Bear Claws!!

You don’t  have to head to a gourmet bakeries to indulge in this sweet pastry. This recipe is very easy and you can fill it with whatever your taste buds are craving!!  Mine were craving apples :9

For this simple recipe the ingredients you will need are:

1 (1/4 oz) package active dry yeast                                                  
1/2 cup warm milk
2 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
1-1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour

Butter mixture:
2 tablespoon all purpose flour
3/4 cup cold butter , cut into tablespoon sizes pieces
 

1. In a large bowl mixing bowl , dissolve yeast in warm milk. (make sure its not hot!! It will kill the yeast if its to hot) Stir in the sugar, salt, and egg; mix well. Add the flour all at once, stirring until mixed. set aside.

2. For butter mixture, (for this part I place the butter in between two parchment paper so it wouldn’t stick to the counter plus its better to do this while the butter is cold) chop the the butter in to pieces get a rolling pin and beat the butter until you get a small odd looking rectangle.

3. Next  roll the dough out into a rectangle, place the butter 1 inch above bottom edge and fold the sides over and pinch edges to seal.  Turn the dough and lightly roll into a rectangle. Fold third of the rectangle  and lightly roll in to a rectangle; repeat this three more times.  Then refrigerate for 30 mins.

4. Meanwhile start the filling; chop two apples into small pieces and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon (taste to see if its sweet enough.) then strain it.

5. Roll out the dough into a 12inch square; cut the square into three strips. Spread the filling down the middle of each strip and fold in the sides length wise and pinch closes. Cut each strip into three pieces. Cut  four 1 inch down each strip to make the bear claw shape.

6.  Place on a greased baking sheet about an inch or two apart. Curve folded side slightly  to separate  stripes and allow  the filling to show. Cover and let rise in a warm place for an hour.

7. Brush with egg. Bake at 400 degrees for 10-14 minutes or until puffy and golden. Remove to pan to wire rack. To make glazes combine 3/4 cup powder sugar with 2 to 3 teaspoons of water; brush over warm rolls. cool. (I sadly didn’t have powder sugar so I had to go without it, there were still delicious though )

This post was written by:

KAT VERA - (view all posts by Kat)
Kat is a lead pastry chef. When she isn’t in the kitchen she’s traveling space and time with Doctor Who and solving mysteries with Sherlock. Email her at kat@mind-speaks.com

Save the Date!

A year ago when my guy proposed I had an idea that maybe….perhaps maybe – I could design my own save the dates and invitations to the wedding. After my hiatus from an office job I decided to start working at a lovely store called Paper Source in my city. Soon after I started to teach brides to be how to make inexpensive, creative invites using our paper and products. Oh boy its one thing to tell ladies that they can make their own invites but when I started to make mine I was lost!

I don’t really design much for myself, you see when you freelance you rarely get to the time to design for yourself!! I first had to come up with a color theme. I always tell brides to consider the season of their wedding and the location. We picked October and the reception is in a green house, garden wedding sparked the idea of using creams, blues and organic paper bag.

Since my wedding invitations will be more formal I decided that I should have fun with the Save the Dates. I printed the cover on paper bag, and in the inside I printed on soft white cover. The outside is perforated so the guest could tear it open. And I sewed it shut. Well – Kim did the sewing portion.

Photos 1-5 are of the save the date. Last photo is of my process of my wedding invitation.

Advice: If you do make your own invites, its helpful to have a supportive bridal party. I had lots of help constructing these, I love my bridesmaids and my man. <3

This post was written by:

MIJA VERA - (view all posts by Mija)
Mija has been a designer for the last 15 years. She is a paper obsessed fiend and loves working on new projects while listening to her kids and Maine Coon cat chatter around the house. You can email her at mija@mind-speaks.com

Knitted Bows

Not too sure why I haven’t updated about this project but better late than never.

So I’m always on the look out for easy knitting projects, still no luck on learning how to crochet, and awhile back I discovered this great tutorial on knitted bows. Easy to follow and the results are great. If you haven’t followed M-S on facebook you should because sometimes we post projects we are working on without posting about them. The great thing about this tutorial is that you can be a beginner knitter and still be able to create this. I use whatever size needles I have. The bigger the size the bigger the bow. I mostly use a size 8 or size 5.

These bows are great for anything really. I mostly use them for my hair, you can just slip them on a clip or a headband and that is that. No muss no fuss.  (odd phrase) I even made one for mys sister’s cat Tomo. As you can see from the picture he wasn’t very happy wearing it…but how cute does he look? Dogs might be a bit more accepting but I doubt it. You can also decorate a gift with these bows. I think it adds something special to the gift. And I’m crap when it comes to gift wrapping. So adding a bow usually helps me out during the holidays. But for some reason I never store those paper bows correctly and they always come out torn or squished. Now I can just slip this on a ribbon and call it a day.

You will get addicted after you make your first one. Fun and easy tutorial below.

This post was written by:

KIM VERA - (view all posts by Kim)
Kim works as a museum Copywriter and helps out with events from time to time. When she isn’t working or blogging, she is probably off taking a nap. Feel free to email her at kim@mind-speaks.com