A little bit of baking

January 24, 2013

I must be in a baking mood because I want to make just about every tasty thing I see. Over the weekend I made the most delicious meyer lemon bars and most recently I made Pepparkakar. It’s a traditional Swedish spiced Christmas cookie. I got a recipe from a good friend while I was visiting in Austin and forgot about it until recently. I searched it out and discovered I had all I needed (almost-I’ll explain) and got started.

The recipe is as follows:

-1 cup butter                                 -I TBSP water

-1 1/2 cups sugar                          -3 1/4 cups flour

-1 egg                                           -2 tsp baking soda

-1 1/2 TBSP grated orange peel   -2 tsp cinnamon

-2 TBSP molasses                        -1 tsp ginger

-1/2 tsp ground cloves

-I only made a half recipe and to deal with splitting 1 egg I weighed it, beat it, and weighed out half (it worked really well).

-The recipe calls for dark corn syrup but I only had molasses on hand so I used that instead.

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-First I creamed the butter and sugar, then I added the egg, orange peel, water, and molasses.DSC_1237

-Next I sifted the flour with the baking soda and all 3 spices. I slowly added the flour mixture to the wet ingredients until combined.DSC_1240

-Then I chilled the dough in the fridge for a few hours.DSC_1243

-I rolled out the dough very thinly and used my smallest biscuit cutter to make rounds (you can make any shape you like). I then used my spatula to lift them from the counter to the cookie sheet. I set the oven at 350 F and when they were slightly browned I took them out. I didn’t set a timer but I would guess it took around 7 minutes.DSC_1246

-The Pepparkakar ready to eat! I bet they would go so well with a cup of tea! DSC_1248

Ah taxes!

January 23, 2013

Last week I attended an event put on by Etsy and Outright here in Seattle. It was called the Lowdown on Taxes for Etsy Sellers. I RSVP’d as soon as I found out because there were some things I needed to know about this year’s taxes and also about the taxes for this new state I’m living in! Is this topic fun or what?

I was going to meet up with a fellow blogger but plans fall through (this being sick season) so I dragged Walker along. This was good and bad. He was nice support getting there (I’m not always completely comfortable walking at night alone) but I think he held me back a bit from networking (basically at all). Ok I guess I should say I held me back by using him as an excuse to not talk to anyone.

Here I am in a room full of Etsy admins and Etsy sellers and I just sit in the back of the room and quietly take notes and leave before any interactions could/were made. I wasn’t a complete failure though. I did chat with one of the ladies putting on the event and I got an accountant referral (something I was hoping for) and I chatted with another woman at the bus stop and on the bus going home. Maybe I’m just better one on one. A room full of new people can be intimidating for me, maybe for a lot of people.

So maybe I didn’t meet many new people but I did walk away with a bit more knowledge about both my federal taxes and state taxes. After about a week of feeling completely overwhelmed by it all the fog is starting to clear and things are making sense. Finally! I knew it would happen which is why I gave myself some time away from them before jumping back in. I had clarity today and I’m feeling good! Taxes I’m ready to take you on!

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A bakery treat

January 22, 2013

I had some business downtown the other day and on my way I noticed these delicious treats in the window. On my way home I decided to splurge. I chose a coconut cream pie bite and a peanut butter chocolate cupcake. I patiently waited until I was home to indulge. I was especially happy that one of my treats came in the super cute and tiny boxes. They were both equally delicious. I hope I have business downtown again soon!

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