Young Girls Gift Guide

I am still in shock that we are less than a month away from Christmas! Holiday shopping is a bit different this year with the pandemic so most of my shopping has been online this year. I love online shopping but I do really love to stroll down the isles and see the things I want to buy before purchasing. Let's hope next year is a bit different! For now though I did most of my Christmas shopping online. Below I've shared some gifts that we bought for Hadley this Christmas. She is four years old and very much so a "girly girl". Her favorite things are art, ballet, dolls and puzzles. She also loves to play outdoors but I save those kind of toys and things for her Easter basket since she can't really use them in the winter. I love supporting small shops so I've included some of those below as well. I hope you all enjoy the gift guide, I can't wait to give them to Hadley Christmas morning!

Click on the items below for the direct link. 

1. HOPSCOTCH MAT

2. CASTLE BLOCK SET   (the pink set is out of stock, but I linked something similar.)

3. BALLET BARRE

4. RATTAN MUSHROOM BASKET

5.MAILEG TRIPLETS 

6. CIRCUS PUZZLE  

7.BALLERINA DOLL

8.PLAY DOUGH SET

9. DOODLE IT BOOK

10. TREE PUZZLE

11. PIANO MAT 

Christmas Home Decor

I can't believe its that time of year again but I am so ready for it! One of my favorite things to do is decorate our house for the holidays but Christmas has always been my favorite! I switch things up almost every year. I like to use things I've collected throughout the years and then add a few new items. I typically buy my Christmas decor from Anthropologie, Target and Pottery Barn. In the image below, I've shared some of my top picks this year that I've purchased and our new Christmas tree that I know several of you have requested I share :) Hope you all enjoy it, happy shopping!

1. HOLLY POMMED MONOGRAM ORNAMENT // 2. SANTA // 3. PRE-LIT CHRISTMAS TREE // 4. GINGERBREAD HOUSE // 5. SANTA JUICE GLASS // 6. DISH TOWELS // 7. STOCKING GARLAND // 8. COOKIE JAR // 9. TREE COLLAR // 10. TABLE TOP TREE // 11. BOTTLE BRUSH TREE // 12. SANTA DOORMAT // 13. PLAID SERVING TRAY // 14. CHRISTMAS TREE MUG

 

 

 

Caramel Apple Crumble Pie

 

 

 

There's nothing better than the aroma of a hot apple pie baking in the oven on a crisp fall day. Make it a caramel apple pie and that aroma somehow got even better. I've said it before, I don't like apple desserts. So why do I keep on making them?... so that I'm not tempted to eat them and I just love the smell of them. After getting several message requests for the recipe I decided it would be easier to just share it here. Again, I did not make this recipe up... believe me I am not that talented lol. I did tweak it a bit and I will share all of that info below with the recipe. I loved seeing how many of you made the apple pie cookies and I can't wait to see if any of you make this pie. Be sure and tag me if you do, I love following along with others! 

 

Here are a few behind the scenes pictures of Hadley and I baking the apple pie.

 

Ingredients

1 box of refrigerated pie crusts, softened as directed on box (I used 3 crusts total)

1 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I always add a little extra cinnamon to everything)

5 cups thinly sliced peeled apples (I ended up using more like 4 apples, my pie pan wasn't very deep)

1/2 cup caramel apple dip (I used more like 3/4 cup- 1 cup of caramel)

2 tablespoons milk (add a splash or two more of milk if you add more caramel)

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup butter

 

Directions

• Heat oven to 375°F. Make pie crusts as directed on box for Two-Crust Pie using 9-inch glass pie plate. In large bowl, mix granulated sugar, 1/4 cup flour and the cinnamon. Add apples; toss to coat. Spoon apple mixture into crust- lined plate. In small bowl, mix 2 tablespoons caramel apple dip and the milk; drizzle over apples. 

   
•  In medium bowl, mix 1 cup flour and the brown sugar. With pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over filling. 

   
• To make lattice top, cut second crust into 1/2-inch-wide strips with pastry cutter. Place half of the strips across filling in pie plate. Weave remaining strips with first strips to form lattice. Trim ends of strips even with edge of bottom crust. Fold trimmed edge of bottom crust over ends of strips, forming a high stand-up rim. Seal and flute. 

   
• Bake 50 to 60 minutes or until golden brown. (My pie dish was very shallow so mine only needed to bake for about 40 minutes.)  Cool 10 minutes. Drizzle remaining caramel apple dip over pie. Cool at least 2 hours before serving.

Acorn Treats

 

 

Chocolate, peanut butter and butterscotch... oh my! This is one of the tastiest combos and its perfect for an early fall treat! The thing I love most about these cookies is that they are kid friendly. Hadley and I love to bake together and she got to help with every step! I wanted to use mini vanilla wafers but the only ones I could find were still too large to be the tops on the acorns (Hershey kisses). So we went with nutter butter bites instead. We melted some of the butterscotch chips for the glue. The cookie halves that still had some of the peanut butter icing on them didn't need any of our "glue" they held on their own. Then we use the same melted chips to stick the butterscotch chips to the top of the cookie to look like the stems. And there you have it, very simple and very cute! To see videos of how we put them together you can check them out on my blog posts IG highlight story or click the link here below. 

MAKING ACORN TREATS VIDEO

 

 

 

 

 

Apple Pie Cookies

These apple pie cookies were a huge hit! I found the recipe on Pinterest and had to try it out. I am not an apple pie fan, its something to do with the texture of the apples I think. I originally wanted to make these as a treat to bring to Hadley's teacher during child orientation but we just found out the day before that school has now been postponed until September. At first I was pretty upset about the change, if I'm being honest I haven't done well with the constant changing that this pandemic has brought. I'm sure I am not alone on that! Now that I've had time to process the change, I think its a good thing. The next two weeks are going to be hot so we will just enjoy some more summer time together! Now, the reason I'm sure most of you are here for...the recipe! I will add my changes to it below in parentheses. These were super easy to make just a bit time consuming. Peeling and chopping up apples takes some time but again, super easy. I made the apple filling the night before and let it sit in the fridge in an air tight container. Then in the morning I just warmed it up in the microwave for a little bit. The smell of these baking in the morning was a great start to our day. I hope you all love them as much as we do!  

INGREDIENTS: 

1 double crust pie crust recipe (I USED PILLSBURY'S REFRIGERATED PIE CRUSTS. YOU WILL NEED 4 CRUSTS TOTAL TO USE ALL OF THE APPLE FILLING) 

4 cups apples, peeled, cored, and diced (I USED 4 LARGE GALA APPLES) 

3 tablespoons butter 

1/2 cup brown sugar 

1 teaspoon cinnamon (I USED A LITTLE EXTRA) 

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg 

1/4 teaspoon salt 

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 

1 egg 

 INGREDIENTS FOR THE GLAZE: 

2 cups powdered sugar 

3 tablespoons milk (I ENDED UP ADDING A SPLASH MORE MILK, I FOUND IT TO BE TOO PASTE-LIKE, SO THE EXTRA MILK HELPED.) 

DIRECTIONS: 

1. Prepare pie crust and refrigerate for 1 hour. Pull from fridge and let rest on the counter for 10 minutes so they will roll out more easily. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Heat the oven to 425 degrees. 

2. While the oven heats, peel, core, and dice the apples. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When butter is melted, add the apples, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt, and cook for 5-10 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until apples have softened and released their juices. 

3. Sprinkle the flour over the apples and stir thoroughly to combine. Cook for 1 minute more to thicken the juices released from the apples, then remove from heat. 

4. Roll out 1 crust on a lightly floured surface and cut it into apple shapes with an apple cookie cutter, or use a large circle cutter. Gently transfer the apple-shaped pieces of crust to a parchment lined backing sheet. You may need to combine and re-roll scraps of pastry dough. 

5. Scoop 1 tablespoon of apple pie filling into the center of each apple crust, leaving space on the edges to seal with a second crust. Roll out the second crust on a lightly floured surface and cut it into apple shapes with the same cookie cutter or large circle cutter. Carefully place each top crust on each mound of apple pie filling and press the sides down to match the sides of the bottom crust. You may need to slightly stretch the top crust to reach the edges. Use a fork to press around the edges of each hand pie for a good seal and a decorative finish. 

6. Make an egg wash by beating the egg in a small bowl with 1 teaspoon of water, then brush the tops of each hand pie with the egg wash using a pastry brush. Cut a slit in the dough on top of each hand pie. 

7. Bake at 425 degrees for 18-20 minutes, ( I BAKED THEM FOR 13-14 MINUTES, THE DOUGH WAS THIN) until the crust is lightly browned. While the hand pies are baking, prepare glaze by whisking together the powdered sugar and milk in a medium bowl. 

8. When pies are done, transfer them to a wire rack and brush with the glaze using a clean pastry brush. Alternatively, you could drizzle the glaze over the pies or even dip them into the glaze. (I USED A PASTRY BRUSH.) Allow to cool and let the glaze set for at least 10-15 minutes before serving either warm, cold or room temperature.

Almond Flour Banana Bread

I've been trying to use almond flour when I can recently. This is the first time I've tried this recipe out that I found online and I loved it! Super easy and yummy! To view the recipe just click on the link below. For the sweetener I used honey but I think next time I will use maple syrup. I also added chocolate chips to mine because Hadley loves it that way. Hope you all enjoy it as much as we did!

Almond Flour Banana Bread Recipe:

https://ifoodreal.com/almond-flour-banana-bread/

flower counting cards

Have a little one that loves flowers? Hadley sure does which is why I created this activity for her. She knows how to count really well but she struggles with number recognition so I thought this would be a fun way to practice that. These little flowers we used for the activity are actually gummy candies from Trader Joes. So naturally she ate a few while doing the activity which gave us another learning opportunity... subtraction practice! She loves math so this activity kept her busy for awhile. Below I attached the flower stem image that I created. All I did, as you can probably guess, is copied and pasted using Microsoft Word. I'll be posting a few more counting activities involving flowers later this week. As always, thanks for stopping by!