Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Dark chocolate chip and sea salt cookies

So I made some cookies yesterday that were seriously some of the best cookies a) I've ever made and b) Ever had in general.  They are YUMMY.

I LOVE dark chocolate. It's not something I've always loved, but now that I like it, I prefer it over milk chocolate.  And the addition of sea salt - wow. The two are just an epic combination because the salt enhances and intensifies the chocolate flavor.  Think about it - why do we put salt on savory foods?  To bring the flavor to another level!

So I got the recipe from a blog I follow.  Here's the link:
http://www.abeautifulmess.com/2012/09/dark-chocolate-chip-and-sea-salt-cookies.html

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I'm an absolute mess in the kitchen.  When I bake, there's flour on the floor, the counter tops, everywhere. I'd consider myself a person that pays attention to detail, but for some reason, when I cook/bake, all of that flies out of the window.  I don't prepare well. I just decide to make something and start. What I really SHOULD do is measure out as many things as possible so that I'm not doing it all on the fly.

So that brings me to the real reason for this post, which is to give a heads up to all of you out there who fly by the seat of their pants in the kitchen.

As you see from the recipe I posted, the ingredients are listed in paragraph form.  As I was making the cookies, I didn't pay attention enough and read that there was only 1/4 cup of butter because the extra "1" was on the end of the previous line. So yeah, the recipe calls for 1 AND 1/4 cups of butter.  Oops.

Here's what happened when I put the first half of these cookies in the oven. The dough was SO crumbly and I thought surely there must be something wrong, but I went with it anyway:


Dark chocolate and sea salt BRICKS.  Wow, those things were HARD!

Thankfully, I figured out my mistake and thankfully, this batch makes a TON of cookies, so I still had a chance to succeed.  Since I had already used half the batch, I halved the amount of butter that I missed, added it into the batter, and cooked the second batch.


Success! As you can see, my cookies are much bigger than the blogger's original recipe.  I like BIG cookies. These do have a nice brown edge, but they are mostly pretty soft. And PS - I only had them in the oven for 14 minutes.  It was the perfect amount of time, in my opinion. 

If you decide to make them, let me know what you think! Brian tried them and liked them even though he doesn't like dark chocolate, so that's a great sign. I love them so much that I already plan to make them again soon!

Happy baking! Love,

Meg


Monday, September 10, 2012

Craft-A-Thon

Can I just say how amazing these past few weeks have been? I have finished all of my dissertation edits and have also had the time to have fun with some hobbies!

I've had several craft days and have made lots of cute stuff! I really never got the chance to do these sorts of things in graduate school, so this is really exciting to me. Huge hugs and thanks to my new cousin, Mindy, for being my partner-in-crime/coach as I try all of these new things!


My favorite things so far are my fabric flowers.  These flowers were made using fabric from tablecloths at Brian and I's engagement party last year, so it has some sentimental value to it. I certainly can't take credit for the idea.  The tutorial I used is here:

http://www.paigesofstyle.com/2011/02/diy-fabric-flower-cupcake-topper.html

They are not difficult to do, but they do take some patience. You essentially need 16 fabric circles to do one of these flowers, so there's some tedious cutting involved.  GOOD NEWS though - They don't have to be perfect! These hide imperfections well, so that's always a plus!  The stems I used are sticks of floral wire covered in a brown paper - I bought these at Michael's.

Anyway, I just think these are so cute and they add a pop of color and whimsy wherever you put them!!

Next up - I've been making stationary lately, mostly with the intention of giving clusters of the cute cards/envelopes as gifts.  So, if you have an occasion coming up - You may get some of these. :)

Here's one of my latest - Sparkly LSU stationary!


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Just wanted to share some of the fun little things I've been doing lately and encourage you to try them. I'm a total novice at all of this, so if I can do it, you can too!  Hope everyone had a great weekend.

Love,

Meg

Friday, September 7, 2012

And the WINNER is....

Had to draw a new name due to not all the steps being fulfilled by the original winner ( Sorry :(, had to keep it 100% fair ) ---- Our new winner is JENNY STRAIN!  Congratulations! I saw you entered on behalf of your mom, so I'm sure she will be excited!

Thank you so much to everyone who supported me by entering!  I hope to do something else similar soon!

HUGE THANKS to Accessory Auctions for providing this necklace to me to give away! I want to buy one for myself now. :)

Have a great day, everyone!

Love,

Meg

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

ACCESSORY AUCTIONS GIVEAWAY!!!! - BLACK AND GOLD STATEMENT NECKLACE!

Yall - OMG.

Seriously, OMG.  I can't get over how CUTE the necklace is that Accessory Auctions sent me to GIVE AWAY!  I have to admit, I am extremelyyyyyyyy jealous because it is that cute.

Yes, Saints fans - It's black and gold and fabulous!!!!!  I am so in love with this statement necklace.


Here's what you have to do to enter - You must complete ALL THREE steps to be eligible!

(1) Go to Facebook, search for "Accessory Auctions," and LIKE their page.

(2) Comment on THIS post (not on Facebook, please), telling me that you "liked" their page. (I know a few of you have already done this, but please comment here anyway that you have Liked them)

(3) SHARE this blog post on your Facebook.

(Do not worry - we do not have to be Facebook friends for you to enter.  I can verify all of these things regardless, so please enter!)

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That's it!  Super easy!  I will announce the winner on FRIDAY afternoon!  If you are local, I can bring it to you, but if not, I will mail it.  So excited to see who wins!!!!

Love,

Meg


A few details to disclose about the contest:

  • Only folks who follow all of the above steps will be eligible
  • Based on the number of entries I have, I'll enter it in a random number generator online to choose which post will be the winner. I give you my word that I will not play favorites and will choose at random!!