Lemon Meringue Flowers

These simple floral meringues are a perfect pick for spring. And with bright bursts of lemon, they taste as sunny as they look.Forming these blooms is a cinch. Don't worry if the petal points look a little messy at first -- the candied peel at the center of each flower will cover any flaws.To package the cookies as a gift, print this grass design onto card stock. Slide it into a cellophane bag, add meringues, and you've got a sweet little package.
http://www.marthastewart.com/335407/lemon-meringue-flowers

Rated

61100(1)

Prep Time 20 minutes
Total Time 3 hours
Yield Makes 40

Ingredients

- 3 large egg whites, room temperature
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice, plus 2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
- Salt
- 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
- 40 squares (1/2 inch each) candied lemon peel
Directions

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Whisk egg whites, lemon juice, and a pinch of salt until foamy. Slowly whisk in sugar. Whisk until stiff peaks just begin to form. Fold in lemon zest.
Transfer mixture to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain round tip. Pipe forty 5-petaled 1 1/2-inch flowers onto parchment-lined baking sheets. (For each petal, pipe a small mound of meringue, and drag it into center to form a teardrop shape. Repeat 4 times, working in a circle.) Place a candied lemon square in center of each flower.
Bake until meringues are crisp and lift off parchment easily, 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Let cool.

Bunny Fold for Napkins

Tools and Materials

Cotton or linen napkins, starched

Easter-rabbit-shaped napkins are a festive detail for the holiday table, and they only require a few simple folds. Well-starched crisp cotton or linen will transform into the sturdiest bunnies. Fold napkins the day before your meal so your "warren" is full when guests arrive.
Step 1
Fold starched napkin into thirds to form a rectangle. (If you're using a square napkin, you'll need to fold in half, and then fold in half again to get a long rectangular shape.)
Step 2
Crease in half to create a center line for reference; fold top corners down along this line.
Step 3
Fold up from bottom corners along dotted lines.
Step 4
Bring left and right edges together on center line.
Step 5
Flip upside down and over. Turn up bottom point.
Step 6
To fasten: Fold left and right corners back; tuck one corner into the pocket of the other. Pull out bunny ears first; open up base.

Red Velvet Ice Cream

Red Velvet Cake reminds me of Valentine's Day, so maybe that's why I was insistent on making Red Velvet Cake when I got together with my art school girls the day after Valentine's Day. I used Jennifer Appel's recipe for Red Velvet Cake from The Buttercup Bake Shop Cookbook: More Than 80 Recipes for Irresistible, Old-Fashioned Treats, but used the recipe for her Cream Cheese Icing rather than her Red Velvet Icing. I made cupcakes instead, and reduced the cooking time to 30 minutes. I got about 28 cupcakes from the recipe, and lots of extra frosting -- bonus!

With any good cake comes ice cream, and therefore, I felt it necessary to make a Red Velvet Ice Cream. I have had a Red Velvet Ice Cream before -- I am a big fan of Stone Ridge Creamery's Red Velvet Cake Ice Cream. But, I wanted to try my hand at it.

Here's how I did it:

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups heavy cream
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup of sugar
1 1/4 cups whole milk
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of salt
2 red velvet cupcakes, frozen, then diced into 1/2 cubes
cream cheese frosting
red sanding sugar

How to:

Heat cream, cocoa powder and sugar in a medium sauce pan, stirring occasionally, until it comes to a rolling boil.
In a small bowl, mix together whole milk and lemon juice to make "buttermilk".
Transfer hot cream mixture to a large bowl and add milk and lemon juice mixture and vanilla extract. Stir until combined.
Chill mixture thoroughly in fridge.
Freeze ice cream in ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions. During the last few minutes of churning, add in the diced cake. Then add a few shakes of sanding sugar (as desired). Finally, swirl in three heaping tablespoons of cream cheese frosting.

Voila.

Ring Cupcakes

When I first saw Karen from What’s New, Cupcake? share her fun Ring Cupcakes on The Today Show, I knew I wanted to give them a try. After a couple tries, I figured out how to make them, and decided to do a video to show you how just how easy they are.

I think any Mom would love the Ring Cupcakes! They would also be a cute idea for a little girls birthday party. Don’t miss Cupcake Chronicles Newsletter this Friday…I’ll be sharing how to make High Heel Shoe Cupcakes!!

Mother’s Day Ring Cupcake Supplies:

Mini Cupcakes
Ring Pops
Buttercream Frosting or Decorators Icing
Candy Melts
Various candy and sprinkles for decorating

Loyalty Card Holder

Today I’m going to show you how to make an alphabetized organizer for your loyalty cards. You could also store your business cards inside. My point and shoot camera also fits perfectly in it!

I saw something like this that was made with vinyl at a favorite quilt shop, but they were asking $18.00 for it! We all know the benefit of knowing how to sew, and how it can sometimes save us money. (That is, if we aren’t hoarding fabric!)
You’ll need:

10” x 11” piece of fabric

10” x 11” piece of coordinating fabric

10” x 11” piece of fusible featherweight interfacing (not the thinnest you can get, but not the thickest either—thick enough to hold some shape to the holder)

one magnetic snap

coordinating thread

Printed Pattern A and Pattern B, taped together where indicated

Printed Alphabetizing Cards: 1, 2, 3, and 4 (optional)

Cut out one pattern from both fabrics and the interfacing. Also cut out one 1.5” x 1.5” square interfacing for the magnetic snap.

Iron the interfacing cut from the pattern onto the wrong side of the main outer fabric. Iron the small square of interfacing onto the wrong side of the lining fabric, at the top.

Take one of the rectangle “arms” of the pattern and line up perfectly on the edges, right sides together. Sew with a 1/4” seam.

Now line up the two edges that have a black line marking them, and sew those, right sides together.

So you’ll have a sort of box side now.

Repeat with the other “arm” on the outer fabric.

Now do the same thing to the lining fabric.

Next we’ll place the magnetic snap. Crease with your fingers a line marking the bottom of the holder.

Measure up about 3/4” of an inch, mark, and insert one side of the magnetic snap so it’s on the outside of the outer fabric. For more thorough directions on how to insert a magnetic snap, just google it and you’ll find all sorts of tutorials.

Insert the other half of the snap on the right side of the lining, leaving about 1” in order to be able to sew around the snap. You may want to adjust the snap placement to your liking, but keep in mind when placing both sides of the snap that you’ll want to place it so the edge of the snap is at least 3/4” from the top of the lining because you will be sewing around the snap, so adjust the spacing of the snap in order to have enough space to work around when sewing the lining flap. Tip: if you are having a hard time getting around the snap on the lining, try using your zipper foot.

Insert the outer fabric into the lining, right sides together as pictured below.

Pin around the flap and the edges of the holder. Leave about a 3” opening on the straight part (not pinned in the picture). Now sew around the edges, making sure to leave the 3” opening for turning.

I had to take off the U-shaped part of my machine to sew around the edges since it is small. And it looks a little crazy. Adjust often so you don’t sew a layer you aren’t supposed to. Make sure your needle is in the down position when adjusting so that your stitches remain even.

When you get to the corners of the flap, turn the holder a 90 degree angle to you have a nice, square corner stitch. I also backstitched a few times in the corners to reinforce.

Clip the corners and also the curve of the flap.

Pull the outer fabric through the 3” opening. Iron well, pin, and then topstitch around the edges, again reinforcing the corners with backstitching if desired. (next 3 pictures)