The Wild Poppy

Etsy Finds 11.8.11

1. Fox Say Hi (Pin)   2. Common Hound’s Tongue antique print

3. Cushion cover - Orla, in lemon  4. Beige Mad Man Sarafan Dress

5. Live What You Love Letterpress Print in Red  6. Briefcase in Latte Corduroy

7. Decorative Bird Wren Sage Plaid   8. 1950s design Milk Bottle

Kitchen Art…

Love these charming kitchen prints by Anek. So simple and sweet, they would look adorable in any kitchen.

Cinnamon Ripple Coffee Cake Muffins

How about some yummy muffins marbled with a buttery cinnamon ripple to start off your day? uhh, yea.

I got up early this morning to make these for breakfast and they were sooo divine.  Moist, buttery, and cinnamon-y, perfect with a cup of coffee or tea. I like to eat them straight out of the oven with a little butter spread on it and a hot cup of hazelnut coffee. I dream about this.

I got this recipe from “Muffins A to Z”, its easy to follow and you probably have most of the ingredients on hand.

Here’s the recipe, enjoy!

Ingredients

Cinnamon Ripple

• 1/2 cup(s) packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup(s) (1/2 stick) unsalted butter; softened
• 1/4 cup(s) unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoon(s) ground cinnamon

Batter

• 2 1/2 cup(s) unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup(s) sugar
• 2 teaspoon(s) baking powder
• 1 teaspoon(s) baking soda; sieved
• 1/2 teaspoon(s) salt
• 1 1/4 cup(s) buttermilk
• 1/2 cup(s) (1 stick) unsalted butter; melted
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon(s) vanilla extract

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit lightly butter 12 muffin cups or coat with nonstick cooking spray.
• To make the cinnamon ripple: combine the brown sugar, butter, flour and cinnamon in a small bowl.
• Work together with a fork or your fingertips until well blended; set aside.
• To make the batter: combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl; stir until well blended.
• In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, melted butter, eggs and vanilla until smooth.
• Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients all at once and fold just until moistened.
• Sprinkle with the cinnamon ripple and fold once or twice to distribute evenly. Do not overmix.
• Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.
• Bake until the tops are golden and a toothpick inserted in the centers comes out clean, 22 to 25 minutes.
• Cool on a wire rack before removing from the pan.

Etsy Finds 11.1.10

1. Charcoal Gathers Dress         2. 6x4 black and white original bird illustration

3. Mama and Baby Birdie Vase   4. Vintage Industrial Gooseneck Desk Lamp

5. Wood Key Rack                   6. Linen Cushion Cover, Throw Pillow

7. Block Printed Cotton Napkins  8. Little Notes - Prairie Caps

9. Chevron zig zag bitty bags    10. Vintage shakers

Russian Tea Cakes

I saw these in The America’s Test Kitchen Holiday Cookies 2010 Special Issue (best cookie book ever, by the way) last year and had to try them. They’ve become my absolute favorite cookie. I mean, butter, powdered sugar, toasted pecans? this is real.

Here’s the recipe: 

Russian Tea Cakes (makes about 4 dozen)

• 16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cups pecans, toasted and chopped fine
• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar

1. Adjust oven racks to upper-middle and lower middle positions and heat oven to 400 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. With electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter, sugar, vanilla, and salt until very light and fluffy, 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low, add flour, and mix until just combined. Add pecans and mix until evenly distributed. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour, or up to 2 days.

2. Roll dough into 1-inch balls and place 1 1/2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Bake until edges are light golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes, switching and rotating sheets halfway through baking. Cool 5 minutes.

3. Sift confectioners’ sugar into medium bowl. Working with 4 to 5 warm cookies at a time, gently toss each in sugar to coat. Transfer cookies to wire rack and cool to room temperature. Toss cooled cookies once more in remaining sugar to coat. 

Side note: please please please don’t forget to toast your nuts! seriously, its what makes these cookies awesome. Toasting them enhances their flavor so much and it gives them an extra crunchiness. All you have to do is throw the nuts in a small skillet over medium heat for about 5 minutes and stir. I like to use pecans, but you could put hazelnuts or walnuts or even chestnuts in them.

I hope you try these, their so elegant, simple, and beyond delicious.

Enjoy!

Rosemary Milner Fabrics

I just stumbled upon these charming fabrics by Rosemary Milner. I’m in love. And she also has wallpaper, books, and embroidery. So much prettiness! You can check it out here.

ugh, I need to start sewing again!

Old-Fashioned Soft Pumpkin Cookies

These pumpkin cookies are the perfect fall treat. Soft, moist, cake-like and SO good. And its pretty easy to make too. You could kick it up a notch by adding some white chocolate chips and maybe some walnuts. YUM! I might have to try that next time…

Here’s the recipe, enjoy!

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup pure pumpkin
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
•  
• Glaze:
• 2 cups sifted powdered sugar
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1 tablespoon melted butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease baking sheets.
2. Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in medium bowl. Beat sugar and butter in large mixer bowl until well blended. Beat in pumpkin, egg and vanilla extract until smooth. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto prepared baking sheets.
3. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes or until edges are firm. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. Drizzle Glaze over cookies.
4. For Glaze: Combine 2 cups sifted powdered sugar, 3 tablespoons milk, 1 tablespoon melted butter and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract in small bowl until smooth.

Friday Etsy Finds: 8.26.11

1. Hydrangea and Feather Bobbies 2. Le Tote Bag

3. Stoneware Pottery Salad Bowl 4. Copper Lace Bracelet

5. With Love cotton tape 6. Little Brown Felt Bird

7. Fox Pin 8. Flowers glass Vase

2012 Calendars

Love these new 2012 calendars from Rifle Paper CO. so pretty!

Molten Chocolate Cake

 I’ve been eyeballing this molten cake recipe ever since I saw it on Tasty Kitchen back in 2009. I don’t know why it took me so long, but man, I’m glad I finally made it. And good sweet heavens, is it good. So extremely rich and chocolaty. And super easy to make too.

Here’s what you’ll need:

  Semi-sweet baking chocolate,  butter, powdered sugar, eggs , flour, whipping cream, and sugar

Start by spraying these little Pyrex custard cups with cooking spray.

Throw the butter and chocolate into a bowl.

And microwave it for about a minute. Whisk the heck out of it until its smooth. It might take a little while for the chocolate to melt but just stir and stir. And don’t keep microwaving it, you don’t want to fry your eggs when you add them!

almost there…

Nice and smooth. perfect.

Measure up 1 cup of powdered sugar and dump it in.

Stir it in gently until its all smooth.

Next you need two eggs plus two egg yolks. To get the yolk out of an egg I swap the yolk back and forth from one half of the shell to the other until the white is completely gone.

So add the two full eggs

then the yolks, and stir it up

And finally the 6 tablespoons of flour.

Stir it in gently until its all combined.

And now, this step is very important, take out the whisk and lick away. yes yes yes. so good!

Divide the batter between the cups

And bake at 425 degrees for 13-14 minutes.

Hello sweetie!

Now turn the plate upside down and set it right on top of the cup

then flip the whole thing over and let the cake fall onto the plate. It’ll slide right out.

At this point I’m thinking to myself, uhhh, can I get ten of these?? but their seriously so rich, its the perfect size. I was completely satisfied after one. And the homemade whipped cream is so much better than store bought. amazing.

I didn’t get a whole lot of pictures of the final result cause I wolfed it down as soon as it came out of the oven. But it was absolutely fabulous. The recipe for it is below. Enjoy!

Molten Chocolate Cake