Apple Pie Pops

Welcome to the Last and Final Day of Apple Week!

Today is about a tasty party FAVOR that your guests will just LOVE!

This recipe has a two step process; one is to make the pie crust dough, and the other is to make the actual "pie" pop.

Step one:  Pie Crust Dough

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup Butter

1 1/3 Cup Flour

3 - 4 Tablespoons Ice Cold Water

Mix butter and flour while adding a teaspoon of water at a time.  

Continue mixing until the dough cleans off the side of the bowl.    

Step two:  Apple Pie Pops

Ingredients/Supplies:

Pie Crust Dough

4 - 5 Apples Finely Chopped

Dash of Cinnamon

Dash of Sugar

Baking "Pop" Sticks

1.  Roll out a handful of pie crust dough on a floured surface.  

 2.  Use a 3 inch cookie cutter (round of scalloped) to cut out a side of the pie pop.  Then place on a cookie sheet.

4.  Put about a tablespoon of the apple mixture in the middle of the pie crust.

5.  Take a pop stick and place it in the pop starting in the middle of the apple mixture.

6.  Place another pie crust on top of the apple mixture and pop stick.  Then use a fork to firmly press crusts together.  Do this all the way around the pop!

7.  Bake in the oven for approximately thirty minutes.  (I usually start out for ten minutes and rotate the cookie sheet as necessary!)  Once the pops are done, they will be a golden color.  Place them on a cooling rack until completely cooled. 

Turning these pops into a favor is easy!  

You can use numerous different types of packaging to give these "suckers" away, such as:  vases, gift boxes, or even Starbucks Frappucino bottles turned milk bottle (find that easy how to here!)  

If you need to fill the bottom of a vase or bottle, use brown sugar, or some candy (Reese's Pieces would look awesome!)

Have you ever made pie pops before?  How about as a party favor (I really like edible favors!)  

How To: Apple Cider

Welcome to the Second Day of Apple Week!

Today's treat is not exactly "labor intensive" but is certainly time consuming.  However, the ends do justify the means!  

Apple Cider is my favorite fall drink to sip on while sitting outside watching the leave change, or to warm up while chatting with a couple of friends on a cool fall day.

The process is a bit time consuming because you have to get the juice out of the apple (which is not as hard as that sounds!)  Here's an easy way to make apple cider at home:

Bill of Materials:

 Apples 

(~ 4 lbs to 1 liter of cider)

Food Processor

Coffee Filters

Funnel

Cooking Pot

Once you have gathered your supplies clean your apples and cut them in to slices.  I cored the apples but you do not need to, nor do you need to peel the apples.  All that "stuff" will be strained before cooking the cider.     

Cut up all the apples in the food processor (mine is a crank!) so it looks mushy.  Then, take a spoonful and use the coffee filter to squeeze the juices out of the apples (this is the time consuming part!).  This juice will be your cider.  Use the funnel if necessary to gather the juice into a cup or bowl.  You will need to use a few coffee filters for this project because the filters will begin to tear.  Don't worry if you get a few pieces of apple in the cider, it will just be "pulp" and you can strain that out during the cooking process!

Now put all your cider into a pot (I actually just juiced my apples straight into the pot) and place it on the stove.  I brought it to a boil and then let it simmer and stew for approximately 30 minutes.  Can you see the steam coming from the pot?  This made the kitchen and apartment smell DELICIOUS!  

Taste test the cider to your liking; 

add cinnamon or sugar to your taste 

and then serve and sip!

Do you LOVE Apple Cider during the fall months?  Have you ever made it at home?

Truly Unique: Camp Fire Cookies

I LOVE Pinterest.  I mean LOVE, LOVE Pinterest, however I find that it actually doesn't help creativity, because I usually just end up copying everyone else!  With this in mind, I decided to come up with a TRULY UNIQUE dessert creation!  

I am totally looking forward to this fall, and camping with my to-be hubby (he kills all the spiders!)  Sitting by a camp fire, making smores is probably one of my favorite things to do in the cooler months.

In honor of this time of year (and my new love of everything Pumpkin Spice!), I created:

Bill of Materials:

Freshly Baked Sugar Cookies

Pumpkin Spice Hershey Kisses

Small Stick Pretzels

A bit of patience!

First, begin by making round sugar cookies.  You can make these from scratch or use a package. (I won't tell!!)

While your cookies are baking, break a third off of a hand full of pretzels.  You will need 6 "thirds" and 3 - 4 "two thirds" for each cookie.  

Next, unwrap the Pumpkin Spice Hershey Kisses (and eat a couple too!)  You will need 1 Pumpkin Spice Hershey Kiss for each cookie.

When the cookies come out of the oven, let them sit for barely a minute (they need to be soft for construction!)  Place the 6 "thirds" in a star shape in the middle of the cookie.  This is your "kindling".  

Once the pretzels are on the cookie, place a Pumpkin Spice Hershey Kiss on top of the kindling.  It will probably melt a little bit due to the cookies being warm.  If it needs a bit of help, place the cookies back in the oven for a minute.  

Then, place 3 - 4 "two thirds" pretzels in a triangle shape over the "fire".  

CAMP FIRE COOKIES!

If you are daring, place semi-sweet chocolate ships in a circle around the "camp fire" to make a "fire pit"!

How To: Mini Ice Cream Sundaes

I have seen these delightful little sized treats all over Pinterest, so I decided to make a step by step on how to put them all together!

These Mini Ice Cream Sundaes are less than 100 calories (yes, healthy!) and are a perfect finger food dessert for slumber parties to engagement parties!

Bill of Materials:

Bananas 

Ice Cream

Chocolate Chips

Whip Cream

Cherries

Sprinkles

*You can make 5 treats from a normal sized banana!

First,  cut your bananas into inch to inch and a half slices (keep any extras for a smoothie!!)  Then, use a knife and spoon to carefully dig out the inside of the banana.  Don't core it, just make a crater in the middle making a bowl  

Next, dip each banana bowl bottom into melted chocolate, and then into sprinkles.  Place them on wax paper and then into the freezer so they will be more study and harden up faster.

 Then, take your favorite ice cream and fill up the banana bowls to the top.

Top with some whip cream and a cherry!!

Aren't they ADORABLE?

Not only are they delicious, but they are less than 100 calories each, which means no guilt for this yummy ice cream sundae!

Labor Day Round Up

Labor Day is coming up in a few weeks, and that means kids are back to school and summer is almost over!

Here are a few things to do before the holiday arrives:

-  Check out the free Labor Day decoration printables made especially for you!  Use them as a welcome sign or conversation starters for your guests.

-  Read this Outdoor Entertaining Series before you plan your outdoor event:

     Part One:  Keeping the Party Going When the Sun Goes Down  
     Part Deux:  Battling Mother Nature
     Part Three:  Dealing with Pests

-  Make your own food cover with this handy DIY How To!

-  Use this great and easy recipe to show off some patriotic colors:  Pretzel Bites!

Wedding Planning: How SMASHing

I have been using websites like Pinterest, to help me search the internet for ideas when it comes to party planning, home organization, and fashion.  However, I still like the old fashioned, skimming through a magazine and tearing out the pictures of what I like!  

During the wedding planning process, I have been using one of my FAVORITE offline tools:  the SMASH book.  This book is a classy spiral bound book with scrap book paper already inside!   

I realize that Pinterest is so easy to use when scouring the internet, while planning an event, but I really like the fact that with this book, I can write notes to myself, keep a list of things to do in the handy back pocket, or keep it in my purse for the improptu "light bulb" idea with the half ink/half glue pen!

Note:  I was in no way compensated for this post!  I really just like SMASH books!!

    

Here it my SMASHing in progress:

  

 

How To: Drink Holder Re-Do

Do you ever buy beer?  Or perhaps bottled or canned coffee drinks?  Sometimes they come in those awesome cardboard carriers.  

Being the frugle and crafty hostess that I am, I decided that I could certainly do something with these things: 

Bill of Materials:

Empty Drink Carrier

Paper/Fabric

Glue

Scirrors

A bit of creativity!

First, I wanted to make sure that the whole top section of the drink holder was covered (including the thick edges).  I took a piece of construction paper and wrapped it around the top of the carrier to first cover the edges.  

Then,  I took another peice of construction paper and wrapped it over the top of the top section of the carrier.  This made certain that all the edges of the top section where covered and the same color (no brown cardboard peeking out!)

Next, I wrapped the drink holder all the way around (like a burrito).    

Make sure that the paper was wide enough to cover the "widest" part of the holder.  Then, fold the bottom like the side of a present and glue down. 

Finally,  cut small slices where ever necessary to fold the excess paper down. 

Then fill it up!!!  

What can you use this for?  Lots of things!  Here are a few ideas:

• Utensil holder
• Gift bag
• Overnight guest “organizer”
• Office supply holder

Party Music: A How To for Play Lists

Whether it be smooth jazz lightly playing in the background of a dinner party/cocktail hour, or loud rockin’ music backing up a Bachelorette party, music is almost an essential part of party. 

Music keeps a lull in conversation from turning into an awkward silence or party ender.

I have been told that I have bad taste in music, so I will certainly not advise to which songs are appropriate for different settings (although I would not suggest heavy metal for a low lit dinner party).  I do however have many different ideas on how to gather music for such an occasion, make play lists, and even different ways to play the music….

I currently have many different ways to play music… different Ipods, an android phone, xbox, and laptop.  I have found that all can be helpful when trying to play music, however you don’t want to be messing around with the device all evening trying to forward through a vast music library to get to the proper songs.  

I suggest creating (or having other applications create) a play list.

 

     Now, if you have never created a play list, it may seem intimidating (for those of you “pre CD” types.. think of this as a “mix tape”).  Here are a few un-written (well, I guess now they are written) rules when creating a play list:

      1. Decide on the type of music to fit your event (Light Jazz?  Rock?  Country?  Big Band?) and          try to only pick songs from that genre.  (Mr Fix It Fiance suggests Charles Mingus….)

      2.  Don’t make the play list all one artist.
     3.  Don’t play songs that sound a lot alike back to back.
     4.  Do test out your play list and see how you like the flow of the songs one after another.
      5.  Do make sure that the play list “timing” is longer than the party.  You don’t want to run out of music… its awkward (been there….done that!!)

 If you are feeling creative, go through the music that you have, create a play list yourself!   

      If you aren’t feeling creative, or are lazy, there are plenty of other options:

1.  Itunes (and Itunes Genesis)

      2.  Windows Media Player

      3.  Pandora

      4.  Mixpod.com (haven’t tried this, but looks fun!)

      5.  Playlist.com (haven’t tries this either, but also looks fun!)

      6.  Or have a creative and perhaps musically talented friend make your play list…

Remember, when you play music, no matter what kind, don’t play it too loudly so that guests have to scream at each other.  The music is supposed to be in the background, not the fore front of the party.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!!  

I hope you all enjoyed the count down with Hershey Kisses!  

As for ONE MORE TIP on how to enjoy these yummy candies... just EAT THEM!  

(Who would have thought, right?!)

A wise person once told me that Hershey Kisses are the best candy to eat while on a diet because of all the hard work it takes to unwrap it before eating!  (Pretty genius theory if you ask me!)

Fabulous Friday Featurette: Fancy Hershey Kiss Mice!

Keeping with the "Week of Hershey Kisses,"  

this Friday's Fabulous Featurette is featuring Hershey Kiss Mice!  

This recipe/craft  looks delicious and suuuuper cute!!  

Hop on over to Love and Flour to see how to make this delectable treat!

Check out some other Hershey Kiss Treats and Fun!

How To:  Create Hershey Kiss Decorations

Read about the "Week of Hershey Kisses"

Free Hershey Kiss Decorator Printables

DIY Personalized/Themed Hershey Kiss Decorators

Decorating Hershey Kisses with personalized or holiday themed decorations is a really cool way to turn "boring" Hershey Kiss wrappers into part of a party's decor.  I decided to share my experience of creating these faux bottoms in the form of a "How To"!

How To:  Create your own personalized/themed Hershey Kiss decorators

Bill of Materials:

Paper Printable

Hershey Kisses (any flavor will do!)

3/4" circle punch

Tape

First, I decided to try this idea out for Valentine's Day, so I made my own printable (which you can find here).


Second, cut the printable into strips (much easier to punch out a circle shape.) 


Third, punch out the circle shapes using a 3/4" circle punch.  Or use scissors! (I usually have to punch them out upside down so I can make sure the circle includes all of the picture of word).


Fourth, roll up a small piece of tape and attach paper piece to bottom of a Hershey Kiss.

Ta Da!  


All done!