a gingerbread farm

here is what our farm looks like! for the most part. it's not totally to scale and it's actually a vision of what the future will look like because there is a hot tub and a few ponies romping around, and with the exception of the pink tractor, it is all edible! there are za'atar trees and matcha trees and heart-shaped jolly rancher windows... even a shameless gingerbread buick lesabre. 

i spent more hours that i'm willing to admit on this, and if i had a dollar for every time eggboy conveyed that i was a lunatic in the process, i'd have enough to buy a real pony, but it was 100% worth every second just to see the looks on all of the eggs' faces when they saw it. eggboy's lucky that i didn't set this in the middle of our living room and scatter coconut flakes all over the floor to represent the wheat fields and sugar beet fields. i will save that for next year.

i'd like it to be known that i did not throw one frustration-induced tantrum during this whole process. that's probably a given because technically i am a grown-up, but i've got an awful track record (which in past years has resulted in having to construct a house of cardboard and glue through a sea of tears), so i am very proud of myself for this. 

do you want to have a tantrum-free gingerbread house building experience? i have secrets for you over on food52! follow along this week with a series of three gingerbread house posts that cover: how to make rock hard walls that won't collapse, how to make icing that will dry like cement, and how to make fun little accessories like a blue raspberry hot tub and cylindrical pieces of gingerbread wall for a grain bin or silo. and you'll get a little tour of our farm in the process :)

go check it out!

-yeh!

no-bake hemp macaroons + a giveaway

first i forgot to write my vows until after the wedding was supposed to start, then the hair and makeup people never showed up, and then i felt deep strong regret about not having a top-your-own ramen bar. all in a night's sleep.

please, just let me show up to school pantsless?

*eye roll*

the good wedding news is that i'm heading back to chicago this weekend for my bachelorette party and i even bought pleather pants about it. or i think it's called vegan leather now? i haven't a clue what my bridesmaid's have planned for me, which makes me terrified and excited and hopeful that it will involve flagging down the guy who walks around chicago bars yelling tamale tamale while carrying a cooler filled with hot tamales. those tamales are *just* good and big enough to hold you over until you emerge from the bar and make it to a mexican place for an eggie torta and horchata.

but molly, shouldn't you only be eating salads?

i know, i know, my wedding diet starts tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow, etc. etc.

but hey, at least these macaroons are healthy-ish!!! and really really tasty. all of the eggs gobbled them up and that's miraculous because each egg has a drastically different list of foods they like and dislike, and i wasn't sure if hemp would be as new/scary to them as it was for me. luckily, it wasn't, and it turns out i'm late to the game! hemp seeds are nutty and almost buttery, not to mention mega healthy. their taste is subtle, but they add a nice soft texture to these little macaroons. 

consider these macaroons a quick and healthier and snowy-like option for all of your cookie swaps this season! yay!

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no-bake coconut hemp squares

makes 18

ingredients

2 c unsweetened shredded coconut

1/2 c cashew or almond meal

1/2 c hulled hemp seeds

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/4 c honey

1/2 c coconut oil

2 tsp vanilla extract

sanding sugar or sprinkles, optional

clues

combine all dry ingredients in a medium bowl.

in a saucepan over low heat or microwave, gently heat together honey and coconut oil until the coconut oil is fully melted. stir in vanilla.

stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.

line a loaf pan with a piece of parchment paper large enough so that wings hang off the sides. press the mixture firmly and evenly into the loaf pan (topping with sprinkles, if desired) and then freeze for 15 minutes. use the parchment wings to lift the mixture out of the pan and then use a sharp knife to cut squares. serve immediately and enjoy!

try not to have them out for a while in a warm temperature so that the coconut oil doesn't melt. store in the fridge.

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-yeh!

p.s. i'm giving away three 1.5 bags of hemp seeds from just hemp foods! this giveaway is open to all canadian and u.s. residents. to enter, leave a comment telling me either your favorite thing to do with hemp seeds or what you would want to do with them if you won! update: this giveaway is now closed. 

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thank you so much to just hemp foods for sponsoring this post! they introduced me to this wonderful new ingredient of hemp seeds!! follow them on Facebook and pinterest for recipes and other fun goodies.

gingerbread terrariums

my friday night began on a bench outside of the sears at the town mall. i ate a cold soft pretzel with honey mustard and worked on my computer while eggboy picked out some birthday tools with his family, because is there any better way to spend a friday night?

i should mention that our town mall is really great and carpeted and has an entire cowboy boot store.

we had plans to see the new hunger games after, and maybe eat a slice of pizza for pizza night, but by the time i could wind my way through the fleece pajama section to find the eggs, eggboy was on his way to the parking lot to revisit tommy the turkey and two kinds of stuffing in the worst way possible. nooooo!!!

three bottles of gatorade, a lot of episodes of the office, and a couple of saltines later, he is finally feeling well enough to fold laundry and stomach some toast. oy vey. poor guy. luckily, my weekend to-do list only consisted of finishing my gingerbread farm and making these gingerbread terrariums, so i was on hand to make tea and toast at a moment's notice. and ok, i might have watched a lot of the office too, which i consider a triumph because for the longest time i just didn't get that show and i felt like such a loser about it, but now i really like it. (does anyone care? no? ok.)

in other news, which probably should have come before news of barf: eggboy is 28!!!! and his dad, who also had a birthday this weekend, is, um, another year older!! we celebrated with a nice low-key brunch. biscuits, eggs, and bacon for us, a little plate of saltines for him. and then i made sarah's fantastic gingerbread for a cake because making a gingerbread farm really makes you crave gingerbread--actual gingerbread, not rock-hard gingerbread walls and roofs. i frosted one layer and slapped it on my new cake stand, and then crumbled up the other layer to use as the "dirt" in these edible terrariums!

i can't take any credit for the brilliant idea to make an edible terrarium. i have geordan to thank for that! the gingerbread and coconut "snow" put a wintery vibe on these, but feel free to use chocolate cake or any other dark cake for the dirt. and go wild with frosting flavors and other decorative goodies! part of me is really tempted to make my terrariums flood with a monsoon of milkshake or hot chocolate... 

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gingerbread terrariums

makes 8-10

ingredients + supplies

1/2 batch of this gingerbread (or other 1 layer 8-inch cake), cooled

8-10 16 oz jars

1 1/2 c frosting (vanilla for snow, chocolate for mud, lemon for... yellow snow?)

ground pretzels for gravel or shredded coconut for snow

tweezers

marzipan kneaded with green food coloring for succulents or christmas trees

rosemary or other herbs

cookie cutouts, mini candy canes, sprinkles, any other fun decor

clues

crumble up the cake into the bottom of the jars to form an even layer and pat it down gently. top with a blob of frosting (it's easiest to use a piping bag for this). top with a thin layer of coconut or ground pretzels, and then use tweezers to position your plants and other decorations. 

to make the marzipan succulents, roll out the marzipan and use small cookie cutters or a knife to cut out little ovals or hearts and then smoosh them together to form a little flower.

enjoy!

-yeh!

this post was done in collaboration with urban outfitters! the mugs in these photos are the 4040 locust antler mug and the classic mason jar mug. thanks so much, urban!!

day-after-thanksgiving rye steamed buns + friday links

ok so i have had just enough corn casserole to get me through the next few weeks until eggmama makes it again for christmas. how about you?? how was your thanksgiving?! do you own stock in stretchy pants yet? my thanksgiving was spent making lindsay lohan (oreo + peanut butter) pie and dancing around to on the town in front of the television as eggboy miraculously avoided a train wreck while making his first ever turkey (and stuffing and more stuffing and pie). i'm so proud of you, eggboy!!!

most of the things we ate were delicious: the corn casserole, tennessee's brussels sprouts, hawaii's mochi stuffing, and california's sourdough kale stuffing were my favorite. we are still deciding what we thought of the salty pluff mud pie. and i don't know if i had eaten too much by the time the grape salad was passed around, or if the sour creamy slimy appearance got to me... but i just couldn't do the grape salad. i'm sorry, grape salad, i wanted to like you. 

now it's snowing and i am back to working on my gingerbread village: i've assembled all of my buildings, i figured out how to make royal frosting icicles, and rudolf is taking a dip in a jolly rancher hot tub. mum kept asking where the sukkah was, but i opted for a huppa to be more relevant with the timing because holy eff, i am getting married in less than a month!!!!!!! ahh!!!

for my final west elm recipe, i have these day-after-thanksgiving rye steamed buns, which were inspired by the typical day-after-thanksgiving sandwich and milk bar's thanksgiving croissant! turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce, all cozy in a bun. so don't eat all of those leftovers yet, go proof some dough and steam some bao! get the recipe here.

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friday links!!

instant ramen with american cheese 

"Do you ever dream up what the Big Gay Ice Cream menu would have looked like in 1621?"

emoji search at nyt cooking is the best early christmas present ever.

i miss hong kong!

this linda lomelino interview!! i love her so much.

ok, thanksgiving is over, i know, but i still want to make these stuffing dinner rolls.

it is a loaf of bread, it is a bagel. it is a bagel bread loaf. omg.

michelle's asian style thanksgiving though!!

this gingerbread cake is gonna get made today.

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happy friday, everyone!!

-yeh!

p.s. i also did a fun little thanksgiving-y radio interview in the midst of my pie making, you can hear it here!