At our 4th of July picnic Kandyce make the most delicious berry lemonade popsicles. They’re so easy to make and add the perfect amount of red,white, and blue to your festivities.
Click below for full recipe!
Brazilian coconut bars
If there’s one thing I learned in Brazil it’s that they love bolo, or cake. There’s a bolo for every occasion and they do it right! They use all the fruits of the area along with lots of delicious sweeteners. These Brazilian coconut bars, or bolo toalha felpuda, are deliciously dense and oh so sweet. Try it out for one of your World Cup parties.
photos by Laura Sumrak
baking and recipe development by Jenny Thomas
Click below for full recipe!
Brazilian pineapple lime juice
So much food going on on the blog these days! Don’t worry, I still craft. To continue our celebration of the World Cup, I’ve collaborate with Karlee and Laura to bring you some delicious refreshers. Today it’s a pineapple juice that’s oh so delish. Brazilians LOVE their sucos (juices). In fact, my favorite one is an avocado juice. mmmmmm.
recipes from Karlee Bronson
Materials needed.
blender, strainer, big bowl, serving container.
Cut off hard skin- it’s okay to leave a little brown spots.
Chop ½ pineapple into little chunks and put in blender.
Add 1 liter of water in blender. Blend.
After done blending, grab bowl and pour mixed water and pineapple through strainer. (this is where you will get rid of those brown spots). Try to get as much juice strained as possible.
Add strained juice back into blender.
Add 2/3 cup of sugar (depending on how sweet you want your juice–add sugar to taste).
¾ cup lime juice
Add a few ice cubes (remember this will water the juice down)
If you’re feeling like mint- you can also blend a handful of washed mint to your juice to add a nice fresh kick).
Blend and serve!
World Cup bites: sonhos
If you’re just joining in, to celebrate the World Cup in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, we’ll be providing some of our favorite Brazilian recipes here on the blog that would be perfect for your World Cup celebration. First up, sonhos. Sonho literally translated means “dream” and they are quite accurately named. They’re basically a filled donut, so yes, you can imagine I was all about it. I remember walking the streets of Curitiba, Brazil listening to the loudspeaker of sonho car–Brazil’s version of the ice cream truck–and wanting so much to try them. But then remembering that some stranger was selling them from a van….
photography by Laura Sumrak
food and steps by Karlee Bronson
styling and creative direction by Brittany Jepsen
Click below to see how we created them!
Donut macarons
I’m super pumped to bring on a new contributor, ME Hammond, who specializes in all things baked. Welcome ME! I’m so excited to have these donut macarons just in time for National Donut Day (ahem, tomorrow!) And macarons are the perfect alternative to real donuts for those who can’t eat gluten. Bonus!
I have spent the last couple of weeks practicing and practicing the art of making French macarons. After a few dozen egg whites and a couple pounds of almond flour I am proud to say that I have found a recipe that works well. I’ve had to adapt it slightly but after many tests, it works! Hallelujah! There are only a few ingredients in macarons, so you think that they would be simple but just the opposite is true. There are so many things that can ruin macarons! For instance, it is better to use all metal bowls because the oils in other bowls can affect the egg whites. Also the humidity in the weather can stop them from properly drying out.
The two most popular macaron methods are the French meringue and the Italian meringue method. French meringue is made when egg whites are whipped with sugar until thick and glossy. Italian meringue is made when sugar is cooked to the softball stage and beaten into whipped whites. The Italian meringue is a little trickier but pays off, as it is also more stable. This tried and true method is adapted from Chef Kathryn Gordon and is publish in the Les Petits Macarons. (It’s in grams for more accuracy. It’s very important to be precise with macaron making!)
styling by Brittany Jepsen
Check out these other donut projects for National Donut day:
Click below for the full recipe:
Mini baked donuts
As we all know, National Donut Day is coming up on Friday, June 6th. And since donuts are the new…well, everything*, I thought you might enjoy a spin on the traditional donut. These mini donuts are not only adorable, but they are healthy! No processed sugar! No fried! Now, I know the joy of donuts is that they are not healthy, but these guys are so yum that you can eat 1,000 of them and feel great about yourself still. Kind of. Ok, you might have control issues.
photography by Laura Sumrak
recipe and assisting styling by Karlee Bronson
art direction and styling by Brittany Jepsen
*If your head has been in the sand the last two years. Donuts are big right now. Like really big. Take a look on Pinterest for all things donut related or Kelly’s Dreaming of Donuts board
Click for recipes on 4 delightful donuts!
Edible flower pot
As we were trying to think of recipes that would be totally Lars we thought it would be natural to incorporate some flowers. Of course! So Karlee and I came up with this healthy version (no sugar!) of an idea we spotted on Martha Stewart made with chocolate granola and yogurt. We thought it would be the perfect gift for mom for Mother’s Day. Just include a sweet note on the tag and you’re good to go!
photography by Laura Sumrak
recipe by Karlee Bronson
art direction and styling by Brittany Jepsen
See below for full recipe
Edible Flower Pot
Supplies Needed
-
Jar
-
Lars Flowers / edible flowers (check out some tutorials here)
-
signage / banner
Ingredients
Chocolate Yogurt
12 ounces greek yogurt (vanilla, honey, or plain)
1 Tbs cocoa powder (or desired amount– don’t want to make it too cocoa-y)
½ tsp almond extract
(If using plain greek yogurt you can mix in honey to your desired sweetness)
Directions
Mix together all ingredients in medium size bowl and set aside.
Chocolate Granola
1 cup granola (homemade works too 😉
1/2 Tbs coconut oil
2 tsp cocoa powder
⅛ cup chopped almonds
⅛ cup coconut
Directions
Mix granola with chopped almonds and coconut. Set aside. In another bowl- melt coconut oil and then mix in cocoa powder until even consistency. Stir over granola until covered in chocolate mixture. Let cool.
Spoon chocolate yogurt in your jar. Place chocolate granola on top. Stick in flowers to create your mother her very own edible (healthy) garden! Enjoy!
glass vase from BHLDN
Breakfast in bed idea for Mother’s Day
GASP! “Brittany, there’s food on the blog? What’s going on?” I know you must be thinking that you came to the wrong site today, but wonder no more. This IS food. It’s edible. And it’s awesome! I’m horrific in the kitchen but I love to eat so the the big question was, how to combine the two? I’ve teamed up with the wonderful Karlee Bronson and food photographer Laura Sumrak to start featuring more recipes that will make your mouth drool. We’re focusing on more healthy choices because uh, my skirts don’t fit like they used to and I thought it would be nice to create dishes that are gorgeous, delectable and mostly guilt-free. Good combo, right?
I’m not the biggest fan of the idea of bringing food parcels into bed, but this one is pretty crumb free so I’m all over the idea of a crepe cake with layers of creme and hints of lavender. Basically anything with creme I’m a fan of. Karlee got the recipe from some friends who lived in Russia and came up with the perfect crepe recipe from their Russian friends. We topped off the meal with a bowl of fresh fruit and blackberry lemonade sweetened with honey. AND, there’s NO SUGAR!
photography by Laura Sumrak
recipes and assisting styling by Karlee Bronson
styling and art direction by Brittany Jepsen
Click below for recipes
My Scandinavian Christmas day 21
I’m thrilled to announce Jennifer Hagler from the impeccable A Merry Mishap as day 21 of My Scandinavian Christmas. If you’re just joining us, My Scandinavian Christmas is a series of guest posts from my favorite Scandinavian bloggers sharing how they celebrate the holiday season. A Merry Mishap is Jennifer’s blog and shop where she sells her beautiful, geometric and Scandinavian-inspired jewelry. Welcome, Jennifer!
I wanted to share one of our Christmas traditions, something we look forward to making every Christmas morning. For the last few years I’ve made Aebelskivers for Christmas breakfast after my husband and I decided we needed to start a holiday tradition for our new little family of 3. We are not from Scandinavia but have a fondness for the culture and design so this just seemed like a natural solution.
Of course Aebelskivers are great with fruit preserves and Nutella but you can also stuff them with ham & cheese or even bacon, I love that they are so versatile. I prefer the buttermilk version of this recipe, this one works fine!
They’re easy to make and delicious but more importantly remind us that Christmas is here. I hope you give them a try, and of course you can make them any time of the year, not only in December!
Thank you, Jennifer for participating in My Scandinavian Christmas. Check out her lovely blog and shop. Check out more of My Scandinavian Christmas here.
How to make an ombre wedding cake pinata
I have to say that this is one of my favorite shoots I’ve done. And there’s a lot more where these come from. ooOOOoo! I did this one for the Etsy wedding blog and talked about creating an interactive wedding favor, hence the fortune cookies inside with little love fortunes. I also thought a wedding cake would be a nice alternative to the couple who doesn’t really do wedding cakes or sugar. But let’s face, the real reason to have a pinata at a wedding is…who doesn’t want to hit stuff? I’m sure it would release a lot of tension for the couple as well as the wedding planners.
Get the full instructions here.
Thank you Amanda Thomsen for taking these beautiful photos!
Danish Easter picnic
Happy Easter! What a wonderful holiday. I bring you a special edition Sunday post straight from Reykjavik, Iceland. So far, it’s like what everyone said it would be: beautiful, still cold, mossy, amazing water (I kid you not, why would you drink anything else?). We can’t wait to explore more! We had a Danish Easter picnic before we left and Hilda Grahnat documented it for Kinfolk and West Elm‘s blog. Didn’t it turn out lovely? It was lovely, in fact. Great company + great food = wonderful time. That’s a scientific equation if I’ve ever heard of one. These are some of the outtakes for the shoot and I’ll give some little tid-bits of knowledge like how I boiled 4 dozen eggs for the shoot. Mind you, I’ve never boiled a successful egg until this shoot.* I felt very Gaston-ish.
We had a typical Danish meal of smørrebrød, which is basically open face sandwiches where you pile everything on top. The Danes are really organized about it though. There’s a system of what goes well with each ingredient.
We had the picnic at Dyrehaven, the deer park north of Copenhagen where I naively thought that the leaves would be green and luscious. But clearly, that wasn’t the case yet. Bummer! But I love the golden glow the brown gave off. At the end of the meal we were visited by a heard of deer who just stopped and stared at us. I think they wanted some smørrebrød. That made up for the lack of greenery for sure.
*The first time I ever boiled an egg I was babysitting a family for a week during Easter. I just assumed that you just boil water and add eggs to it. WRONG! As we dipped each egg in the rolling water each one bursted immediately upon impact and the hardened yolk flew out from the egg. I thought that must be normal so we did the full dozen. Each one I had to guard the kids and yell, “stay back kids!” and would drop it in shielding my eyes. Looking back it’s totally embarrassing, but hey, they were kids. This might explain why I haven’t done it since.