My husband makes the best chili I've ever tasted. So much so in fact, that I never order it in restaurants for the fear it won't be on par! :) So when styling my Halloween Chili Buffet , the natural choice was to cook his chili recipe, and today I'm sharing it with you. It's simple, unctuous and tastes awesome. And you can make it ahead of the party! ;)
If you would have seen my (Tess) face yesterday as we drove out of the city and into the country for the afternoon, you would have thought the barrister slipped in a little something extra into my London Fog. On our way out the the pumpkin farm, the high-rises of our neighborhood were quickly replaced with row after row of golden-leafed trees. Maybe it's because I've lived in the city for a while now, but I had no idea I could ever be so excited about fall foliage. The beautiful colors of fall were captured in these Fall Leaf Mini Cakes .
The NO-BAKE Halloween Kids Party Treats I posted last year were winners, for sure! I loved making them. My kids loved test-driving them. And it seems you guys loved pinning them ! So this year, I decided to round up some our fave Halloween Cute and Fun Treats for Kids , which are perfect for whipping up quickly - no tricks! ;)
Following on with the week's Halloween Vampire Blood Bar theme with Pottery Barn, we're set on enlivening up the undead with delicious and devilish libations! :)
These spicy-sweet gingerbread cookies are sure to satisfy all the hungry vampires who haunt your house. The yummy icing cloaks the bare cookies in yummy vampire disguises, and are perfect treat to end to your Halloween Vampire Blood Bar on sweet, but spooky note!
The title of the post is a bit of a mouthful - in many ways than one! These candy-corn chocolate covered Oreo cookies are really simple to make (despite the long title). They look super fabulous as a Halloween gift, party favor, or desserts table treat. But most importantly, they taste absolutely scrumptious!! It's also a great recipe or Halloween project to make with the kids . I made them with my 6 year old, so if she can do this, then I'm sure anyone can! ;)
I love a nice pair...of pears. And this poached pears recipe is so delicious but really easy to make. And looks like you really pushed the boat out! This is the perfect autumnal dessert for a dinner party, or just because! It's also great paired with cream, ice cream or shortbread cookies for a Thanksgiving sweet course for the whole family!
I can't begin to tell you how excited and proud I am of my dear, beautiful, talented friend, and one of our blog contributors; Mindy from Creative Juice !! She not only has written and photographed everything in her Gourmet French Macarons book , but has also produced one of the most stunning and creative books I've seen of late! I'm just in love ♥ Keep reading to find out all about it from Mindy herself...
Who doesn't love cookies?! Or confetti?! Combine both in a gluten-free recipe, and you have beautiful and delicious morsels of cookie perfection!! Check out the recipe from our contributor Gillian .
This recipe is perfect for using up end of season fruit that you may have in abundance. It works great with any kind of melon, and you can spike it up with your favorite tipple, or sparkling lemonade. It's as delicious as it is easy to make, and perfect for those lazy summer soirees! ;)
Yes, because although some schools have started, and we're already thinking "Halloween"; we still have a few days of sunshine goodness to savor, and some glorious end of season produce. And this summery recipe is very easy and quick to make, so perfect if you have last minute entertaining on the cards. But is also a tasty and healthy after school snack! ;)
This is the last post of Wedding series for HGTV , and we're ending on a super sweet note! These pretty truffles are super yummy but so easy to make - as with anything I bake ;) Their "bejeweled" effect is achieved by rolling the truffles in pink sugar pearls.
So you want to cover a cake in fondant. Now what? Well, it might not be as scary as you might think. After all, it's just cake and sugar - not brain surgery ;) There are certainly mixed feelings when it comes to fondant. I am not sure if this is because people find it difficult to use, it does not look as "yummy" as fluffy buttercream, it tastes funny, or whatever. In my humble opinion, there will always be a place for fondant. Maybe not for every event or design, but it is certainly worth giving a try. It may take practice to handle efficiently, but it yields beautiful, smooth results - even producing designs that cannot be achieved with any other medium.
Starting the week on a sweet note. And is there any other way?! :) I baked these yummies for the recent wedding shoot I styled for HGTV . They are vanilla bean sugar cookies, and would be the be a delicious addition to any dessert table, as you can vary the color of the topping to suit your theme.
I'm no professional baker, so the thought of making a DIY wedding cake for my latest project for HGTV was a little daunting. But then I realized that with anything homemade, the beauty is in the "journey" as much as in the final product. So I went with a less is more approach. Basic pound cake, simply frosted with vanilla cream cheese frosting (thanks to all the masterclasses in Caking it Pretty !).
Who said a frozen lolly is only for kids?! If you follow me on Instagram , you'd have seen my sneak peek of today's post, where I played with some of my fave cocktails and summer beverages last weekend, to create THREE thirst-quenching frozen delights !
I made this cake for the Strawberry themed mini desserts table, which I'll be sharing tomorrow. The cake really is so simple to decorate and I've already showed how I made the fondant strawberries here . So all that's left to do is the fondant pearl border and the ribbon bunting.
Nearly a decade ago, I (Tess) enrolled in a watercolor class during summer school at my university. I've always considered myself to be a fairly crafty and artistic person, but let me tell you - watercolor painting is HARD! Making simple designs and blending colors was fun and sort of relaxing, but the detail and artistry that my instructor and some of my fellow classmates used was phenomenal. Needless to say, I knew I was not going to improve all that much in just a short amount of time. However, I definitely left inspired and with a tremendous amount of respect for those that could create beautiful imagery with only a few tools.
Okay, so "strawberry shaped" is not quite the correct description. They are marshmallow-y shaped. But that wouldn't say much as a post title, right?! Plus, they do look like strawberries, so we're all good. I often say that laziness necessity is the mother of all invention. And these marshmallows pops are a prime example: Take one party-mad 'bird' who absolutely has to have strawberry cake pops on her deserts table, but who also cannot be asked to bake nor make them from scratch. Then enters the humble strawberry-flavored marshmallow and a light-bulb "I wonder if that works" moment, and there you have it! Strawberry Pops but without the fuss.
We 're starting the week on a super sweet note, and giving you not one, but THREE nautical cake decorating ideas using sugar paste fondant - courtesy of our resident cake designer extraordinaire, Tessa Lindow Huff . Tessa created a trio of cakes for issue 8 of Birds' Party Magazine , based on our Nautical Party Printables, and any (or all three) would be a perfect focal point to your nautical desserts table - Plus they are so easy to decorate too, which is always a bonus in my book! Check out Tessa's step-by-step below: