Man, this sounds Yummy!

THE BEST CHOCOLATE SHEET CAKE. EVER. (from The Pioneer Woman)

CAKE:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 4 heaping Tablespoons unsweetened baking cocoa
• 2 sticks butter
• 1 cup boiling water
• ½ cup buttermilk (or use this Pioneer Woman tip to make a buttermilk substitute: pour just under 1/2 cup regular milk into a measuring cup, then add enough regular vinegar to the milk to bring the quantity up to 1/2 cup–it will turn into buttermilk within seconds!)
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

FROSTING:

• 1 3/4 stick butter
• 4 heaping Tablespoons unsweetened baking cocoa
• 6 Tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 pound (minus 1/2 cup) powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts, optional (Jane did not use nuts in her frosting and it was great…so if you don’t like nuts, leave them out!)

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, and salt.

Melt butter in a saucepan and add cocoa. Stir together. Add boiling water, allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds, then turn off heat. Pour over flour mixture, and stir lightly to cool.

In a measuring cup, pour the buttermilk and add beaten eggs, baking soda, and vanilla. Stir buttermilk mixture into butter/chocolate mixture. Pour into sheet cake pan and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

While cake is baking, make the icing. If using nuts, chop them finely. Melt butter in a saucepan. Add cocoa, stir to combine, then turn off heat. Add the milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar. Stir together. Add the nuts, stir together, and pour over warm cake. (NOTE: if you follow these directions, you’ll notice your frosting is still a little lumpy. To make her frosting really nice and smooth, Jane simply cooked the frosting several minutes longer over low heat, stirring until the mixture was smooth; she also omitted the nuts. You could also leave the nuts out of the frosting mixture and sprinkle them on top of the icing instead).

You can let the frosting cool and set before cutting into squares if you want, or cut into squares while it’s still warm and dig in!

As big as this sheet cake is, it disappears pretty quickly!

I found this on Pinterest

Last Minute Gift Ideas you can Make!

How-Tuesday: Last-Minute Gifts

Story by  julieincharge

Published on Dec 20, 2011 in Make

Photo by minieco

The holidays are nearly here! If that sentence has left you gasping for air and double-checking the calendar, sure that I am wrong, don’t worry: there’s still plenty of time to whip up something handmade for the loved ones on your list. In today’s How-Tuesday round-up, you’ll find a collection of 25 tutorials to help you create special, personalized gifts.

Sweet Treats

Time to fire up your oven! Homemade baked goods are a holiday classic. Make somecardamom sugar cookies, handmade chocolates, or spiced pumpkin seed brittle for those with a thriving sweet tooth. Make a big batch of granola to jar up for healthy crunchy friends (see below for jar ideas).

Classy Containers

Dress up that little something-something in the finest of handmade attire. Try etching glass jars, make your own fiber baskets, or revamp an old cookie tin into a handy chalkboard container that will outlive that batch of cardamom cookies and serve as a useful item around the house.

Cups & Mugs

Once you’ve got a set of Pebeo paint pens made for glass or porcelain, the possibilities are endless (and pretty fast). Make a teacup and saucer for a coffee or tea aficionado, draw ahandwriting paper motif mug for your favorite teacher, or make customized painted glassware or a cross-stitch-inspired mug for just about anyone on your list.

Paper Gems

I love paper for many reasons — it’s incredibly versatile, affordable, easy to recycle and repurpose, and lends itself to experiments and quick projects. Make globe garlands from recycled maps for a faraway friend with a case of wanderlust. Fold up jewel-toned paper gems for a treasure chest effect. Print out and fold weekly planners for a list-making fiend, or make paper dolls for an imaginative kid.

Tools of the Trade

Why not make your artist, crafter, or designer friend a handy tool to support their practice and inspire fresh creativity? Make a recycled hanging notepad or mini matchbook sketchbook for notes and sketches. Create a custom bulletin board for a studio wall — just the thing for pinning up visual inspiration or even making a visual map of Etsy sales or contacts across the country. Using an old wool sweater, stitch up a laptop sweater cozy; you can also scale this pattern fit just about any device. For the crafty set, sew a skinny pincushion designed to nestle right up against a sewing machine, or try your hand at making a knitting mushroom, a classic knitting tool for making I-cords.

Pet Presents

Shower a pet lover with quick gifts for their furry friends. Pay tribute to a precious pup with a silhouette tote bag, or whip up a handmade leash with your choice of cotton webbing and ribbon for a stylish trip to the dog park. Cat toys are a fun and quick gift. Try making a fewpom-pom toys or a catnip stuffed mouse toy. Meow!
Happy handmade holidays to you and yours!


http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/2011/how-tuesday-last-minute-gifts/?ref=fp_blog_title

OMG, this sounds so good! I know what I'm doing this weekend!

http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/2011/how-to-make-chocolates/?ref=fp_blog_title

How to Make Chocolates

Story by  yvettevanboven

Published on Sept 29, 2011 in Make

Photo by Oof Verschuren

Based in both Paris and Amsterdam, Yvette van Boven works as an illustrator, food stylist and recipe writer. Her first cookbook, Home Made, brings together over 200 from-scratch recipes in one beautifully illustrated collection. Together with her cousin Joris Vermeer, she has a restaurant and catering service in Amsterdam called Aan de Amstel. She is very fond of eating oysters, but today she’ll teach us how to make chocolates. Here’s Yvette.

I grew up in Ireland. I am no stranger to writing cookbooks. I wrote my first one when I was four years old. From then on I continued to indulge my almost morbid passion for collecting recipes and cookbooks, preferably illustrated.

My mother and the women on our street made a lot of things with their own hands, out of necessity or by tradition, and my sister and I did the same. We made soda bread, biscuits, shortbread and stew for our toy restaurant. We made ice creams, yoghurt, butterfly cakes, and ginger ale for our dolls or friends.

My mother made everything herself because there simply wasn’t a lot to buy in the stores at that time. She showed me that by making things yourself, you can adjust the flavor to your own taste. Even now, in our restaurant or at home, we make everything from scratch ourselves. I wouldn’t know how to do otherwise.

As far as desserts are concerned, I would say I have a weak spot for bread and butter pudding. I have a recipe for Panettone and custard pudding in the book that uses Italian Panettone bread instead of a regular loaf. This makes the dessert lighter, so you can eat more of it. It also contains prunes soaked in Amaretto…need I say more?

My recipes represent a starting point to help you on your way, but I hope you will make up your own versions and create fresh memories. Be sure to invite me.

Making Chocolates, the Home Made way

When making chocolates, you need some skill. Melting chocolate is just not that easy and you have to acquire some experience. Stirring too much is bad, since the chocolate will become grainy. Heating it too much is also bad, since it will also become dry and grainy. Under all circumstances, the following applies: If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again. And be prepared for some failures. For your first chocolates, stock up on some extra chocolate. Then you can make another batch, no worries! The best temperature for chocolate is 104° F, hence a little warmer than body temperature. Just check with your finger.

Ingredients:
For the ganache:
1/2 cup cream
7 oz chocolate (70% cocoa)
2 tablespoons butter
Cinnamon or liqueur for flavoring
Plastic wrap
Wax paper
For the outside chocolate layer:
7 oz chocolate
4 oz melted white or milk chocolate for decoration
Parchment paper to dry the chocolates
Wax paper for the icing

For the filling (ganache) you need twice as much chocolate as cream: 1/2 cup cream and 7 oz chocolate (70% cocoa).

Heat the cream in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. You can add flavoring such as cinnamon, liqueur, or nothing!

Melt 2 tbsp butter in the hot cream.

Finely chop the chocolate and add it to the cream. Turn off the heat and leave to melt.

Stir the mixture carefully into a glossy smooth mass.

Pour the ganache into a tray lined with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least two hours.

Transfer to wax paper.

Cut into equal squares.

Melt 7 oz chocolate over a double boiler.

Using a carving fork, quickly dip the ganache in the chocolate...

And leave the chocolates to dry on parchment paper.

Create an icing bag with waxed paper.

Fill it with 4 oz melted white or milk chocolate.

Decorate and leave to dry, then serve with coffee.

Did you enjoy this recipe? For more sumptuous sweets (and savory meals!), pick up a copy of Yvette Van Boven’s Home Made. Abrams Publishing is offering a 30% discount to Etsy readers who buy directly from their site. Simply enter “etsyhomemade” at  checkout. This coupon code expires on October 11, 2011.

 Have you ever made chocolates? What’s your favorite type of sweet?