The little things

 I found a pink-petaled mug covered in Siamese kitties at the hospice thrift shop down the street.

It might be my new favorite thing.

Or at least its' currently tied for first with homemade dark chocolate peanut butter cups. 

The cold snap hasn't been good for much, but it's certainly made hanging around indoors easy.

I've been working on some doodle illustrations for a fun new project.

Here's a little sneak peek:

Last night I sat drawing at the kitchen table for hours, wrapped up in an electric blanket.

So I guess winter isn't so bad :)

And in case you're eager to give them a try...

Here's my (highly unscientific) "recipe" for peanut butter cups:

- Unsweetened Baker's Chocolate

- Coconut Oil

- Sugar

- Vanilla Extract

- Salt

- Peanut Butter

- Paper cupcake cups

1. Chop/shave chocolate and place in small sauce pan

2. Add about 1 tablespoon of Coconut oil for every ounce of chocolate.

3. Add about 1.5 tablespoon of sugar per ounce of chocolate. (All I had in my cupboard was sugar in the raw, so I ground it very fine using a mortal and pestle.  Store bought powdered sugar would probably also work, but I can't recommend a dosage so you'd have to just add to taste).

4. Add a pinch of salt.

5. Place pot over low heat and stir until all ingredients have melted.

6. Remove from heat and stir in a teaspoon of vanilla extract.

7. Pour a thin layer of melted chocolate into cupcake cups (it may help to place cups in a cupcake pan if you have one, but I didn't and I managed just fine).

8. Add a dollop of peanut butter to each cup

9. Cover peanut butter with remaining chocolate, and place cups in freezer to cool.

Enjoy!

Woodland Critter Shortbread Cookies

Flaky, crumbly, delicate shortbread - quite possibly my favorite sweet indulgence.  Also quite possibly the finest culinary contribution to have emerged from Scotland to date (sorry, haggis).  

If you have yet to experience for yourself the magic of shortbread, imagine savoring a thick, sweet piece of pure pie crust, only vastly more delicious and, in this case, adorable.  

My inner 3-year old did a cartwheel the moment I first laid eyes on Ikea's Woodland Critter Cookie Cutters.  What's the only thing better than a batch of scrumptious cookies?  Scrumptious cookies in the shapes of snails, squirrels, and hedgehogs.

 

I made these little guys following the recipe for shortbread from Joy of Baking.  The ingredients are very simple: nothing but flour, butter, and powdered sugar with a bit of salt and vanilla extract thrown in.  On top of that, I added a couple shakes of ground cloves and allspice to give mine a little fall flavor.

Personally, I tend to prefer my shortbread simple and unadorned. But for the sake of experimentation, I dipped these in melted Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips.  On the hedgehogs I also ground a bit of sea salt, and the squirrels received a coating of toasted pecan pieces.

Like what you see?  Try whipping up a batch for yourself!