This post about homemade ice cream actually makes me happy for all the snow outside!
A Snowy Day Treat
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Category Archives: Children’s Parties
Kid’s Party Frozen Fun
Planning a kid’s party in the dog days of summer? Beat the heat and keep the kids busy with these simple frozen recipes they can do themselves and then enjoy the treat later on.
 Image from FoodPix |
Very Strawberry Frozen Yogurt
From: Hannaford.com
Servings: 8
Prep Time: 5 Min
Cook Time: 1 Hour
Ingredients:
1 cup Plain yogurt, non fat
1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
1/3 cup Sugar
1 lb Frozen strawberries
Directions:
- Combine yogurt and vanilla in a glass measuring cup witha spout. Stir well.
- Place sugar in the bowl of a food processor and process 30 seconds. Add strawberries and process about 30 seconds. Scrape the sides of the bowl, and process another 30 to 60 seconds, until coarsely ground. Be careful not to overprocess – the mixture needs to stay cold, and processing too much will heat it up.
- With food processor running, pour yogurt mixture in through the feeder tube. Process 30 to 90 seconds, until mixture appears smooth and uniform.
- The yogurt will have the texture of soft-service ice cream and may be served immediately. To store, transfer to a container with a tight-fitting lid and put in the freezer. It will be firm but still soft after 1 hour. When stored overnight, this frozen yogurt becomes very firm. It will keep, frozen, up to two months. Let sit at room temperature for 5 minutes and run an ice cream scoop under arm water before scooping.
What Kids Can Do
- Stir yogurt and vanilla.
- Add sugar and frozen strawberries to food processor.
- Push button to pulse berries in processor.
Coordinating kid’s birthday party labels, kid’s thank you cards, and tags on our site!
Lollipop Centerpieces
When I was a kid, my grandma used to bake all of my birthday cakes. She was a really great baker and had her own pie business in her basement for awhile. My favorite cake of all time was definitely my lollipop cake. I don’t remember how old I was, and it was a very simple white cake with lollipops on the top of it, but there was something so magical and special about this cake that it’s always held a special place in my mind. So who says your centerpieces have to be flowers? They can be whatever you want, whatever makes YOUR event feel special to you through color, texture, or memories.
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Posted by Kate Berry, Floral and Event Expert
From: Martha Stewart Weddings
Who says your centerpiece always has to be flowers? As much as I LOVE brilliant blooms on the table, sometimes it’s refreshing to see a different idea sprinkled through your reception. In the current Summer 09 Weddings issue, we featured the wedding of Cheree Berry, one of our favorite stationery vendors. It’s chock-full of inspirational ideas, including these lollipop trees she created. They weren’t her centerpieces, but I think they’d make great ones that you can make ahead of time. See how she did it here.
What’s gracing your table’s centers? And do you agree that sometimes it’s nice not to see flowers on the table?
Tools and Materials
- Styrofoam cone from Baisch & Skinner
- Floral spray paint (choose a color that will match your ribbon)
- Extra-wide flat washers (these will add weight to the bottom of the cone and keep it steady; to get a heavy-enough weight, Cheree used 2 and hot-glued them together. The more surface of the base that the washer covers, the steadier the cone will be; so, if you can find a “Large OD” washer that’s 8 millimeters or wider from a plumbing-supply store, that would be best)
- Hot-glue gun
- 8 yards of 5/8-inch-wide ribbon (use 1-inch-wide ribbon for a 24-inch-tall cone; Baisch & Skinner)
- Gold-topped boutonniere pins (about 30)
- Lollipops (some of our favorite sources include Ju-C Suckers, Hammond’s Candies, CandyDirect.com, and Sugar Shack)
- Flag template (download template here)
- Slim wooden dowel (for flag)
- Craft glue
Lollipop Stand How-To
1. Spray paint cone with floral spray paint, and let dry. Hot-glue the flat washer to the bottom of the cone, and let set.
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2. Cut the ribbon into graduated lengths so each wraps once around the cone, with extra for overlap; the shortest piece (for the top of the cone) will be about 5 inches. You will need 25 pieces of ribbon for 16-inch cone, 28 pieces of ribbon for 18-inch cone, and 27 pieces of ribbon (of 1-inch-wide ribbon) for 24-inch cone.
3. Cover cone with ribbon, starting from the top. Wrap the first ribbon snugly around the cone (you will need to wrap the ribbon at a slight angle so that it lays flat on the conical surface). Fold the end under to hide the raw edge, and use a pin to secure. Continue down the cone, overlapping the ribbons only slightly.
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4. Insert your favorite lollipops into the cone, slipping the sticks between the ribbons and angling them down. We used rock-candy swizzle sticks, so we used scissors to cut off the balls on the ends of the wooden sticks.
5. Stick a sign into the top of the cone, or insert a single lollipop instead. To use Cheree’s flag, download her template and print it out, then use a craft knife and a metal straight edge to cut the flag just inside the lines. Glue it to a slim wooden dowel; if you like, cut a second sheet of paper and glue it to the back of the flag to cover the dowel.
First Published: Summer 2009
New Kids and Baby Stationery Designs!
We have some new kids and baby stationery designs, including favor labels, gift tags, thank you cards, and return address labels! Invitiations and other pieces are coming soon!
Crunchy Critters
From: Martha Stewart Kids
Crispy cornflake chicks in a chocolatey cereal nest are a sure sign that spring is on the way.
Ingredients
Makes 7 Nests and 14 Chicks
- 1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for bowls
- 3 cups mini marshmallows
- 3 1/2 cups finely crushed corn flakes
- 1/4 cup black and brown candy-coated chocolate pieces, crushed
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate morsels, melted
- 2 teaspoons smooth peanut butter
- Candies, for decorating
Directions
- Toast coconut in 350 degree oven until lightly browned, about 5 minutes, stirring once. Butter seven 3 1/2-inch bowls; set aside. Melt butter in saucepan. Add marshmallows; stir until melted. Stir in cornflakes. Set aside 1 3/4 cups of the mixture in a medium bowl.
- Stir 1/2 cup coconut, crushed chocolate pieces, and melted chocolate into mixture in pan. Press into bowls to form nests. Refrigerate 1 hour.
- Form chicks from reserved mixture (attach 1- and 3/4-inch cereal balls with peanut butter).Decorate with candies. Remove nests from bowls; line with coconut. Add chicks.
Tiny Features: Try snipped licorice ropes for eyes, candy-coated chocolates for wings, and candy-coated sunflower seeds for beaks.
Little Lamb Cupcakes
From Food Network Kitchens
Ingredients
- 1 vanilla cupcake, taken out of the paper, recipe follows
- About 1 cup White Fluff Frosting, recipe follows
- 1 large marshmallow
- 2 white candy eyes
- 1 purple jujube candy
- 1 short 1/4 inch and 1 long piece 2 inch black string licorice
- 35 mini-marshmallows
- 4 purple and 2 pink jelly beans
Directions
Frost cupcake. Place the large marshmallow in the center. Lightly frost candy eyes and press onto the marshmallow. Frost the back of the jujube candy and put below eyes to for a nose. Frost the short piece of licorice lightly and press underneath the nose to make the mouth. Press mini-marshmallows all around the cupcakes and the face to make the lambs coat. Frost the tips of the pink jelly beans to make ears. Stick the purple jelly beans in the front and back of the cupcake for feet. Curl the long piece of licorice and press into frosting to make the lamb’s tail.
Vanilla Cupcake:
- 2 2/3 cups sugar
- 1 cup (2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 2 large eggs
- 2 large egg yolks
- 2/3 cup milk
- 2/3 cup water
- 2 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/3 cups cake flour
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two 12-cup cupcake tins with paper liners. (To avoid cupcakes sticking if they overflow slightly, lightly spray the tops of the pans.) Put tins on a baking sheet. Set aside.
Process sugar and butter in a food processor until very creamy, scraping sides as needed, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the eggs and yolks, one at a time, pulsing after each addition. Add the milk, water, and vanilla and process to blend.
Whisk both flours, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Add the dry ingredients, in 3 batches to the wet, pulsing, and then scraping batter off the sides of the processor as needed after each addition. Process until the batter is very smooth, about 2 minutes.
Evenly pour the batter into the prepared cups, filling them 3/4 of the way full. Bake until the cakes are just firm and spring back when gently pressed, and the tops are golden, 18 to 25 minutes. Cool slightly in tin, and turn out of tin when cool enough to handle. Cool cupcakes completely on a rack before frosting.
Yield: 24 cupcakes
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Inactive Prep Time: 30 minutes
Ease of preparation: easy
Fluff Frosting:
- 1/4 cup whole milk
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 5 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1/2 cup marshmallow fluff
- Pinch fine salt
Whisk the milk and vanilla extract together in a small bowl.
Slowly beat the butter and sugar, in another medium bowl, with an electric mixer until incorporated. Raise the speed to high and mix until light and fluffy, about 5 to 7 minutes. (Occasionally turn the mixer off, and scrape the sides of the bowl down with a rubber spatula.) Add the fluff and salt and reduce the speed to low. Add the milk and vanilla mixture, scrape the bowl down, and mix until fully incorporated. Raise the mixer to high and beat briefly until fluffy, about 1 to 2 minutes. Use immediately.
Yield: 3 3/4 cups
Homemade Easter Marshmallow Peeps
From MarthaStewart.com:
The idea of making marshmallow from scratch may seem daunting, but you can be sure guests will marvel at your creations.
Marshmallow is a timed combination of sugar and water with gelatin. Sugar cooked to soft-ball stage (238 degrees) and mixed with softened gelatin and other flavors or food coloring is quickly piped onto a bed of sugar or cornstarch. Then the treats are coated with grainy sanding sugar, which comes in colors or can be custom-colored with luster dust or sparkle dust.
Step 1
Line a baking sheet with the colored sugar or other coating so you can pipe in assembly-line fashion — the piping process goes quickly.
Fill rimmed baking sheet or small bowls with about 1 1/2 cups sugar. If desired, color white sugar by stirring in luster dust or sparkle dust a little at a time. Pipe shapes onto sugar. Bunnies and chicks must be completed one at a time.
Step 2
For bunnies, pipe a 1 1/4-inch mound about 1/2 inch tall onto sugar. Pipe a small mound on one side for the tail; pipe a larger mound for the head on the opposite side. With a damp finger, pat down any spikes formed from piping the body, tail, and head. Pipe the ears, starting from the top of the head, and pipe onto the body, pulling forward and off to finish. Pat down the spikes on the ears. Working quickly so the marshmallow surface does not dry, use a spoon to cover the entire surface with sugar. Allow a few minutes for the shape to set, and lift out of sugar with a spoon or small offset spatula. Pipe on royal-icing faces with a 1/32-inch (#1 Ateco) icing tip; place in a parchment-lined airtight container until ready to serve, or up to 2 weeks.
Step 3
For chicks, pipe an oval shape about 1 inch wide, tapering the end and pulling upward to finish with the tail. On the opposite end, for the neck and face, pipe a mound about the width of the body, pushing toward tail and up. Pull away from the face to form the beak. Working quickly so the marshmallow surface does not dry, use a spoon to sprinkle sugar over the surface. Allow shape to sit a few minutes to set; lift out of sugar with a spoon or small offset spatula. Make large and small chicks by changing the dimensions.
Step 4
Pipe on royal-icing eyes with a 1/32-inch (#1 Ateco) tip; place in a parchment-lined airtight container until ready to serve, or up to 2 weeks.
Marshmallow for Piping
Makes about 1 1/2 cups
Ingredients
- 1 unflavored gelatin (2 1/2 teaspoons)
- 1/3 cup cold water, for gelatin, plus 1/4 cup for syrup
- 1 cup sugar
Directions
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, sprinkle gelatin over 1/3 cup cold water. Allow gelatin to soften, about 5 minutes.
- In a small saucepan, combine 1/4 cup water and sugar, and stir over medium-high heat until sugar is dissolved. Stop stirring, and place a candy thermometer into sugar water; wipe sides of pan with a wet brush if sugar crystals have splattered up. Boil sugar until temperature reaches the soft-ball stage (238 degrees). Remove syrup from heat; add to softened gelatin. Using the whisk attachment of an electric mixer, hand-stir the mixture a few minutes to cool; place bowl on the mixer stand. Beat on medium high with the whisk attachment until soft peaks form and the marshmallow mixture holds shape, 8 to 10 minutes.
- Transfer marshmallow mixture to a large (14-inch) pastry bag fitted with a 1/2 inch (No. 11 Ateco) tip, and use immediately.
Royal Icing
Makes about 2 1/2 cups
You can substitute 5 tablespoons meringue powder and 1/3 cup water for raw eggs.
Ingredients
- 2 large egg whites, or more to thin icing
- 4 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar, or more to thicken icing
- 1 lemon, juiced
Directions
- Beat the whites until stiff but not dry. Add sugar and lemon juice; beat for 1 minute more. If icing is too thick, add more egg whites; if it is too thin, add more sugar. The icing may be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Meow! A Real Kitty Cat Birthday Party
Last weekend we celebrated my daughter’s first birthday with a kitty cat birthday party. She loooooves kitties! Let me tell you how difficult it was gathering “real” kitty cat items for the party – all I could find were “cool” cats or hello kitty. Where are the real cats without all the cutesy stuff? We ended up doing a mixture of pink/paisley tableware with kitty cat accents like the favors and birthday signs and favor tags.
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I had such fun making my daughter’s first birthday party favors ever. I used some frosted mini take out boxes we have in inventory and bought some neutral “cat” colored pipe cleaners and felt and created faces and tails for the boxes. Then I filled them with Trader Joe’s cat cookies in both chocolate and vanilla and attached a tag with the new kitty cat design. I wanted something simple but also cute and came up with this cat favor label and tag design.
Naturally, my daughter is too young to remember this birthday or these favors, but the day was so special for me that I wanted to something fun and memorable. I think Sarah enjoyed the oversized singing Elmo balloon from her Aunt more than anything else. Well, maybe the cat cake, because it was all sugar and all chocolate. Everyone that came the party got to take a favor box home with them and after such a wonderful day, they seemed happy to take some of the party home with them.
Cakes and Cupcakes – Oh My!
With my daughter’s first birthday rapidly approaching, I am trying to decide what to do for a theme. I am not one for the cutesy themes, especially at this young age when the party is really for the family. I really like this butterfly cake I found at Easy Cake Ideas, but the assembly is daunting. It is actually promoted as a 1-year-old’s birthday cake but I wondering how many parents of 1-year-olds actually pull this off? The more I think of it, the more I lean 
toward the oldie but goodie buttercream frosted cupcakes. My favorite is chocolate cake with white cream cheese frosting – YUM.
Pumpkin Decorating Party
Autumn is my favorite season. It’s so magical when the leaves start to turn and fall off the trees, and the lawn becomes littered with bright reds, greens and yellows. It’s the beginning of the holiday season when people are to be visited, food is to be made and parties are to be had. What better way to spend a crisp fall day or evening than decorating pumpkins? It makes a great idea for [tag]kids parties[/tag], where they can set up around a large table or outdoor space with brushes, paints, glitter and other odds and ends like the feather boa in the photo. Then you have an instant front step decoration or table centerpiece. Just make sure you serve up some shrunken head cider while decorating the pumpkins.