Hooded baby (or child) Towel

First buy a standard size bath towel, matching hand towel and a piece of flannel.  Remove all tags and wash and dry if desired.  Cut the hand towel to a 10" length. Cut flannel to exact hand towel size.  Pin with right sides down and if it is a patterned flannel with the pattern facing the right way.

 Flipping over, sew along the seam so that the stitching is hid.  Leave a 1/2" on either end open!  (Note where the pen is pointing).

Remove the pins and fold in 1/2, with right sides together.

Pin along towel end and flannel end.  Sew 1/4" seam on towel side and 1/2" on flannel side.

 

Turn the hood right side out.

 Fold the large towel in half, wrong sides together and put a pin in the center.  Open up (wrong side up) and place the hood on top, pinning ONLY the flannel to the large towel, starting in the center (where the pin is and working towards the outside.

Fold the outside edges up and pin.

 

This is what it will look like prior to sewing.  

Flip over and sew along the current seam line.

Here is what it will look like- notice the hand towel is still not sewn!

Pin the hand towel to the large towel.

Flip over and sew right along the edge of the flannel fabric.

 

Tack the tip of the hood to the flannel with needle and thread.

 

Fold in thirds, roll up and tie with a ribbon- you're done!!!

 

Strawberry Short*cup*cakes!

It's springtime!!  For me that means strawberries....  I earned the nickname Strawberry Shortcake for a reason!

I love them!  But my favorite part of strawberries are my strawberry short-cupcakes!  We have a farm nearby that sells homemade baked goods.  They sell this amazing strawberry cobbler- I decided that I wanted to make my own. So I took a recipe that I had from my husband's great grandmother and modified it to make cupcakes! Cupcakes are the easiest way to serve strawberry shortcake. Here's the recipe- enjoy!

Strawberry Shortcupcakes (recipe follows post)

First we mix all our dry ingredients together with a large spoon.

 Next, add your stick of butter and cut it in. 

 Basically, take a knife and cut up the butter into smaller and smaller pieces until it looks a little something like this. Make sure you give it a good stir when you're done!

 Next we add the heavy cream and stir until combined.  The batter will be thick!

 

 Line your cupcake pan with papers and put about a 1/4 cup of batter in each one.  You should get about 15 cupcakes- unless you let your son eat the batter!  Hey, don't judge- there's no eggs in it!

Now, for the best part....

Give each cupcake a good sprinkle of the raw sugar- it gives the finished cake a nice crunchy, sweet top! Throw 'em in the oven and let's move on!

Now for the yummy part....mmmmm....strawberries!

Cut each strawberry into bite size pieces.

After you get all the berries cut up, you are going to need to sweeten them.  The amount of sugar you use will depend on the berries.  This time of year I use a good amount of sugar as the berries aren't that sweet.

Put a lid on it and let them sit. The longer you leave them, the juicer they will get!  Your cupcakes should be about done, so get them out of the oven and take them out of the pan.  If you let them cool in the pan, they will continue to cook.  They can be cooled completely or served warm.


Mmmm...check out these juicy berries!!

And now, for the finished product:

 Yummmmm!! This one was for my dear friend.  If it were mine, it would have almost an entire can of whipped cream on it. But we can discuss whip cream another day!  Enjoy your shortcupcakes!!  Feel free to share this recipe, but please be sure to link back to my page!

Recipe:

2 cups of flour
1/2 cup of sugar
2 tsp of baking powder
1 tsp of salt
1 stick of butter
1 1/4 cup of heavy cream
Sugar in the Raw

strawberries
additional 1/2 to 1 cup of sugar (depending on how sweet your berries are)
whip cream

Mix together all dry ingredients, cut in butter and stir in heavy cream.  Place in lined cupcake pan and sprinkle with raw sugar. Bake at 350 degrees for about 18 minutes.  Meanwhile cut up the strawberries, sprinkle with additional sugar and let sit for at least an hour. Layer your cupcakes up and enjoy!