St Patrick's Day festivities

Wow! What a party!

I felt exhausted after everyone left, but kept on trekking and cleaning so I could enjoy my Sunday morning in peace... I must be getting old because everyone left for the bars at 11pm and I was so happy to just curl up in bed and go to sleep! Lol!

Don't get me wrong though, I had fun!

But I do think the best part of having a party is the planning and preparation bit when you get to be creative and decorate and bake and arrange... It's just in my nature...

So here is a little photo journey of the party.

The cake batter than I could have eaten by the spoonful... I really really really wanted to!

  ...But I was smart and not so selfish and actually made a "sheet cake" with it... This is the cupcake recipe from Annie's Eats. I love tried and true recipes... I would have made my usual Busy Day Chocolate cake, but we didn't have enough vegetable oil. Annie's Eats came through for me again though, I really love this recipe! 

I made little pastry bites with puff pastry again. I brushed the dough with egg yolk and then put a dollop of herb cream cheese and a little piece of pepper on top. Baked until golden brown... Anything bite-size and made of buttery pastry is always a party favorite. 

These are also good for budget parties because the 1kg of dough only cost (I think 3e) and I got 80 squares out of it. Add about 2e for the cream cheese and about 1-2e for the pepper and you have a nice little savory appetizer for a decent crowd for only a max of 7e! I like! This is also so versatile, e.g. I made blue cheese apple pastries for new years the same way.

I was soooooooooo happy with the decor!!! I seriously don't want to take down the little squiggle streamers and especially the bunting!

 Here are the savory bites set out before folks arrived... 

I always serve carrot sticks as an alternative to dip (dips not shown...) and other on-sale vegetables... They are cheap, tasty, and everyone loves them! It also ensures that there is something for everyone, since not everyone wants buttery pastries and greasy chips... Yeah, weird, I know!

We popped the popcorn ourselves stove-top style. I think it tastes the best (plus we don't own a microwave). 

To flavor it, we made a chili butter by adding hot sauce to the butter as it was melting. Then we tossed it in the bowl! 

The green herb popcorn was made by adding a green herb spice mix (it has everything in it!) to the melting butter and then tossing it in the bowl. 

We have been making a lot of popcorn lately because it's also such a blank slate, and cheap too!

Right at the bottom of the picture above is the caramel corn we made on Thursday. This little bowl was all that was left after 2 days munching on it. OMG, delicious! Recipe is from none other than Annie's Eats. Hey, I like that site!!

With all the bars I have been making lately, it was only natural that I make one for the party as well. So I made up a recipe inspired by this recipe. Well, I used that recipe for the crust because it is a really good crust for these types of things (believe me, I have tried a few). 

But the topping or filling if you will, is made with:

200g Finnish rahka (could be substituted for really thick Turkish yogurt?)

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups sugar

lemon zest of half of a lemon

juice of one lemon (about 1/2 cup)

1 tsp vanilla

Mix and then pour on top of the crust (that has been in the oven for about 15min per the linked recipe) and then bake again for about 25-30, until it's set but not burnt or brown. (Wow, great discription!)

I topped it with the leftover 7 minute frosting from my cake and then put the extra lemon zest on top with some kiwis (which were great with the lemon and brought the added bonus of being green!) 

And last but not least, the cake.

As I just said, it's covered in a 7 minute frosting (more like 15 minute frosting) which was a new baking challenge for me. (By the way, I halved the recipe and still ended up with a lot).
I liked the frosting, but I didn't like it. I don't know, the jury is still out on it, I guess.

I made the green swirls by taking my Wilton's green coloring gel and dropping individual drops all over. Then I took a toothpick and swirled it around in the frosting back and forth, kind of connecting the dots.

It was FUN!

Like I said, I love having and planning parties.

I love the excuse to bake new things. 

This was a fun one to have the green theme!

Thanks for reading, hope you are enjoying a relaxing post-St Pat's Sunday!