You Capture ~ Holiday Decór

~Christmas at my parent's means beauty, warmth, joy, connectedness,

memories, and a myriad of stockings awaiting to be stuffed.~

~ See more Captures here! ~

Lines

I discovered a fun little thing from my blog mentor mamarissa :)

called You Capture. This week we're capturing lines. I immediately

thought of the beloved peach tree I look at through the playroom

window every day. Only a few short months ago it bore the most amazing

peaches I've ever enjoyed. Good night, sweet tree. Slumber well this

winter. I'll feed you, prune you, and treat you well so when you wake

up, you'll have every opportunity to bare even more of your treats

than last year. :)

~ See more Captures here! ~

Today.

In between making several batches of fudge, going outside to water the chickens and get some fresh air was joyous.  This is what I saw.

Mint Fudge Brownies

These are so rich and horribly delicious, I can only justify making them once a year.  This is a plan-ahead recipe as it has to cool and chill twice.  I've made it with freshly milled spelt flour instead of all-purpose and rapadura instead of sugar in the cake layer and my family didn't notice the difference.  It could be because they're already used to the taste and texture of those ingredients, but it can be done. :)

Mint Fudge Brownies

Cake Layer

1 C flour

1 C sugar

1/2 C butter, softened

4 eggs

1 1/2 C (16 oz.) chocolate syrup

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease 13x9x2-in. pan.  In large bowl, combine flour, sugar, butter, eggs, & syrup; beat until smooth.  Pour into prepared pan, bake 25-30 minutes or until top springs back when lightly touched.  Cool completely in pan.  Spread mint cream center on cake; cover & chill.  Pour chocolate topping over chilled dessert. Cover.  Chill at least 1 hour before serving.

Mint Cream Center

2 C powdered sugar

1/2 C butter

1 Tablespoon water

3/4 teaspoon mint extract

3 drops green food color (Which I DON'T do.  No artificial substances in my food, thankyouverymuch.)

In a small bowl, combine all ingredients; beat until smooth.

Chocolate Topping

6 Tablespoons butter

1 C chocolate chips

In a small saucepan over very low heat, melt butter & chocolate chips.  Remove from heat.  Stir until smooth.

~Enjoy!~

~Browse more riddlelove recipes here.~

Wintery Accents

When I was trimming some dead branches off my blueberry bush, I thought they might make a fun, trees-in-the-snow, wintery type of decoration.  Then I saw a twitter post by MamaRissa where she decorated branches with snowflakes in a mason jar.  Perfect!  I learned how to cut snowflakes, stuffed some batting down a jar, and adorned the old, dead blueberry stems.  I thought about going with a colored ribbon, but liked the monotoned simplicity.  You can't see from the picture, but the ribbon has glittery white snowflakes on it.  I'm taking this to a party as a hostess gift.  So fun, cheap, and easy!