Dutch Baby Weekends

♥️Find Your Your Little Friday♥️

Nothing gets me thinking about weekends as a kid like a Dutch baby pancake. This was the ultimate treat that we only got to order on special occasions, mostly because they’re made to order and take thirty minutes to bake. Light, flavorful and crispy, it’s right up there as one of my favorite pancakes. I always loved ordering it fully loaded with fruit in the summer, berries being the best filler ever!

I have adopted the habit of making them on the weekends from time to time, sometimes splitting my recipe into to smaller cast iron pans for a cute whoa factor. Please enjoy discovering your #findyourlittlefriday moments. ♥️

Infredients;​

•3 eggs​

•1/2 cup flour ​

•3/4 cup whole milk, at room temperature​

•1 tbsp sugar​

•pinch of cinnamon ​

•4 tbsp of butter ​

•powdered sugar, fruit and lemon wedges for garnish

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

•combine the eggs, flour, milk, sugar and spice in the jar of blender, blend until smooth. you can mix by hand​, just make sure it’s smooth

•place the butter in a heavy 10-inch skillet/baking dish. place in the oven. you want the butter to melt but not burn, a little browning is always yummy.

•add the batter to the pan once it’s melted and bake in the oven for about 20 minutes. the pancake should be puffed and golden, then lower the temperature to 300 and bake for about five more minutes.​

•remove from the oven. Fill with fresh fruit, top with a dusting of powdered sugar and a squeeze of lemon! enjoy! 

Beauty In Our Eyes 👁

 ♥️Find Your Little Friday♥️

Over the past several years I have tried to perfect what I say when people ask me what I do for work/living. I have struggled and stumbled thru so many declarations that I started to dread the question. Finding that perfect phrase has taken me a bit of time and I am sure the wording will change many more times over the course of my life. Are you ready to hear it? My work primarily focuses on food and beauty.....yep, I'm completely confusing. With that established, I wanted to start incorporating more and more of my beauty life into my work. This isn't the first time I have talked about it here so it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise .

What makes something beautiful tends to lie in the eye of the beholder. As subjective as I would like to think beauty is, there are plenty of objective reasonings that many of us live by and consider to be the standard of beauty. My work in beauty revolves around skincare. I live by the idea that how you actually live your life, from what you put in your body to what/who you surround yourself with and how you participate in life, can affect your appearance and how you feel on the inside. Also, the golden rule for me here is absolutely, beauty comes from the inside. There is so much more to this idea and I am excited to dig deeper with you as I go.

I was inspired to start sharing more this week by something that happened just a few days ago. I spent several days with my young niece and was filled with joy. Something that came up during our time together was how much she hated her freckles, this alarmed me. I find them to be one of the most beautiful things about her physically, but she looks at them and sees imperfections speckled across the bridge of her nose and tops of her cheeks. I proceeded to show her photos of other women with similar freckles on their faces, included the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan. I even made a point of telling her that the Duchess's personal makeup artist was interviewed post the royal wedding and specifically talked about how they were deliberate with letting her freckles shine thru on her glorious big day. My niece quickly responded with, "Well, she is married to a prince so of course on her they have to be beautiful." All at once, my heart sank at her despair but I turned it around. We snapped a few quick photos of her illuminated face and all of its features. I told her how important it was to love yourself and that you have to remind others of their own beauty when they feel unattractive.

I then shared one of my all time favorite quotes was also loved and introduced to me by the great Audrey Hepburn.

“For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.

For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.

For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.

For beautiful hair, let a child run their fingers through it once a day.

For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone.

People, more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed. Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you will find one at the end of each of your arms.

As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself and the other for helping others.”

This quote was written by American humorist Sam Levenson. As you head into your weekend on the heels of the beginning of spring and this painful retrograde, spread love and beauty so that it becomes contagious in our lives. #FindYourLittleFriday ♥️

Aviation Cocktail 🍸

♥️Find Your Little Friday♥️

I am just going to keep the girl power going for ever and ever. In honor of Captain ​Marvel being released last week, the only drink that seemed appropriate to have (especially while viewing the film) was an Aviation cocktail. Lightly purple, lightly tart, a touch sweet but floral and completely satisfying. 

A little history on this classic cocktail. It was first created by Hugo Ensslin, the head bartender at the Hotel Wallick in New York City. It first appeared in his cocktail book Recipes for Mixed Drinks in 1916.​ Around 1930, fellow bartender Harry Craddock came out with ​his extremely popular Savoy Cocktail Book​. He omitted the crème de violette, citing the ingredient as hard to find. His tradition is something a lot of modern bartenders still follow. For me, it’s kind of all about the violette, so I’m with the former camp. Just don’t be heavy handed with the liqueur, the object is for the drink to look like lavender stained glass, not Barney the dinosaur. A classic cocktail that will round out anyone’s libation arsenal-cheers to the weekend!

• 2 ounces gin
• 3/4 ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/2 ounce maraschino liqueur (luxardo brand)
• 1 bar spoon(or tsp) crème de violette
• maraschino cherry, for garnish

Place a martini glass or coupe into the freezer to chill-a few minutes does the trick. Add all of the ingredients except for the garnish into a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake for about 20 seconds, then strain the mixture into your chilled glass. Garnish with the cherry 🍒   

I hope you enjoy making this drink and discovering more moments in your day to #FindYourLittleFriday ♥️

Aviation Photo Courtesy of Imbibe Magainze

Matcha Butter Cake 🍵🍰

​💚Find Your Little Friday💚

Ask and you shall receive. After an overwhelming response of inquiries about getting her recipe for her matcha butter cake, my lovely friend Adrien has shared the goods. Follow along below to recreate your own Little Friday moment at home. This is a perfect addition to an afternoon tea with friends, the end to a yummy meal or just when you want to make something creatively delicious. Also, the shade of this cake is a perfect addition to any St. Patty’s gathering for this month ahead. A lucky companion to bring along. 🍀 

 Matcha Butter Cake

makes 1 6×3 inch cake

ingredients:
for the cake:
3/4 cup butter, soft
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 tablespoon matcha powder
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

for decorating:
1/2 teaspoon matcha powder
1/4 cup powdered sugar
fruit and flowers, as desired

directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease and flour a 6×3 inch pan liberally.
Place butter in the bowl of a stand mixer with the sugar and salt and beat on high speed for 5 minutes.
Scrape the sides of the bowl and add in the eggs.
Beat on high for 5 more minutes.
Scrape the bowl and add the cream and vanilla extract; mix only until partially incorporated.
Add in the matcha, flour, and baking powder.
Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix to ensure homogeneity.
Scrape batter into prepared pan and smooth top.
Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the top is puffed and springy and a tester comes out clean.
Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes; invert onto a cooling rack and allow to cool completely.
To decorate, mix matcha and powdered sugar together very well.
Dust over the top of the cake and decorate with fresh fruit as desired

Enjoy baking this cake or anything else that helps you #findyourlittlefriday 💚