Summer Crafts and Cooking ~ Week 3

 

Sophie was away at camp and on a little road trip over the past week so we just made one delightful dessert before she left. These chocolate cookie peanut butter cup 'stacks' were rich but delicious!!

 

Ingredients:
1 package chocolate cookies (we used oreos)
12 small peanut butter cups
fondue chocolate

* twist open the cookies (use the frosted sides of two cookies as the 'sandwich')

* place one peanut butter cup in the frosting and top with the other side of the cookie.

* dip in melted fondue chocolate

* let chocolate sandwiches set in the fridge until after dinner!

 

She's back and we are ready to create again today!

 

Summer Crafts and Cooking ~ Week 2

This week's projects included making these fun rainbow pictures with melted crayons and chocolate cake 'ice cream' cupcakes. 



Crayon Rainbows
1 small art canvas
I box crayons
hairdryer
glue gun
glue sticks

Crayon Art  

 Fun and so easy! Line up the crayons along one edge of the canvas and then using a hot glue gun, glue each in place. Stand the canvas and heat crayons with the medium/high setting on your hair dryer.  We recommend covering your work surface with plastic or newspaper because the wax splattered a bit before we got the hang of melting the crayons :) Sophie hung hers in the Bunkie and mine is on my desk in my office - they are so colorful!!

The hotter setting melted the crayons much more quickly and resulted in this cool mixed rainbow effect.  Also, Sophie grouped her colors together so the brights really make a gorgeous impact!

 "Ice Cream Cone" Dessert

Baked 'Ice Cream' Cupcakes
1 chocolate cake mix
1 can frosting
cupcake papers
muffin pan
1 box ice cream cones

Line the muffin pan with the paper liners.  Mix up the cake mix as per the instructions on the box and pour batter into the little cups. Place cones right in the batter. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes...check with a clean wooden pick to be sure they are finished.  It took longer than we thought it would :)

 

 

Remove from the oven and let cool. Frost and decorate as desired.  They were a bit messy but yummy and everyone loved them for dessert!

 

 

We've got great plans for this week ... and yes, chocolate is involved.

happy summer

xo



Summer Crafts and Cooking - Week 1

Ingredients and Supplies
1 box of fondue chocolate
4 bananas
1 box of Smarties
strawberries
paper straws

When I was a kid, we spent summers at the cottage.  I went armed with more ideas, kits and supplies for summer projects than the local craft store had on the shelves.  My niece, Sophie, who spends her summers here at the lake as well, is the same. The only difference is the main component of anything she is interested in is primarily chocolate. She has been scouring Pinterest and Instagram for DIY projects for us to tackle throughout this summer. We've been selecting two at a time (can you guess which one she picked?) and this week's choices were chocolate covered bananas (hint: do NOT freeze these) and colorful glow jars.

Supplies
6 small canning jars
2 packages of glow sticks
glitter

They were both simple and fun to make!

Chocolate Covered Bananas - Melt the chocolate in the microwave following the instructions on the box. Insert the paper straw in the banana and swirl it around in the melted chocolate.  Decorate with candy or sprinkles. We set them on a plate and found placing them in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes cools them but doesn't make the bananas mushy - YUM! We finished off the chocolate on some fresh strawberries! Our second project (my choice because I thought if they worked out, they would make a cool summer table centerpiece) was these pretty little glow jars. Simply cut open the glow sticks (the package says they are non-toxic but we were careful not to spill them as they will stain your work surface) and pour the contents in the jar.  We used two in each jar for lots of color. There is a little glass tube inside the stick so be sure not to break it until you put the cap on the jar. Add glitter in the colors of your choice, cap the jar and give it a good shake.  Here is a little video so you can see what happens~ it's a hoot! I'm definitely going to make more for our next outdoor BBQ!

Have fun and I'll let you know about the next two creations!