March Signature Cookie - Lemon, Raspberry and White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Missing this month’s Signature Cookie?! Don’t fret, we’ve got the recipe for you! Whip up a batch of these delightful cookies and bake your worries away.

Lemon, Raspberry and White Chocolate Chip Cookies-

3/4 C. Butter, melted
1/2 C. Sugar
1 C. Brown sugar
2 tsp. Vanilla
2 Eggs
Zest of 2 lemons
Juice of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Baking soda
2 tsp. Corn starch
2 C. Plus 2 Tbl. Flour
*1 oz. freeze dried raspberries, slightly crushed
1 1/2 C. White chocolate chips

 Preheat oven to 350. Cream together butter, sugar, brown sugar and vanilla. Once combined, add in eggs, lemon zest and juice. Finally add the remaining dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Refrigerate dough 30 minutes. Once chilled, scoop even size portions onto a line baking sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until slightly golden around edges. Allow to cool slightly and enjoy!

*Jess likes the ones from Trader Joes.

A special THANK YOU to Jess Wood, our favorite sugar magician, for sharing her recipe with us!

February Signature Cookie - Cookies & Cream

February’s Signature Cookie - Cookies & Cream - was a big hit this past month!

Thankfully, Jess Wood, our favorite sugar magician, was kind enough to share her recipe with us!

Ingredients:

1 C. Butter
1 1/2 C. Sugar
1 Egg
1 1/2 tsp. Vanilla
1/2 tsp. Baking powder
1 tsp. Baking soda
2 3/4 C. Flour
12 Oreos, smashed to pieces
1 C. White chocolate chips
1 C. Semi-sweet chocolate chips

Baking Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream together butter and sugar until light. Add in egg and vanilla. Stir in remaining ingredients just until all flour is incorporated. Scoop even mounds of dough into a lined baking sheet and bake 8-10 minutes or until slightly golden around edges.

Make Your Guest Room Feel Like Home

The best thing about the holidays isn’t the delicious food or days off work, it’s the friends and family you get to spend time with. 

With only a few weeks until the holidays, it’s time to start thinking about your guest room and how you can help your guests feel welcome and comfortable. Think about what makes you feel comfortable when you go to a hotel and try to make your guest room feel the same way.

Start with the Bedding: 

If there is an area where you are planning to splurge a little, let it be on bedding. Nothing is more important that a good night’s sleep. You want your guests to feel like they are sleeping on a cloud. Add an extra plush mattress cover and soft sheets to the top of your list. Fluffy duvets are always a plus, too. Leave some extra blankets in an easily accessible place in case your guests like to be extra cozy. 

In addition to extra blankets, be sure to supply extra linens like towels and washcloths in the room or show your guests where those are located, should they need extra.

Leave them space to unpack: 

Depending on how long your guests are staying, be sure to make extra room for their items, whether that is leaving room in the closet or emptying a drawer in the dresser. 

Care Package: 

When you are traveling, nothing is worse than forgetting something you need. Create a little welcome basket for your guests in case they forget something important. 

Include items such as:

• Toiletries: travel size shampoo, body wash, hair spray, toothpaste

• Advil

• Bottled Water and snacks

• Phone chargers & an extension cord

Extra touches: 

If you really want the room to feel festive, add a few seasonal items to make them feel at home for the holidays. You could also include seasonal magazines to help them get into the holiday spirit. 

You might also consider printing out your wi-fi password and leaving it in the room so guests can connect. Unless you’d rather have an old fashioned phone-free holiday. 

If your guests aren’t familiar with the area, you also might consider leaving some local brochures of points of interest in the area (like our Lovely Boutiques & Tasty Eateries Flier).

Don’t forget the bathroom: 

Add a flower arrangement for a nice simple decorative touch. Or, find a fun holiday scented hand soap and lotion.

We hope you enjoy your time with family and friends this holiday season! 

Stay Cozy!

Holiday Napkin Folding Ideas

When you want to keep your tablescape simple, yet still impress your guests, napkins can add a special touch at each place setting. Plus, napkins can add color to your dining room and provide the perfect place for name cards or utensils.

Before the day of your holiday party, stock up on square cloth napkins or interchange napkins and dish towels if you want to add a seasonal touch. Clean, ironed linens will fold more crisply as well. 

Gather Together - for this look, we used multiple plates and two napkins for a layered look.

Napkin Ring & Natural Elements - incorporating natural elements not only keeps the cost down but it also increases the festive feel of the table. For this setting we used a feather and nestled it in the napkin. We love the addition of the blue plate that says “Gather together and give thanks.”

Basic Envelope Fold - This setting features the easy-to-do envelope fold which keeps all your silverware together in one spot. The crabapple stem adds a pop of color to an otherwise neutral plate. 

Bowtie: The bowtie fold always looks nice and gives you a good spot to put a placecard. It’s also another simple fold to complete. 

Festive Dish Towel Wrap: Sometimes, instead of using a traditional napkin, it’s more fun to use a seasonal dish towel like we show here. We also used a charger plate for this setting to add some texture to the setting. 

Creating Home for the Holidays

After the rush of summer, spending time outside, traveling and long days, the crisp air of fall sets in. As the days get shorter, we start to spend more time inside and re-focus on our homes, transitioning them with the season. With the holidays upon us, it is the best time to do a little nesting. The holidays also mean welcoming family and friends over for entertaining. So how do you become the hostess with the mostess? Small details can go a long way to make a lasting impression with your guests. Here are a few simple steps to ensure this is the most wonderful time of the year.

Plan Ahead: Anyone else feel like time is flying by? Quite frankly, I don’t even know how it’s November. I know for me, if I sit down and write a list, it helps me from getting overwhelmed when time gets short. Even though small details make a big impact, sometimes it can still be time consuming to accomplish these tasks. In your planning phase, figure out what the holidays are going to look like for you if you are the host house. Determine the type of party you are going to have. Will it be an intimate gathering with small plates or a large fun-filled feast?

Craft the Menu: Once you determine the size of the party, you can hone in on planning. The menu should be at the forefront of that planning because let’s face it…people love food! For small gatherings, a charcuterie board is always a hit (plus it’s filling too).

For larger parties, be sure to have a couple appetizers for guests to snack on while the main course is cooking. The main meal should consist of entrée, sides, salad and dessert. Just because you are hosting doesn’t mean you have to do all of the cooking. Ask your guests to bring their favorite holiday dish. This can be a fun way to try new things and boost your recipe repertoire.

Setting the stage: Dressing is not just for the turkey… it is for your home and table too.  I have talked about it before but table setting is one of my favorite things to do. When dressing up your table a couple of basic principles apply: 

1. Textiles: Decide what textiles you are going to use. Will you be using a tablecloth, runner, placemats or a combination? I like to layer for added dimension and visual interest.  When selecting napkins, sometimes I interchange napkins and dish towels in my tablescapes because it’s easier to find seasonal dish towels than napkins.  

2. Plates:  Layering isn't limited to textiles, you can also layer your plates by using a charger, your dinner plate, and if the menu is formal, a salad plate or bowl as well.  For clarification, a charger plate is a base plate that goes underneath your dinner plate. It's simply for decoration. 

 Tip: If you don't have enough plates, mix two different coordinating sets to increase your quantity.  

4. Silverware: Sometimes silverware is tricky...but here are the basic rules. Forks are on the left and knives on the right with the blade facing the plate.  If you are having salad and plan on using a fork specifically for the course, the salad fork goes to the left of the dinner fork. 

Tip: When you sit down to dinner and there is more silverware than you know what to do with, remember to work from the outside in. 

5. Décor: Whether it's a centerpiece or place setting decor, incorporating natural elements not only keeps the cost down but it also increases the festive feel of the table.   For Thanksgiving, I love to use feathers, pumpkins and dried leaves, just to give you a few ideas. Making an impact doesn't have to be expensive. You can do a lot with natural elements and also by re-inventing items you have in your existing collection. The most important part of the day is simply being together and making memories for years to come.

Last but not least, enjoy the day! Be present, put the phone away. If you need something to get the conversation started, I love having a Table Topics game close by. It not only gets everyone talking but you never know what you might learn about someone you think you know.  If you would like to pickup the game locally, pop on over to Polka Dots in the heart of Downtown Gardnerville.

Stop by Eddy Street Vintage Market November 15-17 to pick up all of your entertaining needs.