When making muffins and coffee cakes with berries, it’s preferred to have them scattered evenly throughout the pastry. How do you avoid the blueberries sinking to the bottom? Make sure they are dry, and toss them lightly in flour before mixing them into the dough. The flour will keep them afloat, until the muffin is baked and enjoyed.
photo: Glasshouse Images
Last week we made lots of cupcakes for a birthday party. For us, the worst part of making cupcakes and muffins is pouring the batter into the tins.
No matter what spoon, or spatula we use, it’s a drippy mess. That is until we started using a spring loaded ice cream scoop!
Simply release one generous scoop of batter into each paper liner that has been set into a muffin tin. It will not only give you more consistent cupcakes, but it is also virtually mess free, and best of all, fast!
For standard sized cupcakes, the scoop should be disher size 24, which holds about 1.33 oz. or 3 tablespoons, For jumbo cupcakes, use disher size 8 which holds about 3 oz. or 4 tablespoons.
For mini cupcakes, use disher size 50, which holds about .55 oz. or 1.25 tablespoons. This size is great for cookies too!
Owning a few of these spring loaded scoops will speed up your baking, and give you a much more uniform product.
Try it…you will never go back to a spoon again!
photo: Glasshouse Images
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Last weekend, we hosted a baby shower for two very special people.
Of course, everything had to be homemade. And of course we had WAY too much food!
It’s hard to approximate how much to prepare for 50 people. Now we know it’s nearly half of the quantity we thought we needed. ( more on this to follow!)
The guests knew they had arrived at the right place, when they saw our chalk art on the sidewalk outside:
The decorations were simple:
We stretched a clothesline on a big, blank wall behind the dining room table. Using mini clothespins, we hung a variety of baby clothes on the line. It was festive and useful, and the parents-to-be took home all of the items for their newborn.
On the coffee table, wooden blocks spelled out the baby’s name, surrounded with vases of daisies.
A good time was had by all, and the new parents got lots of great things for their little boy! ( the pillow was handmade by B!)
Mostly, it was all about the food…tons and tons of food!
There were two serving areas, each with a variety of items. On the dining room table, was a continental breakfast, featuring muffins, coffee cakes, and bagels, as well as fruit, yogurt and homemade granola.
The buffet was set with luncheon salads.
Later, we put out dessert.
A great time was had by all, and the happy couple went home with lots of wonderful things for their baby boy. We can’t wait to meet him in early October!
Here are some of the dishes we served:
Blueberry and Raspberry Muffins and Pumpkin Pecan Mini Muffins
Sour Cream Coffee Cake with Cinnamon Crumble
Lemon Yogurt Loaf Cake
Homemade granola
Luncheon Salads:
Chinese Chicken Salad with Soy Peanut Dressing (recipe here)
Kale Salad with Mint, Edamame and Cranberries in Lemon Herb Vinaigrette ( note to self: don’t do this one for a crowd ever again! recipe here)
Wild Rice Salad with Cranberries, Oranges, Grapes and Pecans.
Just of few of the desserts:
Lemon Shortbread Bars
Marbled Cheesecake Brownies
Pecan Pie Bars
A good time was had by all! We can’t wait to meet you Landon!
Photos: Spencer Jones / Glasshouse Images shot exclusively for indigo jones
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