cork board project

My DIY cork board project can be found in more detail over here if you are interested.

I intend to hang photos of the girls baking with me or little notes about the products etc. Maybe even my little iconic brown paper bag for the Farmer's Market booth.  I really love how it turned out.  

stickers and stamps

I'm really excited a bunch of my supplies arrived in the mail.  I ordered kraft brown round stickers for my custom StampOutOnline stamp. The stamp is really crisp and works great. They look awesome!  I plan to use these stickers on my bakery bags and boxes.  

Bella Nut looking good

If you've been keeping up with my little baking project, you'll know I was having some troubles with my mini Bella Nut pie (essentially a pecan hand pie).  The flavor was spot on but they looked kind of gnarly. I've made at least two more batches since then paying close attention to my crust and how it's placed in my muffin tins.  I've also lowered the temp on baking so the filling doesn't crystallize too soon.

The latest batch yielded the prettiest little Bella Nut pies yet.  I like how the little folds of crust make the pie look homemade and not too perfect.

pie art

sweet or savory

Do you like your scones sweet or savory?  I like them both ways but I know people can be particular about their coffee/pasty pairing.  I used to prefer a nice dense scone topped with a crusty layer of sugar piled with lemon curd and cream.  That was until I started making these bacon, cheddar and rosemary scones.  Now I might teeter on the savory side of things! 

branding

I personally think branding is almost as important as having delicious baked goods to sell.  I love rubber stamps and ordered one especially for Ladytroupe Sweets.  This little stamp will be used on stickers for my bakery bags, boxes and business cards.

It's simple and sweet with just the right amount of spice.  I really love it.

It's a custom stamp order from StampOutOnline on Etsy.  We went back and forth a few times on sizing and fonts. They were patient with me as I wasn't quite sure what I wanted at first.  I should receive it in the mail soon.  I'm hoping it looks just as nice on my stickers.  What do you think?

pie crust therapy

Making pie crust should be marketed as therapy.  Every time I go to make my pie crust I get lost in the process of cutting the butter into the flour mixture and slowly adding ice water until it starts to come together.  The kneading and molding. It's wonderfully relaxing and takes me to a place where everything else going on in the house vanishes and it's just me and my dough.  Today I was dreading making more pie crust to use the last of my Bella nut filling for a few more trials.  The minute I started dipping the flour and grating the butter I was transported to my happy place.  

cheap therapy

I know everyone has their own tricks for the perfect pie crust.  I'm not saying my crust is better in any shape or form.  I'm just going to tell you my secrets for MY favorite pie crust.

Secret #1: Use frozen butter and grate it with a large cheese grater into your flour mixture.  It makes cutting the butter in a piece of cake.  Your triceps will burn during the grating process but that's just part of that lovely pie crust therapy.

lovely grated butter hill-I try to see how tall I can get it!

Secret #2: Work fast.  It's key to go as fast as you can because you don't want the butter to melt.  When forming the dough after the ice water has been added; move quickly.  Don't over work the dough with your warm hands.  You want minuscule pockets of butter in your dough for a wonderfully flaky crust.  Put the dough in the refrigerator to cool and harden for 30 minutes before you roll it out.  

quality ingredients

You better believe I am going to be baking with the best ingredients I possibly can for sugar & spice & everything nice.  That means all my favorite Trader Joe's baking supplies I brought in my consumables will be used.  If I don't put it in my baked goods I create for my family it won't be in my treats for sale with Ladytroupe Sweets.

sad fake brown sugar

Some sugars and spices are in fact nicer than others.  I prefer to use C&H real light and dark brown sugar instead of this crummy Costco purchase that was made in a haste during our hectic consumables shopping.  That generic brand is just sugar mixed with molasses.  It's doesn't taste nearly as rich with caramel flavors as real brown sugar.  I'm sad I have two big bags of this now.  Such a sad waste.  

I use Trader Joe's pure bourbon vanilla extract because the flavor is exceptional.  Same thing with their unsweetened cocoa powder and cinnamon.

Off to bake!

Bella nut trials

I named my pecan pie after my second daughter who has always marched to the beat of her own drum.  She's a bit of a challenge and always has been...probably always will be.  But, she's so darn sweet and lovable.

my sweet Bella helping me cut-in the butter

Which is exactly what my pecan pie recipe has turned into.  A bit of a challenge, but oh so sweet. It's impossible not to love it and all it's sticky, caramelized nutty goodness.  My husband is loving these baking trials because my pecan pie is HIS pie.  It's his very favorite and I usually make it just for him.

I knew getting my pecan pie filling into my pocket pie crust would be difficult.  But I wanted to give it a try.  I refrigerated the filling so it would be thicker than normal. Folding it into my little pockets wasn't the issue.  I sealed the edges really tight but within five minutes of baking all the sugary filling had oozed out of all my little pies onto my Silpat.

tasty rejects

I quickly scooped them into a muffin tin so I wouldn't waste all the delicious crust and nuts.  You better believe I ate these little ugly pecan pie failures.  They were scrumptious.  Just not so easy on the eyes.

Do over...

I washed my muffin tin and decided that cutting circles of dough to press into the muffin cups would give me mini Bella nut pies.  Still hand held but not a pocket.  The pie filling really needs a cup to sit and bake in.  The end result was even more delicious because the gooey filling thickened and crystallized properly.

mini Bella nut trials-still a work in progress

I still need to work on the proportion of pie filling for each cup.  The crust also needs to fill all the way to the top of the muffin cup and even a bit over like a full sized pie because the sugar filling hardens and sticks to the edge for the muffin tin if any of it bubbles over (which is exactly what happened on most of my little pies). 

I guess this is what trials are for!  We all tasted the reject pies and agreed that if we are going for taste-we are spot on.  Curb appeal still needs some work.


My husband is eager for me to make a few more mistakes so the trials of the Bella nut pies can continue!  

introducing sugar & spice & everything nice

I'm so excited!  I am embarking on the new project of opening a small at-home bakery-Ladytroupe Sweets.  There is a lot to be done before I can have my sugar & spice & everything nice booth at the market.  I'm baking and testing to perfect my recipes.  To bad you aren't here or else I'd give you a taste and then ask you your opinion!  I even have a few related DIY projects in the works.

Stay tuned.   More sweetness to come!

coming soon

hold on to your hats folks.