Cadbury Creme Egg Brownies

With Easter comes a lot of leftover candy. One of my favorites? The Cadbury Creme Eggs. The originals. Not the caramel version. Not the mini version. The originals. I also love Cadbury because they don't feel the need to change their commercial to be all fancy. Who doesn't love other animals trying to pretend to be a bunny? NOBODY. That's who.

So what do you do when you have too much leftover candy and know that you'll either get sick from eating it all in one sitting, or let it sit on the counter for weeks until it's stale (there is never any normal in between with leftover candy...at least for me)? You use it for baking! It's been over a year since I discovered a recipe for brownies topped with Cadbury creme eggs, and I've been thinking about them ever since last Easter, so this year, I finally made them! 

Start with 3/4 cup flour, 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, and 1/4 tsp salt. Whisk together in a bowl and set aside. 

Then in your mixer, combine 3/4 cup light brown sugar, 3/4 cup sugar...

...with 1/2 a cup (or 1 stick) of melted butter (mmmm butter)...

...and 1 tablespoon vanilla. You'll mix this together for about three minutes on medium speed.

After everything is well combined, you'll add in two eggs, one a time. Make sure you use real eggs and not Cadbury eggs. It'll throw the whole recipe off. Mix those in for about 20 seconds after each addition.

Then you'll slowly mix in the dry ingredients until everything is just moistened. And then, because there won't be enough sugar as it is, fold in 1/2 a cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Then you'll spread the batter into a lightly greased 8x8 inch pan, and bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees.

While those are baking, you'll want to cut your Cadbury eggs up! You can do however many you want, and I probably went a little overboard with it. The one nice things about the Cadbury's is that they have that nice seam down the middle, so they are super easy to cut.

When the 25 minutes are up, pull the pan out, push the egg halves into the brownies, and then bake for another 5 minutes so they set.

LOOK AT ALL THAT SUGAR. I'm not entirely sure how I didn't gain 50 pounds just by staring at these. The brownies ended up being super fudgy and delicious, and you certainly don't need more than a small section to satisfy your sweet tooth craving. The Cadbury filling was really interesting after baking and then cooling because it solidified. It did make it easier to shove in my mouth though. It looked like my coworkers enjoyed them because I brought home an empty pan at the end of the day!

Spring (and Summer?) Wreath

I took my winter wreath down about a month or so ago because the form was starting to sag way too much, plus, considering how warm it's been here lately, it just seemed wrong having it up even though I hadn't made one for the spring yet. So my wreath hanger just kind of stayed lonely on my door for awhile...until today!

I pinned this wreath on Pinterest awhile ago because I just loved the vintagey vibe to it, and every time I looked at it on my board, it just made me happy. I finally got around to buying my supplies, and with a three day weekend, I knew I had the couple hours to devote to making it. Since it's already well into spring, this may end up being my wreath for both spring and summer. We'll see if I decide to be super productive in a few months because my other wreath idea will be very time consuming.

I got it in my head awhile ago, that I definitely wanted to keep with the stripe fabric like my inspiration wreath, but there was just something in my head screaming "Seersucker!!" I was a bit worried that I would have this idea and not be able to find the fabric I really wanted. I saw it online at Jo-Ann's, but I wasn't sure if I'd be able to find it in the actual store. Luckily, I walked in, and found my way straight to it! I picked up a yard of the lime green seersucker, which ended up being more than plenty of fabric (it's about 42" wide, so a yard was plenty). I then went over to the felt fabric sheets and choose some colors for my flowers. It was a little difficult because I didn't want something too bright or too dark, or too not coordinating. I decided to get a dark brown for the leaves, a tan for one of the flowers, and then use some of my leftover white felt for two of the other flowers. Unfortunately, they didn't have the right size straw wreath form, so I found my 18" wreath at Michaels. Overall, the project probably cost me about $10 and took about 2 hours (but part of that might have been my constant distraction of watching Friday Night Lights).

You can do whatever size wreath you want, I just like mine to be a bit bigger for my door, and 18" turned out to be the perfect size.

For the felt sheets, you'll need 1 for the color of your leaves, two for one flower, and four for the other two flowers (or 2 per flower if you do three different colors). You'll also need pins for securing everything to the wreath.

You'll want to cut your fabric into three inch wide strips. I wouldn't cut all of the fabric at first, just cut about 6 or 7 strips and then after putting some on your wreath, cut more as needed. This way, you'll have uncut extra fabric for some other project you may want to use it for. 

Using the pins, pin the end of the fabric on the back of the wreath, at a slight angle, and then start wrapping around the wreath! Just remember to pin each end as you go, overlap it, and pull the fabric tight so it fits snugly to the form. 

Once that's completed, it's time for the felt flowers! You can either freehand everything if you're a master with scissors, or use templates. For my leaves, I decided to do freehand since they're pretty straight forward. I was able to get all six leaves from one felt sheet. If you want more leaves, you'll probably need an extra sheet.

I decided to make myself a template for the flowers because otherwise my perfectionist self would have had to run out for a lot more felt. (This was about my third attempt to get a template I liked, so it's a good thing I decided to do that!) You'll want two big petals, two medium, and two small per flower.

Then you'll fold each petal in half, and then in half again, and pin to the wreath! 

I pinned the two big petals next to each other, and then the medium ones on the other side, and the small ones in the middle. For the two white flowers, since they were on the edge, I made sure the big petals were on the outside edges of the flower cluster. And then I fluffed them so they looked nice and pretty! You can do the flowers with more or less petals or other sizes, it's really all your preference, this is just how I chose to do mine. Then I pinned two leaves under each flower and the wreath was completed!

It definitely brightens up my door!

Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes

Ah spring time. If it wasn't for the thin layer of pollen on everything, I'd really be able to enjoy it. I'm loving the fact that it's finally warm out (not that this past winter was that cold anyways) and it stays light later...which is even more awesome now that I finally have some porch furniture and can sit outside and enjoy it.

Of course, with spring comes a whole new set of baking flavors. For me, fall is all about warm spices, winter is spices and peppermint, and spring and summer are about light fresh flavors...like lemon and blueberry! It's a fantastic combination of fruit, and perfect to put in...cupcakes! One of my best friends just moved back to town and had a housewarming party, so I decided to bake some lemon blueberry cupcakes with lemon cream cheese frosting for her since that recipe has been sitting on my Pinterest board for months just begging to be made.

This recipe made about 16 cupcakes, but it can be give or take a few depending on how much you fill up each cupcake wrapper. You'll want to have the oven at 350, and the pan lined with the liners so the process will be smoother.

Start with 3/4 cup regular all-purpose flour, 3/4 cup cake flour, 1.5 tsp baking powder, and 1/4 tsp salt mixed together in a bowl and set aside.

Then you'll combine 8 tbsp room-temperature butter, 3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar, and the zest of a whole lemon to be mixed together on medium speed for about 2 minutes...just until it's light and fluffy!

 Then add in two eggs (one at a time, and beat about 20 seconds after each addition), plus 1 tsp vanilla extract and 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice.

Once all those ingredients are mixed well together, you'll add in half of the dry ingredients and mix well for a couple minutes, then add 1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp milk, mix well, and then add the rest of the dry ingredients and mix until the batter is perfect.

Once the batter is done, in a separate bowl, toss about a cup of fresh blueberries with 2 tbsp flour (this helps them not sink in the cupcake batter as they bake), and then lightly fold the berries into the batter with a spatula.

 Fill the cupcake liners about 3/4 with batter and bake for about 22 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean!

Now for the frosting!!!! I do love a good cream cheese frosting, and with a lemon kick to it? So awesome.

You'll start by beating 8 oz of cream cheese and 5 tbsp room temperature butter for a few minutes until well nice and smooth.

 After you add in the zest from one lemon and a tbsp of fresh lemon juice, mix in 3 cups of confectioner's sugar, one at a time, until you have a good consistency for your frosting. You'll want to beat the frosting for a couple minutes at medium speed to make sure there are no sugar clusters in the frosting.

After frosting the cupcakes, I topped them off with some fresh blueberries!

These were seriously delicious. They were light, fresh, and the lemon flavoring wasn't too powerful, just enough of a sour kick to them. I think my favorite part of these cupcakes had to be when you got a bite with a blueberry (not the ones on top, the ones in the batter) and you get a rush of juiciness in your mouth. It was a refreshing flavor combo that's for sure, and I have a few other lemon-blueberry recipes that will definitely be made in the next couple months!

Peanut Butter Blossoms with Dark Chocolate Kisses

You know what I haven't done in awhile? Bake. I'm not sure why it's been so long, I think it's because I've had a lot of other things to deal with in the last month and just haven't thought about baking. But luckily I planned ahead, and I had all the ingredients for Peanut Butter Blossoms with Dark Chocolate Kisses in my pantry, ready for when I was ready to bake them. And that day was today!

Do you remember those cookies? They're such classics. I remember they used to sell them in travel packs of two and I would take them with my lunch. I would always eat the cookie around the kiss first before eating the chocolate. So good.

When I saw on Bakerella that she made these classic cookies, but with a dark chocolate twist, I knew that I needed to make those. I have a growing addiction to dark chocolate so I figured I couldn't go wrong with them. Plus, they're so simple to make! They're a good way to get back into the baking groove.

First, warm your oven to the classic 350 degrees after setting out a stick of butter to soften.

Then combine 1.5 cups flour, 3/4 tsp baking soda, and 1/2 tsp salt in a small bowl with a whisk. Set aside.

Then take the 1/2 cup (1 stick) of butter, and cream with 1 cup of peanut butter. One trick I learned (I assume via Pinterest, I can't remember, but that's a pretty safe bet), is that when working with sticky ingredients like peanut butter, take your measuring cup and run it under hot water for a few seconds. Then dump the water out, but don't dry the cup. Then scoop your ingredient (in this case, peanut butter) into the measuring cup to get the right amount, and then dump it into the mixing bowl. Because of the hot water, it won't stick to the cup and so you won't have to keep scraping to get all the peanut butter out and it'll be easier to clean!

You'll want to cream it for a few minutes on medium speed so they're fully incorporated. Then add in 1 cup sugar and mix until fluffy.

Next up is 1 egg and 2 tsps vanilla extract that you can add at the same time. Then just mix until it's well incorporated.

After that, you add in the flour mixture and mix until well combined!

The dough will be pretty stiff at this point, which is perfect! You'll want to take the dough and roll it into 1 inch balls. Then you'll roll them in granulated sugar before putting them on a parchment lined baking sheet. I was able to fit about 20 cookies on each sheet (for a total of 40 cookies). They don't spread out much, so you can fit plenty to a sheet.

After baking for about 9 minutes, take the cookies out of the oven, and immediately push a dark chocolate Hershey's kiss into the center of the cookie! I unwrapped all the chocolates while the cookies were baking so this was a quick step. 

The cookies were super soft and super tasty! Because I put the chocolate in the cookie while it was warm, it made the kisses really soft. The dark chocolate melds very well with the peanut butter and wasn't overpowering which sometimes dark chocolate can be. These are definitely on the list to make again!

Purse Snatcher

So, I really debated blogging about this...mostly because of the stupid thing I did to cause it. But, since part of this blog is about the adventures I have, this is certainly an adventure worth talking about. Let me start at the beginning.

I went to this large store (I won't name them, even though what happened wasn't their fault), in a town with a reputation for being ridiculously safe, in the middle of the day on a Sunday. I got a cart because I had a lot of stuff to pick up, and I decided to put my purse in the little seat part of the cart. As I went to the workout clothes/pajama area, I walked two feet away from my cart to grab something, not really thinking how absolutely stupid that was.

And then I hear it. I walk back to my cart, look in, confirm that my purse is now gone, and then look up. I didn't see her grab my purse, but I was easily able to pick out who it was because she was walking far too fast. I called out to her as I walk after her, hoping that maybe embarrassing her will get her to stop. All it did was make her take off in a dead sprint. I chase her through the girls clothes section, through the checkout lanes, to the doors (where I tripped, fell, but got up because I wanted my purse back), chased her out into the parking lot and through some cars, through multiple lanes of the lot. I finally caught up to the lady, who lucky for me was wearing a hooded sweatshirt. I grabbed her hood and pulled her back to stop her.

I yelled at her to give me my purse and she kept saying for me to give her my money. Then she said if I didn't give her money, she would get her gun and shoot me. Luckily I had some cash on me, so I told her that I would give her all my cash if she would just give me my purse. Finally she let me get the cash out, she took it from my hand, and took off to her car. After looking at her, I'm pretty sure that drugs and desperation played a huge part because she really wasn't interested in anything but my cash, and what I had really wasn't much. Someone called the police, and I told them everything. I doubt they'll catch her, and since she only got my cash, it's probably a low priority for them, but it was still pretty crazy.

So that's the story. Now here are a few things to learn from it:

• DON'T LEAVE YOUR PURSE IN YOUR CART. It's common sense, I know. And I had a momentary lapse in it. NEVER doing that again. It was very stupid of me.
• You really should NOT run after someone who steals from you. I got very lucky in my situation, and I only chased after her because it was pure instinct when she started running. I also really didn't think she would get out of the store and that someone would stop her. I wasn't trying to take a stand or anything and make a statement about not being a victim. After it all happened, I just thought, that was SO stupid. You really shouldn't chase these people because you never know what could happen. She could have legitimately had a gun, or a knife, or could have punched the mess out of me. 
• In line with this, don't praise me in front of your kids. I get that what I did was pretty awesome or whatever, but don't encourage the same action in your children!
• If you see someone chasing someone through the store, yelling "STOP HER SHE HAS MY PURSE," then you should consider helping them. If you're too far away from the situation, okay, there's nothing you can do. If you're an employee, I know you're trained not to do anything, so okay. But if you are someone who is in our path, who sees us running towards you, who hears me yelling, who I make eye contact with, DO SOMETHING. Don't just stand there looking like an idiot.
  
  I could probably count about five people I looked straight in the eye and tried to get them to help me, and they didn't. Yes, I get that kind of goes against what I said above, but it is a little absurd that everyone just stood by and did nothing, especially when they had carts they could have easily pushed into her. I probably could have forgiven that if someone had even come up to me out in the parking lot to see if I was okay after the woman took off. I sat on the curb for a good few minutes, and I know people in the parking lot, in that lane, saw me. Yet not one person even came up to me to see if I was okay. They just kept walking by like nothing happened. I just think it's one of those common decency things that clearly nobody at this store had that day.
  
  I did eventually have people ask me if I was okay and if I got my purse back once I was back in the store, and they clearly were people who were not in any real position to help, but it really didn't make up for it. I get that the area is really desensitized to crime, but it's one of those things where if I had seen it happen, and I was close to it, I don't know how I could have ignored it like that.
• If (and I hope that's never) this happens to you, immediately write down everything you can think of about the person and what happened. I know that's criminology 101, and I know in this situation nothing will probably come of it, but it's always something good to remember. 

It was definitely one of the craziest, stupidest, most badass things I have ever done (almost beating skydiving). And I have a nice bruise on my arm (from what part of that, I'm not sure) to show for it. So it definitely made my weekend a little fun! I probably wouldn't be laughing about it had it turned out differently, but I most definitely got very lucky. 

Thanks to Tyler for this fun meme! 

Vote Against Project

I typically don't like to get political on my blog; I save my opinions on those topics for other mediums. My blog has mostly been about what I bake, what I craft, what I read, and random fun things I do (even though I haven't been doing too much lately...I'm working on that). However, when North Carolina's legislature decided to put an amendment on the May 8th ballot to define marriage as one between a man and a woman, I became offended, and knew I needed to speak out in some way.

I am offended that my state would be so closed minded, offended by the discrimination, and offended that my state would be okay with limiting benefits to not only same-sex couples, but heterosexual domestic partnerships and civil unions as well.

I believe that every single person, no matter what, should have equal rights and privileges. Even though I personally plan to marry a man one day, I still strongly believe there is absolutely no reason everyone should not be allowed those same rights that me and my husband will automatically receive just because we're a man and a woman, and just because we chose to marry.

I don't understand why people think allowing these rights for everyone will damage the marriage they personally have, or that it will even affect their life in any way, to the point where they fight to deny and prevent these rights by putting this amendment in our constitution. I read a great quote the other day by someone after Prop 8 in California was ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that said "Giving someone else equal rights does not infringe or take away rights from you. It just makes it illegal to enforce your prejudice and hate. It's that simple."

This is not a partisan issue. It is a human rights issue, a fairness issue, an acceptance issue. What are we without equality, without acceptance, without openness? Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but I truly believe that your opinion shouldn't affect allowing others to have basic human rights some of us are or will be lucky enough to receive without question.

Some people out there do not have the full story. They do not understand the full implications of what this constitutional amendment will do if passed. It is not just about potentially disallowing same-sex marriages (which we should allow them, and hopefully will at some point). Here is a good link to the Coalition to Protect NC Families that will give you the full scope: http://www.protectncfamilies.org/issues.

With this amendment on the ballot, a friend of mine, Curtis Brown, decided to do something about it. He gathered a team together, and began the Vote Against Project.




The project is taking them all across North Carolina as they take pictures of North Carolinians and others who are against this amendment being added to our constitution.

When it comes to a vote like this, awareness is the most important thing, especially with it being on the ballot on May 8th, and not a typical high-turnout election time like November. Most people don't tend to show up for primaries it seems, but at least it won't just be about the Republican presidential candidate anymore, now that the governor's race is wide open here. This project is for bringing awareness about the amendment as well as providing a constant reminder of when the vote will occur so everyone can go out and Vote Against.

I went to the photo shoot on January 26th at Busy Bee in downtown Raleigh with my friend Katie. The thing I noticed the most was the complete happiness in the whole room. Everyone I encountered believes wholeheartedly in what they are doing and are so happy to see so many people agree with them and be willing to put up a fight against injustices. Everyone involved in the project, from the team to the volunteers, were just plain awesome and the reason I'm sure this project will be successful.

So if you haven't already, go to the Vote Against website: www.voteagainst.org. They have multiple tour dates, so find the one closest to you. Get your picture taken. Put it as your Facebook profile picture (which I did), your Twitter picture (which I have), your Google+ photo (done and done), and if you have a blog, blog about it (you're reading it!). And remember on May 8th to vote AGAINST the amendment. You'll be presented with the choice to choose "For" or "Against", so make sure you choose AGAINST.

Flying Through The Sky

I'm not really sure who decided jumping out of an airplane at 13,500 feet was a good idea. And I'm not sure what exactly possessed me to agree with them. Perhaps it's because skydiving is something I've always thought was cool but never really took an initiative to do, mostly because of cost and because it was just never something that presented itself to me in a realistic way that I'd be able to do it. And perhaps it's because a Groupon came along, which forced me to do it because if I was paying in advance I couldn't chicken out, and who doesn't like to just save money on things?

Did I mention I have a slight fear of falling? Yea, you're probably thinking I'm an idiot for going skydiving where I am literally FALLING THROUGH THE AIR. Hurdling towards earth. Relying on a piece of fabric to prevent me from going kersplat into the ground. I'm the kind of person who if I'm on the 3rd level of the RBC Center, if I look up at the ceiling, I get a hint of vertigo. I'm totally fine with heights, it's more the falling to my death thing that gets me. But in making sure I follow through on my resolution of "being an awesomer Carolyn" I bought the Groupon with zero fear.

In the weeks leading up to this, I didn't once start freaking out and try to figure a way out of it. I just kept getting more and more excited. This is one of those things that I surprisingly never questioned what I was doing. I used the power of imagination to help keep myself calm. I imagined myself flying through the air and just enjoying the scenery. Plus, since you have to jump tandem until you've done it enough times, you don't have much responsibility or things to freak out about, like jumping at the right time, or pulling the parachute, or landing correctly. So I went into this feeling just excited, not scared.

So many people told me I was crazy or they couldn't believe I was doing this. I'm glad none of those people were at the Triangle Skydiving Center in Louisburg, which is where we were jumping from. Everyone there just acted like skydiving was something you do every day...which for most of these people, they do do it almost every day. It helped to keep me calm. It also helped having my friend Kia there to do it with me.

After filling out our paperwork, we suited up (Skydive Suit Up! Five points if you get that), put on harnesses and got briefed on how we jump out of the plane and everything that will happen leading up to it.

Skydiving Tip Number One: Try to make sure you're in the first load. You won't have to wait around for a long time and worry about things getting delayed.

It took us about 12 or so minutes to get up to altitude for jumping. It was such a perfect day. Sunny and not a cloud in the sky. As we were climbing, we had these altimeters that told us what our altitude was. Our tandem jumpers pointed out when it was 6,000 feet. That would be the height we would pull our parachutes. I clearly have no concept of altitude because I felt that we were SUPER high for 6,000 feet in the air. The whole ride up, I just focused on my breathing, deep breathes in and out, in and out. I didn't really look out the window much, just in case it would start to freak me out.

Skydiving Tip Number Two: Breathe. Focus. Meditate. Pray if you want. It'll help keep your nerves calm even though your adrenaline is pumping.

Kia went first, which was fine by me, once we hit about 14,000 feet. I didn't want to watch her jump, just in case that would also freak me out. The only moment of a slight twinge of fear that I had was when I accidentally looked up and saw the back of Kia's tandem guy go out the plane. That made it 100% real. Everything up to that moment didn't bring the realisticness of the situation, but knowing that Kia just went out the plane made me realize I was about to do the same thing.

Twelve seconds later, we were standing at the door. We rocked forward, rocked back, and then rocked forward right out the plane.

I only closed my eyes for the initial jump, but kept them open the rest of the time to make sure I didn't miss a thing. After falling a little, we turned to the right, and then spun to the left. At about 10,000 feet, I threw up the Wolfpack sign because I felt I needed to do something cool.

Yes, I do look terrified. But my screaming was more of a gut reaction because hell, you are flying through the air and all you see is the ground below you. My mouth got super dry because it was freaking cold up there, but in general I stayed pretty warm thanks to the gloves, neck warmer, and helmet.

You really don't feel like you're falling. You just feel like you are flying, because you are! There was no stomach drop feeling, no terror. I felt like a bird, or a plane, or Superman! One thing my tandem guy told me was that until you reach about 2,000 feet above the ground, you don't notice the ground below you getting bigger or closer as you're falling, and that is awesome because it enhances the feeling that you're flying because you don't notice much of a difference.

After about only 60 seconds of free falling, we hit 6,000 feet and it was time to pull the parachute. Thank goodness my guy had to do it because I was not paying enough attention to realize we were already to that point. I couldn't believe how fast it went.

Skydiving Tip Number Three: Eat beforehand, and eat something bland. That way, you don't risk getting a little nauseous when the chute gets pulled. Luckily I thought about this last night and just had some Poptarts for breakfast.

And then we spent about 5 minutes or so just floating along towards the ground. I was able to look around and see downtown Raleigh and even Durham. The whole way down I kept thinking, I can't believe I did it. I just went skydiving. Who would have thunk it?? And then we landed very smoothly and alive most importantly haha.

My adrenaline was rushing for a good hour or two afterwards because it was pretty crazy. But it was one of the coolest things I have ever done. The only bummer out of the whole thing was that the battery for the camera for still photos my video guy had on his head died. But I had the video, which is totally okay because I was able to get stills from it. All I wanted was the proof I did it, in case I never do again.

As far as doing it again? I haven't decided. You'd think the fact that I was able to do it once, I could do it again, but after watching myself go out of the plane, I'm still not 100% sure I could do it again knowing what's actually going to happen. Give me a day or two and maybe I'll be able to give you a better answer on that question. Either way, you should at least do it once. It's such a thrill and it goes by so fast, you don't really realize what's going on until it's over.

I keep thinking all day about what I saw flying through the air. And every time I have to stop and say to myself, "Carolyn. Those are real memories. They're not guesses at what you're going to see. You really saw that!!"

I did edit part of Kia's and my videos together, so to see the awesomeness, here you go! It's not perfect because I didn't want to spend hours editing it, so it starts with Kia, and then kind of restarts with me, but we were on the same load. It was just easier to trim things that way. And yes, I do look slightly crazed and funny and weird, but whatevs! Doesn't bother me because I just jumped out of an airplane!