Stitching the Night Away in Illinois: February 2017

Monday, February 27, 2017

Faschings Krapfen

Where I come from, Faschings Krapfen (Carnival Donuts) are made up until Ash Wednesday, as a special treat. They are fried, and like a yeast donut, but they are not sweet. They are either rolled in sugar when they come out of the fryer or dusted with powdered sugar, depending on the region. They can also be topped with jam. In Vienna and Berlin, they are filled with jelly or cream.

Legend has it that it is the creation of Cäcilie Krapf, a Viennese cook at the court, who is apparently responsible for its name.

I know someone is bound to ask me for the recipe, and since I have it handy, here it is:

1 package dry yeast

5 ½ cups flour
1 tablespoon sugar
2 whole eggs
½ cup whole milk
2 cups whole milk
2 tablespoons brandy
¼ teaspoon salt

1.    Mix together dry yeast, 1 tablespoon sugar and ½ cup milk that has been warmed
2.    Mix all of the ingredients together with a wooden cooking spoon until nice and smooth. Let the dough rest for about 2 hours.
3.    After resting, flour surface, pour out dough and gently flatten out with fingers.
4.    Dust top with flour
5.    Cut into pieces
6.    Fry in hot corn oil

Saturday, February 25, 2017

This Weekend's Baking Adventures

Today we explored monkey breads! First up is an Apple Pie Monkey Bread. It turned out great!

Then next offering is Orange Vanilla Monkey Bread. I must confess that this is not the first time I made this recipe )(courtesy of the Pioneer Woman) and the first attempt was prettier but I didn't take a picture of that one.

Never the less, both tasted great, and the taste testers finished them off, and didn't leave a crumb.

Thursday, February 23, 2017

November Finish

I know, I am a bit behind, but I finally got back to the Joyful World Stitching-a-long, and finished up November. On to December!

Monday, February 20, 2017

Fresh Melons

I completed the stitching on Fresh Melons recently. This is the first of SamSarah Designs Farmer's Market series. I will add the buttons when all six pieces are finished.

Sunday, February 19, 2017

Finally, Something Finished!

Well, the stitching is finished! This is going to be a 2 inch Bargello Ball once it is ornamentified. I taught this project at our ANG Guild this past week, and will teach the construction in a few months, so I didn't want to confuse people, so I didn't 'finish' the piece, I just completed the stitching. This one is done on 22 count mono canvas, and I used some Kreinik fine braid and some Rainbow Gallery Sparkle Rays.

For the 3 inch Bargello Ball, I used Fyre Works instead of Kreinik and also used Sparkle Rays. This one is stitched on 18 count mono canvas.

They both sparkle a lot more, the pictures don't do them justice. I will also be teaching this project for our EGA guild in a few months.

Saturday, February 18, 2017

More Cheesecake

This week's baking produced another cheesecake. This one is call Hollywood Cheesecake from the Philadelphia Cream Cheese Cheesecake cookbook. I have made it before, but it has been a long time. I wanted to use my heart shaped springform pan since it was still fairly close to Valentine's Day, and I knew this recipe worked in that pan, so here it is. I guess it was good, my taste testers ate the whole thing.....and I didn't even get a tiny piece!

Saturday, February 11, 2017

Baking again!

I finally found some motivation to bake again! This time I made an Apple Crisp Cheesecake. I have been wanting to try this recipe for quite some time, but something always got in the way. The biggest obstacle was that it called for a 6 inch springform pan. Since I love cheesecake, I have quite a collection of springform pans....2 10 inch, 2 9 inch, 1 8 inch and 1 heart shaped, but no 6 inch. I check a bunch of stores that had baking pans and such, but one of them had 6 inch pans either.....until I checked JoAnn Fabrics....they had them! They were on sale, and I had a coupon, so they weren't very expensive either (as opposed to the ones I saw on google) So I bought two......

Wednesday, February 01, 2017

Well, I got some stitching done in January. Not as much as I would have liked, but life keeps getting in the way. I did finish all of my sample stitches for the ANG Guild, I had 10 left to do, and I had 20 Crazy January starts - 10 of which are finished. Hopefully February will bring more stitching time.

January

WISPS:
10 hours Rocky Mountain Christmas
Antique Map and Needlebook
Heirloom Christmas Sampler
Oveture II

In Progress

4 person RR Marguerite’s
Mini Embellishment Project
French Alphabet Sampler page 3
April flower of the month
Small bargello ball
Landon’s Stocking

Crazy January Starts

November Joyful World worked on it
SamSarah fruits ( 6 of them)
                Melon worked on it
                Lime      worked on it
                Berry worked on it
                Pear worked on it
                Kiwi worked on it

Apple worked on it

Afternoon in Paris worked on it
Afternoon in Rome worked on it
Elongated Continental Stitch finished
Slanted Victorian Step Stitch finished
Giant Diagonal Mosaic finished
Double Diagonal Brick finished
Caswell Stitch finished
Puff ornament finished
Byzantine Variation Stitch finished
Acacia Tree Flat Stitch finished
Zig Zag Stitch finished
Stitch-a-long sampler worked on it
Cushion Stitch finished

Future New starts

Biscornu
Perforated paper ornament (2)
Bargello ball
Scissor fob
Ornament finishing sample piece
Ladybug pin
A Fall Heart
December Joyful World
Afternoon in New York
Afternoon in London
Candy Corn Heart
Gingerbread Heart
Winds of Grace (6 of them)
Towmater x 2
Lightning McQueen x2
Cupcake ornaments:
                Logan
                Natalie
                Owen
                Peter
                Justin
                Nathan
Spring
Summer
Winter
Crystal Violets
Peter’s stocking
Mark & Karen’s wedding sampler
Tony & Melissa’s wedding sampler
Carnival
Walking on Water’s Edge

February

WISPS:
10 hours on Rocky Mountain Christmas
Antique Map and Needlebook
Heirloom Christmas Sampler
Oveture II