Budget Savvy: Bulb and Seed Favors

I've been thinking about spring bulb and seed favors a lot lately - most likely because we have about two inches of tulips showing outside and seed lamps running inside!
These can be a cheap and personal way to send a small thank you to those who attended your wedding. To make it even more unique you could hand out seeds of the same kind of flowers you used! You could also use them as placecards.

Happy Spring!

Tuxedo Cake Pops

Asa and I tried out Bakerella's cake pops for the Oscars.  We hadn't made them before and they turned out great.  Although they are really really sweet! White chocolate coated cake and frosting!  I'm not a white chocolate fan - but they are definitely fun to make!

(We used bats from our halloween sprinkles for the tie, and I piped melted white chocolate for the buttons.)

Heart Shaped Thumbprint Cookies

Continuing on through Valentine's Day ideas: 

I saw some peanut butter and jam filled heart cookies in the latest Martha Stewart and since I hate pb cookies just decided to try out the idea in a basic thumbprint cookie.  And they turned out pretty well!!

I used Emeril Lagasse's recipe and made some alterations - alterations in italics. 

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup raspberry jam or jelly
• 1 tablespoon Chambord or kirsch (I just use any berry liqueur I have on hand)
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 sticks (1 cup) butter, at room temperature
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 large egg yolks
• 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest (I didn't have lemon and substituted grapefruit - worked great!)
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly butter 2 large baking sheets.

In a small bowl, combine the jam and Chambord. Stir to combine.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt andwhisk to blend.

In a large bowl using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and creamy. Beat in the egg yolks, lemon zest, lemonjuice and vanilla. Add the flour mixture in 2 additions and beat just until moist clumps form. Gather the dough together into a ball.

Pinch off the dough to form 1-inch balls. Place on the prepared baking sheets, spacing 1-inch apart. Use your floured index finger or 1/2 teaspoon measuring spoon to create depressions in the center of each ball. (Instead of just doing one impression, push slightly to the side and then to the other side.  Clean fingers make a neater impression.  Make sure to avoid a low side or your jam will run out. I would add a 20min chill in the fridge here to help maintain the shape.  I didn't do it and some of them got a little flat and less heart shaped.)   

Fill each indentation with nearly 1/2 teaspoon of the jam mixture. Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes. (took less time)

Transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool completely.

Enjoy!  They'd be really cute in a window box, clear bag with ribbon, wedding day favors, etc...

Book Favors

We went down to Portland, OR this past weekend to attend my cousin's wedding. The favors were so fun I had to share them! At the centerpiece of each table they had a stack of books for the guests to pick from and these neat book plates (see pic above) to stick in the front of them! (This also tied into their invitations which were hand typed on library cards.)