The Snowy Day Christmas party

Over the weekend we had an early Christmas party with family because all the weekends til Christmas are already booked. Because my 14 month old daughter absolutely loves The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats, I chose this as the theme.


I use to host big Christmas parties every year and make gingerbread houses for all the kids to decorate, but I didn't want to make too much work for myself. So we bought half of the food, didn't do the gingerbread houses, had it after lunch for a dessert party, and only invited family.

I made paper napkin rings with Peter from The Snowy Day. I found this image online and cleaned it up a bit in Photoshop, printed them out and used a scalloped punch.

I used these also to decorate some of the candles.

We served baklava, cheesecake, 7 layer bars, lemon bars, chocolate mousse with an oreo crumbs, cookies from Coscto, puff pastries, and had cheese and crackers.



ohhhh, these puff pastries from Costco are soooo yummy! they come frozen and you bake them for 18 minutes.

This is the chocolate mousse with oreo crumbs at the bottom. Do you like the tiny glasses and spoons? I bought the shot glasses from Ross (6 for $4) and the spoons from Ikea (6 for $5). And the spoons are the perfect size for my daughter who is learning how to feed herself with a spoon.

These are from Costco too. love them!

My cheese ball snow man. I enjoyed making this guy. He's made from Philadelphia cream cheese (chive and onion flavor). I rolled him up in mozzarella and Parmesan and used peppercorns and a carrot to decorate him.

I absolutely love these flameless wax candles from Costco. (Can you tell I am a huge fan of Costco?) They use AA batteries, have a timer, and smell like vanilla. But in addition to that, they are non toxic like some real candles and don't have the possibility of burning down the house if my daughter knocks them over. They come 4 to a pack for $20 (but i got mine with a coupon for $16). I was telling my mother in law about them and how much i love them and guess what? she bought me more! she is so sweet!

I had a craft for the kids to make, a Christmas ornament. I used Photoshop to get headshots of all Sofia's cousins on one photo and printed it at Costco. I made 2 different sizes because I wasn't sure what size would be best. I found an image of the plush doll from The Snowy Day online and printed a few different sizes so that I could find one the perfect size to match the pictures of the kids. I made a template and cut out the snowsuit in felt.

I was planning on giving each kid 2 pieces of felt, one with a hole in the face for the picture to show through as it was sandwiched between the 2 pieces. But after making the ornament for my daughter, I gave up and wanted something easier. It was a pain cutting out the pieces from the felt, especially the hole where the face would show through. So i just had the kids cut their faces in a circle and glue to one piece of felt.

the finished product.

the is the one I made for my daughter.

The party favors were red, snowflake, Christmas ornament frames with each family's picture in it. I used them during the party to decorate the mantle.

My daughter was supposed to wear this red velveteen pants and hoodie so she would match Peter from the book, but i completely forgot about putting it on her. she actually wore her pajamas all day that day! oh well. The party was great! i ate so much and we had a white elephant gift exchange. I love being with family and love Christmas time! So this year, I'll be experiencing Christmas a little longer since the house is all decorated even before Thanksgiving.

Christmas chocolates

i made these chocolate a couple nights ago to bring to work. these are the same chocolates i usually make with the walnut and caramel inside. i used 3 red sprinkles and a leaf to make it christmasy.

i think this is my friends/co workers favorite thing i make because they go fast! and i like them too, they don't take long to make and are really easy to make. so i made more tonight to share with my friends this weekend.

3D snowman cupcakes

I made these cupcakes a couple years ago and made them again this week to bring to work. I piped out the "carrot" noses from royal icing. the last time i made them, i used regular chocolate chips and cut them up for the eyes and mouth. this time, i used tiny chocolate chips, which was much easier.

i made a bunch of noses

23 mini gingerbread houses Part 2

the gingerbread house decorating activity was a success. the kids really enjoyed it. here are some pictures from yesterday the candy and wreaths and christmas trees that i made
(candy canes, chocolate santa claus, m&m's, mini chocolate chips, lemon heads, nerds, cinnamon candy, peppermints, and gum drops)

i also piped some mini christmas wreaths and trees (but the trees didn't look very good)

the trees are on the right of this picture

i made tiny signs to post in the "front yard" of each house

i forgot to take a picture of all the decorated houses last night, but here are a few of them

here's my house

here it is without the dome

23 mini gingerbread houses

my husband and i are hosting a christmas party this weekend. this is the 3rd year i've made gingerbread houses for the kids (and some adults who want to participate) to decorate at the party. i made the dough last night and baked for almost 3 hours today, then assembled the houses which took just under an hour. i did make a big mistake this year though...i ran out of white flour making the dough, so when i was rolling out the cookies, all i had left was whole wheat flour to use. i tried to brush off the whole wheat flour (before and after baking) but the houses are still tainted with flour. oh well.

here is the recipe i used from allrecipes.com

• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1 egg
• 1 cup molasses
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons warm water

here is the template i made (cardboard covered in plastic wrap). the the front of the house is about an inch shorter than the ones i made last year. and the side wall is more of a square than a rectangle for a shorter house.

a bunch of walls unbaked

a bunch of walls baked

i decided to cut out the door, rather than tracing it on the dough like last time. and i didn't make windows on the side of the house this time to save time.

each stack makes a house

here's an animated gif i made.
it took me 56 minutes to put all the houses together. so here are 56 slides to show my progress.

Some other things I made before I had this blog

i started a Flickr account and was posting some of my pictures there. i found i have a few pictures that i haven't posted here because they were taken before i started this blog. here they are:

i made these cupcakes last Christmas. They are chocolate cupcakes, covered with vanilla frosting and decorated with pieces of chocolate and a royal icing "carrot." I really liked these. I'll make them again this Christmas. by the way, it's only 6 months til Christmas, yay!!!!!!!

The next few pictures are from my sister's baby shower a year ago. This is the dessert table

my sister in law made these cute little ducky cupcakes

the favors were 2 inch boxes with chocolate inside. the ribbon was from Michael's and the ducks were from Wal-Mart. They were really cute fuzzy stickers

i filled the duck with miniature M&M's

mini lemon cupakes

This was the first cake I've decorated (a year ago). it's kind of messy. i still haven't taken a cake decorating class....i would really like to this summer

gingerbread houses

me and my husband are hosting a christmas party for our friends on saturday. i made 4 inch tall gingerbread houses for the kids (and some adults) to decorate. the 9 houses on the right are made from a gingerbread house recipe from marthastewart.com and the other ones are from a chocolate cookie recipe. I've never baked chocolate cut out cookies..this one is really yummy.

p.s. i used Wilton meringue powder instead of egg whites for the royal icing. the last time i made royal icing, i used egg whites and i could really taste the egg-yuck. and i just used the recipe from Wilton. 1 lb confectioners sugar with 3 T of meringue powder with 6 T warm water.

Gingerbread house Ingredients from MarthaStewart.com

Makes enough for 5 small house kits (i was able to make 9 because i made my own template to make smaller houses)

• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 1 cup dark-brown sugar
• 4 teaspoons ground ginger
• 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon finely ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups unsulfured molasses
• 6 cups all-purpose flour

Directions

1. In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, and baking powder; set aside.
2. In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Mix in spices and salt. Beat in eggs and molasses.
3. Add flour mixture; mix on low speed until thoroughly combined. Divide dough into thirds and wrap in plastic. Chill for at least 1 hour.
4. Heat oven to 350 degrees. On a well-floured surface, roll out dough to 1/8 inch thick. Cut into desired shapes, or using template instructions, if desired. Place dough shapes on ungreased baking sheets; chill until firm, about 15 minutes. Bake 15 minutes, or until gingerbread is firm in the center, but not dark around the edges.

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INGREDIENTS for chocolate cookies from Allrecipes.com

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/4 cups white sugar
• 1 egg

DIRECTIONS

1. Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt; set aside. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg. Gradually stir in the sifted ingredients to form a soft dough. Divide dough into 2 pieces, flatten and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 2 hours.
2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/8 inch in thickness. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Dough is sticky so be sure to add more flour to the rolling surface as needed. Place cookies 1 1/2 inches apart onto cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.