Almond Doughnuts

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend. The weather here was great and we were able to spend some time with family. If only the weekends lasted a bit longer. 

I found this recipe for vanilla bean donuts which sounded yummy, but as much as I like vanilla, I LOVE almond flavoring even more. So all I changed in this recipe was the vanilla extract to almond extract. This is a very easy recipe to make and a you can change up how you top them. 

I chose a simple confectioners glaze but you could do chocolate, maple, cinnamon sugar, or dust with confectioner sugar. 

Happy Monday!!

Doughnut Batter

2 cups all purpose flour, sifted
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 tsp. almond extract
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tbsp. butter, melted

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray doughnut pan with nonstick cooking spray.

In large mixing bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add buttermilk, eggs, almond extract, and butter. Beat until just combined. Fill each doughnut cup approximately 1/2 full. I used a pastry bag to put the batter in. This made it so easy to fill the doughnut cups.

Bake 5- 8 minutes or until the top of the donuts spring back when touched. Let cool in pan for 4-5 minutes. Finish doughnuts with almond glaze. Doughnuts are best served fresh.

Almond Glaze

1 cup confectioner's sugar
1 tbsp. milk
1/4 tsp. almond extract
4 drops food coloring of choice
sprinkles

In small bowl, stir together sugar, milk and almond extract until sugar is completely dissolved. Add food coloring and stir. Use immediately to glaze doughnuts. Add sprinkles.

{Recipe adapted from Sprinkle Bakes}

Coach/Teacher Gift

Update: I've had a few people ask if I would share the tag, so I  made coach and teacher tags to download. I used a 3" paper punch to cut them out. You can find the tags at the end of this post! 

This week we've been focusing on teacher gift ideas but we can't forget all the wonderful coaches. My sons basketball team had their end of year party last night and we decided to make his coaches a little thank you gift. This could easily work for a teachers gift as well.

Supplies needed:

plastic paint cans- find at any craft store

gum balls-we used orange to look like basketballs

ribbon-various colors of choice

Download coach tags here

 Download teacher tags here

Cork Board Mouse Pad

Day 4

This gift idea is one that keeps on giving. Every teacher has a computer so of course they need a mouse pad. 

Supplies needed:

cork board tile

fabric of choice

pencil or sharpie marker

Heat n Bond Ultrahold-red package

scissors and exacto knife(if your tile is thick)

iron

 Trace your pattern or shape onto the cork board and cut out.

 Iron Heat n Bond to fabric, make sure you place rough side against wrong side of fabric. 

Trace your pattern. Then cut out pattern. Peel away paper from fabric and iron to cork board. So simple!!

Attach a tag, wrap, add cute ribbon and you have a fantastic gift!

Here's another one with a different shape.

Come back tomorrow for more gift ideas!

More gift ideas here, here, and here

Flower Pen Planter and Printable Tag

Day 3

We're halfway through the week of teacher appreciation gift ideas and I'm excited to share this next one with you.  It was fun to put together!

Thank You for helping me 

"Bloom" and "Grow" this year!

This idea can be useful and yummy. Take a watering can (found at Micheals) or a cute flower pot and fill with candy or chocolates. Make flower pens using floral tape and fake flowers and place in pot. Attach the tag using a ribbon or I had a wooden dowel that I painted green and used glue dots to attach the tag to the dowel. 

This is sure to brighten any teachers classroom!

Click here to download tag

If you missed days 1 and 2 of teacher gift ideas, you can find them here:

Day 1

Day 2

Photo Case Gift + Free Printable Tags

Day 2

Sometimes it's hard to come up with a gift idea that you know teachers can use and enjoy! Why not give them a gift certificate? It could be for a movie, restaurant, book store, teacher supply store, grocery store or itunes. There are so many options!! 

This idea is fairly simple and a fun way to give a gift certificate. Take a plastic photo storage case and trace the lid onto some scrapbook paper and embellish it however you'd like. We added a tag and some ribbon.

Fill the inside with some yummy chocolates (or their favorite treat if you know what it is) and a gift certificate.

We're also adding a personal note from the kids and will stick that to the inside of the lid.

Download tags here

Teacher Appreciation Gift Ideas- Day 1

Check back tomorrow for more gift ideas!

You are o"fish"ally the best!

Day 1

With teacher appreciation week and the end of the school year fast approaching it's time to be thinking of some way to thank those wonderful teachers. Each day this week, I'll be sharing a variety gift ideas, so be sure to check back.

This gift idea is one my favorite go to "Thank You" gifts. I usually get the giant bag of swedish fish and attach a tag with some cute ribbon. This time I decided to add a bit of fun to it by putting the fish in a plastic paint can and fun ribbon tied to the handle. We also added a "Thanks for a great year tag" that the kids signed. 

Supplies needed:
Craft paint cans-get at most craft stores
Ribbon of choice
Swedish Fish/goldfish crackers
Tag-download  here from eighteen 25

Here is another idea from a past post using metal containers. Can you tell that I like ribbon? Find details here.

Check out Day 2 of Teacher Appreciation Gift Ideas

Chocolate Dipped Rice Crispy Treats

Every Friday the kids have early out at school and within a half hour after that it's a constant flow of the kids and their friends coming and going until bedtime. 

I learned a long time ago that kids + friends = raiding the pantry, especially the boys. So being that I'm not a huge fan of grocery shopping on a weekly basis, I try to have a snack ready when they rush through the door. The snacks vary from healthy munchies to yummy sweet treats but whatever the snack is I try to make it something they can eat with their hands because I'm not a fan of  doing the dishes either!

Today the snack is just a rice crispy treat jazzed up a bit with a little melted chocolate and spinkles. Simple yet brings lots of smiles!

 

Stenciled Fabric Cork Board

After stenciling some art for the baby's room I was itching to stencil something else. I had one of those plain cork boards that you have lying around and some white fabric and decided to try stenciling the fabric. It was a bit challenging to get the spacing right but I love how it turned out. 

Supplies needed for this project:

cork board (any size)

plain fabric

stencil of choice

paint- I used Martha Stewart Acrylic Satin- Green Olive

small paint roller- I used the foam roller from Martha Stewart

foam pouncer

thumb tacks- I used about 200

adhesive spray

glue gun

After stenciling the fabric, I used some adhesive spray on the cork board to keep the fabric in place while I placed the thumb tacks in.

Start placing the thumb tacks in. WARNING: This does take a while and your thumbs might get sore. (I had to take little breaks while doing this)

After all the tacks are in place, flip the board over and hot glue the edges down.

 I love the pop of color it gives to this plain wall in my office.

Buttery Cinnabun Cake

I don't know what it is about Sunday afternoons but that's when I want to bake. It's kind of become a tradition to find a yummy dessert recipe, one that we've never had before and try it out. This weeks recipe was one that I found through Pinterest and originally comes from Picky Palate. 

It was not a disappointment! YUMMY! The kids and the hubby all approved.  

Buttery Cinnabun Cake

-recipe from Picky Palate

Cake:
3 c. flour
1/4 tsp.salt
1 c. sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 c. milk
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. butter, melted

Topping:
1 c. butter, softened
1 c. brown sugar
2 Tbsp. flour
1 Tbsp. cinnamon

Mix everything together except for the butter. Once everything is mixed together, slowly stir in the melted butter and pour into a greased 9x13 pan. For the topping, mix all the ingredients together until well combined. Drop evenly over the batter and swirl with a knife. Bake at 350 for 28-32 minutes.
*I had to bake it for a few extra minutes because the middle was a tad gooey, but it came out great!

Glaze:
2 c. powdered sugar
5 Tbsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla

While warm drizzle the glaze over the cake.

Simple Alphabet Book

The preschool teacher in me is always on the lookout for fun ways to teach those basic concepts especially with learning the alphabet.   Learning can be fun and when you can add a little cuteness in there it's even better. So when I came across this great idea from Everyday Creations I became giddy with excitement. 

K&Company sells these darling animal alphabet cards that have facts about the animal on the back of each card. 

Here are a what some of them look like. I ordered mine from here.

It's quite simple to put the book together and  LeAnne from Everyday Creations has a great tutorial to follow. I'm making a few to give as gifts and personalize each cover with their names.