the scripture tote

About a month ago a friend of mine asked if I would make a scripture cover to give as a Girls' Camp prize.  Of course I said yes.

What fun.

Decided to do more of a cover instead of a scripture bag, like my sister and I made and sold for years.

I used this tutorial for the basic steps and measurements, and this as the basic picture to kind-of go off of... you know, what I was shooting for.

I'm hoping that I took good enough notes to be able to make it again.  And again.  And again.  And in about 6 years, again.

bake 52: coconut macaroons

Since trying the french macaroon sandwich cookies a few weeks ago, it was fun to try the coconut macaroon version.  So easy.  So few ingredients.

Pulse the coconut in a food processor until fine.  It said 1 to 4 pulses.  I did more than that... but my coconut still didn't look that "fine" to me.  But I was afraid to do it too much.  So I left it.  Maybe I should have pulsed it more?

Process egg whites, sugar, salt and almond extract until light and foamy.  Easy.

Add this mixture to the coconut.  Mix well, and refrigerate for 30 minutes so that the coconut can really soak up that liquid.

Form either balls or pyramid/square shapes... you know, something that resembles the Luxor (think Vegas.)

Bake 13-15 minutes.  This was 15.  They still didn't turn out as nice looking as the ones in the book.  And... so much of the liquid seeped out.

Not sure what happened.  You can see here better how strange they ended up looking, right out of the oven.  Ugly.

So, I cut off those ugly sides, and tried to dip them in chocolate, like the book suggested.

What a mess.  I ended up holding the macaroons upside down and trying to carefully spread the chocolate on the bottom of the cookie.  Hmm...

They tasted great.  Really coconuty with a almond flavor.  Mmm.

Head over to Emily's blog for the full recipe.  Thanks for a great pick, Emily!

Bake 52:caramelized onion tart with blue cheese and walnuts

I'm away from my kitchen and camera this week... so less pictures than normal.  But thanks to my fabulous sister and her GREAT (and newly remodeled) kitchen, I was still able to participate.

This tart looked really great in the book, and I was excited to give it try.  I don't know if I'd ever just try this on my own, probably because it doesn't seem very kid-friendly.  Thank goodness for 2 extra adults to help me finish this.  We all thought it was super yummy.

Start with a pizza crust.  I used this recipe here.  Good stuff.

Caramelize the onions.  Seemed like a lot, but they cook down a lot.

Add the cheese.   Bake.  Top with green onions.  Serve.  Mmmmm.  Super!

Check out the full recipe here.  Thanks for a great pick Michelle.

Bake 52: Multigrain Bread

Always like to try a new bread/roll recipe.  We LOVE bread around here.  This was a good one.

Started off softening a 7-grain hot cereal.  This is where the "multi-grain" comes from.  Softening in water.

Flour, whole wheat flour, yeast and salt set aside in mixer.

After it's soft, add honey and melted butter.  What's not to love here?

Then add that "multi-grain" mixture to the flour, with the mixer on.

Allow to mix.  It's a sticky dough.  I added about 4-5 Tbls extra flour.

Turn onto floured counter and knead...

into a nice ball.

Place into a greased bowl to rise.

After rising, back onto a floured counter it goes, and it's patted into a 9" square, roughly.

And then rolled, and pinched to stay together.

Place in a greased bread pan.  I felt like it was too much dough for just one pan, so I cut some off, and cooked that in another pan.

Let rise again.  Then brush with melted butter and sprinkle oats on top.  Just like store bought.

Bake.

Slice and enjoy!

I thought it was really yummy.  I'm sure I'll make it again, since I still have 7-grain cereal left.  Great pick Jennifer O.  Hope over to her blog for the full recipe.

Bake 52: French Macaroons

Totally late in getting this up.  What excuse is there really?  Life.  That's all.

Being completely honest, I wasn't too excited to make these.  I've seen lots of posts around blogland for these.  Usually they're pastel colored, and super cute.  They always look so good.   I've wanted to give them a try, but they always seem like a lot of work.  And, I wasn't sure I'd like them.  They're a meringue type cookie.  I'm not a meringue fan.  But, I'm happy to say, I liked them.  Really.

Here's the batter.  It was really thick.  Made with almond flour, egg whites, etc.  I'd never made anything with almond flour before.  Yum.  Good stuff.

The batter then gets put in a pastry bag.

And piped onto a cookie sheet.

Then with a damp finger, you smooth out the top of the cookie.  Let them sit for 1-2 hours to dry out a bit, so they don't end up cracked on top.

Make the buttercream frosting.

Frost cookies.  Sandwich.  Eat.  Enjoy.  Come back for more.

Go to Betsy's blog for the full recipe.