Dark Chocolate & Orange Macarons (plus macaron-making tips!)

Hello hello!

This week, friends, I’ve got a shiny new recipe that took many attempts to perfect.
I offered to write a guest post for Laura’s Mess and decided upon French macarons.

As we Northerners enter into the cold and desolation of winter (Well, we’re technically entering into fall, but we likely won’t be graced with its presence for long before winter shows its face!), and Southerners enter into the fresh rejuvenation of spring, I decided on a macaron recipe fitting for all seasons and any hemisphere: Dark Chocolate Orange. The slight piquancy of citrus is especially for those of you in or entering a season of warmth, and the chocolate is for anyone, because is there ever not a time for chocolate?

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Wolftree Cake {show & tell}

Today, we’re having Show & Tell. 🙂

I made something kinda cool, and I want to share it with you all!

Some wonderful friends of mine recently started a local publication called Wolftree. It’s a publication “that aspires to encourage and share the stories of sincere artists, dreamers, and adventurers of the Midwest.” It’s pretty darn neat. Go check it out! Maybe even think about buying it… 🙂

Last weekend was the launch party of Wolftree’s volume 1, and I was presented with the exciting and challenging opportunity to make a cake for the party. Brooke, my friend and one of Wolftree’s creators, asked me, “Could you do an actual tree cake?! Earthy like?!” My first thought was, “Oh dear… I don’t know if I have the skills or tools to do that.”

However, I did lots of research– mostly scouring pages and pages of tree cakes on CakeCentral.com– and the dim light began to grow brighter, giving me hope that I could do this. I wrote down all the ideas I could think of and narrowed it down to the best one: Make the trunk out of rice krispies covered in chocolate, and use angel food cake for the leafy top.

What do you think? Did I do okay?

How to make homemade peanut butter

Are you ready for the easiest tutorial you’ve ever seen?

If you’ve never made your own peanut butter, now is the time to start!

Favorite things about homemade peanut butter:
You save money by making it yourself.
You can feel good about knowing it doesn’t contain high fructose corn syrup and all kinds of mysterious additives.