she makes she makes

She Makes at She Blogs

2011-06-18T00:45:00.001-04:00

This Blog is now out of commission, as I have started posting all the things I make at my MAIN blog:

SHEBLOGS SHEBLOGS

However, I have a lot of recipes I'd like to keep on hand on this blog, so it remains here, an epitaph to the days when I had a crappier camera, and didn't understand how to upload better images.

She's ready for a Hoppy Spring: Carrot Cake Cupcakes

2010-03-17T18:37:00.003-04:00

Oh the weather has been so nice here! The tulips are starting to spurt and Easter is on it's way!

And just as the world got busy sprouting new life, true to form, all the vegetables in my crisper were starting to slowly die. Why is it that the bread never goes bad, but the veggies always do?

So I did what any normal person does when their vegetables start to die, I looked for a way to add sugar and butter to them so I could eat them before their time was up!

I liked the looks of this Carrot Cake Cupcake recipe because it called for fresh carrots, and fresh apple. And I had both of those!

I have a no nuts policy in my baked goods, so I skipped the nuts and I even skipped the raisins. But what can I say, I'm CRAZY.

After baking and tasting, I was pleased with the recipe and decided to recommend it to you!

The cupcakes aren't too sweet and they are very moist*.

*A note on the word moist. Lots of people hate this word. But in the context of baking I have yet to discover a more accurate descriptor. So let's all move on. MOIST MOIST MOIST!

The cream cheese frosting is PERFECT with these. I made mine nice and sweet to contrast the more savory cake. I also piped it on so as not to skimp. Yes, I know I'm a generous girl.

The recipe can be found here and the frosting is there as well.

Here's the final product.

So if you're feeling Springy, or you're looking for a way to eat those carrots you got on sale... this is a safe bet.

xoxo,

Alison

She wants to make this little treat!

2010-02-02T13:51:00.003-05:00

The Purl Bee always has the cutest projects and the best taste. How adorable is this little heart-shaped zipper pouch. If my machine wasn't being such a poopy pants I'd be whipping one up tonight. But since it IS being a poopy pants, you might just have to make one for me...?

Eh? Eh?

You can find a very well illustrated tutorial for this heart-shaped zipper pouch here.

She brings you NILES the giraffe!

2010-01-28T18:56:00.011-05:00

Hi! I'm thrilled to introduce you to my new friend, Niles.

Niles is a giraffe that doesn't have any eyes. Or a mouth, or really a nose for that matter. But he does have plush, minky skin, and a velvet ribbon bow tie, mane, and tail. Do giraffes have manes? Either way, it's velvet ribbon.

Niles was inspired by the pillows that my dear mother-in-law made for Eric and me as a stocking stuffer. Eric's mom, Debbie, was sweet enough to let me pick out my own fabric for the pillowcases because she doesn't, and I quote, "Think that spending a whole lot of money on fabric, and a bunch of time on something that I'm not going to use, is her idea of a good time."

Debbie, I couldn't agree with you more.

Debbie wanted to make the pillows out of Minky. Which, if you're not familiar with it, is basically the softest, dreamiest, cuddliest fabric you can imagine.

LUCKILY they carried it in animal print. More specifically, giraffe print!

So after Debbie gave us our pillows...here they are in action...

...she gave me her extra fabric. And I decided then and there that the one thing I was missing in my life was a small, stuffed, expressionless, giraffe.

So after some testing and trying, I was able to make a simple pattern for a little giraffe. I think he's pretty stinking cute! So I thought I'd share it with the world.

You can download a PDF for Niles the Giraffe, by clicking on this link:
Niles the Giraffe.

It's a super easy project and I think it would make a great gift. It doesn't require a lot of fabric, time, skill, or money to get this lil' buddy.

Materials:

- A Niles the Giraffe pattern

- 18 inches of velvet ribbon (I used 3/8")

- 1/4 yard of fabric
I used Minky, but it's not really super easy (or cheap) to sew with. It does however, look SO CUTE!

- Stuffing
I used a mixture of synthetic beads and poly-fil so that Niles has the ability to sit.

I did not add eyes or a mouth because I wanted this to be baby-friendly. But you could add those if you really wanted to, I can't do a thing to stop you.

Directions:

1. Cut out all of the pattern pieces.

2. Right sides facing, sew three sides of the legs and arms together. (Leaving one small end open.) Turn them right side out.

3. Cut 5 1-1 1/2" pieces of velvet ribbon. Fold the ribbon pieces in half. Now you're going to want to place the cut sides of the ribbon halves along the outer edge of one of your head pieces (this will make the mane, the folds should be pointing towards the Nile's nose). Space them about 3/4" apart. Then use the second head piece to sandwich your ribbon. You're probably going to want to pin your ribbon pieces in place, and make sure your right sides of fabric are facing.

4. Sew a 3/8" seam around the head, this sew this ribbon mane in place, and when you turn your head inside out the little velvet pieces will pop up! Peek-a-boo!

5. Place your arm and leg pieces (that you have turned right side out) on one of your belly pieces. The right side will be facing up. I've included markings, but you can just approximate where you want your legs and arms to go. Make sure you place the side you didn't sew along the edge of the fabric. The sewn end of the leg or arm will face the INSIDE of his body. Just like the mane, it will pop out when we turn it inside out.

You should pin these in place. They will start to overlap or hang out on the other side, so you should take care to fold the pieces so they stay nicely nestled on the belly piece. WHY?

6. Because now you're going to sandwich all four limbs between the two belly pieces (right sides facing)! This can get a bit messy, but it's much faster this way.

7. Sew the two belly pieces together with a 3/8" seam, making sure you catch the ends of all the limbs, but again taking care not to catch any other part of the limbs. We want our giraffe to have full mobility. Leave the neck hole open.

8. Turn the body inside out, yes it takes a bit of finesse, and BOOM BABY! All your limbs will pop out. TA-DA!

9. Stuff your head (I prefer to use a chop stick) with poly-fil. Leave 1/2" of space at the bottom.

10. Stuff your body. I poured around 1/2 cup of pellets at the bottom so Niles could sit up. Then I finished it off with poly-fil.

11. Stuff the bottom of your neck into the top of your body. Or the other way around, depending on what looks best.

12. Whipstich the neck and body together. You can see what this looks like here on my ghetto first version.

If you're more advanced than I am (which is not hard) and can think of a way to do this that doesn't look so wonky, feel free. But it doesn't REALLY matter because you're going to cover it up with a bow tie!

Niles meets his maker.

13. Stitch a little bow onto a piece of ribbon to wrap around Nile's neck. Then stitch in place any way you can figure! (Hey, it's a free pattern, I'm not getting too technical!)

14. Then I folded a 3" piece of the ribbon in half and sewed it closed. Tie a little know at one end, then stitch the other onto Nile's little giraffe bum.

You're done baby! If you're a better person than me you will be able to give him away. Like I intended to. However, I just haven't been able to give him up quite yet. Plus, doesn't he seem happy on my bed?

I think Eric likes him too.

Ok! Well good luck! Let me know if you have questions!

xoxo

Alison & Niles

She makes cake pops! And a few other things.

2010-01-26T23:30:00.011-05:00

Cake pops have been, like, all the rage on those uber cool baking blogs and I've just been itching to take a crack at them. So after perusing a bunch of different sites, I decided on a method that seemed best to me.

Let me break down the whole cake pop thing if it's new to you.

Here, my friends, is a cake pop.

And here's a whole bunch of cake pops.

Everyone has a different method of making them. So I spent a whole Saturday figuring out just how to make these adorable treats.

An overview of the method goes like this

1. Bake a 13x9 cake.

You can really bake any type of cake you like. From a mix or from scratch. I decided to use a mix, even though I generally don't, in the future I'd really like to try a cake from scratch because you can very much taste the cake, and I think a non-mix might be really YUM. You're going to want to bake this cake the day before so it has plenty of time to cool. Then wrap it in plastic wrap.

2. Get some frosting.

I made cream cheese frosting from scratch. It's really not that hard. But lots of the recipes call for store bought frosting so that works too.

3. Crumb your cake.

I found using my hands and just rubbing the cake into fine crumbs worked best, but if you're prissy you can use some forks.

4. Add your frosting to your cake crumbs (in a large bowl).

I dumped all my frosting in and I wish I hadn't. It didn't really occur to me that the cake pops would taste exactly like cake mixed with frosting (I don't know why...) and I wish I had added the frosting a bit at a time until I had a consistency that would roll into a ball, but wasn't too mushy.

5. Roll all that mushy cake into balls.

I made mine about the size of a ping-pong ball. I suggest a bit smaller. Line a baking sheet, or whatever will fit into your freezer, with parchment and put as many on there as you can without them touching. Here's a great visual of what this will look like, as well as another good tutorial.

6. Insert sticks.

I just pushed my lollipop sticks in. However, I saw later that some people suggest dipping your sticks into the melted candy first. I think this is a great idea. I didn't and everything worked out fine. But in the future, for stability's sake, I will melt a bit of candy coating in the microwave, then dip the sticks in it before inserting them about 3/4s way in to the cake ball.

7. Freeze their brains out for around 3-4 hours.

8. Dip in candy coating.

I have a double boiler. If you don't just put a metal bowl over some boiling water and melt your candy/chocolate.

I bought those Wilton's candy melts, available at any craft/baking store in lots of colors, and I added 2oz of white chocolate to my white batch. I think this made the coating thicker, or better somehow because it didn't drip as much as the blue batch, which was just straight up candy melts.

It took me a while to realize that when the melted coating gets TOO melted (as in too hot) it doesn't stay put on your pop as well. DRIPPY DRIPPY. So I think it's best to let it be a bit cooler. I also read that you can add some edible wax melts. But I haven't found those yet.

9. Decorate.

I decided to keep it minimal with some sprinkles. However, if you want to be amazed and feel bad about yourself be sure to check out Bakerella's cake pops.

10. Let set.

Do not put these in the fridge. I learned that the hard way with some chocolate covered strawberries. You can, however, put them in the freezer. But I didn't want my cake to be cold when people bit into it, so I left them out at room temp. By the time I served them (3 or so hours later) they were great. In fact, I've had some out at room temp for a couple days now, and they're holding up just fine!

I bought myself some Styrofoam and inserted my sticks in it so they could stand upright to set. However another lesson I learned the hard way, spray paint will deteriorate your foam. I was trying to make my foam cuter (for display DUH!) and I sprayed it with glitter spray. 30 minutes later I had a warped and very ugly monster. I'm still brainstorming ways to make the styrofoam cuter. Next time I think I might cover it with frosting. MAH!

11. Take your cake pops to a party and bask in the praise.

Anyway. I hope this comprehensive list helps you muster up the courage to make some cake pops! Everyone really liked them, even though I thought they were a bit moist and needed less frosting.

I made the cake pops for my friend Tara's surprise birthday party. And because you can't put a candle in a cake pop, I decided we needed a cake too! (I know, I cannot be stopped!)

So I whipped up some shockingly purple frosting.

ARE YOU SHOCKED!?

And a 3 layer butter vanilla cake with this recipe. Then I used some left over blue candy coating to make the polka dots!

PARTY!

My friend Tara loves to wear ridiculous ghetto-inspired gear, so while the cake was baking and the cake pops were setting...I quickly cut out some "T's" from some foam and covered them in glitter for everyone to wear at the party. It seriously added to the atmosphere, even if everyone thought I was insane for demanding them to, "PUT ON A T!" So here are the T's (pre-glitter) and the birthday girl enjoying a cake pop.

So now that I have confessed to you how out of control I was with my crafting a baking this weekend (I might have squeezed an apple pie in there somewhere too..) I promise to chillax for at least a couple of days.

Maybe.

Alright! Well happy making from me to you. I have a super cute giraffe to share with you soon. I'm pretty excited.

His name is Niles.

xoxo

Alison

She wanted 100 pumpkins...

2009-10-16T14:41:00.008-04:00

But Eric and I finally decided on around 10. I think I got just a FEW more than ten, but the baby ones don't really count. I don't know, you tell me, I think I need some more. This is only one room of the house!

After getting the pumpkins I was so filled with Halloween cheer, that I decided to sew myself a candy corn banner a la Sprinkles "Boo!" card. I had all that fabric in my stash! Damn I'm thrifty!

My Halloween cheer:

That's all I've got so far! I put out some candy corn, but I still need more! MORE PUMPKINS! Eric, however, does not agree! It's so hard to find Halloween decorations that aren't "country home." Don't get me wrong, those are fine, they just don't go with my home. I guess I'll just have to make some more!

Well I love you all! I hope you're loving pumpkins as much as me!

xoxo

Alison

Peach Cake and the Farmer's Market

2009-09-29T18:52:00.006-04:00

Sometimes you just don't feel like baking pie...right? But peaches have been SO good lately, and SO CHEAP, so I needed to find a recipe that used peaches, but didn't require two days worth of prep/bake time.

*I can't find a peach pie recipe I like, they are all too runny, any tips or ideas would be greatly appreciated!

So I found a few recipes and combined them...to make the best peach cake ever!!!

Now, I made this twice, and the first time it was a bit mushy in the middle. It was still really really good, but nobody likes too much mush.

So the second time I made it, I covered the cakes with foil for the first twenty minutes, so it wouldn't brown too quickly, and then I baked it a little longer, probably about 30 more minutes, and it was perfect. I love perfection.

I used the first half of this Caramel Peach Upside-down Cake recipe, but instead of using their slighty odd cornmeal cake suggestion, I used this vanilla cake recipe. It makes two 8" rounds, and I served it with fresh whipped cream. The peaches get caramelized because you cover the bottoms of the pan with melted sugar. YEAH. So even though the caramel hardens by the time you place the peaches in the pan, when it's baking the caramel melts and covers the peaches and seeps down into the cake and makes it moist and amazing and SO GOOD.

You don't have to skin the peaches, which makes things a whole lot easier, and you actually don't need TOO many of them. It doesn't, however, keep very well. So plan on eating it within a couple of days. I was planning on layering it but it would just be too rich.

The second time I baked it I used these beautiful eggs from the farmer's market. It's so fun seeing the different colors eggs SHOULD be.

I also got these amazing cucumbers. You don't have to peel them to enjoy them (when you don't have a garbage disposal one must avoid peeling at all costs) and they have the most beautiful fluting on the edges! If only I could remember the name!

Anyway, I seriously suggest the Peach Cake. I'm so glad Fall is here because it means pumpkins and spice and everything nice!

xoxo

Alison

She gets back to her jewelry-making roots.

2009-09-21T21:54:00.004-04:00

When I was little I loved, LOVED making jewelry. I started a business with my friends and siblings called Triple ACE Hemp and Beads "ACE" stood for Alison, Alexis, Andrea, Courtni and Evan, my brother. Except Evan never really helped with the business and I think we eventually kicked him out. We would sell our jewelry at a farmer's market by our house. We never really sold that much, I mean, would you buy jewelry made by a 12-year-old kid? But occasionally some nice mom would take pity on us and we'd get SO EXCITED!

I haven't really gotten back to my jewelry roots in a while, but those big flower necklaces I've been seeing everywhere inspired me to get my mini pliers back out and have a go.

I made this one necklace with some scraps of fabric I had, some cheap pearls and my favorite, a big gold chain. I wore it for three days straight. It really did brighten up every outfit!

I'm working on perfecting my yo-yo's (the fabric flower) and experimenting with some different chains. And keep this on the down low, I even have some Pony beads stashed away somewhere!

Eric and I spent the weekend at a cabin in Midway with his cousins, and I ended up giving the necklace to one of his cute cousin's ADORABLE little girls. She looked better in it anyway.

But this has opened up a whole can of bead-loving worms for me and I have to stop myself from going and looking at beads everyday.

I wish I wasn't SO COOL!

OK, love and kisses

Alison

Almond Joy Cake

2009-09-17T20:00:00.006-04:00

It was my mom's birthday last week as well as my good friend's wedding! Such a party. My whole family came in to town (for the wedding) and so we were able to celebrate my mom's birthday together. I couldn't remember when the last time was that my mommy-kins had a birthday cake, so I decided to make her one! Mare-bear (Marilyn) loves Almond Joy's soooo much. So I wanted to bake her an Almond Joy inspired cake. I looked all over the internet for a good recipe but I just didn't think any of them looked that good. So I improvised and concocted my own. And I'm not gonna lie, it was honestly one of the best cakes I've ever had/made. IT WAS DA BOMB!

Here's the finished product:

Here's what I did.

I made two 8" chocolate cakes using my favorite simple recipe. Then I made a German chocolate cake filling, because it has coconut...like an Almond Joy...but instead of using walnuts I used sliced almonds.

When the cakes were cool I placed my first round on a cake platter, and I spread on some of my coconut-almond-filling. Then I placed my second round on top and put EVEN MORE coconut-almond goodness right on top of the cake. Then I put this in the fridge to cool.

Then I made what is perhaps the best frosting I have ever made in my life. I will share the recipe for it with you because I don't think it's fair to keep it to myself.

It's a variation of the whipped chocolate frosting from Baked. BUY THAT BOOK! To their recipe I added about a cup or so of powder sugar.

Here it is:

8oz bittersweet chocolate chopped up (get the good stuff)
8oz milk chocolate chopped up
1 1/2cups heavy cream (yes I know just wait)
2 Tbs light corn syrup
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter soft but cool cut into 1" chunks

my addition

powder sugar to taste/consistency

What you do is you bring the cream and corn syrup to a boil, and then you pour it over your chocolate which you should put in a metal mixing bowl. Let it sit and let it melt up a bit. Then you stir that GOODNESS together and once it is smooth, chunk by chunk while you're mixing add that butter. Yeah, just keep adding that butter.

Then! I added the confectioner's sugar because it needed a little something more. I refrigerated it to stiffen it up a bit and MAN! It is SOOOO GOOD. Not too sweet. Which can be dangerous because then you just keep SHOVING IT IN YOUR FACE.

And in case you're wondering it was actually really easy to frost over the coconut-almond filling on top of the cake. I was worried about that but it worked out fine!

Here's my mom enjoying the cake, and a sneak peak at the inside.

I had a good deal of almond-coconut filling and frosting left over so I decided to make some cupcakes with it. I used a yellow cake and put about a Tbs of filling in between two scoops of batter. It baked up yummy! I think you could even do like 2 Tbs of filling in the unbaked cupcake.

You can kind of see the almonds poking out down there at the bottom.

OK you can thank me later for how good that frosting is. I think I have some peach cakes that are burning in the oven.

KISSES,

Alison

She WILL make cupcakes.

2009-08-14T23:37:00.006-04:00

I'm thrilled, THRILLED about this new etsy shop I found. It's called Cupcake Social. They have adorable liners at reasonable (reasonable if you're me and your reason has been skewed by design blogs and Martha Stewart) prices, toppers and basically anything else you'd ever want to make your cupcakes sassy.

I know that cupcakes have been the THING for a while now, and some may even say passe, but that doesn't mean I'm not still totally in love with them.

Why? Well it's like this see: You can't bake a cake and sit down and eat the whole thing...and then not want to stab yourself in the eye with your fork after wards. You CAN, however, use that same amount of batter to make a batch of cupcakes, and then consume them, yes all of them, throughout the course of an afternoon. For this reason and this reason alone I find cupcakes superior. And since you'll be shoving so many of them in your fat face, you might as well make them look cute.

So...without further ado, here are some of my top picks from Cupcake Social.

I will be purchasing some of these little babies just as soon as I have more than $30 in my checking account. Is it in poor taste to tell you how poor I am at the moment? Well if it is, I don't care, this is why, I hope it makes you feel richer.

I made some real cute cupcakes myself, to toot my own horn, the other day, and I'll be posting those soon.

xoxo

Alison

She Makes Pony Pie

2009-08-11T11:32:00.010-04:00

After making a lattice pie top, I occurred to me that you could probably do anything you wanted with your pie top and it would most likely turn out alright-looking, if not edible. So I decided to get crazy! Well, as crazy as you can get with pie. I figured that if I love pies, and I love ponies, the only thing that could be better is a Pony Pie!

I think I was right...the ponies seemed fond if it too. Here are some tender moments I captured on film. Please note, there are no actual ponies in Pony Pie, in this case, there are just apples. Look, I can prove it.

Notice the jealous looks from the colt in the corner.

I figured if I could make Pony Pie, then I could also make "Ashton Pie" for a friend who just gave birth to a new baby boy named Ashton. Instead of Ashton parts, I used cherries and blueberries. I think it turned out well, but I didn't get to taste it. I might have been a bit juicy. Any tips?

And the because there was still some fruit left over, and let's face it, I'm unemployed and have the time, I made a "Seagull Pie" in honor of my favorite wall hanging in my home. Again, I was fresh out of Seagulls so I instead used peaches, cherries and blueberries.

The mangled remains.

If I do say so myself, my apple pie is pretty amazing. However, this was my first time trying mixed fruit pies and I think they were a bit, the word I guess would be "runny." The great thing about pie though is even if it's not perfect it still taste SO GOOD, and looks good too. Which is nice for a perfectionist. I will not serve a mediocre cake or cookie, but a sub-par-pie is still divine.

I love making fruit pies. Every step of the process is beautiful. Pitting the juicy cherries and spilling their red blood, peeling bring green apples to reveal soft flesh...how do I make baking pies sound like a horror film? Oh well, I still love it. Peeling the fruit, slicing it up, crimping the edges of the crust. It really is a labor of love. I adore that it's not easy, that it takes the time that most people won't bother to spend. I guess pies are kind of like the marathon of desserts. And a marathon is exactly what it would take to burn of the calories we have consumed due to so many pies.

Anyway, if you have any pie combos you'd like to share, I'd love to hear them. In the meantime I will be perfecting many variations of my Pony Pie.

xoxo

Alison

Arin and Evan or Gocco Heaven

2009-07-08T23:26:00.009-04:00

I was so honored to be able to help Arin and Evan design their invitations for their wedding. I was even happier that Arin was totally on board with using my little Gocco printing press to make them.

The Riso Print Gocco is such an amazing little machine. If you're not familiar with it, it's like a little mini screen-printer of sorts. But of course, like all amazing things, they, meaning RISO, have decided to stop making the supplies for it. So it will become a dying art. But I'm hoping that, like Fuji did for Polaroid film, another company will swoop in and provide either a similar product or supplies that work with Gocco.

You have to press each color on different screens. So because their invites were two-color, we hand printed each invite twice. It's not TOO much work, but luckily the loving couple (and their AMAZING dog Costello) came over to help print their own invites. Here's some pix of the printing party.

They were a little timid to get started...

But soon started whipping out prints like masters.

I must say these drying racks were a GREAT purchase.

After we got all the flowers on, we pressed on the type in a rich chocolate brown that we mixed.

Here's Costello with the finished suite. Arin found the half-moon enclosures at Paper Source and we made the bands out of paper she ordered from French Paper.

And here's the invite paired with the Save the Date that I printed on the Gocco a few months back. They sent them out as postcards.

Arin and Evan were the easiest couple to work with ever! Which means, obviously, they will have a fabulous marriage and happy life.

Why do I love weddings so much? Mah! I'm seriously getting very excited.

I love you all,

xoxo

Alison

She makes love with her eyes.

2009-07-01T17:53:00.003-04:00

Technically the only thing I'm making in this picture is that ridiculous face. But if you had just found these sunglasses at Target you'd be smiling too. I feel like heart-shaped sunglasses send a good vibe. Don't you?

She makes a lemon cake.

2009-06-30T16:59:00.004-04:00

I know that pies are oh so summer, but if you are going to bake a cake this season don't you think it should be lemon? I DO! So I took a break from my busy pie-baking schedule to try a recipe I saw in Everyday Foods. I made it for a Sunday BBQ and, well, it was a real hit.

As an aside, I think Everyday Foods is a great magazine. I love its little pocket size and most of the recipes I've made from it are yummy, even fabulous with a few modifications. However, for this lemon cake recipe I followed the directions down to the letter. I was skeptical of the frosting, I tend to cringe at frosting that is made from mostly egg whites, but I made it anyway and it was a perfect compliment to the cake. Plus, because it is so whipped and light, it is very easy to frost.

A useful tip would be: buy more lemons than you think. I really needed about 5 or 6 large lemons. What makes this cake so moist and lemony is a simple syrup that you drizzle in the warm cakes before you frost them. You need lemon juice for that, for the frosting, and you also need the lemon zest. Plus you need lemons to candy for the top. So what I'm saying is, don't skimp on the lemons when you're at the store.

Luckily the recipe is online. So you don't even have to go find the magazine!

I'm bummed not to have all of my amazing dishes and serving platters out here. For some reason Eric wouldn't let me bring them all! So you'll have to make due with the one Thomas Paul platter I brought out for all of these pictures.

It's always a bummer to spend a lot of time and money on a recipe that is gross, so if you want one that I consider full proof, here you go.

Love and kisses from Sprinkles,

Alison

She makes cherry pie.

2009-06-11T18:14:00.008-04:00

Alright! This post is old, I made this for Eric's birthday on June 9th, but here's my first attempt at cherry pie! I used white cherries from our local Produce Junction, and decided to go with the lattice top using this great tutorial. All in all, even though it wasn't 100% picture perfect, it was a really tasty pie.

Unfortunately I had a minor cutting accident, and didn't have any band aids, but like any good housewife I was resourceful and persevered.

So, in honor of my first cherry pie I will share with you a poem I wrote in my 10th grade health class. For some reason our health teacher, Mr. Hanover, liked us to write journal entries before he started telling us about the dangers of genital herpes. We were given the assignment to start a paragraph with the statement, "I often sit and wish that I..."

Being the ever flowery dork that I am I wrote a poem. I thought it was so great that when my teacher asked for volunteers to read their response I raised my hand and read the following:

I often sit and wish that I
Could be a piece of Cherry Pie.
With crust so crumbly and cherries red,
You would eat me, and I'd be dead.

Now, the reason I remember this poem so clearly is because of what my health teacher said in response to it. Mr Hanover was the leader of the Christian Athlete Club and made it known that he supported abstinence. After hearing my poem he started rolling on the floor laughing, he wasn't very old, maybe 25, and then he said, "Alison, I have so much more respect for you now!"

After 10 years I have come to see just how immature and stupid this response was. Mind you, he was a very nice man, but seriously, his associations were pretty far-fetched, and he made me, a sweet little 15-year-old feel like a moron in front of a class of high school peers.

OBVIOUSLY I'm over it. So let us move on from the subject of popping to pitting...In order to pit all those cherries I went out and bought myself a cherry pitter. It looks like this:

I wasn't thrilled with its aesthetic but it was the only one at the store. (Eric said "No one will ever see it!" I responded, "THAT'S NOT THE POINT!") But I was excited to have the nifty tool nonetheless...until I saw this on a blog I like called Angry Chicken. It's called the Cherry Chomper!

So if you're wondering what I want for the fourth of July, my birthday or Christmas, here's a link.

I adapted this cherry pie recipe and added lemon zest and some strawberries and raspberries at the last minute because I don't think I had enough cherries. I promise to post better pictures and stop using my iPhone...be here's one last one of the birthday boy enjoying his pie while his brother tries to usurp the photo.

I was always a cake girl, but I dare say these days...pie is taking the cake. I seriously suggest you get yourself that adorable Cherry Chomper and get a pie in the oven stat.

xoxo,

Alison

She makes apple pie.

2009-06-08T17:54:00.009-04:00

I've been self-conscious of posting crap I make for too long now. But not anymore! I'm throwing all pride and dignity to the wind because, let's face it, I've really never had that much anyway. Plus, oftentimes before I make things I research them a lot so I figure I'd start sharing all the info I gather and whatnot. Sigh, that's just who I am, a giver.

MOVING ON.

This summer I have gotten into making pie. Pie can be an intimidating thing to make if you've never made it. It's not super easy, but really it's not THAT hard. Luckily my MIL (mother-in-law) is a pie-master and she had me over one time and taught me how to make the crust. It's all about the crust people. After seeing the consistency and texture I needed from a pro I took on my first apple pie when we moved to Philly. Why? Because baking a pie takes time, and when we moved the Philly I suddenly had PLENTY of time.

Here is a picture of my first pie. It's an apple pie, and yeah, I totally double-crusted that beotch.

I used the pie crust recipe from my FAVORITE baking book. I'll post more on why this is the best book in the world later.

Here is a picture of my second pie. Look how much cuter this one is. That apple cookie cutter is from Bed Bath and Beyond, it was in the $10 set of 30+ cookie cutters.

It just goes to show, my fellow perfectionists who quit after the first time if something isn't 100% perfect...that it's always worth at least a second round. And THEN if it's not perfect I totally give you permission to quit. KIDDING! Anyway these pies were delicious.

I used the Apple Pie recipe again from my favorite book, with one small twist that I learned from the MIL, lemon zest and a few squeezes of fresh lemon in the apple mixture. It really adds a lot. The recipe in the book also calls for a tablespoon of bourbon, but since I don't drink it seemed expensive to buy a whole bottle just for the pie. That plus I don't really trust myself with a whole bottle of bourbon to be used strictly for "baking" purposes.

Today, right now! I'm in the middle of making a cherry pie for my hubby's b-day tomorrow. I've never made a cherry pie but one time I wrote a poem about one. I'll share that later.

As for the dough, for my first two pies I mixed it by hand. I don't have a pastry cutter so I used two knifes. But today I bought a food processor, and I made my dough that way. I have seen some debate from the foodies as to making dough in a processor. Some say it makes the dough rubbery. They may be right, I think my batter may have been too smooth so I will let you know what happens!

Anyway if you have any tips or questions please, do share.

In the meantime here's a good video I found that combines answers to all the questions I had when I made first pie by myself. Such as transferring the dough to the pan, cutting down the edges (I just use a butter knife), fluting the edges, and then if you want to, she also shows you about pie weights. It covers it all, albeit intensely. This completely removes the sweet feelings of tradition you could have felt from learning from your grandma, your MIL, or a neighbor. Yet another blessing of the Internet!

I'm gonna go pit my cherries.

xoxo

She Makes! She Makes!

2009-01-26T18:20:00.000-05:00

This is the future sister-site of the much beloved, and I'm sure soon to be critically acclaimed blog, SheBlogs SheBlogs.

I'm claiming this URL now, before dozen of other spin off blogs, which are no doubt inevitable considering SheBlogs SheBlogs staggering circulation, snatch it up from under me.

I, author of SheBlogs SheBlogs, Alison Faulkner, will soon be posting all of the things I make, attempt to make, and would like to make on this, what I'm sure will be, really awesome blog.

Please do not get too excited just yet. I'm saving up until I can afford to post more, but I promise content will be here for your enjoyment soon. While you wait please read my personal blog, SheBlogs SheBlogs, where I try to help you feel the love I have for you and the world. Because we all know we all could use, at the very least, a virtual hug.

With Love,

Alison Faulkner