Sweet and Savory Brie Puff Pastry Cake Recipe

So you guys may remember seeing this photo, from my post about my grandma's birthday dinner:

Were you curious about what I was carrying in my hands?

Well you should be, because what you see in that picture above is the yummiest, tastiest, easiest appetizer I have ever encountered

So here is my recipe for my Brie Puff Pastry

If you love cheese, flaky crust, and sweet and savory flavors, then this recipe is for you

Your Ingredients:

♥ A roll of Brie: I used the extra jumbo 1kg roll, but you can use whatever size you want, depending on how many people you are serving, and how many other appetizers you are planning to have. This giant 1kg roll is enough to serve 10 people

♥ 6 Tenderflake Patty Shells: You can try to make your own pastry dough, but that would seriously up the difficulty of this recipe

♥ *6 Heaping Spoonfulls of Brown Sugar: Yum

♥ *A couple handfuls of Pecans: Optional

♥ *A couple handfuls of Cranberries: Optional

*This recipe is very flexible... These are just guidelines

Add as much or as little as you think suits your tastes

**I have also neglected to include that you need cooking oil, flour, and all that basic stuff... because I'm assuming that if you're in a kitchen then you'll have these ingredients

This dish can be prepared earlier in the day, and then baked right before your guests arrive... But if you are planning on serving it right away, then preheat your oven to 365 degrees C  

Take off any rings you may be wearing...

Here is mine all covered in dough and flour :)

Alright, first gather up the Tender Flake, some flour (I used whole wheat), and a rolling pin

Cover your rolling pin and work station in flour to make everything less sticky

Start rolling out three of the six pastry shells, doing your best to keep their circular shape

If your circle looks more like a blob, no worries! It doesn't have to be perfect

Roll out the dough nice and thin (about 1mm in thickness I believe)
Your circle should be about 14 inches in diameter
Again, it doesn't have to be perfect, just do your best

Now you can leave the dough alone for a moment, and turn your attention to your cheese
Grab a big knife, and cut your cheese in half... it's a lot harder than you think it is

Once your done with that, place one cheese half onto the center of your your dough circle

Dump your six heaping spoonfuls of brown sugar onto your cheese... it seems like a lot, but you'll need a generous amount covering the entire surface of the cheese

Once you are done with the sugar, evenly distribute your cranberries 

Throw on some pecans, or whatever you want really

Put the two cheese half's back together

Start wrapping the cheese in the dough

 Press down the pieces of dough as you go to flatten them

The dough shouldn't be large enough to cover the entire roll of cheese, so don't worry if yours doesn't

Do your best not to rip the pastry dough

Woah, too many hands there
Press down the dough all around the cheese, just to get it all secure

Put the cheese aside and grab the other three pastry shells
Roll it out just like the last three rolls
Once you are done, place the cheese in the center of the dough (like the last time), except this time, place the ugly, doughless part of the cheese facing down
Now you can wrap the dough around the cheese again

Once you finish wrapping the dough around the cheese, flip it over to its nice smooth side and sprinkle some olive oil ontop

Use a pastry brush (aka. a basting brush) to cover the entire surface of the roll in a thin layer of oil

I prepared mine pretty early in the day, so I covered my brie in some saran wrap and left it in the fridge

About 1 hour before your guests arrive, place it in the oven for 20-25 minutes at 365 degrees C
That way it has time to cool off, but it's still warm and gooey

Puff!

And there you go

Alrighty, I have to go now
I am writing this in class at 11:30am, I haven't had breakfast yet, and this post is making my mouth water!!
I think my stomach is eating itself so I'll have to say goodbye for today!
Have a super weekend, happy Easter, I'll see you guys next week

♥ Olivia

Soft Sparkle

Hello world

Who else is stoked about the long weekend? I know I am

A whole four days off to enjoy the lovely spring sunshine :)

So since I'm in a sunny mood today, this weeks Featured Nail Polish of the Week is Soft Sparkle by NYX
It's a fun, pretty, spring-y colour, perfect for Easter

This polish does require a base colour, because it's actually rather clear

The colour I'm using above is called A Date to Knight by essie... I think

I'm not sure how many more of these Featured Nail Polish of the Week's I can do... I'm starting to run out of shades!

Anyways, hope you guys have an excellent weekend, my lovely lovely readers

Hope to see you guys tomorrow

♥ Olivia

DIY Pearl Bobby Pins

You know those times when you're patrolin' the town, and hitting up the shops, and you see something you want to buy but then you think "wait... I could totally make that!"?

Well I know that feeling all too well

I think I'm like most girls in that I love stuff, but I hate spending money ;)

Well that's where this tutorial comes from

I see these cute bobby pins everywhere, and I'm always so tempted to buy them, but I know it would just be a waste of money

Materials:

♥ Bobby Pins

♥ Pearl Beads

♥ Thin Pliable Wire

Cut a small piece of wire (about 4 inches in length)

Fold it in half and leave the folded end curved (you may want to fold it around your finger), as shown in the picture

Stick the wire through the closed end of your bobby pin. Then, weave the bottom end of said wire through the top end (as shown in the top left photo)

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, look up the lark's head knot here

Once you have a lark's head knot, pull it as tight as you can (as shown in the top right photo)

You can even wrap some of the wire around the knot a few times, just to get it extra secure 

Stick the two wires through your pearl bead

For some reason this photo is focused on my finger print...

Secure down the loose wires by wrapping them around the bobby pin a few times, and cutting off the leftover wire

And viola!

Your lovely inexpensive pearl bobby pins. They're girly, classy, and they stay in better than regular bobby pins because the wire creates friction between the pin and your hair (was friction the right word to use there? I never payed attention in physics...)

Have an excellent day. I'm not even gonna go into how beautiful the weather is here, because I could go on about it forever... but hopefully spring has sprung your town

♥ Olivia

Helloooo guys! Today's Tuesday's Tune is in honor of spring

May I present Float by Pacific Air 

This one puts me in the mood for sunshine and pretty dresses
Hope you guys have yourselves a lovely day! I for one have had a super day so far (not to braggg)
Easter is getting closer which means chocolate and pretty pastel colours

Anyways, peace out

♥ Olivia

DIY Gold Stripe Vase

Happy happy Monday! Best day of the week (pause NAT!)

Hope you guys had a relaxing weekend, I know I did

I went out dancing Friday night, visited Science World in downtown Vancouver (best date ever), and celebrated my grandma's birthday

My grams is a classy lady. She loves china, cooking, baking, and gardening. So Alexander (the boyfriend) and I both chipped in and got her some lovely flowers to decorate her birthday dinner table (pictured above)... but since this was a special day, and I know my grandma loves things extra fancy, I thought I would spice up some of the vases with a pretty gold stripe... so grab your vase, some tape, and some spray paint and I'll show you how I did it

First tape off your vase. Its probably not totally necessary to tape off the entire vase, but I did, just in case

I would also tape off the inside

I wanted the gold stripe to be the same width as the tape that I was using, so I put a piece of take on each corner of my vase so that I wouldn't have to measure it out

If you want to do the same, make sure you take the tape off before you get to spray paint... obviously

Smooth down the tape so that you get nice straight lines

Go outside and lay out some newspaper, because spray paint can get messy!

Wipe down the glass with nailpolish remover or really anything that will clean it and get rid of the oil that may be on it

Once you've done that, hold the spray can about 12-15 inches away from the vase and paint paint paint

I used Krylon Premium metallic in gold, but you can probably use anything, as long as it specifies that it is okay to use on glass

Remove the tape, and there you go

It's simple and subtle, but so pretty!

By the way, have any of you guys every smelled Hyacinths (the purple flower in some of the picture above)? WOW, they smell amazing! My entire house smells like them now

Anyways, thanks for coming out. Tune in for the rest of the week for some jams, maybe a DIY project or two, my featured nail polish of the week, and my favorite appetizer recipe

  You guys are the best!

♥ Olivia