Baby Bird Baby Shower

Just for fun I thought I'd share these photos from a baby shower I threw recently. The mum-to-be knew that she was having a boy, so I chose a color scheme that celebrated that without being cheesy. After all, there's nothing wrong with baby blue---but doesn't the orange make it pop so nicely?

For favours I was lucky enough to acquire an original piece of artwork from the pen of one of my favourite artists, Miss Sarah Evans. We had planned a tea party theme, so Sarah custom designed this little birdy taking a dip in a teacup! The bags were super easy to assemble; I just printed up a bunch of stickers on Avery labels and then plastered them on everything from Hershey bars covered in paper to match our color scheme, to orange and blue M & M's, to homemade granola. 

And of course what's a tea party without tasty eats? There were scones with clotted cream, of course, and tiny finger sandwiches. I also did French macaroons---perfect if you want your food color-coordinated with your theme! But the yummiest treat, the one that everyone devoured, was Baci di Giulietta or 'Juliet's Kisses'. You can see them in the foreground of the above photo.

They're an Italian cookie that combines a crumbly, shortbread style cookie with a layer of chocolate frosting. I've modified the recipe to feature hazelnuts instead of almonds. Baci are a bit time consuming to prepare (it's the frosting sandwich part that's labour intensive) but other than that are foolproof. And sooooo melt-in-your-mouth decadent, it's worth every minute!

Baci di Giulietta
Adapted from La Dolce Vita by Michele Scicolone

For the cookies
2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 2/3 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup dutch-process cocoa powder, sifted
1/2 cup finely chopped toasted hazelnuts

For the filling
2 oz semisweet chocolate
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1/3 cup blanched hazelnuts, toasted and finely chopped

1. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Mix in vanilla extract, followed by flour, cocoa powder and hazelnuts. The dough will be quite dense and pretty easy to work with.

2. Measure the cookies into tiny balls- I like to use a mini ice cream scoop for this. They won't spread on the baking sheet so you can line them up closely together. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately seven to nine minutes. Do watch them carefully as they go from being "just right" to "overdone" quite quickly.

3. Let them cool before removing them from the baking sheet, otherwise they'll shatter when you pick them up. Once cool, remove them to a plate until ready to frost.

4. For the filling, melt the chocolate and the butter over low heat or in the microwave. Stir in the nuts. It will be quite runny so give it some time to firm up; you can put it in the fridge if you like. To frost, smear a generous blob on a cookie and then sandwich a second cookie on top. They'll look like tiny hamburgers...and taste like a dream!

Comments

[meghan]

Where were you when I was preggy???
Totally love the colour scheme!
I love blue & orange together.
Great ideas & the food...brillant!

[The City Sage]

Call me if you're up for another one, Meghan! Of course, we could just plan a birthday party for Cheeks instead...that way we can avoid the 9 month waiting period, and it will be a lot less painful for you too :)

[baby gifts]

Orange and blue combination is something really no no to me, but when I looked at yours, I keep telling myself, how does she do that? I love it!

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