Last night, I made cupcake toppers with my Paperfinger calligraphy love stamp, some Japanese tape, and toothpicks (Bryn's stamps work so well with their wooden handles). The plan is to bake cupcakes with Hershey Kisses inside and top each cupcake with a little love flag. Hope you have a sweet Valentine's Day!
See you next week! xx Jen
Just wanted to share a few fun pieces of mail that were in my box:
Our friend Sue-Anne made this card for us (in honor of our first Valentine's Day as Mr. and Mrs.) She hand-stitched the heart and embossed the letters. This might be the sweetest handmade card I've ever received.
And these cards save the date for two events I'm excited to attend. My friend Jenn created this save-the-date with a Superhero theme for her upcoming wedding. I love it! She combined 3 photos in one — Jenn dressed up as Wonder Woman, her fiancé Pat wearing a Superman costume, and a backdrop photo of New York City. Jenn used Zazzle to print her custom save-the-date cards and loved the results — me too! Clearly you two were meant to be.
And David Stark is designing the open shinding of the newest West Elm to hit Manhattan. I'm excited to see the new uptown digs. The opening party will include a silent auction of one-of-a-kind furniture and objects that David's team created using recycled West Elm packaging materials. Fun!
With most cookbooks — even the ones you're excited about — do you end up tagging only a handful of recipes that you really want to try out? That's what I typically do, except with Jill O'Connor's cookbook, Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey Desserts from Chronicle Books. With this cookbook geared for the serious sweet tooth, I want to make every dessert — they all sound so amazing.
On Saturday, I made Dan a sweet homemade surprise for Valentine's Day. I went against my natural impulse to choose a recipe from the book which has a photo, because this brownie recipe sounded just too good. So here are my Heart of Darkness Brownies (topped with marshmallows, per recipe, and without which we actually preferred.) You'll see in the recipe below the fold that these brownies have every bit of goodness in them — from melted chocolate to Snickers bars. But my favorite revelation from making these brownies is that author Jill O'Connor is a genius for making her brownies in a cupcake tin. Baking these gooey brownies in individual tins saves you from messy cut squares — and they're just the perfect serving portion. These brownie cups score high marks for looks.
We've been indulging in the dark side of brownies all weekend. And from now on, I'm making brownie cups no matter which brownie recipe I follow. See below the fold for the recipe with my notes.
Say I "heart" you in a simple, sweet way: you don't have to pull out the glitter, sewing kits, and paper punches for a homemade valentine. This idea has a Charlie Brown vibe that's so sweet — and my guy has an affection for peanut butter cups.
{photo by Bob Fornal}
Here's to a sweet day. Indulge in some candy, chocolate, or whatever treat you're craving. My sweet tooth wants the best vanilla pudding from No. 7.
{photo by raspberrytart}
