Winnie the Pooh: Honey Bar

 When Regan told me she wanted to do a Pooh themed nursery, I knew I wanted to go with the yellows and browns for the dessert portion of the shower.  I decided to go with a honey themed lay out. 

 I found some comb shaped baskets, I later gave her to store things from the changing table in. 

 Regan and her husband LOVE cheese and crackers, so I loaded up a tree cookie (think hundred acre woods) and some accompanying goodies, including honey butter, which I made using a cup of promise butter, mixed with a cup of honey.  Yum. 

 I got three different flavored honeys to try (lemon, comb (honey in it's purest form), and clover sticks.  Guest drizzled this on their crackers, and...

 ...rolls...

 I found this little bee tin (she admired months ago at an antique store), added some wooden letters, and a bear shaped jar (same antique store, I sprayed the top brown, and it's in the baby's room now as well, but at the shower it held some daisies and mums). 

 I also made some honey comb shaped cupcakes, and punched out a pooh short bread cookie, using a cookie cutter I bought on Ebay from someone in Japan....I was serious about this.  I had seen a cupcake like this online.  Again, I served these on tree cookies. 

 I also had the favors I made (honey scent bath products I blogged about here), and....

Little honey jars filled with bee themed pretzels I made, and blogged about here. 

Winnie the Pooh: Honey Bar Bee Pretzel Treats

I found these honey themed favor boxes here.  I was originally thinking about sending the invitations for my friend's Winnie the Pooh shower (in less than a month) inside these, but it was way too little. I went with a bear honey jar instead.  I then thought these would be a place to house the favors....but I went with these little bags of honey scent bath products instead.  So...I didn't want these to be a total waste, it was one of the first things I feel in love with.  I'm serving lunch (lots...and lots of details to come) in really cute little boxes, but-for dessert I'm having a honey bar with all sorts of crackers, cheese, flavored honey, and sweets.  I decided to fill these little guys with pretzels that look like bees for the bar.  I used the same basic concept I used for these lady bug pretzels. 

 After dipped pretzels in dark chocolate....I realized you can also buy pretzels that are dipped in chocolate, and this just saved me a lot of time....

 I melted up some yellow chocolate in a ziplock bag (30 seconds, it took about 1 minute-I squished the bag around between heating).  I snipped off one corner. 

 Stripes, place in fridge for a few minutes to harden, and then fill up these jars to go on the sweets table in just a few short weeks! 

Linking To:  Under the Table and Dreaming

Winnie the Pooh: Sweet as Honey Favors

 A few months ago I posted the invitations I made for my friend Regan's Pooh Themed Shower.  It's just a little over a month away, and I'm slowly progressing in the details.  A lot of things I'm setting to post the week after the shower (in early October), but I figured I would post the end, since I already posted the beginning!  The favor ideas have changed about ten times.  In fact, so many times that I have now mass quantities of two other items to incorporate some other way since I settled on this idea.  I found some honey scented bath goodies, and I decided to make a cute bag to house these in, and send the guest home with something useful.  To make the goody bags I cut up a cream colored sheet into strips. 

 I sewed up both sides, turned them right side out, and used pinking sheers across the top....just because I wanted to use pinking sheers...no other reason. 

 I took a bee stamp (that I also used on the invites) and stamped a bee on the corner of each bag. 

Stuff, tie, and I'm adding a cute place to house these for distribution and a message...stay tuned. 

Linking To:  Sunday Showcase Sundae Scoop CRAFT CraftOManiac Running With Glitter Tip Junkie Ladybug Blessings Cherished Bliss All Thingz Related Crafty Soiree

In Appreciation of Our Bus(zzzzz)y Administration Team: Lemon Honey Cupcakes

I saw this recipe for lemon-honey cupcakes with lemon-honey icing in a Woman's Day magazine about a month ago. I wasn't as interested in the flavor combo as I was in the Peanut M&M bumble bee flying around it's hive. I 'needed' to make these, and conveniently, we also needed to appreciate our administrative assistants this week b/c they:
A) Should be appreciated, and
B) The calendar said it was time, plus
C) They put up with people like me.
D) This brings us back to...
A) They should be appreciated.
They are 'busy bees." At least, that's the angle I went with to justify why this was the 'right project.'
I halved the recipe for the cupcakes (listed at the end of this post) that said it made 24 cupcakes. I was only making enough for three people (it made 11 b/c I like to fill 'em up real full). I made the full icing recipe b/c I like a lot of icing to work with on desserts. If I made the full cupcake recipe, I'd double the icing. I also used melted chocolate to make the bumble bee stripes and eyes instead of the suggested materials. I think I'll go with their suggestions next time b/c my ziplock/melted chocolate was a tad messy. Or was that my piping skills? Here's my first of about 16 bees. They did get slightly better, but nobody is going to be paying me to make these anytime soon, so I'm OK with imperfection, messy lines, etc. I also used some Reese's hard shell egg candies I had from Easter instead of PB M&Ms. I ate all the other colors of Reese's that weren't yellow. Eating the other colors was an important step. Don't forget it, or your cupcakes won't turn out.

Does this bee make my hand look fat? Or, maybe that's all the other colored Reese's I ate?
....back to the project...
Pick your favorite method of bee creation if you choose to make these, and then tell me what it is b/c I need help. Oh man, do I need help on so many levels.
Next up...'my' dozen cupcakes. My dozen=11.

Puffy. Puffy is good. They smelled good too. Smelly, puffy, goodness.
Next, I iced. I sprinkled. I 'bee-dazzled.' Sorry, it had to come out. I can't be held responsible for these sort of comments. It's just how God made me.

This has nothing to do with anything, but I did snag a cloche at the store when I was buying some supplies for a project I'm creating next week. I just wanted to know how it would look. I've seen these all over the web, and I was feeling left out...

I'm better now that I'm part of the 'in' crowd. I may use this cloche in every post from now on, because I can. Maybe not.
But really...
No project is complete (this month) without chalkboard paint. What does this have to do with anything? Nothing! It comes out black, and black is good for a bee project. That was my justification. I went to get trivets to hold the cupcakes, but they were a little pricey, so I slid next door to the Dollar Tree, and found these plates on 'sale' for 50 cents each. Did you know they have sales at the DOLLAR store? I didn't.

I sprayed them with chalkboard paint, b/c it's kinda my thing. They look better black, and now they can also double as a fun catch all tray you can write messages on...OR something to throw at me if I get too annoying in my request for help.




How did they taste? I don't like lemon desserts too much, but I gave the extra to my Mom, and she liked it. I took a small bite, everything tasted fresh, and lemony. This is a good/bad thing-depending on your taste preference!
Here is the full cupcake recipe. (Makes 24 if you aren't me. If you are me-makes 22. If you are me, we need to talk.)
INGREDIENTS
Cupcakes
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp each baking powder and baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup reduced-fat sour cream
1/4 cup milk
1 1/2 T grated lemon zest
4 T lemon juice
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup honey
1/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs
Lemon-Honey Frosting
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup honey
1 1/2 T grated lemon zest
4 cups confectioners’ sugar
7 t lemon juice
4-5 drops yellow food color
Bumblebee
Tootsie Roll (I used melted semi-sweet chocolate.)
Yellow peanut M&M
Brown food marker (I used melted semi-sweet chocolate.)
Clear spice drop candies
Small cookie cutter (I just molded the spice drops with my (clean) hands.)
PREPARATION
1. Cupcakes: Heat oven to 350°F. Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.
I just combined steps 2-4 and mixed them all at once with a spoon. They turned out fine, but if you like to be particular about your baking....follow their instructions...
2. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in medium bowl to blend. Whisk sour cream, milk, lemon zest and juice in a small bowl until well mixed.
3. Beat butter, honey and sugar in large bowl with an electric mixer 2 minutes until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until blended.
4. With mixer on low speed, beat in half the flour mixture, then the sour cream mixture. Beat in remaining flour mixture until just combined.
5. Spoon about 1/4 cup batter into each muffin cup. Bake 18 to 20 minutes until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
I also just combined all the frosting ingredients, and mixed with a mixer, but here are the magazine's instructions...
6. Frosting: Beat butter, honey, and lemon zest in large bowl with an electric mixer until creamed, about 2 minutes. On low speed, beat in confectioners’ sugar until blended. Beat in lemon juice and a few drops food color until mixture is fluffy and pale yellow.
7. Spoon into a large ziplock bag, snip off one corner and pipe honey comb on top. (I also had to 'snip' my corner a little bigger after my first attempt, my 'comb' had too many layers, and even doubling the recipe I was running short, but with a bigger cut, it seemed to go further with fewer 'layers', weird, but true.)
P.s. I should say at this point I thought this cupcake would be super duper cute inside a mason jar. I got some kitchen tongs out and slowly lowered one inside. I added some black and white dotted ribbon to the outside, and decorated the lid. It looked awful. My mason jars have failed me. :Frantically searching for a therapist who can conduct an emergency session.:
Linking To: 
Entertain Exchange


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