D.I.Y. CHRISTMAS TREE FLAGS

my new york friends often ask me if i'm bored here in north dakota.

it's a valid question. i would ask the same thing if i was in their position, watching a friend move from a city with three chinatowns to a place with one token chinese restaurant. 

the answer is: we don't get bored because we make our own fun.

every grocery store has a canning section and a beer brewing section, everyone has a grandma with stacks of vintage recipes scribbled on notecards that are fun to figure out, we have the time and the wood and the burly midwestern men (read: eggboys) to build anything we want, we have the space to garden and raise animals and dig random holes just because...

and when we see something crafty and cool in a store in new york but don't buy it because we've already spent all of our money on whiskey pickles and jalapeño jam, we make it.

there is a massive d.i.y. and crafting culture here. massive. and i can see why. we have, like, no stores, except for a michael's and a target and a hobby lobby. it's a bad thing for the anthropologie obsessor in me, but it's also kind of nice because i don't feel the pressure to buy other people's things and i can let your imagination run like a wild boar and it's cheap and it's fun.

i am assimilating.

i was so inspired by the wonderful be crafty workshop this weekend in fargo that yesterday i went with eggboy to target, and bought a tree but no ornaments: just some felt, burlap, pillow stuffing, and a hot glue gun. all night long we listened to old christmas songs while we glued together our ornaments in the shape of fortune cookies, sugar beets, shamu... 

our tree is so friggen cute.

so to start off what will surely be a bunch of d.i.y. posts, here is the easiest beyond easy thing to make ever. you probably don't even need directions. but humor me.

christmas tree flags

supplies

felt

sharp scissors 

a hot glue gun*

string

*i like using a hot glue gun because it dries so quickly. also, my first attempt at this was with fabric glue and it did not stick to the felt at all. 

clues

plug in your glue gun.

fold over about two inches of felt, and cut a triangle so that when you unfold it you have a diamond shape. 

glue the edges of one side of the diamond, and then fold it over your string and press down to seal.

repeat as many times as you want.

string on your tree or anywhere else!

(if you're real fancy you can stuff the flags with pillow stuffing!)

-yeh!

RECIPE: MOLASSES & WALNUT BUTTER COOKIE BARS (GLUTEN FREE + DAIRY FREE)

in the craft cave of my dreams, walls are lined with spools and spools of candy striped string. drawers house every rubber stamp ever made. and endless stacks of earthy colored felt sit artfully on a rustic wooden table. 

glitter glue runs from a faucet, and yarn from my pet alpaca gets dyed with berries from the tree out back.

maybe a kiln will double as a pizza oven.

sigh.

the things we think of in anticipation of a craft workshop.

a craft workshop! i haven't been to a craft workshop since grade school art class when lisa frank was my bff. but now i am anxiously testing recipes for some goodies that i'm making for the guests at the be crafty workshop in fargo this weekend.

i'm so excited. i'm going to smear elmer's glue all over my hands and then peel it off.

(no i'm not.)

i'm in the early stages of a molasses obsession. i can feel it. i've never before had such strong feelings about molasses, but the other day at the bakery i was making about 12,000,000 gingerbread boys and the molasses smell approached me in a way it never had before. i suddenly needed molasses in all corners of my life.

is this what growing up is?

and speaking of the bakery, one of the owners was in the newspaper this week with a great recipe for walnut butter! i made it. and then i mixed it with molasses and a few other things to produce really delightful, chewy cookies!

i think they'll be the perfect crafting snack.  

molasses & walnut butter cookie bars

makes six large bars

ingredients

1 c walnut butter

2 tb molasses

1/2 c brown sugar

1 large egg

1/4 c almond meal

a pinch of ground ginger

a pinch of salt

clues

preheat oven to 375.

line a baking sheet with parchment and set aside.

in a medium bowl, mix together the walnut butter, molasses, brown sugar, and egg.

in a small bowl, mix together remaining ingredients.

add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir to combine. (mixture should be a bit goopy, but manageable. if it's too moist, add a bit more almond flour.)

shape dough into bars, place them on your baking sheet, and bake for 18-20 minutes.

-yeh!

RECIPE: JAM + CHEESE THUMBPRINTS

sometimes my family does this thing at holiday parties where we unwrap a block of cream cheese, pour jam over it, and then serve it with crackers. it is the most shameless and stress-free and yummy appetizer. really any jam works, i have some family members that are prone to jalapeño jam, which adds a spicy element to the already sweet/savory situation. i prefer a simple berry jam. 

so you know what i occasionally say? if it ain't broke, fix it anyway. so i put this fun little appetizer into cookie form, which would be fit for both an appetizer table and a dessert table. once prepared, it requires no such assembly as spreading it onto a cracker... so you have more available hands for steadying the champagne glass... and you won't get sticky fingers.

dears, that is a win win win win winnnn situation.

jam + cheese thumbprints

makes about 20 cookies

ingredients

1 c all-purpose flour

1/3 c shredded parmesan cheese

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

4 oz cream cheese

1 stick unsalted butter

2 tb sugar

1 egg

1/2 c jam

clues

in a food processor, pulse together flour, parmesan cheese, salt, and baking powder, until the cheese has a mealy consistency. 

in a large bowl or stand mixer, cream together the cream cheese, butter, and sugar, until light and fluffy. beat in the egg, and then add the dry ingredients.

when the mixture becomes a dough, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate over night.

preheat oven to 375 and line a baking sheet with parchment.

roll dough into tablespoon sized balls (coat your hands in flour if the dough is sticky). poke finger or thumbprint divits into the balls and then fill with a bit of jam. an easy way to do this is by piping it out through a ziploc bag.

bake for 10-15 minutes, until the bottoms are slightly browned.

enjoy in your snazziest cocktail dress!

-yeh!

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this post was sponsored by betty crocker as part of her red hot holiday trends party. click here for some other holiday ideas from my awesome fellow betty bloggers!

BAKEWELL BARS

and so we returned from our november journey baring artisan jalapeño jams and whiskey pickles, the types of things one rarely finds around here. we watched christmas movies and ate nougats as our train home whizzed past corn fields that got snowier and snowier as we made our way up north.

our little town welcomed us back with inches of snow and christmas lights everywhere. it's basically the north pole up in these parts and i'm just waiting for the day that eggboy can grow a beard so i can put a red hat on him and call him st. nick. (did you know, his real name is nick??)

christmas sweets are on the menu this week (and every week this month), so today i'm bringing you bakewell bars, which i made for my girl betty crocker! they are a hybrid of one of my favorite desserts, the british bakewell tart, and the things that everyone around here seems to be in love with: bars. people here love their bars.

so enjoy these, but don't overdo it because i'm about to kick it into overdrive with the sweets.

-yeh!