Monday, December 31, 2018

New Years Cake: Toscatarta Swedish Almond Cake



Happy New Years!! I hope everyone had a lovely NYE and is having a wonderful New Years Day!

We rang in this new year with friends, and a good dose of hygge via this cake. My husband and I have been on a hygge lifestyle kick ever since I saw Frozen on Broadway and fell in love with this amazing/hilarious song.

Following a very hygge-inducing binge of the Great British Baking Show, I vowed one resolution for the new year would be to bake one new/challenging thing per month. They make such interesting creations on that show, it made my customary cupcakes feel flat! Combining my new love for hygge and my new years resolution to bake more interesting creations my husband got me this amazing cookbook for Christmas.

This is my first recipe from this book, and it was a success! It's a very different recipe than I'm used to making, but fairly simple to whip together nonetheless. It's perfect for ringing in a sweet new year!

Toscatarta Swedish Almond Cake

Ingredients for the Cake
  • 7oz pre-packaged marzipan
  • 1 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar
  • 1 3/4 sticks butter, melted and cooled
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons cake flour
  • 1/3 cup cornstarch
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
 Ingredients for the Topping
  • 1/3 cup heavy cream
  • 1/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 3/4 stick putter
  • 1/4 cup slivered almonds

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Grate the marzipan. In a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, beat the grated marzipan and confectioners' sugar together. Beat in the cooled butter. Add in the eggs, one at a time, making sure each egg is completely incorporated. Beat in the vanilla.

Sift together the dry ingredients and fold into the mixture until incorporated. Pour into a greased and/or lined 9 inch round baking pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until golder brown, firm to the touch and a skewer insered into the middle comes out clean. Turn the cake out onto a wire rack to cool.

To prepare the topping place all ingredients except the almonds into a saucepan over high heat. Beat with a balloon whisk until the mixture turns a darker color, more similar to honey and starts to separate from the sides of the pan. Stir in almonds and pour over the cake.

I did not do this on my cake, but you can place the cake under a broiler for 5 minutes to brown the topping. I served with homemade whipped cream using this recipe from Alton Brown. Enjoy!


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Thursday, December 27, 2018

Christmas Home Tour 2018



Happy festive season friends!!

I forget every year how much I LOVE decorating for the festive season! I say the festive season because we celebrate both Christmas and Hanukkah in my house, but of course Christmas decor always steals the show! Christmas is past us now but I wanted to get this home tour out there before New Years passes and the season is truly behind us! So without further ado, scroll through to see my Christmas / Hanukkah home this year!



First up is my main tree this year! I was inspired by a picture of a red and pink tree, and this is my version! It's full of vintage red shiny brites, blush pink ornaments (vingage and new), and LOTS of white, all on a flocked tree. My tree is a bit smaller than I'd like, so I finished the vignette with a vintage sled I found at an antique store (for $12! Such a steal!) and a red felt wreath in front of a tobacco basket-like wall decor piece.





Next up is this view of my behind the sofa table. The star of this space are these natural wood reindeer I found at HomeGoods! I absolutely love them. I really love the symmetry in this space with the two lights and two reindeer. It's one of my favorite Christmas vignettes!




Moving on to my dining space, I have to say I feel like I'm getting the hand of tablescapes! I decked my dining table out in mercury glass trees, surrounding a galvanized metal homegoods find, all on top of a banket of "snow." The star of the show here are silver vintage Shiny Brite ornaments scattered throughout the scene. I love this spot so much, I'm planning to leave it up through the winter!




In a search of finding a way to display my precious Shiny Brite ornaments, I couldn't resist this ornament "tree" when I spotted it at Target. I love this it allows me to pull my red and blush theme across the room, and show off my treasured collection!






My bookshelf this year features some of my Grandparent's collection of Byer's Choice Caroler figures. I love these, and putting them out is a family tradition to me. I've started to make yearly pilgrimages to the Byer's Choice factors near where I live, and I've been enjoying picking up a few new props to add to the display. This year I added a few new trees and an adorable polar bear!






My office is decked out in subtle winter themes and I'm really loving it! Trees are a theme in this room, I love the conical trees on the chest and the faux mini evergreen near the club chair.









The bedroom features a flocked tree decked out in blue, silvers and whites with a slight natural theme (pulled through with pinecone picks, bottlebrush animals and feathered ornaments. I wanted it to be blue to be a nod to Hanukkah, which we celebrate. I love it so much I might have to repeat this tree next year!




The rest of the bedroom has greenery, cute winter gnomes, and a new chair decked out with an advent calendar pillow!

That's it for Christmas this year! I'm planning on transitioning from Christmas decor into winter decor, so expect a winter decor tour coming up soon. Also, I've purchase a few new items for my bedroom, and am planning on finishing the room up after a no-buy January, so look out for a bedroom makeover post coming up soon!

With Love, Katie

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Sunday, December 9, 2018

DIY Flocked Pinecone Winter Wreath Tutorial


I LOVE making wreaths! They are such quick, fun activities and you always end up with such a lovely product to pretty up the house. This wreath is so quick and easy to make, the total assembly time was under 30 minutes! I love that this wreath isn't Christmas specific and can be used all winter long! Read on to find step by step DIY directions for this gorgeous winter wreath!




Materials

- Flocked Greenery Wreath
- Floral Wire
- Thumb Tacks
- Long, Natural Pinecones
- Wooden Initial

 Step 1: Hammer thumb tacks into the top and bottom of the back side of your wooden letter.

Step 2: Wrap floral wire around each of the thumb tacks on your wooden letter.

Step 3: Use the floral wire to attach your wooden letter to the center of your wreath.

Step 4: Arrange the pinecones around the wreath as you like. I attached mine so that they were all facing the same general direction. Use the floral wire to attach the pinecones to the wreath in the same manner as you attached the wooden letter.

And that's it! Hang, and enjoy! Such a quick and easy wreath that is so gorgeous. It's neutral and has natural elements, which makes it perfect for literally any decorating style. So in love!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! Let me know if you try it!
With Love, Katie

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Thursday, December 6, 2018

Retro Lime Mint Pear Jello Salad


Jello. Salad. Yes you read that right! Jello salad really isn't in our vocabulary anymore, but it was a THING in the 50's. I have memories of this Jello salad (which is really just Jello made in a Jello mold) at holiday tables growing up. Today, I love making this to serve with special holiday meals. It itself is so refreshing, and served with a cream cheese marshmallow topping makes it so divine. Give this retro recipe a go, you won't regret it!

Jello Ingredients

- 2 cans pear halves
- 2 packages lime flavored jello
- 1/2 teaspoon mint extract

Cream Cheese Marshmallow Topping Ingredients

- 8oz package cream cheese
- 1 cup marshmallow fluff

Directions

Drain pears, save liquid. Add enough water to make 31/2 cups. Dissolve gelatin in liquid according to package directions. Stir in mint extract. Cut a thin lice off the narrow end of pear so fruit will stand and arrange drained pear halves around the side of a 1 1/2 quart rind mold with narrow end down. Carefully pour in gelatin. Chill until firm and unmold. To make the topping, mix the cream cheese and marshmallow, serve on the side (or in a dish in the middle!).

Enjoy!
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The Best Sweet Noodle Kugel Recipe




We celebrate both Christmas and Hanukkah in my house, and our most established Hanukkah tradition is this sweet noodle kugel recipe! I vividly remember making it for the first time in a humble college apartment, and I haven’t missed a year making it since! This is one of those enjoying “stir everything together” recipes (SO easy!), but turns out unreasonably delicious. It’s just sweet enough but not too sweet, and I’ve never been able to decide if it tastes better hot or cold. I hope you give this recipe a try, once you try it you’ll be sure to incorporate it into your holiday traditions as well!



Kugel Ingredients

- 8 oz. Manischewitz Wide Egg Noodles
- 6 eggs
- 1lb carton small curd 2% cottage cheese
- 8oz cream cheese
- 8oz sour cream
- - 1 stick butter, melted
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 tsp. Vanilla
- handful of crushed cornflakes

Topping Ingredients

- 1 cup crushed cornflakes
- 1/2 stick butter, melted
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp. Cinnamon

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x13 bakin pan. Cook the noodles according to package directions. Meanwhile, beat the eggs well and add all other Kugel ingredients. Add the drained noodles and pour into baking pan.

For the topping, mix together all ingredients and spread evenly over noodles in the baking pan. Cook uncovered for 1 1/2 hours.

Enjoy!

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