Sunday, May 24, 2015

Chocolate Caramel Tart



Video on how to make this : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UplwOR1nUto
This chocolate salted caramel tart is absolutely amazing. A buttery almond crust, gooey salted caramel and bittersweet chocolate ganache, all garnished with salted crystals. Chocolaty, rich and buttery, a perfect treat for any occasion.

Ingredients:

Makes about 6-8 servings

Almond Chocolate Sweet Pastry
1 1/4 cups (160g) flour
1/4 cup (30g) ground almonds
1/4 cup (30g) unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup (50g) sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick (110 g) cold unsalted butter, cut into small (1/2-inch) cubes
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1-2 tbsp ice water

Caramel
1 1/2 cups (300 g) sugar
1/2 cup (100g) water
1/2 cup (120 g) heavy cream
5 tbsp (70 g) unsalted butter
1 tsp salt

Chocolate Ganache
1/2 cup (120 g) heavy cream
4 oz (120g) bittersweet chocolate, chopped

Garnish
sea salt crystals

Directions

1. Prepare the sweet pastry. In a large bowl mix flour with ground almonds, cocoa powder, sugar and salt.

2. Incorporate butter to the flour mixture, using a pastry blender, a fork or a pastry processor, until crumbs are formed. Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix them in. Add water and incorporate into the dough. Wrap it with plastic, knead slowly to form a disc and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or overnight.

3. On o floured surface or over the plastic wrap roll the dough to a circle with about 1 1/2 inches larger than your tart pan. Lift up the rolled dough and place it on a greased 9 inch tart pan. Remove the edges and refrigerate for 30 minutes before baking.

4. Prick the dough with a fork, line a parchment paper over the dough. Fill with dry beans, rice or pie weights.

5. Bake for 15 minutes in preheated 350 F (180C) oven. Remove the weights and the parchment paper. Return to oven for another 10 to 15 minutes. Allow to cool before removing from the tart pan.

6. Prepare the caramel. Place the sugar and water in a medium heavy bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat, and cook without stirring until sugar dissolves and gets a caramel color.

7. Remove the pan from the heat and add the cream. It will bubble a little bit.

8. Cook for about 1 or 2 minutes stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until smooth. Remove from heat and add butter and salt. Stir well until smooth.

9. Let the caramel cool slightly and pour over the chocolate crust. Refrigerate for about 4-5 hours.

10. Prepare the chocolate ganache. Heat the cream in a small saucepan. When the cream just begins to boil at the edges, remove from heat and pour over the chopped chocolate. Let sit one minute, then stir until smooth.

11. Pour the chocolate ganache over the caramel. Spread it evenly and refrigerate for another 2-3 hours before serving. Sprinkle with sea salt flakes and serve.

Friday, May 15, 2015

My Hole in Won quilt

The inspiration and most of the pattern for this came from a pattern called Beyond Horizon's by RaNae Merrill.  I just changed it up some and have called it "Hole in Won" :).
I'm making this to put in the Tri County 2016 Quilt Show.  I think it will go to the modern category.  My son gets it after the show.  He said he loved it so really that is all that matters to me.
So here is my progress.  I've basted it and am now quilting it.  I did half the quilting today and will finish the quilting tomorrow and maybe put the binding on tomorrow evening while I'm watching the tube.



Here it is after I basted it.

and here is 1/2 quilted.  Quilting it every one inch...wow that takes time!


Monday, May 11, 2015

More mug rug madness :)

You know I told you about my Facebook group...Mug rugs and Potholders swaps Oh My....
Well I've been busy again creating new events.  Here are some of the newest mug rugs I've made for some new events for the group and for an individual trade.

This one is for Deborah OKeefe, I hope she loves it.


This one is Grandma's Garden.


This one is High Fashion


and this one is Sewing Notions


Dresden Plate swap


Wish upon a star


Summer time camping fun


It's a hoot



and here is some other stuff I'm working on.  :)  This one is a swap by another member
called Grand Ole Flag.  I decided to do my husbands country flag. )


And the spooly birds is for me.  Will soon be a quilt, only 4 more appliques to complete and a little more embroidery.  Also there is another camper there for an individual swap.  so much fun!




Thursday, May 7, 2015

Customer's paint their benches

I've been thinking of redesigning my bench for what seems like years.  My old bench was designed after I found that weaving benches were extremely expensive to purchase.  Wow I sure could not afford $400 for a bench to sit and weave!  On the other hand weaving in a chair was not the best solution.  Since I already started to make some other weaving tools for the same reason (the cost) I decided to design and make myself a bench.  Well having a bench was great but I found that my design was just to much of a pain to adjust the height so I rarely did.  Well like I was telling you, I've been thinking about resigning my bench to make adjusting the seat quicker.  I looked at several benches and took the best of each one for my new design.  Here it is.  :)  I am so happy with this one.  I started selling this a few months ago on my Etsy Handywoman store.
I'm offering a large and a small version of this new design.



I've sold this bench a few times already so I finally ordered templates so I could easily make the hole and round the tops so that they will all be exactly the same.  I found a company that laser cuts acrylic sheets.  :) The expense was well worth it.
A couple ladies painted their new benches and sent me pictures.  I love seeing pictures of what people do with my weaving tools.  

This one was before I decided to round the tops of my benches.


And this customer rounded the tops for herself....and is the reason I now round the tops of my benches.  Best customer EVER!




Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Minion Pincushion

This is the cutest pincushion EVER.  You can get the free pattern here.
Here is mine, I made the small one.  I think you should make one too!