Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Truffles


I'd like to introduce you to my new addiction.....Peanut Butter Cookies Dough Truffles. I'm a cookie dough addict (I like the dough more than the cookies) and I was inspired by a recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies Dough Truffles that I found on an adorable cooking blog called Love & Olive Oil. The awesome thing about eating the cookie dough in these recipes is that it's safe - no raw egg so no fear of food poisoning!

I made the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles and fell in love. Then I wondered if I could make these using other types of cookie dough. After a few failed attempts I came up with the perfect peanut butter cookie "dough" to make my truffles. And let me tell ya - these aren't Peanut Butter Buckeyes! I love Buckeyes but I love Reese's Peanut Butter Cups even more. Yeah, yeah - I know they're similar. They're both peanut butter concoctions covered in chocolate. But these have that slightly more "grainy" texture like PBCs. And they taste just like a gourmet, homemade version of my beloved Reese's PBCs! I'm in heaven!

So here's how I did it......

Ingredients:
-1/2 cup granulated sugar
-3/4 cup brown sugar
-1/2 cup butter (softened)
-1/2 cup peanut butter
-1 cup flour
-Canola Oil
-Chocolate chips
Mix the butter and peanut butter together.

Add the sugars and mix 'em up.

Add the flour and stir, stir, stir.

Put the bowl of dough in the fridge for about 2-3 hours.
Roll dough into balls about 1 - 1 1/2" wide. Place on cookie sheet covered with parchment or wax paper. You should have about 24 dough balls once you're done.

Don't eat them yet! Put them back in the fridge for about 2-3 hours.

Now's the fun part! Pour some chocolate chips in a large mug or a 2 cup measuring cup or some other microwave safe thing-a-ma-jig. Microwave for 20 seconds. Stir. Microwave 10 more seconds. Stir. Then 10 more seconds if you need to. You get the picture. Always microwave your chocolate in short 10 second bursts or it will turn into a disgusting glob of goo! Then I added some Canola Oil (just a little bit - about 1/2 tsp per cup of chips) and mixed it up. This got the chocolate nice and thin and easier to work with. Add more or less Canola Oil if you need to.

Then, one at a time, drop your peanut butter balls into the melted chocolate. Nudge it around with a spoon to make sure it gets completely covered. Scoop 'em back out with a spoon and let the excess drip back into the cup. Place your chocolate covered masterpiece on the wax paper covered cookie sheet and move onto the next one. You can also add a few sprinkles to the top for some added pizazz! I would dip 5, add sprinkles, dip 5 add sprinkles, etc.

And I apologize for the lack of pictures of the chocolate melting and dipping steps. Ya gotta work fast when it involves melted chocolate and I freaked out and forgot to take pictures!

Add more chips and/or re-heat the chocolate if needed. And remember - 10 seconds at a time or you'll have a nasty glob of goo and nobody likes a nasty glob of goo.

Once you're done with the dipping put 'em back in the fridge until the chocolate is firm. About an hour.

Now, let the eating begin.
Aren't they delicious??? Don't they taste just like a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup??? But a more gourmet version??? Aren't you flipping out at how delicious these are???
Next, I'm gonna try and make these with sugar cookie dough....Hmmm.....I wonder how that will turn out. I think sugar cookie dough will taste great dipped in chocolate. I'll let ya know how they turn out.

For now, I've gotta go do an extra workout to make up for all the Cookie Dough Truffles I've been eating.

Happy Snacking,
Jenny

Monday, April 25, 2011

A Day In The Life Of Emma Jane

It's a beautiful spring day today! Can we go to the beach and play? Can we? Can we? Huh? Huh?
It's kind of hot out....I'm just gonna dip my feet in to cool off....
Wait a minute....
Sammy.....where are you going??? My feet won't touch the ground if I come out that far....
O.K. I guess I'll try......Here I come.......
I think I can! I think I can! I think I can!
Yay! I did it! But I'm exhausted now. Let's go home.....
C'mon Daddy....We're tired and ready to go home and take a nap....
Life is ruff.

XOXO,
Emma Jane

P.S. I'm a YouTube star! You can see a short video of me doing the Doggy Paddle here.

Sunday, April 24, 2011

The Easter Tree!

Happy Easter! I'm one of those people who likes to have a tree (or two or three) for every holiday. And this is my Easter tree. I just finished those ornaments yesterday - nothing like getting something done just in the nick of time!

If it looks familiar that's because Martha Stewart magazine had a tree like this on the cover about four years ago and that's where I got the idea and the directions. You can see the directions on Martha's website here.

Each styrofoam egg is slowly and tediously wrapped with perle cotton thread and Tacky Glue....o.k.....it wasn't that bad....it only took about 30 minutes per egg.....
And then I added all sorts of pretty ribbon and flower embellishments from Tinsel Trading Company and Michaels.....and I even dyed some leaves with Rit Dye so they'd perfectly match the green thread on some of the eggs.....
And now they're all happily perched on my fluffy white feather tree....

I hope you're having a wonderful Easter weekend. I'm gonna go nibble on some Easter candy now!
Happy Sewing,
Jenny

Friday, April 15, 2011

Emma's Pick Of The Week - Mon Ami

Hey there, it's me Emma Jane! I am soooo in love with this new pattern called "Mon Ami" by the Vintage Spool. You know I love anything French! And you know I love pink! And this pattern is a perfect combination of two of my favorite things.
It's romantic and playful and charming and overflowing with adorable Parisian inspired images. There's an adorable Eiffel Tower with a pink bow.....
And an artists palette that you would use to paint your masterpiece as you sat in a little cafe overlooking the Seine.....
And there's even a dog! Yeah....it's a poodle....not a Cavalier. But I guess that's o.k. because Poodles are French. But if anyone ever makes a British themed quilt they better put a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel in it!
And guess what - this weekend we're having an early Easter sale. We figured a lot of you will be too busy to shop next weekend with Easter activities so we're having our sale early. And I just gasped at the thought of anyone being too busy to shop - that would be terrible! Anyway, the Discount Code is Easter2011 and you'll get 20% OFF everything in your order. So now is the perfect time to grab one of these patterns!

I'm gonna go put some thought into designing a British themed quilt with a Cavalier right in the middle of it!

XOXO,
Emma Jane

Monday, April 11, 2011

Peasant Blouse Love.....

I am in LOVE with my new Funked Out Peasant Blouse! I made this last weekend and I've already worn it three times.
I'm embarrassed to say that I "started" this over a year ago. It was actually Emma's Pick Of The Week on November 9, 2009 when I had just cut out the Soiree fabric.....
And then.....somehow.....it got tucked away and forgotten about. And I started other projects. Which aren't finished yet either. And then I randomly decided to go back and finish this project. Please tell me I'm not the only one who does things like this! Please! Pretty please!

Anyway....here's one of those fabulous self-portraits of me wearing the blouse. Of course I decided that I HAD to have a picture of me in the blouse the second after John left for a week long work trip.
I think it's comfortable, cute, flattering and feminine. And it made me finally conquer my nemesis - ZIPPERS! For the first time in 30-some years I feel like I've finally properly installed a zipper. Yay for simple victories!

Oh, and if you're wondering....the blouse itself was pretty easy (Confident Beginner and above) to put together and took just a few hours. And I love it so much that I've already started my second blouse - aqua Soiree fabrics and short sleeves (it comes with options for two sleeve lengths - short or the 3/4 length). It also looks great in all one fabric if you're not into the "multiple fabrics in one blouse" thing.
I highly recommend this pattern and I'm already putting together fabric combinations for blouse #3!

Happy Sewing,
Jenny

Monday, April 4, 2011

April 2011 Giveaway - Montego Batiks

We Have A Winner!!!
The Winner is Kate R who said "These fabrics are great! I love the look of batiks but haven't made anything with them. I need to get started :)" Kate R also had an extra entry for e-mailing 3 friends about the Giveaway. Congratulations Kate!
Happy April! Yet again, I apologize for the delay in posting April's Giveaway. If you read my last Blog Post, "Bella The Bunny" you'll understand why! Anyway, this month we're giving away a Montego Batiks Fat Quarter Bundle full of rich, tropical prints and colors.

Here's how to enter:

-Leave a blog comment for one entry
-Tweet about this giveaway for another entry
-Mention this giveaway on Facebook for another entry
-Mention this giveaway on your blog for another entry
-And I know not everyone has their own Blog or Twitter or Facebook account.....So, you can receive an extra entry if you let me know that you e-mailed at least friends about this giveaway.

So you can earn up to FIVE chances to win this bundle!!!

IMPORTANT NOTE: Please be sure to leave a blog comment for each additional entry that you do. For example....leave your first blog comment about whatever crosses your mind for your first entry. But be sure to leave another comment saying "I tweeted this" or "I facebooked this" so I know that you get extra chances to win.

The Giveaway ends on April 30, 2011. The winner will be chosen on May 1, 2011.

Thanks for participating and thanks for always leaving such great comments on my blog!

Good Luck and Happy Sewing,
Jenny

Bella The Bunny

Big sigh.....my Sweet Bella went to Bunny Heaven last Wednesday, March 30. She was 7 1/2 yrs old (pretty old for a bunny!) but it was still very unexpected. She had been running and playing and eating and happy just the day before. She was my 30th Birthday present from John.
She and Emma were best friends. They made quite the cute odd couple! Emma would happily run out to Bella's cage every morning to greet her. For a few days after we lost Bella, Emma would slowly go to the cage and quietly sniff for a long time. Now, Emma just seems to be in a deep blue funk and won't go near the bunny cage. My poor baby! She misses her friend!
And this is just to show you how dang cute bunnies are when they wash their little faces.

We'll miss our sweet Bella but she lived a good, long bunny life with lots of furry friends, carrots and parsley and a cage with a view of the beach! She truly was our "Beach Bunny."

Jenny

P.S. I've been distracting myself by starting lots of new sewing projects. So, I'll have lots of fun, happy, sewing stuff to show you soon.