#kitchen with

[kosmerta]

[intheskywithdiamnds]

i go absolutely bonkers over

plants

weird looking tea cups, preferably an unusual size

lavender scented anything

PIES i literally just teared up at a picture of a blueberry pie on my tl

moss covered sculptures

red lipstick

tiddies

[princessspy566]

Strawberry Trifle

Ingredients:

Vanilla Pudding (store bought or homemade, recipe below)

Castella Cake (homemade or store bought, recipe below)

Strawberries

Whipped Cream (300 ml heavy cream, 40 g white granulated sugar)

Instructions

1. Create a layer of castella, then fill the sides with half cut strawberries. Then dice some strawberries, enough to create a whole new layer.

2. Top with the pudding, then add another layer of castella. You can add strawberries again but I didn’t.

3. Add your whipped cream and top with whole strawberries. Serve and enjoy!

Homemade Vanilla Pudding

2 1/2 cups half and half

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup lightly packed light brown sugar

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or pure vanilla extract 

2 1/2 tablespoons corn starch (I used 7 tsp of arrowroot flour)

Instructions

In a medium saucepan, bring 2 cups of half and half to a simmer (do not boil). Add both sugars and vanilla. Cook until the sugar is completely dissolved, stirring constantly to prevent scalding. Stir in the butter until melted. In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining half and half with the cornstarch. Slowly add the cornstarch mixture to the half and half whisking constantly. Continue cooking until the mixture has thickened and coats the back of a spoon. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap being sure the plastic wrap is touching the top of the pudding. (This will prevent a skin from forming.) Refrigerate for 2 hours or up to 24 hours.

Homemade Castella

6 large eggs (50 g each w/o shell) (at room temperature - very important!)

200 g sugar (1 cup)

200 g bread flour (1 ½ cup + 2 ½ Tbsp) (See Notes)

80 ml honey (⅓ cup; 5 Tbsp)

2 ½ Tbsp water (warm)

Honey Mixture for Brushing Castella

1 Tbsp honey

½ Tbsp water (warm)

INSTRUCTIONS

Gather all the ingredients.

Cut parchment paper to fit the baking pans (See the video for this process). https://youtu.be/a2vaM_aRHv4

Preheat oven to 320 ºF (160 ºC). (I always do this before I bake the dessert)

Sift the bread flour with the sifter or a fine-meshed strainer twice. Holding the handle with one hand and tapping the strainer gently with the other, the flour will gradually sift through the strainer.

Add 2 ½ Tbsp warm water to honey and whisk well.

Fit the mixer with the whisk attachment. Crack eggs into the bowl and vigorously whisk until combined.

Add the sugar

Beat the eggs and sugar on high speed (Speed 10) for 5 minutes.  The volume of the beaten eggs will increase about 4 times. The texture will be thick and the color will be pale yellow. When you stop the mixer and lift the whisk attachment, the mixture should fall in ribbons.

Add the honey mixture into the egg mixture and whisk on low speed (Speed 2) until combined, about 30 seconds.

Add the bread flour at three separate times: add 1/3 of the bread flour and whisk on low speed (Speed 2) for 15 seconds, then add more flour and whisk for 15 seconds. Add the last remaining portion and whisk until just combined for about 1 minute. Do not overmix.

Spray the loaf pans with oil and spread out evenly with pastry brush.

Put the parchment paper in the pans and make sure the paper sticks to the pans. If not, add oil and spread out evenly with a brush.

Pour the batter into the pans (about 80% full).

Using a skewer, draw a zigzag line to remove the air bubbles in the batter.

Level batter in each pan by holding pan 2-inches above counter dropping it flat onto counter. Do this several times to release air bubbles.

Bake at 320 ºF (160 ºC) in the middle rack of the oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until golden brown and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.

Mix 1 Tbsp honey and ½ Tbsp warm water in a bowl and apply the honey mixture on top of the cake with a pastry brush.

Place a sheet of plastic wrap on the counter top. Take out the cake from the pan to the plastic wrap, top facing down. Gently peel off parchment paper.

Immediately wrap the cake with plastic wrap to keep the moisture and while it's hot store in the refrigerator overnight (at least 12 hours), keeping the top side facing down. This will help the cake have more fine and moist texture.

To serve, slice off the sides of the cake with a sharp bread knife and cut into 3/4 to 1 inch thick slices (you get 7-8 slices total). It's better if you bring the cake to room temperature before serving.

[sondeleau-blog]

Made a Basil Cherry Cobbler with a Honeycomb Cookie Crust to bring in the blood moon. I wanted deep freshness and rich color seeping into my body. I also dyed my hair a deep, chocolate brown. New everything.

[barberwitch]

Witch Tip Wednesday 12.27.16

How to get comfortable with new herbs and spices

So, you bought the largest container of cloves to make pomanders for yule. You got a great deal on Angelica root. Someone gave you dried squash blossoms because “I was thinking of you”

What the hell next?

There are sooo many herbs and spices used in witchcraft it can be daunting trying to remember everything and what it does, so where to start?

Is it poisonous? Yes: don’t eat it

Is it edible? Yes: that’s what this post is for!

Find a recipe in your family, or even one that’s a local dish that uses that ingredient...follow the recipe...and eat it. It’s simple as that.

How did you prepare it? What did it taste like? Did the taste change when you cooked it? What about the smell? Think of personal experiences that the smell and taste or look evoke in you! Does alligator pepper smell like grandma’s lemon chicken? What does that make you feel like, and how can you incorporate it into your craft?

There are scary amounts of correspondence books out there, but being able to interact with an herb or spice without focusing on intent and blah blah Scott Cunningham blah gives you a subtle way to found out if you like working with it or not.

Once you know you like it, you can even try growing it and putting your intent into that. There’s rosemary...the There’s rosemary planted on the solstice, fertilized with eggshells that you used for spell work.

Anyway, keep it simple, experience them with all your senses.

🦇Cheers, Barberwitch

[tearosewater]

I went to a metaphysical market yesterday and got so many goodies.

[thegard3nwitch-blog]

 Lavender Sugar Scrub

I made this today, and its amazing! It smells fantastic, and it leaves my skin feeling so soft. So here’s what I did, so that you can do it too! Most witches will already have these ingredients on hand, and if you don’t, they’re all readily available at any grocery store:

Pure cane sugar

Coconut oil

Lavender buds

Lavender essential oil

So this is really simple and its not an exact science, which means you can customize it to whatever consistence or potency you want! Anyways...

Combine the sugar and the coconut oil (a little coconut oil goes a long way; even if the mixture seems too thick and hard, just moosh it around with a fork for a while and it’ll loosen up). Toss in some lavender buds and a few drops of essential oil, and TA-DA! You have yourself a sugar scrub! Its gentle on your skin, and it has the added bonus of lavender’s calming powers.

Now, the shelf life of these scrubs varies dramatically depending on the container, the temperature of where your keeping it, whether or not it gets wet, etc. But as a rule of thumb, I wouldn’t use it past 2 months, or once there is visible discoloration (because this might be mold). Small batches are probably the best idea!

Enjoy!