Guys, meet my new favorite hat. As soon as I passed through Old Navy on a "quick" search, actually for my ever growing toddlers, I knew I had to have it. This Felt Panama Hat, made with 100% wool felt, basically matches with everything I own AND it's my favorite color.
Paired with this incredibly comfortable open cardigan, it has been one of my favorite winter go to's. Check out Old Navy's current bargains because both are at super great prices! The watch I'm wearing was an anniversary gift from my husband last year and is from Feral Watches. It has a wrap-around suede band (The Jane-Brown) and it can be layered like a bracelet, which I love!
Dark Chocolate Holiday Tart
My husband cooks, I bake. My 2015 Resolution was to bake one new pie every month, completely inspired by my Grandmother's journal entries about all the delicious pies she made. This was the first Resolution I have *ever* managed to follow through with and THIS pie is actually my thirteenth pie this year! AND it is delicious. I wanted to bake something sweet for our Christmas dessert so I quickly searched Food Network's site. I'm kind of in love with Giada De Laurentis because of her Italian background (if you know me, you know I am 100% a cheese + carb girl). This is technically considered a tart, but I'm still learning the difference and well, pie/tart, they look almost identical. With all the pies that I made this year, it was actually very rare my toddlers were interested in taste testing them (total bummer since so much was wasted!) but THIS one, my daughter especially loved. The rich dark chocolate chunks and toasted hazelnuts had her asking, "More pie? More please?" so this one for me, is a win.
Recipe:
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups peeled, chopped, and toasted hazelnuts
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips (about 1 cup)
1 cup corn syrup
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 store bought frozen pie crust, defrosted
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
In a large bowl, mix together the sugar and the flour. Add the eggs, hazelnuts, chocolate chips, corn syrup, butter, vanilla, and salt. Stir well. Pour the mixture into the pie crust. Bake for 1 hour (in my oven I baked for 45 minutes and it was ready to go).
You'll need to cool the tart for at least 30 minutes before serving. After it was completely cooled, I took it out of the pie pan, set it on my favorite white serving plate (from T.J Maxx) and left it at room temperature. Served with a big glass of milk (or some plain black tea) this is what I call a yummy afternoon treat!
