20 Weeks

I am officially halfway through this pregnancy! It's so crazy to say that, I feel like I JUST found out! It's already gone by so fast. 

I am not really tired, but I have no energy if that makes sense. Making cookies seems impossible just about every day, but I have so many ideas that want to be created! The mr got me a sewing machine for Christmas so I plan to start on my lengthy list of crafts instead! 

I bought this picture frame over a year ago and painted it in a lovely mint green shade. It's been sitting in our spare room for ever! After finding Charlene's blog Becoming the Barrs, I decided I was going to use the frame to document baby's growth month to month. 

We're currently super excited to watch the NFC championship game today! GO HAWKS! 

I can't even remember how many of these cookies I made this week! Seattle is a great place to live and a great place to watch football!

So here is how I am doing this week, 

• How far along: 20 weeks on Sunday, already halfway done baking! 
• Baby is the size of…: a mango, a banana or an eggplant depending on which one of my pregnancy apps you believe
• Weight gain: 10 pounds
• Baby Bump: Oh yes! Been showing for several weeks now and my belly button is getting close to being an outie!! 
• Stretch Marks: None yet!
• Exercise: I try to get at least 35 minutes on the elliptical and low intensity stretches and weights several times a week.
• Cravings: Fresh fruit, loft house sugar cookies, girl scout cookies, waffles, starburst, dates, anything grapefruit...
• Mood: Happy and tired, but mostly HAPPY :D
• Sleep: A little more would be great, I am sleeping pretty well at night, but having CRAZY dreams and waking up sore. 
• Wedding Ring: On
• Baby Name?: We've got baby girl covered, but not for a boy...
• Gender Prediction: Girl
• Movement: I think I am feeling movement, several times a day and at night!
• Maternity Clothes: I found some great maternity clothes at Pink Blush and luckily scored some awesome deals on cyber Monday. 
• What I am looking forward too: Finding out who baby will be 
• What I miss: Sleeping through the night (on my back!)
• Favorite thing this week: A totally sweet mint and gold surprise from my awesome friend Natasha! It's so perfectly perfect and unexpected and I just can't wait for baby N to get here and enjoy it!

1. Bringing up Bebe, 2. Pinterest, it's really helping me keep everything organized these days! 3. Fig Newmans 4. Belly Butter, 5. Jessica Simpson maternity leggings, 6. Pink Blush Maternity sweater, 7. Origins Clear Improvement Charcoal Mask, 8. Yogi Mother to Be tea, my sister gave me some when I was visiting her and I love it!

I m seriously in love with the cocoa butter belly butter! It's AMAZINGLY smooth and rich and my skin is so soft!
I am getting really excited to see baby's room come together! I'll share my ideas soon :)

Samantha
Flour De Lis

Brownie Bottom Raspberry Coffee Cake

I could eat coffee cake every day, it's one of my most favorite things. It's delicious any time of day, and it's a perfect portable treat for office parties, brunches or just because you feel like baking and want to share it! I really love the crumb topping and soft texture of the cake. Extra points for fresh berries or a ribbon of cream! This recipe pairs the perfect texture of coffee cake, with a delicious crumb top, a ribbon cream cheese, fruit preserves and (that's right AND) a rich, decadent brownie bottom! What could be better?!

This coffee cake is super simple and absolutely delicious! You can start with any brownie recipe you like, or even grab a box mix if you really want to simplify! The other half is my favorite coffee cake recipe. It's so tasty and so versatile!



For the brownie bottom,

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tsp instant coffee powder
• 1/2 tsp salt

For the coffee cake,

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 cup sour cream or greek yogurt
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)
• 8 ounces of cream cheese, softened
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup raspberry jam

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°
2. For brownie base, combine butter, sugar and vanilla in mixer bowl. Add eggs and mix until well blended.
3. In separate bowl, combine flour, cocoa baking powder and salt. Gradually add dry mixture to wet mixture and beat well between each addition.
4. Spread brownie batter evenly into bottom of greased 9x12 pan or 18 muffin cups.
5. For coffee cake, combine flour and sugar in a medium bowl. Add butter and blend with a pastry cutter until mixture resembles course crumbs. 
6. Set 1 cup of crumb mixture aside. 
7. Add baking powder, baking soda to mixture and blend.
8. In a separate bowl mix sour cream, vanilla bean and 1 egg.
9. Add wet mixture to dry mixture and stir until just moistened.
10. Pour mixture on top of brownie base and spread evenly.
11. In another bowl, combine the cream cheese, vanilla extract, 1 egg and 1/3 cup sugar. Beat until smooth. Pour cream cheese mixture on top of cake batter. 
12. Spoon dollops of raspberry jam onto top and gently run the spoon through the batter to swirl in.
13. Sprinkle reserved crumb mixture generously on top of cake.
14. Bake for 40-45 minutes or about 20-25 minutes if making individual coffee cakes in muffin pan.
15. Coffee cake will be done when edges turn golden.

I hope you enjoy these tasty treats as much as I did! These pregnancy cravings are bringing together some pretty delicious recipes ;)

*Tips*

The coffee cake batter is very thick, especially if you use greek yogurt, so I added a 2-3 tsp of milk to make it spreadable. You want the crumb mixture for the coffee cake batter to be pretty fine, but you want the crumb topping to be pretty chunky so when you reserve 1 cup of the crump mixture for the topping, I like to add an addition 1 Tbsp of butter and cut it in to the mixture to make the crumbs larger for the topping. I like to use coconut oil to grease my cake pans, it doesn't add any coconut flavor and it's so easy to rub into the pan.

Samantha
Flour De Lis

Happy New Year

Christmas this year was so fast and furious! I don't think I managed to take a single picture (aside from Instagram) of the 1200+ cookies I made! Between cookies, family visiting, traveling, and the holiday joy I am not sure I managed to get a much of anything productive done, but I sure had a lot of fun this year!
If you follow along on Instagram, you have probably already seen most of the picture to follow but I am sharing them here just to recap the past few months!

These were the very last set of Christmas cookies I made this season! Simple and festive!

600 gingerbread cookies for REI's holiday employee party! They smelled absolutely amazing and might be the most delicious cookies ever! If you haven't tried Sugarbelle's gingerbread recipe, YOU MUST! I am not even kidding when I say they are incredible :D

We put up our tree, hung our stockings and decorated the house, and on Christmas morning we had cinnamon rolls! Pretty much the same things we do every year, but this year we added a little something new!

An extra stocking!! Baby Ngy will be joining us in June and I am so darn excited!

We rang in the New Year in downtown Seattle, and watched the fireworks at the space needle! I may or may not have taken a nap around 10pm… Growing a person is tiring! At least that's what I tell my husband when he asks what I did all day ;)

Here's where we are now:

• How far along: 17 weeks, 18 this Sunday
• Baby is the size of…: an onion
• Weight gain: 10 pounds
• Baby Bump: Oh yes!! Been showing for several weeks now!
• Stretch Marks: None yet!
• Cravings: Fresh fruit, strawberry popsicles, miso soup, guacamole, cheesecake, cinnamon rolls, water (seriously, I can't get enough water!)
• Mood: Happy and tired, but mostly HAPPY :D
• Sleep: A little restless, I am a back sleeper and that's not working! Plus I have to get up at least once to use the restroom.
• Wedding Ring: On
• Baby Name?: We've got baby girl covered, but not for a boy...
• Gender Prediction: Girl
• Movement: None, I am so anxious! I spend a good part of the day checking ;) 
• Maternity Clothes: Yes. For about 3 weeks now. I can still fit in most of my tops, but not jeans. Leggings and maternity leggings are my best friend!
• What I am looking forward too: Finding out who baby will be and feeling some movement
• What I miss: Sushi! 
• Favorite thing this week: Spending time with my sister and seeing her new baby! It got me really excited to meet mine :)

1. Avocados!

2. YOU Having a Baby, by Dr. OZ. I finished it and it was great! 

3. Leachco Snoogle Pregnancy Pillow 

4. Vitafusion Prenatal gummies. I tried several other prenatals and these are the only ones I can stomach

5. No Bake Energy Bites from Gimme Some Oven. So delish!!

6. Organic Cotton Headwrap from Sweet Kiddo Co  on etsy.

7. Strawberry popsicles! I may eat like 3 a day! 

This year, New Years came pretty quickly! Maybe it always does, but it seems like the holidays just flew by today! I am not even sure I had time to think about a resolution!!  But I hope you did! They are fun and sometimes they work out ;)

I'll try not to let baby Ngy take over the blog, but I hope you don't mind if I keep you all updated in between cookies and crafts!

Samantha
Flour De Lis

Happy Thanksgiving!

This year, I only made two sets of Thanksgiving cookies. These were the last set and they just shipped out today. 

The adorable little scarecrows are of course inspired by the amazing and generous Sugarbelle. Callye has done several great tutorials for different scarecrows over the years, I love these ones!

After I shipped these cookies off, I stopped at the grocery store to grab some milk and butter and maybe a jar of alfredo sauce (because it's delicious!). While I was standing in line, I glanced at the magazines and saw the December issue of Seattle Magazine. I spent about 20 minutes yesterday looking to see when it would hit store shelves and could not find an answer ( I guess google doesn't know everything). Anyway, I may have squealed a little out loud when I saw it and probably looked a little crazy buying more than one copy. But here is why, and I couldn't be more excited!

See those cookies?!? Those are cookies I made!! Seriously :) Just for this. And I totally forgot to take a single picture of them! So I'll have to recreate them to list them in my etsy shop!

I have so many things to be thankful for this year! 2013 has truly been an amazing year and there is still so much more to come!

If you are looking to order some cookies for your holiday parties or as gifts, you can find them in my  etsy shop or you can send me an email info@flourdeliscc.com

I hope everyone has a truly wonderful Thanksgiving this year!

Samantha
Flour De Lis

Easy and Kid Friendly Zombies

Hello cookie friends! I am making a quick guest appearance over on my friend Callye's blog!

Hop on over and take a look at these fun PG zombie cookies, they couldn't be easier to make. 

Samantha

Flour De Lis

Snickerdoodle Cut Out Cookies

Fall is just around the corner, it's a little difficult to tell today with the temperature soaring to almost 90 degrees here in Seattle!
But the signs are popping up everywhere else. I think a lot of us really get the first taste of fall when Starbucks reintroduces the pumpkin spice back into their lineup! I know I found myself digging in the back of the closet for my scarves and I even dropped my favorite jackets off to get dry cleaned the day after I saw the sign :)

Fall makes me think about warm clothes, warm drinks and warm spices! And it makes me think of that delicious smell of baking and spices filling the house. Apple pie, apple cider, warm gooey cinnamon rolls or maybe just a hot cup of spiced chai. All of those yummy things have at least one thing in common; cinnamon! For me, cinnamon, is the quintessential fall spice.

If you follow me on facebook, or instagram or really anywhere else, you already know that I am madly in love with baking, especially cookies! I also LOVE fall! Like, love, love fall. I have several boards dedicated to my love of all things fall. I am convinced there is nothing better than baking cookies on a beautiful fall day in the pacific northwest (with the football game on of course)!

This week, I got to thinking about how I never make drop cookies anymore. I am always so busy making my decorated cookies that I don't have much time for anything else, so I decided it would be fun to turn some of my favorite drop cookies into roll out cookies! And what could be better on a fall day than a nice snickerdoodle? You really can't go wrong, it's soft, warm, tender and most importantly has a mellow sweetness and a little cinnamon kick!

I honestly didn't try very hard with these cookies, I took my basic cookie recipe (I know, it needs to be updated desperately) and left out the vanilla bean and added a little cinnamon. I use Vietnamese cinnamon and I am telling you, if you have never tried it, it's cinnamon x10! Just opening the jar smells like walking into Cinnabon! It's the best cinnamon I've ever tried :)

Just look at that gorgeous dough, you can see those beautiful, warm flecks of cinnamon!

I loved the way the dough smelled as the sugar and butter and cinnamon blended together! Just heavenly!

The best part is that all the flavor of the cinnamon is baked right into the cookie and the extra little sprinkles of sugar and cinnamon just melt right into your mouth.

You can eat these beauties right out of the oven and they are already a perfect treat! But the little sprinkling of sugar does not interfere with decorating at all, so you can dress them up anyway you like!

I chose to go super easy with this batch and gave them a few quick details.

Aren't they gorgeous?!? And incredibly yummy!

If you're looking for a great new recipe for cut out cookies, that will be perfect for fall, look no further!

Snickerdoodle Cut Out Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter, cold
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp cinnamon (this is my favorite) 
• 3-3 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt

additional tsp cinnamon and 1/4 cup of sugar for dipping

Directions:

1. Cut cold butter into chunks, combine in mixer with sugar and cinnamon until fluffy (about 1 minute).
2. Add egg and vanilla extract, beat until fully incorporated.
3. Here, I like to scrape down the bowl and then just measure and scoop all the flour directly into the mixing bowl, add the salt and baking powder and mix on low speed until all the dry ingredients are incorporated. This will only take about a minute and the dough will form a ball on the beater and pull away from the sides of the bowl.
4. Roll dough out onto a lightly floured surface and use your favorite cutters to cut out shapes.
5. Roll the edges of the cookie in the sugar and cinnamon mixture and then lay the top side down into the mixture. 
6. Line your baking sheets with parchment for even baking (and easy cleanup) and place cookies onto sheets.
7. Place baking sheets into the freezer for about 10 minutes while the oven heats to 350 degrees.
8. Bake cookies for about 10-12 minutes depending on your oven.
9. Allow cookies to cool completely before decorating or just enough to eat without burning your mouth :)

If you're looking for some other fall perfect cut out cookie recipes try these:

Pumpkin Spice Roll Out Cookies, from Life's A Batch

Brown Sugar Roll Out Cookies, from SugarBelle

Spiced Brown Sugar Roll Out Cookies, from Annie's Eats

Happy fall and happy baking friends!


Samantha
Flour De Lis

Time to say THANK YOU!

Recently, my very good friend Melissa from The Baked Equation hit 3000 fans on facebook. In a magical twist of cookie fate, I hit 3000 on the same day! We decided the only thing to do under such circumstances was to have a big, fat, cookie-cakey giveaway! We rounded up some great gifts! All items that we love and asked some of our favorite companies to join in and share some more wonderful goodies!

When I first started this sweet baking journey, I found Bridget, of Bake at 350 and I knew that cookies and I were meant to be together forever!
I have always loved to bake and did plenty of that, but Bridget's blog was the inspiration I had been looking for without even knowing it! I made my very first cookies for Christmas 2010 and never stopped!
Melissa, was also inspired by Bridget when she stumbled upon the great tutorials at University of Cookie! And since Bridget's new book just hit the shelves, we couldn't think of a better gift to give our fans! We'll be sending the winners a personalized, autographed copy of Bridget's new book, Decorating Cookies!

But we didn't stop there! I know, you're thinking "you could have. That's enough for me!" Of course, you're right! This book is 160 pages of cookie awesomeness! But sometimes awesome things come with other awesome things!


If you read Bridget's blog, you probably already know who Teresa of Blooming on Bainbridge is. But you may not know that she is my sweet neighbor across the pond! And you may not know that she is opening her very own shop this coming spring Bags by Bloom! She makes incredibly adorable goodies and has offered up 2 medium size cosmetic bags for you!

If you makes cookies, you NEED cookie cutters!! So how about a $25 gift card to one of our very favorite cookie cutter companies, Coppergifts.com! Beth and Ray and the Coppergifts team make great quality cookie cutters in every designs you could want!

And you'll want to look super dapper when you show off all your cookie skills, so you'll need a new t-shirt from Captain Leisure Tees!

These guys are awesome! I have three of their shirts already and LOVE them!  You may not know that I sent them the idea for the "I bake, what's your superpower" tee! They did a great job of designing it and now everyone can get one! You can always add it to your Christmas wish list if you don't win!

You'll also receive a cute heart sugar cookie necklace from Sweet Cherry Shop!

Pretty much the most adorable cookie swag ever! I received one as a wedding gift from a very sweet cookie friend of mine! With matching earrings! Stevie is as sweet as pie and she's just a quick drive away! Yep! Right here in WA! I love having so many local crafty friends!

 And how about some cute custom labels from The Favor Box! These add such a wonderful touch to packaging! I received mine a few weeks ago, if you follow me on Instagram, you've already seen the awesomeness!

With a multitude of great designs and awesome colors, the only hard part will be choosing just one!

We all know that cookie making/cake decorating is a full time job! Right?! So you won't have time to be polishing the water marks on your coffee table! So a set of these adorable owl coasters from Janet Arizona should keep you trendy and save you some elbow grease!

Owls are just about the cutest things on the planet! And these cute coaster would also be a great stocking stuffer in you're feeling generous and decide to share your winnings!

I may have already mentioned 5 or 20 times that I live in Seattle and if you automatically associate rain with Seattle then you'll understand why I love, love, love this next gift! I received these custom monogramed rain boots from Crystal Faye! She just launched her new website with adorable home decor and very stylish gifts perfect for everyone!

Melissa sent me these gorgeous boots as a wedding gift! I died! And I cried. And then I wore them around the living room and then I vacuumed so the boy wouldn't know that I wore them in the house! And then I realized that they had never been worn, so I didn't need to vacuum to hide my guilt! So I wore them again, around the living room and maybe to bed...

If you live in a area that gets a lot of rain, or you just like the super fashionable look of riding boots meets rain boots, then you will swoon for these!

Finally, if you are working yourself to the bone, then maybe it's time for a little pampering! How about some awesome new hair care products from Dollyrockers Salon! If you have straight hair like me, you'll love their straight collection! You'll win a bottle of Primp & Prime, Straight Laced and Shine Struck! And if you're local to AZ, you can use these coupons for any salon service!

Just print them off and take them with you!

And Melissa and I both shop at World Market and always find something fun! So she picked up a little collection of goodies just for you!

It's a lot to take in! I know.

Melissa and I are both so thankful to be doing what we love and having so many of you go on this journey with us! Thank you for an amazing year so far!

This giveaway is going to run from Today, October 31st, 2012 until November 7th, 2012. That's one week for you to enter and send you friends so they can enter and share the loot with you if they win ;)

Melissa is doing the same giveway over on her blog! So if you are paying attention, that mean TWO lucky people will each win all of this great stuff! Yep! You get two chances to win! Enter here, and enter there! And share! The more the merrier right ;)

Each selection through the rafflecopter widget earns you an entry! Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Well we have a winner! Thank you all so much for entering and sharing and for continuing to follow us on this awesome journey!
Brenda W. is one winner! And has been contacted by email! Make sure you check out The Baked Equation's giveaway to see who the other winner is!
Congratulations Brenda!


Samantha
Flour De Lis