Archive for the ‘make it’ Category

I love making a special breakfast on Valentine’s Day.  And since Valentine’s Day falls on a Sunday this year… there’s actually time to enjoy a leisurely morning.

Here’s few easy ideas for showing your love with food this Valentine’s Day morning:

Heart Shaped Muffins

Using your favorite muffin recipe, place the batter in paper baking cups.  Then add a marble between the paper cup and the tin.  This makes a heart.  Mine didn’t turn out quite as perfect as I hoped… I will use a little less batter in each cup next time, but they were still fun.  And they tasted divine.

One of our favorite muffin recipes is Ina Garten’s recipe for Blueberry Coffee Cake Muffins.

Here’s her recipe:

Blueberry Coffee Cake Muffins

• 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 8 ounces (about 1 cup) sour cream
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 half-pints fresh blueberries, picked through for stems

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place 16 paper liners in muffin pans.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. With the mixer on low speed, add the eggs 1 at a time, then add the vanilla, sour cream, and milk. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. With the mixer on low speed add the flour mixture to the batter and beat until just mixed. Fold in the blueberries with a spatula and be sure the batter is completely mixed.

Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin pans, filling each cup just over the top, and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the muffins are lightly browned on top and a cake tester comes out clean.

They are ready for the oven.

And the results.  The are semi-heart shaped and not perfect.  I’ve had them work out better and I think I added too much batter to each cup…  But it didn’t matter too much, they are still delicious.

Egg in a Heart

These couldn’t be easier.

Using a heart shaped cookie cutter, cut out a heart shape from a slice of bread.

Butter it up a bit.  Butter up the heart too.  I’ll put it on the grill also.  It can be used to dip in the egg.  Waste not.

Place the bread in a hot frying pan with some butter.

And crack an egg in the center.  Cook until golden brown and flip over.  Cook until desired the egg reaches desired doneness….

And serve it up….

Can’t you just feel the love?

Last week, when I was fiddling with making my Pom Poms and Hearts Brooch, I made some fabric covered buttons.  I wanted to incorporate them into the brooch.  But after fiddling, I decided they didn’t work.

I had to find another way to use these cute buttons.  And the obvious answer was to make hair clips.  Which, as a mother of twin girls, we can never have too many of.

Here’s how I made them:

Using the template provided with the button kit, cut out your fabric of choice… remember to center the pattern in the middle of the circle, if you desire.

Have you ever made fabric covered buttons?  If not, you’re in for treat.  They are SO easy.

I tuck all the fabric down into the mold.

Lay the back on.

And pop it down.

And out pops the button.

Here’s one easy way to turn my button into a hair accessory.  Using a thinnish hair elastic band, slide it through the shank of the button.

And pull one end of the band through the other.  Give it a tug to make it tight.

And it’s ready for pigtails.

But I’m not done yet.  I want to make a hair clip, too.

For this button, I pressed the shank flat against the back.

Open the hair clip and hot glue the button to the clip.

And instead of wasting my cute buttons, I’ve put them to good use.  They will look so fun with the girls new skirts.