Feb 24, 2023

Snow? Snow!

On Sunday we had a beautiful sunny day. Though it was only 64° sitting in the sun felt heavenly and I took full opportunity to lay out in my Hammock. Ahhhh spring is surely on it's way, right? 
Wrong. 
On Thursday we woke up to SNOW in California, which for where we live is very atypical. The last time we got snow it was somewhat of a natural disaster for our area. Tree limbs came down all over the valley- knocking out power and even falling on my car.
Thankfully we did not receive such damage this time and were able to enjoy our little winter wonderland. So we bundled up and took the dogs out to play. Here's a photo dumb of our snow adventure!

The difference between Sunday and Thursday 
The pups were just as confused as we were at first.

The snow was falling fast and heavy.

Gray's dreams of a mush sled team are born here. 

Fen was the HAPPIEST boy

Do you want to build a snowman?

Perfect little snow angel

Again. Fen was the wildest, happy boy. Rolling around in the snow making his own snow angels.


 

Feb 12, 2023

Valentine's Bakes: Seersucker Heart Cookies

🎶I'm a (seer)sucker for you!🎶 This weekend I made these sugar cookies and gave them a little Valentine's twist by making the dough seersucker print and using heart shaped cookie cutters. 

Ingredients
1 ½ cups butter, softened
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
Food coloring

Directions
Cream together butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in flour, baking powder, and salt. 
**Here is where I split my dough in half and added some food coloring to one half**
Cover, and chill dough for at least 1 hour (or overnight).

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).

Lightly dust a work surface with flour. Roll out dough to 1/4 to 1/2 inch thickness. 
**At this time I cut my dough in little strips. I then arranged them in alternating colors on a sheet and rolled over the dough to seal the seams.**

Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheets.

Bake in the preheated oven until cookies are lightly browned, 6 to 8 minutes. 


I left mine plain but you could decorate these with your favorite icing and sprinkles ✨


 

Feb 5, 2023

Valentine's Bakes: Cookie cake edition!


You've got a slice of my heart ❤️ Heart cookie cake that is!
I continued on with my Valentine's bakes with this recipe from Design Eat Repeat and decked it out in Valentine's fashion! I baked it in my Emile Henry Ruffled Heart Dish and added Valentine's M&Ms and sprinkles for a pop of color. 

Cookie cake recipe

½ cup unsalted butter (1 stick) You will be melting this

½ cup light brown sugar

¼ cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup M&Ms

Vanilla buttercream frosting

¼ cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature

1 ¼ cups powdered sugar

¾ teaspoons vanilla extract

pinch of Salt

1-2 tablespoons milk

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

 

In a small microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter for 20-30 seconds until JUST melted.

 

Add in white sugar and brown sugar and use a spatula to stir until combined (* do not use a mixer!). Add in egg and vanilla, then mix. Next, add in baking soda, baking powder, and salt and mix again. Add in flour and mix until all the flour disappears into the dough.

 

Add the 1/2 cup of chocolate chips and 1/2 cup of M&Ms into the dough and mix.  Immediately proceed to pressing into pan (you don't want the dough sitting out or it will set too much with the melted butter).

 

Grease a 11.5" metal cookie cake pan. (I used my heart dish instead) Using a spoon or your clean hands, drop the dough into small chunks in the pan. This will help disperse everything so that you can easily smooth it out. Once all dough as been added, use a spatula or your hands to press down the dough into a smooth layer (being sure to get all the corners).

 

Bake at 350 degrees for 12-14 minutes - do NOT overbake or your chocolate chip cookie cake will not be soft. You want the cookie cake to be slightly brown on the top and look slightly underbaked (my oven was perfect at 12 minutes). Remove from oven and place entire pan on a cooling rack. Allow the cookie cake to cool completely before removing. (I left mine in the heart dish)

 

Using a large star piping tip, pipe around the edges then immediately add sprinkles (the frosting will start hardening quick, so add sprinkles right away!).

 

To make frosting:

Beat the softened butter on medium-high speed for 2-minutes until smooth. Turn the mixer to low speed then add the powdered sugar 1/4 cup at a time. You may need to stop and scrape down sides. Add vanilla and salt and turn mixer to medium speed. One tablespoon at a time, add milk. Beat on high for 2-3 minutes until creamy and the frosting is at a good consistency to pipe. If it looks too runny, add more powdered sugar. If it looks too stiff, add a tiny bit of milk until you get to the desired consistency.

This will make just enough frosting to pipe a border along the edges. If you would like more frosting to cover the top or to write words on top, simply double the frosting recipe!


 This was another pretty quick and easy recipe that was so, so good! I'm glad I took some pictures before we dug in because this cookie cake was gone by the end of the day! 

Feb 2, 2023

So Refreshing...Lilly Spring Drop!

 

I don't care what that treacherous groundhog said today. I AM READY FOR SPRING.

Even more so now that Lilly dropped their first Springtime capsule. And the drop was so, so good!

Even before the drop they teased us with this Mila ðŸ˜» Mila's are my favorite shift style and this needs to find it's way into my closet! 

Some of my picks from this drop for L to R:
Mila Stretch Shift Dress in Mandevilla Baby Days Bloom
Kienna Cardigan in Gecko Green Metallic Marl
Parigi Skort Romper in Parigi Skort Romper
Kienna Cardigan in Aura Pink Metallic Marl


I've been following Wattsupphoto on Instagram and have been loving his style of shooting. 


Some of my picks from this drop for L to R:
Kienna Cardigan in Cumulus Blue Metallic Marl
Mila Stretch Shift Dress in Mandevilla Baby Always Worth It (interesting to see an old print come back so soon)
Tensley Sweater in Aura Pink Blooming Embroidery
Tassie Midi Dress in Mandevilla Baby Paradise Petals

Another favorite style of mine is the Kienna cardigan. I was thrilled to see it drop in three new colors! 


And that's just the tip of the iceberg! Can't wait to see what else we get for spring. I'm eagerly awaiting the Maxi shifts they gave us a sneak peak of.

Who else is ready for Spring to be here?!




About Me

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Hello, I'm Amber! I'm a grand-millennial living in the countryside of NorCal. I love to tell my story through photos of all the things I love. Escape the ordinary with me!

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