Help! What do you Think???

Yes I know......a few weeks ago I started cutting squares from 20 or more vintage sheets to put together for a little vintage quilt project......and shortly after that I did sew them up for the quilt top.  But not much has happened with it since then so this is where it's at.  After much deliberation........I decided to not make it any larger as I am going to be sending it off for a baby gift.  (Right now it is 40X50 inches or 100X128cm)  Now my problem is to decide which colour would be best to use for a binding around the edge....any ideas???  I was thinking green.....but quite honestly, I could change my mind....hhhhmmm.

 And it's hard to accomplish much inside when there's so much going on outside:)  The  pale pink peonies are getting ready to blossom....I'm so excited.....they are one of my favourites.  And the black currants are making berries too:)

I am hoping that they will make a delicious syrup for waffles and pancakes later this summer:)

Lovely Cream Puffs

The May 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Cat of Little Miss Cupcake. Cat challenged everyone to make a piece montée, or croquembouche, based on recipes from Peter Kump’s Baking School in Manhattan and Nick Malgieri.

Cream Puffs are something my mom finds a bit of nostalgia with.  Gramma had made lots of them when mom was growing up.  In fact when I was little....cream puffs were what my mom sent me to school with when we had class parties.  Always light and delicious and filled with yummy whipped cream.  It was on my mother's last visit out about a year ago that she made some for me to take to school for a PAC meeting at the school.  Well here we are again....more cream puffs....and I'm not complaining.  The recipe provided is very similar to the one used on mom's last visit and turned out quite nicely.  Just to try something different....this time I filled them with one of the filling recipes provided.....a vanilla pastry cream and drizzled the lot with a chocolate glaze recipe for glazing chocolate dipped donuts.   They were just as delicious as we had all expected, and I look forward to making them for Ike to bring to school some time:)  If you have a hankering to try them....here are the recipes. I made only a 1/2 batch of cream puffs and made them quite small...they baked up about 38 puffs about 1 1/2 inches across.  You will need a full batch (double what is written) of the filling to fill a half recipe of cream puffs, and I found a half recipe of the chocolate glaze was more than enough to drizzle over a half batch of puffs.

Pate a Choux (Yield: About 28)
¾ cup (175 ml.) water
6 Tbsp. (85 g.) unsalted butter
¼ Tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 cup (125 g.) all-purpose flour
4 large eggs
For Egg Wash: 1 egg and pinch of salt
Pre-heat oven to 425◦F/220◦C degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Preparing batter:
Combine water, butter, salt and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and stir occasionally. At boil, remove from heat and sift in the flour, stirring to combine completely.
Return to heat and cook, stirring constantly until the batter dries slightly and begins to pull away from the sides of the pan.
Transfer to a bowl and stir with a wooden spoon 1 minute to cool slightly.
Add 1 egg. The batter will appear loose and shiny.
As you stir, the batter will become dry-looking like lightly buttered mashed potatoes.

It is at this point that you will add in the next egg. Repeat until you have incorporated all the eggs.
Piping:
Transfer batter to a pastry bag fitted with a large open tip (I piped directly from the bag opening without a tip). Pipe choux about 1 inch-part in the baking sheets. Choux should be about 1 inch high about 1 inch wide.
Using a clean finger dipped in hot water, gently press down on any tips that have formed on the top of choux when piping. You want them to retain their ball shape, but be smoothly curved on top.
Brush tops with egg wash (1 egg lightly beaten with pinch of salt).
Baking:
Bake the choux at 425◦F/220◦C degrees until well-puffed and turning lightly golden in color, about 10 minutes.
Lower the temperature to 350◦F/180◦C degrees and continue baking until well-colored and dry, about 20 minutes more. Remove to a rack and cool.


For the Vanilla Crème Patissiere (Half Batch)
1 cup (225 ml.) whole milk
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
6 Tbsp. (100 g.) sugar
1 large egg
2 large egg yolks
2 Tbsp. (30 g.) unsalted butter
1 Tsp. Vanilla
Dissolve cornstarch in ¼ cup of milk. Combine the remaining milk with the sugar in a saucepan; bring to boil; remove from heat.
Beat the whole egg, then the yolks into the cornstarch mixture. Pour 1/3 of boiling milk into the egg mixture, whisking constantly so that the eggs do not begin to cook.
Return the remaining milk to boil. Pour in the hot egg mixture in a stream, continuing whisking.
Continue whisking (this is important – you do not want the eggs to solidify/cook) until the cream thickens and comes to a boil. Remove from heat and beat in the butter and vanilla.

Chocolate Glaze
3/4 cup chocolate chips
3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. In a double boiler over hot, but not boiling water, combine chocolate chips, butter and corn syrup. Stir until chips are melted and mixture is smooth, then add vanilla.
2. Spread warm glaze over top of cake, letting it drizzle down the sides.

Just an Ordinary Day

It's no surprise....I suppose, that as usual things are piling up here.  There never seems to be enough hours in a day and the list of "I'd like to"......continues to grow.  It's seems that I have big plans and poor follow through, which quickly spirals into a sense of drowning in day to day life.  I am trying to finish up little projects and keep up with the my seemingly self messing house.....and making a bit of progress.  

So here's what I've been up to....

I did manage to finish the knit along that I took part in......and actually finished it on time too....although I had not until now posted the photo.  While I don't, myself, use these knitted dish clothes......I do unload them onto people who do (and some who might??)  Let me know if you'd like one, and I'll set one aside.  They are nice and quick, and the whole idea of the knit along was quite fun:)

I've also been thinking about (and actually started to do) something with this little broken sugar bowl and today I finally started.......any ideas what it might be???  The yellow fabric below it is also in the works for another little project.........that will hopefully be completed soon.

Since the warmer weather arrived.....I've been toodling about in the yard trying to clean up the back corner of the yard.  Last year it was filled with tall grasses....which I've been slowly removing and planting some perennials back there that will hopefully tolerate the shady location.  The Maltese Cross, Ladies Mantle, Golden Globe, Ferns, and Monkshood seems to have survived the winter well enough.  Now, I'm off to try a recipe for Chocolate Frozen Yogurt........have to keep on top of all the Milk Kefir:)  So what have you been up to??