Happy Memorial Day!

Ray's aunt & uncle own a condo in Gulfport and they're in town visiting from Chicago, so the whole clan is driving over today for a little Memorial Day shindig. I love a good celebratory dessert, so I whipped out my Mary Jane pan and put together a buttery cake, filled it with some homemade custard cream, and topped it with strawberries. Yum in my tum.

A Mary Ann pan is simply one with a small indentation in the middle so that you can fill a small area of the top of the cake with ganache, custard, etc. (see this photo for a better idea). I bought my pan from Williams-Sonoma a few years ago, but I believe Wilton has them online under a different name. You could also probably use a 12" Springform pan and then cut out a piece of the top yourself.

Here are the recipes I used...

Mary Ann Cake
from Williams-Sonoma

• 2 c all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temp
• 1 1/2 c granulated sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup milk

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour a Mary Ann cake pan or other similar, deep 12" pan.
2. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter on medium until smooth and creamy (about 1-2 min). Reduce speed to low and gradually add the sugar, beating until blended. Increase speed to medium-high and continue beating until the mixture is light and fluffy (3-5 min), stopping the mixer occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and stopping to scrape down the sides. Beat in the vanilla.
4. Reduce speed to low and add the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the milk and beginning and ending with the flour. Beat until just blended and no lumps of flour remain.
5. Pour the batter into prepared pan and bake about 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
6. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool 15 minutes. Turn out cake and let cool completely.

Custard Cream

• 2 cups whole milk (it's best not to substitute for a lower-fat milk)
• 6 large egg yolks
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

1. In a non-aluminum pan over medium heat, warm the milk until tiny bubbles appear on the surface (about 6-8 minutes). Stir occasionally while heating to make sure the milk doesn't scorch.
2. In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar. Add the cornstarch and salt.
3. While whisking the egg mixture, gradually pour in half of the hot milk (to temper the eggs).
4. Whisk in the remaining milk and return entire mixture to saucepan.  Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture thickens to a firm consistency (about 5-8 min). Note: One minute you'll be stirring and the mixture will be normal, and then almost if by magic the next second it will be thick as pudding and slightly curdled looking. Don't panic - that's what's supposed to happen! Once it gets all thick and lumpy, remove the custard from the heat and follow the next step.
5. Scrape into a bowl and whisk in the vanilla. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly onto the surface of the pastry cream. Refrigerate for 2-3 hours.

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The great American weekend

I did a little more paper piecing this weekend! I find it's the easiest type of sewing for me to tackle right now with my neck issues, because there's no rotary cutting involved. I just grab some scraps, piece, and then trim the seams down.

I stumbled across this pattern a couple weeks ago whenever I was looking for star blocks, and bookmarked it for future reference. I didn't really have a set plan for using it, but then I had a moment of inspiration a few weeks ago, and thought maybe if I used different fabrics for the center and background, it would look like a little cherry blossom!

I tried it out with some pink fabric this weekend, and I think it totally passes the test :) What you see is just 1/4 of a complete block, so each block will contain a total of 4 little "cherry blossoms". It's intended for a mini quilt for a friend, and I think I'm going to make it 2x2, so the final measurements will be 24" x 24" and there will be 16 blossoms total. I haven't decided yet if I want to use 16 different pink prints, or do 2 each of 8 prints - we shall see...

So. Right about now you're probably wondering why the heck I titled my post "the great American weekend". Well, I couldn't help but laugh yesterday because I did some of the most stereotypically American things possible all within the span of a day. Not only did I quilt, but we had some apples that were spoiling, so I made an apple pie yesterday morning - and what's more American than apple pie? I totally wore my favorite flouncy apron while I was doing it. And gazed out my kitchen window while I made the crust.

It's basically a deep-dish apple pie that you bake in a cake pan (I used a springform pan instead because I thought it would make removal easier, and I was totally right). The filling was so rich and fantastic - instead of slicing and seasoning the apples and calling it a day, you place them in a dutch oven and cook them down into a soft filling with some butter, cinnamon and lemon juice. For those of you from the south, it was very similar to making fried apples. So yeah, imagine fried apples stuffed inside a thick pastry crust - pure heaven!

My husband and brother-in-law are are such good sons and spent the past two weekends helping their dad put a new roof on the house he and my mother-in-law just purchased, so I took this over to their new home yesterday morning. I figured there would be some hungry men coming off the roof for breakfast, so the 5 of us ate it as a sort of breakfast pastry with coffee. It was delish. And it was gone within 2 hours ;)

The recipe is from one of my favorite cookbooks, Nick Malgieri's Modern Baker. I haven't found a bad recipe in it yet!

Item #3 on the list of uber-American things to do on the weekend? Grilling burgers. We made buffalo burgers with fresh basil, avocado and goat cheese. YUM!

So between the quilting, apple pie, and burgers, I should probably borrow Rex Kwan Do's American Flag pants to round out the weekend. "Nobody wants a round-house kick to the face while I'm wearing these bad boys!"

So what did you all do this weekend? The weather has been beautiful in New Orleans the past two weeks, and it makes me excited for summer to arrive! Hope you all have been having similar luck with the weather where you are :)

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A Griswold Family Christmas

The holiday weekend got off to a rough start for me. After experiencing a situation eerily similar to this, the Griswold Christmas Vacation continued when I was up in the attic and accidentally put my foot through the bathroom ceiling. The whole family was over for Christmas Eve and we were short a stocking, so I went up in the attic to grab one. I didn't bother to turn on the light because I knew the location of the box I needed, and while stumbling around in the dark, my idiot self thought there was a board over one section (where there obviously wasn't, lol!) and I stomped right through the ceiling. I let out a yell, and when Ray and his brother came running, my size 11 foot and part of my calf were dangling through the bathroom ceiling. Aside from a small bruise on my knee (and ego), I was completely fine, and we all got a pretty good laugh out of it! ;)

The good news is, it's not as big a deal for us as it would be for most, because my father-in-law and brother-in-law both work at the family roofing & drywall business, so fixing it should be quick & painless :)

The hubs and I are currently laying on the sofa watching mindless reality TV (Ice Road Truckers - woot woot!), so here's a quick Telschow 2011 Christmas in review...

These are the handmade gifts I mailed to my family in Kentucky. The Echino bag & Strawberry clutch were for my sister, the houndstooth bag for my mom, the box pouch sets for my aunts, and the coffee coozies for my mom and dad.

This is a plaid yoga mat carrier I designed for my dad. It wraps around and velcros in place. I didn't know the circumference of his mat, so I made the velcro strips pretty long to allow for adjustment. The inside is flannel to keep the mat from sliding around.

Another Sidewalk Satchel for my future sister-in-law. The purple Keyka Lou clutch was also for her, and the Amy Butler one was for my cousin.

Puppy Adventures...

Human Adventures...

 Zoolander.

 Blue Steel.

 I made homemade cinnamon buns - yum!

My mother-in-law drinking eggnog out of a gravy boat. Long story, but my husband's usual shenanigans are to blame ;)

My new cutting mat wouldn't lay flat, so naturally the logical solution was to lay on it (rather than re-rolling it in the opposite direction)

We're a crazy & colorful bunch, but we always manage to have a good time ;) 

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas with your loved ones (and Santa brought you all the quilting supplies on your list!)

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Holiday Baking

The past few days have been very interesting...and by interesting, I mean stressful. I had two migraines within 3 days, and then on Sunday afternoon, we discovered the Bumpus hounds underneath our house. It took me a while to figure out what the heck was going on, because I could hear a wild dogfight going on somewhere nearby, but there weren't any dogs outside. I started yelling down the hall at Ray because I thought maybe he was watching another documentary on Alaska/The Iditarod at an obscene volume, but he swore up and down he wasn't. And then...I felt a bump from underneath the house and heard a clang as something hit our pipes. The pack of vicious mongrels wasn't on TV, outside my sewing room window, or in The Christmas Story where they belong. They were in the 2 ft space underneath our elevated house attacking something, and whatever that poor creature was, it wasn't going down without a fight God bless it. Ray ended up having to go outside and scream at the top of his lungs while beating the lattice work around the elevated opening with a broom for a full ten minutes, and eventually they ran out the front and he chased them off by screaming and flailing his arms wildly, lol. So that was intense. And then I was upset the rest of the day that some poor creature was dying a slow and painful death under our house. I tried to talk Ray into crawling under the house to check on it, but he was like "uhh...no...if it's still alive, it's not going to be happy to see me."

Life is never dull amongst the Telschow clan, that's for sure.

Also, I was cussed out (and flipped off for a prolonged period of time), by a 70 year old man at a stoplight today. Which, honestly, was more amusing than it was upsetting. I worked as a bank teller every summer in college, and I'm pretty well desensitized to being screamed at by members of the public. It was literally all I could do to keep a straight face the entire time, because I kept thinking, "what if his dentures fly out of his mouth while he's screaming at me?" And once that mental image was in my brain, there was no going back...it was so freaking hard not to laugh in his face, but I had to fight the urge because it probably would have resulted in him ramming my car like Tawanda.

So instead of coming home and sewing my backlogged Christmas presents, or working on the mountain of dirty clothes in our bedroom, I did an indecent amount of baking.

Sugar cookies for my coworkers (and a small plate for Ray *wink*)

and some warm Seven Grain & Seed Bread for us to munch on with salted butter. Yum.

My bread turned out looking more like a quick bread than a yeast bread this time, because my clumsy self bumped the loaf pans and degassed them right before they went in the oven. D'oh! It was still tasty though :)

The bread recipe is Nick Malgieri's Seven Grain & Seed Bread from The Modern Baker, and I don't remember where the sugar cookie one is from...I think maybe it was given to me at one of our wedding showers 6 years ago. I absolutely love the sugar cookies because they hold their shape, but are still chewy. And the flavor is very simple and buttery - almost like shortbread.

Sugar Cookies

• 3 1/2 cups unbleached flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temp
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla

In a medium bowl, combine flour, salt and baking powder.

Beat butter and sugar in mixer until fluffy. Add eggs (one at a time) and vanilla extract. Beat until combined. Gradually add flour mixture until a smooth dough forms. Divide dough in half, wrap in Saran, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Flour your work surface and roll out one dough ball at a time. Cut into shapes and decorate with sprinkles if desired. Place on greased cookie sheet and refrigerate for 10 minutes (this keeps the cookies from losing their shape when baked).

Bake in 350 degree oven for 10-12 minutes, until lightly browned at edges. Let cool on rack.

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Holiday Cookie Swap

So. My friend Jacey (who, by the way, is one of those incredibly sweet people that you love instantly upon meeting) and I have been trying to arrange a get-together in her hometown of Houston. The hubby and I have been working to find a weekend when we can drive over to Houston and visit her (and her new fiancee!!!), but nothing has worked out so far. We were originally supposed to go the first weekend in November to see one of my favorite bands, The Boxer Rebellion, and meet up with them, but the concert was cancelled at the last minute (boo!)

Then Jacey invited me to a cookie swap her family was having this weekend, and I was super excited because I'd heard about cookie swaps before, but had never actually been to one. It looked like we had the green light to go, but then my hubby found out he had to help set up/tear down for the member Christmas party at his work this weekend (the gym where he works has tens of thousands of members, so it's a pretty big deal), so the Houston trip flew out the window (double boo!)

I held a big pity party for myself when I realized I wasn't gonna get to see Jacey or eat holiday cookies, so I decided to eliminate half my sorrow and arrange my own cookie swap! I had everything all set up and was proudly surveying my house before everyone arrived, when I realized that I haven't posted any pictures of our house since we bought it! What better time to take photos, than when my house is squeaky clean and decorated for the holidays?

This is our living room area. The front half of the house is one big room, with the living room area on the right (where the front door is), and the dining area over to the left. (I took this picture from the dining room if that helps with perspective)

Oh, and normally that carved cherry table is next to the rocking chair, but I pulled it over by the footstool in case there was overflow from the dining table. Thankfully we all fit at the table, and no one (i.e. me) had to eat on the sofa!

You can barely see it, but the front door is just to the right of the TV. Sadly we don't have a fireplace like in our old apartment, so the stockings are dangling from the TV stand, lol! They may have to be relocated, however, because Mr. Whiskers has already made a run at them...we caught him chewing Ray's Sorcerer's Apprentice stocking under the tree *sigh*

And this is the dining area (I was leaning on the sofa when I snapped this). Please excuse the ugly brown curtain to the right of the table. It was there when we bought the house, but I can't replace it with curtains to match the AMH Drawing Room ones until I find a specific silk dupioni. The AMH curtains were in our old apartment and I sewed some lovely blue-gray dupioni to the top and bottom. Unfortunately, when I went back to buy more for the other window (months later once we'd bought our house), Joann's had sold out permanently. Yeah. Crap. I've been carrying a swatch around in my purse for months, with no luck. I hate that brown curtain with a fiery passion.

But on a positive note, I had a really good time at our cookie swap (and hopefully everyone else did too!). One of my new friends from our local MQG, Heather, brought those amazing sandwich cookies you see on the bottom tier. They tasted like chewy Oreos, and I could have eaten about 30 of them. Ray loved them too....what is it about men and homemade cookies? Heather said she was practically chasing her husband away with a stick the night before, but he still managed to snag a whole plate of them, lol! And my hubby ate the 3 I got from the swap about 10 seconds after walking in the door. He got back from setting up at the gym, opened the back door, and shouted into the house "so where are all these supposed cookies!?" The sandwich cookies and strawberry swirl ones lasted all of 5 seconds, and whatever milk was left in the fridge also went the way of the West.

It's always a dogfight for sweets in our house, but fortunately, I married a gentleman and he usually lets me win...usually ;)

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German Chocolate Cake.

 

Need I say more?

There are only two things in life I do better than most people: 1) parallel parking, and 2) making a German Chocolate Cake. Believe me when I tell you it's even more delicious than it looks. And yes, you should torte the cake because the icing soaks into all the thin layers and makes the cake extra moist and delicious. Don't chicken out and attempt to make it into a sheet cake! Torting is easy...and honestly, I don't bother with trying to make it level unless it's for a public function or charity event like a cake auction. I just cut and stack, and if it ends up a little wonky, I stick a wooden skewer (the kind you use for grilling) right through the center to keep it from sliding around until we devour it :)

Case and point...since this is for a family birthday party, you can see I didn't bother with making it straight and pretty *wink*

CAKE

• 1/2 c boiling water
• 6 oz. German baking chocolate (in the baking aisle – the kind I buy is Baker’s brand and it comes in a 4 oz. brown and green package)
• 2 c sugar
• 1 c butter, softened
• 4 egg yolks
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 1/2 c cake flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 c buttermilk (I know it can be hard to find in a regular grocery outside of the South, but usually you can find powdered buttermilk in the Baking aisle). 
• 4 egg whites, stiffly beaten

ICING

• 2 c sugar 
• 1 c butter
• 2 c evaporated milk
• 2 tsp vanilla  
• 6 egg yolks
• 2 ½ c flaked coconut
• 2 c chopped pecans

CAKE DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease three 8-inch round pans.
2. Pour boiling water on chocolate, stirring until chocolate is melted; cool.
3. Combine sugar and butter in large mixing bowl and beat until light and fluffy. Add in eggs yolk, one at a time. Beat in chocolate and vanilla on low speed.
4. In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, and salt)
5. Add the flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with the buttermilk, and beating after each addition until batter is smooth (you'll begin and end with the flour mixture). Fold in egg whites.
6. Divide batter among pans. Bake 35-40 minutes until cake has pulled away slightly from the sides of the pan and cake springs back to the touch. Let cool completely before assembling the cake.  

ICING DIRECTIONS 

1. While cake is baking, mix sugar, butter, milk, vanilla and egg yolks in saucepan.
2. Whisk together over medium heat (stirring often) until thick (about 10 minutes). Remove from heat and stir in coconut and pecans. Let cool completely before assembling the cake.

ASSEMBLY 
With a long serrated knife, torte all three cakes, spreading icing in between them as you stack (you’ll have 6 layers when finished). And make sure you save a little icing to pour over the top when finished. Eat and ENJOY :)

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Apple Core Apron Tutorial

I've always loved the Apple Core pattern, but am entirely too lazy to ever cut out all those individual curved pieces by hand. So when I was choosing my dies for the GO! Baby and saw they had an Apple Core one, I was on it like a monkey on a cupcake.

When I was thinking about what kind of tutorial I wanted to make using this die, I thought it would be cute to do something kitchen related considering the name. What could be cuter than baking whilst wearing an Apple Core apron made with vintage-inspired fabrics? I was also thinking about the upcoming holiday season and how much I'm looking forward to Fall baking, so I thought some of you might like a new apron :)

This apron has a layer of flannel quilted to the front to give it a little weight and added texture, but you can skip this step if you'd prefer a lighter, more flouncy apron.

MATERIALS

• Twenty-four 7 1/16" x 5 3/8" Apple Cores
• 17.5" x 26.5" piece of backing fabric
• 19" x 28" piece of flannel
• One 21" x 4.5" piece (for the waist band)
• Two 32" x 4.5" pieces (for the ties)

Ready? Let's go! You will need to arrange your 24 pieces into 4 rows of 6. Once you have your pieces arranged how you'd like them, grab your first two pieces and line them up at the center. If you're using pieces you cut by hand (obviously they won't have the handy little notches), then you'll need to fold your pieces in half and finger press the seam to create a center marker.

Next you'll need to line up the outside edges and pin.

Once you have the center and ends pin, ease the remaining fabric around the curve of the bottom fabric and pin. When working with curves, the fabric has a mind of it's own, and it helps to pin as close to the edge as possible to keep it from shifting.

Sew together using a 1/4" seam. Clip small notches along the seam to create some "give" to the fabric.

Fold the pieces back and press.

Grab your next piece, line up the centers, and piece as you did the first two. 

 Repeat this process until you've assembled all 4 rows.

Next we'll attach the rows together. The first step is to line up all six of the center notches (or seams - depending on whether you're using GO! Baby pieces or not). Once I had row 2 lying face-down on top of row 1, I started by lining up the centers of vertical pieces first, and then pulling down the horizontal pieces to line up. Once you have all of the centers lined up an pinned, start working the remaining edges into place.

Here's what my two rows looked line once I had the centers pinned in place...

And here are the rather squirrely-looking rows once I finished pinning everything together...

 Sew the rows together using 1/4" seam, easing your way around the curves. Once finished, clip notches along your seams, fold open and press.

Here's what the first two rows look like once attached...

And here's what your finished front panel should look like...

 

Once the front panel is finished, you'll need to square up the sides. Line up your ruler with the inside curves and trim the excess.

Repeat for the other three sides and square up the entire panel. It should be about 26.5" x 17.5" when finished.

 Spray an adhesive like 505 onto the flannel piece, and smooth the front piece on top of it.

Quilt the layers together however you like (I used Free Motion, but Straight Line our Outline quilting will work). When you're finished, trim the excess flannel from the sides.

You can do this next part on your machine, but I prefer to do it by hand. There's no right or wrong method - just a matter of preference. At the top of both the front piece and back piece, make a running stitch all the way across about 1/8" down from the edge.

Grab the loose ends of your thread, and start pushing your fabric evenly toward the center so that it gathers and creates little pleats. You want to gather your fabric until the top measures about 20" wide across the top.

Sew an 1/8" seam across the top to set the seats in place. You may need to help hold your fabric in place so that the foot doesn't push the fabric flat as it sews over it.

Once you've finished gathering the tops of both pieces, place your front and back fabric together, right sides facing. Pin in place and sew 1/2" seam around the sides and bottom - leave the top completely open.

Trim the corners to reduce bulk, and flip right side out through the opening at the top.

 Edge stitch along the three finished sides to secure.

 Grab your 21" x 4.5" piece (for the waist band) and fold in half, wrong sides together. Press to set.

 Fold the long edges in by 1/4" and press to set.

 Your waist band piece should look something like this when you're finished...

 Now grab your two 32" x 4.5" pieces (for the ties). Fold in half right sides together and press to set.

Sew one of the short ends closed using a 1/4" seam, pivot the foot, and continue sewing down the long open edge. When you get to the end, stop sewing and leave the remaining short end open.

 Trim the corner down to reduce bulk, and turn right side out through the opening. Repeat for the other tie.

Press the ties in place and edge stitch along the long side with the seam.

 Grab your waist band piece, and fold one of the short edges in by 1/2".

Place one of your ties on top of the waist band so that they overlap by 1/2", and fold the waist band down so that the tie is sandwiched between it. Make sure the end snuggled inside the waist band is the raw end of the tie.

Pin in place and sew together. I sewed 1/8" from the edge, moved the needle to the left, and sewed another seam 1/8" from the first one. (since there will be a lot of tugging on the waist and ties, I made two seams to make sure it's nice and secure). Repeat on the other end of the waist band with the remaining tie.

At this point, the apron is finished except for closing off the raw top edge of the apron, and the raw bottom edge of the waist band. Tuck the top of the apron into the waist band by 1/4" and pin in place. Make sure the raw edges of the waist band remain tucked up inside.

Sew the waist band and apron together using an 1/8" seam.

Go back, and sew a second seam 1/8" above the first seam.

 Here's what the front and back will look like when you're finished...

 You now have a lovely finished apron :)

 And the best part is, since it's fully lined on the back, it's technically reversible! Huzzah for choices :)

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