52 Pins in 52 Weeks - October Edition

I love Pinterest.  I love pinning recipes from my favorite food blogs or scrolling down the Everything section to see what everyone else has been pinning.  I love the idea of all the crafts and recipes and everything else right there at my fingertips.

Right now I have around 10,000 pins in 60 boards.  I do use Pinterest a pretty good bit but tend to stick to the boards regarding Dinner and let other delicious looking recipes or fun crafts languish unused and ignored.  This year I'm trying to get more use out of Pinterest so at the beginning of the year I created my 52 Pins in 52 Weeks Board as well as a Results Board to keep track of it.  I'll be posting my results the last Saturday of each month.

This month was fun!  I did some Halloween treats and also ended up having to get a little creative due to some incomplete links,  All in all I think it turned out pretty well.

Week 40:

Pin: Witch Hat Cookies from Explore. Dream. Discover

Reason Picked: Honestly, I thought I had made these before and remembered them as being fun and pretty easy.

Basic Idea:  Take a Fudge Stripe Cookie and turn it upside down.  Put an unwrapped Hershey Kiss over the center of the cookie and line with a thin ring of colored icing.  

The Results:  Pretty good!  I hit a snag with the actual link because it was more a how-to on the packaging and not the cookies themselves.  Also, it turns out I hadn't made these I'd made Pilgrim hats which are basically the same thing except a mini Reese's cup instead of a Hershey Kiss.  I bought the pre-made icing in the little tube and it was really easy to make it look good.  I also added a Halloween sprinkle to the icing "ribbon" and really liked how it looked.  I'm definitely planning on making these next year as even someone of my limited decorating experience can make these look really cute.  The only thing I'll do differently is make sure that I don't get a gel color as the translucent of the purple gel icing I got just made it look black and not stand out very much.  

Week 41:

Pin: Orange Dreamsicle Bread from Chef in Training

Reason Picked:  This is one of my favorite food blogs and Dreamsicles are a favorite of J's.

Basic Idea:  An orange flavored loaf cake with a ribbon of cream cheese and an orange vanilla icing.

The Results:  Disappointing.  I was a little worried going in as the recipe only featured a quarter cup of actual orange juice for 3 loaves but called for 3 teaspoons of orange extract in the cake and another teaspoon in the frosting.  Now I don't mind a little bit of orange extract here and there to bump up the flavor but there being so little orange juice and no zest concerned me.  Unfortunately, it turned out I was right to be concerned as the cake ended up tasting artificial.  I also didn't find that the cream cheese ribbon was very apparent and was disappointed in the texture of the frosting.  This is still one of my favorite food blogs but next time I think I'll trust my instincts a bit more.

Week 42:

Pin:  DIY Modge Podge Coasters from Hostess with the Mostess

Reason Picked:  I liked the idea of having themed coasters

Basic Idea:  Take a tile, slather it with Mod Podge, top with cut out paper of your choice.

The Results:  Super easy and also easy to customize.  I followed her instructions exactly and was really pleased how easily it all came together and how quick it is to do.  I'm more than a little craft-impaired but I was pleased with the results.  I used a confetti vellum paper on one tile and patterned scrapbook paper (not cardstock) on the other.  I will say the scrapbook paper was easier as the vellum got wrinkled looking.  Both pieces attached to the tile with no problem especially after I made sure and got a good seal around the edges.  She gives timelines for usage after completion (24 hours before any use, 30 days before something hot) which I appreciated.  My one concern is how well these will hold up over time as the paper isn't sealed or waterproofed in anyway. However, if the paper begins to look worn I think it'd be pretty easy to scrub off and do another one on the same tile.  Since I like the idea of changing these up seasonally and it's super quick this isn't a problem for me.

Week 43:

Pin:  Spooky Eye Pretzel Bark from Cookies and Cups

Reason Picked: It's so cute and seemed reasonably easy.

Basic Idea:  A Pretzel Bark coated with chocolate and topped with spooky eyes and other fun Halloween candies.

The Results:  SOOOOOOO sweet.  Like messed up my blood sugar for the rest of the day kind of sweet.  That being said I don't think this is a total loss.  It's so fun to make and so easy to customize and I love the basic idea of sweet and salty.  Seriously - chocolate covered pretzels are my favorite!  BUT I think the problem lies with the combination of the buttery brown sugar coating on the pretzels and the white chocolate topping.  I think the two together pushes it into way to sweet zone.  I really loved the bits I got that was just the pretzels, brown sugar and dark chocolate.  So next year I'm planning on making this again but leaving out the white chocolate entirely and going with a really good dark chocolate to cut down on the sugar overload.  I think it'd still be sweet enough to be kid friendly (especially when topped with spooky eyes, M&Ms, Halloween sprinkles and whatever else you can throw on it) but not so overwhelming for the rest of us.

This week I'm linking up with Weekend Cooking hosted by Beth Fish Reads