Hot Pad and Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe!

You know what makes me feel old?  Attending the wedding of two of my former students.  Sure, sure, they were a young bride and groom, and it's not like I taught them when they were in kindergarten or anything, but there you have it.  I'm old.  Don't know why former students having babies didn't have the same effect on me.

So anyway, I was torn, because I wanted to make something, but I also love giving off the registry, especially when a couple is just starting out and they have a lot better idea about what they need than I do.  Not that I wouldn't have PLENTY of advice for them in this category after looking at said registry (KIDS!  Register for the pyrex with a LID that costs a few dollars more!  Believe me!), but I feel like I never know what they already have so sticking faithfully to a registry appeals to me.   

Luckily, I love baking, and there were several baking-related registry items that I could group together for an affordable gift, and supplement with a cute handmade potholder.  Best of both worlds!  

I made my potholder using this tutorial from The Crafty Cupboard, and it came out great.  I added an extra layer of the insul-brite to the top-hand section (the piece that actually handles the hot pot) after reading in a different tutorial that one layer might not do it.  I can't remember if the tutorial specifies, but I used single-fold bias tape for my trim since that was all I had in a color that matched. I was able to make it out of scraps from my insulated casserole project, and I must say I do love this fabric for anything kitchen-related; plus the fact that it's not too girly makes it work well for a wedding gift (this potholder is for you TOO, Groom!).

Also doubles as a puppet.

For the lining, I found a yard of this cute vintage fabric in my stash.  It came from my grandma ages ago.  

And finally, I included my all-time winner peanut butter cookie recipe.  It's been gradually adapted by me from a recipe on the Jif jar.  And lucky for you, I will give it to you too, reader, even though you maybe didn't invite me to your wedding.

Beth's Best Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients:

3/4 cup crunchy peanut butter

1/2 cup shortening

1 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

3 Tb milk (I usually use 2% but whatever you have on hand is fine)

1 Tb vanilla (if you've got it, Mexican vanilla really really makes a difference.  So. Good.)

1 egg

1 3/4 cup flour

3/4 tsp salt

3/4 tsp baking soda

Directions:

Heat oven to 375 degrees f

1. Combine peanut butter, shortening, brown sugar, milk, and vanilla in a large bowl.  Beat at medium speed until well blended.

2.  Add egg, beat until just blended.

3.  In a medium bowl, combine flour, salt, and baking soda.

4.  Add dry ingredients to peanut butter mixture gradually at low speed.  Mix until just blended.

5.  Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls (I use a cookie dough scoop) about 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet (I swear by the airbake sheets.)  Flatten slightly in a criss-cross pattern using the tines of the fork, if you are a peanut butter cookie traditionalist like I am.

6. Bake at 375 for 7-8 minutes.  Cookies should be slightly underbaked when you pull them out.  Let cook for at least two minutes on the baking sheet before carefully moving them to a wire rack to cook (I use a spatula since the cookies are still pretty tender at this point).  This will help them stay chewy!

Makes about 3 dozen.  

Let me get those for you!

Insulated Casserole Carrier!

I saw these insulated casserole carriers on Pinterest and, like so many other things I see there, thought they were a great idea and pinned it.  I knew I could use one, and had a friend or two that I thought they would make a good gift for.  Although, like so many other things I pin on Pinterest, I wasn't sure when I'd actually get around to doing it.

But then my father-in-law showed up to Easter Dinner with his scalloped potatoes wrapped in a bath towel, and I knew I had found my first recipient. 

 

The hardest part about making this was finding fabrics that were manly enough for my father-in-law and still interesting enough for me.  I mean, I have a hard enough time picturing him toting his own personal insulated casserole carrier--it definitely would not work to have it in a lovely floral print.  I think I struck a good balance.  I love the woodgrain print for the interior--and he does a lot of woodworking, so that works too.

The tutorial for this project can be found here, at 2 little hooligans.  I found it via this post on the blog Homemade By Jill , who had some great tips that I took into consideration.  I followed her directions on using the cotton belting for the strap, as well as extending the length of the carrier to fit a pyrex dish with handles (pictured above).  

Closeup of the fabrics

I do feel like this is a bit of a strange gift for a guy. I knew that he would love it because he loves ME, but just in case...it never hurts to tuck a batch of peanut butter cookies inside.  That way my bases were covered.

Easy to carry

I did end up spending more money on this project than I typically associate with a DIY though.  This could have been avoided with better planning--as it was, I only had one Joann's coupon and one chance for a trip to Joann's, so I was paying full price for almost all of the materials rather than 40% off, the way I usually like to play it.  It takes 2 full yards of fabric (1 for interior, 1 for exterior--ooh, but if you used the same fabric for both you could totally get away with 1.5 yards) plus a full yard of the Insul-Brite lining, which costs $7.99/yard.  Then there's the velcro (about $8/yd if you use the 2" stuff, which I recommend you do, you need 2/3 yard), and the cotton belting (another $3/yd and you need 2.5 yards--but this can be avoided if you make fabric straps instead; there's enough fabric leftover to do this.) Just a heads-up.  Also, it's pretty quick--I made mine in about 90 minutes, but I admit that I was watching America's Next Top Model for 60 minutes of that time (I'm not ashamed), so it's possible you could get it done even faster.

Here's what it looks like when opened up

I had to stand up on the kitchen counter to get the photo of the carrier all opened up--which was quite interesting to a certain someone. 

My little helper

Blubarb!

Today's post is about baking!  I love baking.  And I had a flat of blueberries to work with!  While my children would have happily sat down and eaten the berries by the handful (and believe me, they've been doing plenty of that), I wanted to take the opportunity to turn at least some of them into delightful baked goods.

Hands off!

I'll start with the blueberry-rhubarb crumble that inspired the title of this post, so you won't be kept in suspense.  Like most people, I usually only associate rhubarb with strawberries, but since I had a plethora of rhubarb, a glut of blueberries, and nary a strawberry, I decided that I would be the VERY FIRST PERSON EVER to combine rhubarb and blueberries.  Well, imagine my surprise when a simple google search turned up hundreds of blubarb recipes.  Well, not using that term.  But still.

In any case, I chose this crumble recipe, and since I had also made a blueberry pie I decided I wanted to serve this crumble over yogurt for breakfast.  What?  I cut the brown sugar in the topping in half to make it healthy*.

OK, so I actually cut the berries in half also, to make it more oatmeal-y.  Oatmeal = breakfast.
 I baked it in an 8x8 instead of a 9x13.

Verdict?  Yummy.  Will eat for breakfast AND dessert.

If you are making this for breakfast, I recommend making the crumble topping the night before, so that all you have to do is stir the fruit with some sugar and flour, then top it with the crumble and bake in the morning.  I stuck it in the oven as soon as I got up, and it was done an hour later.  Can you believe I planned ahead and did that?  I NEVER do that--I guess blubarb is inspirational.

Before making this crumble, I made a blueberry pie.  And it is wonderful.  And it is, as Sandra Lee would say, semi-homemade.  I want to be embarrassed to announce that I used a Trader Joe's pie crust, but you guys.  I have made lots of pie crusts in my time, and the TJ's crust is SO GOOD.  So good.  And while I don't even think that pie crust is actually that difficult, it is challenging to wrangle small kids and keep the dough at the optimal temperature, and then also OH MY GOD the cleanup, so I share with pride that I have started buying these frozen crusts and so far I'm not looking back.

I almost cried when I went to Trader Joe's on Baking Day and they were out of crusts.
I had to go back the next morning when they got more in, and I bought three of them.
I'm not messing around.

For the filling, I followed the recipe from my trusty Baking Illustrated, which I absolutely love.  I used the pulverized tapioca, since I didn't have any potato starch on hand, and I don't know if it's the recipe or my Pampered Chef stoneware pie plate, which I LOVE, but this pie comes out nicely set, even if you can't possibly wait the recommended minimum of four hours and cut into it after only three so that your patient child can have a slice before bedtime.

My slice.  The boy's was much smaller--I'm not sharing that much of my pie with a  three-year-old!

Up next:  blueberry freezer jam, blueberry banana bread, some amazing rhubarb custard bars, and probably more pie.  I love summer!

*"healthy"