Citrus and Cream

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, friends! We hope this day is full of love, light, and joy!

"Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom His favor rests." Luke 2:14

Love Candace and Stephanie

10 Lessons Learned from Throwing Another Party

Thirty minutes until party time, and this is the scene we have: Kitchen counters are covered end to end with wrappers, dirty dishes, and an even dusting of flour. Drinks aren't made, appetizers aren't finished, and my hair is one frizzy mess. I begin doing my usual dance, running from one thing to another like a stressed out cartoon character when Steph finally shakes me (figuratively, anyway) and tells me to go and fix my hair.

Somehow in the five minutes before 7:00, we pull it together. Guests arrive, and soon we have a drink in their hands and apps on their plates. People are laughing, chatting, and chowing--signs of a good party.

But there are lessons to be learned here, friends, lessons we should have already learned with all the events we have. Here are my notes, written mostly for myself, but available to all crazy party-throwers out there.

Serve what's tried and true. You can whip up all the gourmet food you want, but the fact remains that people love their simple comfort food. We had three appetizers and three desserts, and guess which two plates were licked clean by the end of the night? 7-Layer Bean Dip and Chocolate Chip Cookies. My mini chocolate cupcakes with vanilla-salted caramel buttercream? Hardly a one taken. Steph's beautiful individual mint cheesecakes? She packaged a dozen to bring back home. Even bruschetta and bacon-wrapped asparagus were jealous of the attention the dip was getting! Lesson learned: chocolate chips and tortilla chips never let you down.
Get your nails done professionally a few days before. You say it every time: "I'll just paint them myself the night before the party." You never do, and you never will. And then you'll be kicking yourself when your dress and make-up look great but your nails say that you've been living in the woods for awhile. It will undoubtedly be the best $15 you spend all week.
Enlist a few friends to contribute a dish to the menu. You may not believe this, but sometimes it's polite to allow others to help. For some people, showing up to a party empty-handed is just the worst. You know which friends love cooking and baking...let them in on the fun.
Read the recipe--the entire recipe, beginning to end--and prepare your ingredients before you begin cooking. How many times must you go through the pain of realizing you're out of eggs or low on powdered sugar before this one sinks in?
You only have one oven. You seem to forget this each time you host a dinner. One oven.
Prep everything you possibly can the day before. Chop veggies, mince garlic, sift flour, organize ingredients, set the music, swap tea-lights, make frosting, hang garland. You want to enjoy the party just as much as your guests, don't you? Keep the day-of as easy as possible by doing 95% the night before.
Stay away from Pinterest at least 72 hours before the party.
Be nice to the people who live with you. Your party will be over in an evening, but you'll see them the next morning.
Life happens, and sometimes people have to cancel. They may even forget. Accept it. They still love you even if they don't make it to your party.
Remember: You are throwing a party for others, not for yourself. If you keep this in mind, then it becomes less about you (and trying to be perfect!) and more about creating a wonderful night for the people you love. Lighten up, have a cookie, and enjoy the evening!

A few favorites from our Favorite Things Party!

We're trying to take these lessons to heart in the next year! We know you may one or two to add, so please share!

Pay your bills! {$400 cash giveaway!}

This time of the year can be a little overwhelming and stressful, especially on your bank account! Between the holidays and the new year (and about 20 birthdays in our families!), things just add up. That’s where we come in! We have teamed up with 24 other bloggers who are hosting a HUGE $400 CASH Giveaway! You heard right, cold hard CASH. We want to help you out with all those holiday bills, and all you have to do is enter below. One of our lucky readers will win $400 cash to help out with those bills and start the new year right!

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DIY Peppermint Hot Chocolate Party Favors

'Tis the season for parties and celebrations! Since it is far too easy to get carried away with decorations and gourmet desserts (thank you, Pinterest), we can't help but love simple party favors. There's something sweet about handing your guests a little "thank you for coming" as they head home. After all, they're the ones who make the party!

At our recent Favorite Things Party, we gave each of our friends a spice jar filled with homemade hot cocoa mix, complete with a candy cane stir stick. It was a fun and festive way to bid them goodnight and Merry Christmas! Best of all, it was little more than stirring and assembling.

Peppermint Hot Chocolate in a Spice Jar

What You Need

Spice Jars - We found these at World Market for about 50 cents a piece, thanks to a couple of coupons! They are usually $1 a piece.
Candy Canes with the "hook" broken off, so they become stir sticks
Tags - We printed them on pearly paper then used a paper puncher
Ribbon to tie
Ghiradelli Baking Cocoa (or any good quality cocoa)
Sugar
Salt

What You Do

Mix the chocolate, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. We used this recipe from Martha Stewart, and it was perfect, enough to fill about 20 jars. Fill each spice jar almost to the top.
Using scissors, cut/break the "hook" off the candy cane.
Secure the candy cane stick to the jar with a ribbon.
Tie on your tag.
Each jar makes a large cup of extra chocolatey hot cocoa. Empty jar into 1.5 cups of heated milk. Yum!

We love that this favor can be adjusted to fit all kinds of parties and seasons! You could do a spiced chai for Thanksgiving or a cinnamon hot chocolate for Valentine's Day. Any other ideas for changing up this sweet little thing?

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10 Tips for Making the Perfect Pie Crust

It's the season for sweets and treats, and one of our favorites in my family is a rich chocolate pudding pie. The secret to the pie is the pie crust: if it fails, the pie just doesn't taste the same. Pie crust can be a difficult task to take on, especially if you've never made one or don't make them often. But please put down the Pillsbury pre-made dough and try it with these tips––homemade pie crust is ALWAYS better, and you might just surprise yourself! The more you make it, the easier it gets.

We aren't going to give a recipe since most have a favorite or can find one easily. What we are going to give you are tips that have always worked well for us. We aren't pie-crust experts by any means, but we bake a lot of them...and we eat even more!

First, the basics: Pie crust involves mixing a fat (butter, lard, or shortening––I use butter flavored Crisco sticks), flour, and water. Most of the time there will be salt, maybe sugar, perhaps an egg. I've even seen vodka and vinegar used as the liquid! But we are going to focus on tips for a traditional crust.

1. Use all-purpose flour since it has the perfect amount of protein. Pastry flour doesn't have enough, so your crust will fall apart. Bread flour has too much, so your crust will be hard.

2. If you're using a metal mixing bowl or utensils, put them in the freezer. Having everything as cold as possible ensures your fat (butter, shortening, lard) won't melt, which will help keep your crust together.

3. When cutting your fat into flour use a food processor or stand mixer (with the dough blade) or a pastry cutter. These items will help you cut your fat into flour with the most consistency.

4. Make sure your water is ICE cold for the same reason as in tip #2. If your fat melts too much you lose the flakiness of your pie crust.

5. Don't play with it or overwork it! It's probably one of the hardest things to learn when making crust. When adding your water to you fat/flour mixture DO NOT play with it. Do not try and mold it together or knead it––it isn't bread and doesn't need it. Use a spatula or your hand to gently fold your ice cold water into your fat/flour mixture. Mechanical action (like kneading or stiring) will promote gluten formation, which we don't want. We want to form the gluten by adding water to the flour. Too much gluten formation means a tough crust and could also cause your crust to shrink.

6. Chill it for 30 minutes before rolling it out completely. Place it in a large ziploc bag, roll it into a patty and put it in the fridge. This will allow your fat to harden up a bit, which causes those flaky fat pockets when baking. This will also give your gluten time to form.

7. When bringing it back out of the chill, roll it as much as possible in the ziploc bag then cut the bag away. You can also use floured parchment. I use paper towels to roll between. I don't know why it works, but it does.

8. Roll your dough over your rolling pin and roll it back out over your plate. It is a similar method the covering a cake with fondant.

9. Unless you have an excessive amount of dough over the edges of your crust, don't cut if off, just fold it under. Make sure the edge of your crust is flush with the edge of your pie plate. Then pinch it to make it pretty. It doesn't have to look perfect. In fact, it probably never will, and we don't care as long as it tastes good!

10. If you're baking a crust that will get a filling and be placed back in the oven (blind-baking), place a sheet of parchment in your crust and place beans at the bottom to keep your crust from rising up too much. You can also poke with a fork to help steam escape. Be careful though––too many holes could cause you filling to leak though.

There you have it! 10 tips for a perfect crust! If you have dough leftover here is one more tip:
Roll it out, cut some slabs of butter on it, cover it in cinnamon sugar, and roll it up. Place it on a pie dish and back in the oven until golden brown. Then you have this fantastic cinnamon roll with your delicious flaky crust...one of my favorite parts of making pie crust!