30 Days of Handmade Gifts Blog Hop

                                                         

Minature Pies, Boxes and an Ornament

I have been super excited about this hop.  As a matter of fact I came up with too many ideas for it.  That is unusual for me since I am usually working on my project at midnight the day of the hop. This time the ideas just kept on coming.  After seeing all the great projects that have been shared so far I decided to go with a baked gift but I couldn't stop there... so you are also getting a cute little box to put your baked goods in and a little ornament.  :)

Let's get started with the pies. This recipe makes 24 super cute little pies which is enough for 4 gifts if you can stay out of them long enough!  I couldn't :)

Mini Pecan Pies

1/2 cup butter softened

3 oz cream cheese softened

1 cup of flour

1 egg

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 Tbsp. butter melted

2/3 cup coarsely chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 325*

To make the pastry beat the butter and cream cheese until smooth and then stir in the flour.  Press about a tsp. of pastry into a mini muffin pan forming a crust.

Now we will make the filling.  Combine egg, brown sugar, and melted butter.  Stir until smooth and then add the chopped pecans.  Use about a tsp. of filling per pastry cup. 

Now bake these little beauties for 25-30 minutes.  The crust will become golden and the filling will be puffy.  Let cool in pan briefly and then place on cooling rack.  See how easy that was! 

Oh my goodness!  Look at the ooey gooey yumminess.  I wish I could share how good this smells.  Well, I wish I could share some of these mini pies but most of them were consumed in the...  um... taste testing process... :)

Now for the perfect little pie holder box.

The directions for the box can be found here. For this box I used double sided paper and some little wired ribbon but then I got to thinking what about adding a little something extra?  So I created a ornament with paper rosettes for the box topper.

I used the same paper for the rosette that I used for the box.  I used (2) 12"x2" strips, (1) 12"x1" strip and a 1 1/4" circle with a little bit of wired ribbon for the hanger.  I hope you enjoy these projects and they inspire you.  Please leave a comment and let me know.  Tomorrow I will be sharing a variation of the mini pie.  Mini Brownie pies.  Oh yum!  Have a great day!  :)

How about some carrots?

Who doesn't love carrots?  Carrots are good and good for you.  Carrots taste great in lots of foods.  I think carrot cake is a wonderful thing.  Carrots are pretty much a staple around here but at some point you get carroted out!  You can only eat carrots for so long and then you get carrot overload... well maybe not if it's carrot cake with pineapple, pecans and cream cheese frosting but I digress.

I was looking for a new carrot idea today and my friend Donna had some great ideas.  After lots of searching I settled on carrot butter.  The family was a bit skeptical but they are completely sold after trying the finished product.  I can honestly say I will never look at carrots the same way again.

Yummy, wonderful, lovely goodness!