How was your weekend? I worked/crocheted for the most part (on some new patterns for video tutorials that I will be shooting in a studio for a website… more details soon…) and I also went to Elysse’s house to do some Fall baking with her and her buddy Ashley. They have a blog and YouTube channel called The Vegan Sweet Beat about vegan candy if you want to check that out! Obvs, they are both vegan, and I am more of a guilty omnivore with veggie/vegan curiosity, so all the things we made were veganized.
I arrived late (I hate being late but am always late! Is there always-late rehab!?) and the ladies were cutting sugar cookies. The big project of the day was this Peanut, Caramel, and Chocolate Tart from Martha Stewart, aka, SNICKERS HEAVEN. Due to various reasons, Elysse “miniaturized, veganized, and Fall-ized” the recipe (Fall-ized = pumpkin-ized = we put pumpkin in the caramel).
We had a little issue with the caramel. You’re supposed to start with sugar and water and then heat it until it becomes melty and “medium amber.” BUT, the water just boiled out of our mixture, and we were left with DRY SUGAR AGAIN. Which smelled like burnt hair!! Then the gals decided to just throw the rest of the caramel ingredients in there (coconut cream, pumpkin), and it took 20-30 minutes on the stove of stirring, but we eventually got something caramel-ish. While I think our mini-tarts (set in cupcake tins) ended up squishier than Martha’s, they still tasted really good!
The rest of our creative efforts went into decorating sugar cookies, which, for me, became an exercise in accepting that my cookies were going to look like a 5-year-old decorated them.
I was not making friends with the Ziplock-piping-bag, so I gave up on that real quick. R.I.P. indeed! Ashley and Elysse, on the other hand, were piping pros. Here are Ashley’s cookies:
And here are some of Elysse’s. I like all of our takes on decorating the kitty cookies.
Do you know where atoms come from? Cat butts. LE DOYYYY.
I will conclude this entry with some of my jack-o-lantern cookies. I told Gregg that the first one was him, because he’s always so cheery. The second one might eat you before you eat him.
Do you guys have Halloween/costume plans? I usually don’t, because I’m generally overwhelmed with work and creatively spent. HOWEVER, I promised one of my favorite websites that I’d create a Halloween-inspired crochet pattern and also submit a photo of me in costume…so… I’m gonna try to bust that out in the next few days, too!! So much to do!! OK BYE.
