You're the Apple of my Eye Puff Pastry~

Bringing you today a scrumptious and decadent dessert for you that is perfect for Valentines Day.  Who doesn’t love puff pastry, this light and flaky buttery treat dates back to 1694 by a French pastry cooks apprentice named Claudius Gele.  How I read the story is that he was making bread for his father who was sick and added so much butter to the dough ending with the result of the puff pastry.  He went on to be a top pastry cook and very well known for his pastry treat in Paris and Florence.  Why I don’t make my own puff pastry I do take full advantage of having it in my grocer’s freezer to buy which allows me more time to be very creative with it when I am entertaining.  This tasty creation you should love especially if you like when warm apples and ice cream are brought together. 

What you need~

Heart or any cookie cutter shape
Puff pastry found in your stores freezer section~ (I use Pepperidge Farms brand)

1 Egg for eggwash

2 Apples – try a Pink Lady & Granny Smith

½ cup of chopped pecans

1 tsp granulated sugar

1 TBSP Light Brown Sugar

½ teaspoon of Cinnamon

1 TBSP Butter

Chocolate to Melt

Vanilla Ice cream

Thaw your pastry sheets according to the package, when thawed cut out the shapes you wish.  Line them onto the baking sheet lined with parchment paper and brush them with you egg wash.  Bake at 400 for 15 minutes.   

Cut up your apples and coat with the granulated sugar and set aside.  Melt butter in a pan add the apples, brown sugar, pecans and cinnamon.  Sautee the mixture for 5 to 7 minutes. 

When the pastries are done baking let cool for a few minutes and carefully separate the top and the bottom.  Set out the dishes you will serve them on to set up the dessert.  Take your apple mixture from the pan and spoon onto the bottom layer of the pastry, next a scoop of vanilla ice cream.  Drizzle melted chocolate on top of the ice cream and place the other half of the pastry on top and garnish with apple mixture and the more chocolate.  

There you have it a scrumptious dessert that is so easy to prepare and tastes amazing, I promise!   

Stacy ~ Scrumptious Swirls Blog

1st Birthday Animal Cracker Milestone Birthday

Here are all the photos from a 1st Birthday Party I styled at The Giving Tree in January.  Again a big thank you to everyone who helped me execute this fabulous party for my sweet little niece!

The Animal Cracker Collection by Fresh Chick Design Studio

Milestone Banner & Graphic Banner handmade & glittered by The Purple Pug

Candy Jars filled with Animal Cracker Snacks 

(very practical for a child's party, especially for cost)

Cake Sign~ Use a personalized cake sign to add height to your cake and 

get a keepsake from the birthday celebration! 

Keep Calm and Monkey On! Love the signs that were hung around the party! 

Birthday signs & Posh Party Pretties custom made party hats as center pieces! 

Again, practical & different! 

Unique (in a sense it is the guest of honor) photo cupcake toppers on paper straws! 

Like the shape the punch I used is on the left side of my page! 

Animal Cracker snacks to top the cupcakes, keep the theme going with the desserts!

Strawberry banana nilla wafer cookie buttercream cupcakes!

Dress up your white ware cake stands with pom fringe from JoAnne's fabric!

Homemade banana mini muffins topped with honey nut Cheerios (Monkey's love Cheerios)

Sweet photo toppers, make your party more unique by making photo cupcake toppers! 

Paper luggage to hold custom muslin bags filled with sugar wafer cookies! 

Baby's 1st Smash Cake

Banner made with stickers & scrapbook paper

Photo cookies by Allyson Jane

Gerber Daisies to brighten the table!

Party favors with cake balls & rice krispy treats! 

Party Favor Table

Birthday Girl monkeying around with her party guests! 

Happy Birthday to me! 

Posh party pretties custom made party hats!

My brother & his pretty family! 

Credits & Vendors~

Planning, Styling, Cakes, Cookies, Cupcakes by Scrumptious Swirls by Stacy

Invites, Graphic Designs, Signs ~ The Fresh Chick Design Studio

Party Hats~ Posh Party Pretties

Banners ~ The Purple Pug

Paper straws & alphabet letter cups~ Fort & Field

Paper Luggage~ A Touch of Whimsy

Photo cookies ~ Allyson Jane

Again a HUGE thank you to everyone involved!  Especially the parents of the cute little monkey!  

Peace, Love & Monkey's 1st Birthday,

Stacy

Scrumptious is a Fancy word for Yummy!

I hope everyone is having an amazing Holiday season! I have something fun & exciting that I am going to share with you over the next few days!  Two weeks ago I asked 8 of my favorite party planner/bloggers, as well as some of your favorites about their favorite Christmas Cookies! I also asked them a few questions that I am going to share their answers!

I wanted to share with you as many Christmas Cookies as I could & make it fun! I was reading a Fancy Nancy Christmas book to my 3 year old the other night for what inspired the title for these post ;)  This post is definitely one of my favorites for many reasons....you will read & see why in a minute.  

Without further a do I share with you in Part 1 of 2  the favorite Cookie Recipes of Jenn from The Hostess with the Mostess, Danielle from A Few of My Favorite Things, Courtney from Pizzazzerie and Rebecca from Fresh Chick Design Studio.  First I'll share the photos of my cookie & cocktail table~

The Fresh Chick's Rolo Pretzel Treats

My Signature Christmas Cocktail

Cookie Cutter Christmas Tree

The Hostess with the Mostess ~ Jenn's Sugar Cookies

Mini Topper

A Few of My Favorite Things ~ Snooker Doodles

Peppermint Hot Cocoa

Pizzazzerie~ Gingerbread Spice Cookies

My cocoa mugs from Crate & Barrel

Candy Cane Hearts

The Recipes!

ROLO TURTLE TREATS~ 

from Rebecca of The Fresh Chick Studio

Rolo Turtle Treats

Ingredients

~1 bag of Rolo candies

~1 bag pecan halves (if you can't use nuts, try m&m's)

~1 bag of mini pretzels 

Directions

Pre-heat ove to 250 degrees

Place pretzels on a baking sheet.  Put one unwraped rolo on top of each pretzel.  Now off they go into the oven for about 3-4minutes...just as long as they are not too melted, just soft.  Once out of the oven place a pecan half on top and slightly push down.  Place on wax paper to cool.  Proceed with caution - these lil' creatures are highly addictive!!

JENN’S SUGAR COOKIES:

from The Hostess with the Mostess1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla
3 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 400º.
Mix dry ingredients in a bowl & set aside.
In a separate bowl, combine butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Beat until mixed well. Add the dry ingredients & mix well. Chill for at least an hour to stiffen the dough. Roll dough out & cut into shapes or form dough balls and flatten into thick circles with your hands.

Bake 8-10 mins or until the edges of cookies start to turn a very light golden brown. Don't overbake!


FROSTING:1/3 cup butter, melted
1 Tbsp vanilla
3 Tbsp milk
4.5-6 cups powdered sugar (thicken to desired consistency)
food coloring

Mix all ingredients together. Apply generous helpings of frosting onto completely cooled cookies. (Frosting will bleed off if cookies are warm.)
*If frosting is too runny, add more powdered sugar. If it's too thick, add more milk, 1 tsp at a time.

GINGER SPICE COOKIES:

from Pizzazzerie

Recipe:

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup margarine, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 2 tablespoons white sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift together the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the margarine and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, then stir in the water and molasses. Gradually stir the sifted ingredients into the molasses mixture. Shape dough into walnut sized balls, and roll them in the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar. Place the cookies 2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet, and flatten slightly.
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container

SNICKER DOODLES:

this recipe is via www.joyofbaking.com 

from A Few of My Favorite Things

Snickerdoodles:

2 3/4 cups (360 grams) all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 cup (227 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/2 cups (300 grams) granulated white sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 

Coating:

1/3 cup (66 grams) granulated white sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Snickerdoodles:  In a large bowl whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder.

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter and sugar until smooth (about 2 to 3 minutes). Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and beat until you have a smooth dough. If the dough is soft, cover and refrigerate until firm enough to roll into balls (one to two hours).

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (190 degrees C) and place rack in the center of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Shape the dough into 1 inch (2.5 cm) round balls. 

Coating: In a large shallow bowl mix together the sugar and cinnamon.

Roll the balls of dough in the cinnamon sugar and place on the prepared pan, spacing about 2 inches (5 cm) apart. Then, using the bottom of a glass, gently flatten each cookie to about 1/2 inch (1.5 cm) thick.

Bake the cookies for about 8 - 10 minutes, or until they are light golden brown around the edges. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

Can store in an airtight container, at room temperature, for about 10 - 14 days.

Makes about 6 dozen cookies.

I Loved each and everyone of these cookies fortunelty for me I only got to sample Jenn’s Sugar Cookies, the Ginger Spice & the Snickerdoodles.  I am using them for teacher gifts and class party treats tomorrow ;).  The Rolo turtles I should have designated too because I ate too many.  But hey its Christmas!  Time to celebrate and indulge.  I did just that…LOL. 

I have 4 more of my favorite’s favorite cookie recipes to share on Friday!  Please come back and next week I will share why these fantastic girls are some of my favorites and what is their favorite things to do during the holiday’s and why these cookies are special to them!

Have a wonderful night!  Tis the Season!  Any questions on the recipes let me know!  

Peace, Love &  Cookies~

Stacy

Stella & Dot trunk show Dessert Table

I co-hosted a trunk show with my friend Alison this weekend!  It was so much fun, I LOVED wearing the jewelry!!!  A special thank you to our wonderful stylist Jamie Kloin who helped everyone pick & choose exactly what would look fabulous on them!  And thank you for letting me borrow some jewels to further dress the table.

Here are photos and the details of the dessert table I did which everyone enjoyed the sweetness of the taste and the presentation for sure!!

So for starters we had "Stellamo's (Cosmopolitan's) and Mojdoto's (Mojito's).  The Mojito's were very very good I would say and refreshing!   I bought a pre-made mix by Freshie's at the Fresh Market.  Freshie's cocktail mixes are so outstanding because they are all fresh...nothing fake, no high fructose sugar!  You have to try one of their many drinks they have to offer.

Now onto the desserts....
We had a three layer lemon drop cake that was filled with vanilla buttercream that was covered and decorated with Satin Ice Fondant.  Loved, loved the lemon cake!  Can't wait to make another one, this was my first and when it came out of the oven I had made a glaze with fresh lemon juice and confectioner's sugar and drizzled some on top and it soaked in.....what a difference!  I made a necklace out of the dark chocolate fondant that looks similar to the one S&D sell, it was very cute and I got alot of compliments again on the taste and the look of it!

In addition to the cake we had French vanilla shortbread cookies covered with Satin Ice and that I decorated with little designs I saw in the Stella & Dot look book.  Mini milk chocolate buttercream cupcakes, raspberry chambord buttercream cupcakes, chocolate covered strawberries, and mini macaroons with expresso chocolate drizzled over them.  In the jars there were blueberry taffy, m&m's and yogurt pretzels.  

A shot of the whole table...

For the DIY labels I googled the logo and copied it into word and created the labels.  I printed it out on photo paper, cut out the the logos and used a 2 inch scallop punch for the dessert labels and backed with card stock I got at Michael's.  It was definitely a great idea to have the table both for the host and the guests to make the party extra scrumptious and sweet!!  

I hope other S&D stylist who view my blog enjoy the look of everything and if you have any questions please let me know!