, I'd crawl into bed after a few hours of decorating with an aching back and tense shoulders.

One night, Mr. E walked into the kitchen as I was decorating and said, "why don't you raise up your work surface?"

Ding, ding, ding!!!  Life. changed.

Now when I decorate, I *always* raise up my cookie sheet.

If you don't have a step stool, I *know* you have a stack of cookbooks. 

Raise 'em up.  No more hunching.  

Thank you notes from your back can be addressed to Mr. E. ;)