Saving whipping cream about to expire

You know when you have a nagging chore to take care of, but you just keep putting it off. It's not a difficult chore, but it just hasn't made it up very high on your priority list.

That's where I was the other day with taking care of some about to expire heavy whipping cream. I had turned some of it in to pumpkin ice cream to have for dessert on Thanksgiving. And I had the chilling cylinder in the freezer, waiting to make some peppermint ice cream, to save in the freezer until closer to Christmas. But it would still leave about 2 cups of heavy whipping cream needing to be used with a couple of days. I needed to whip it up and get it into the freezer.

Finally, last Wednesday, I reminded myself to just do it, then I can cross that item off my to-do list for the week, and not have it nag me again!

I did just that. I've told you how I save whipped cream, right? I whip it up with confectioner's sugar and a bit of vanilla extract.

Then I spoon it into mounds on a baking pan lined with plastic wrap. You can place these very close together, and pack quite a few onto one small pan. I did 12 mounds on a 8 X 10-inch pan.

Pop them into the freezer for several hours. Then peel them off the plastic wrap and store in a large zip lock bag in the freezer. They keep for several months. Thaw individually and they can be used to top desserts, fill cream puffs and eclairs, added to smoothies and milk shakes, top hot cocoa (you can cut the mounds in half when they're still frozen, for making smaller whip cream mounds for individual cups of cocoa), or added to homemade egg nog. I'll be adding these to eggnog in a couple of weeks. I'll make a lighter eggnog using whole milk, then after it's cooked and cooled, I'll whisk in a few thawed, whipped cream mounds to add richness.

And what do you suppose I did with the beaters, spoon and spatula? I made myself a decadent cup of chai tea, by stirring my cuppa with the utensils.

Oh, I just love marking off another item on my to-do list!

The cost of buying parchment paper for baking cake layers

The other day, live and learn brought up a good point on using waxed paper to line layer cake pans. Many people are not comfortable with the idea of the wax potentially contaminating the baked good. This is understandable. Aside from using a soy-based waxed paper, there are alternatives, such as using rounds of parchment paper to line the pan.

I actually do buy parchment paper (I mentioned using it for melting cheese shreds in the microwave last week). I buy mine at Dollar Tree, for $1.10 per roll (including tax). Each roll of this brand is 25 feet long by 12 inches wide.

If I were to use parchment to line two 8-inch diameter layer cake pans, I would use about 17 inches or less linear inches of the parchment roll. If I carefully measured and cut with scissors (instead of tearing and losing precise measuring ability), I could lay the pans on the paper closer together, and offset from each other, to maximize use of the paper.

By doing so, I could use about 15 inches of the parchment roll. There are 20  15-inch lengths of parchment on a 25-ft roll. At $1.10 per roll, each 15-inch length costs 5 1/2 cents. That's for both layer pans.

For ease of removal from the pans, that 5 1/2 cents may or may not be a good value to you. For me, I'd be willing to spend that amount to avoid the hassle of broken layers, or a stuck cake. It would give me peace of mind when in a rush, trying to get a scratch cake made for a celebration. A nickel well-spent.

And just to put it all into perspective . . .

My scratch-baked cakes cost about $1.40 for all of the ingredients (using butter, of course). So, my scratch cake layers, including using parchment would cost about $1.45 for 2 layers. Add in frosting and jam, and the finished cake is well under $3. That is still a good deal compared to buying a cake from our grocery store bakery (at about $5 or $6 for a small cake).

If you don't have a Dollar Tree in your area, I've seen parchment paper online at Amazon and at Wal Mart, for a decent price, and at discounters like Marshall's and Home Goods.

For me, waxed paper is less than half the price of parchment, and I'm happy with using waxed paper, for now. That could change, though.

In any case, the lesson that I learned, here, is to always off-set my pans on whichever type of paper I use, as I've done in the photo above. I will waste less paper, and make my money go farther.

Our kitchen table for Christmas

This is the centerpiece for our kitchen table this year.

I used the pillar candles that my step-mom gave me for my birthday this past year, free sheet music from free-scores.com (Joy to the World), ribbon from my gift ribbon box, raffia, a branch of cedar (cut into tiny sprigs) and tiny pinecones (from the baggie of pinecones and brown plaid ribbon my good friend gave to me, and that I used part of for stemware ornaments at Thanksgiving). That's it. It took me all of 20 minutes to do everything, here.

How I did it

I printed out my sheet music and cut into 3 pieces, each one to fit a different sized candle. The candles move about the house as I need them, sometimes in the living room, sometimes on the dining room table, and now on the kitchen table.

I wrapped the paper around each candle, and then wrapped a length of ribbon on top of the candle. I have taped the ribbon into place on the back side of the sheet music. Then I tied a short length of raffia around the ribbon, and trimmed the ends.

I took a small branch of cedar and clipped it into small sprigs. Then I tucked the sprigs under the candles, adding a few tiny pinecones.

Super easy, free, and fun to make. In early January, the candles will return to their neutral existence, the ribbons will return to the ribbon box, the pinecones I'll put back with the other tiny pinecones in a drawer, and the raffia, greens and sheet music will be composted. Not much to store -- a bonus.

This could be done with pillar candles set on small plates, in place of raised pillars, or clustered on a raised cake plate, or votives, set in jelly jars and gathered on a large plate or tray. I've used battery-operated pillar candles. If you plan on having the candles lit, this works best with a battery-op candle, a candle in a glass jar, or pillar candles fat enough that they burn a hollow down the core, but leave most of the sides intact. (Do not leave any lit candle unattended.)

Anyway, I just thought I'd share another of our Christmas decorations.